Dave rubbed his hair dry with the towel as he walked out of the bathroom, making sure that another towel was wrapped securely covering his 'full monty python'. He crossed the hall knocking on the bedroom door where Carter lay snoring. "Carter!? Hey man.. I need to get changed Carter!"
The only thing that could be heard coming from the room was the buzzing of Carter's deep slumber. Dave jiggled the handle, and found it was locked.. From the inside.
"Aww.. For crying out loud!" Dave muttered under his breath, dripping wet and goosebumps forming on his flesh.
"Dave!!" Kerry hissed quietly from her doorway. "I think you could probably borrow something from Peter.. Come on.. I'll find you something to wear."
He smiled, grateful and walked into the room and Kerry pounced on him. "CHIEF!? What are y-" She kissed him hard on the mouth, and ripped the towel away with one hand and slamming the door with the other.
Dave stood in the room, his towel at his feet and his face reddened. "Uhh.. Chief.." He moaned in surprise. As she knocked him onto the bed. She pulled off her plaid shirt and jogging pants, and started to work on her bra-clasp, when the door opened.
"Hey.. Dr.We-HOLY CRAP!!!!"
****************
"Doug!!!! Are you okay!? Doug!?" Carol crawled onto her belly and peered into the deep trench on the side of the road.
"Dr.Ross??" Abby said fearfully as she scrambled down the embankment and soon was up to her ankles in water. A frog leapt out of the long grass and the nurse screamed at the top of her lungs. "HOLY CRAP!! A f-frog!!"
"You mind keeping it down a notch?? Sounds are sort of amplified in here." Doug said with a muffled echo.
Abby ran down the marshy ditch and found Doug laying amongst the reeds and cat-tails like Baby Moses. His legs protruding from the culvert like the Wicked Witch of the East's from under Dorothy's house.
"Are you okay Dr.Ross??" Abby peered into the corrugated metal tube that had been placed under the end of the lane way to let the water in the ditch flow freely.
"Well, not really Abby.. But thanks for asking." Doug grumbled. "Can you help me out please?"
Abby pouted and crossed her arms. "Not if you're going to be so mean."
"Please Abby? I'm sorry for yelling." Doug pleaded.
Carefully the surgeon and Head ER RN climbed into the ditch amidst groans and "ewwww"s. Before they made their way to the culvert and pulled away the ladder which had fallen on him. It was dark and wet as Doug could hear the voices reverberate in the drain.
****
"Douglas. I saw you on tv. On the news. You're a hero, son!" Ray Ross beamed.
"Ray.. I don't care if you saw me on Jerry Springer! You still have no right to call me son." Doug glared at him.
Ray turned away, tears in his eyes. "Doug.. I-I have tickets to the bulls game."
"Screw that. You can't do that anymore. You can't bribe me.. I'm not five years old anymore, Ray. You can't." Doug said angrily, his hands clenched. "I didn't save that fucking kid to get on your good side. It was dark. It was cold, and I was scared shitless. You know what Ray? I thought of Mom.. I thought of Carol. I thought of them, if something happened to me, and the kid and I didn't get out alive. I thought of them. But.. I never thought of you. Not once. You're not worth it."
Ray trembled slightly, it wasn't noticeable to Doug, but he kept his hands forced down into his pockets anyway. He smiled a little and changed the subject. "That Carol sure is a pretty thing. She was on the news at the hospital. I think she punched a cameraman, the screen went fuzzy after that." Ray murmured. "Come on, Doug.. Take the tickets."
"NO!!!" Doug snatched the tickets and ripped them in two.
"That was pretty stupid of you Doug." Ray said sadly. "What did you have to do that for?"
"Well. No.. What was stupid was climbing into that news chopper and letting you know I existed. What was stupid was coming here after you called and giving you another chance!!"
*****
"Doug?! Can you hear me Doug?!" Carol stuck her head in the culvert. "God.. He passed out.. He must have hit his head. Doug! Wake up honey.." She shook him. "Doug.. Come on.. Please Doug."
***
"The tickets don't mean anything to me Douglas.. I can get more. The only thing that means something to me is you." Ray said solemnly.
"I do, do I?" Doug laughed, a laugh bitter and full of hate. "If I mean so much to you, then why did it take a damn news story of me risking my ass in a storm drain for you, to phone me up?! Why didn't you bother to find me till now? I wasn't 'the hero'? I wasn't worth it before? I mean for fuck's sake Ray.. It's been DECADES."
"Please.. Stop calling me that.. I'm your father.." Ray said quietly, pleading.
"No... You're not my father. You were somebody who was married to my mother, briefly. That's all. You don't deserve the title of Father." Doug spat back at him angrily.
"Can I earn it back Doug? I want to.." Ray said hoarsely. The ticket
pieces cupped in his hands like a wounded bird.
*****
"Kerry?! I... You shouldn't be in here. The p-paint fumes." Benton fumbled with the keys in his hands, his eyes averted from the nakedness of the two doctors.
"Get her off me Dr.Pete!!" Dave yelped from under Kerry's strong-hold.
"Kerry?" Benton shuddered again. Seeing Kerry half-naked hadn't been on the top of his list of priorities for the day.
"Get OUT Peter." She growled angrily.
"Heyyyyy.. You'll get no argument from me on that one, trust me." Peter smiled nervously as he backed out of the door and locked it closed behind him. As he walked away from the room he could hear Dave's muffled screams, and Benton slipped the key into his pocket and began to whistle.
**
He'd been very fearful for his Chief, (and OF his Chief too.. Especially since she'd started to take off all her clothes.) but she seemed quite spry and energetic for somebody who'd just survived a landmine. As she peppered him with warm kisses, Dave relaxed and slowly began to kiss her back.
****
"When I joined this thing, I was under the impression that it we'd be getting plastered on free wine, Seri.." Dave grumbled, rolling over in bed, onto his stomach and kissing the woman beside him. She was wearing nothing but the thin sheet that covered the both of them, outlining their naked bodies and covering her breasts.
"Dave this is about restoring life. Saving lives. Not getting drunk." Serena scolded him, kissing the man on the lips.
"I just figured. If I'm out there risking my ass, I should at least get something out of it.. I mean a little free wine.. Would that be so hard?? I mean.. We're planting the damn bushes.." Dave sighed and flinched as Serena punched him hard on the arm.
"It's grape VINE, Dave.. Not bush.. You don't get it do you!? Everything is not always about you. The mines are always cleared by the time we get there." She said angrily, scrambling out of bed, the moon shining from the window and casting the room in deep chalky blue. The light accentuated her soft curves and Dave gasped, taken aback by the stark beauty of her naked form.
"I didn't mean it that way Seri and you now it." Dave said pained. "I was joking."
Serena crossed her arms and stared outside, letting the cool breeze wash over her body. "You seem to joke an awful lot, Dave.. Maybe getting married to you was a mistake.."
"A mistake?! No! Seri.. Please.. It wasn't a mistake. I love you.. You're my activist.. my Winnie Mandela.. my Eleanor Roosevelt, my Charlotte Witten, my Gloria Stienem, my right hand, my reason. You are me. You are what makes me. You are a part of me. If you leave Seri.. I am nothing.." Dave rolled over in bed and looked away from his wife, tears welling in his eyes.
The moon shaded a strange shadow across her legs, black slat-like bars on a prison. Dave rose from the bed, and wrapped his arms around his young wife. "I love you. I love every bit of you." He murmured, burying his face into her hair.
"Even the bits made of metal and plastic? Dave.. I'm not the woman you married.. I'm not fresh out of college and bright-eyed anymore. I'm not whole.." Serena started to cry, silently, no sound escaping her lips as the tears fell and her body shook with the sobs.
"Seri.. I didn't marry you because you had ten fingers and ten toes. Remember? 'For better or worse? In sickness and in health?' We've already done that.. We survived.. I sat by that bed in the hospital and signed the forms. We cried in each other's arms. We buried the it for good. I'm not letting you leave. I'm not leaving you alone.. The last time I... The last time I left you alone..." He trailed off, his arms loosened and fell to the side as he pulled away from her.
"Dave.. We should get some sleep. Tomorrow.. Tomorrow we're going to Srebrencia.. They've cleared that field.." Serena sighed tiredly.
"So. You're not leaving me?" Dave said softer, his toes curling on the carpeting.
"No Dave, I'm not leaving you." Serena crawled back into bed and Dave
followed soon after. Wrapping his arms around her, a hand trailed up her
leg and brushed her thigh before she felt his touch. She smiled grasping
his fingers. "Stop it Dave.." Serena murmured.
"Just take it off.. Put it beside the bed.."
Dave's head ducked under the covers as his fingers explored her body, gently caressing her thigh as he kissed it and stuck his fingers under the lip. Running his moistened finger across it till the seal broke, the suction eased, and the leg slid off easily in his hands. Dave laid it down under the bed before cuddling up next to his wife and falling asleep.
***
"NO!!!! CHASE!! DON'T!!!" Carter screamed painfully, his voice child-like and laced with fear as he startled himself awake. Benton knocked on the door, sticking his head in.
"You okay man?" Peter let himself in the room and closed the door behind him. "If you need to talk...."
********
"So.... Let me get this straight.. No bullet wound.. No landmine catastrophe.. You got drunk and broke your leg chasing a city bus?" Nikola shook his head. "That is a leetle hard to believe, Luka.."
"My college friends.. They take my money so I cannot drink anymore. I had bus tokens.. But the bus was leaving. It was dark. I stepped in storm drain. I fall and break my leg.. It was a bad break. So now I limp." Luka shrugged.
His former-father in law rolled his eyes and sipped his beer. "What did Dani do when she find out?"
Luka smiled. "She hit me over the head with her purse. It was a big purse.. All kids vitamins.. Medications.. Lots of coins.. It was heavy.. Left a bump.." He rubbed the back of his head at the memory and grinned. "Any more questions?? Want to know why I only have one testicle?"