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TITLE: When Opportunity Knocks, Get a Tune-Up
AUTHOR: Ellen Hursh
RATING: PG-13
KEYWORDS: KW & LKo (non-romance, non-friendship :-)
TIMELINE: Midseason 7
ARCHIVE: If you must.
*WHAT* DID LUKA SAY?!?: For a translation, go to
http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Serbo-croat.html which is
where I got the phrases: quibble at *them* if you have a problem with
it.
DISCLAIMER: ER and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No
infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for
the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your
own pleasure.
SUMMARY: Um...possible byproduct of Abby's triumphant return to
med-studenting?
SPOILERS: Some spoilers for Season 7, apparently.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Pounded out over the course of a couple of hours, on
the absurd theory that tackling this before ER does will make it not
quite as wince-inducing when it actually rolls around. Sure as hell
seems more productive than sitting around banging my head against the
wall. :-) I don't know anymore whether or not I've written Luka out of
character in this piece, but I could, unfortunately, see him behaving in
such a way. Even to Kerry.
This story is a one-off: I have no intention of doing any damned
prequel, sequel, or Ezekiel to it. If anyone wants to continue it,
though, I sure can't stop you (see the line labelled "DISCLAIMER" :-).
And now, back to what I'd *really* rather be writing!
reading.
Kerry spotted Luka and Abby emerging from the staff lounge together,
hand in hand, and glanced at the roster on the clipboard she was
carrying. She greeted Abby, then turned to Luka. "Luka, could I have a
word with you in private? *Now*?" He shrugged and bent down to deep-kiss
Abby, and watched as the young woman headed off to see patients. The two
of them moved away from the admit desk, where several of the nurses were
congregated and always ready to listen in on the latest morsel of
gossip, and eventually wound up outside, in the ambulance bay. He sighed
impatiently.
"What did you need to speak to me about, Kerry." He sounded bored, to go
with his sigh, and Kerry frowned at him. She - who, she herself
acknowledged, was frequently pretty clueless when it came to dealing
with people on a personal level - had noticed a real change in him since
Carter's departure for rehab in May. It was like a light had gone out
inside him, to the point that she'd almost regretted letting him know
where Carter had gone, and why: the man had been so unyieldingly
judgmental at the time that she'd been afraid that he'd be Carter's
harshest critic at the end of the 90-day period.
Instead, Luka had barely blinked when Carter returned - inquired
pleasantly after his health, then moved on to see patients. They weren't
bosom buddies, but they'd never really got much past the occasional
distantly friendly word to begin with. And not that Kerry was
complaining, but she'd noticed that Luka and Peter never argued anymore.
They almost never spoke to each other, *period*, even when Peter was
called down for a surgical consult on one of Luka's patients - usually
they communicated through a nurse, as though the nurse were some kind of
pink-clad translator in the UN.
"Luka, you're aware that Abby Lockhart is back on the roster as a
student, aren't you?" He studied her a moment, then coolly nodded.
"Yeah, I know. Abby mentioned that this morning, when we were getting
ready for work." You're challenging me, Luka, Kerry suddenly realized.
Why?
"Okay. Then you're also aware that, as a doctor, carrying on a
relationship with a student is *highly* inappropriate." His expression
didn't change, although Kerry could have sworn she saw his lip start to
curl... in disgust or amusement.
"Really. So you are expecting me and Abby to keep a nice decent distance
at the hospital?" His tone was almost openly mocking now, and Kerry dug
her fingernails into her palm. Patience, Kerry, she told herself, for
some reason he's trying to get a rise out of you.
"I am *expecting* you," she told him, "to refrain from engaging in an
intimate relationship with a medical student, as someone in a position
of authority over her. Since Abby is a student again--" He began
laughing at her.
"Oh, Kerry, you're so *cute*!" he told her sarcastically. "'Intimate
relationship with a medical student'!" he mimicked. "So... what, she
becomes legal in June?" An eerie feeling of calm suddenly settled over
Kerry.
"Assuming that her ex-husband doesn't miss any more payments, yes." She
waited until the smug expression had nearly taken hold on Luka's face,
then finished. "But June of 2002." Watching the expression slide from
his face, she decided, was a lot like watching a '50s T-bird fishtail on
an icy road - going this way and that, trying to stay on course, before
finally shooting right off the road and landing upside down in a ditch
with gas leaking rapidly from the tank and dribbling towards the
still-ticking engine. "Didn't Abby tell you about that? She missed a
quarter, so she's been put a year behind. As I told her, this was the
Dean's decision, made before I knew anything about it." Kerry sighed,
and turned briefly to watch some of the doctors collecting the latest
offering from the paramedics. They seemed to have everything under
control, so she stayed put. When she turned back to face him, she chose
her words carefully. "I realize that you've had some difficulties after
the two of you were mugged. I would really encourage you to make an
appointment with Dr. LeGaspi. She's *very* good."
He snorted and looked her up and down, muttering "That's about what I've
heard," but she ignored his innuendo.
"Luka, you're jeopardizing your career by continuing your...
relationship with Abby at this time. Is that really what you want?"
Maybe it was, she knew: Doug Ross had pursued a similarly
self-destructive path for quite a while before he'd finally left County;
as much as she and Doug had had their differenc-- oh, why softshoe it?
They'd hated each other's guts. But she'd respected his skill as a
doctor - the ER had suffered a real loss when Doug left... and would
suffer another loss if Luka were to leave, too. She took a big chance,
and continued. "Are you really so eager to prove people right, when they
compare you to Doug Ross?" Wow... *that* had hit him. He'd covered his
wince very well, but his tongue snaked out quickly to touch his lips:
even she'd noticed that tic.There was a very long pause, and Kerry hoped
that he would relent, but instead he fired back.
"Eh... who, exactly, has made this comparison?" he demanded skeptically.
So, he thought she was bluffing?
"Where shall I start?" She began ticking off on her fingers. "There's
Dr. Benton... as I recall, the two of you cemented a *fast* friendship
after that school shooting. Dr. Coburn - she was almost ready to start
screaming for your head, after the case with Gloria Milton. You remember
Gloria, don't you? The patient you were gonna cut open against her will?
Dr Greene's had a number of concerns about you, as well, but he knew
Doug well enough to know you're *nothing* alike." She saw him start to
open his mouth - probably to protest - but rattled on; she hated hitting
him like this, but she'd hate even more for him to throw away his
hard-earned medical career for the sake of sex. Sex was a powerful
motivator, but it couldn't be the be-all and end-all of a person's life.
She rapped off several more names, of doctors and nurses who'd expressed
concern to her over Luka's tendency to ignore rules and policy at his
own convenience. "And let's not forget how 'popular' you've been with
Psych for the last year or so." She wasn't sure whether or not she
should be impressed, that he reeled slightly from the list but finally
fixed her with an obstinate stare. Stubborn son of a bitch!
"I have no intention of giving up my relationship with Abby," he told
her calmly. "Maybe if you had a sex life of your own, you wouldn't have
to focus on everyone else's!" He settled back with a "There! Now how
about *that*!" nod, and she responded with a calm "okay, okay" nod.
"All right. In that case, Dr Kovac, please sign out and go home." She
was disturbed to realize that Robert had used that same tone with her
when he'd suspended her last year.
"Wha-a-at?!?" He was almost laughing with shock.
"You heard me. Do I need to call Security, to escort you from the
premises? I'm serious, Dr Kovac. I won't have a patient's health
jeopardized because you and Miss Lockhart are too busy gazing soulfully
into each other's eyes to check his vitals." He continued to laugh.
"You know, you're a real bitch sometimes, Kerry. Fine." He pulled off
his labcoat and threw the wadded mass of cloth at her, in unconscious
mimicry of Abby when she'd been sent home in September. "See you
around," he snarled as she barely kept from losing her balance, and
headed for the door.
"It never had to be like this, Luka," she reminded his back. He paused
as the electronic doors slid open, and turned back to look at her. She
could see that, despite his irritation, his eyes still seemed oddly...
*dead*.
Dead eyes, though, didn't stop him from shouting "Kurvo razvaljena! Jebi
se!" at her before he stomped inside. She had no idea what he'd said,
but was sure enough that it wasn't complimentary that she didn't bother
to remember any of it: she had enough people using foul words in
*English* to describe her that she certainly didn't need to add anything
foreign to the mix. The labcoat had hit her in the chest, with a fold of
cloth flying up into her face for a moment, and she could smell some
kind of cologne in the material, mixed with just a trace of a woman's
perfume. She sighed wearily, and tucked the labcoat under her arm as she
headed inside.
She *hoped* that he'd just been blowing off steam, and would be inside,
waiting to see patients, but she wasn't counting on it. When she reached
the lounge, in fact, she found that he'd already cleaned out his locker
(even taking the magazine photo he'd had taped to the door since she
hired him last November) and scraped the nameplate off the door. That
answered that, then - she spread out the labcoat on the table and began
going through the pockets, unsurprised when she found nothing of a
personal nature. There was just a prescription pad and a bunch of pens,
all of which she transferred to her own coat before she unpinned his
nametag and took the emptied-out labcoat to the nearest laundry hamper.
She went to the filing cabinet and hauled out a form similar to the one
that would have been used to write up Doug Ross, five years ago, after
he'd spent the night with one of the med students... one of Carter's
blondes, apparently. Mark had told her about the incident shortly after
Doug's departure - in a rare peaceful moment between them, they'd gone
out for drinks after work and (out of frustration over a stressful day)
they'd swapped stories. She'd been appalled on Carter's behalf, then
told Mark about encountering Doug after he'd sprained his knee... and
assuming that his limp was intended to mock her again. Laughing had felt
so good that evening - she didn't seem to laugh much, these days, except
with Kim.
She stared at the form - she was going to have to fill it out, including
the space that asked what steps had been taken (she quickly wrote "None.
Dr Kovac has chosen to leave his position at County General."), and give
it to Robert. Ohhh, she *hated* dealing with that man. Shit, she just
plain *hated* him - she let herself fantasize for a moment about writing
out her resignation notice, and then stapling it directly to his big
bald shiny head. After all, it wasn't as though she'd have trouble
finding something else: after med school, she'd been pursued by a number
of residency programs before she settled on Mt. Sinai, and had received
a lot of job offers after finishing her residency at County. She'd only
taken the attending position because she found that - despite the
staff's cordial (and sometimes not-so-cordial) dislike of her - she
actually liked the place... or at least disliked it little enough that
she didn't want to go to the trouble of packing up and moving to another
part of the country. Even now, she had standing offers from at least
half a dozen hospitals across the country to head up *their* emergency
departments.
It was an ego boost to be *needed* here, though: this place fell apart
every time she had a day off, because nobody else could be bothered to
step up and do any of the *really* necessary work. Well, there'd been
Susan, but she and Kerry had had *just* enough of an attitude clash to
make a truly smooth working relationship impossible. Wonder what you're
doing now, Susan, Kerry mused, as she filled out another line on the
form. Did you find someone in Phoenix who gives you the same adoring
glances that Mark used to give you? I hope so.
She shook her head and quickly finished the form; naturally, there was
no real need for it now that Luka had quit, but she was a woman who
liked her "t"s crossed and her "i"s dotted.
Screw it, she thought. If Robert gives me any grief over this, tells me
*one more damned time* that the problems down here are all as a result
of *my* faulty management, I'm gonna fold this form until it's all sharp
corners, and then forget to use lubricant when I shove it up his ass! To
hell with getting a reference from him... I could always move back to
Africa - wonder if the clinic can use a psychiatrist? Kim would
certainly love the area....
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