TITLE:  Boys' Night Out/Girls' Night In
AUTHOR:  Ellen Hursh
RATING:  PG-13
KEYWORDS:  KW/LKo romance; angst; fun; language.
LAST EPISODE SEEN:  "Next of Kin"
TIMELINE:  Evening of 13 February, 2001
ARCHIVE:  If you must.
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.
CROATIAN:  Djeti = "flicker" (at least, according to InterTran)
SUMMARY:  Kerry and Luka carry on their respective bachelor(ette)
parties.
SPOILERS:  None, really... alas.
PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS:  Home and Dry; And Miles To Go Before I Sleep;
Through the Hourglass; Jupiter Aligns with Mars; Shopworn; Come As You
Aren't; Out and About; Up in the Air; Serpent's Tooth; Thanks a Lot!;
Shall We Dance?; Yes, Sir, That's My Baby!; Yule-Tied; Should Auld
Acquaintance; Running With Scissors; Six White Flags Over Chicago; Sea
Change; My Time Coming; Can't See the Forest for the Trees
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks, as always, to Miesque for input and feedback.



"It's the boys' night out, and they're so romantic, I'll give you a
	clue,
What the boys are out after, the girls are out after too."
	--Sammy Cahn, "The Boys' Night Out"



Luka went down to the cafeteria, to get Kerry some food - when she went
herself, she tended to graze all the way to the cashier line, which made
the cafeteria workers a little testy. Let's see... there was the salad
that she'd *asked* for, then a couple of those rolls, a bowl of fruit, a
milkshake, a cup of non-fat strawberry yogurt, several cookies and a
donut, a packet of "pizza-flavored" chips, a ham sandwich, and a carton
of milk.

When he got on the elevator, he found Dave and Benton there, too. Dave
eyed the tray Luka was holding, with its load of food. "Hungry, boss?"

"Making a delivery." He suddenly remembered something he'd been thinking
about last month. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?" Dave shrugged.

"My date cancelled on me at the last minute, so I'm at loose ends."
There was more to it than that, but he didn't want to get into it with
these guys.

"Great. Um... I mean... What about you, Peter?" Benton glanced up
sharply from the copy of Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous
Techniques he'd been perusing, surprised to be included in what sounded
like friendly chit-chat.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing tonight? I was thinking of maybe finding a cafe or a
pub, and relaxing after work." Dave perked up slightly.

"Oh, ya mean like some kind of male bonding ritual?" Luka stared at him
uncomprehendingly - American slang could be such a pain in the ass
sometimes! - and Dave shook his head. "Like guys going out for beers
after work, to relax and get to know each other better."

"Oh! Male bonding. Yes." He thought about his younger days, of going to
a bar with his buddies after classes... that was called "male bonding",
then? Hm.

"I don't know about this..." Benton protested. Malucci wasn't exactly
his favorite person, and Kovac... well... they got along better these
days, but he was looking forward to a little post-shift cuddling with
Cleo.

"C'mon, man. It'll be fun. Who else should we get?" Dave directed the
question to Luka, who thought for a moment - he hadn't thought much
further than the spontaneous idea - and then tentatively shrugged.

"Dr Carter might enjoy a night out. And Mark Greene, perhaps? We can
pick him up on the way. Oh, and do you know if Dr Dennison would be
interested? I know the two of you are friendly, perhaps you know." Dave
shrugged.

"He has family comin' into town tonight, and he wants to spend time with
them."

"Oh! In that case, he certainly *should* be with them." Dave nodded.

"Yeah. Absolutely. Nothing like family, is there?" Luka stared at him,
confused by the unenthusiastic tone to his voice.

"You're not close to your family?" He knew there were people who didn't
have good family relationships, but it was only an intellectual
understanding - he'd had a pretty happy childhood, and it hadn't been
until much later that he realized how remarkable his unremarkable
upbringing had been. Not that his life had been free of incident, of
course... not with his tendency towards vandalism as a teenager and -
before that - that unfortunate incident with his grandfather's tractor
and poor Djeti. Dave simply waved aside the question.

"Long story."

* * *

"Hey, Cleo. Did you wanna catch a movie tonight?"

"You should've asked me earlier, Peter. Some of us are getting together
tonight." She held back a smile at the baffled look on his face.

"Who's 'us'?!?"

"Uhm..." she thought a moment, looking into space for a moment, "so far
there's me, Randi, Elizabeth, Dr Chen, and Chuny. Maybe some others."

"Oh." Now she did smile at his nonplussed expression.

"We'll do something later, Peter. I promise."

"Maybe tomorrow night you can model my Valentine's Day present." She
smirked at his suggestive smile and tone; he'd given her the sexy black
teddy this morning, over coffee and waffles, but there hadn't been time
for anything more than that.

"Mmm... this is one of those presents that 'keeps on giving', huh?"

* * *

Abby nursed her cup of coffee, savoring the time she'd been given for
lunch. Unfortunately, it wasn't really enough time to *go* anywhere...
so she had to settle for taking in a cheeseburger and fries from Doc's.
*Yeccch*. She glanced up when she heard Randi's voice ordering lunch,
too.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" Randi didn't know the other woman very well, but
she'd heard things through the hospital's gossip pipeline.

"Um..." Abby said hesitantly, after a surreptitious look around to see
if maybe Randi had been talking to somebody else in the place, "it's
okay."

"I'm having a party at my place tonight, and I thought you might like to
come."

"Who, *me*?"

"You're dating the Chief's nephew, aren't you?" Abby made a sound that
was halfway between a laugh and a choke.

"I'm a student, and he's a doctor!" Randi gave a little Cheshire Cat
grin at that non-denial.

"Sure, but that doesn't mean--"

"I'm *not*." Randi resisted the impulse to smirk at the way Abby's face
had gone pale.

"Oh. Well, you're still welcome to come. My roommates aren't gonna be
around tonight, so there'll be plenty of room for people to crash out
for the night, if they can't make it home."

"Uh, I appreciate the thought, Randi, but I just can't. I've gotta do
some studying." Randi shrugged.

"Oh. Okay. If you change your mind, let me know before I go home at
seven and I'll give you directions."

* * *

"Another one for your 'ass box', Carter." Chuny handed him an abstractly
formed glass sculpture that also happened to be just the right size for
losing in one's rectum.

"Chuny, Chuny, Chuny... how many times do I have to tell you: it's
'gastrointestinal brickabrack'." He looked at it a little closer. "Hm...
very pretty."

"Yeah. I wouldn't recommend giving it to your girlfriend, though," she
noted, grinning.

"Huh? I don't have a girlfriend. I don't! Chuny..." She just walked
away, snickering.

* * *

Luka glanced at his watch; Dave was finishing up a procedure, and Benton
had said that he *might* be done in surgery in time to come along. He'd
already called Mark, and Carter was making a phone call of his own. He
spotted Kerry, who had her coat on and her hair down. "Hi. You're going
home?"

"Not just yet. Randi wants to double-check the fit of my... dress before
tomorrow." She patted her tummy quickly in illustration, and he nodded.
"You're not going to be *too* late, I hope?"

"Maybe not. I'll *try* - Dave's going with us, though, so who knows?"
She hugged him, enjoying - as always - his warmth and solidity.

"Fair warning: I'll only put up bail for *you* - the others are on their
own."

"I'll tell them to keep the table dancing to a minimum, then." She made
a face at him.

"Did you *have* to give me the mental image of Dave Malucci dancing on a
table?" He brushed her cheek with his hand, then gave her a quick peck
on the lips.

"Sorry. I'll see you at home later. Love you."

"Love you too. Hold it." She used his tie to pull his head down a
little, then looped her left arm around his neck to kiss him *properly*.
He sighed softly and happily, and took advantage of his position to cop
a quick feel. "Mm. That's better."

"Ready, Chief?" Randi came out of the lounge with her leather jacket
already zipped up. "I'm just gonna go warm up the car - come on out
when you guys are done," she told Kerry with a little grin and a wink
before heading out. Luka shook his head.

"She calls you that, too?" Kerry shrugged.

"She's probably been hanging around Dave too much."

"Maybe."

* * *

Kerry groaned as they entered Randi's apartment, and tried to be polite
about pushing past the other woman and rushing to the bathroom. A moment
later, Randi heard a happy little relieved sigh, and shook her head. A
few minutes after that, Kerry re-emerged... looking a lot less hurried
than she had before.

"Go ahead and take your coat and shoes off, and have a seat in the
living room. Are you hungry? I can grab you a snack from the fridge."
Randi glanced surreptitiously at the clock on the kitchen wall - the
others should be arriving any minute. She felt a little guilty about her
deception, but she was pretty sure that Kerry wouldn't have agreed to
come if she'd revealed the *real* purpose of tonight.

"I'm a little hungry, but I can hold out till I get home."

"Oh. Uh... no, let me see if I can find you something - I don't want you
passing out from low blood sugar." She rummaged in the fridge - no...
she couldn't exactly bring out the deli platter just yet! - and pulled
out a Tupperware of carrot and celery sticks that were "community
property". "Something crunchy okay for you?" Kerry briefly considered
asking if Randi had any pickles and honey, but decided against it.

"Sounds perfect. Thank you." She gratefully took the Tupperware from
Randi and practically dove into it head-first, then started at the knock
on the door. She was even more startled - and more than a little
dismayed - when Randi opened the door and let in several of their
co-workers from County.

"Did you get it?" Randi asked Chuny, who triumphantly whipped out a
videotape and a sheet of paper.

"You got a porno?!?" Cleo was only surprised by the idea because most of
her fellow guests had such straitlaced facades at work. Not that *she*
should talk, she knew.

"Well, I understand that that's traditional for a bachelorette party,
but no. Not a porno, though it does have *some* 'cheesecake' value,"
Randi observed, waggling the tape in one hand.

"Oooh... a big fat slice of cheesecake would hit the spot about now,"
Jing-Mei said dreamily.

"With strawberry topping," Elizabeth seconded enthusiastically.

* * *

Luka waited until Mark was in the car before he brought up the question
of where to go. Dave was all in favor of a strip club, but that idea was
promptly and simultaneously vetoed by Mark, Luka, and Peter. "Dave, what
do you think our girlfriends are going to think when they find out? And
they *will* find out, you know - with our luck, Romano would pick
tonight to show up at whatever place we choose."

Next, Carter suggested the karaoke bar where he and Dr Anspaugh and that
visiting surgeon had gone after a surgery, a few years back... since he
remembered, only after he'd suggested it, how badly that had turned out
for the patient, he was glad when Mark shuddered at the idea. "Is there
*anybody* in this car who can sing? *I* can't. And I can't drink, to
make the other bad singers in the place sound better."

"I can sing," Luka noted, "but I'm not in the mood to hear bad singing
tonight, either."

"Hey, has anybody had dinner?" Carter finally asked. "I don't know about
anyone else, but I never got lunch, and I'm starving."

"There's a hotel bar nearby that serves food," Dave volunteered, and
Mark snickered.

"Why am I not surprised that you know so much about the bars in
Chicago?"

"C'mon, it's good food, even if the sports theme kinda sucks."

"Driver's choice," Carter said, pointing at Luka, who shrugged.

"Unless anybody else has a better idea, I'm okay with Dave's sports bar.
I'm a little hungry, myself."

"All that food earlier, and you're still--"

"It was all for Kerry." There had been something vaguely horrifying
about watching a woman that small consume so much food... so
voraciously.

"So she *is* preg--" Dave started to observe, before Luka cut him off.

"Yes." Dave nodded.

"Both my sisters were like that. How about you, Dr Greene?"

Mark's response was preempted by Luka's irritable, "I need directions to
this bar, Dave!"

* * *

The movie was postponed to give everybody time to get something to eat -
the deli platter finally came out of the refrigerator, and Elizabeth had
stopped at Dominick's for a few things before coming over.

"Hey, I've never heard you talk about your family," Cleo said curiously,
looking at Randi, who shrugged.

"Not much to tell. I have a younger sister, Faith, who's been in prison
in California the last couple of years... guess it runs in the family."

"Huh?" Cleo's confused comment was echoed, to varying degrees, by
Elizabeth and Jing-Mei. Chuny looked at them, then helpfully decided to
fill them in on what Randi had meant.

"Oh, that's eas-- ow!" She yelped as Kerry's crutch whacked her on the
ankle.

"Was that your foot? I'm sorry," Kerry said innocently, and Chuny glared
at her.

"It's okay," Randi rushed to reassure them... preferably before violence
ensued. "I spent some time in jail a while back, no biggie. Hey, Dr
Weaver. Can I check the fit of your 'dress' real quick?" Kerry shot her
a mischievous look.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?"

"You're doing her wedding dress?" Chuny seemed a little baffled by the
concept of a RandiWear wedding dress, to Randi's annoyance.

"Feel like showing it off, Chief?" Kerry shrugged in resignation. The
salwar kameez was certainly pretty enough, but she felt uncertain and a
little insecure about how *she* looked in it.

* * *

The waitress seated the five of them at a table in the corner, and
wondered if the big Italian guy was available. Sure wouldn't kick *him*
out of bed for eating crackers, she thought wistfully as she left a
handful of menus with the group and promised to come back soon to take
their orders.

"Okay, *spill*, big guy," Dave commanded, shaking his finger sternly.
"You've been acting strange all day... stranger than usual, that is.
Kinda mysterious. Now. Just *what* is the occasion?"

"Oh, not much. Just that Kerry and I are getting married tomorrow."
There was a brief hiccup of reaction from the group - all of them had
been *there* last year after the stabbing (Carter, of course, had been
the guest of honor) - and then they were all quiet again.

"Whoa," Dave finally said, very softly. Carter was silent, and simply
stared at his hands.

"You think it's bad taste?" Dave thought about Luka's question for a
moment.

"I dunno. I mean... uh... sure, the attack was disastrous, and it
changed a lot of us." Dave carefully avoided looking at Carter when he
said that. "But I think it's great that you're trying to bring back what
the day is supposed to be." He looked around the table, at Benton, Mark
and Carter, who were staring at him in open-mouthed surprise. "What? You
think I can't be philosophical? Fuck that!"

"Um... no," Mark began carefully. "It's just that... well..." He looked
helplessly at Benton.

"You usually don't express yourself like this at work," Benton offered
cautiously. He didn't feel overly comfortable socializing with a bunch
of 'pill-pushers' - not that he felt overly comfortable socializing,
*period*, but... c'mon! He'd once dated the woman that one of them was
going to marry, he'd once been teacher to another of them, and he'd had
various run-ins with the other two... what the hell was he doing here?

* * *

It had turned out that Kerry didn't really *need* the last-minute
fitting, but Randi's opinion was still that it was better to be safe
than sorry. Besides, it was immensely ego-gratifying (if apparently a
little distressing to her model) to have four women oohing and aahing
over one of her designs. Dr Corday had even expressed serious interest
in the idea of purchasing a RandiWear dress... once her figure had gone
back to normal after the birth, that is. She'd politely declined Randi's
offer to design something for *her* wedding, though.

The others seemed interested, too. Amazing, Randi thought, how people
seemed to take more notice of her fashions when they were being worn by
someone like the Chief, rather than herself. She supposed that her
personal style was so flashy that the clothes didn't tend to look like
that much, but they seemed to look somehow more respectable on Dr
Weaver. Her leather jacket, for instance... when she'd had the Chief
wear it to an interview a couple of years ago, it had given the woman a
certain... *air*. Tough, stylish, but still looking so *right*.

* * *

The waitress plunked the tray down in the center of the table and then
moved on. Luka eyed the onion blossom curiously. He'd heard of them
before, of course, but had never actually encountered one.
"Interesting," he finally commented, and hesitantly plucked one of the
deep-fried "petals". Dave snickered and grabbed several pieces, then
dragged them through the sauce before popping them in his mouth.

Luka had felt a little strange, riding with a bunch of guys in a Volvo
sedan to his "bachelor party". It was certainly far different from his
*first* bachelor party, when Petar and Josip and the others had dragged
him out for his "last night of freedom". A lot had changed... the grey
that continued to take over his hair was the only obvious sign of
change. He missed both the admiring stares from the few women in the
bar, and the irritation of his companions at his oblivion.

* * *

Elizabeth had loosened up a little after the party had got under way.
Truthfully, she'd missed this kind of female bonding ritual: first Anna
had left, nearly three years ago, and then Carol had left last year, and
she wasn't - despite her relentless, almost downright aggressive,
flirting with Peter a few years back - an overly outgoing person.

Neither she nor Kerry could join in the game that Cleo, Randi, Chuny and
Jing-Mei were playing, that seemed to involve shots of hard liquor and
"The Perfect Storm", but Kerry was getting into the movie... or at
least, getting into the idea of drowning George Clooney.

"I forget - do you sip or chug when Clooney's character twitches his
head?"

"Sip, of course, unless you wanna wind up in the hospital with alcohol
poisoning!"

* * *

"I'm making headway," the waitress announced to her coworkers. "I'm
gonna get his phone number by the time they leave."

"Which one?"

"That big guy in black, who came in with a buncha his friends."

"Yeah, right. Didn't the last guy you pick up here turn out to be gay?"
They peered out at the table. "You should go after the one who looks
like Steve Jobs - he looks like a screamer."

"Oh, gawd, could you *try* to be more gross?"

"Whatever. You know you're not gonna get his number."

"Twenty bucks says I am."

"You're on... sucker."

* * *

"Not a bad movie," Elizabeth commented as the credits rolled.

"Yeah. Hey, anybody else hungry?" Chuny asked as Randi turned the lights
back on. "Dunno about anyone else, but I could *really* go for a pizza
right now."

Cleo giggled. "Me too. Truth or dare, Jing-Mei?"

"Dare."

* * *

"Aren't we an exciting group," Dave groused. "Don't *any* of you guys
drink?"

"I don't really like alcohol," Benton demurred. Well, there was the
exception of those Pimms that Elizabeth had had him try once, a few
years ago - *those* were pretty tasty - but he suspected that Cleo
wouldn't be happy about him rolling in as drunk as the proverbial skunk.
Then again, he'd probably eaten enough that he might be able to get away
with drinking one or two.

"Interferes with the Dilantin I'm taking." Mark sipped his ginger ale
pensively; he really *missed* being able to drink beer. However, he also
knew what the consequences could be, as long as he'd been at County--
wow, he'd been there for well over ten years, counting his med school
days. Certainly more than enough time to see many of the interesting
ways that people chose to abuse their bodies.

"I don't drink anymore." Carter didn't bother to elaborate on that,
since he knew that three of the four other men present tonight were
aware of his situation... and Dave had probably figured things out by
now, too.

"And I'm driving," Luka added. "But feel free to have whatever you want,
Dave - don't let us hold you back." Dave finished off the last of his
beer, and slapped the bottle down on the table.

"Aw, it's no fun to be the only one overdoin' it." He thought for a
moment. "You know, it's too bad they don't have a dance floor here. We
should be dancin'."

"Jebi ga!"

"What does that have to do with Romano?" Off Luka's puzzled look, Dave
elaborated. "I heard ya say something like that, the last time he came
down to the ER." Luka smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, 'jebi se'? It's Croatian for 'fuck yourself'. 'Jebi ga' means 'fuck
*that*'."

"'Jebi se'... 'jebi ga'. I like the sound of that."

"Just make sure you use it on your own time, and not on hospital
property, okay?"

"Sure thing, boss. Or should that be 'Mr Chief'?" Luka eyed him
irritably.

"Dave, would you like to spend the rest of the year lancing boils and
bathing homeless people?" Dave made an "eep" face, and quickly shook his
head.

"No, no, no, that's okay."

* * *

Chuny sighed as Randi answered "Truth." yet again. Each of the women had
their own diabolical Dare in mind for her, but the young desk clerk
wasn't biting.

"How's Malucci in the sack?"

"Dave? You're kidding, right? I wouldn't screw that numbnuts if you
paid me!"

"Wai- wait a minute," Cleo gestured aimlessly - and more than a little
drunkenly - in Randi's general direction. "You said... you said you had.
Back in... uh... December. 'Member? I said something 'bout him hitting
the target, and you said don't knock it till you tried it."

"Oh, *that*. No, I was thinking of someone else."

"So how was *he*?"

"'She', actually. And she was pretty good." The room went dead silent,
and Randi arched an eyebrow at them all - it was the same challenging
eyebrow she'd quirked while reciting the shopping list of offenses for
which she'd served time in prison. Kerry was the first to recover from
the surprise.

"Oh. I didn't realize that you were... uh..." Randi calmly took a sip of
her beer.

"I'm not gay. Just bisexual."

"But you're in the *process*...?" Chuny began tentatively, but halted at
the sight of that eyebrow rising again.

"Look. It just means that I'm attracted to both men *and* women. There's
nothing transitional about it, and I'm not confused or promiscuous,
okay?" Conversation gradually and awkwardly resumed, with the occasional
cautious glance darted at Randi until she irritably cleared her throat.
"Oh, for Christ's sake. This is why I've never said anything before.
Now c'mon... this is supposed to be a party."

* * *

Dave smirked when he noticed how often their waitress "accidentally"
wound up leaning into Luka every time she came by to take up used dishes
and glasses from their table, pressing her breasts into his shoulder
most of the time - she was *so* barking up the wrong tree!

* * *

"Dr Weaver. Truth or dare?" Kerry thought about the last dare, which had
involved Jing-Mei flashing the pizza guy. She suspected that he hadn't
minded the show, but she was glad that she hadn't got that as a dare.

"Uhm... truth."

"When did you and Dr Kovac do it for the first time?" The others all
leaned forward eagerly: the answer was the subject of intense debate...
and a fairly large pool by now.

"I guess it's too late to pick 'dare'?" There was an affirmative roar,
and she smiled coyly. "Last January. It was... hm... the same day you
had the gay teenager who'd run away from the reprogramming center, Dr
Che-- Jing-Mei. The one where you and John *lied* about her condition to
the man who came after her." Jing-Mei blushed at the gently stern
reminder. "Did you hear anything more about her?"

"No. But I hope everything worked out for her in the end." The others
nodded. "But that's not what we were talking about."

"Oh?" Kerry feigned innocence. "What were we talking about?"

"You and Dr Kovac! The first time!"

"Oh... *that*!" Cleo snorted with laughter, and threw a pillow at her.
"Anyway, it was later that night, after I'd come home... to an empty,
lonely house. I had a drink, and then I heard someone at the door. I was
dumb - or drunk - enough to open it without looking, and there he was.
We'd had a disagreement earlier... disagreement, hell, I'd interfered
with one of his patients, and brought back horrible memories for him."

"Why was he there?"

"He wanted to apologize! Can you believe it? I had intended to do that
the next day, but *he* thought he owed *me* an apology." She shook her
head. "Then we talked for a while... we... um... kissed, and we...
well... you know," she trailed off. There was no adequate way to
describe that night - after his softly rumbled "Hell yeah", he'd scooped
her up, carefully picking up her crutch. She'd had to direct him to the
stairs, and then to her bedroom, where he'd stripped first her and then
himself. As much of a cliche as she knew it was, he'd managed to find
erogenous zones that she hadn't even known she had. "He made me
breakfast the next morning - he makes *perfect* scrambled eggs."

"Yeah? So how is he in bed?" Kerry grinned, and played with her
necklace.

"Honestly? He's fantastic." Randi hooted enthusiastically, and
applauded. "And no, you may *not* try him out," she added with mock
sternness, making a shooing motion at Randi's exaggerated "awwww..."

* * *

"I fell in love with her on Thanksgiving... the day I brought in Carol
in labor. I wasn't expecting it - didn't even really *want* it at the
time - but I looked up as I was stumbling through the ambulance bay and
saw her through the falling snow. I called out her name, and that was it
for me."

"You've only seen the good side of her," Mark began, but Luka shook his
head firmly.

"No. I've been the target of her temper more than once. She's hurt me.
And I've hurt her. We manage to muddle through somehow, though."

"I think it's great," Dave said suddenly. He'd been uncharacteristically
quiet for a while. "That you found someone to love, who loves you back.
It's the greatest feeling in the world."

Carter glanced at him, surprised. "You have a girlfriend? Real, or
inflatable?" He grinned, and prepared to resume the teasing that he'd
begun after learning that Dave had gone to med school in Grenada, and
still carried on every once in a while.

"Hey, cool it, man," Benton advised. It was Dave's turn to be surprised,
and Benton snorted at his startled look. "What?"

"So Peter," Mark called out, "when are you and Cleo going to settle
down?" Benton laughed.

"I don't know. I don't even know that I'm ready to settle down!"

"You have a three year old son," Luka pointed out. "You're not exactly a
carefree single man anymore!"

"Funny, that's what my sister said."

"How *is* she doing?"

* * *

There was a knock on the door, and Randi got up. She opened the door,
and found a tall young man wearing an old-looking set of scrubs, with a
stethoscope slung around his neck. He looked over Randi's shoulder at
the assortment of women in the apartment, who were returning his gaze
curiously.

"Is there a Kerry Weaver here?" Kerry half-raised her hand in confusion,
and the man stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. "Housecall,
from Dr Luv!" Kerry turned beet red as the young man in scrubs pulled
them off to reveal a lean, well-muscled body, his only covering a
g-string that was the same color as the scrubs. He set a small CD player
down on the floor, turned it on, and - to the accompaniment of raucous
techno music - proceeded to do something with his stethoscope that would
never have occurred to a *real* doctor (well, maybe to Dave) as the
others - after a short, startled pause - cheered him on.

"Randi..." Kerry gritted out between clenched teeth.

"Don't worry," Randi whispered back. "I have a feeling Chuny will be
more than happy to take him off our hands later." Kerry gave her the
Stare of Death, then looked away angrily. "Oh, c'mon. You can't tell me
that nobody's *ever* hired a stripper for you?"

"Actually, once before." She was surprised that she was able to get that
out so evenly, let alone without screaming; she'd felt so humiliated
when the stripper - dressed as a busty nurse - had suddenly shown up at
Mt Sinai and begun taking off her clothes as a tape of the Hollies'
"Carrie-Anne" played on a stereo somewhere nearby. She'd been absolutely
mortified... and then furious when she spotted - who else? - Doug Ross
high-fiving one of his moronic cohorts. Compared to that, Doug mocking
her and her limp in the lounge had been *nothing*.

Randi thought about that for a moment, then nodded slowly. "*Oh*. I'm
sorry, I thought you'd enjoy it."

* * *

"You're kidding." Dave shook his head vehemently, gesturing with his
beer. He'd changed his mind about having more when Dr Benton decided to
order something called Pimms.

"No, man, I'm *serious*. A guy at a party when I was in college drank
like half a bottle of JD, and suddenly started goin' nuts. He was all
'quck' this and 'quck' that--"

"Quack?" Carter frowned bemusedly as he shovelled in some more of the
nachos. The onion blossom had been dismantled and consumed fairly
quickly, as had been the platter of chicken strips, but the lot of them
were losing momentum with the heap of chips smothered in salsa, ground
beef, cheese, jalapeno slices, sour cream and guacamole.

"*Quck*. The guy was *weird*. Then he punched a girl in the face and
jumped out a window, straight into a hedge." Mark returned from the
bathroom as Dave said this.

"What'd I miss?" Carter snickered.

"Dave was telling us about the time in college when he got so drunk that
he invented a curse word, hit a girl, and--"

"I *told* you, it wasn't me. Some fucked-up little freshman with
girly-hair."

* * *

Randi grinned as her turn came up. "Dr Weaver! Truth or dare?" Kerry
winced - she had a feeling that she wasn't going to enjoy either choice.

"Dare," she finally said, reluctantly.

"I dare you to show us your tattoo." Elizabeth yelped in surprise -
Kerry was almost the *last* person she would've expected to have such a
thing.

"A tattoo? *You* have a tattoo, Kerry?" She rolled her eyes, and began
to unbutton her blouse. Once it was unbuttoned, she shrugged it off her
shoulders and leaned forward, then shifted the left strap of her
undershirt so the others could see.

"Right on the shoulderblade," she directed them, and could almost feel
them staring at it.

"Oh, cool."

"What *is* that? A spider?" Chen reached out to touch the tattoo, then
patted Kerry's shoulder appraisingly. "Hey, what do you use? Your skin's
so *soft*."

"The spider is Ananse, a trickster character from African folktales."
She ignored the rest of Chen"s question, though. Randi nodded.

"Oh, yeah. You lived in Africa for a while."

"Mm-hm."

* * *

"Vukovar was supposed to be safe. An industrial town, but not really
anything militarily significant... you'd think that would be the best
place to be, right" Instead, many of us lost our homes, and then, after
the town was overrun, people - patients and civilians - were taken from
the hospital and killed. Shot like dogs. During the siege, it wasn't
safe to bury bodies - besides, the artillery shelled the cemetery - and
the bodies stacked up like cordwood. The hospital shook, night and day,
from the explosions, because we were the target of the artillery... more
so when our soldiers had had a good day. They used our Red Cross banners
for target practice." He shook off his gloom determinedly. "I think
maybe we *should've* gone for karaoke - I'm in the mood to sing
something now." Something cheerful, maybe, like "Eve of Destruction", he
thought.

* * *

"Oh!" Cleo suddenly got up and charged for the bathroom; a moment later,
the others could hear Cleo's drinks making an uncomfortable
reappearance. Randi winced sympathetically.

* * *

Luka supposed that settling the bill might have been easier if two of
them hadn't been drunk. Peter and Dave had, under the influence, decided
that they were not only best pals, but world-class troubadours... and
were serenading people in the hotel lobby. They were actually pretty
good. Not only that, but Mark had disappeared (probably, Luka suspected,
to the bathroom to unload that latest ginger ale). Carter had just
finished talking to somebody on the phone, and was trying to help make
sense of the bill. The alcoholic drinks were the easiest to sort out, of
course, but everything else was a big mess.

Now, Luka thought, I see why women get separate tabs when they go out to
eat. He finally settled for putting the entire thing on his credit card,
and writing down - on scrap paper he found in his coat pocket - what
everything was: he could figure it out at home, and hit the others up
later for their share.

* * *

Kerry was startled to discover that the night had gone by so quickly -
she'd expected to have to pretend to have fun, especially considering
that she had never really thought of Cleo or Jing-Mei as being 'life of
the party' people. Then again, she supposed that *she* didn't really
seem like a 'life of the party' kind of person either, to people who
usually only saw her enforcing rules that she didn't even believe in,
half the time.

Elizabeth carefully wedged herself into her coat, and thought to herself
that if she ever decided to go through pregnancy again, she was going to
see if she couldn't do it in a climate where clothing was optional.
Maybe Hawaii - Mark often spoke fondly of his years spent living there
when he was younger, and he might enjoy going there at some point - but
*anyplace* where she didn't have to worry about maternity gear would be
a welcome change from Chicago in winter. "I'm going to give Kerry a ride
home. Would anybody else like a ride?"

Cleo nodded weakly. "Please. I need to go home, so I can die in my own
bed."

Jing-Mei was lying on the couch, rolling slightly from side to side and
giggling intermittently. "Nah, fine. Don' wanna get up."

"I'll leave you a wastebasket next to the couch, just in case," Randi
told her, patting her shoulder gently.

Chuny, as Randi had predicted, had already left with the stripper -
they'd been deep in conversation when they departed.

* * *

"Dave, don't you *dare* throw up in the car."

"Na' gonna throw up," Dave blearily promised.

"At least stick your head out the window if you start feeling sick, so I
can run the car through the car wash afterwards."

"'m not *sick*. Just ready to go t' bed and get some sleep."

"Why are you in the back seat, anyway? You should've come up to the
front after I dropped off Mark, so you could tell me which way to your
apartment."

"Wanna sleep." Luka sighed, and abruptly hit the brake. There was an
outraged yelp as Dave was thrown off the back seat. "Why'd ya do that?"

"Move forward. Now. The sooner I drop off you and your bike, the sooner
*I* can get home."

"Ohhh, yeah. Fun night, wazzinit?"

"Yeah," he said, a bit surprised to realize that. "It was."

* * *

They got home at nearly the same time - Elizabeth had just pulled away
from the curb when Luka inserted the Volvo neatly into its usual spot -
and were nearly silent until they had gone inside.

"Hi. You had a good time?" He draped himself across the couch without
bothering to take off his shoes or coat, and looked up at her.

"Mm-hm."

"I can't carry you to bed, you know."

"Mm-hm." She sat on the couch next to him and rubbed his shoulder
gently; he sighed, and put his hand on her thigh.

"How are you feeling?"

"Cold. Sleepy. Worse yet, sober." He sat up slowly, keeping his hand
where it was. "C'mon. We can try for one last sinful time as single
people, huh?"

"Mm. It's just after midnight... we probably shouldn't even be in the
same room." She didn't move to get up, though, just snuggled against
him.

"I thought that was for the wedding dress?" He laughed suddenly. "If
this couch could talk...."

"I'd cut its tongue out," Kerry promptly replied, causing him to grin.

"So the wedding dress is all ready for tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah. Randi's going to bring it to work with her, and then we'll take
it to the courthouse."

"Mm. Did you have a good time tonight, at your... uh..."

"So you knew that Randi had a party in mind?" He shrugged a little
diffidently.

"She wanted to make sure that we didn't have plans of our own for
tonight - she *had* to tell me why she wanted to know. Are you angry?"
Kerry shrugged.

"No, not really. I still don't like surprises, but I had a pretty good
time. How about you?"

"My night was good, too... interesting, anyway. Dave got chip-faced, and
Peter had a couple of Pimms and was reciting dirty limericks in the
car... I don't think Cleo's going to be very happy about that." She
smirked.

"I don't think Cleo's going to be in any position to talk."

"You mean *she* got--"

"'Chip-faced'? Very."

"I never imagined that *she* would be the sort to get so drunk." She
gave him her very best naughty look.

"You never imagined that I was the sort to wear leopard print underwear,
either."

"Mm. Are you wearing those right now?"

"I might be," she replied coyly. "Shall we go upstairs, so you can see?"

"Hell, yeah."


POST-OP NOTES:

* The "gastrointestinal brickabrack" box was last seen in last season's
episode "Bygones".

* Dave's "Quck" story was "borrowed" from the e-comic "Everything Jake".


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