TITLE:  Infamy!
AUTHOR:  Ellen Hursh
RATING:  PG-13
KEYWORDS:  KW/LKo romance, the usual yadda-blah.
LAST EPISODE SEEN:  "Kisangani"
TIMELINE:  "Survival of the Fittest"
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.
SUMMARY:  April Fools abound.
SPOILERS:  A few, only in a peripheral way, for "Survival of the
Fittest".
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; Boys'
Night Out, Girls' Night In; Peace of My Heart; In The Midnight Hour; In
Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Thanks to Miesque for input and feedback.
PREVIOUSLY, ON MY-ER:  After Dave was accused of assaulting a suicidal
patient, he "came out" to Kerry; he and his partner, Nick Dennison, met
with former County doc Maggie Doyle for advice; Elizabeth was sent home
for bedrest after an incident in the field.


"...[A] date which will live in infamy."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"
--Julius Caesar, "Carry on Cleo"



Randi sat at the front desk, stewing in her guilt. She *knew* she 
shouldn't have done it, but it had *seemed* okay at the time.
And... there was Dr Weaver, making her way in. Her gait seemed
slightly unsteady - that is, more than it usually was - and Randi
wondered what was up. C'mon, girl, Randi prodded herself... she
doesn't want to be scared out of her wits! Then again, Dr Weaver
looked a bit cross, even for her. "Morning, Dr Weaver," Randi said,
trying to gauge the woman's mood.

"Hi, Randi. Any messages for me?"

"Yep." She handed over the sheaf of pink papers.

"Hm. Okay. Thanks." She reached for the clipboard to sign in, and
looked up for a second. "And I want you to call Maintenance. Tell them
they need to put down some mats at the entrance before we have a lawsuit
on our hands from somebody slipping in all the water that's getting
tracked in, and breaking something." She rubbed her hip, as if in
explanation, and Randi nodded.

"Okay. I'll get right on that. Oh! And, um, Dr Weaver, there's someone
waiting for you in your office." Kerry looked up at Randi as she
finished signing in.

"Who is it?"

"He asked me not to say - he wanted it to be a surprise." Kerry slapped
the pen down on the clipboard, and stalked off in the direction of her
office.

"If it's another pharmacy rep, Randi, you're fired!" Randi had long ago
learned not to take threats of firing seriously from Dr Weaver. But
she'd feel a lot better if she knew where Dr Kovac was.

* * *

Kerry opened the door to her office, and saw who was waiting for her.
Well... she was definitely surprised. Not sure she wouldn't fire Randi
anyway, but she *was* surprised. "Hi, Kerry. It's been a while."

"Hello, Ellis." Forget firing: she was going to *kill* Randi.

"You're looking well. I understand you're to be congratulated?" She
couldn't tell whether he was looking at her left hand or her
rapidly-shrinking waist, and didn't want to ask.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Why are you here?"

"You're direct. I always liked that about you."

"How's your wife?" He smiled at her as she edged around him and made
it to the safe zone behind her desk to sit down; she was blushing,
which he'd thought was adorable when he was pursuing her. Of course,
he hadn't realized yet how little confidence she had in herself...
or in him. He wondered what kind of man she'd married; he must have
the patience of Job, to have worn down her defenses *that* much.

"She's fine. I'm not looking to start anything up again between us,
if that's what you're worried about," he reassured her.

"I'm not worried," she lied. "Just surprised."

"Well, I was in town for a conference, and I thought I'd drop by and
see how you are. From the looks of things, you seem to be doing
*very* well." He could see her relaxing, at last... good. He'd been
worried about what kind of reception he'd get from her, after that
last time they'd spoken in the parking lot... the weather hadn't
been the coldest thing, that day.

"Well enough." She managed to produce a smile that, she thought,
didn't look *too* forced.

"So who's the lucky guy?"

* * *

He'd been disappointed that they didn't have time to mess around
a little before leaving for work; since he'd had some errands to
run en route, and it was a nice day, Kerry had decided to take the
El to work. Randi all but tackled him when he came in the door,
waving a file at him.

"Hey, Dr Kovac. Could you please take this to Dr Weaver in her office?"

"Sure, Randi." He took the file from her and headed for Kerry's
office. He was a little rushed right now, but he didn't mind
taking a moment to visit with his wife. He opened the door a
crack, and was startled to find that Kerry wasn't alone in
there - a strange man was sitting in there talking with her. At
a respectable distance, to be sure, but there was a definite
undercurrent. He tapped on the door as he opened it further, and
was startled by the relief in her eyes.

"Luka! C'mon in. Ellis, this is my husband, Luka Kovac. He's
an attending here in the ER. Luka, this is Ellis West. He's a...
you're still with SPG?" The two men shook hands as they sized
each other up.

"Yeah."

"He works for Synergix Physicians Group. They provide attending
coverage and assist in administrative duties."

Luka managed to scrape up a non-committal "Uh huh." Ellis West,
huh? Kerry had mentioned being... involved with this man, once.
"Uh, Randi wanted me to give you this," he said as he handed
over the file. "I need to, uh, put my coat away. I can stow
your things in your locker while I'm in the lounge...?"

"Thank you." She handed over her coat and purse, and he nodded at West.

"Nice to meet you, Ellis."

"You too, Luka." Luka struggled to come up with something else
polite to say - with his limited experience, he'd never before
had to deal with the etiquette questions involved with meeting
a partner's ex-lover.

"Maybe the three of us can get together for dinner before you leave
Chicago? Our shifts aren't over for a while, but...." Ellis shook
his head.

"Sounds great. Unfortunately, I have presentations scheduled for
the next few days, before I leave town. As much as I'd love to
blow them off, I can't. Maybe next time I'm in Chicago, I can
bring Susan along and we can have a *proper* night out."

"Sure," Luka said, and escaped.

* * *

Luka came out of the lounge to find a bunch of teenagers in chairs;
some of them were holding emesis basins that they were putting to
good use. Great. "Okay, Haleh, tell me exactly how my day is going
to get worse."

"We got a bus full of kids who think they smelled something. Couple
of 'em passed out for a few seconds, and you can see that some of
the others got sick from it. Dave's got some of the boys who seem
to have caused whatever it was."

"That should be interesting." He turned around, and found Lydia
shoving an armload of charts at him.

"Dr Kovac, we've got some girls in Curtain Area 3 who think they
were very close to whatever produced the fumes on that bus.
Chen's student has already taken histories and ordered labs, and
all you have to do is check them over quickly." He followed her
and glanced through the window long enough to see just what age
range his already-gowned patients fell into, and stifled a groan.

"Can't Kerry take them? *She's* not doing anything right now."
Lydia smirked at him, and he wondered what on earth he was being
punished for.

"Now come on, Dr Kovac. You can do this. Chin up."

"Don't you *dare* abandon me in there," he muttered to her. God,
that was the *last* thing he needed, to find himself facing those
uniformed thugs who'd been here last week. At least that girl had
finally admitted - after receiving much-needed psychiatric
treatment - that she'd made a mistake when she accused Dave of
molesting her.

"I'm Dr Kovac. What se--" He nearly did a 180-degree turn to leave
the room when the girls spotted him; he'd seen starving dogs who
were more subtle in their interest. Only Lydia's hands - she was
surprisingly strong for her size - planted firmly in the middle
of his back kept him from fleeing.

"Hey, it's *him*!"

"What?" He *really* didn't like the looks of the situation - he
wondered if it would be possible for him to pull the fire alarm
without being spotted doing so.

"Man, I had *no* idea I was gonna be seen by Goran Vishnick!"

"No, that's 'Vizniki'."

"Really? *I* thought it was 'Vashnack'!"

"You sure it's not 'Vizjanik'?"

He glared at Lydia, who was chewing a hole in her lip in her
efforts not to laugh at his predicament. "That's 'Goran Visnjic'.
And I'm *not* him." He received a cluster of skeptical looks
for his trouble.

* * *

Elizabeth sighed as she worked on her patient... or rather,
on her patient's injuries. "Oh, god. I could *really* go
for some pepperoni pizza and ice cream right now," she muttered.		

"Too pooped to operate? Just say the word, Lizzie," Romano
suggested almost cheerfully from his post opposite her at the table.

"No, I'm *fine*," she insisted, glowering at Romano over the top
of her mask.

"Okay, okay. Sure you can still reach the patient okay?"

"Sure you can see over the table?" Romano smirked, and tut-tutted
at Elizabeth.

* * *

Once Ellis had left, Kerry took a minute to collect her thoughts.
Introducing her husband to her former lover had been an experience
that she never, *ever* wanted to repeat. At least there wasn't
much chance that Mlungisi would find himself in Chicago any time
in the near future - he'd hated the city, with all the cars and
people, and preferred a more rural lifestyle. Maybe that had
changed - it *had* been over five years since she'd last seen him,
after all - but she hoped not.

She got up to leave, since it was well past time for her to quit
sitting there and start *working*. On her way to the lounge,
though, she froze in mid-step, suddenly afraid to move. She looked
around, and spotted Malucci coming out of exam 2. "Dave!" Her panic
must have been evident in her voice, because he immediately
detoured from his planned route to the drug lockup.

"What's wrong, Chief? Is it the baby?"

"No. Get me a wheelchair - I feel like I'm going to fall, if I
move." He didn't get the wheelchair... instead, he simply scooped
her up, and she threw her arms around his neck until he felt like
he was being strangled... which, of course, was exactly what was
happening.

"Ackth! Ease up there, Chief - I can't breathe."

"Well, put me down, then! I asked you for a wheelchair - I didn't
ask you to play barbarian hero!"

"Really? Is that how you think of me?" Her only response to his
flippant tone of voice was the Stare of Death, and he immediately
began searching for a chair... which was difficult, since she
was strangling him *and* obscuring his field of vision. Finally
he got her settled in the wheelchair, and massaged his throat.
"What now, Chief?"

"Can you get somebody to take me up to OB?" He snapped off a
salute, and stepped behind the handles of the chair.

"'Somebody' at your service, Chief. Shall we?" She laughed as he
began pushing her in the direction of the elevators.

"I meant for you to call Transpo. Don't you have paperwork to do?
Charts?"

"Probably," he agreed, but didn't slow down. "Look, I'll get you
up there, long before Transpo would even make it here, okay?" he
assured her as he pressed the 'up' button. "And then I'll come
right back down and finish up my work."

"Okay." It was a solid indication of how scared she was, that she
didn't argue with Dave any further, and he patted her on the
shoulder. Despite his promise to return to the ER, though, she
finally had to chase him out with threats. "I'll be fine, Dave.
Really. Just let Luka know where I am, please?"

* * *

Dave started to enter the room where Luka was busy with a patient,
but decided that it would be better for the patient if he waited
until the procedure was finished. Just when he'd waited for
several minutes and was about to go in anyway, Luka turned away
from the patient and headed for the door, where Dave caught him.
"Hey, Dr Kovac?" Luka's mind was already on the next thing he had
to do, so he only gave Dave half his attention.

"I'm busy, Dave. What is it?"

"It's Dr Weaver. She's up in OB, and she..." He trailed off as
Luka made for the nearest elevator, shouting for someone to hold
the door for him. "Wanted me to let you know where she is," he
finished lamely, shaking his head.

* * *

The elevator door opened, and Luka emerged like a horse from the
starting gate. Sandra was the first OB staff member he encountered.
"Where is she?"

"Whoa! Dr Kovac, slow down. Who?"

"Kerry. I was told she was brought up here. What's wrong?"

"Oh. Dr Weaver's in room 17, waiting for Dr Coburn to come talk to
her. You can go..." Luka hurried past. "In if you want." Man, she
thought, were *all* Croatians this impatient?

He opened the door slowly, and had a moment of near-panic when he
saw Kerry on the bed with her eyes closed and looking so pale. He
wasn't aware he'd been holding his breath until he saw Kerry's
chest move. So she was just dozing. Reasonable, he supposed, since
she'd been tiring more easily lately; so much for second trimester
vigor.

It was scary how tiny Kerry looked in that bed, in that hospital
gown. At least the blanket was folded all the way down to the end
of the bed - he wouldn't have to disturb her *too* much to get her
some covers. She'd been feeling a little warm lately, but there
was no way that she wasn't chilly in just the gown. He sat down
in the chair by her bed and took her hand, and she woke just enough
to smile and mumble something before drifting off again.

"Hey, Luka." He jumped in his seat when Janet Coburn entered the
room, and his motion woke Kerry. "Well, Kerry, I have to say that
I'm not surprised to see you up here. The pregnancy - the hormones,
that is - is causing problems with your hips, and you're at risk
of spontaneous dislocation if you stay on your feet. But I think
you already knew *that*. Besides that, your blood pressure is
higher than I'd prefer." She opened Kerry's chart and set it on
the bed, at Kerry's feet.

"And that means...?" Luka thought he knew, but hoped he was wrong.

"Strict bedrest until the delivery. I want you in the hospital for
that time, so we can monitor your health. I want to try to manage
your blood pressure without drugs if possible, so I'm ordering
a low-sodium diet from the kitchen. Also, I think that with your
hips the way they are, I'm going to want to do a c-section to
deliver - I'm concerned about the effects of a vaginal birth on
your hips."

"Is there a chance that our baby might have a hip problem, too?"

"Well, hip dysplasia *is* a condition that could make your child
susceptible to hip dislocations, too, and we'll do a thorough check
for that. But we won't know anything for sure until after the
baby's born. Until then, guys, try to relax." Janet picked up the
chart, and left the room.

"'Relax', she says," Luka grumbled. "Will you be all right up
here? I should go back downstairs, but I'll be back as soon as
I can." Kerry made a lazy shooing motion at him.

"Go, go."

* * *

"Hey, Abby." She glanced up from her sorting, and smiled at Carter.
"I, uh, hear you got your match?" His voice was uneasy as her
hand drifted back into the pocket of her labcoat to fiddle with
the slim envelope she'd been handed when she arrived for her shift.

"Yeah. I haven't opened it yet, though - I thought I'd save it
until, say, *now*, and we can find out together whether or not
we should, uh, invest in a good long-distance calling plan." Her
eyes were large and uncertain as she got out the envelope and
clutched it to her chest... was he going to question her on
her assumption that they would maintain contact after she graduated?

"Okay... open it!" She smiled, reassured, and quickly opened
the envelope with a ballpoint pen pressed into hasty service
as a makeshift letter opener.

"Drumroll please?" Carter obligingly pattered on the wall with his
hands as she snatched the notice out of the envelope, then slowly
unfolded it to see where she'd matched. She looked at the results,
then shook her head and folded it back up and returned it to the
envelope.

"Oh, god. I don't *believe* it."

They were interrupted when Yosh dashed out of the exam room, holding
a wadded towel to his head. "Abby, we need you in Exam 2! Hurry!"
She stuffed the envelope back into the pocket of her labcoat and
followed him in, to find a man with a pillowcase over his head
and screaming, and Malik trying to restrain him.

"Why is he down here, instead of the psych ward?" Malik and Yosh
exchanged a hasty glance, that Abby would later realize was also
a guilty one.

"Uh... he cut himself up, and he was brought down here. Quick, get
the leathers on that side!"

"Okay." She scurried around to the other side of the bed to help
Malik. "Yosh, get ten of Haldol to-- OW!"

Luka, who'd heard the screaming out in the hallway, pushed his way
into the room just as the man's wildly swinging arm whacked Abby
on the side of the head and sent her reeling back. He wondered why
Yosh was being so slow with the Haldol; he snatched the syringe
and ampule out of the nurse's hands, finished drawing up the dose,
and plunged the needle into the thigh of the screaming man... who
quit screaming with an indignant "Hey!" He yanked the pillowcase
off his head, and Luka glared at Dave, who tried to look as
innocent as a man holding a pillowcase in his hands and wearing
a hospital gown possibly could. "That wasn't *really* Haldol, was
it?" Luka turned just in time to see the guilty look on Yosh's face.

"It was an April Fool's *joke*!" Luka's patience, which had already
been low all day and hadn't been helped by his wife being admitted
to the hospital, ran out with the weak protest.

"*April Fool's*?!? What the hell kind of stupid joke is that? We
are already down one doctor for the next several months, and
now-- Dave! Wake up, dammit." He narrowed his eyes at the two
nurses, who slunk out of the room with their tails between their
legs. "Abby, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bump." She glared at Dave, whose
eyes were slipping shut again.

"Okay. Go put some ice on that." He sent her out of the room
with a friendly pat on the shoulder, then turned to glower at
Dave as Abby stalked out of the room. "Now. As for *you*-- wake
up!" He shook Dave's shoulder. "As for you. I'm grateful that you
helped Kerry earlier, but this kind of behavior is absolutely
unacceptable... from a resident, from a nurse, from *anybody*!
You have five minutes to get out of that gown, back into your
own clothes, and out front. If I come back in here and find
you asleep...." He trailed off and let Dave come to his own
conclusions about Luka's intentions, then left the room.

He was pleased to see that Carter had put himself in charge of
making sure Abby was *really* okay - the younger man had made a
game out of checking Abby's pupils, and was probably leaning in
closer than was appropriate for a resident and a student. They
really ought to be careful about how much they let their personal
relationship spill over into their work... not, he supposed, that
he was in much of a position to criticize them.

He checked his watch: nearly five minutes, and still no sign of
Dave. Okay... he went to Randi and asked her a quick question,
then went in search of the item he had in mind before he went
after Dave.

Sure enough, Dave had fallen asleep again, with his jeans fastened
but his usual scrub shirt still clutched in his hand. He was,
Luka noticed, even drooling a little. "Aw... Dave. You look so
peacefully asleep," he whispered in the man's ear. "Like a little
napping angel. Such a pity to wake you up, *but*..."
<BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!> The air horn, which Luka had set off just
a few feet from Dave's ear, had the desired effect: Dave almost
had to be peeled off the ceiling. He could hear startled squawks
from outside the room, and he smiled. That had almost been *too*
much fun!

* * *

"I should glue your hand to your face for pulling such a stupid
stunt!" Dave sat meekly in a chair in Kerry's office as Luka tore
into him - he kept pinching himself to try to keep from falling
asleep again, since Luka was still holding the air horn and
looked perfectly willing to use it again, judging from the wild
look in his eyes.

"Is this about hitting Abby? I told you, I didn't *mean* to do it!"

"No, you never *mean* to do any of it! You're an adult, Dave, and coming 
up on the end of your residency - it's damned well past time for you to 
start *behaving* like an adult! Grow up!" He glared at Dave when the man 
smiled. "What is funny about this?"

"Just... that's what N-- my partner told me." That wasn't *strictly* 
true, of course, but he supposed that both he and Nick could stand to 
be more mature in their own ways. Luka shot him a startled look.

"You're dating Dr Dennison?" Dave was briefly shocked into full alertness.

"I didn't say that!"

"No, but you referred to your 'partner'. I was just guessing about Nick." 
He'd been confused by the cagy way Kerry had referred to Dave's "someone", 
rather than just to Dave's "girlfriend", but since she wasn't that someone, 
he hadn't cared about the specifics. He still didn't.

* * *

He signed out at the end of his shift, then headed for the elevator.
A few minutes later, he was back in Kerry's room, holding her hand.
"So, what are we going to do? For the next few months, I mean. I
really don't want to go home alone tonight. It'll be too quiet."

"Now you see why I didn't want to go home the night we were attacked? 
Unfortunately, this is going to be a lot longer than staying overnight 
for observation." He put his head down on her belly for a moment, 
smiling at the baby's wiggly little nudges as Kerry stroked his hair.

"Mm-hm. I have a feeling I'm going to be putting in a *lot* of double 
shifts over the next few months."

"Just don't overdo it. I don't want you to collapse from a nervous 
breakdown before the baby's even born." He flashed an impish grin at 
her.

"Ah. You'd rather I save my nervous breakdown for *after* he's born, 
heh?"

"*She*."

"You think the baby's a girl?"

"Well, it *is* my body--"

"Kerry, you know I love you dearly, but I really don't--" He broke off 
and smiled, shaking his head. "No... I am *not* going to argue with you 
about this."

"You're that sure our baby is a boy?" He glanced up at her for a moment - 
she thought he looked almost... *embarrassed* - and ran his fingers along 
the curve of her belly before speaking again, almost in a whisper.

"I, uh, was right both times before. With Jasna and Marko. But...
if you're so sure our baby is a girl...."

"What?"

"*If* the baby is a girl, you'll name her. I'll name a boy." He could see 
Kerry glow at that idea. "You have a name in mind?" 

"Mm-hm. Penelope Kovac."

"Penelope... Odysseus's wife, who waited faithfully for him for twenty 
years? Very pretty."

"What about you? What would you name a boy?" He sighed.

"I, uh, haven't quite decided yet." He had some idea of what name he liked, 
but he wasn't ready to share it with her yet. "Maybe, uh, 'Boris'." She shot 
him a look of horror, and he pressed on. "Yeah. Boris Badenov Kovac." He 
snickered, and she swatted his arm. "What, you don't like it? What?" She 
was giving him a strange look.

"Geeve me *beeg* American keesses," she whispered, and he was all too 
happy to oblige. A while later he pulled away with a big sigh. "So what 
am I missing downstairs?"

"Well, there was the astrology-obsessed patient I had, who kept pestering 
me for my 'sign'."

"Oh? What did you tell her?"

"'Dining car in opposite direction'," he told her solemnly, and she cracked 
up.

"Seriously, Luka. I'm in the age range that Janet will want to do an 
amnio - *do* we want to find out the baby's sex?" He shrugged.

"Eh."

"I know you think you already know, but it'll make the nursery easier to 
decorate if we know for sure ahead of time."

"Only if we're going to use 'traditional' colors, and you've never struck 
me as being a traditional kind of woman."

"Well, no," she agreed. "Are you going to have time for it?"

"I'm gonna have to *make* time between now and July, huh? I'll bring you your 
laptop, so you can look at colors online. I don't want you to be *completely* 
surprised by the results." He sighed, and played with her fingers. "I guess 
that's one good thing about you being stuck here - I won't have to worry about 
you inhaling any paint fumes."

"Maybe you and Mark could work together. You know... you help him with his 
nursery, and he helps you with ours."

"Is this some kind of team-building exercise? Like, leadership through painting 
and stuffed animals?" He looked apprehensive at the idea, and she couldn't help 
laughing.

"Oh, I like that. I wonder if I could put together a proposal and a set of 
objectives in time to convince the staff to do both nurseries for us." He 
was taken in for a moment by the faraway look in her eyes that usually signalled 
the beginning of a lot of nonsensical management talk. "Relax, Luka, I'm just 
kidding." He rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Sometimes I wonder."

* * *

Mark paused in the hallway when he heard Luka calling his name. "Mark! I've 
been looking for you."

"Here I am. What's up?"

"How are you and Elizabeth doing with your nursery?"

"You mean how am *I* doing? There's a lot she can't do. What about you?"

"Well, I was thinking: what if we work together? I'll help you with getting your 
nursery set up, since your baby is due first, and then you help me." Mark thought 
about it, and nodded.

"Sounds good. Okay. Uh... you have Saturday off, right?"

"Yeah. I still need to buy most of the stuff - I thought I'd have plenty of 
time to do it. It sneaks up, doesn't it?"

"Don't worry about it. I've kinda been putting things off, too. Elizabeth's been 
making threatening noises to try to get me going." Luka nodded.

"Should go faster with more than one person on the job."

"Yeah. It'd go even faster if we could get a third person on the job. You know 
anybody who could help?"

"Oh, yes. I know just the third person: Malucci would probably prefer to get back 
on my good side after today."

"I *heard* about the air horn. He really got dosed with Haldol?"

"Yep. An April Fool's joke backfired on him." Luka was still annoyed about the 
prank, but he was starting to find some of the humor in it; he'd been considering 
retaliation, but maybe it would be more constructive to draft the man's assistance, 
instead.

* * *

Mark spotted his fiancee heading towards him. It would have been difficult *not* 
to spot her, as large as she'd become by now, but (having been married previously) 
he was smart enough not to make cracks about her size. Or at least not to make 
them within earshot of anyone who might repeat the comment to her. "Hey, Elizabeth. 
How was surgery?"

She flopped down on a nearby empty bed with a little groan. "Okay. Good. It went 
well. You know what, I'm done proving myself. As of this minute, I am *officially* 
on maternity leave. Surgery can bloody well get along without me for the next few 
months."

"Dr Corday, this just came for you." Debbie handed over two small containers, and 
Elizabeth began to laugh when she saw the pizza box and the pint of ice cream... with 
an envelope and a plastic spoon attached. She quickly opened the envelope, and pulled 
out a card with an "R" engraved on the front; the note said, simply, "Congratulations, 
Mom".

"My god. I can't believe he remembered!"

"I don't think I wanna know," Mark muttered, but then he noticed that the ice cream was 
Cherry Garcia. "Pizza or ice cream first?" She clapped her hands like a little girl.

"Oh, ice cream. Definitely ice cream!"

"All right." He dipped the spoon into the small cardboard canister, and scooped out some 
ice cream, which he held out to her.

"You know," she told him playfully, just before she accepted the bite, "I've had fantasies 
involving toaster waffles, ice cream, and warm maple syrup. And you, of course." He gulped;
after all this time, he still wasn't used to Elizabeth letting her 'naughty' side out like 
this. It was weird, but kinda nice.


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