3 hours.

Her shift had finished 3 hours ago. 180 additional minutes that she had been wearing her white coat. 10,800 additional seconds that she had been within sight and shout of the ER staff. Part of her was curious to know what would have happened to the 37 patients whose diagnoses and treatments she had confirmed, reviewed, changed or signed off on whilst she waited for her 1 additional patient to be admitted and transferred up to Orthopaedics for treatment: she would have to try to remember that little detail for the next time she found herself in a competency and skills debate with a resident or worse, an attending; but what she was more curious to know was how the Ortho Chief would react to that piece of news when she brought it up in the Chiefs' meeting next week.

"Dr Weaver, could you just…"

"Ask Carter please Chuny, I'm off." 10 paces, she needed 10 paces to get to the Doctors' Lounge.

"Dr Weaver, about those forms…"

"Tomorrow Susan, ask me tomorrow." 6 paces, 6 little paces.

"Hey Doc Bitch!" She tried never to acknowledge patients who shouted at her when she was on shift, she certainly was ignoring patients who rudely shouted and made obscene gestures at her when she was this far beyond shift. 4 paces, 2 if her hip wasn't spasming.

"Oh thank god…" Finally in the relative sanctuary of the Doctor's Lounge, Kerry let the door close behind her as she slumped against the wall pleased to be able to lean against something and close her eyes for a moment as she waited for the throbbing in her hip to settle back to a more ignorable rhythm.

"Tough day?" Startled, Kerry's eyes snapped open and she made a brief attempt to try and stand up properly and look 'Weaverish' before she registered the identity of her audience.

"You're still here?" Those were definitely not the words she'd planned on saying to her girlfriend at the end of her shift.

"Course I'm still here… how's the kid?"

"Kid? Oh, the kid… you know about her?" She was doing badly at this. If it didn't involve heading back out into the busy ER, she would have been tempted to ask for a second attempt at entering the Lounge and discovering that Sandy was still here, waiting for her.

"Didn't know she was a she, but Abby mentioned your extra patient was a kid. How is she?" asked Sandy, trying to focus on how tired her girlfriend looked rather than how cute her frown of confusion was, something 'Dr Weaver' was probably not going to appreciate having pointed out.

"Ah, ok now. Well, not ok, but, well…" The frown was back as Kerry ran out of words.

"So still alive, but suffering something non-fatal and fixable?" interpreted Sandy, familiar with the problem – admittedly her problem usually involved trying to distinguish between fires that destroyed livelihoods and buildings, and fires that took lives as well.

"Yeah… broken collarbone and dislocated shoulder."

"Ouch… tough for a kid."

"Very tough for a young kid who can't move their arm or fingers much and so can't sign to their parents what's happened or what they feel."

"But fixable?"

"Kids are tough, she'll be fine. Hardest part was working out what was wrong. After that it was just slow."

"You think that wall can stand up on its own?" teased Sandy, wondering if she was going to have to carry Kerry out of the hospital, totally certain that such an action would not go down well with 'Dr Weaver', though it would probably get her a free pass on any 'cute' comments.

"I should move," agreed Kerry, trying to muster some energy to do that, "I shouldn't have stopped."

"I'll meet you at your locker," suggested Sandy, gesturing her head towards the metal door labelled 'Weaver' that was halfway down the far wall, a few steps from both of their current positions.

"That sounds like high school."

"You were meeting girls at your locker in high school?" asked Sandy in mock outrage, knowing that if she teased Kerry enough, she'd get moving again if only to find something to playfully hit her with.

"What? No…" Shaking her head, Kerry pushed her weight back onto her legs, only wincing when she failed to transfer enough of her weight onto her crutch fast enough, reminding her of the muscle spasm.

"Thought you were a late bloomer?" Noticing the wince, Sandy took a couple of steps towards the locker as she continued her teasing, trying to keep Kerry's attention away from her hip and her pain. There would be enough time on the journey back to Kerry's place (there was no way she was making Kerry suffer the longer journey back to hers) for that.

"I know what you're doing…" grumbled Kerry, gingerly testing her right hip by shifting her stance slightly.

"You do?"

"Yeah…" first step, "you're trying…" second step, "to get me…" third step," to admit…" fourth step, "that I never…" fifth step, "made out…" sixth step, "by my locker…" seventh step, "in High School."

"I really wasn't," said Sandy, leaning her shoulder against the adjacent locker as Kerry came to a stop in front of her.

"No?"

"No." Sandy's answer brought about the return of the frown.

"Oh. What are you smiling at?"

"You. You're cute when you frown."

"Shut up." Blushing, Kerry focused on Sandy's fingers which were now tangled in her white coat.

"You know what I was thinking?" said Sandy quietly, prompting Kerry to look up at her face which was almost but not quite in kissing range.

"What?"

"That we should get out of here and go have that breakfast we planned."

"I don't want eggs," said Kerry, obediently reaching for her lock and starting to try to find the combination, "I need my glasses…"

"I got it," said Sandy easily, turning the dial through the three digit combination she'd set it to for Kerry when she'd bought the new lock the previous month, "…and I wasn't thinking of eggs."

"Thank you." Kerry opened her locker, feeling Sandy come and stand behind her, "I'm not really hungry."

"I know," agreed Sandy, reaching around in front of Kerry and removing her stethoscope, which she then placed on the top shelf of the locker, "which is why we're going back to your place," Kerry obediently dropped her shoulders and let her crutch rest against the locker door when she felt the tug on her white coat, enabling Sandy to it pull off and again, reach around her into the locker, this time swapping the MD's jacket for her outdoor jacket, "for you to have a soak in the bath I am going to run for you..." Like a waiter in a fancy restaurant, Sandy helped Kerry into her jacket, resisting the urge to kiss her neck as she straightened the collar.

"That sounds wonderful…" said Kerry softly as she instinctively reached for her crutch with her right hand and her backpack with her left, only for Sandy to gently push her hand away, reaching for the bag herself, "…is the 'chef' going to join me?"

"In the bath? If madame would like zis…" Sandy rested her chin on Kerry's shoulder and wrapped her in a loose embrace with her free arm, feeling Kerry lean back into her.

"Madame would like zis very much…" agreed Kerry, imitating Sandy's silly French accent as she sighed in contentment, the stress and irritation of her over-long 24 hour shift slowly retreating.

"You ready to go?"

"It's tempting to just stay like this…"

"As good as this is…" began Sandy, feeling Kerry shift her weight off her, preparing to go.

"It's going to be better at home?" Kerry shut her locker door and relocked it.

"There is that," agreed Sandy, shouldering Kerry's backpack, ready to follow her out of the Lounge and ER.

"But?"

"But I was going to say that it wouldn't be much fun when we got interrupted."

"Good point." Kerry turned around so that she was facing Sandy. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"Staying. And being here now. And the bath."

"No problem. We heading out?"

"In a minute. I never did, you know…" began Kerry cryptically, catching the hem of Sandy's denim jacket in her hand.

"Never did what?" asked Sandy, taking Kerry's hint and stepping closer to her girlfriend so that they were almost leaning against each other again.

"Make out by my locker in High School."

"This isn't High School."

"Nope. It's so much better than High School," whispered Kerry before leaning forwards and catching Sandy's lips in a kiss, a kiss that quickly deepened as feelings and emotions that had been pushed behind layers of professionalism for both their shifts quickly reasserted themselves.

"We should go," reminded Sandy quietly when they parted a moment later.

"You're talking about moving again," grumbled Kerry, obediently bracing herself for the inevitable discomfort getting walking again would cause her.

"Yup," agreed Sandy easily, taking half a step back from Kerry so that she was not in kissing range.

"You're evil," Kerry's grumbling was entirely without threat but not lacking in feeling as she dutifully started to turn with Sandy towards the door.

"Yup, but only 'cos you're cute when you grumble."

"I'm not…"

"Cute?" teased Sandy, pleased to see Kerry start to resume walking, albeit more slowly than she would have done if her hip hadn't been sore.

"Grumbling..."

"But you are cute…"

"Am not…" muttered Kerry one final time before they left the relative sanctuary of the Doctor's Lounge and headed back out into the busy ER and onwards to Kerry's house. It was time for breakfast…

Thanks for reading - this moment is finished. But there might be more moments to come, if the muses hang around, we'll see.