Title: Fast as You Can, 7/7
Song: I am taking a break from the Goo Goo Dolls. (*gasp* *wail* *scream*) The song for the final part of "Fast As You Can" will be its namesake - "Fast As You Can" by Fiona Apple. I thought of the idea for the series while listening to this song so I found it only appropriate to end the series with it. Enjoy!
Notes: This is the last chapter in this series – I completely forgot to update it for some reason. Again, this was my first fic, I've seen the errors of my ways . . . hehe
1:00 am
"Randi, have you seen Mark?" Doug asked while scanning the board.
Randi didn't move her gaze from her magazine. "Nope," she answered absently, turning a page. "Not since he came in with you a half hour ago or something." She glared slightly as she looked up at him. "Weren't you already here tonight?"
Doug sighed. "I just can't seem to tear myself away," he remarked sarcastically. He turned around and headed down the ER halls and grumbled, "I should be asleep right now, but of course, I'm here instead, like I am every day . . ."
He was so absorbed in his grumbling that he ran into Elizabeth, who was rushing out of an exam room. "Whoa, Elizabeth!" Doug exclaimed. "Where's the fire?"
"Don't joke, Doug; just tell me you've seen Mark in the last few minutes," Elizabeth pleaded.
Doug shook his head, and Elizabeth groaned. "I was just looking for him myself," Doug told her.
"If you see him, tell him to get out of here!" Elizabeth cried as she ran past Doug. "Tell him to go home as fast as he can!"
"Wait, Elizabeth," Doug called. "Why -"
Elizabeth turned around and ran backwards, facing Doug. "Just do it!" she yelled as she turned back around and sprinted through the ER.
Shrugging, Doug opened the door to the lounge and walked inside. Malucci was seated on the sofa, his leg in a cast and propped up on several pillows. Tess was sleeping in his arms, and Kate was seated on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Dr. Ross, thank God," Malucci said gratefully. "I think that one hates me."
Grinning, Doug strolled over to Kate and picked her up. "How have my girls been?" he asked as he comforted a hysterical Kate.
Dave sighed. "This one's good," he said, nodding to Tess. He pointed to Kate. "That one's the evil one."
Doug raised an eyebrow at Malucci as he put Kate to his shoulder and walked back and forth across the room. "She's not evil, Malucci," Doug said as he kissed Kate on the forehead. "She just doesn't like you."
Malucci shook his head and stroked Tess's hair. "Whatever, man," he said. "Kids always like me. This one must be the smart one."
Doug smirked at Malucci. "If we're going by those standards, then Kate must be the smart one."
Malucci began to nod triumphantly, but was confused. "Which one is Kate again?"
Suddenly the lounge door opened again, and Abby walked in. "Oh, you brought the girls!" she squealed, rushing to the sofa and scooping Tess from Malucci's arms.
"Hey!" Malucci cried. "We were bonding!"
Abby scowled at him as she expertly adjusted her arms to hold Tess, who was still asleep. "You got to hold her all night!" she informed him. "I was locked in a SUPPLY ROOM for two and a half hours, then working for three. I'm on my break."
"Hey, I broke my ANKLE on that supply room," Malucci informed her. "I've been sitting here for as long as you've been working."
"Wooo, you've been sitting on a sofa for 3 hours," Abby remarked sarcastically. "Poor baby."
"Hey-" Malucci protested.
"Abby, have you seen Mark?" Doug interrupted, not wanting to hear Malucci whine any more.
"Um, I saw him talking to one of the cops outside," Abby answered. "But that was about 20 minutes ago."
Doug thought for a moment. Elizabeth had seemed panicked in the hallway; however, Doug knew of her tendency to overreact to everything. Even so, he was worried. Mark wasn't one to stray far from the ER. Maybe the cops would know where Mark went.
"Aw, look, Abby, you woke her up," Malucci moaned as he feebly reached for Tess. "You're a sucky babysitter. Give her to me."
Abby turned away from him. "Tess is just fine where she is," she told Malucci as she gently jiggled Tess up and down.
"Here, Malucci, you take Kate," Doug said as he handed her to Malucci. "I'm going to find Mark."
"But -" Malucci started to protest. Doug held up a hand as he hastily left the lounge. "Don't leave me with the evil one!" He sighed and looked at Kate, who promptly burst into tears.
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I let the beast in too soon, I don't know how to live
Without my hand on his throat; I fight him always and still
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"Amanda," Mark sputtered. "What - what are you doing here?"
Amanda frowned. "You didn't even welcome me back," she protested. "I was gone for a more than a year. Didn't you miss me?"
Mark chose not to answer.
"Not even a welcome back kiss?" she asked, disappointed.
Repulsed at the prospect of kissing Amanda Lee, Mark took a step back. Amanda's gun tilted up a bit, guiding Mark back to the doorway of the morgue. "Oh no, Mark Greene," Amanda said calmly. "You're not getting away from me again."
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Oh darling, it's so sweet, you think you know how crazy
How crazy I am
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"You've changed."
Carter's eyes blinked open. "Huh?" he yawned, unable to see the woman to his left.
"You've changed, Carter."
Carter sat up and struggled to see who was speaking. "Oh, it's you, Lucy," he said, relieved. "You scared me." He yawned again, stretching his arms. "I was in the middle of a beautiful morphine-induced dream-"
"Shut up, Carter," Lucy snapped. "I'm going to talk and you're going to listen, for once. It won't kill you."
Carter tilted his head and settled into his pillows, amused by Lucy's change in demeanor. "Ok, he said with a grin. "I'm listening."
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You say you don't spook easy, you won't go, but I know
And I pray that you will
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"What are you doing here?" Mark repeated.
"I should ask you the same thing!" Amanda cried. "Why did you move from Mercy?"
"I never worked at Mercy!" Mark said, confused. *She's even more psychotic than the last time I saw her,* he thought. Still, his hands trembled as he stared into the barrel of the gun. "So it's you who's been doing all this?"
Amanda smiled. "Doing what?" she asked innocently.
Mark was flabbergasted. "You know what!" he yelled. "You've been attacking my staff . . . my friends!"
Amanda's face was blank. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied. "Your precious Dr. Corday is safe. I would think that you'd be happy."
A chill ran through Mark as he remembered Amanda's complete obsession with him a year ago. Her knowledge of his relationship with Elizabeth could be potentially dangerous, and obviously - Mark looked into the gun that was pointed at him - Amanda was capable of making it dangerous. "How do you know about Elizabeth?" he asked.
"A friend told me," Amanda answered slyly.
"A friend?" Mark asked, puzzled. Who could have possibly told her that he and Elizabeth were together?
"Yes, a friend," Amanda said hotly, then screamed, "I DO HAVE FRIENDS, MARK!"
"I - I know!" Mark stammered, not wanting her to become hysterical. "Of course you have friends!"
Amanda visibly calmed down. "I have more friends than you do," she said haughtily.
"I know," Mark assured her, knowing that she was lying but trying to calm her down. "But what are you doing here?"
Amanda smiled at him. "You still haven't given me a kiss," she told him.
------------------------------- Fast as you can, baby, Run - free yourself of me Fast as you can -------------------------------
"Excuse me, officers," Doug said as he approached the officers in Chairs. "I'm looking for Dr. Greene - have you seen him?"
An officer nodded and pointed up the hall. "He went to Dr. Kovac's room about 20 minutes ago," he told Doug. "Said something about a Nurse Hathaway up there -"
"In Kovac's room?" Doug asked, his eyes flashing with jealousy. He HATED that guy.
The officer shrugged. "I guess," he said, turning back to the other officers.
Doug turned away and rapidly strode to the elevator. *I've got to get to Kovac's room,* he told himself. He trusted Carol completely - it was Kovac who bristled him. Plus, he was getting more and more nervous with each person who had only seen Mark 20 minutes ago. What could have happened since then?
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I may be soft in your palm, but I'll soon grow hungry for a fight,
And I will not let you win
My pretty mouth will frame the phrases that will
Disprove your faith in man
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
Lucy stood up and paced around the room, not really sure what to say. Carter watched her patiently, then complained, "C'mon, Luce, I want to get back to sleep sometime tonight. I'm exhausted."
Lucy turned to him. "Do you remember that time in the Suture room, Carter?" she asked suddenly. "When we . . ."
Carter lowered his eyes. "Of course I do," he murmured after a few moments. Remembering their encounter in the suture room always made him want to throw up. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by it - more like disgusted. And it wasn't Lucy that disgusted him, either. Lucy was obviously very attractive and he could not deny the fact that he had once been very attracted to her. But that time was over. Carter didn't know why he felt so nauseated when he thought of that night, or when he was in the suture room; all he knew was that it had been a mistake.
Lucy took a deep breath. It was finally time to tell him the truth. *How can I say this without sounding too stupid?* she thought desperately. "That was . . . the best time I ever had in the suture room," she blurted out." *DAMMIT, I'm pathetic!* she thought mournfully.
Carter tried not to laugh at her ridiculous statement. "Oh, come on, I think sewing up torn, bleeding human flesh is even better," he joked, then immediately wished he hadn't said anything. "Wait, that came out wrong, Luce-"
Lucy's eyes filled with tears. "I knew I shouldn't have told you," she said bitterly. "I knew you wouldn't feel the same way I do."
"Feel what way?!" Carter asked.
"The way I feel about you!" Lucy cried.
"How is that?!" Carter yelled back, knowing perfectly well what she was going to say. He just hoped that delaying her inevitable statement would somehow change it.
"That I'm in love with you!" she shouted, then immediately silenced. "I'm in love with you."
Carter's eyes widened and his heart jumped into his chest. He had not been expecting Lucy to say that. He had been expecting something like "I have a crush on you" or "I like you" - something much more immature than "I'm in love with you." How was he going to deal with this? Crushes were easy to let down, infatuation was easy to end, but love? How did Lucy even know it was love?
"Luce-" he began.
"No," she interrupted, turning back to him. "I know what you're going to say. I know how you feel. I thought I could change you but you've already changed. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you that I'm transferring to Mercy so I won't be in your way anymore."
"Lucy, you don't have to do that," Carter told her. "Really. I do like having you as my student . . . and my friend." A slight pang of guilt crossed Carter's brow as he knew he was lying; he had never actually considered Lucy his friend before that moment. He did, however, like having her as a student. "But nothing more."
"What about Dr. Chen?" Lucy asked abruptly.
"Huh?" Carter asked, taken aback. "What about Dr. Chen?"
"You two obviously have something going on," Lucy snapped at him. The tears had stopped, and the mournful longing in her eyes had been replaced by sharp anger. "I want to know what it is."
Carter shifted uneasily in his bed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Lucy threw up her arms angrily. "You two were all over each other a while ago!" she cried. "I thought I was going to throw up!"
Indignant, Carter sat up. "She was comforting me when I was suffering," he informed her, trying to keep his anger down. "I had just been shot, Lucy, and I had just found out Cleo was dead." Carter glared at her. "You need to stop thinking about yourself for a minute and consider the feelings of others around you."
Lucy was aghast. "You - you want ME to stop thinking of myself?!" she sputtered. "ME?"
"Yeah, you," Carter told her, crossing his arms. "Maybe if you had been there-"
"I WAS THERE!" Lucy screamed. "I was there when you woke up, and you bawled me out for something I didn't even do! You wouldn't let me explain a goddamn thing but when Dr. Chen came in you were totally fine!"
Carter searched Lucy's eyes worriedly. "Are you going through some kind of Ritalin withdrawal?" he asked, concerned.
Lucy's jaw dropped, and her pale face grew dark red with pure rage at Carter's comment. Mere words could not pass her swelling throat for they would not express her fury adequately. "Fuck you, Carter," she managed to choke as she stormed out, leaving a dumbfounded Carter alone in the room.
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So if you catch me trying to find my way into your heart from under your skin
Fast as you can, baby scratch me out, free yourself
Fast as you can
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"Ah, Dr. Ross," Luka smiled as Doug entered the room. "How are you this fine evening?"
Doug tried to hide a glare as he checked Luka's chart. "Looks like someone's checked into the Acetaminophen Hotel," he commented.
Luka nodded happily. "It is a beautiful hotel indeed. Located in the town of Tylenol Plus."
Doug put Luka's chart back at the foot of his bed. Not looking up while speaking, he asked, "Have you seen Mark?"
Luka thought for a moment. "Yes. He and Carol went to the ER for a trauma."
Doug groaned. "No, they're not in the ER, Luka," Doug said through gritted teeth. "I was just there."
"Hmmm. Very peculiar. Perhaps you missed each other?" Luka asked.
Sighing, Doug turned around. "Worth a shot," he mumbled. Doug did NOT like the fact that the two people closest to him were now missing - and the way the night was going, he couldn't afford for anyone to be missing.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fast as you can, baby scratch me out, free yourself
Fast as you can
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Why did you do it, Amanda?" Mark asked hesitantly after a period of silence. "Why did you kill Dr. Finch?" No matter how close her finger wavered over the trigger of the gun, Mark had to know why.
"I didn't mean to," she said. "I made a mistake." She looked at Mark sadly. "I'm sorry."
"You're-you're sorry?" Mark asked incredulously. "That's it?"
"I didn't know it was Dr. Finch!" she cried. "I thought it was - someone else. It's hard to see a person's face from the top of a building." She glared at Mark. "Besides, this is all your fault."
"What?" Mark asked. "How?"
"You moved from Mercy," Amanda told him. Mark couldn't tell if she was trying not to cry or trying not to burst out in anger. "I thought you still worked at Mercy. None of this would have happened if you hadn't worked at Mercy."
"I never worked at Mercy!" Mark exclaimed. "I've always worked at County!"
Amanda was confused. "No, I memorized it! 'M' for Mark, 'M' for Mercy!"
Mark shook his head. "I'm telling you, Amanda, I have always worked at County. YOU even worked at County - how could you mix that up?"
Amanda, overwhelmed, let the gun's aim fall from Mark's face to the floor, causing Mark to let out a deep breath. " 'C' . . ." she murmured. " 'C' for County, 'C' for . . ." she shot a look at Mark - "Corday. I should have known."
"No, Amanda," Mark pleaded frantically. "That's just a coincidence!"
Amanda slowly brought the gun back up to Mark. "I wish I could believe you," she said dejectedly.
----------------------------------------------------
Sometimes my mind don't shake and shift
But most of the time, it does
---------------------------------------------------
"Doug!!" Carol cried, rushing to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh my God . . . I was so worried . . ." Suddenly she let go of his neck and angrily looked into his eyes. "Where the HELL have you been?"
"I was looking for Mark," Doug explained, pulling Carol into a casual embrace. "I heard he went up to Kovac's room."
Carol shoved him in the chest, causing him to stumble back a step. "Don't you EVER do that to me again!" she screamed. "I have never been so scared in my life!"
"Wait a minute," Doug said, confused. "What's going on?"
"Haven't you heard?" Carol asked. "The killer's still loose! The police called and said the fingerprints on the door to the roof weren't the student's after all! Just now the cops arrived and got an interview out of the kid! The killer is still here!"
"What did the kid say?" Doug asked hurriedly. He had found Carol in the ER after all - but that was only one half of his concern. "And where is Mark?"
"The kid told the cops everything," Carol explained. "The cops checked it out with Carter and Luka, and his story checks out." Carol motioned for Doug to step to the side of the busy ER hallway and leaned closer to him. "The killer posed as a pilot on the chopper," she whispered. "They think that the killer is the sniper but they don't know for sure."
"Then why are they calling him a killer if they don't know if he's the sniper?" Doug asked.
"First of all, the killer is a she," Carol corrected, watching Doug's eyes widen in shock. "And second of all, she killed Cleo."
"Wait, wait," Doug held up his hand. "I thought you said that they didn't know if the sniper was the killer."
Exasperated, Carol sighed. "Let me finish, please!" Doug held up his hands in resignation, and Carol continued. "When the chopper got back to County, the radio was out, so Luka went into County to get some help and a gurney. That's when the pilot shot Carter and Cleo."
"I thought Cleo had already been shot!" Doug said, perplexed.
"Doug, I am going to kill you!" Carol yelled, then realized the severity of her choice of words and kept her voice down. "Just try to follow me here. Cleo had been shot twice at the trauma, then when she got back to County, the pilot shot her a third time in the back." Doug, grimacing at the memory, nodded in understanding. "The pilot then shot Carter and left him there. She met Luka inside the hospital and they brought Cleo to the ER. The pilot then took Luka to the morgue at gunpoint and left him there." Carol was growing more and more excited with each detail she divulged. "The student was messing around with Kerry's cane, heard Luka in the morgue, jimmied the lock, got scared when he saw the gun-"
"What gun?" Doug inquired.
"The woman left the gun in the morgue with Luka," Carol told him.
"Well that was a stupid thing to do," commented Doug.
"Shhh! Let me finish! The student got scared when he saw Luka and the gun, and hit Luka with Kerry's cane." Carol glared at Doug as he stifled a chuckle at the irony of Kerry's infamous cane being used to inflict pain. "Shut up! That's the last time they saw the killer! They don't know where she is now!"
"Or who she is," Doug added thoughtfully. A sudden pain coursed through his head as a single memory struck him for a split second. "Oh, shit," he mused, covering his mouth with his hand. "I've got to find Mark - NOW."
"He went to Carter's room after we came down here," Carol told him. "Make sure to tell Mark about what the police found out - he doesn't know about any of it yet! And tell him to be careful!"
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And I get to the place where I'm begging for a lift
Or I'll drown in the wonders and the was
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"Damn Damn DAMN!" Elizabeth screamed as she watched the numbers on the elevator light up VERY slowly. "If I'd known it would take this long I'd have taken the DAMN stairs!" She tried to calm herself down by taking deep, cleansing breaths - but was constantly distracted by thoughts of Mark. "If that bitch has done anything to him, anything at all . . ." she murmured; then, remembering the security cameras, shouted, "I don't give a damn if you can hear me, security people! I really, really don't!"
It seemed to Elizabeth that she had spent a great portion of the time in the last ten minutes in very slow elevators. She had searched every floor, including Luka's and Carter's room, for some clue as to where Mark could be. She was now heading towards the roof - Carter had told her that a policemen had brought Mark to the scenes of the attacks. If only Mark knew what danger he was in . . .
Sighing, she resumed watching the numbers light up. "What floor am I on . . . DAMN! I'M GOING THE WRONG WAY!! I'm supposed to be going UP!!!" Frantic, she repeatedly pushed the very top level button. "I don't have time for this!" she wailed, slumping against the elevator wall.
--------------------------------------------------
And I'll be your girl, if you say it's a gift
--------------------------------------------------
"This isn't how it was supposed to happen," Amanda said, her voice quivering. "Not at all. No one was supposed to get hurt."
"Then why were you sniping people off the top of Mercy?" Mark asked, trying to keep his voice calm. "Didn't you know that people would get hurt if you SHOT at them?"
Amanda turned to him with tears in her eyes. "You were supposed to be working at Mercy! You were supposed to already be there! No one would have gotten hurt if you had just BEEN there!" She was obviously losing control, and Mark warily watched the gun begin to slip from her fingers.
"What about Carter?" he asked shortly.
Amanda looked confused. "Carter's too young for me," she answered.
"No, I meant why did you shoot him?" Mark inquired, becoming surprisingly indignant.
Suddenly the shadow of a feminine figure danced upon the wall that led to the morgue. The woman was crying very hard, and could not see the scene in front of her. She sounded like - Lucy? "No!" Mark shouted. "Lucy! Get out of here!"
The girl appeared not to hear him - she kept walking closer and closer to the corner. Amanda, however, snapped out of her lamenting breakdown and pointed the gun at Mark again. "Get into the morgue!" she hissed. "Hurry up! And don't say a word!"
Utterly confused, Mark complied, walking quickly so the barrel of the gun would not press too forcefully into his back. A fear gripped him as the light disappeared from his vision and the morgue door closed, leaving him in the cold, dark tomb. *Dammit, Amanda,* Mark thought angrily. *Lucy hasn't done anything! Leave her alone!* But the words remained unspoken, and a shiver wracked Mark's shoulders as he stared into the dark nothingness before him.
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And you give me some more of your drugs
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"Hello, John," Jing-Mei said pleasantly as she entered the room.
"Hey," Carter responded absently.
Jing-Mei looked at him curiously. "What's wrong, John?" she asked. "Has your morphine worn off?"
Carter glared at her slightly. "Just because I'm not peppy doesn't mean I'm having a medication problem," Carter replied. Suddenly he smacked himself in the forehead. "Dammit, THAT'S why Lucy got so mad!" he moaned. "I blamed her suffering on the Ritalin. I'm such an idiot!"
Jing-Mei sat next to him. "You're not an idiot," she cooed, taking his hand in hers. "What happened with Lucy?"
Carter sighed. "I think I broke her heart," he said sadly.
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Yeah, I'll be your pet, if you just tell me it's a gift
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Lucy walked slowly through the hall, weeping loudly and freely. *I don't care who hears me,* she thought bitterly. *I deserve to cry.* Her white shoes scuffed across the linoleum and her sobs echoes through the empty halls.
Meanwhile, Mark was attempting to see past his hand in the pitch-black morgue. *I need to see what's going on!* he thought frantically. Suddenly a splinter of light caught his eye, and upon examining it, Mark found that he had fair visibility of Lucy's location in the hallway through the crack in the wall. *Thank you, Kerry, for being too stingy to patch up these walls!* he thought gratefully.
"Lucy!" Amanda cried, rounding the corner and meeting her in the hall. "What's wrong, sweetie?"
*Sweetie?* Mark wondered. *Since when does Amanda Lee call Lucy Knight "sweetie"? Since when does Amanda Lee KNOW Lucy Knight, for that matter?*
"Amanda!" Lucy wept, falling into Amanda's embrace. "Why is he such an ass? What's wrong with me?"
"Shh, shh," Amanda said soothingly. "I'm guessing it didn't go well."
"No, it didn't!" wailed Lucy. "First I was forceful, then I was honest, and then I cried - all the stuff you told me to do!" She swallowed a sob and wiped her eyes. "And he made fun of me! He said that I need to think about others' feelings, instead of only mine! He even blamed my emotions on the RITALIN!" Lucy, unable to hide her feelings any longer, leaned into Amanda's shoulder and cried.
"Lucy, sweetheart, men are pigs," Amanda said softly but matter-of-factly. "Men are stupid idiots who don't know how much one word or one action can wound a woman."
"Not all men," Lucy sniffed. "Only Carter."
"Oh no, Lucy," Amanda corrected her. "ALL men. Trust me." She shot a glare at the morgue, and even though Mark knew she couldn't see him through the crack in the wall, he shrank away from her burning stare.
"Get out of there, Lucy," Mark whispered, returning to the crack. He had no idea how Amanda and Lucy knew each other, or how Amanda knew what was going on between Lucy and Carter, or even what WAS going on with Lucy and Carter. But if Amanda was brainwashing Lucy the same way she had brainwashed Mark a year ago - and by the gentle tone in her voice, he could tell that she was - Lucy was in serious, serious trouble.
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Cause I'm tired of "why"s, choking on "why"s,
Just need a little "because", "because"
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"She was in love with me, Deb," Carter murmured. "It doesn't matter how I feel about her. I should have let her down easier, or at least told her that I was once attracted to her." He chuckled slightly. "She was even jealous of you and me."
"What?" Jing-Mei asked, flustered. "Why?"
Carter shrugged. "Who knows. I guess she saw you comforting me and got jealous." He shook his head, bewildered. "Why would she think there was anything going on between us?"
"Got me," Jing-Mei responded sadly, silently cursing herself for her feelings.
Carter was quiet. Eyeing Jing-Mei, he asked, "What exactly IS going on between us?"
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I let the beast in, and then
I even tried forgiving him, but it's too soon
-----------------------------------------------------
"Elizabeth!" Doug called, catching up to her in the hall.
"Doug!" she cried, turning around. "Have you-"
"No," Doug answered, his eyes becoming cold. "You haven't?"
"Oh, God," Elizabeth gasped, bringing a trembling hand to her open mouth. "Oh, God . . . where could he be?"
"I'm sure he's fine," Doug assured her, trying not to let her see the fear in his eyes. The fact that they both had been scouring the hospital for Mark Greene without finding him - and that Carol had told him that the killer was still on the loose in County - resulted in only one answer. And that answer was too frightening for him to contemplate, much less express to Elizabeth, who was crumbling before his eyes. He knew by the terrified look in her eyes that she had already checked the roof - to no avail. "Have you checked the morgue?" he asked calmly.
"No," Elizabeth admitted, trying to hold her composure. "I haven't checked the cafeteria either." She looked at Doug with worry in her eyes. "Oh Doug, what if he's -"
"He's not," Doug told her firmly.
"You don't know that!" Elizabeth wailed. "It's so frustrating! I even know who the killer is! But where the hell is she?"
"You know who she is, too?" Doug asked, and Elizabeth nodded gravely. "Then you know that the student isn't . . ." he stopped talking when Elizabeth closed her eyes and nodded again. "We're wasting time here. You go check the morgue, and I'll check the cafeteria." Doug watched Elizabeth nod once more, and was relieved at not having to go down to the dreaded morgue. "Let's go!"
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So I'll fight again, again, again, again, again
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"Lucy, listen to me," Amanda said sternly. "Carter does not deserve you. You deserve so much better than him."
"I know, I know," Lucy whimpered, composing herself.
*Dammit, Lucy, don't listen to her, whatever she says!* Mark prayed. *She's insane!* Suddenly, something caught in Mark's throat, and, shocked, he tried to clear it without making any noise.
"Ack ack ack!" he coughed loudly, horrified at his throat for betraying him. Quickly he backed away from the crack in the wall, but it was too late.
"Is someone in there?" Lucy asked curiously.
"No, of course not, dear," Amanda assured her. "Now about Carter-"
"I could have sworn I heard someone cough," Lucy said, and Mark could hear her padded footsteps coming closer and closer.
*Lucy, for the love of God, don't open this door!* Mark pleaded silently. *I'm already in enough trouble right now - don't get into it!* His thoughts were interrupted as a flash of light blinded him, causing him to shield his eyes with his forearm.
"Dr. Greene?" Lucy asked, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"It's not what it seems, Lucy!" Amanda cried as she rushed to the morgue.
"Then what is it?" Lucy asked. "Why is Dr. Greene in the morgue?"
"Lucy - watch out! She's got a gun!" Mark blurted out. He had to save at least one life out of this mess.
Lucy remained emotionless. "Yeah, I know," she shrugged.
*What?!* Mark thought, horrified. *Lucy knows?*
Amanda groaned and took the gun from her lab coat pocket, pointing it at Mark once again. "Damn you, Mark. You ruin everything."
Lucy shook her head. "Amanda, please tell me why Dr. Greene is in the morgue," she pleaded. "And please tell it's not for the reason I think it is."
Amanda stared at Mark, her gun aimed at his forehead. She didn't answer.
"Oh, God!" Lucy cried exasperatedly. "Don't tell me you're not over Dr. Greene yet! It's been a year!"
"Shut up!" Amanda shouted, not moving her stare. "You don't know true love! You don't know how much betrayal can kill you!"
"Of course I don't know true love!" Lucy snapped. "I would know true love right now if you hadn't screwed everything up!"
"I told you, I didn't mean to lock you in that damn supply room!" Amanda yelled back. "You were late getting to the roof!"
"You were early getting to County!" Lucy screamed. "I told you to be there at 8:30 - you got there at 8:20! How the hell was I supposed to get all the way to the roof in the time from your call to when you arrived?!"
Neither woman truly noticed that Mark was still standing in the morgue, his hand trembling like leaves in a breeze. Amanda no longer aimed the gun directly at him; the barrel swayed haphazardly from his chest to his legs as Amanda moved her hands around in the intense argument. Mark attempted to stand as still as he possibly could - perhaps they wouldn't be able to notice him if he didn't move. However, as frightened as he was, Mark still tried to keep up with the conversation.
"Not only that," Lucy continued to yell, "you managed to lock ANOTHER WOMAN on the roof instead of me! That completely ruined the plan! Carter fell in love with the wrong person!"
*Plan?* Mark thought as he slowly let out a deep breath. *Was Lucy in on Amanda's plan?*
"That was an accident, too!" Amanda cried. "Everything was ruined! I was supposed to leave Mercy in a cab at 7:45, get to County by 8:15, get to the roof by 8:25, shoot Carter - a favor to you, I might add - call you, and lock the door behind you!" Amanda was near tears. "But everything was ruined!"
"What were you doing at Mercy?" Lucy asked angrily.
"I - I had something to do there," Amanda explained sadly. "But when I found out that Mark worked at County-"
"Mark and I work at the same hospital, Amanda!" Lucy shrieked. "How could you mess that up?"
"I FORGOT, OK?!" Amanda screamed. "I'm sorry! I knew you and Carter worked at County but I thought Mark worked at Mercy! I went to Mercy, and when I found out he didn't work there I panicked. I sneaked up to the roof and just started firing . . .when County's helicopter showed up, it seemed like everything had fallen into place . . . I thought he had come for me, instead of me coming for him. That's when I saw HER down there." Amanda turned to Lucy, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't know it was Dr. Finch. I thought . . . she had the same curly hair . . . she looked just like her . . ."
Mark could not breathe, for Amanda's words had punched him in the stomach. Amanda had killed Cleo, thinking that Cleo was Elizabeth.
Lucy was silent for a moment. "I forgive you," she said as if Amanda's apology was the only part of the conversation she had heard. "But I need you to do me another favor."
Amanda looked at her curiously. "What?" she asked.
Lucy's brow furrowed. "Do you know Jing-Mei Chen?" she asked. "She's the one who took Carter from me." Amanda nodded in understanding. "Will you do it?"
Just then a light voice bounced through the halls. "Mark?" a woman called hesitantly. "Are you down here?" A familiar figure rounded the hall, and Mark slowly took a step and peered out of the morgue, unable to hold himself back from seeing if the voice was just a dream. Upon seeing that Elizabeth indeed stood at the corner, Mark nearly collapsed from the relief of seeing her alive.
Elizabeth's heart leapt upon seeing Mark's face. "Mark!" she cried happily, then terrified when Amanda's gun swayed from the wall to against Mark's head. Elizabeth studied the woman, trying to place her. "You?" she asked, surprised that her guess hadn't been right.
Amanda's eyes flashed and narrowed. "YOU!" she cried out in fury.
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And for a little while more, I'll soar the uneven wind, complain and blame
The sterile land
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"John, I'm sorry if I've complicated everything for you," Jing-Mei said hurriedly. "I know how guilty you feel about Lucy -"
Carter shook his head. "No, don't apologize. This doesn't have anything to do with Lucy." He was quiet for a moment, then smiled. "I must admit, I had the biggest crush on you back in med school."
Jing-Mei smiled back at him. "So did I," she told him softly.
"You had a crush on yourself?" Carter asked, amused.
"No!" Jing-Mei laughed. "You know what I mean!"
Carter nodded and gazed into her dark eyes. He had never truly appreciated how delicate and beautiful those endearing eyes really were. *Perhaps something good did come out of those med student days,* Carter thought, then grinned - *something that can hopefully be salvaged.*
-----------------------------------------------------------
But if you're getting any bright ideas, quiet dear
I'm blooming within
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"Oh . . . Dr. Lee, is it?" Elizabeth asked timidly, focusing on the gun pressed to Mark's temple.
"Dr. Greene, actually," Amanda corrected her, her eyes still narrowed. "Amanda Greene."
Elizabeth's stomach churned as this woman, this cold-blooded killer, dared to attach Mark's honorable name to her own. "Yes, my mistake," Elizabeth said faintly.
Mark was torn at this point. He was petrified at the sensation of the cold metal circle against his temple, but he knew he needed to show Elizabeth that he wasn't frightened. "What are you doing here, Elizabeth?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"I - I was looking for you," she stammered, trying to think fast. "You disappeared on me. Where did you go?" She tried to make small talk while she thought of a plan.
"Um, I think you found that out," Mark told her, his voice quavering a bit.
Amanda groaned. "Come on, this is making me sick-"
She was interrupted by a high-kick to the back of the head. Stunned, she stumbled forward and released the gun against Mark's head. Mark, still shocked, didn't move. Elizabeth tore to his side, embracing him and pulling him away from the wall, where Amanda immediately turned. "Damn!" she screamed. Angrily she turned to Lucy. "All I tried to do was help you. All I wanted to do was make you happy, even if that meant shooting an innocent person. And this is how you repay me?!"
Lucy stood silent, the tips of her fingers trembling only slightly.
Amanda shook her head in disgust and pulled the trigger carelessly.
"Click."
Shocked, Amanda fired twice more. "Click, click."
"I'm out of bullets?" she asked no one in particular. "I didn't think I was out of bullets."
Mark became enraged. "You've been holding me down here for this long, and you didn't even have any bullets?!"
Amanda shook her head in disbelief. "I was sure I had a few more," she mused, examining the gun.
Just then Doug rounded the corner and, visibly surprised to see so many people, took a step back. "Uh, hey, Mark," he said cautiously. "Everything ok?"
"Just fine, Doug," Elizabeth told him. "I found Mark."
"I can see that," Doug said, confused. He then noticed Amanda and he took a double take. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Amanda Lee! I didn't think it was her! I thought it would be Susan Lewis!"
Elizabeth nodded enthusiastically. "Me too!"
Mark rubbed his eyes, still frustrated. "I was caged in the morgue like an animal and you couldn't have even shot me if I'd just left?! I can't believe this."
Elizabeth faced Mark and took his face in her slender hands. "Just be grateful that you weren't hurt," she told him. "And that no one else can be hurt tonight."
BANG!
"What the hell was that?" Malucci asked in the lounge. "Sounded like a gunshot."
A mug dropped to the ground and shattered, spreading coffee and bits of ceramic around the room. "Oh no," Carol moaned. "Please, God . . ."
"What's wrong?" Malucci asked. "It could have just been a car backfiring."
"It wasn't," Carol wailed as she rushed out of the lounge. Malucci strained his neck, trying to see what was going on in the halls outside.
Hysteria had broken loose in the ER. The police had finally announced an evacuation of County only minutes before the shot had sounded, and now patients and medical personnel were screaming and tearing through the halls. Even though it was very late at night, there were a significant amount of patients, nurses, janitors, and doctors clogging the narrow halls of County General ER.
"Hold it, HOLD IT!" Kerry screamed. She struggled to climb up on the reception desk, doing so with Malik's help. "LISTEN UP!" The crowd murmured fearfully as they turned to face Kerry. "We need to calm down! We need to get this evacuation organized!"
"But someone was shot!" Chuny cried. "We heard the gunshot!"
"I know that!" Kerry shouted. "The police are checking it out! Now who's missing?!"
"Doug!" Carol yelled. "And Mark and Elizabeth!"
"Lucy too!" Abby yelled.
"What about Jing-Mei?" Carter, who had been wheeled down to the ER, called out.
"I'm right here, John!" she cried from somewhere in the crowd.
"Ok, that's everyone," Kerry shouted efficiently. "Now -"
Suddenly a man shouted "Clear the way! Clear the way! Coming through!" Three police officers and Mark were pushing a gurney along the halls, with Doug knelt over the body, giving CPR. Kerry watched, horrified, as they wheeled the gurney into trauma 1, and for the fourth time in a span of 5 hours, Kerry recognized the body in the gurney. "What happened?" she hollered to Mark.
Mark didn't turn back as he swerved the gurney through the trauma doors. "She was shot while we were in the morgue!" he yelled, hooking up several machines.
"What were doing in the morgue?" Kerry cried.
"Carol, we need you in here!" Doug yelled, hopping off of the gurney.
Kerry made her way down from the reception desk as she continued to bark questions. "Did you find out who did it?" she asked, not caring who heard her anymore. The news and speculations about the killings had spread though County without discretion - there were no secrets any more.
As if answering her question, three more police officers burst through the crowd. "Excuse me folks," one officer apologized. "Clear the way." They were leading a handcuffed woman who looked completely stunned out the door.
*That's the killer?* Kerry thought, squinting at the woman. *Amanda Lee?!*
Mark had turned from the gurney and was watching the officers escort Amanda out the door. He shuddered as she whipped her head around in his direction. "Mark!" she screamed. "I need to talk to you! Please!"
Mark shook Amanda's voice out of his head as he turned away to Carol as she hurried into the room. "She's brady at 80 over 50, pulse is 50! We need 2 units of O neg!"
Carol turned around to the crowd. "Lydia!" she screamed over the many voices. "2 units of O neg!"
"Got it!" Lydia shouted back.
Kerry, meanwhile, was still in shock from realizing the identity of the killer. Slowly she began making a mental checklist of the newly recovered people. *Mark and Doug are here,* she thought, *but where is . . .* "Mark, where is -"
"There wasn't room in the elevator!" Mark yelled, focused on intubating the woman in the gurney. "She'll be up soon! I need that O neg NOW!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe late but at least about
Fast as you can
----------------------------------------------------------------
3:00 am
A soft hand touched Mark's sleeve, and Mark groaned with his slow awakening. He stretched out his arms over the Exam room bed and rolled away from the hand. "Mark," a gentle voice whispered. "Mark. Are you awake yet?"
"No," Mark mumbled groggily. "I just need a few more minutes . . . please . . ."
"I think you'll want to hear what I'm going to say," Carol told him.
Mark's eyes snapped open. "What?" he asked.
"Elizabeth's out of surgery, if you want to see her." Carol told him. "She'll want to see you."
"What about-" Mark started.
Carol smiled at him. "Amanda's in custody. It's all over."
Mark rubbed his eyes once as he sat up and stretched again. "Thanks, Carol," he said. "You should go home though. You need some sleep."
Carol rolled her eyes. "I would go home, if my husband and daughters weren't asleep in the lounge."
Mark grinned. "Sounds like a photo op."
Carol grinned back and held up three finished rolls of film. "Been there, done that," she told him. "Now go see Elizabeth."
Mark nodded and hugged her briefly, then left the lounge and headed to the elevator. He was met by Kerry right after he pushed the "up" arrow. "Hey, Kerry," he said wearily, but unable to keep a smile from his face.
Kerry gave him a faint smile as she leaned against the wall. "Hey." she said. "Quite a night."
Mark nodded. "Quite." The two were silent, both mentally calculating the repercussions of the night. Cleo was dead, Carter wouldn't be able to walk for weeks, Luka would be under the effects of the concussion for a long time - and now this. "Thank God Amanda was caught," Mark commented. He paused. "Where's Lucy?"
Kerry lowered her eyes. "Psych ward," she said quietly. "The police decided that she wasn't of right mind when she came up here so they decided to wait until tomorrow for an investigation." Suddenly the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "I'd better go," Mark said hesitantly. "I'm-"
"I know," Kerry said, waving him forward. "Go."
Mark gave her a half-smile, then stepped onto the elevator. *Kerry can be ok when she wants to be,* he thought, pressing the button that would bring him to Surgery. *I just wish she wanted to be more often.*
The doors opened a few seconds later and Mark stepped out. He immediately saw Elizabeth walking out of a surgery room, frantically looking for a way out of a conversation with Romano.
"So I figure, next time if we can close off the femoral artery BEFORE we repair the tissue, the patient might lose less blood." Romano told her.
Elizabeth nodded unenthusiastically. Suddenly she caught sight of Mark, and as she rushed to him, she yelled, "Sorry, Robert, I'm leaving for the night!" When she reached Mark she pulled herself close to him, whispering, "Get me out of here before he starts to talk again. I've been involved in that bloody conversation for twenty minutes."
Mark smiled at her. "Carol just woke me up about 5 minutes ago, right after you got out of surgery," he said. "How did it go?"
Elizabeth sighed sadly. "The poor man lost his leg," she told him. "Pedestrian against SUV."
Mark nodded sympathetically and put his arm around her shoulders. "How's Lucy?" he asked.
"Her surgery went very well," Elizabeth told him. "The bullet was lodged between the clavicle and humorus but we managed to remove it before it did any cartilage or nerve damage to her arm. She's very lucky." Elizabeth smiled at Mark. "I suppose that because we couldn't help with Cleo, I'm especially thankful we saved Lucy." Mark nodded in agreement.
Elizabeth's smile faded and she looked up at Mark. "When that gun went off, Mark . . ."
"I know," Mark said, guiding her onto the elevator. "It scared the hell out of me too. And when you fainted I was sure you'd been hit. Then Lucy went down, and . . ." he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to stop the burning sensation that had begun behind his eyes.
Elizabeth stroked his face. "It's all right, Mark, you can cry," she told him gently.
Mark shook his head. "Nah, that's ok." He took Elizabeth's hand from his face and held it in his own. "So when are we continuing our vacation in New York?" he asked jokingly.
Elizabeth smiled and, reaching to the back of his neck, pulled him into a kiss as the elevator doors closed behind them.
---------------------------------------------
Leave me, let this thing run its route
---------------------------------------------
Lucy groaned and rubbed her wrist with her hand. "No matter how many times I convince patients how important it is, I cannot STAND getting IV's," she grumbled. She brushed a hair off of the sling on her right arm with her left hand.
Suddenly a nurse, who Lucy didn't know, approached Lucy's bed. "How are you feeling, dear?" she asked. "Better?"
"A little," Lucy said honestly. "How's my BP?"
The nurse checked the monitor next to the bed. "Going up," she observed, "but not quite stable yet."
Lucy sighed and sank into her pillow. However much pain she felt at that moment, she now knew that karma did exist. She had planned and plotted for Carter to be shot, and as she lay in her gurney in the Psych ward, she knew that she deserved anything she got - especially a bullet wound in her arm. The pain that shot through her arm could not compete with the guilt that ran through her heart.
"Lucy," another nurse asked timidly, approaching the bed. "Dr. Carter is here to see you. Do you want to see him?"
A tear appeared at the corner of Lucy's eye, but she nodded slowly. "Yes," she answered quietly.
"She'll see you now, Dr. Carter," the nurse whispered out the door. Lucy didn't move her head but she watched the nurse wheel Carter next to the bed. The nurse then left, leaving Lucy and Carter alone.
The room was silent for several minutes, and Lucy tried to stop the warm tears that spilled from her eyes. Carter spoke first. "How are you feeling, Luce?" he asked cautiously.
Lucy didn't speak; she turned her face away from him as another tear rolled down her cheek and dropped onto the pillow.
Carter closed his eyes painfully. He had hoped that his words hadn't caused Lucy as much pain as she had let on, but judging by the way she was acting now, she had been deeply wounded.
He had spoken to Mark earlier that night, after Mark had stabilized Lucy and brought her to surgery. Mark had told him about Lucy's conversation with Amanda - how Lucy had not only known about Carter's shooting, but how she had helped to plan it.
*I just need to talk to her,* he thought. *I need to know why . . . why she would want to do a thing like this.*
However, seeing that Lucy wasn't about to talk, Carter opted to take the initiative. "Lucy, whatever I did to make you angry enough to do something like this against me, I'm sorry." He hung his head. "I'll understand if you never want to talk to me again. I know I was a jerk back there, when you were just trying to tell me how you felt. I . . ." he put his hand on the bar of the gurney, "I can't tell you how sorry I am."
Lucy slowly faced the ceiling, not looking at Carter. "Why are you sorry?" she asked, choking on her tears. "I was the one who told Amanda to shoot you. I was the one who planned the whole thing out to the second. I was the one who . . ." she swallowed a sob, "who only thought of my own feelings."
Carter shook his head. "I was wrong to say that before. I'm not trying to blame you at all, Luce," he said gently. "I just want to know what I did to make you want to do this."
"Nothing!" Lucy cried. "You just weren't in love with me!"
"So . . . you wanted to punish me?" Carter asked, struggling to understand.
"No!" Lucy wiped her eyes with her free hand. "I wanted to MAKE you fall in love with me?"
Carter was silent; he was too confused to comment.
"Before tonight you only saw me as a clumsy med student, someone who only made mistakes and didn't really care about the patients," she explained sadly. "I thought if there was a situation where you were the patient and I was the only one there to help you . . ." she trailed off and covered her eyes, humiliated. "I thought I could change how you felt about me. I thought I could make you fall in love with me. But instead, Amanda locked Jing-Mei on the roof and me in the supply room. It was supposed to be the other way around. You fell in love with her instead."
Carter inhaled deeply - he finally understood. All that Lucy had known was that she had indescribable feelings towards her colleague. She had tried to make them clear to him through all her efforts to gain his approval, and he, like an idiot, had only led her on when he had succumbed to his hormones in the Suture room. While her motives to seduce him were misguided, they were, in a way, very innocent. "The feelings Jing-Mei and I have for each other began a long, long time ago," he explained. "Since med school. Nothing just 'sparked' between us on the roof. Nothing's really going on right now. We're at an understanding is all." Carter smiled slightly as his choice of words. "To tell you truth, I don't remember anything after being shot. Even if you had been on the roof instead of Jing- Mei, I wouldn't have remembered it." He stopped for a moment. "What made you think that I only saw you as a clumsy med student?"
Lucy finally turned towards him, but avoided eye contact. She knew that drowning in his brown eyes again would sting like acid and the pull that drew her to his eyes was too painful to bear. "Didn't you?"
"No!" Carter said quickly. "Of course not! I saw you - I SEE you - as a promising student who will make a wonderful doctor someday. I see you as a kindhearted person who cares about her patients and those around her more than she cares about herself. I see you as a strong adult who endures far too much verbal and emotional abuse from her teacher." He paused for a moment. "And yes, I see you as a very attractive, beautiful woman, and I do admit, I was extremely attracted to you at one point."
" 'Was.' " Lucy repeated scornfully.
"It wouldn't have worked, Lucy," Carter explained. "We're too much alike. We're both stubborn as mules and we both fall in love too easily. That's why I had to stop it before I fell completely in love with you."
Lucy sighed sadly and finally looked into Carter's eyes. "You're going to be hard to get over, Carter," she said, tears brimming at her eyes again.
Carter smiled kindly and touched her cheek, wiping her tears with his fingertips. "I'm not as perfect as you make me out to be," he told her.
Lucy chuckled half-heartedly. "I'll have to keep that in mind," she said, yawning.
Carter took his hand away. "You need your rest," he instructed her. "I'll come visit you in the morning." Lucy nodded sleepily, and Carter smiled at her once more before wheeling himself out of the room.
*Sleep . . . sounds too good to be true . . ." she thought happily. Everything suddenly seemed brighter. She and Carter were, for the first time, on good terms, and that's all that mattered to her at that moment. "Oh, the police," Lucy moaned, a wave of shock shooting through her body. "Damn." She knew it was too good to be true.
"The police are gone for the night," a male voice spoke up from a curtained gurney.
Lucy's head jerked around. "Who said that?"
The curtain slowly drew back a little, and Lucy saw the face of a young man in his twenties. He had big glasses and was very pale, but he was handsome in a way.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Lucy," the young man apologized. "I've been dealing with the police all night. I just thought you'd want to know that they've already left for the night. They left while you were in surgery."
"Thanks," Lucy said, puzzled. "How do you know my name?"
The young man grinned shyly. "I met you earlier tonight," he told her. "My name's Ben - Ben Herrington."
Lucy nodded her head as she finally recognized him. "Oh yes," she said. "Second year med student, right?"
Ben nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "They brought me up here after they interviewed me. First I fainted in the ambulance bay, and now they think I'm crazy." He shrugged. "Maybe they're right. I don't know."
"Yeah, well, at least your craziness didn't get someone seriously hurt," Lucy told him, "and your arm in a sling."
"Actually my craziness did get someone hurt - that Kovac guy." Ben lowered his eyes, and the air stood still for a few moments. "I heard you and that guy talking just now."
Lucy sighed painfully. "I see."
Ben hesitated. "I - I didn't really understand why he couldn't fall in love with a person like you. It seems easy - you seem like a really nice person who cares about other people." He smiled shyly. "Plus you're gorgeous."
Intrigued, Lucy smiled. "Thank you," she said, becoming more and more attentive to his charms with each word he said.
"So, when they let us get up and walk around, do you think you'd like to . . . take a walk around the floor-" he glanced up, then back down - "together?"
Lucy smiled. "I'd like that," she told him, amused by Ben's feeble attempt at a proposal for a date. *But maybe that's what I need right now.* Maybe things WERE going her way, after all.
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Fast as you can
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"Carol, your husband's snoring is annoying me," Malucci whined, pointing at Doug as Carol walked into the lounge. Doug was stretched out on the couch asleep, with one sleeping twin in each arm. "I can't concentrate on healing if I'm constantly distracted by such an unpleasant noise."
"Oh, shut up, Malucci," Doug grumbled, shifting a little on the couch. He was slowly waking up - and fighting consciousness as hard as he could.
Carol strode over to Doug and knelt next to him. "Doug," she whispered, shaking him a little. "It's 3:30 am and my shift starts at 7:00. We've got to get home now."
"Let's just stay here till then," Doug mumbled into the couch cushion.
Carol shook her head. "We can't keep the girls here," she told him. As if on cue, Kate began to stir in Doug's arms. "Come on, you can go back to sleep when we get home."
Doug sighed and opened his eyes wearily. "All right," he yawned, sitting up slowly. Carol took Tess in her arms and began to put her into her battle gear - coat, scarf, gloves, boots, etc. "Hey, while you're doing that, I'm going to sleep for 5 more minutes," Doug said quickly, and before Carol could protest, he was horizontal on the couch again.
Malucci snickered. "He's your worst child," he informed Carol.
Carol rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it." She handed Tess to Malucci and reached for Kate. Her hand brushed Doug's shoulder as she removed Kate from his arms, and Doug's hand immediately met hers and held it there for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. Carol sighed in delight as she felt the familiar electricity spark between their hands. Nothing could ever take that away.
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Fast as you can
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"Yeah, what?" Peter Benton said gruffly into the phone. "Oh, hey Elizabeth. Nah, you didn't wake me up. Or Reese." Benton quickly moved the portable phone into the kitchen so Elizabeth couldn't hear Reese's whimpering - Benton had inadvertently turned on a light when he answered the phone. "So what's up? Did they catch whoever was doing all this?" He listened intently. "Oh, man. I had no idea it would be her." He ran his hand over his face - a nervous habit he had developed in the last few years - and kept listening. "Yeah, you can tell me the details tomorrow. I know you've got to get home. Ok, later. And thanks for calling me." Benton hung the portable phone and stood in shock for a moment. The woman who had killed Cleo and who had shot Carter was Amanda Lee. He never would have guessed.
Suddenly Reese's whimpering became wailing, and Benton quickly rushed to his bedroom. "Hey, man, it's ok," he soothed his son as he rocked him back and forth. "It's ok. Everything's gonna be ok."
---------------------
Fast as you can
--------------------
"Oh, how I missed this slum!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she walked past into Mark's apartment. "How are you, hole in the wall? Did you miss me?"
"Ok, ok, Elizabeth," Mark chuckled as he sifted through his mail. "I get it."
Elizabeth smiled at him and dropped her bag on the sofa. "I don't think you do," she teased, unzipping her bag. "Otherwise you'd have mended the hole." She walked into the bathroom. "Good evening, drippy sink!"
Mark turned away and pressed the button on his answering machine. "You have - one - new message," the machine responded mechanically.
"Only one?" Mark asked, confused.
"Hello, Mark," an all-too-familiar voice rang out from the machine. Chills immediately ran down Mark's spine as Amanda Lee's voice echoed through the walls of his apartment.
Elizabeth slowly stepped out of the bathroom. "Oh, God," she mused. "Make her go away."
"This is Amanda," the message continued. "They let me have one phone call, and since there's no one who I really need to call, I thought I'd call you. I really wanted to talk to you in person, but I'll have to settle for talking to your machine. Mark, I hope you know that I wouldn't have hurt you today. I would never hurt you."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you were thinking when that gun was pressed against my head," Mark said angrily.
"I love you. I know you don't love me, but I've accepted that. I came back for one purpose, and I failed. I hope you and Dr. Corday will be very happy together. You seem to love her. I only want you to be happy. Now I know that I can't be the one to make you happy. I'll think about you every second of every day. That's how I'll get through this." The message paused. "I'm also sorry about shooting Cleo, and Carter, and Lucy. Lucy's a good girl - just a little confused. Tell her that I told the cops that I shot Carter - and that she had nothing to do with it. She's too delicate for a place like this. Cleo was a genuine mistake. Carter was just a favor to a friend." Mark could hear whispers in the background. "Ok, they're telling me I have to get off now. Goodbye, my love." *Click.*
There was silence in the apartment for several moments after the message ended. "Well, that was strange," Elizabeth commented.
Mark nodded numbly. "Yeah," he managed to say. The air was awkward.
Finally Elizabeth spoke again. "Dear God, it's nearly 4 am!" she exclaimed. "We should get to bed."
"I'll be right behind you," Mark said, and Elizabeth headed towards the bedroom.
Cleo. Carter. Luka. Lucy. And himself. So many people had been affected by Amanda's lunacy and delusions; Cleo, for one, would never recover. Carter's, Luka's, and Lucy's wounds would scar and eventually heal, but the scars in the ER as a whole could never fully heal. Amanda had done more than injure a few people when she pulled the trigger. She had cut into County itself and had created a hole that could not be repaired or filled. And for the rest of Mark's life, a pair of eyes would be staring into him. Not a moment would pass when he wouldn't feel that he was being watched by those eyes that had bore into him a year ago, and that had bore into him as the gun was pressed against his head.
Mark exhaled deeply as he bent over the message machine and pressed "DELETE."
If only it were that simple.
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Fast as you can
----------------------
THE END
Song: I am taking a break from the Goo Goo Dolls. (*gasp* *wail* *scream*) The song for the final part of "Fast As You Can" will be its namesake - "Fast As You Can" by Fiona Apple. I thought of the idea for the series while listening to this song so I found it only appropriate to end the series with it. Enjoy!
Notes: This is the last chapter in this series – I completely forgot to update it for some reason. Again, this was my first fic, I've seen the errors of my ways . . . hehe
1:00 am
"Randi, have you seen Mark?" Doug asked while scanning the board.
Randi didn't move her gaze from her magazine. "Nope," she answered absently, turning a page. "Not since he came in with you a half hour ago or something." She glared slightly as she looked up at him. "Weren't you already here tonight?"
Doug sighed. "I just can't seem to tear myself away," he remarked sarcastically. He turned around and headed down the ER halls and grumbled, "I should be asleep right now, but of course, I'm here instead, like I am every day . . ."
He was so absorbed in his grumbling that he ran into Elizabeth, who was rushing out of an exam room. "Whoa, Elizabeth!" Doug exclaimed. "Where's the fire?"
"Don't joke, Doug; just tell me you've seen Mark in the last few minutes," Elizabeth pleaded.
Doug shook his head, and Elizabeth groaned. "I was just looking for him myself," Doug told her.
"If you see him, tell him to get out of here!" Elizabeth cried as she ran past Doug. "Tell him to go home as fast as he can!"
"Wait, Elizabeth," Doug called. "Why -"
Elizabeth turned around and ran backwards, facing Doug. "Just do it!" she yelled as she turned back around and sprinted through the ER.
Shrugging, Doug opened the door to the lounge and walked inside. Malucci was seated on the sofa, his leg in a cast and propped up on several pillows. Tess was sleeping in his arms, and Kate was seated on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Dr. Ross, thank God," Malucci said gratefully. "I think that one hates me."
Grinning, Doug strolled over to Kate and picked her up. "How have my girls been?" he asked as he comforted a hysterical Kate.
Dave sighed. "This one's good," he said, nodding to Tess. He pointed to Kate. "That one's the evil one."
Doug raised an eyebrow at Malucci as he put Kate to his shoulder and walked back and forth across the room. "She's not evil, Malucci," Doug said as he kissed Kate on the forehead. "She just doesn't like you."
Malucci shook his head and stroked Tess's hair. "Whatever, man," he said. "Kids always like me. This one must be the smart one."
Doug smirked at Malucci. "If we're going by those standards, then Kate must be the smart one."
Malucci began to nod triumphantly, but was confused. "Which one is Kate again?"
Suddenly the lounge door opened again, and Abby walked in. "Oh, you brought the girls!" she squealed, rushing to the sofa and scooping Tess from Malucci's arms.
"Hey!" Malucci cried. "We were bonding!"
Abby scowled at him as she expertly adjusted her arms to hold Tess, who was still asleep. "You got to hold her all night!" she informed him. "I was locked in a SUPPLY ROOM for two and a half hours, then working for three. I'm on my break."
"Hey, I broke my ANKLE on that supply room," Malucci informed her. "I've been sitting here for as long as you've been working."
"Wooo, you've been sitting on a sofa for 3 hours," Abby remarked sarcastically. "Poor baby."
"Hey-" Malucci protested.
"Abby, have you seen Mark?" Doug interrupted, not wanting to hear Malucci whine any more.
"Um, I saw him talking to one of the cops outside," Abby answered. "But that was about 20 minutes ago."
Doug thought for a moment. Elizabeth had seemed panicked in the hallway; however, Doug knew of her tendency to overreact to everything. Even so, he was worried. Mark wasn't one to stray far from the ER. Maybe the cops would know where Mark went.
"Aw, look, Abby, you woke her up," Malucci moaned as he feebly reached for Tess. "You're a sucky babysitter. Give her to me."
Abby turned away from him. "Tess is just fine where she is," she told Malucci as she gently jiggled Tess up and down.
"Here, Malucci, you take Kate," Doug said as he handed her to Malucci. "I'm going to find Mark."
"But -" Malucci started to protest. Doug held up a hand as he hastily left the lounge. "Don't leave me with the evil one!" He sighed and looked at Kate, who promptly burst into tears.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I let the beast in too soon, I don't know how to live
Without my hand on his throat; I fight him always and still
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Amanda," Mark sputtered. "What - what are you doing here?"
Amanda frowned. "You didn't even welcome me back," she protested. "I was gone for a more than a year. Didn't you miss me?"
Mark chose not to answer.
"Not even a welcome back kiss?" she asked, disappointed.
Repulsed at the prospect of kissing Amanda Lee, Mark took a step back. Amanda's gun tilted up a bit, guiding Mark back to the doorway of the morgue. "Oh no, Mark Greene," Amanda said calmly. "You're not getting away from me again."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh darling, it's so sweet, you think you know how crazy
How crazy I am
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"You've changed."
Carter's eyes blinked open. "Huh?" he yawned, unable to see the woman to his left.
"You've changed, Carter."
Carter sat up and struggled to see who was speaking. "Oh, it's you, Lucy," he said, relieved. "You scared me." He yawned again, stretching his arms. "I was in the middle of a beautiful morphine-induced dream-"
"Shut up, Carter," Lucy snapped. "I'm going to talk and you're going to listen, for once. It won't kill you."
Carter tilted his head and settled into his pillows, amused by Lucy's change in demeanor. "Ok, he said with a grin. "I'm listening."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
You say you don't spook easy, you won't go, but I know
And I pray that you will
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"What are you doing here?" Mark repeated.
"I should ask you the same thing!" Amanda cried. "Why did you move from Mercy?"
"I never worked at Mercy!" Mark said, confused. *She's even more psychotic than the last time I saw her,* he thought. Still, his hands trembled as he stared into the barrel of the gun. "So it's you who's been doing all this?"
Amanda smiled. "Doing what?" she asked innocently.
Mark was flabbergasted. "You know what!" he yelled. "You've been attacking my staff . . . my friends!"
Amanda's face was blank. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied. "Your precious Dr. Corday is safe. I would think that you'd be happy."
A chill ran through Mark as he remembered Amanda's complete obsession with him a year ago. Her knowledge of his relationship with Elizabeth could be potentially dangerous, and obviously - Mark looked into the gun that was pointed at him - Amanda was capable of making it dangerous. "How do you know about Elizabeth?" he asked.
"A friend told me," Amanda answered slyly.
"A friend?" Mark asked, puzzled. Who could have possibly told her that he and Elizabeth were together?
"Yes, a friend," Amanda said hotly, then screamed, "I DO HAVE FRIENDS, MARK!"
"I - I know!" Mark stammered, not wanting her to become hysterical. "Of course you have friends!"
Amanda visibly calmed down. "I have more friends than you do," she said haughtily.
"I know," Mark assured her, knowing that she was lying but trying to calm her down. "But what are you doing here?"
Amanda smiled at him. "You still haven't given me a kiss," she told him.
------------------------------- Fast as you can, baby, Run - free yourself of me Fast as you can -------------------------------
"Excuse me, officers," Doug said as he approached the officers in Chairs. "I'm looking for Dr. Greene - have you seen him?"
An officer nodded and pointed up the hall. "He went to Dr. Kovac's room about 20 minutes ago," he told Doug. "Said something about a Nurse Hathaway up there -"
"In Kovac's room?" Doug asked, his eyes flashing with jealousy. He HATED that guy.
The officer shrugged. "I guess," he said, turning back to the other officers.
Doug turned away and rapidly strode to the elevator. *I've got to get to Kovac's room,* he told himself. He trusted Carol completely - it was Kovac who bristled him. Plus, he was getting more and more nervous with each person who had only seen Mark 20 minutes ago. What could have happened since then?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
I may be soft in your palm, but I'll soon grow hungry for a fight,
And I will not let you win
My pretty mouth will frame the phrases that will
Disprove your faith in man
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
Lucy stood up and paced around the room, not really sure what to say. Carter watched her patiently, then complained, "C'mon, Luce, I want to get back to sleep sometime tonight. I'm exhausted."
Lucy turned to him. "Do you remember that time in the Suture room, Carter?" she asked suddenly. "When we . . ."
Carter lowered his eyes. "Of course I do," he murmured after a few moments. Remembering their encounter in the suture room always made him want to throw up. It wasn't that he was embarrassed by it - more like disgusted. And it wasn't Lucy that disgusted him, either. Lucy was obviously very attractive and he could not deny the fact that he had once been very attracted to her. But that time was over. Carter didn't know why he felt so nauseated when he thought of that night, or when he was in the suture room; all he knew was that it had been a mistake.
Lucy took a deep breath. It was finally time to tell him the truth. *How can I say this without sounding too stupid?* she thought desperately. "That was . . . the best time I ever had in the suture room," she blurted out." *DAMMIT, I'm pathetic!* she thought mournfully.
Carter tried not to laugh at her ridiculous statement. "Oh, come on, I think sewing up torn, bleeding human flesh is even better," he joked, then immediately wished he hadn't said anything. "Wait, that came out wrong, Luce-"
Lucy's eyes filled with tears. "I knew I shouldn't have told you," she said bitterly. "I knew you wouldn't feel the same way I do."
"Feel what way?!" Carter asked.
"The way I feel about you!" Lucy cried.
"How is that?!" Carter yelled back, knowing perfectly well what she was going to say. He just hoped that delaying her inevitable statement would somehow change it.
"That I'm in love with you!" she shouted, then immediately silenced. "I'm in love with you."
Carter's eyes widened and his heart jumped into his chest. He had not been expecting Lucy to say that. He had been expecting something like "I have a crush on you" or "I like you" - something much more immature than "I'm in love with you." How was he going to deal with this? Crushes were easy to let down, infatuation was easy to end, but love? How did Lucy even know it was love?
"Luce-" he began.
"No," she interrupted, turning back to him. "I know what you're going to say. I know how you feel. I thought I could change you but you've already changed. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you that I'm transferring to Mercy so I won't be in your way anymore."
"Lucy, you don't have to do that," Carter told her. "Really. I do like having you as my student . . . and my friend." A slight pang of guilt crossed Carter's brow as he knew he was lying; he had never actually considered Lucy his friend before that moment. He did, however, like having her as a student. "But nothing more."
"What about Dr. Chen?" Lucy asked abruptly.
"Huh?" Carter asked, taken aback. "What about Dr. Chen?"
"You two obviously have something going on," Lucy snapped at him. The tears had stopped, and the mournful longing in her eyes had been replaced by sharp anger. "I want to know what it is."
Carter shifted uneasily in his bed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Lucy threw up her arms angrily. "You two were all over each other a while ago!" she cried. "I thought I was going to throw up!"
Indignant, Carter sat up. "She was comforting me when I was suffering," he informed her, trying to keep his anger down. "I had just been shot, Lucy, and I had just found out Cleo was dead." Carter glared at her. "You need to stop thinking about yourself for a minute and consider the feelings of others around you."
Lucy was aghast. "You - you want ME to stop thinking of myself?!" she sputtered. "ME?"
"Yeah, you," Carter told her, crossing his arms. "Maybe if you had been there-"
"I WAS THERE!" Lucy screamed. "I was there when you woke up, and you bawled me out for something I didn't even do! You wouldn't let me explain a goddamn thing but when Dr. Chen came in you were totally fine!"
Carter searched Lucy's eyes worriedly. "Are you going through some kind of Ritalin withdrawal?" he asked, concerned.
Lucy's jaw dropped, and her pale face grew dark red with pure rage at Carter's comment. Mere words could not pass her swelling throat for they would not express her fury adequately. "Fuck you, Carter," she managed to choke as she stormed out, leaving a dumbfounded Carter alone in the room.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
So if you catch me trying to find my way into your heart from under your skin
Fast as you can, baby scratch me out, free yourself
Fast as you can
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
"Ah, Dr. Ross," Luka smiled as Doug entered the room. "How are you this fine evening?"
Doug tried to hide a glare as he checked Luka's chart. "Looks like someone's checked into the Acetaminophen Hotel," he commented.
Luka nodded happily. "It is a beautiful hotel indeed. Located in the town of Tylenol Plus."
Doug put Luka's chart back at the foot of his bed. Not looking up while speaking, he asked, "Have you seen Mark?"
Luka thought for a moment. "Yes. He and Carol went to the ER for a trauma."
Doug groaned. "No, they're not in the ER, Luka," Doug said through gritted teeth. "I was just there."
"Hmmm. Very peculiar. Perhaps you missed each other?" Luka asked.
Sighing, Doug turned around. "Worth a shot," he mumbled. Doug did NOT like the fact that the two people closest to him were now missing - and the way the night was going, he couldn't afford for anyone to be missing.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fast as you can, baby scratch me out, free yourself
Fast as you can
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Why did you do it, Amanda?" Mark asked hesitantly after a period of silence. "Why did you kill Dr. Finch?" No matter how close her finger wavered over the trigger of the gun, Mark had to know why.
"I didn't mean to," she said. "I made a mistake." She looked at Mark sadly. "I'm sorry."
"You're-you're sorry?" Mark asked incredulously. "That's it?"
"I didn't know it was Dr. Finch!" she cried. "I thought it was - someone else. It's hard to see a person's face from the top of a building." She glared at Mark. "Besides, this is all your fault."
"What?" Mark asked. "How?"
"You moved from Mercy," Amanda told him. Mark couldn't tell if she was trying not to cry or trying not to burst out in anger. "I thought you still worked at Mercy. None of this would have happened if you hadn't worked at Mercy."
"I never worked at Mercy!" Mark exclaimed. "I've always worked at County!"
Amanda was confused. "No, I memorized it! 'M' for Mark, 'M' for Mercy!"
Mark shook his head. "I'm telling you, Amanda, I have always worked at County. YOU even worked at County - how could you mix that up?"
Amanda, overwhelmed, let the gun's aim fall from Mark's face to the floor, causing Mark to let out a deep breath. " 'C' . . ." she murmured. " 'C' for County, 'C' for . . ." she shot a look at Mark - "Corday. I should have known."
"No, Amanda," Mark pleaded frantically. "That's just a coincidence!"
Amanda slowly brought the gun back up to Mark. "I wish I could believe you," she said dejectedly.
----------------------------------------------------
Sometimes my mind don't shake and shift
But most of the time, it does
---------------------------------------------------
"Doug!!" Carol cried, rushing to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh my God . . . I was so worried . . ." Suddenly she let go of his neck and angrily looked into his eyes. "Where the HELL have you been?"
"I was looking for Mark," Doug explained, pulling Carol into a casual embrace. "I heard he went up to Kovac's room."
Carol shoved him in the chest, causing him to stumble back a step. "Don't you EVER do that to me again!" she screamed. "I have never been so scared in my life!"
"Wait a minute," Doug said, confused. "What's going on?"
"Haven't you heard?" Carol asked. "The killer's still loose! The police called and said the fingerprints on the door to the roof weren't the student's after all! Just now the cops arrived and got an interview out of the kid! The killer is still here!"
"What did the kid say?" Doug asked hurriedly. He had found Carol in the ER after all - but that was only one half of his concern. "And where is Mark?"
"The kid told the cops everything," Carol explained. "The cops checked it out with Carter and Luka, and his story checks out." Carol motioned for Doug to step to the side of the busy ER hallway and leaned closer to him. "The killer posed as a pilot on the chopper," she whispered. "They think that the killer is the sniper but they don't know for sure."
"Then why are they calling him a killer if they don't know if he's the sniper?" Doug asked.
"First of all, the killer is a she," Carol corrected, watching Doug's eyes widen in shock. "And second of all, she killed Cleo."
"Wait, wait," Doug held up his hand. "I thought you said that they didn't know if the sniper was the killer."
Exasperated, Carol sighed. "Let me finish, please!" Doug held up his hands in resignation, and Carol continued. "When the chopper got back to County, the radio was out, so Luka went into County to get some help and a gurney. That's when the pilot shot Carter and Cleo."
"I thought Cleo had already been shot!" Doug said, perplexed.
"Doug, I am going to kill you!" Carol yelled, then realized the severity of her choice of words and kept her voice down. "Just try to follow me here. Cleo had been shot twice at the trauma, then when she got back to County, the pilot shot her a third time in the back." Doug, grimacing at the memory, nodded in understanding. "The pilot then shot Carter and left him there. She met Luka inside the hospital and they brought Cleo to the ER. The pilot then took Luka to the morgue at gunpoint and left him there." Carol was growing more and more excited with each detail she divulged. "The student was messing around with Kerry's cane, heard Luka in the morgue, jimmied the lock, got scared when he saw the gun-"
"What gun?" Doug inquired.
"The woman left the gun in the morgue with Luka," Carol told him.
"Well that was a stupid thing to do," commented Doug.
"Shhh! Let me finish! The student got scared when he saw Luka and the gun, and hit Luka with Kerry's cane." Carol glared at Doug as he stifled a chuckle at the irony of Kerry's infamous cane being used to inflict pain. "Shut up! That's the last time they saw the killer! They don't know where she is now!"
"Or who she is," Doug added thoughtfully. A sudden pain coursed through his head as a single memory struck him for a split second. "Oh, shit," he mused, covering his mouth with his hand. "I've got to find Mark - NOW."
"He went to Carter's room after we came down here," Carol told him. "Make sure to tell Mark about what the police found out - he doesn't know about any of it yet! And tell him to be careful!"
-------------------------------------------------------------
And I get to the place where I'm begging for a lift
Or I'll drown in the wonders and the was
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Damn Damn DAMN!" Elizabeth screamed as she watched the numbers on the elevator light up VERY slowly. "If I'd known it would take this long I'd have taken the DAMN stairs!" She tried to calm herself down by taking deep, cleansing breaths - but was constantly distracted by thoughts of Mark. "If that bitch has done anything to him, anything at all . . ." she murmured; then, remembering the security cameras, shouted, "I don't give a damn if you can hear me, security people! I really, really don't!"
It seemed to Elizabeth that she had spent a great portion of the time in the last ten minutes in very slow elevators. She had searched every floor, including Luka's and Carter's room, for some clue as to where Mark could be. She was now heading towards the roof - Carter had told her that a policemen had brought Mark to the scenes of the attacks. If only Mark knew what danger he was in . . .
Sighing, she resumed watching the numbers light up. "What floor am I on . . . DAMN! I'M GOING THE WRONG WAY!! I'm supposed to be going UP!!!" Frantic, she repeatedly pushed the very top level button. "I don't have time for this!" she wailed, slumping against the elevator wall.
--------------------------------------------------
And I'll be your girl, if you say it's a gift
--------------------------------------------------
"This isn't how it was supposed to happen," Amanda said, her voice quivering. "Not at all. No one was supposed to get hurt."
"Then why were you sniping people off the top of Mercy?" Mark asked, trying to keep his voice calm. "Didn't you know that people would get hurt if you SHOT at them?"
Amanda turned to him with tears in her eyes. "You were supposed to be working at Mercy! You were supposed to already be there! No one would have gotten hurt if you had just BEEN there!" She was obviously losing control, and Mark warily watched the gun begin to slip from her fingers.
"What about Carter?" he asked shortly.
Amanda looked confused. "Carter's too young for me," she answered.
"No, I meant why did you shoot him?" Mark inquired, becoming surprisingly indignant.
Suddenly the shadow of a feminine figure danced upon the wall that led to the morgue. The woman was crying very hard, and could not see the scene in front of her. She sounded like - Lucy? "No!" Mark shouted. "Lucy! Get out of here!"
The girl appeared not to hear him - she kept walking closer and closer to the corner. Amanda, however, snapped out of her lamenting breakdown and pointed the gun at Mark again. "Get into the morgue!" she hissed. "Hurry up! And don't say a word!"
Utterly confused, Mark complied, walking quickly so the barrel of the gun would not press too forcefully into his back. A fear gripped him as the light disappeared from his vision and the morgue door closed, leaving him in the cold, dark tomb. *Dammit, Amanda,* Mark thought angrily. *Lucy hasn't done anything! Leave her alone!* But the words remained unspoken, and a shiver wracked Mark's shoulders as he stared into the dark nothingness before him.
------------------------------------------------------
And you give me some more of your drugs
------------------------------------------------------
"Hello, John," Jing-Mei said pleasantly as she entered the room.
"Hey," Carter responded absently.
Jing-Mei looked at him curiously. "What's wrong, John?" she asked. "Has your morphine worn off?"
Carter glared at her slightly. "Just because I'm not peppy doesn't mean I'm having a medication problem," Carter replied. Suddenly he smacked himself in the forehead. "Dammit, THAT'S why Lucy got so mad!" he moaned. "I blamed her suffering on the Ritalin. I'm such an idiot!"
Jing-Mei sat next to him. "You're not an idiot," she cooed, taking his hand in hers. "What happened with Lucy?"
Carter sighed. "I think I broke her heart," he said sadly.
------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, I'll be your pet, if you just tell me it's a gift
------------------------------------------------------------
Lucy walked slowly through the hall, weeping loudly and freely. *I don't care who hears me,* she thought bitterly. *I deserve to cry.* Her white shoes scuffed across the linoleum and her sobs echoes through the empty halls.
Meanwhile, Mark was attempting to see past his hand in the pitch-black morgue. *I need to see what's going on!* he thought frantically. Suddenly a splinter of light caught his eye, and upon examining it, Mark found that he had fair visibility of Lucy's location in the hallway through the crack in the wall. *Thank you, Kerry, for being too stingy to patch up these walls!* he thought gratefully.
"Lucy!" Amanda cried, rounding the corner and meeting her in the hall. "What's wrong, sweetie?"
*Sweetie?* Mark wondered. *Since when does Amanda Lee call Lucy Knight "sweetie"? Since when does Amanda Lee KNOW Lucy Knight, for that matter?*
"Amanda!" Lucy wept, falling into Amanda's embrace. "Why is he such an ass? What's wrong with me?"
"Shh, shh," Amanda said soothingly. "I'm guessing it didn't go well."
"No, it didn't!" wailed Lucy. "First I was forceful, then I was honest, and then I cried - all the stuff you told me to do!" She swallowed a sob and wiped her eyes. "And he made fun of me! He said that I need to think about others' feelings, instead of only mine! He even blamed my emotions on the RITALIN!" Lucy, unable to hide her feelings any longer, leaned into Amanda's shoulder and cried.
"Lucy, sweetheart, men are pigs," Amanda said softly but matter-of-factly. "Men are stupid idiots who don't know how much one word or one action can wound a woman."
"Not all men," Lucy sniffed. "Only Carter."
"Oh no, Lucy," Amanda corrected her. "ALL men. Trust me." She shot a glare at the morgue, and even though Mark knew she couldn't see him through the crack in the wall, he shrank away from her burning stare.
"Get out of there, Lucy," Mark whispered, returning to the crack. He had no idea how Amanda and Lucy knew each other, or how Amanda knew what was going on between Lucy and Carter, or even what WAS going on with Lucy and Carter. But if Amanda was brainwashing Lucy the same way she had brainwashed Mark a year ago - and by the gentle tone in her voice, he could tell that she was - Lucy was in serious, serious trouble.
---------------------------------------------------------
Cause I'm tired of "why"s, choking on "why"s,
Just need a little "because", "because"
---------------------------------------------------------
"She was in love with me, Deb," Carter murmured. "It doesn't matter how I feel about her. I should have let her down easier, or at least told her that I was once attracted to her." He chuckled slightly. "She was even jealous of you and me."
"What?" Jing-Mei asked, flustered. "Why?"
Carter shrugged. "Who knows. I guess she saw you comforting me and got jealous." He shook his head, bewildered. "Why would she think there was anything going on between us?"
"Got me," Jing-Mei responded sadly, silently cursing herself for her feelings.
Carter was quiet. Eyeing Jing-Mei, he asked, "What exactly IS going on between us?"
-----------------------------------------------------
I let the beast in, and then
I even tried forgiving him, but it's too soon
-----------------------------------------------------
"Elizabeth!" Doug called, catching up to her in the hall.
"Doug!" she cried, turning around. "Have you-"
"No," Doug answered, his eyes becoming cold. "You haven't?"
"Oh, God," Elizabeth gasped, bringing a trembling hand to her open mouth. "Oh, God . . . where could he be?"
"I'm sure he's fine," Doug assured her, trying not to let her see the fear in his eyes. The fact that they both had been scouring the hospital for Mark Greene without finding him - and that Carol had told him that the killer was still on the loose in County - resulted in only one answer. And that answer was too frightening for him to contemplate, much less express to Elizabeth, who was crumbling before his eyes. He knew by the terrified look in her eyes that she had already checked the roof - to no avail. "Have you checked the morgue?" he asked calmly.
"No," Elizabeth admitted, trying to hold her composure. "I haven't checked the cafeteria either." She looked at Doug with worry in her eyes. "Oh Doug, what if he's -"
"He's not," Doug told her firmly.
"You don't know that!" Elizabeth wailed. "It's so frustrating! I even know who the killer is! But where the hell is she?"
"You know who she is, too?" Doug asked, and Elizabeth nodded gravely. "Then you know that the student isn't . . ." he stopped talking when Elizabeth closed her eyes and nodded again. "We're wasting time here. You go check the morgue, and I'll check the cafeteria." Doug watched Elizabeth nod once more, and was relieved at not having to go down to the dreaded morgue. "Let's go!"
-------------------------------------------------------
So I'll fight again, again, again, again, again
-----------------------------------------------------
"Lucy, listen to me," Amanda said sternly. "Carter does not deserve you. You deserve so much better than him."
"I know, I know," Lucy whimpered, composing herself.
*Dammit, Lucy, don't listen to her, whatever she says!* Mark prayed. *She's insane!* Suddenly, something caught in Mark's throat, and, shocked, he tried to clear it without making any noise.
"Ack ack ack!" he coughed loudly, horrified at his throat for betraying him. Quickly he backed away from the crack in the wall, but it was too late.
"Is someone in there?" Lucy asked curiously.
"No, of course not, dear," Amanda assured her. "Now about Carter-"
"I could have sworn I heard someone cough," Lucy said, and Mark could hear her padded footsteps coming closer and closer.
*Lucy, for the love of God, don't open this door!* Mark pleaded silently. *I'm already in enough trouble right now - don't get into it!* His thoughts were interrupted as a flash of light blinded him, causing him to shield his eyes with his forearm.
"Dr. Greene?" Lucy asked, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"It's not what it seems, Lucy!" Amanda cried as she rushed to the morgue.
"Then what is it?" Lucy asked. "Why is Dr. Greene in the morgue?"
"Lucy - watch out! She's got a gun!" Mark blurted out. He had to save at least one life out of this mess.
Lucy remained emotionless. "Yeah, I know," she shrugged.
*What?!* Mark thought, horrified. *Lucy knows?*
Amanda groaned and took the gun from her lab coat pocket, pointing it at Mark once again. "Damn you, Mark. You ruin everything."
Lucy shook her head. "Amanda, please tell me why Dr. Greene is in the morgue," she pleaded. "And please tell it's not for the reason I think it is."
Amanda stared at Mark, her gun aimed at his forehead. She didn't answer.
"Oh, God!" Lucy cried exasperatedly. "Don't tell me you're not over Dr. Greene yet! It's been a year!"
"Shut up!" Amanda shouted, not moving her stare. "You don't know true love! You don't know how much betrayal can kill you!"
"Of course I don't know true love!" Lucy snapped. "I would know true love right now if you hadn't screwed everything up!"
"I told you, I didn't mean to lock you in that damn supply room!" Amanda yelled back. "You were late getting to the roof!"
"You were early getting to County!" Lucy screamed. "I told you to be there at 8:30 - you got there at 8:20! How the hell was I supposed to get all the way to the roof in the time from your call to when you arrived?!"
Neither woman truly noticed that Mark was still standing in the morgue, his hand trembling like leaves in a breeze. Amanda no longer aimed the gun directly at him; the barrel swayed haphazardly from his chest to his legs as Amanda moved her hands around in the intense argument. Mark attempted to stand as still as he possibly could - perhaps they wouldn't be able to notice him if he didn't move. However, as frightened as he was, Mark still tried to keep up with the conversation.
"Not only that," Lucy continued to yell, "you managed to lock ANOTHER WOMAN on the roof instead of me! That completely ruined the plan! Carter fell in love with the wrong person!"
*Plan?* Mark thought as he slowly let out a deep breath. *Was Lucy in on Amanda's plan?*
"That was an accident, too!" Amanda cried. "Everything was ruined! I was supposed to leave Mercy in a cab at 7:45, get to County by 8:15, get to the roof by 8:25, shoot Carter - a favor to you, I might add - call you, and lock the door behind you!" Amanda was near tears. "But everything was ruined!"
"What were you doing at Mercy?" Lucy asked angrily.
"I - I had something to do there," Amanda explained sadly. "But when I found out that Mark worked at County-"
"Mark and I work at the same hospital, Amanda!" Lucy shrieked. "How could you mess that up?"
"I FORGOT, OK?!" Amanda screamed. "I'm sorry! I knew you and Carter worked at County but I thought Mark worked at Mercy! I went to Mercy, and when I found out he didn't work there I panicked. I sneaked up to the roof and just started firing . . .when County's helicopter showed up, it seemed like everything had fallen into place . . . I thought he had come for me, instead of me coming for him. That's when I saw HER down there." Amanda turned to Lucy, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't know it was Dr. Finch. I thought . . . she had the same curly hair . . . she looked just like her . . ."
Mark could not breathe, for Amanda's words had punched him in the stomach. Amanda had killed Cleo, thinking that Cleo was Elizabeth.
Lucy was silent for a moment. "I forgive you," she said as if Amanda's apology was the only part of the conversation she had heard. "But I need you to do me another favor."
Amanda looked at her curiously. "What?" she asked.
Lucy's brow furrowed. "Do you know Jing-Mei Chen?" she asked. "She's the one who took Carter from me." Amanda nodded in understanding. "Will you do it?"
Just then a light voice bounced through the halls. "Mark?" a woman called hesitantly. "Are you down here?" A familiar figure rounded the hall, and Mark slowly took a step and peered out of the morgue, unable to hold himself back from seeing if the voice was just a dream. Upon seeing that Elizabeth indeed stood at the corner, Mark nearly collapsed from the relief of seeing her alive.
Elizabeth's heart leapt upon seeing Mark's face. "Mark!" she cried happily, then terrified when Amanda's gun swayed from the wall to against Mark's head. Elizabeth studied the woman, trying to place her. "You?" she asked, surprised that her guess hadn't been right.
Amanda's eyes flashed and narrowed. "YOU!" she cried out in fury.
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And for a little while more, I'll soar the uneven wind, complain and blame
The sterile land
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"John, I'm sorry if I've complicated everything for you," Jing-Mei said hurriedly. "I know how guilty you feel about Lucy -"
Carter shook his head. "No, don't apologize. This doesn't have anything to do with Lucy." He was quiet for a moment, then smiled. "I must admit, I had the biggest crush on you back in med school."
Jing-Mei smiled back at him. "So did I," she told him softly.
"You had a crush on yourself?" Carter asked, amused.
"No!" Jing-Mei laughed. "You know what I mean!"
Carter nodded and gazed into her dark eyes. He had never truly appreciated how delicate and beautiful those endearing eyes really were. *Perhaps something good did come out of those med student days,* Carter thought, then grinned - *something that can hopefully be salvaged.*
-----------------------------------------------------------
But if you're getting any bright ideas, quiet dear
I'm blooming within
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"Oh . . . Dr. Lee, is it?" Elizabeth asked timidly, focusing on the gun pressed to Mark's temple.
"Dr. Greene, actually," Amanda corrected her, her eyes still narrowed. "Amanda Greene."
Elizabeth's stomach churned as this woman, this cold-blooded killer, dared to attach Mark's honorable name to her own. "Yes, my mistake," Elizabeth said faintly.
Mark was torn at this point. He was petrified at the sensation of the cold metal circle against his temple, but he knew he needed to show Elizabeth that he wasn't frightened. "What are you doing here, Elizabeth?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"I - I was looking for you," she stammered, trying to think fast. "You disappeared on me. Where did you go?" She tried to make small talk while she thought of a plan.
"Um, I think you found that out," Mark told her, his voice quavering a bit.
Amanda groaned. "Come on, this is making me sick-"
She was interrupted by a high-kick to the back of the head. Stunned, she stumbled forward and released the gun against Mark's head. Mark, still shocked, didn't move. Elizabeth tore to his side, embracing him and pulling him away from the wall, where Amanda immediately turned. "Damn!" she screamed. Angrily she turned to Lucy. "All I tried to do was help you. All I wanted to do was make you happy, even if that meant shooting an innocent person. And this is how you repay me?!"
Lucy stood silent, the tips of her fingers trembling only slightly.
Amanda shook her head in disgust and pulled the trigger carelessly.
"Click."
Shocked, Amanda fired twice more. "Click, click."
"I'm out of bullets?" she asked no one in particular. "I didn't think I was out of bullets."
Mark became enraged. "You've been holding me down here for this long, and you didn't even have any bullets?!"
Amanda shook her head in disbelief. "I was sure I had a few more," she mused, examining the gun.
Just then Doug rounded the corner and, visibly surprised to see so many people, took a step back. "Uh, hey, Mark," he said cautiously. "Everything ok?"
"Just fine, Doug," Elizabeth told him. "I found Mark."
"I can see that," Doug said, confused. He then noticed Amanda and he took a double take. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Amanda Lee! I didn't think it was her! I thought it would be Susan Lewis!"
Elizabeth nodded enthusiastically. "Me too!"
Mark rubbed his eyes, still frustrated. "I was caged in the morgue like an animal and you couldn't have even shot me if I'd just left?! I can't believe this."
Elizabeth faced Mark and took his face in her slender hands. "Just be grateful that you weren't hurt," she told him. "And that no one else can be hurt tonight."
BANG!
"What the hell was that?" Malucci asked in the lounge. "Sounded like a gunshot."
A mug dropped to the ground and shattered, spreading coffee and bits of ceramic around the room. "Oh no," Carol moaned. "Please, God . . ."
"What's wrong?" Malucci asked. "It could have just been a car backfiring."
"It wasn't," Carol wailed as she rushed out of the lounge. Malucci strained his neck, trying to see what was going on in the halls outside.
Hysteria had broken loose in the ER. The police had finally announced an evacuation of County only minutes before the shot had sounded, and now patients and medical personnel were screaming and tearing through the halls. Even though it was very late at night, there were a significant amount of patients, nurses, janitors, and doctors clogging the narrow halls of County General ER.
"Hold it, HOLD IT!" Kerry screamed. She struggled to climb up on the reception desk, doing so with Malik's help. "LISTEN UP!" The crowd murmured fearfully as they turned to face Kerry. "We need to calm down! We need to get this evacuation organized!"
"But someone was shot!" Chuny cried. "We heard the gunshot!"
"I know that!" Kerry shouted. "The police are checking it out! Now who's missing?!"
"Doug!" Carol yelled. "And Mark and Elizabeth!"
"Lucy too!" Abby yelled.
"What about Jing-Mei?" Carter, who had been wheeled down to the ER, called out.
"I'm right here, John!" she cried from somewhere in the crowd.
"Ok, that's everyone," Kerry shouted efficiently. "Now -"
Suddenly a man shouted "Clear the way! Clear the way! Coming through!" Three police officers and Mark were pushing a gurney along the halls, with Doug knelt over the body, giving CPR. Kerry watched, horrified, as they wheeled the gurney into trauma 1, and for the fourth time in a span of 5 hours, Kerry recognized the body in the gurney. "What happened?" she hollered to Mark.
Mark didn't turn back as he swerved the gurney through the trauma doors. "She was shot while we were in the morgue!" he yelled, hooking up several machines.
"What were doing in the morgue?" Kerry cried.
"Carol, we need you in here!" Doug yelled, hopping off of the gurney.
Kerry made her way down from the reception desk as she continued to bark questions. "Did you find out who did it?" she asked, not caring who heard her anymore. The news and speculations about the killings had spread though County without discretion - there were no secrets any more.
As if answering her question, three more police officers burst through the crowd. "Excuse me folks," one officer apologized. "Clear the way." They were leading a handcuffed woman who looked completely stunned out the door.
*That's the killer?* Kerry thought, squinting at the woman. *Amanda Lee?!*
Mark had turned from the gurney and was watching the officers escort Amanda out the door. He shuddered as she whipped her head around in his direction. "Mark!" she screamed. "I need to talk to you! Please!"
Mark shook Amanda's voice out of his head as he turned away to Carol as she hurried into the room. "She's brady at 80 over 50, pulse is 50! We need 2 units of O neg!"
Carol turned around to the crowd. "Lydia!" she screamed over the many voices. "2 units of O neg!"
"Got it!" Lydia shouted back.
Kerry, meanwhile, was still in shock from realizing the identity of the killer. Slowly she began making a mental checklist of the newly recovered people. *Mark and Doug are here,* she thought, *but where is . . .* "Mark, where is -"
"There wasn't room in the elevator!" Mark yelled, focused on intubating the woman in the gurney. "She'll be up soon! I need that O neg NOW!"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe late but at least about
Fast as you can
----------------------------------------------------------------
3:00 am
A soft hand touched Mark's sleeve, and Mark groaned with his slow awakening. He stretched out his arms over the Exam room bed and rolled away from the hand. "Mark," a gentle voice whispered. "Mark. Are you awake yet?"
"No," Mark mumbled groggily. "I just need a few more minutes . . . please . . ."
"I think you'll want to hear what I'm going to say," Carol told him.
Mark's eyes snapped open. "What?" he asked.
"Elizabeth's out of surgery, if you want to see her." Carol told him. "She'll want to see you."
"What about-" Mark started.
Carol smiled at him. "Amanda's in custody. It's all over."
Mark rubbed his eyes once as he sat up and stretched again. "Thanks, Carol," he said. "You should go home though. You need some sleep."
Carol rolled her eyes. "I would go home, if my husband and daughters weren't asleep in the lounge."
Mark grinned. "Sounds like a photo op."
Carol grinned back and held up three finished rolls of film. "Been there, done that," she told him. "Now go see Elizabeth."
Mark nodded and hugged her briefly, then left the lounge and headed to the elevator. He was met by Kerry right after he pushed the "up" arrow. "Hey, Kerry," he said wearily, but unable to keep a smile from his face.
Kerry gave him a faint smile as she leaned against the wall. "Hey." she said. "Quite a night."
Mark nodded. "Quite." The two were silent, both mentally calculating the repercussions of the night. Cleo was dead, Carter wouldn't be able to walk for weeks, Luka would be under the effects of the concussion for a long time - and now this. "Thank God Amanda was caught," Mark commented. He paused. "Where's Lucy?"
Kerry lowered her eyes. "Psych ward," she said quietly. "The police decided that she wasn't of right mind when she came up here so they decided to wait until tomorrow for an investigation." Suddenly the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "I'd better go," Mark said hesitantly. "I'm-"
"I know," Kerry said, waving him forward. "Go."
Mark gave her a half-smile, then stepped onto the elevator. *Kerry can be ok when she wants to be,* he thought, pressing the button that would bring him to Surgery. *I just wish she wanted to be more often.*
The doors opened a few seconds later and Mark stepped out. He immediately saw Elizabeth walking out of a surgery room, frantically looking for a way out of a conversation with Romano.
"So I figure, next time if we can close off the femoral artery BEFORE we repair the tissue, the patient might lose less blood." Romano told her.
Elizabeth nodded unenthusiastically. Suddenly she caught sight of Mark, and as she rushed to him, she yelled, "Sorry, Robert, I'm leaving for the night!" When she reached Mark she pulled herself close to him, whispering, "Get me out of here before he starts to talk again. I've been involved in that bloody conversation for twenty minutes."
Mark smiled at her. "Carol just woke me up about 5 minutes ago, right after you got out of surgery," he said. "How did it go?"
Elizabeth sighed sadly. "The poor man lost his leg," she told him. "Pedestrian against SUV."
Mark nodded sympathetically and put his arm around her shoulders. "How's Lucy?" he asked.
"Her surgery went very well," Elizabeth told him. "The bullet was lodged between the clavicle and humorus but we managed to remove it before it did any cartilage or nerve damage to her arm. She's very lucky." Elizabeth smiled at Mark. "I suppose that because we couldn't help with Cleo, I'm especially thankful we saved Lucy." Mark nodded in agreement.
Elizabeth's smile faded and she looked up at Mark. "When that gun went off, Mark . . ."
"I know," Mark said, guiding her onto the elevator. "It scared the hell out of me too. And when you fainted I was sure you'd been hit. Then Lucy went down, and . . ." he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to stop the burning sensation that had begun behind his eyes.
Elizabeth stroked his face. "It's all right, Mark, you can cry," she told him gently.
Mark shook his head. "Nah, that's ok." He took Elizabeth's hand from his face and held it in his own. "So when are we continuing our vacation in New York?" he asked jokingly.
Elizabeth smiled and, reaching to the back of his neck, pulled him into a kiss as the elevator doors closed behind them.
---------------------------------------------
Leave me, let this thing run its route
---------------------------------------------
Lucy groaned and rubbed her wrist with her hand. "No matter how many times I convince patients how important it is, I cannot STAND getting IV's," she grumbled. She brushed a hair off of the sling on her right arm with her left hand.
Suddenly a nurse, who Lucy didn't know, approached Lucy's bed. "How are you feeling, dear?" she asked. "Better?"
"A little," Lucy said honestly. "How's my BP?"
The nurse checked the monitor next to the bed. "Going up," she observed, "but not quite stable yet."
Lucy sighed and sank into her pillow. However much pain she felt at that moment, she now knew that karma did exist. She had planned and plotted for Carter to be shot, and as she lay in her gurney in the Psych ward, she knew that she deserved anything she got - especially a bullet wound in her arm. The pain that shot through her arm could not compete with the guilt that ran through her heart.
"Lucy," another nurse asked timidly, approaching the bed. "Dr. Carter is here to see you. Do you want to see him?"
A tear appeared at the corner of Lucy's eye, but she nodded slowly. "Yes," she answered quietly.
"She'll see you now, Dr. Carter," the nurse whispered out the door. Lucy didn't move her head but she watched the nurse wheel Carter next to the bed. The nurse then left, leaving Lucy and Carter alone.
The room was silent for several minutes, and Lucy tried to stop the warm tears that spilled from her eyes. Carter spoke first. "How are you feeling, Luce?" he asked cautiously.
Lucy didn't speak; she turned her face away from him as another tear rolled down her cheek and dropped onto the pillow.
Carter closed his eyes painfully. He had hoped that his words hadn't caused Lucy as much pain as she had let on, but judging by the way she was acting now, she had been deeply wounded.
He had spoken to Mark earlier that night, after Mark had stabilized Lucy and brought her to surgery. Mark had told him about Lucy's conversation with Amanda - how Lucy had not only known about Carter's shooting, but how she had helped to plan it.
*I just need to talk to her,* he thought. *I need to know why . . . why she would want to do a thing like this.*
However, seeing that Lucy wasn't about to talk, Carter opted to take the initiative. "Lucy, whatever I did to make you angry enough to do something like this against me, I'm sorry." He hung his head. "I'll understand if you never want to talk to me again. I know I was a jerk back there, when you were just trying to tell me how you felt. I . . ." he put his hand on the bar of the gurney, "I can't tell you how sorry I am."
Lucy slowly faced the ceiling, not looking at Carter. "Why are you sorry?" she asked, choking on her tears. "I was the one who told Amanda to shoot you. I was the one who planned the whole thing out to the second. I was the one who . . ." she swallowed a sob, "who only thought of my own feelings."
Carter shook his head. "I was wrong to say that before. I'm not trying to blame you at all, Luce," he said gently. "I just want to know what I did to make you want to do this."
"Nothing!" Lucy cried. "You just weren't in love with me!"
"So . . . you wanted to punish me?" Carter asked, struggling to understand.
"No!" Lucy wiped her eyes with her free hand. "I wanted to MAKE you fall in love with me?"
Carter was silent; he was too confused to comment.
"Before tonight you only saw me as a clumsy med student, someone who only made mistakes and didn't really care about the patients," she explained sadly. "I thought if there was a situation where you were the patient and I was the only one there to help you . . ." she trailed off and covered her eyes, humiliated. "I thought I could change how you felt about me. I thought I could make you fall in love with me. But instead, Amanda locked Jing-Mei on the roof and me in the supply room. It was supposed to be the other way around. You fell in love with her instead."
Carter inhaled deeply - he finally understood. All that Lucy had known was that she had indescribable feelings towards her colleague. She had tried to make them clear to him through all her efforts to gain his approval, and he, like an idiot, had only led her on when he had succumbed to his hormones in the Suture room. While her motives to seduce him were misguided, they were, in a way, very innocent. "The feelings Jing-Mei and I have for each other began a long, long time ago," he explained. "Since med school. Nothing just 'sparked' between us on the roof. Nothing's really going on right now. We're at an understanding is all." Carter smiled slightly as his choice of words. "To tell you truth, I don't remember anything after being shot. Even if you had been on the roof instead of Jing- Mei, I wouldn't have remembered it." He stopped for a moment. "What made you think that I only saw you as a clumsy med student?"
Lucy finally turned towards him, but avoided eye contact. She knew that drowning in his brown eyes again would sting like acid and the pull that drew her to his eyes was too painful to bear. "Didn't you?"
"No!" Carter said quickly. "Of course not! I saw you - I SEE you - as a promising student who will make a wonderful doctor someday. I see you as a kindhearted person who cares about her patients and those around her more than she cares about herself. I see you as a strong adult who endures far too much verbal and emotional abuse from her teacher." He paused for a moment. "And yes, I see you as a very attractive, beautiful woman, and I do admit, I was extremely attracted to you at one point."
" 'Was.' " Lucy repeated scornfully.
"It wouldn't have worked, Lucy," Carter explained. "We're too much alike. We're both stubborn as mules and we both fall in love too easily. That's why I had to stop it before I fell completely in love with you."
Lucy sighed sadly and finally looked into Carter's eyes. "You're going to be hard to get over, Carter," she said, tears brimming at her eyes again.
Carter smiled kindly and touched her cheek, wiping her tears with his fingertips. "I'm not as perfect as you make me out to be," he told her.
Lucy chuckled half-heartedly. "I'll have to keep that in mind," she said, yawning.
Carter took his hand away. "You need your rest," he instructed her. "I'll come visit you in the morning." Lucy nodded sleepily, and Carter smiled at her once more before wheeling himself out of the room.
*Sleep . . . sounds too good to be true . . ." she thought happily. Everything suddenly seemed brighter. She and Carter were, for the first time, on good terms, and that's all that mattered to her at that moment. "Oh, the police," Lucy moaned, a wave of shock shooting through her body. "Damn." She knew it was too good to be true.
"The police are gone for the night," a male voice spoke up from a curtained gurney.
Lucy's head jerked around. "Who said that?"
The curtain slowly drew back a little, and Lucy saw the face of a young man in his twenties. He had big glasses and was very pale, but he was handsome in a way.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Lucy," the young man apologized. "I've been dealing with the police all night. I just thought you'd want to know that they've already left for the night. They left while you were in surgery."
"Thanks," Lucy said, puzzled. "How do you know my name?"
The young man grinned shyly. "I met you earlier tonight," he told her. "My name's Ben - Ben Herrington."
Lucy nodded her head as she finally recognized him. "Oh yes," she said. "Second year med student, right?"
Ben nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "They brought me up here after they interviewed me. First I fainted in the ambulance bay, and now they think I'm crazy." He shrugged. "Maybe they're right. I don't know."
"Yeah, well, at least your craziness didn't get someone seriously hurt," Lucy told him, "and your arm in a sling."
"Actually my craziness did get someone hurt - that Kovac guy." Ben lowered his eyes, and the air stood still for a few moments. "I heard you and that guy talking just now."
Lucy sighed painfully. "I see."
Ben hesitated. "I - I didn't really understand why he couldn't fall in love with a person like you. It seems easy - you seem like a really nice person who cares about other people." He smiled shyly. "Plus you're gorgeous."
Intrigued, Lucy smiled. "Thank you," she said, becoming more and more attentive to his charms with each word he said.
"So, when they let us get up and walk around, do you think you'd like to . . . take a walk around the floor-" he glanced up, then back down - "together?"
Lucy smiled. "I'd like that," she told him, amused by Ben's feeble attempt at a proposal for a date. *But maybe that's what I need right now.* Maybe things WERE going her way, after all.
--------------------
Fast as you can
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"Carol, your husband's snoring is annoying me," Malucci whined, pointing at Doug as Carol walked into the lounge. Doug was stretched out on the couch asleep, with one sleeping twin in each arm. "I can't concentrate on healing if I'm constantly distracted by such an unpleasant noise."
"Oh, shut up, Malucci," Doug grumbled, shifting a little on the couch. He was slowly waking up - and fighting consciousness as hard as he could.
Carol strode over to Doug and knelt next to him. "Doug," she whispered, shaking him a little. "It's 3:30 am and my shift starts at 7:00. We've got to get home now."
"Let's just stay here till then," Doug mumbled into the couch cushion.
Carol shook her head. "We can't keep the girls here," she told him. As if on cue, Kate began to stir in Doug's arms. "Come on, you can go back to sleep when we get home."
Doug sighed and opened his eyes wearily. "All right," he yawned, sitting up slowly. Carol took Tess in her arms and began to put her into her battle gear - coat, scarf, gloves, boots, etc. "Hey, while you're doing that, I'm going to sleep for 5 more minutes," Doug said quickly, and before Carol could protest, he was horizontal on the couch again.
Malucci snickered. "He's your worst child," he informed Carol.
Carol rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it." She handed Tess to Malucci and reached for Kate. Her hand brushed Doug's shoulder as she removed Kate from his arms, and Doug's hand immediately met hers and held it there for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. Carol sighed in delight as she felt the familiar electricity spark between their hands. Nothing could ever take that away.
---------------------
Fast as you can
---------------------
"Yeah, what?" Peter Benton said gruffly into the phone. "Oh, hey Elizabeth. Nah, you didn't wake me up. Or Reese." Benton quickly moved the portable phone into the kitchen so Elizabeth couldn't hear Reese's whimpering - Benton had inadvertently turned on a light when he answered the phone. "So what's up? Did they catch whoever was doing all this?" He listened intently. "Oh, man. I had no idea it would be her." He ran his hand over his face - a nervous habit he had developed in the last few years - and kept listening. "Yeah, you can tell me the details tomorrow. I know you've got to get home. Ok, later. And thanks for calling me." Benton hung the portable phone and stood in shock for a moment. The woman who had killed Cleo and who had shot Carter was Amanda Lee. He never would have guessed.
Suddenly Reese's whimpering became wailing, and Benton quickly rushed to his bedroom. "Hey, man, it's ok," he soothed his son as he rocked him back and forth. "It's ok. Everything's gonna be ok."
---------------------
Fast as you can
--------------------
"Oh, how I missed this slum!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she walked past into Mark's apartment. "How are you, hole in the wall? Did you miss me?"
"Ok, ok, Elizabeth," Mark chuckled as he sifted through his mail. "I get it."
Elizabeth smiled at him and dropped her bag on the sofa. "I don't think you do," she teased, unzipping her bag. "Otherwise you'd have mended the hole." She walked into the bathroom. "Good evening, drippy sink!"
Mark turned away and pressed the button on his answering machine. "You have - one - new message," the machine responded mechanically.
"Only one?" Mark asked, confused.
"Hello, Mark," an all-too-familiar voice rang out from the machine. Chills immediately ran down Mark's spine as Amanda Lee's voice echoed through the walls of his apartment.
Elizabeth slowly stepped out of the bathroom. "Oh, God," she mused. "Make her go away."
"This is Amanda," the message continued. "They let me have one phone call, and since there's no one who I really need to call, I thought I'd call you. I really wanted to talk to you in person, but I'll have to settle for talking to your machine. Mark, I hope you know that I wouldn't have hurt you today. I would never hurt you."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you were thinking when that gun was pressed against my head," Mark said angrily.
"I love you. I know you don't love me, but I've accepted that. I came back for one purpose, and I failed. I hope you and Dr. Corday will be very happy together. You seem to love her. I only want you to be happy. Now I know that I can't be the one to make you happy. I'll think about you every second of every day. That's how I'll get through this." The message paused. "I'm also sorry about shooting Cleo, and Carter, and Lucy. Lucy's a good girl - just a little confused. Tell her that I told the cops that I shot Carter - and that she had nothing to do with it. She's too delicate for a place like this. Cleo was a genuine mistake. Carter was just a favor to a friend." Mark could hear whispers in the background. "Ok, they're telling me I have to get off now. Goodbye, my love." *Click.*
There was silence in the apartment for several moments after the message ended. "Well, that was strange," Elizabeth commented.
Mark nodded numbly. "Yeah," he managed to say. The air was awkward.
Finally Elizabeth spoke again. "Dear God, it's nearly 4 am!" she exclaimed. "We should get to bed."
"I'll be right behind you," Mark said, and Elizabeth headed towards the bedroom.
Cleo. Carter. Luka. Lucy. And himself. So many people had been affected by Amanda's lunacy and delusions; Cleo, for one, would never recover. Carter's, Luka's, and Lucy's wounds would scar and eventually heal, but the scars in the ER as a whole could never fully heal. Amanda had done more than injure a few people when she pulled the trigger. She had cut into County itself and had created a hole that could not be repaired or filled. And for the rest of Mark's life, a pair of eyes would be staring into him. Not a moment would pass when he wouldn't feel that he was being watched by those eyes that had bore into him a year ago, and that had bore into him as the gun was pressed against his head.
Mark exhaled deeply as he bent over the message machine and pressed "DELETE."
If only it were that simple.
----------------------
Fast as you can
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THE END