16- Secrets and Lies
John had made plans to pick Susan up for their early morning yoga session. After the first few times of going, he had come to enjoy it and found that it really was helping to build the strength in his back so it had proved to be very beneficial.
He arrived at her apartment with coffee and bagels only to find out that she had spent the night at Mark Greene's and had forgotten about their play-date.
John became rather irritated with her. He didn't want to seem judgmental but Mark was a married man even if he was having some marital problem. It just wasn't right. The fact that she refused to tell him why she was there made it even harder for him to believe that nothing besides friendship was going on.
They hadn't even reached the entrance to the hospital when Kerry recruited them to help with a patient that had just arrived by ambulance.
The patient had caught the attention of the entire ER, a dominatrix mistress with a very over weight client who had apparently fallen from some sort to torture devise. The man refused to take off the hood of his leather outfit, not wanting his identity revealed. He was sent to radiology to have X-rays taken. The woman had insisted on going with him, leaving John, Luka, Susan, Abby, & Michael Gallant in the exam room together. Susan and Abby had found a rather large leather bag that the woman had left behind. Curious to see what was in it they placed it on the gurney and opened it revealing a rather unusual assortment of sex toys.
John and Luka had both warned the girls that they shouldn't get into the bag but once it was opened their curiosity got the best of them and they joined in the fun.
Dr. Weaver walked in the room to find them all horsing around with various items from the bag. She sent Gallant out of the room to speak to him separately and called the rest together to lecture them on work place behavior. She also admonished them for behaving inappropriately in front of a student.
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"Dave, I'm sorry." John shouted, waving his hands in the air as he paced the living room. He had been arguing with Dave ever since he had told him of the fact that he was ordered by Kerry to attend an all day seminar on sexual harassment.
"Shit! And we've been planning this for a week now and it's supposed to snow tomorrow also, what a hell of a day it's gonna be now." Dave stormed. "Maura's really been lookin' forward to this and frankly so have I."
"Well, at least you get to spend some time with her. I've barely seen her for more than a few minutes lately." John growled back.
"Dammit, I don't even work for Weaver anymore and she still manages to bust my balls." Dave sat heavily onto the couch. "So, you plan on telling Maura or do I have to."
John turned and shot Dave a frightful glare. "Of course I'm going to tell her. I just thought we'd be doing it together. I guess that's just too much to ask." John left the room slamming the door behind him. They were both getting out of control and John felt he needed to leave before he said something he would regret.
John found Maura curled up on her bed scowling at him. He sat down and pulled her up into his lap. "Come here Sweetie, I have something I need to talk to you about.
"Are you mad at my daddy?" Maura scrunch her face putting on her meanest look. She had heard them yelling and she didn't like it.
"No, I'm not mad at him." John sighed as he held her against his chest.
"Is he mad at you?" She pulled back and put her tiny hands on his cheeks.
"No, Sweetie, he's not mad at me either. We're just both upset because something came up at work and I can't be here tomorrow. But I get off Sunday so you'll have all day tomorrow with Daddy and then all day the next with me." John put on his best smile hoping that she wouldn't be upset with him also.
"But you promised, you promised that we would all be together tomorrow."
She crawled out of his lap and laid down snuggling up with her doll.
'Damn,' John thought to himself. He seemed to be in the 'doghouse' with everyone. Getting up from the bed he leaned over and gave Maura a kiss.
"Good-night, Sweetie, sleep tight." His heart ached when Maura pulled away from him. He left the room and headed downstairs into the billiards room.
After several rounds of pool by himself, John finally laid down on the couch thinking about how stupid he was for not just leaving the room when Susan and Abby had opened that woman's bag. He wouldn't be in this situation now if he had.
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John had basically woken up on the wrong side of the bed or was that the couch? He had fallen asleep downstairs and found Dave sleeping on the couch in the upstairs living room. He stepped into the shower to get ready to go to the dreaded seminar.
Dave woke when he heard the water running in the bathroom. They had both had a rather long day previously and had both been over tired when they got into it over John not being able to be there today.
This was not how Dave had planned to spend his Saturday off. He had not had a Saturday off in over a month, let alone a day off with John for a while. To top it off this was his only day off this week and he and John had also promised Maura that they would all be able to spend today together. He knew that John was angry at making him tell Maura himself but he had been too tired and upset to deal with it. Lying down on the couch he had fallen asleep and that's where he had ended up spending the night.
John stood in the shower letting the hot water run over his stiff muscles. He had a kink in his neck from sleeping on the couch. This was not how he had planned to spend his free Saturday. Like Dave, he hadn't had a Saturday off in over a month, let alone a day off that Dave also was home. He had managed to get Kerry to agree to letting him have Sunday off, telling her he was going to take the day whether she liked it or not. It wasn't much help with his current situation since Dave still had to work. The worst thing was having to break his promise to Maura. She seemed more upset then he had expected that they wouldn't all be able to spend the day together.
Dave stepped into the shower behind John, "Hey, I'm really sorry about last night." Dave caressed John and lightly bit his shoulder blade.
"I'm sorry too, but I'm running late. I really don't have time for this." John turned around and kissed Dave on the lips. "The snows already coming down pretty heavily, it's going to take me longer to get there." He stood under the water to rinsed himself and left Dave standing alone in the shower.
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Arriving at the college, John was still angry as hell that Dr. Weaver had ordered him along with Susan, Abby, Luka, and his med student Michael Gallant to attend this all-day-long sexual harassment seminar. If only he had been a little more insistent when he told Susan and Abby that they shouldn't be messing around with their patient's belongings.
It was bad enough that Dr. Weaver had caught them all screwing around but for her to insinuate that they didn't have the mind to understand that their behavior was inappropriate, as if she had never done anything that was inappropriate before. 'Well, knowing Kerry, she probably hadn't but that was beside the point. It wasn't like he made a habit of doing so either.'
John entered the classroom to find Gallant and Luka already there. Gallant sat near the back of the room with Luka in the middle. He greeted them passively and took a seat in the front on the other side of the room. Opening his newspaper and sipping his coffee, he sat back ignoring their presence.
The door opened and Susan sauntered in noticing the men all sitting by themselves neither talking to the other. Susan took a seat next to John and began a conversation. Not really wanting to talk, he got up and began pacing the room, checking out the videos that sat with the TV and gazing out the window occasionally.
Finally, Abby arrived. "I thought I was late." She smiled as she entered the room and looked around, not bothering to remove her jacket. The room was freezing cold, but not as cold as the atmosphere surrounding the other occupants of the room. She took a seat near Susan.
"You are late," John replied.
"Does anyone know how long this is supposed to last?" Susan asked
"All day, I think." Luka answered from behind his newspaper.
"What are they going to do, show us videos?" Abby asks.
"Sexual harassment videos," Susan mocked playfully.
"Role playing and long lectures is what I heard." John added in disgust. "Acting out inappropriate behavior. You two," he said, indicating Abby and Susan, "Should excel at that."
"Would you drop it?" Susan asked
John wandered towards the back of the room and sat down as the girls began to discuss the 'thing' someone had put in Weavers locker. They were asking accusing questions of each other in an attempt to find out who did it. Susan burst out laughing as she recalled the look on Weaver's face when she had found the large purple dildo with its black leather belt.
"This isn't funny," John fumed. He sat back exasperated, finally shedding his winter wear. The heater had finally kicked on and the room was beginning to warm up.
Luka was smirking towards Susan and Abby, watching their amusement.
Gallant sat rather disgusted over the entire situation as he kept to himself with his pile of schoolbooks. He had a mountain of homework and no time to waste in getting it finished.
"Sure it is." Susan continued to laugh, determined to make the best of a bad situation. She also had better ways to spend her time and figured that if she had to be here, she might as well try and have some fun.
"No, it's not." John snarled, glaring at her. He thought of Dave and Maura at home making snow angels out in the driveway, drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows, ordering pizza and watching Cinderella. Anything sounded better than being here.
"This is going to be a very long day." Susan turned towards Abby as they both observed John's pissy ass mood. Abby found it amazing that Susan was warming up to her so easily. She never thought that Susan liked her very much and never thought of her as very friendly. This day might not be so bad after all. She thought as she watched John, sitting there staring at the ceiling in total boredom.
Abby got up and began wandering around the front of the room. She stopped in front of the chalkboard and began piecing together the fragments of the sentences left.
"I think that's Whitman ... that's 'I Sing the Body Electric.'" Susan commented as Abby turned towards her.
"What?" Abby turned in surprise that someone else actually recognized the writings on the board. "I know that one." Abby claimed.
"You know Whitman?" Susan asked in surprise.
Abby asks what's so odd about her knowing Whitman, and Susan simply says that not many people know his work.
"You've got 'Fame,' you know." Abby chimed.
"Please. I love 'Fame,' Susan commented.
"Well, it looks like somebody erased most of it." She began reciting what she knew of it. The girls became enthralled with it as they began taking about the movie 'Fame'. Susan was singing a rendition of 'I Sing the Body Electric.'
John disgustedly tosses his coffee cup into the trash, breaking up their joviality. Both girls looked towards John with disdain.
"How long are we going to wait? This thing was supposed to start at 8 o'clock," John snipped, becoming very impatient.
"He probably got held up by the snow." Luka quietly offered as he sat, folding a piece of paper into an airplane, just trying to find something to do.
"We all got here." John complained. "I say we go," he squirmed in his seat, really not wanting to be here in the first place.
"I say we wait." Gallant spoke up. All he had to do was homework and this was as good a place as any to do it.
"He speaks." John turned, amused as he stared at Gallant.
"So what if he's late? We were told to report to room 224 at zero eight-hundred and I'm here and I'm going to stay here until somebody in charge tells me to do otherwise and I suggest that you all do the same." Gallant advised.
"Zero eight-hundred." John mocked as he stood and gathered up his coat and began to put it on. "This ain't the Marines, Gallant. At ease."
"It's the Army, Dr. Carter." Gallant replied.
"Well, I don't think anyone is going to Court Martial you because a guy didn't show up for a lecture." It was bad enough that they had to be here, but the fact that the instructor was late did not sit very well with John at all.
"Gallant's right. We should wait. I don't want to come here again next Saturday." Luka remarked not taking his eyes from his paper airplane.
"Abby please, we're in a public building." Gallant addressed the fact that she was beginning to light up a cigarette.
"I know, nobody's here," she responded.
"I'm here," he replied. Abby looked around at the others. Luka smirked his disapproval, as John silently sneered at the idea that Gallant did have a point.
John slammed his gloves onto the desktop as he removed his coat and returned to his seat, resigning himself to staying. He was still upset that everyone was going to sit around and wait for who knows how long. What was that stupid movie? 'The Breakfast Club', that's what this felt like. Banished to detention on 'his' Saturday and all because Weaver had no friggin' sense of humor. John thought silently to himself.
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The seminar was finally over as they all gathered outside the building, knowing more about each other then they had learned the entire time they all worked together.
Abby was the first one outside the building as she lit her cigarette. "Hey, it stopped snowing," she announced.
"It's about time," John said. He was in a much better mood but still not happy about missing out on spending the day with his 'family.'
"Anyone need a ride?" Luka offered. "I've got my car."
"I'm on in 20 minutes." Abby replied.
"You're working tonight?" John asked.
"Yeah, me too." Gallant added.
"Well, that was fun." Susan approached Abby and offered her hand in friendship.
"Let's try to never do that again." Abby snickered.
"You want me to give you a lift to the hospital?" Luka offered Abby.
"It's only a couple of blocks. Gallant will walk with me." Abby declined.
"You have your keys?" Luka asked before heading to his car.
"Yeah, I'll try not to wake you when I come in." Abby replied, still a bit embarrassed that John had found out that she was now staying at Luka's. She wasn't sure why she felt that way but she did.
Luka stopped to shake John's hand as he bid everyone good-bye. "See you guys later."
"I had fun talking, we should have coffee sometime." Susan said to Abby before also turning to leave.
"Sure, I'd love that." Abby said. "Ready?" She addressed Gallant who was waiting for her.
"She's pretty great." Susan said to John, as they remained alone together.
"Who?" John's mind was on Dave, completely lost in his own thoughts and desires to get home.
"Abby, I really didn't know her before I didn't think I'd like her, but I do." Susan explained. She still believed that even though John was with Dave that he still had a crush on Abby.
"You want to get something to eat? I'm starving." John offered, being polite. He hoped that she would decline his offer so that he could get home sooner.
"You know you really made a fool of yourself today." Susan told him.
"What?" John said. Looking confused.
"If you're worried about Abby living with Luka, don't be, I don't think anything is going on." Susan began.
John really had no idea what she was taking about. "How did I make a fool out of myself?" He asked. What did she know about how he felt about Abby staying with Luka?
"You participated in a duel, for one thing." She said with a grin.
John nodded, acknowledging that that was foolish.
"Kiss me." Susan said looking at him. "Just kiss me," she said again.
Her words caught him by surprise and he found himself doing just that but he quickly pulled away.
"Was it there for you?"
"It was nice." John admitted, not quite understanding what she meant. He thought that it had been clear to her that he didn't have any feelings for her. He looked at her confused. 'Did she not believe that he was serious about Dave?' He thought.
"It wasn't there for me either." Susan claimed.
John stood staring at her for a moment wondering what the hell that was all about? This entire day was turning into some sort of dreaded nightmare and he was beginning to wonder when he was going to wake up and find himself at home...hopefully in his bed still wrapped around Dave.
"Okay go, before I change my mind," Susan grinned.
"You sure?"
"I regret it all ready. You know, that gold digger alarm should be clanging like a school bell."
"This isn't because Mark Greene just suddenly became available, is it?" John smiled jokingly
"You know when I said you're making a fool out of yourself? Well, you're doing it again." Susan kidded. Then she looked him in the eyes. "You should tell her."
"Who?" John asked, confused. Then it hit him. "Tell her what?"
"That you're desperately in love with her and you can't live a moment without her."
"Really?"
"You're hopeless.... you'll figure it out"
"Friends?"
"No I hate you," she laughed
As John began to leave, he turned back towards her, "Hey, I used to have Weaver's locker. She never changed the combination." John confessed being the one to put the toy in Weavers locker.
"It was you!" Susan smiled as he winked at her before turning to leave.
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"What a nightmare!" John sat up suddenly, shaking off the weirdness of his dream. His sudden movement woke Dave from his slumber.
"Bad dream?" Dave exclaimed hoarsely as he reached out and ran his hand up John's back.
"Yeah well, the thought of Abby watching 'Survivor' and Susan watching 'Fear Factor' is pretty frightening. And Susan was singing that song...the one from that movie 'Fame.' John stood as he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to remember the name of the song. "Oh yeah, 'I sing the Body Electric'. It was just plain scary." John mused as he went to bathroom to relieve himself.
Dave rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his arm. "So, that was the entire dream?" Dave shouted through the open door.
John finished his business and rejoined Dave on the bed. "No, it was weird.... there was Susan, Abby and Luka and my new med student Gallant... we all had to go to this seminar but the instructor was late and I was in a really bad mood and Susan acted like she and I were dating or something. She was all jealous because she said I still had a crush on Abby."
"You do still have a crush on Abby." Dave snickered.
"Maybe so...anyway she spent the night with Mark...well that's true but I thought it was more than just her being his friend. It was sort of eerie."
"Then Luka was talking about Abby, sleeping on his couch, but nothing had happened, like he was trying to prove that a man and a women, even if they had once been involved, could later be just friends. I have to admit the idea of Abby still staying at Luka's does still bother me a bit."
"Nothing to worry about there. It's hard for her to be here, knowing that you're with me now." Dave laughed.
"I'm sort of glad she decided not to go back to her apartment yet." John admitted. "I know that the idea of Brian being out still scares her."
"The funny thing was that Susan said that I was probably more upset at that then her staying at Mark's. She also kept insisting that I tell Abby that I was still stuck on her, and she refused to change the subject."
"I think you ate too much pizza before going to bed last night." Dave bantered.
"It's strange because I've never had a dream where I could remember so many details and nothing really made much sense." John shuddered. "I was trying to make friends with Luka by asking him about the Bears and he said he never watched American football but said he watched basketball, he wanted to talk about the Bulls, and I told him that the Bulls stink."
"No way! That's a sacrilege." Dave gasped jokingly.
"What? Saying the Bulls stink or Luka not watching American football?" John laughed.
"Both actually," Dave said. "So, what did your med student have to do with your dream?"
"Not much, really. He kept talking about his family and asking everyone what their dads do for a living. That was another weird part. Abby and Susan were making a big deal out of trying to figure out how much I was worth."
"Didn't ya say he was in the military or somethin'?" Dave rolled back onto his back but scooted closer to John.
"Yeah, Army Reserves. They're paying for his education. I knew a girl once that was a med student through the Air Force." John answered. "He was talking some nonsense about wishing they would give him a gun, put him somewhere where he could use it." John shook his head as he settled down closer to Dave.
"Luka was talking about being in the Army, which I know is true and Abby was talking about her brother Eric being in the Air Force, in Saudi Arabia, which is also true." He added.
"I didn't know that." Dave exclaimed.
"Yeah, he's an air traffic controller." John added.
"Susan was telling Gallant that my family was worth millions and then Abby was asking how I managed to last this long with out some�.'girl' marrying me."
"So what did you tell them?" Dave asked curiously even though it was just a dream.
John laughed, "I said we all come with a built in gold digger alarm. That my grandmother installs them at birth," John snickered, "Funny really, I'd never thought of saying anything like that before." John bantered.
"Well, Gamma like's me so I guess I don't have to worry about your 'alarm'." Dave snickered as he ran his hand across John's chest.
"What was weird was; I was telling Susan that money isn't everything and Luka was sticking up for me by saying that they never had much, they always struggled but were always happy."
"Luka was lucky, I mean I had my mom and Camille and Eddy but my dad was such a total ass and ruined everything for everyone." Dave commented
"There's no way that any of them would ever understand how the little rich boy could want for anything, when the only thing I ever wanted was the one thing that money could never buy. There's more important things in life like being loved and accepted."
"Guess that's what makes us good for each other, we've both been through a lot to get to where we are now and as far I'm concerned I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I only want to be with you for the rest of my life." Dave purred as he rolled on top of John smothering him with kisses.
After a short time, John turned his head away seeking air, "Dave, I can't breathe." He smiled trying to push Dave off his chest. Dave raise up and gave him room to breathe. Moving himself down a bit so not so much of his weight was resting on John's chest.
"Through out the entire dream Susan kept trying to figure out who had put something in Weaver's locker, some sex toy or something to do with us all getting yelled at the other day." John continued his story.
"Now that's something I won't mind seeing." Dave snickered.
"And there was this closet that I broke into and found some fencing gear and
Luka and I started fencing but it was more like a duel and it seemed to be over Abby."
"So, you were fighting over Abby?" Dave asked looking up at John.
"Yeah, I guess I was, strange huh." John looked confused.
"I think you still love her, John." Dave rolled back onto his side. "Maybe this dream is telling you that you still have unresolved issues with Abby." Dave offered.
John rolled over to face Dave. "I do love, Abby, as a friend, but Dave I am totally desperately *in* love with you." John confirmed.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I think I have anything to worry about, but I do think that you love Abby more than you're willing to admit."
"I don't know, I do care a lot about her but its not the same as the love I have for you. I mean.... yeah, I've thought about the three of us together but that would be just too weird. It's really not something that I want to have happen."
"Oh, you wouldn't want to see Abby sprawled out naked here between us?" Dave teased.
"If that's what I really wanted, Dave I'm sure it could have happened. I mean it's not like she hasn't wanted it to happen as well. To tell you the truth, I think that if it did happen, you'd get left of the picture."
"Is that why you've refused to allow Abby into our bed?" Dave asked.
"Dave, I can't help how I feel about Abby, but if I ever had her in my bed, I don't think I could think of anything else, and I don't think I could handle seeing her with you. I don't think it would be fair to either one of us." John spoke honestly.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't mind just watching you two. I mean Abby really is a great looking women and I know she's never really been all that interested in me. But watching you and her, God that would be so hot!" Dave smiled mischievously.
"I don't know, if this dream was supposed to be about my feelings for Abby, what would admitting when I lost my virginity have to do with that. In the dream I was telling them about it."
"I don't know, you were telling them what you've told me?" Dave wondered.
"Yeah, Abby and Susan where playing this game trying to get everyone to say when they first did it and I was telling them everything. Well not everything but about it being with the maid."
"Then Susan was laughing and saying that she hoped I gave her a hell of a Christmas bonus."
"Man, that sure was a long dream," Dave giggled pulling John into his arms.
"Yeah, I can do without dreams like that though." John smiled sleepily as he cuddled up close to Dave, ready to go back to sleep.
Copyright Footer', 'This site is not affiliated in any way with "ER", its writers or production company, or NBC, and makes no profit from the show. The ERROS skin is by Brihana. The script is eFiction version 3.4.2© Tammy Keefer, http://efiction.org\r\n