She twisted her head around to look up into Luka's eyes. "Luka..." she whispered.
He slowly smiled, then nodded. "I know," he whispered back as he softly kissed her lips. Then he got out of the bed, extending one hand to help her get to her feet. Even though they moved as quietly as possible while leaving the room, they knew it didn't matter -- John and Kerry were too caught up with each other to notice their absence.
Once downstairs, the pair sat on the sofa, still holding onto each other.
"It really happened, Luka. Kerry admitted that she loved him." Abby couldn't keep the sound of glee out of her voice.
Luka chuckled and the sound of it was deep as Abby listened to it through his chest. His hands combed out her hair as he replied. "She did. I just hope that this is the beginning of something good for them."
"It *has* to be, Luka. It just has to be. Being in denial of her true feelings was the main thing holding Kerry back from giving all of herself to him. And now that barrier is gone."
"True," Luka admitted. "But what of the others? She is his supervisor, after all. Our supervisor."
"Speak for yourself, doc. She's not mine," Abby reminded him. "We'll find a way around work, Luka. We just have to."
Luka smiled. "And who is this *we* that you're talking about? The last I saw, there were only two people on that bed upstairs."
Abby slowly grinned. "Right now that might be true. But it will change."
"Determined, aren't you?"
Abby moved her hand slightly so that she could cup his erection through his pants. "It's an idea that you still like, Luka."
"Yes," he admitted. "But the world won't come to an end if I don't get it."
"Well, mine won't either," Abby said, half-pouting. "But it would be great, wouldn't it? They can have this time together and then we'll all have our time together. You want it, I want it, Kerry wants it, and John wants it. How can it not happen now?"
Luka rested his chin lightly on top of her head. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "They'll always be our friends, but if they don't want us or need us sexually anymore, then we should respect that, too."
"You're right," Abby admitted. They were quiet for a bit, listening to the moans coming from upstairs. Then she spoke again. "Do you think we should try someone else?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, who else could we have sex with? Maybe another couple?"
He grunted noncommittally. "Maybe. Who did you have in mind?"
"I don't know...maybe Mark Greene and Elizabeth Corday?" Even as she said it, the possibility didn't excite her much. "Or Peter Benton and Cleo Finch?"
"Hmmm," he muttered, and she could tell neither of those couples aroused him, either. "You think any of them would be interested?"
"I don't know, I'm just wondering how we'd feel about it."
"For myself, I'm not very interested in sex with any of them," Luka said. "In fact, I can't think of anyone I'd want us to have sex with, except..."
"John and Kerry," she finished for him, feeling the same. "They'll always be special to us."
He looked down at her with a smile. "That's true," he said.
They began to undress each other, as if by unspoken agreement that they were ready.
"I've got a thought about that," Abby replied, once they were naked. "Maybe they can help us out even when we're alone." She ran a hand down his chest, playing lightly with his chest hairs, then took his erection in her hand. "Close your eyes."
He did.
"Now...which one of them are you with?"
"John..." he sighed.
She smiled, approving. "What is he doing to you?"
"He's...stroking me...slowly..."
Abby moved her hand, following his words.
"He's kissing my chest..."
She did that, too.
"God, it feels so good," he moaned, and then she felt his hand between her legs. "What is Kerry doing to you?"
Without stopping what she was doing to Luka, Abby spread her knees, letting his fingers slide inside her. "She's penetrating me with her fingers...her thumb is on my clit...yes, there..."
They could both feel it growing inside them.
"Her other hand is on my breast, stroking the nipple...God, Kerry...her hands are so talented..."
"John is on top of me. Kissing me..."
Abby straddled his hips, kissing him deeply. There was a wonderful perversity to it, making love to each other while each imagining a lover of the same sex. She rocked back, guiding him into her, and engulfed his length, sitting upright. His hips began to buck up at her, meeting her in rhythm, and his hands cupped her breasts, kneading them.
"Now, open your eyes," she said.
He did, drinking in the sight of his lover atop him. "Abby," he gasped. "You're so beautiful..."
She contracted deliciously around him at these words, feeling the heat spread through her. Then she smiled and said something that surprised them both.
"Call me Kerry..."
*********************
Kerry softly moaned as velvet lips left her breasts to settle upon her belly. She reached out with her hands, desperate to touch any part of John that she could reach. His hair -- she found his hair and ran her fingers through it, grasping the strands as if they were her lifelines. Maybe they were, she thought. Maybe John is my lifeline.
Her thoughts were interrupted when those lips moved further down her body, settling at the core of her being. Her legs instinctively spread open for him, giving him all the access he wanted and needed. "John..." she breathed as her toes began to tingle. God, but every place where John touched her tingled. His fingers of one hand were stroking her breast, and the fingers of his other hand...Lord what those talented fingers could do.
Kerry's back arched as John found the perfect spot, the perfect rhythm. She could feel her muscles tense as her orgasm neared and she had his name on the tip of her tongue, ready to call it out when he brought her to completion. And she did call it out, but it wasn't with satisfaction, it was with frustration because the man had stopped what he was doing. "John!" Kerry gasped, but her indignation was met by soft laughter.
"You're beautiful when you're about to come, Kerry," he said.
Kerry raised her head and looked down her body to see John's smiling face looking up at her. She was quick to notice that his eyes weren't smiling. They were dark with desire. A desire that he felt for her. Kerry slowly shook her head as she remembered how she had wanted to throw this away. Thank God for Abby and Luka, she thought, and then she said it.
"I agree. Speaking of which, they seem to have disappeared," John said.
"We'll find them later, don't worry." Kerry let her head fall back upon her pillow and she smiled up at the ceiling. "You can finish what you started."
"Oh?" John chuckled again. "Is that an order?"
"Does it have to be?" Kerry couldn't keep the smile out of her voice.
"No. It doesn't have to be."
Kerry's hands searched out something -- anything, to hold onto while John brought her once more to the brink of release, and this time let her cross.
Lying back on the bed, her conscious mind spiraling from orgasmic heights back down to the Here and Now, Kerry gazed at the man who'd satisfied her so expertly. "You make me want to surrender myself," she whispered.
"I'd never ask you to do that, Kerry," he replied, quietly and seriously. "I don't want you to give up anything that makes you who you are. I just want you to share it with me."
"So you don't want me to stop being your boss?" she inquired coyly.
He smiled. "You can boss me around anytime."
She almost melted and gave herself to him completely then, abandoning the plot she'd been hatching. But no, she told herself, see it through. He's just given you an opening. "Okay," she said, sitting up. "Let's go downstairs before our guests start feeling neglected."
From his face, she could tell that he'd noticed how she said 'our guests' instead of 'my guests.' She'd come to consider her home John's home, too. That meant more to him than anything.
He reached for their clothes, but she slapped his hand lightly and said, "No. We've all seen each other without clothes plenty of times, and there's no point putting them on. We'd just have to take them off again later."
"Kerry Weaver," John said, scooping her up in his arms again, "I like the way you think."
Wait a while, she thought, and see if you still feel that way.
*********************
Abby had only experienced a small, almost preliminary orgasm, and they were moving slowly, working up to the big one they'd share. But she paused as John and Kerry entered the living room again.
"Please," Kerry said, "don't stop on our account."
Suddenly and inexplicably self-conscious about having sex in front of them, she laughed and slid off of Luka. He didn't look upset, just resigned to prolonging the wait a bit. "Are you two...?" She didn't know how to finish the question.
"We're fine," John said, setting Kerry down where she'd left her crutch. He loved holding her, but the slight ache in the small of his back, near his wound, told him to ease up. "We wanted to make sure you two weren't feeling left out of things."
"Oh, don't give us a thought," Luka assured them.
There was a pause as the four naked people waited to see what would happen next, all conscious of their collective presence.
"Actually," Kerry spoke up, "I did have something else planned for the evening."
"Oh?" John looked at her questioningly, along with Abby and Luka.
"Yes," she said, "but it's a surprise."
"Life with you is full of surprises," he commented, kissing her neck.
The feel of those lips in that spot, again, nearly made her forget her plans, but she forged ahead with an iron will. "All in good time, John," she said, a little hoarsely. "Luka, did John tell you about living in my basement apartment?"
"I think so," the tall man replied.
"Oh, the famous basement," Abby said with a twinkle in her eye. "I always wanted to see it. John made it sound better than the Batcave."
"Why don't you show it to Luka," Kerry told John, "while I prepare the surprise?"
"Sure." John looked at Abby and Luka. "It's right through here. Man, the memories this place holds..."
They got up to follow him, Abby looking curious, but Luka showing little more than polite interest. Having lived in some odd places himself, including a boat, he didn't expect anything terribly unusual, but he knew it was an important part of John's past, and that John wanted to share it with them.
As the men walked through the doorway to the basement, Abby felt Kerry take her arm and draw her aside, holding her back. She glanced curiously at the redheaded woman, who held a silent finger to her lips...
"This is cozy," Luka said, looking around the place where John Carter had lived for a few precious months.
"Apparently Kerry's fixed the heat," John said with a smile, "or we'd be pretty cold with no clothes on. Kerry, I thought you said no one else had lived here since me?"
There was no answer.
"Kerry?" He looked around, realizing suddenly that Kerry and Abby hadn't accompanied them down the stairs.
"Ready for your surprise, John?" Her voice came from the door at the top of the stairs.
The two men looked up at her, silhouetted in the doorway. "Huh?" John asked, confused.
"See you in the morning, boys," Kerry said with a wicked smile. "Good night...and surprise."
The door closed firmly, and there was the sound of locks turning.
"Kerry, wait!" Luka, reacting first, dashed up the stairs and yanked futilely at the knob. It didn't turn an inch. "She locked us in," he said in disbelief.
"You're kidding," John replied helplessly, his jaw dropping.
Luka pounded on the door. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" he yelled. "THEY DID IT AGAIN!!"
*********************
"What the hell are you doing?" Abby asked Kerry, who seemed to be almost cackling to herself.
"Just borrowing a page from your book," Kerry replied, smiling at her.
"Well, yeah, but..." Abby spluttered, "but I locked them in because they were arguing over me! Not when we were all getting along!"
"Yes, but remember what they ended up doing?" Kerry reminded her.
"How could I forget?"
Kerry limped past her, to take something out of a cupboard. "So, don't you wish you could have watched?"
Abby decided not to mention that she'd already seen John and Luka having sex. "How would I watch if they're locked in down there?"
"Leave that to me," Kerry assured her, putting the packet in her microwave oven and turning it on.
Abby was torn by curiosity, but the pounding on the door behind her was tough to ignore. She turned to unlock the door, but couldn't; it was a key-operated deadbolt, obviously installed just recently. "Kerry, where's the key?"
Kerry held it up mischievously.
"Give it here. Come on."
Abby reached for it, but Kerry held it away from her. "No."
"Kerry, I'm serious!" Abby made a grab for it, aware that she was starting to smile childishly at the game of Keep-Away.
"So am I!" Kerry's voice held a hint of laughter.
Abby made a little jump and grabbed the wrist of the hand with the key. "Kerry, it's not fair to them to--!"
"Abby," Kerry said, suddenly nose-to-nose with Abby and turning serious. "You owe me, remember?"
She recalled their bet, and the conditions of Kerry's victory. "*Now...?!*"
"Just go along with me on this," Kerry told her soberly, "and I'll call us even. All right?"
Abby sighed. Put that way, she supposed she couldn't really argue. "Are they all right in there?"
"See for yourself," Kerry told her. "Come on." She took Abby's hand and led her once more to the bedroom. Settling again on the bed, Kerry picked up a remote control and turned on the television set resting opposite the bed.
Abby sat down beside her as a picture formed of Kerry's basement. John sat, resignedly, on the bed he'd once slept in, talking to someone off-camera, presumably Luka. "Kerry," Abby said, "did you wire your basement?!"
"I called a former tenant," she replied. "Guy named Whit Jefferson, used to live down there about a year before John moved in. He learned electronics in the Navy, and he rigged up my stereo for me. He still owed me a favor or two, so he installed the video camera."
Abby was beginning to wonder just how many people in this world owed Kerry Weaver. "Jesus, Kerry, this is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Look," Kerry said, taking Abby's chin and turning the nurse's head to face her, "I love you all..."
"And we love you, Kerry," Abby interjected. "But..."
"...but I don't want any of you to ever forget which of us is the Evil Queen Bitch of the ER. Okay?" Kerry settled back on a pillow with a smile. "Relax and enjoy the show, Abby. I'm recording this, and I'll make you a copy if you like."
Before Abby could reply, there was a *ding* from the kitchen microwave.
"Ooh, the popcorn!" Kerry popped up from the bed with glee, and the Evil Queen Bitch of the ER went to fetch the popcorn.
Abby rolled her eyes and sighed. She loved a good practical joke as much as anyone and teasing Luka could be great fun. But pulling this on poor John, right after he'd bared his soul to Kerry Weaver, just when he was in a vulnerable place to begin with...it bordered on cruel. Didn't Kerry have any sensitivity at all?
Spotting the key on the bedside table, she plucked it up and was about to go release the captive men anyway, when she glanced at the monitor.
John was looking straight at her. Or, more accurately, at the camera. Of course he'd know every inch of that place, and he'd spot an extra electronic device in the ceiling corner. Would he be angry? Or hurt?
Then he smiled. And he winked.
But when Luka came and sat dejectedly next to him on the bed, he didn't point out the camera to the other man.
"Abby, listen..." Kerry stood in the bedroom doorway, still naked except for the crutch, and carrying a bowl of popcorn in her hand. The scent of butter and salt tickled Abby's nostrils. "If you really don't feel right about this, then go ahead and let them out. I can go too far sometimes, I realize."
Abby looked at Kerry, and then back at the television, where Luka and John appeared to be consoling each other. And from there, perhaps doing other things to each other...
"Well," she admitted, "I guess I should have some popcorn before I let them out, or John will just hog it all."
"Right. He's got quite an appetite for someone so slim." They sat on the bed again, the bowl in Kerry's lap.
Abby pinched some, then popped it in her mouth. "Okay, well, see, now it would just be rude to interrupt them while they're doing *that*," she said.
"Uh-huh," Kerry mumbled around a mouthful, her eyes riveted to the screen.
The nurse scooted closer and put her arm around Kerry's bare shoulders and the older woman snuggled against her without looking away from the screen.