Fic: Now That It's Done - Part One [ER]
Rating: PG 13
Ship: Kerry Weaver/Kim Legaspi
Disclaimer: Not mine; never were! No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: Ten years after Kim Legaspi left Chicago, she meets up with an old friend in Miami.
Author's Note: Why do a Kim/Kerry story after all this time? Why not? Every year or so, I re-watch their episodes and every time I'm struck by something new and it occurred to me that the Kerry Weaver that left County General was not the same that watched Kim as she left County. Even more interesting is that Kim would now be around the same age Kerry was when they started dating.
~~~
"These symptoms, however misleading, are actually all from the underlying condition of..." Dr. Kim Legaspi looked out towards the sea of countless doctors seated before her from her vantage point up on the lectern. Some jotting notes, others politely doodling to keep from looking bored or quietly whispering to one another. The most hostile faces were the ones hovering above the crossed arms, resentful of the fact they had to be here, listening. She couldn't begrudge them - she had been in their position too often to count, listening to some blowhard babble on towards something that bared little to no impact on the lives of her patients. "What this means, other than the fact that it gives us something to talk about over the pigs in a blanket at the nightly mixer is that we're missing the actual issues being faced by our patients and misdiagnosing and perhaps mis-medicating them."
With her weak joke she managed to jar at least some of her peers back to reality and decided to switch tactics to keep their attention now that she managed to capture it. She began to remove her glasses as she stepped out from her podium when something caught her eye from the back of the room. It shouldn't have. Not really. People walked in and out of these medical conferences all the time, but there was something very familiar about the figure who slipped in quietly through the doors and stood against the far wall. The hair had changed, the clothes had changed but still, 200 feet away, Kim still recognized her. Shaking her head, Kim continued her lecture, determined not to be distracted by this sudden appearance. At the very least, she wasn't going to humiliate herself. Through her presentation, Kim found herself glancing towards the other woman but not looking at her. She couldn't bring herself to do that, not yet - but knowing she was there pushed Kim to pretend as if she didn't see her, and didn't care. She smiled more towards the sea of doctors, flirted with them, engaged with them and managed to make the facts and statistics as entertaining as possible. She knew that she was performing for the other woman, compensating for any one of 17 complex and varied emotions she was feeling due to the unexpected presence of the slim woman from her past who was now in the back of the room, watching her intently.
A clear of the throat from the moderator reminded Kim to wrap up with a quick summary and a reminder she'd be available to discuss the presented subject. She smiled through the polite clapping and then walked down the steps from the stage towards the back of the room. "Kim, that was great!" A short man sweating through his shirt popped out in front of her, thrusting out his meaty hand. "Larry, Dr. Larry Carpenter from Michigan! We met at the last conference?"
"Right! Hi Larry!"
"Look, really enjoyed your preso." (Kim shuddered internally at the thought of anyone actively referring to something as her 'preso') "Do you have a minute to talk about it? I have some -"
"I'd love to Larry but I've got to run and meet someone. I'm so sorry! Listen -" Kim tried to peer around all the bodies who had risen, but couldn't see the small woman in the crowd. "Send me an e-mail and we'll set up a time to chat, kay?" She patted him on his arm and quickly dodged by. She managed to take another two steps before she was stopped again. And again after that. By the time she made it to the back of the room, Kerry Weaver was long gone, with nothing to prove she was ever actually there. She could've after all been nothing more than a figment of Kim's imagination, brought about by the stress of having to present her supervisor's finding for her, it could've been the jet lag, or the venti black-eye coffee from Starbucks coupled with her breakfast of cold chinese take out left over from last night's dinner. It could've been any number of things, ranging from the mundane to the insane, but the fact of the matter was, she had been 200 feet away from Kerry Anne Weaver.
Kim walked out of the room and into the hall and leaned against the wall, trying to calm her rapid breathing. Funny, she hadn't noticed it had sped up. What had just happened? Where did Kerry come from and where did she go? More importantly, what did she want?
+
"Ok Weaver, let's see if you can get this in one shot!" The gruff voice called out from behind the camera positioned towards her.
"One shot's all I need Carl, let's just make sure you remember to keep me in focus this time, all right?" She teased back, adjusting the front of suit and taking a deep breath.
"Yeah, yeah. Ready in...three...two..." He wordlessly mimed the number one and pointed towards Kerry Weaver, standing before him with a microphone in her hand.
"Thanks Tammy! I'm standing here in the Miami's Marriott hotel where countless doctors and medical practitioners have descended on our city in search of fun and sun in between the topics being discussed at the 19th annual..." And for a moment, Kerry forgot everything she had planned to say. She just stood there frozen in her spot, as the door to one of the convention rooms opened and an all-too-familar voice echoes out towards her.
"Weaver? Weaver! Oy! Kerry!" Carl called out, snapping his fingers towards her.
"I just screwed that take didn't I?" She asked, returning to reality as the door before her shut.
"Oh yeah, big time. Luckily we're just going to tape. What happened there?" He glanced behind his shoulder but seeing nothing more than a smattering of suited stuffy doctors. "An ex or something?" He could see Kerry fitting in with this crowd. It wasn't meant to be a dig towards her, it was just she didn't seem to fit in to the station or it's politics. She seemed too smart, too unambitious to rise in its ranks beyond producer and occasional on-air talent. Didn't really matter to Carl though, she showed up on early, ready to work, rarely needed more than one or two takes to nail her piece and occasionally helped him strike his equipment - that's all that concerned him.
"Or something like that." Kerry smiled sadly, leaning to her side for moment before shaking herself alert and setting her shoulder back. "Ready when you are!" She said, launching back into her segment.
After wrapping up, Kerry found herself pushing open the door towards the conference room. She promised herself she was just going to peek in, to make sure that the mess of blonde curls and the familiar voice really did add up to Kim Legaspi, but once the door was open and Kim was sighted, Kerry couldn't help but ease into the room and hang around the back of the room, praying she wouldn't be spotted. It had been years since she'd seen Kim. It had been 10 years or so - it must have been right before Kim left Chicago - Kerry went down to river one afternoon and promptly turned around when she saw Legaspi standing there, gazing at the water. She had done well for herself, Kerry thought as she occasionally stumbled upon her name in some of the medical journals - she published enough to keep her job safe yet her writing was scant enough to allow her to actually help her patients. She had forgotten how captivating she was - not just as a lover, but as a human being. She seemed to smile to everyone her eyes reached, she managed to put them at ease and make something dull interesting, even if only for a few moments. Kerry found a smile creep across her face as she watched the blonde with an odd sense of pride. For a few months, she had been lucky enough to have known Kim. Time hadn't so much erased the pain of being abandoned by Kim, or lessened her own sense of shame at abandoning her - it simply allowed for the distance to gain perspective and forgive. At least it did for her, she wasn't sure if Kim would ever forgive.
Kerry stepped back further in the shadows of the back wall as the lecture began to wrap up. She began to feel her breath begin to turn shallow and a familiar discomfort arose in her chest. It didn't rise often anymore, occasionally late at night when she would watch Henry sleeping from the doorway, aware that Sandy should be there with her. Or when she'd reach into her closet and accidentally pull out Kim's blue shirt, unable to get rid of it after all those years. She watched as the doctors applauded Kim as she left the stage and was embraced by a friend. Pressing her hand towards her chest to relieve the discomfort, Kerry turned and walked out.
Ship: Kerry Weaver/Kim Legaspi
Disclaimer: Not mine; never were! No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: Ten years after Kim Legaspi left Chicago, she meets up with an old friend in Miami.
Author's Note: Why do a Kim/Kerry story after all this time? Why not? Every year or so, I re-watch their episodes and every time I'm struck by something new and it occurred to me that the Kerry Weaver that left County General was not the same that watched Kim as she left County. Even more interesting is that Kim would now be around the same age Kerry was when they started dating.
~~~
"These symptoms, however misleading, are actually all from the underlying condition of..." Dr. Kim Legaspi looked out towards the sea of countless doctors seated before her from her vantage point up on the lectern. Some jotting notes, others politely doodling to keep from looking bored or quietly whispering to one another. The most hostile faces were the ones hovering above the crossed arms, resentful of the fact they had to be here, listening. She couldn't begrudge them - she had been in their position too often to count, listening to some blowhard babble on towards something that bared little to no impact on the lives of her patients. "What this means, other than the fact that it gives us something to talk about over the pigs in a blanket at the nightly mixer is that we're missing the actual issues being faced by our patients and misdiagnosing and perhaps mis-medicating them."
With her weak joke she managed to jar at least some of her peers back to reality and decided to switch tactics to keep their attention now that she managed to capture it. She began to remove her glasses as she stepped out from her podium when something caught her eye from the back of the room. It shouldn't have. Not really. People walked in and out of these medical conferences all the time, but there was something very familiar about the figure who slipped in quietly through the doors and stood against the far wall. The hair had changed, the clothes had changed but still, 200 feet away, Kim still recognized her. Shaking her head, Kim continued her lecture, determined not to be distracted by this sudden appearance. At the very least, she wasn't going to humiliate herself. Through her presentation, Kim found herself glancing towards the other woman but not looking at her. She couldn't bring herself to do that, not yet - but knowing she was there pushed Kim to pretend as if she didn't see her, and didn't care. She smiled more towards the sea of doctors, flirted with them, engaged with them and managed to make the facts and statistics as entertaining as possible. She knew that she was performing for the other woman, compensating for any one of 17 complex and varied emotions she was feeling due to the unexpected presence of the slim woman from her past who was now in the back of the room, watching her intently.
A clear of the throat from the moderator reminded Kim to wrap up with a quick summary and a reminder she'd be available to discuss the presented subject. She smiled through the polite clapping and then walked down the steps from the stage towards the back of the room. "Kim, that was great!" A short man sweating through his shirt popped out in front of her, thrusting out his meaty hand. "Larry, Dr. Larry Carpenter from Michigan! We met at the last conference?"
"Right! Hi Larry!"
"Look, really enjoyed your preso." (Kim shuddered internally at the thought of anyone actively referring to something as her 'preso') "Do you have a minute to talk about it? I have some -"
"I'd love to Larry but I've got to run and meet someone. I'm so sorry! Listen -" Kim tried to peer around all the bodies who had risen, but couldn't see the small woman in the crowd. "Send me an e-mail and we'll set up a time to chat, kay?" She patted him on his arm and quickly dodged by. She managed to take another two steps before she was stopped again. And again after that. By the time she made it to the back of the room, Kerry Weaver was long gone, with nothing to prove she was ever actually there. She could've after all been nothing more than a figment of Kim's imagination, brought about by the stress of having to present her supervisor's finding for her, it could've been the jet lag, or the venti black-eye coffee from Starbucks coupled with her breakfast of cold chinese take out left over from last night's dinner. It could've been any number of things, ranging from the mundane to the insane, but the fact of the matter was, she had been 200 feet away from Kerry Anne Weaver.
Kim walked out of the room and into the hall and leaned against the wall, trying to calm her rapid breathing. Funny, she hadn't noticed it had sped up. What had just happened? Where did Kerry come from and where did she go? More importantly, what did she want?
+
"Ok Weaver, let's see if you can get this in one shot!" The gruff voice called out from behind the camera positioned towards her.
"One shot's all I need Carl, let's just make sure you remember to keep me in focus this time, all right?" She teased back, adjusting the front of suit and taking a deep breath.
"Yeah, yeah. Ready in...three...two..." He wordlessly mimed the number one and pointed towards Kerry Weaver, standing before him with a microphone in her hand.
"Thanks Tammy! I'm standing here in the Miami's Marriott hotel where countless doctors and medical practitioners have descended on our city in search of fun and sun in between the topics being discussed at the 19th annual..." And for a moment, Kerry forgot everything she had planned to say. She just stood there frozen in her spot, as the door to one of the convention rooms opened and an all-too-familar voice echoes out towards her.
"Weaver? Weaver! Oy! Kerry!" Carl called out, snapping his fingers towards her.
"I just screwed that take didn't I?" She asked, returning to reality as the door before her shut.
"Oh yeah, big time. Luckily we're just going to tape. What happened there?" He glanced behind his shoulder but seeing nothing more than a smattering of suited stuffy doctors. "An ex or something?" He could see Kerry fitting in with this crowd. It wasn't meant to be a dig towards her, it was just she didn't seem to fit in to the station or it's politics. She seemed too smart, too unambitious to rise in its ranks beyond producer and occasional on-air talent. Didn't really matter to Carl though, she showed up on early, ready to work, rarely needed more than one or two takes to nail her piece and occasionally helped him strike his equipment - that's all that concerned him.
"Or something like that." Kerry smiled sadly, leaning to her side for moment before shaking herself alert and setting her shoulder back. "Ready when you are!" She said, launching back into her segment.
After wrapping up, Kerry found herself pushing open the door towards the conference room. She promised herself she was just going to peek in, to make sure that the mess of blonde curls and the familiar voice really did add up to Kim Legaspi, but once the door was open and Kim was sighted, Kerry couldn't help but ease into the room and hang around the back of the room, praying she wouldn't be spotted. It had been years since she'd seen Kim. It had been 10 years or so - it must have been right before Kim left Chicago - Kerry went down to river one afternoon and promptly turned around when she saw Legaspi standing there, gazing at the water. She had done well for herself, Kerry thought as she occasionally stumbled upon her name in some of the medical journals - she published enough to keep her job safe yet her writing was scant enough to allow her to actually help her patients. She had forgotten how captivating she was - not just as a lover, but as a human being. She seemed to smile to everyone her eyes reached, she managed to put them at ease and make something dull interesting, even if only for a few moments. Kerry found a smile creep across her face as she watched the blonde with an odd sense of pride. For a few months, she had been lucky enough to have known Kim. Time hadn't so much erased the pain of being abandoned by Kim, or lessened her own sense of shame at abandoning her - it simply allowed for the distance to gain perspective and forgive. At least it did for her, she wasn't sure if Kim would ever forgive.
Kerry stepped back further in the shadows of the back wall as the lecture began to wrap up. She began to feel her breath begin to turn shallow and a familiar discomfort arose in her chest. It didn't rise often anymore, occasionally late at night when she would watch Henry sleeping from the doorway, aware that Sandy should be there with her. Or when she'd reach into her closet and accidentally pull out Kim's blue shirt, unable to get rid of it after all those years. She watched as the doctors applauded Kim as she left the stage and was embraced by a friend. Pressing her hand towards her chest to relieve the discomfort, Kerry turned and walked out.