THE REASON
By Missy
(missy@lexicon.net)

The characters that you recognise from ER are the property of Michael Crichton, Warner Bros, Constant Productions and Amblin Television and to the actors who so marvellously portray them. Many thanks must go to my editors Clotho, Susan Drake and Carolyn Delaney for their tireless and marvellous editing. Season 6 spoilers.

Spoilers up to The Peace of Wild Things or thereabouts. This story is rated R due to its content. It contains rather disturbing descriptions and is probably best read during daylight hours. My editors have informed me that it is rather chilling, creepy and does evoke some of those thoughts about things that go bump in the night and one of my editors has knicknamed it 'The VeryScaryFic".

Part 8/14

{November 3, 1999}

The doorbell rang, interrupting Kerry's ministrations. She had been changing the dressing on the cut above her eye, allowing the wound to breathe before covering it once again. Moving down the stairs apprehensively, Kerry pressed the intercom in the hallway. Her voice wavered as she asked, "Who's there?"

"John Carter."

Kerry was taken aback at the sound of his voice, as surprised as she was the first time he had arrived on her doorstep over twelve months ago seeking to rent her basement. It seemed like an eternity since that time. She unlocked the deadlock on the internal wooden door, it's glass now repaired, finding Carter looking about the porch.

"You've made some changes," he stated matter-of-factly. Carter's face clearly showed his surprise at the alterations. As he mentioned them, Kerry looked at the differences with new eyes and realised that she had made some pretty radical changes - the outer, heavy steel security door with its double barrel locks, automatic lighting and a small camera in the corner, which wasn't in working order yet.

"I decided not to get another boarder after you moved out, so I took a few extra precautions." Kerry unlocked the security door, the double barrel lock clicking open loudly.

"When you left early yesterday and didn't come in today, I was worried. I tried to call and check how you were, but your number had been disconnected....." Carter trailed off as he entered the hallway.

"Ah, yeah, well.... I was having troubles with crank calls, so I changed it. I logged it into the personnel files and all backup databases at the hospital yesterday." Kerry wondered whether in her dazed state that she had dreamed going through the motions of putting her new number in the records.

"I didn't check since I know...... knew your number by heart." Carter undid his coat, moving comfortably into the living room and hanging his coat on the coat stand.

Kerry followed him reluctantly, muttering to herself under her breath. Naturally Carter wouldn't need to check the number; he had lived with her for almost twelve months. She was disconcerted by the fact that he was making himself at home - she wanted to be on her own, not have to put herself out to entertain a guest.

As she entered the room, Carter turned and faced her, his dark eyes searching her face. Kerry lost a sense of reality under his scrutiny; the gentleness held there a stark contrast to the raw menace in the eyes of her stalker as his gaze had stripped her body only days before.

"Kerry?" Carter gently touched her arm, his voice heavy with concern.

"What?" Kerry jumped at the touch of his hand, her body instantly pulling away from the contact.

"Are you sure you're okay? You seemed to space out for a moment there." Carter sounded concerned. "That's a pretty nasty cut above your eye. What was the doctor's verdict?"

"What?"

"It's pretty good stitching to the cut."

"It should be. Maggie Doyle did it."

"Maggie? Isn't she at Mercy?"

"She is. Mr. Winters decided to take me to Mercy; I wasn't about to contradict him." Kerry was amazed at how easily the lies were flowing off her tongue. She remembered being told once that lies tended to be more believable with a grain a truth in them - not that she was deliberately lying to Carter, it was just happening.

"So what was Maggie's verdict?"

"Concussion. That's why I didn't work on Monday."

"I'm glad to see you took her advice. It looks like you definitely needed today off as well."

Kerry twisted her mouth as she thought that she didn't have much choice in that matter. With the workman installing all the security equipment in her house, she had needed to be home. There was no way she would have been able to think clearly the morning she arrived home from hospital.

"I'm just tired, Carter. I was just changing the dressing before heading off to bed."

"How about if I do that for you?"

"What - go to bed?" Kerry tried to throw him off assisting her by diverting his attention from fixing the wound on her head.

"Ha, ha. You know what I mean."

"I can do it myself."

"Yes, but I'm offering. It'd be much easier for you if you don't have to reach up. I noticed that you must have bruised your ribs as well in the fall."

"What?" Kerry was stunned for a moment before she remembered that she had concocted a story containing the essential elements of truth necessary.

"I wasn't keeping tabs on you. I happened to notice that you seemed to have trouble with them a couple of times today." Carter tried to cover his blunder. He had been keeping an eye on her, but he didn't need Kerry being aware of it.

Kerry realised that she had misconstrued the intent of his words. They were not referring to her run-in with her stalker but the fall she herself had created to cover the truth of her injuries. This was the problem with lying, it was sometimes difficult to separate the truth from the lies. She felt the room sway before her eyes and caught hold of the door jam to steady herself.

"Kerry, sit down before you fall down."

For a change, she didn't argue with him. Right now, she didn't have enough energy to put up a fight with a feather.

"I'll just go get the gauze. Still in the bathroom cabinet?"

"It was. It's already out on the counter."

Carter was gone before the words had left her mouth. Kerry closed her eyes and felt like she had just been run over by a steamroller. When Carter was determined to do something, he made sure he followed through; arguments were easily swayed by his charm or his dogged persistence. While Kerry appreciated his concern, she felt that it was unwarranted. She was perfectly capable of tending to her injuries on her own.

"Kerry, I've found the gauze, scissors and tape. I turned off all the lights upstairs. Is there any reason why they were all on?" Carter was surprised at the way the house had all the lights switched on. It was only after he had been upstairs, that he had realised that Kerry also had all the lights on downstairs as well. It was very un-Kerry-like, she was fastidious about conserving energy - or at least about keeping her electricity bill down.

"Oh, I was searching for something and I must have forgotten to switch off the lights."

Carter pulled a stool up in front of the kitchen counter, indicating for Kerry to have a seat. The quality of lighting was better in the kitchen and it would give him easier access to the wound. As she settled herself up onto the stool, avoiding his proffered hand, he caught her off guard with his question; "Did you find it?"

"What?"

"What you were searching for?"

"Oh, no. Not yet."

"Do you want me to help you look?"

"No. It's not urgent. I'm sure it'll turn up."

Carter finally gave up his attempts at conversation with Kerry, finding that it was an exercise in futility. Not that she wasn't answering his questions - she was. It was the way that she was answering that had him puzzled. When he had lived with Kerry, he had only found a couple of times when she was evasive and distracted the way she was tonight. The one he could recall clearly was the night she had told him that she was adopted. At that time, she had been quick with her answers and avoided looking at him directly, much like she was doing tonight. Except that time, she didn't hold anything back as he suspected she was doing right now.

It concerned him. But he also knew that Kerry valued her privacy. He would have to wait until she was ready to tell him in her own time - if she ever did. Kerry wasn't one to air her problems out in public, especially if they were related to her disability.

Carter finished putting on the gauze. "There you go. All done." He turned his back on her as he cleaned up the kitchen counter, placing the scissors, roll of gauze and tape on the stool. He caught her reflection in the countertop as he wiped it down. It startled him to see how small and fragile she appeared, the pensive way she fingered the dressing and the lost look in her eyes. Carter looked up to watch her directly, wondering if he was imagining it. For a moment, he caught sight of what he'd seen in her mirror image in the counter before it disappeared the second she realised he had looked up.

"Carter, I'm wanting to get an early night....."

"Uh, yeah. I'll be going. Have a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Carter took his coat off the stand and slipped his arms into the soft cashmere.

Kerry accompanied him to the door and released the deadlock on the wooden door before unlocking the security door.

"Kerry, do me a favour and make sure you always leave the keys in the locks. These are dangerous in fires."

"The locksmith already warned me of that," she informed him as she reset the lock on the steel wire door after he stepped out onto the porch. The sensor light switched on as soon as he came within its border, illuminating the area brightly.

Kerry watched Carter get into his car. She waited for him to start it and drive away before closing the wooden door. Going back to the kitchen, she collected the medical paraphernalia Carter had left on the stool before heading upstairs. As she passed by each room, she turned on all the light switches and the rooms were once more brightly illuminated, removing the darkness and mystery they had contained moments before.

From outside, a shadowy figure watched as the house came alive, lights flickering in all windows behind closed curtains.

End Part 8/14