Time’s Up

Part I

By: Monica

“Listen up people!” Weaver shouted over the excited voices of the people who had crowded into the hospital expecting their day to run smoothly, “We’ve all seen the news and since a tank is heading towards the ambulance bay of county general we are going to have evacuate using the…” She didn’t even finish what she was saying, in fact she was starting to wish that she hadn’t pointed in the direction of the alternate exit before she finished talking. Herds of people stampeded past her and the rest of the county general staff to save their own asses. Even though the evacuation wasn’t anywhere near being orderly, in under two minutes the only people left standing in the ER were the people that worked there.

“What do you want us to do?” Carter asked Weaver his hands on his hips, they were both looking out of the windows and they couldn’t see the tank yet but they could hear the explosions it was causing as it crushed the cars that got in it’s way.

“Everyone out…” She looked around before sitting down behind the front desk, no one there could believe that she was going to wait there.

“Kerry what are you doing?” Elizabeth said as she watched a few nurses bolt out of the other specified exits.

“Captain goes down with her ship…” She muttered but then she got the very disturbed looks from her coworkers, “Look I don’t plan to die, I plan to wait here until the last possible moment maybe something will change.” She looked at the rest of the staff but none of them were willing to leave her there by herself, she guessed she could yell at them and threaten them all she wanted but if they didn’t want to leave they wouldn’t. They all stayed silent for a moment when the phone rang causing Kerry to jump slightly, Carter was the one who picked it up.

“What?” was how he answered it his voice laced with attitude and what almost seemed like fear, Weaver glared at him for answering the phone that way but she let it go for the time being they were all under quite a bit of stress. “Okay…yeah…do you want me to give her the phone?” There was a pause before Carter handed the phone over to Weaver, he then put a hand to his mouth and started to walk away from the front desk finally sitting down in a near by chair.

“What’s going on?” Abby asked him as she nervously looked out of the door trying to see if the tank was close.

“They got a Morse code message from the tank, they don’t know who is in there but…” He looked over at Kerry who had gone completely white and her hand was actually shaking, “They want Dr. Weaver.” Abby looked at him in a stunned silence for a moment before turning her gaze to Weaver who had just hung up the phone. Now it was time for her to make a choice, she could stay in there and let the weirdo destroy most of the hospital or she could do what was requested of her by the psycho in the tank.

“Okay, they have snipers on the roof…this hospital is being heavily guarded but that doesn’t mean a damn thing if he or she doesn’t come out of the tank.” Weaver announced her voice was shaky and so was the rest of her body, “There has been a request made, whoever is in the tank wants me out there by myself.”

“You can’t honestly say you are thinking about doing that…” Luka snapped at her all of a sudden, “That’s suicide/”

“Kerry…all of us are behind you here you don’t have to risk your life to save the hospital…walls can be rebuilt but lives can’t.” Carter said to her, a few of the staff members were beginning to think that it might be better to send Kerry out there to save their own asses. Kerry nodded and remained seated, in the distance the tank came into view, it was moving slowly but not slow enough for comfort. She guessed that she didn’t want to go anywhere until she knew who the man in the tank was, maybe if she knew the person in the tank she’d be able to talk some sense into him. Then the phone rang again, she looked over at Carter for a moment before picking it up.

“Hello?” She gripped the phone tightly and remained still only answering every so often with a yes or a no. She soon slowly hung the phone up and put a hand to her face trying to cover up the fact that she was scared out of her mind. “He has a bomb.”

“What?!” Corday shouted she put a hand to her mouth and started to pace back and fourth nervously.

“He still hasn’t identified himself.” Weaver added, “The only thing they know now is that he is a male, and he had made numerous threats on my life…”

“Who the hell is this person?” Lewis asked putting her hand on her stomach almost an instinct to protect her unborn child.

“Susan get out of here…” Weaver said but Lewis hesitated, “I said LEAVE!” Lewis looked around to everyone else and they nodded slightly, she took one last look at Weaver before leaving the building. Weaver ran a hand through her hair and then stood up slowly, she knew what she was going to have to do and even though she didn’t want to she couldn’t willingly put everyone else in danger. She slowly started to make her way to the doors, Carter got out of his chair and bolted after her grabbing her arm just before she stepped out of the first door.

“Don’t…let me go with you.”

“No…Carter,” she looked at him and shook her head slightly, “This is my problem not yours or anyone else’s.” She pulled her arm away from him and the rest of the staff looked to each other for answers or comfort or anything to make sense of this situation. She took one last look at all of her friends and then walked outside, bracing herself for the events to come.

End Part One

Weaver stood in the ambulance bay watching the tank as it drew closer and closer to it’s final destination. She was hoping that she knew whoever was in the tank, that way she might be able to talk some sense into them, little did she know that the person in the tank was beyond help. Some of the ER staff stood in the doorway looking out, ready to run out to protect Weaver if they had too. Weaver took another deep breath when she heard the doors open behind her, she turned her head to see who was coming out. Carter, Abby, Luka, and Pratt stepped outside and stood next to Weaver.

“What do you think you are doing? Get back inside!” Weaver yelled at them over the noise of the tank, it was less then five hundred feet away from where she was standing.

“The guy inside wants us out here to act as human shields.” Carter replied his voice getting just as loud as hers, she didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Don’t worry about it I…”

“He has a bomb Kerry,” Luka said as he stepped up on the other side of her, “And he has threatened to detonate it if we didn’t do as he asked.” Weaver bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment wondering how crazy this person was exactly. She wondered if he actually had a bomb or if he was just bluffing to get his way, the tank lumbered forward less then a hundred feet from them now. Carter, who was standing next to her took her hand and she squeezed it slightly there was no telling what could happen from this point. Finally the tank rumbled to a stop just a few feet from them and they all heard the latch to the lid of the tank release. A hand pushed the door open and for a moment no one climbed out, Weaver looked around nervously trying to see if she could spot the snipers or any other form of protection.

“Kerry, Kerry, Kerry…” The voice was familiar so familiar but she wasn’t able to place it right away, “You didn’t think I would let you get away with naming a gay and lesbian clinic after me.” That’s when he stood up enough for everyone to see him. It was Romano, and he was very alive, besides the fact that it looked like he hadn’t shaved or showered in a while, he seemed to be in rather good shape. In a very quick move he got out of the tank and was on the ground where he ordered the four people to stand on every side of him. They hesitated for just a moment but then Romano opened the jacket he was wearing to reveal that there was a bomb attached to his chest. After that the four surrounded him realizing if they didn’t they were probably going to die. On the roof the snipers cursed the fact that he had seemed to think of everything to protect himself.

“Robert?” Weaver whispered as he moved towards her with his all human shield, “You’re a live…”

“Looks like it, and you know I was fine with everyone thinking I was dead, I started a new life but then a few weeks ago I pick up the Chicago Tribune and what do I see?” His eyes were crazy and the tone of his voice was very unstable, “Lets go inside and talk I don’t want to risk one of your lovely staff members getting shot now do I?” Weaver looked at him for a moment like she had just seen a ghost, the rest of the staff was rather surprised too.

When they got inside Romano dismissed his human shield and moved to a spot in the hospital where it would be impossible for the snipers to shoot him. As soon as Corday set eyes on him she started to cry, she didn’t know if it was because she was in shock or because she had missed him so much thinking that he was dead. Romano pulled a gun from his coat pocket and immediately put it to Kerry’s head, and he looked dead serious about pulling the trigger too.

“Robert…” Corday finally spoke up as she brushed the tears away from her eyes, “You are alive?” she took a few steps towards him ignoring the fact that he had a gun to Weaver’s head hoping that he might drop it when he saw her.

“Lizzie how nice of you to join us.” He smiled at her and dropped the gun to his side but no one was safe yet, he still had the bomb rigged to his chest, “How have you been?”

“Things could be better…” She said softly stepping up to him so she was looking him in the eyes, “Why are you doing this Robert?”

“Because of this disrespectful bitch…” In one swift move he turned and punched Kerry right in the jaw causing her to go down. Carter was right by her side but she was now unconscious, no one could even believe that he had just done that, “She knew that the money was supposed to go to a noble cause not a practical joke.”

“Robert…blowing up the clinic is not going to make everything better.” Corday responded, he had every intention of blowing the clinic apart with Kerry inside but he had already made a mental note to release Lizzie before anything of that magnitude went down.

“I know, but it will let me die happy and then maybe some one can remember me as being relentless instead of a homo lover.” He glanced disgustedly at Weaver for a moment he was going to wait for her to wake up before doing anything else, otherwise it wouldn’t be fun for him. “And if I go down she’s going with me.”

“Romano stop this!” Abby screeched, she had been in precarious situations before but none where she actually knew the person who was behind it. The worst thing about this was she knew that Romano was very capable of following through with his plan , she didn’t think anyone would be able to talk him out of it, not even Corday.

End Part II

Weaver slowly regained consciousness and was slightly aware of Carter telling her to close her eyes but she wanted to know what was going on. Against Carter’s wishes she sat up and put a hand to her jaw which ached terribly.

“Romano…” She groaned before pulling herself back to her feet with a little help from Carter, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to hit women?”

“You don’t count…” In a split second he turned and put his hand on her throat squeezing it just slightly, “You know what you did was wrong…ALL OF YOU KNEW!” He raised the gun again and started to aim it randomly at the staff.

“I told her that I thought it was disrespectful Robert.” Corday responded noticing that no matter where he aimed the gun it never came anywhere near her, she was beginning to think that he wasn’t going to hurt her no matter what she tried to do.

“I know you did Lizzie,” He smiled at her slightly before letting Weaver go, shoving her roughly into Carter’s arms, “Alright who came to my funeral?” He looked around the room again and everyone looked down at the floor, he laughed slightly but he couldn’t say that he was surprised.

“I…”

“I know you did Lizzie, you are the only person with a soul in here apparently.” Romano said to her before turning back to look at Weaver, she almost looked like she was cowering away from him and into Carter. “None of you came? Not even you Kerry? No…you thought it would be MUCH more appropriate to use MY MONEY to fund your little LESBIAN ORGY CLINIC!”

“Robert…”

“Don’t even try to defend yourself.” He stepped right up to her so his face was merely inches from hers, “You are going to die today…and don’t try to weasel your way out of it.” Weaver felt a shudder run through her body and she took a step back, Carter put his arms around her protectively.

“Whatever you are planning to do I’m going with you.” Carter growled at him, Weaver turned to look up at him wondering if he was insane.

“Don’t try to be a hero Carter…I want every last one of you out of here except Kerry…and to prove I’m not kidding…” He pointed the gun at Abby and fired a round hitting her directly in the shoulder right above her heart. She fell back against Luka who had quickly stepped up behind her so she wouldn’t hit the floor. He picked her up in his arms and quickly left the building along with Pratt and Gallant but Corday and Carter wouldn’t budge.

“Get out of here Carter, please.” Kerry whispered she didn’t think that he should have to die because of some stupid vendetta that Romano had against her.

“Lizzie leave…” Romano said before grabbing Weaver’s hand and jerking her forward, “you can’t talk me out of this.” Carter let go of Weaver and watched as she was lead away, for the moment both him and Corday wondered what they were supposed to do. Finally Carter gathered up enough courage to follow them wherever they were going. “My office, it’s upstairs right?”

“It’s MY Off…”

“NO! IT’S NOT! YOU GOT IT BY DEFAULT YOU BITCH!” He screamed at her and she winced slightly trying to pull away from him but his grip was entirely too strong.

“Robert!” Corday ran up to them, they were waiting for an elevator Romano thought that it would be easier then dragging Kerry up the stairs, “Please don’t do this…Please.”

“I’m going to die in the place I spent the most time in…” He responded staying completely calm the elevator doors opened and he shoved Kerry in before him causing her to stumble and slam into a wall, “Please get out of here I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You shot Abby and now what do you plan to do? Huh?” Carter was the next one to bombard him with questions. He put the emergency stop in gear so the doors to the elevator wouldn’t close until he wanted them too. He always knew that the ER doctors were stupid but he didn’t think they were stupid enough to pass up the chance to escape death.

“I’m going to sit in MY office with Kerry and detonate the bomb.” Romano said keeping the gun in his right hand aimed at Weaver whose lip was now bleeding slightly. “So I suggest you get as far away from this building as you can…the bomb is going off in 5 minutes.” He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to his floor after flicking off the emergency stop. The doors shut before Corday or Carter could stop them, they both looked at each other and then bolted up the stairs hoping to get to Romano’s office before he did anything else.

When they arrived in the OR they both bolted to Romano’s office to find him sitting behind the desk and Kerry was on the floor next to him, kneeling, it was a sad sight almost like she had completely submitted to him and had already accepted the fact that she was going to die.

“You are still with that Sandy bitch?” Romano picked up one of the framed pictures from the desk and smashed the glass to it, he ripped the picture out and threw it to the floor by where she was kneeling, “Kiss her goodbye for me.”

“Robert STOP THIS!” Corday yelled she was the first one into the office, she was positive that he wouldn’t detonate the bomb if she was still there, but she was wrong. He reached up to his chest and flicked a switch…the timer started to count down from 10 minutes. “Turn that off…”

“Can’t…” He replied as he picked up the lamp on the desk and threw it to the floor, “God who taught you how to decorate I thought gay people had a sense of fashion.” He snapped in Kerry’s direction, that was about the time that Carter noticed Weaver wasn’t giving up she was eyeing a letter opener that Romano had carelessly knocked to the floor. It would be sharp enough to injure him so he couldn’t use the gun but she still hesitated wondering if he could still detonate the bomb instantly.

“Romano, just let her go okay?” Carter took a step forward which only cause Romano to aim the gun he was holding to the back of Weaver’s head. He stopped dead in his tracks thinking that if Romano had started the countdown on the bomb then there probably wasn’t going to be any stopping him from shooting Kerry in the head.

“No…the bitch goes with me.” Romano replied calmly as he threw another framed picture of Sandy against the wall, “I suggest both of you get the hell out of here.”

“Carter leave…I can deal with this myself.” Weaver looked at him, her eyes pleading with him to just get the hell out of there. He took a deep breath and nodded, he looked at Corday and left the room believing that some how Weaver was going to pull through this.

“Robert please…” Corday walked over to him and knelt on the floor, she put her hand on his, “Don’t do this…I love you…”

“Where was that love 5 months ago?” Romano said to her, he put his hand to her cheek and stroked it softly with his thumb, “I love you too Lizzie I always have, but it’s too late for me and too late for us so just try to forget.”

“But…”

“Please just get out of here there is no reason why two great surgeons have to die today.” He leaned in and kissed her softly, and to his surprise she kissed back. When she pulled away from him there were tears steaming down her face and she pushed them away. He looked at her for a moment before pulling his watch off and handing it to her. “Just…remember me from time to time.” She looked at the watch for a moment and then she looked to Weaver. She hated to admit that she wanted to just leave Weaver there, but she also wanted to save her own ass she had a daughter to think about. She leaned in and kissed him again before leaving the room in a hurry.

“Robert this isn’t going to accomplish anything.” Weaver said picking up the picture of Sandy that was on the floor in front of her.

“We already went over this…” He sighed and put his feet up on the desk and looked around the room, “Looks like who ever is next in line should plan on redecorating.”

“How the hell can you be so calm? We are about to DIE!”

“I’ve already accepted that besides it’ll be very quick and painless…maybe you should accept it too.” He put his hands behind his head and actually looked like he was relaxing in the chair. He began to think about the good old days when he had an office and a job and people respected him because he was a good surgeon, “Now instead of remembering me as the man who funded the Lebso clinic people will remember me as the man who blew it up…”

When Corday got outside she was instantly ushered to a safe distance from the hospital, she checked the watch that Romano had handed her and realized that there was only about three more minutes before the bomb would detonate. She stood next to Carter who was as close to the building as the police would let him, she told them that there was only three minutes left on the counter and that was enough to prevent anyone from going inside. Romano was in a place where the snipers couldn’t get to him, and all the staff of county general could do now was wait and pray.

Two minutes later, the doors to the ambulance bay opened and Weaver slowly made her way outside. One minute wasn’t nearly enough time to get to a safe distance, especially since she was walking with a crutch. With out a second to even think Carter took of running towards Kerry, he wondered if she knew how little time she had. He had just gotten to her and tackled her to the ground shielding her body with his as the explosion rocked the building. Even after all of their years there Weaver and Carter had never seen destruction of that magnitude. When the last of the debris had fallen Carter got up and helped Weaver up too, he waved to the rest of the staff to signal that they were both okay.

“How did you get him to let you go?” Carter asked, his heart was pounding and his breath was coming out in short gasps. Weaver was crying, she was obviously shaken from everything that had occurred and she clung to Carter tightly.

“I told him that it still wasn’t to late to do one last good deed for people to remember him by.” She responded, the both stood there for a moment holding onto each other watching as the fire trucks and police cars moved in to assess the scene, and for Kerry Weaver…Romano’s final good deed was certainly one she was never going to forget.

End Part III