Please see Part 1 for disclaimers and archiving information.

"From The Top", Part 19/33
By Clotho (clothomoerae@hotmail.com) and Cathy (huntersglenn@yahoo.com)

*****************************************

"My family?" John blurted out, not thinking about being overheard.  Then he
clamped his mouth closed and hoped that whoever was on the other end of the
phone hadn't recognized his voice.

"You're *sure* that John isn't there?  Hold on," There were muffled noises
on the other end and then Jonathan came back on the line.  "Perhaps John is
sleeping on your couch?  Would you mind checking?  I'd really hate to
bother the police so early in the morning, but if John's not at work and
he's not at your place then I have no alternative but to suspect foul
play."

"Um.  Ugh.  Sure.  Hang on."  Dave thrust the phone deep under a pillow and
looked at Carter in panic.  "It's your, um, father, grandfather, somethin'
like that.  Wants to call the cops!"

"What?  Why would he want to do something like that?"  John asked, worried.

"God knows.  He said foul play.  Oh shit, oh God.  Would he call the cops?"

"Maybe."  John thought for a moment, then held his hand toward Dave.   "Give
me the phone."

Dave pulled the phone out from under the pillow and gave it to Carter.  His
hand was almost shaking as he did so.  He couldn't believe that the guy
would call the cops that fast.  He just couldn't.

John took a deep breath, then flashed a smile at Dave before speaking.
"Hello?  Grandfather?"

"You didn't come home last night, John, and you didn't call to let us know
you wouldn't be home.  Your grandmother and I were worried about you."

"I'm fine.  I stopped by here after work and ended up falling asleep.  I
had a hard day at work."  John was very glad that he was on the phone with
his grandfather and not talking with him in person, even though he hadn't
technically lied to the man.  "I'm sorry I didn't call, but I really didn't
expect to be here that long."

"Oh, really?"  There was a hint of amusement in Jonathan's voice.   "Well,
as long as you're safe, that's all that counts.  You might need to check
your cell phone, too.  I tried to call that but received a message that
your number couldn't be reached.  You did remember to recharge your
battery, didn't you?"

"I probably didn't.  I'll check it now.  Thanks, Grandfather.   Bye."

"Goodbye.  Your grandmother asks that you give our best regards to Dr.
Malucci."

John's eyes flickered to Dave's and he could see the panic shining there.
"I will, sir.  Good bye."  John waited until his grandfather had ended the
call and then he handed the phone to Dave.  "Gamma wants me to tell you
that you have their best regards," John said, not sure how Dave would take
*that* message.

"Fuck.  What does that mean?  're they goin' to call the cops?"

John shook his head and reached up to caress Dave's cheek.  "It means that
they like you.  Besides, now that they know where I am, there's no reason
for them to call anyone else."

"No they don't.  They can't.  Do you think they know...Oh, God."   Dave
could feel his heart beating at what seemed like a million pulses a
minute.  "Oh, God.  Tell them you were drunk."

"Dave, it's all right.  And I'm not going to tell them I was drunk.  You
heard what I told him.  I stopped by here on my way home and fell asleep.
He believed me."  John didn't see any reason to mention to Dave that the
tone of his grandfather's voice made it all too apparent what he believed.
"They like you, Dave.  Gamma and him are always asking me about you.  About
how you are and when they'll get a chance to see you again."  John rubbed
his thumb across Dave's cheek.  "It's okay."

Every instinct Dave possessed screamed that it wasn't okay, but the thumb
on Dave's cheek felt very good.  He could feel the tension in his veins and
sinews begin to ease at Carter's touch -- but he put up a spirited
defense.  "An' how did they get my number?"

"I don't know.  The phone book, maybe.  Or from the hospital.  It's not
that difficult to find a phone number."  John put his hands on Dave's
shoulders and began to knead them.  "You are so tense.  How about a massage
to loosen you up before you have to get ready for work?"

Dave glanced at the clock.  He had to be at work in 28 minutes, and his
morning routine was timed down to the last second -- but a massage sounded
very good.  "Okay."

John rolled out from under Dave and then straddled the back of his thighs.
The evidence of their lovemaking was showing up nicely on those muscular
legs and John felt himself feeling extraordinarily happy over many things.
Waking up in Dave's bed being the main thing, but having his grandfather
call Dave's place, well, that showed even more acceptance and John felt
grateful for that.  After all the fighting he had gone through to be
accepted as a doctor by his grandfather it was nice to have his sexual
inclinations not questioned or condemned.

John leaned over and began to work on the back of Dave's shoulders.  "I
think it's nice that my grandparents approve of me being with you.  It's
taken a long time for me to gain their approval on things, so having their
approval now, over us, means a lot."

Dave shook his head, trying to relax but failing.  "He was gonna call the
cops.  The cops.  An' bet he would have if he had a clue 'bout...bout last
night...he'd freak.  Can't like it."

John tenderly kissed the spot exactly between Dave's shoulder blades.
"Remember the other weekend at the house?  He didn't act as if he felt
freaked out over the idea of us together.  And...well, he and Gamma have
mentioned you to me a few times.  Asking when they'd get a chance to see
you again and get to know you better.  They like you already and that's a
good thing, right?"  John ran his hands down Dave's sides, then started to
massage his way back up.  "There's nothing to worry about, Dave.
Grandfather wasn't upset about me being here and I'm not ashamed that I
spent the night with you."

That was something that Dave just couldn't believe.  There had to be a lot
to worry about -- especially about how the guy had just got his phone
number out of no-where.

"'rty-four so for all you slugs out there it's time to wake up. I said
GGGEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTT UUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPP."

John jumped when the radio blared out loudly.  "Sorry," he said.   "I didn't
hurt you, did I?"

Dave pulled himself away.  Whatever good feelings he'd woken with this
morning had vanished somewhere around the phone call.  He took a look at
the clock.  "Shit.  I'm late."  Dave bounced out of bed, glad to have a
reason to stop whatever was happening, and made for the doorway to turn the
shower on.

"I guess I need to get dressed, too, and get out of here."  John said. Then
he grinned as the idea of sleeping in Dave's bed a few more hours ran
through his head.  "Unless you'd trust me with your key?"

"Ump.   What?"  Dave pulled the first garments he could see out of the
drawers.  "Whatever."  He shot through to the kitchen to throw a couple of
slices of bread into the toaster to do while he was showering -- no time
for cereal this morning.

"Great."  John crawled back under the covers and pulled Dave's pillow
close.  Dave's scent was on the pillow and the sheets and John took a deep
breath, then stretched again.  One more thing, he thought as he reached
over and managed to find the correct button for cutting off the radio.
"Much better," he muttered as he rested his head on the pillow and watched
Dave running around like a madman.  John's hard-on made him think it was a
shame that Dave had to be to work soon, but he hoped that Dave would want
him to come by again that night.  And the night after that one and so on.
And this time John vowed to remember to call his grandparents so they
wouldn't scare Dave half to death with early morning phone calls.  John
grinned into Dave's pillow as he reveled in the knowledge that he and Dave
were 'together' and not just having sex.  That certainly had to be why Dave
was all flustered about the phone call, John reasoned, because he didn't
want everyone knowing they were an item.  John felt as if he could happily
shout it out to the world, but he knew Dave wasn't that bold about things.
But it would be hard at work not to grin like a fool whenever he saw Dave.
Not that John cared much about looking like a fool as long as he was
looking like a fool in love.

Eleven minutes and forty seconds later, Dave was showered and dressed with
only slightly damp hair, and shoving a double decker toast sandwich into
his mouth as fast as it would go.  "Whacha?"  But the vague question of why
Carter was lying in bed didn't make it past the toast.  Dave chewed and
swallowed and searched frantically through his drawers for clean socks
before giving up and pulling yesterdays out of the sneakers lying on the
floor at the end of the bed.  The bed groaned when he sat down on it.

John opened his eyes and lazily watched Dave's back as the man bent over to
put on his shoes and socks.  "Are you going to make it to work on time?"

"Myb, prly nt.  p n tm gvs me mnte spre."  Dave chewed and swallowed as
fast as he could.  The socks in his fingers stank but there was no time to
worry about that now.

"Oh," John hadn't quite understood what Dave had said, but thought that
Dave thought he might make it there in time.  "Okay.  Just leave the door
key out where I can find it."  John sat up and then crawled to the end of
the bed, rising up on his knees behind Dave and resting his hands on his
shoulders.  "I'm going to miss you until I get to work."

Dave twisted around and kissed Carter on the lips.  He ran his fingers
though the brown hair, using them to hold the head firmly in place.  Carter
tasted of morning and the night before and sleepiness, and Dave felt his
body stir in response to the kiss -- but he couldn't let himself be
distracted, and if he arrived at work late, and Carter had said something
yesterday about the night before then people might figure out something
like what had happened, and that couldn't happen.  It was an accident.
He'd been drunk, and Carter had been tired, and it was only...something
that meant he was kissing Carter this morning when he wasn't drunk.  It
didn't mean anything it was just polite -- yeah polite.

John felt a pang of sadness as the kiss ended.  He wished that they both
had the day off so they could spend it in bed making love -- slowly and
often.  He smiled up at Dave.  "Be careful, okay?  It worries me that you
ride that bike of yours without a helmet."

"Be fine."  Dave turned and rushed out of the bedroom, glancing at the
clock on the way.  Eleven minutes before seven there was no way in the
world that he was going to make it in time.  He grabbed his bike, and
wheeled it out of the apartment and downstairs into the cold morning.

John slipped back under the covers, this time hugging Dave's pillow against
his body.  Burying his face in the end of the pillow, John soon drifted off
to sleep.  His last waking thought was that he hoped Dave had a lock that
engaged automatically because Dave had forgotten to leave his key.

*******************************************

Dave glanced at the clock by the admit desk 7:55 am.  Precisely one minute
after 7:54 am which was the last time he'd looked at it.  His evaluation
was this morning, in five minutes.  He wanted a good evaluation.  He wanted
the Chief to say that he was doing well, he wanted her to not have noticed
how he got to work nearly ten minutes late yesterday -- or at very least
not to comment on it.  He'd been on time this morning -- but then this
morning there had been no Carter to delay him.  He hoped that those changes
Carter had made to his charts had worked well.  Carter wouldn't have
written crap to make him look bad would he?  7:57 am - where did the time
go?  This was getting too close.  Still, there was nothing wrong with being
early.  Dave began a casual walk toward the lounge where his evaluation was
to happen.

"Dr. Malucci, how nice to see you here on time," Kerry said as she walked
toward the lounge from the direction of the elevators, a folder in one hand
and a cup of coffee in the other.  "Let's go into the lounge and have a
seat."

Dave gulped.  "Sure." She had to have noticed he was late yesterday.
Damn.  He had been trying to do things right.  Dave went into the lounge,
then in a fit of courtesy held the door open for the Chief as she followed
after him.  He put a grin on his face.  "Well, Chief, how'd I do?"

Kerry smiled as she passed Dave and walked over to the table.  Luckily the
lounge was empty so she wouldn't have to order anyone out.  Then again,
everyone knew this was evaluation day and they were keeping their distances
from both her and the room.  "Have a seat and we'll go over things."   Kerry
sat down and opened the folder, separating her copy from Dave's copy and
then she looked up at him, using her head to indicate the chair across from
her.  "This won't take too long, so sit down and relax."

Dave sat down in the indicated seat.  "So it's great, 'n I can go?"

Kerry slipped her glasses onto her nose and handed Dave's copy to him.
"We'll go over the evaluation point by point, and then, if you don't agree
with anything, we can talk things over before you sign your acceptance."
Kerry looked down at her copy and read out loud.  "Item One.  Does the
employee show competence that corresponds with his or her years of
experience?  I indicated that you do."

Dave nodded tensely.  "Sure do."  That was one down.  Just a pageful more
to go.

Ten minutes later, Kerry looked across the table at Dave.  "All in all,
I've been pleased with your work, Dr. Malucci.  You get along well with the
other residents, you listen to the Attendings, you work well with the
students.  There are some areas for improvement, though.  You tend to be
too quick when showing students how to do procedures, you're still more
likely to go for a trauma case or what you consider an interesting case
rather than clearing the board.  And, as you already guessed, your chart
keeping is not the best.  But, since you asked Dr. Carter to assist you by
showing you the correct way to complete a chart, I think that shows you're
willing to learn.  In short, the Attendings and I are pleased with your
work performance and look forward to working with you another year.  Do you
have any questions or comments or do you feel comfortable signing your
acceptance?"  Kerry asked with a smile as she pushed a pen across the table
to him.

Dave sat back, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The *ta da we gotcha*
note.  It didn't seem to be happening though -- he looked up at her, and
caught her looking back at him.  "Uh, no I guess.  I mean yes.  No, no."

Kerry frowned. "No, you don't have any questions?"

"Um no.  I mean yes."  Dave wasn't about to question a good evaluation --
especially one where his lateness yesterday wasn't mentioned.  He grinned,
and reached for the pen to sign the paper, -- putting a real flourish on
the final i in his name.  "Ta da."

Kerry smiled.  "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?  I really don't understand
why everyone comes in here thinking that their evaluations are akin to
having teeth pulled without benefit of anesthesia."  She reached out for
his signed copy.  "Now get on out there and let everyone know that you
received a good eval.  I'm sure your friends are anxious to hear how it
went."

Dave grinned, "Guess so Chief.  Gotta get out there an' help everyone who's
*looking forward to working with me*."

"Get on out of here before I revise what I wrote," She tried to sound
stern, but her smile gave away the fact she was joking.

Dave grinned.  "Hey Chief, don't worry.  Ya can work with me later today,
too."  Dave stood and walked out of the room, feeling a good two inches
taller than he had walking in.


John stood in front of the light board, but his mind wasn't on the x-ray in
front of him.  Instead he was thinking about what had happened less than
five minutes ago, when Abby had first arrived at work.  Before she even
took her coat off, she had laid into him once more about telling Kerry
about taking those pills.  He had tried to tell her that he was going to
tell Kerry soon, but she wouldn't have any of that.

But John hadn't just been giving Abby lip service when he said he was going
to tell Kerry soon.  He planned to tell her during his evaluation.  And
until then he would be hoping and praying to a God he wasn't sure he
believed in that Kerry didn't fire him on the spot.  But telling her after
the eval -- which he knew would be a good one, would be one way of having
his positive traits still in her mind when she heard that he had almost
relapsed.  And maybe she'd be happy that he had thrown up the pills and not
pick up the phone and call Atlanta.  He couldn't go back there.  He wasn't
some junkie who couldn't control his urges.  Someone who ended up going to
rehab two or three times before getting it right.  He shook his head.
Nope, that wasn't him.  Yes, he had swallowed those pills, but it had been
a stressful day, past few days even.  And he wasn't a junkie.  He hadn't
taken the drugs to get a cheap high.  He had taken them for legitimate
reasons and had let it all get away from him.  And that wouldn't happen
again.

Dave bounced toward Carter.  "Hey there, my friend."  He waved his copy of
his eval in the area triumphantly.

John tore his eyes away from the light.  "You look happy," he observed.
"It was good then, right?"  John grinned.  "I told you that you were a
great doctor, you just didn't believe me.

Dave grinned.  "They're looking forward to working with me.  Chief said the
attendings look forward to working with me."

"And why wouldn't they?  I know I'm looking forward to working with you,"
John said.  "You know what?  We should do something to celebrate your
evaluation.  How about it?  Would you like to do something special?"

"Sure guess so.  When's yours?"  Dave grinned.  "Wonder which of 'em looks
forward to working with me most?"

"Mine's at eleven."  John's smile faltered as he thought of how different
his outcome would be from Dave's.  Sure, it would all be good -- right up
to the point where he told Kerry what happened in December.

"While to wait then."  Dave bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.
He had nervous energy to expend.  All the tension he'd saved up for
disputing his eval had no where to go because they liked him.  "They like
me."

John couldn't keep from grinning over Dave's child-like joy over his
evaluation.  "Yes, Dave.  They like you.  I'll bet that it's Luka."

"Um, yeah he might.  No.  You don't think it's the Chief?  She said that
the Attendings *look forward to working with me*."

"She's not an Attending," John said as he looked at the wrist more
carefully.  "What about this?  Could be a hairline fracture?"   John reached
into the envelope and pulled out another x-ray, slapping it up on the light
board beside the first one.  Same wrist, different angle.  John tapped his
pen on it.  "Must have been a shadow on the film because I don't see that
line from this angle."

"Dunno.  Could be somethin' there."  Dave peered at the board.   "But, yeah,
she said *Her and the Attendings* were *looking forward* to working with
me*."

"Then that's what she meant," John said as he reached out to turn off the
board.  "So, what else did she say?"  John put the films back in their
envelope and his pen back in his pocket.

"Um, they're looking forward to working with me?  Did I say that?"

John laughed.  "Yes, Dave, you've said that.  I'm glad you got a good
eval.  One of us needs to have good news this morning."

"Ya said it yaself you'll get a perfect eval like ya always do.  Me,
they're *looking forward to working with me*."

"Of course I'll get a perfect review," John said as he started to walk away
from the board.  "I wasn't talking about my review, though.  And anyway,
they all don't look forward to working with me."

"Huh, whatcha talking about, my friend?"  Dave looked at Carter.   Something
seemed odd here.

John stopped and looked over at Dave.  "Abby's angry with me again.  She
wants me to do what she wants, when she wants."

"Oh."  Dave stopped.  "But ya don't?  Do ya?  I mean..." he let his voice
waver off, and a frown crossed his face.

"What?" John prompted.  "Don't I what?"

"I mean, the Chief.  Didn't she say ya had ta tell her?"

John frowned. "I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.  Didn't the
Chief say I had to tell who what?"

"Ya know, 'bout that stuff at like Christmas."

"Oh, that." John said.  He should have known that Dave would remember
*that*.  "Well, that's what Abby was angry about."

"Well, yeah, no kiddin', Sherlock.  I mean it was nearly a month ago wasn't
it, and ya still not told the Chief."

"I'm going to tell her today," John hotly replied.  "It's not as if I can
tell her at just any time, you know.  It's not the kind of thing you bring
up first thing in the morning, or over a GSW to the chest."

Dave shrugged, peripherally aware that he was on slightly shaky ground.
"The longer ya go without tellin' her the madder she'll be."

"I know that.  And I'm going to tell her today, when I have my evaluation.
Now, why don't you think about something you'd like to do to celebrate your
great evaluation and I'll go let Mr. Hobson know that his wrist isn't
broken." John smiled shakily at Dave.  "Abby's angry with me and I don't
want you to be angry with me, too."

Dave shrugged.  "I'm not pissed.  Think ya should go in there wearing
padding though."

John laughed.  "Padding might not be a bad idea.  I'll check back with you
later about tonight."  John headed into curtain three to give his patient
the good news about his wrist.

Dave went to the desk, wondering just which of the Attendings would spend
the smallest amount of time *looking forward to working with him* in the
immediate future.  He was thumbing through the charts looking for something
equal to the challenge of a doctor with *competence corresponding with his
number of years of experience* when the radio staticed to life.  Paramedics
were usually good for interesting cases -- moreso anyway than the walking
wounded who brought themselves in. It was Doris and Zadro with their latest
2 minute ETA on someone who fell at the Cathedral -- okay, it could be more
interesting, but it was definitely better than small children biting other
small children.  Dave grinned.  "I'll take this one."

"Kind of you, Malucci."  Cleo mouthed.

"At your service," Dave replied, "and at the service of all Chicago's
sick."

"In that case..."

Dave backed away hastily as the chart she was holding looked very much like
the one belonging to the finger-biting ankle-biters.  "Hey, no way.  I'm
waiting for the paramedics."  Dave walked outside grinning.



To be continued