Title: A Clean Break part 2
Author/pseudonym: ceindreadh
Rating: PG-15 contains adult conversation and a little bit of smut

Last episode seen: Rampage

Spoilers: Rampage, and some rumors regarding season 8

Disclaimer: "ER" and all its characters belong to Warner
Bros.  No infringement of their copyright is intended.  This story
was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and
may be downloaded for your own pleasure.

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A clean break - part 2

Previously on *my* ER
Cleo dumped Peter but he wouldn't take the hint.  She and Jing-Mei had a
girl's night in.  Slightly tipsy, they decided to hire a 'nearly nude'
cleaner to entertain them.

-----------------------

Cleo pressed the speaker button, she said, "Yes?"

"Hi," said a muffled voice.  "I'm from the 'Bare Bones Cleaning Company'.
You guys order a cleaner?"

Cleo grinned, "You bet we did..."

Jing-Mei flung open the door, a big grin on her face.  The grin died away as
she took a look at the figure standing in the doorway.

Dave Malucci stood there staring back at her, a smile frozen on his face.
"Oh boy," was his only comment.

-------------------------------

"Dammit Malucci," snapped Jing-Mei, as she peered hopefully past him.   "What
are *you* doing here?"  Slowly her brain registered the feather duster
tucked neatly under his arm.
"Oh no...you're not..."

"What's the problem?" asked Cleo, appearing behind her.

"This is what the agency sent us," said Jing-Mei, unable to hide her
disgust.  "I mean, they've got a hundred guys on their books and look who
they send us."

Dave watched as Cleo eyed him up and down...he had the unnerving feeling
that she was mentally undressing him.  Finally she said, "Looks good to
me...come on in Malucci."

"Cleo," yelped Jing-Mei, indignantly.  "You can't be serious...I mean, it's
*Malucci*...look at him..."

"I *am* looking," said Cleo with an evil grin.  "And what I'm seeing, looks
'mighty fine' to me."  Moving over to Dave, she linked arms with him and
guided him over the threshold.

"Whoa," said Dave, seeing the apartment.  "Pretty snappy digs you've got
here Cleo.  Maybe I shoulda done a Pedes 'n Trauma residency.  It must pay
better than just plain trauma."

Cleo patted his hand gently as she said, "You'd have to be working a lot of
double shifts to be able to get a place like this.  My father owns it."

Dave nodded as he looked round.

"So," said Cleo, "You want to get, um, 'ready'?"

"You mean you really want me to 'clean up' for you?"

"That's what I called the agency for, isn't it?  They took my money, and I
intend to get what I paid for."

"Could you excuse us for a minute," interrupted Jing-Mei, as she pulled Cleo
to the side of the room.  "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at
her.

Cleo shrugged.  "We wanted a nearly nude cleaner...from what I've seen of
Malucci's body under those tight tops of his, I think we've got a pretty
good deal.  He's getting paid for his time, nobody's forcing him to do
this...what's the problem?"

"But we work with him every day...I mean...we can't...we shouldn't..."

"Why not?"

Jing-Mei opened her mouth and then closed it again, unable to think of a
convincing reason *why* she didn't want to go through with it.

"Yo, Malucci," said Cleo, raising her voice slightly.

Dave looked up from the bookshelves, where he had been browsing.  "Yeah?"

"You don't have a problem with 'performing' for two of your co-workers?  Do
you?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "Not a problem."

Cleo turned back to Jing-Mei.  "There you go, he's got no problem...I've got
no problem...if you don't want to stick around, well, you know where the
door is...just don't let it hit you on the way out."

"Oh I'll stay...but I still think it's a bad idea."

"Let me remind you just whose idea it was in the first place.  I mean, you
were all for it...at least until you opened the door."

"Yeah...but it's one thing with a total stranger that you're never going to
see again...I mean, we're going to be working with him every day...and
knowing exactly what he looks like under his scrubs..."  Jing-Mei's voice
trailed off as she saw Cleo eyeing up Dave who was studiously ignoring them.
"Um Cleo...did you hear what I just said?"

"Oh yeah," said Cleo, looking at Dave as if he was a tall glass of
water...and she'd just crawled out of the desert.

"Guys, if you're worried about me saying anything at work, don't be," said
Dave, seeing Jing-Mei's hesitation.  "One of the rules about the agency is
that we don't blab about who our 'clients' are."

"Well that's a relief," snapped Jing-Mei.  "Cause I'm pretty sure that it
wouldn't do *you* any good if word got round what you were doing in your
spare time."

"Oh really," said Dave, his hackles rising.  "Wouldn't do either of you two
much good either...and everybody already knows that I'm always stuck for
cash...but they don't know that you're sad enough to be hiring a guy like me
for your evenings entertainment."

"Why you...you..." spluttered Jing-Mei.

"Looks like he's got us there," grinned Cleo.  "Yeah Dave, we're a couple of
sad lonely women who couldn't get a guy for the night without paying for it.
I'm not arguing with that...it's nothing to be ashamed of.  Not my fault if
all the guys around are either jerks or losers."

"So which category do I fit in to?" asked Dave.

"Get cleaning and I'll let you know."

"Your wish is my command."

"I don't believe this," muttered Jing-Mei under her breath as she watched
them banter back and forth.

"Believe it baby...believe it," said Dave.

--------------------------

Half an hour later, Jing-Mei was beginning to change her mind about the
whole proceedings.  Okay, she still thought it was a bit degrading to be
watching Dave dust his way around Cleo's apartment wearing only a pair of
shorts and a bow-tie...but there was something compelling about the way his
muscles rippled as he stretched to reach the topmost shelves of Cleo's
bookcase.  Maybe the bottle of wine that Cleo had unearthed was partly the
cause of this mellow feeling...or maybe it was watching Cleo almost drool
over every move that Dave was making.

Leaning over to Cleo, who was gazing intently at Dave's butt, Jing-Mei
hissed in her ear.  "Just how long are you planning to keep him here?"

"Until my money runs out...or until he gets the place clean."  Without
taking her eyes off Dave, Cleo carefully upended her drink onto the wooden
floor.  "Oopsie..."

Jing-Mei rolled her eyes and settled back with a fresh bowl of popcorn.

-----------------------

Peter stopped outside Cleo's door, and carefully readjusted the bouquet of
flowers he was holding.  All women liked flowers, right?  A nice big bunch,
plus a box of chocolates...lo-fat...and Cleo would be eating out of his
hand.  That's all that women wanted, right?  A little bit of attention.
Cleo hadn't really wanted to break up with him...she was just stressed out
over the HIV thing...a few kind words from him and she'd be back by his side
in no time.

Oozing confidence, he rang the doorbell.

-----------------------

"Shit," swore Cleo, as she heard it.  She started to push herself up from
the couch, but Jing-Mei put her hand on her arm to stop her.

"I think we should let our 'cleaner' get the door," she said with an evil
grin.  "Why should you have to get up?"

Cleo shrugged, then said to Dave.  "You mind?"

Dave shrugged as well, "Not me...just don't blame me if it's your folks
standing outside."

"Yeah right...like they're going to fly in without warning," said Cleo,
hoping that they hadn't.

Dave moved over to the door and pulled it open.  "Yo, Doctor Pe..."   was all
he managed to say before Peter's fist impacted squarely with his face.

-------------------------

To be continued

Ceindreadh
"I will finish what I sta...." Bart Simpson
"We've got to do something about that duck" Farmers wife (Babe)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~ceindreadh/index.htm