ER/Stand Crossover




She awoke with a start. Her heart was pounding, her breath short and fast, her body covered in cold sweat. It was just a bad dream, she told herself as she slipped out of bed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, the rational part of her mind chimed in as she pulled on some jeans and a hooded Raiders sweatshirt, it wasn't really just a dream. It was the same dream, the first dream. The dream she had back at County, when the superflu was rampant. It was her dream about Flagg. It felt echoey and strange, as if it was no longer vital, like a ghost. There was no real substance, but it was still frightening, in the way that bad memories could be.

She wanted coffee. Lots of coffee and some chocolate. She couldn't, all the caffeine was bad for the baby. I'll make cocoa, she decided as she limped down the stairs. It would be hot and taste like chocolate, and there was a good chance she wouldn't throw it up. The morning sickness had been bad, worse than she had thought, but she was getting past it. At least she thought she was. It wasn't hard to see how far along she was. They had sex on September second. It was the twenty-ninth of November. It was almost the end of her first trimester. The morning sickness should stop soon, she thought as she walked into the kitchen. It wasn't fool proof, some people had morning sickness the whole time but she was determined not to be one of them. Besides, she thought with no small amount of relief, it's been almost two days since the last time.

She was starting to enjoy being pregnant, that was the truth. Doug was bending over backward to help her, which was a nice change. Dave doted on her and spent his time plotting with Doug. They thought she didn't know, but she did. She didn't say anything, she thought it was cute. It was better that Doug had Dave doing his prying anyway. She was starting to sense an uneasy worry coming off Lucy.

Lucy had a thing for Doug. She didn't understand the attraction. Yes, he was an attractive man, and when he was sober he was charming, intelligent and caring, but Kerry didn't see the attraction at all. It was more than her inability to get along with Doug that spoiled it for her, it was knowing that the ghost of Carol Hathaway was a silent third partner. Whether Doug could get past that wasn't the problem. She couldn't. Bad enough that she was honoring Carol's memory by sleeping with Doug and having a child with him. Carol would have understood, which made it worse in a lot of ways. Lucy didn't have that problem, evidently, and Doug did pay her a lot of attention.

It didn't seem like a healthy relationship to her. It wasn't the age difference that bothered her, there was the same exact age difference between Dave and herself. Lucy was emotionally needy, and Doug wasn't really at his most stable. She wanted to help Lucy, but after a few attempts, she had given up. She was a big enough person to admit that she wasn't much of a rape counselor. Besides, the problem wasn't that Lucy wasn't coping, it was that she seemed a little jealous of the attention Kerry was getting from Doug. It had the potential to blow up, and Kerry didn't want that. They were all living in close quarters and they didn't need a fight over Doug, especially when she felt that Lucy could have him. She gave Doug plus points for not sleeping with the woman. She hadn't thought that he was capable of that much self control.

The refrigerator hummed as she entered the kitchen and it drew her attention. Suddenly, she wanted more than cocoa. Raw hamburger and mayonnaise, she thought. With mustard. On toast. With anchovies and seedless grapes. After a second, she shuddered. That was definitely a weird hormone rush, she decided. It was moments like that, she thought as she pulled out the leftover turkey and pumpkin pie from their rather depressed Thanksgiving, that made her worry about Doug's genes. Sometimes she really worried that the kid would have horns and a tail. She passed over the cranberry sauce and grabbed the tabasco. That, at least, she could blame on herself. Anchovies and mayonnaise had to be Doug.

She grabbed the bread she had made and a carving knife. She wasn't sure how exactly it would work, but she was suddenly consumed by the idea of somehow making a sandwich with the pumpkin pie, turkey and possibly some stuffing. She was hungry suddenly. It had been a while since her appetite had done anything other than flip flop.

" Kerry..." She spun around, knife in hand. She knew that voice and it filled her with an icy cold wave of fear. It was Flagg, as impossible as that seemed, and for the first time, she actually saw him. He was surprisingly normal looking, with his cowboy boots and denim jacket loaded with smiley face pins, but somehow she knew, if anyone asked, she wouldn't be able to describe him. Except maybe his eyes, they glinted brightly with insanity. She realized suddenly, that a defeated demon was not without power. He stepped closer, his broad grin widening. " Kerry, this isn't over. How could you think this was over? "

" I..." Her voice trailed off. It wasn't a question she could answer. She believed it would never really be over, because it wasn't about them. Not really. It was, as Randi often stated, biblical. The fight had been going on for as long as humanity had existed and it was going to keep going on long after she was dead. Plus, it didn't help that she was utterly terrified.

" Ah, no one ever accused you of being articulate, did they?" Flagg snorted in laughter. " A short, crippled, angry woman with a shrill voice and disposition to match. How does anyone put up with you?" He took a step closer. Instinctively, Kerry held up the carving knife, even though she knew it wouldn't do a bit of good. Flagg snickered. In a flash, he slammed her up against the refrigerator. His hand pried the knife out of her hand and she could feel it bite into the skin of her hand. He slammed her again. His hands felt like ice. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. She didn't care about herself. He could kill her, that was what she expected the second she heard his voice, but it was the baby that she was afraid for.

" You think, " Flagg said softly, his voice a freezing whisper in her ear, " that whoring with your drunken friend will save you. You think that baby protects you. It doesn't, and if it does ever claw it's way out of your womb, I can assure you, you won't like the result. I still have that power."

No, she thought suddenly, he doesn't have that power. Not any more. There had been a time, that she was sure, where his touch would have caused a miscarriage, and his look would have driven her mad. Now though, he was just a shadow of that. An impotent demon angry that his powers were gone and looking to take vengeance on the only people he could. " You've lost, and you know it," she said.

With an inarticulate cry of rage, he lifted her off her feet and slammed her into the refrigerator. That time, she felt the darkness close in and she lost consciousness.

" Kerry? Come on Kerry, you need to wake up." The voice was familiar, but she knew, despite the throbbing in her head, that it wasn't right. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't want to. It was too hard, and she was tired of being some weird little pawn in the fight between good and evil. She didn't want to open her eyes and confirm that things had gotten even more insane. She was tired.

" Dr. Weaver!" The sharp, clipped voice grew more insistent. " I know you're awake." Kerry felt a sharp pain as someone dug their knuckles into her breastbone. She grimaced and opened her eyes, knowing that was exactly what was intended.

" I'm awake," she grumbled. She pushed herself up right, and tried not to look at the person that was kneeling beside her. She didn't want to look. It was impossible, what she was seeing, and it was making her question her sanity yet again.

" You're not insane, you're just stubborn and in complete denial of the grand metaphysical nature of this battle." He shook his head and frowned at her. " Now hold out your left hand."

" What?"

He sighed. " Your left hand needs stitches. I already injected some lidocaine so it shouldn't hurt. " He carefully took her hand. For a moment, she ignored the actual situation and watched as he deftly stitched the deep cut on her hand. After a moment he looked up at her. " I have to make this quick. Flagg was defeated. He knows that, but he won't move on to his next assignment. He wants revenge and he's decided that you and your group will be his victims." He started to bandage her hand. " He has to be pushed, or else you're all going to die. He thinks he can push you into helping him. I'm here to tell you that he has nothing to threaten you with, except physical violence."

" And that's nothing?" It didn't feel like nothing.

" The babies will be fine," he said softly," And he can be driven off. Fire cleanses everything, eventually. You have to get ready, Kerry." He finished with her hand. " You're lucky it was your left hand."

" I... Why are you here?" It surprised her, that was the bald truth. Considering just how bizarre things had become, she could accept seeing a ghost. It made as much sense as a demon chasing them, but *he* was almost scaring her with his gentleness.

He grinned at her, and she could see his utter delight at her confusion. " Kerry, " he said, with laughter in his voice, " Are you really that shocked that I'm on your side?"

She thought about it, about how he had taken the personnel files down to the incinerator at the hospital, declaring that he wouldn't be a party to keeping people from their families if they were going to die. And how he had handed her his keys to the hospital right before he had gone up to his office to die, telling her to take care of things. She had carried those keys the entire summer, not really seeing until that moment just what he had entrusted her with. " No, I guess I'm not... but why are you here?"

He helped her up. " Kerry, you never watched the X-files, so let me share my favorite line. God never lets the devil steal the show. " He laughed. " And I'm the same way. Lizzie always said that I had a monstrous ego." He held her close for a moment. " Now go on. You have a lot to do."

She stepped back, and blinked. He was gone and the kitchen was still, the only sound the gentle hum of the refrigerator and her own ragged breathing. Robert "The Rocket" Romano was gone.



Part 56
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