"Yeah? Well, I didn’t see you tubing that guy."

"That’s because I know my limits." She paused. "Something you apparently haven’t learned yet."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

Something in Kim appeared to snap, and her nearly six feet seemed to dwarf the ER doc as her voice lost any semblance of dispassion. "I mean, Carter, that your sense of outrage and entitlement has exhausted my patience. Like it or not, I am a part of this hospital’s staff– and my relationship with Abby is a fact of life. Suck it up or get over it. I don’t care which, but I’m tired of it interfering with my work. Do you understand me?"

Carter’s face had drained of what little color it had left, while Kim’s grew progressively more flushed. Kerry watched in fascination, not ever remembering seeing her ex-lover this close to the edge of losing her temper. Generally when provoked, Kim grew incrementally distant, until she seemed so remote that contact even via airmail seemed an unlikely prospect.

"This ends, right now," Kerry said, suddenly realizing the precariousness of the situation and snapping back to herself. Stepping briskly between the two warring factions, green eyes glared fiercely at both parties. "Got it?" Carter wavered, then ducked his head in acknowledgment, but Kim’s jaw only tightened– and Kerry suspected she was about to be on the receiving end of whatever temper the psychiatrist had yet to vent. She laid a placating hand on her ex-lover’s arm, and for a moment she thought Kim was going to throw it off in outrage. She didn’t want to go to war with Kim– especially in a circumstance like this, when she had let things get out of hand and Carter had a more than valid point– but she wasn’t about to be undermined in her own ER.

A deep breath and an exhausted sigh later, Kim nodded curtly and surrendered the battle not to Carter who had already walked away, but to the woman beside her.

"Come on," Kerry said softly, ignoring the still-greedy eyes fixed upon them. "Let’s go get you cleaned up."

Safely inside the closed confines of the staff lounge, Kim ripped off the yellow smock with a growl of distaste and flung it into the haz mat container by the door. Her bare arms and tank top were soaked through with the MVA’s blood, and her blue jeans equally ruined. She flung herself down gracelessly on a couch who collection of stains was only increased by her current condition and rubbed her eyes wearily. "I don’t think my heart’s beat so fast since I talked that guy off the ledge a few months back," she said mirthlessly. "Hell of a rush."