"Oh, god no. My musical ability is limited strictly to watching VH1. We met when she came to one of the dinner parties my parents were famous for. I was obliged to make occasional appearances as both evidence of their conjugal bliss and their child-rearing prowess. Also to round out an odd number of guests, when necessary. I ended up seated next to her, and because her conversation was far more interesting than that of my other partner– a medical colleague of my father’s who exhibited entirely too much interest in my seventeen year-old décolletage– I pretty much monopolized her all evening. Later, as they say, one thing led to another– and the vague confusion I had became so stunningly clear."

A quiet reverie fell over both of them, and Abby didn’t want to read anything into the subtle coloring of Kim’s eyes into a nor’easter shade of gray. "What time are you on?" she asked at last, more to break the imposing silence than anything.

"Bout two hours from now." She stretched in their embrace, her body bucking slightly against Abby’s slighter form. "I should hop in the shower."

"What time are you off?"

"Midnight," Kim answered ruefully. "Guess I’ll see you just as you come on, huh?"

"Yup. Midnight to noon. Wonder who I pissed off to get that shift?" she asked rhetorically, but she wasn’t really complaining. The rumors were flying fast and furious; and because she was one of the principles in this unfolding little County Gen domestic drama, she wasn’t in any particular hurry to be in the thick of things– though she hated that it left Kim alone to deal with the worst of it. "How’d you end up swing?"

"Myers asked me to switch." Kim shrugged diffidently. "Didn’t really make a big difference to me because I’m off two days running afterwards. It won’t matter if my days and nights get a little screwy." Kim looked down at the woman in her arms. "Speaking of which…." Her grin belying the apology she was offering, "I’m sorry to have jumped you the minute you walked in. It’s just…"

"And here I thought I had jumped you," Abby interrupted softly. She had come to Kim’s house after her shift without calling, having not seen the other woman outside the confines of the ER in three days because of the overlap in their shifts. The urge to taste Kim’s skin again had been almost overwhelming as she had left the hospital; and she hadn’t thought about shifts, valor, or the better part of discretion as she knocked on the other woman’s door.