She knocked gently on the door, but there was no answer.

“Neela?”

Still no answer.

“Neela, it’s Dr. Weaver.”

A moment later, Kerry heard the locks opening and then the door swung inward to reveal a woman whose expression said it all. Her husband was dead and she didn’t understand why.

Kerry walked in and put her arms around Neela. With that the younger woman broke down in tears. It took Kerry a moment to realize that she was crying as well. They stood like that for a few minutes before Kerry pulled herself together and walked Neela over to couch to sit down.

Neela didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected the chief-of-staff to show up and cry with her over Michael’s death. She said the first thing that came to her.

“He respected you so much.”

Kerry smiled and leaned back on the couch.

“Did he ever tell you about our first shift together?”

Neela shook her head and waited.

Kerry took a deep breath and began to tell the story of the rain, the stabbing, and the ambulance crash.

“I yelled at him to stop, but he tackled that fire fighter. He said it was instinct. And then he helped me perform a c-section right there in an ambulance with the electrical lines sparking around us. After we delivered the baby he wrapped it in blanket and took a flying leap out of the bus and got the baby to the hospital.”

“I didn’t know about this.”

Kerry looked at Neela and tried, unsuccessfully to stop more tears.

“The pain in the ass firefighter who was pissed at us for doing any of it …” Kerry stopped, trying to real in her emotions. “The firefighter was Sandy. I met both of them that night.”

Neela closed her eyes. Dr. Weaver had suddenly stopped being Dr. Weaver her boss, and was now Kerry, the only person she knew who could possibly understand how she was feeling. Neela, had been there the night Sandy died. Her death hadn’t made any sense either. The building was abandoned, but two firefighters died trying to stop it from burning.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Kerry staring at her.

“Would you like some tea, Dr. Weaver?”