ROAD TRIP 10
Kerry & Luka & Dave & Carter
Previously on ER
A grateful (and rich) patient invited some of the ER doctors on
an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland to attend a conference in
Galway. Arriving in Dublin they discovered that they had to drive
themselves to Galway. After several misadventures, they arrived
in Galway. A few wrong turnings later, they arrived at the
University College Galway, only to find that they should have
flown from Dublin to Galway. Drinking in the College bar, they
made some new friends. Dave and Carter were invited to a party,
but Kerry and Luka decided to go back to their hotel.
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"So where are you guys staying?" asked Kendra. "I
need to know what direction to point these two in after the party."
"We're staying in the Corrib Village," said Kerry.
"It's only about ten minutes walk from here."
Kendra and Susan exchanged glances. "That's if you take the
path by the river," said Susan.
"Shouldn't we use that path?" asked Kerry, surprised.
"I was told it was the quickest way."
"Quickest, yes. Safest..." Kendra shrugged. "It
doesn't have the best reputation."
"Is there another way to get there?"
"Oh sure, you drove there right?" said Susan. Luka
nodded. "Well, just head out the main gates of the College
and go that way. It's a bit longer, but less nerve-wracking than
walking through the trees and jumping at every sound."
"It's up to you Kerry," said Luka. "If you do not
feel up to the longer walk, I am sure I can protect you from
'scary noises in the night'."
"I think we should listen to the voices of experience,"
said Kerry. "My leg will be fine for the longer journey."
And if it isn't, well I'll have a nice strong Doctor to carry me
the rest of the way, she thought with a gleam in her eye. Out
loud, she said, "Thank you for the warnings."
"Any time," said Kendra, hiding a grin. She had seen
the way that Kerry was looking at Luka. And it wouldn't be the
first time that someone had used, 'a long walk home' as an excuse
to get to know someone better.
Turning to Dave, she said with a smile. "You ready to go?"
"I'm always ready to go," said Dave with a leer. Kendra
slapped him lightly on the arm.
Carter would have commented on Dave's innuendo, but he was busy
listening to Susan and Kim explain to him what several Irish
phrases meant.
---------------------
Kerry and Luka set off for the Corrib Village.
"It's such a beautiful night," said Kerry, as they
headed along Newcastle Road.
"Uh-oh," said Luka. "Now you've done it. Once you
mention how good the weather is, it is bound to start raining.
Just like when someone says it has been a quiet shift, and five
minutes later a dozen traumas roll up."
"You are such a pessimist," laughed Kerry.
The pavements hadn't been designed with crutch users in mind. As
Kerry carefully stepped down from a particularly high kerb, it
seemed only natural for Luka to offer her his arm for support.
And even when they reached a more level surface, he didn't pull
it away.
Kerry leaned in against Luka as they walked along. She told
herself that it was only to ease the strain on her leg. Yeah
right, a little voice in her head told her. Any excuse. She
firmly put it from her mind with the thought that she hadn't
forced Luka to give her his arm.
Luka felt the pressure of Kerry's body against his, but didn't
move away. It had been a long time since he had walked in the
moonlight with a beautiful woman. This is not Chicago, he told
himself. Things are different here.
---------------------
Dave and Kendra walked along arm in arm. They were followed
closely by Carter who was being carefully steered in the right
direction by Kim and Sue.
"You know, you gals took a real chance with us," said
Dave. "After all, for all you know, we could be a couple of
Psycho's."
"You mean you're not?" said Sue, grinning. "How
disappointing."
"Hah," said Dave. "I'm serious. I mean what would
you do if I did this."
He stopped and suddenly grabbed Kendra, pulling her close to him
and folding his arms over her chest. Kendra leaned back against
him and said, "You really want to know what I'd do?"
Dave nodded. Sue and Kim, recognizing the tone in Kendra's voice,
quickly pulled Carter back a few feet.
Kendra relaxed against Dave's chest. Then, taking a deep breath
she elbowed him in the ribs. The blow wasn't strong enough to
hurt Dave, but he automatically loosened his grip. Carter watched
in amazement as Kendra twisted sideways, grabbed Dave's right arm
with her left, and slid her right arm behind his back, grabbing
his belt.
Two seconds later, Dave was flat on his back on the ground, with
Kendra sitting on top of him. "And this is what I'd do,"
she said as she expertly grabbed Dave's arm and applied a simple
but efficient arm lock.
"Whoa," said Dave, gasping for breath as he felt Kendra
apply pressure to his arm. "Uncle...uncle..."
"You have to tap twice," said Kim with a grin.
"Yeah," said Susan, otherwise she won't let go.
Dave looked suspiciously at the pair but tapped Kendra lightly on
the leg. She released the arm lock but instead pinned his hands
to the ground grinning widely.
"Wow," said Carter. "Where did you learn that?"
Kendra shrugged. "Captain of the Women's B team at the Irish
Judo Intervarsity for three years."
"Two bronzes and a silver," said Kim.
"It would have been two silvers," said Susan, but we
came up against some serious opposition."
"Yeah...the women's A team," grinned Kim. "What
was your motivating speech that you had for us that day Kendra?"
There was no reply as Kendra was taking advantage of her position
to kiss Dave. It was noticeable that Dave wasn't exactly
struggling to get away.
Kim rolled her eyes, "Basically Kendra told us to treat the
fight's like a warm-up for the main event...to do our best...but
under no circumstances to hurt the A team, cause they were bound
to win."
"Which they did," said Susan. Feeling a spot of rain,
she looked up. "Oh crap. Come on you guys...plenty of time
for that at the party."
Reluctantly Kendra pulled away from Dave and stood up. Pulling
Dave up after her, they were soon on their way.
-----------------------
A few miles in the other direction, Luka and Kerry had just
reached the main gates of 'The Corrib Village' when they felt the
first spots of rain.
"Oh no," groaned Kerry. "We're going to be soaked."
"It is only a little drizzle," said Luka. "We will
be okay."
"It's a warning shower," said Kerry glumly. "It'll
last a few minutes and then it'll turn into a deluge...I've been
warned about 'Galway weather'..."
"Well, we should be able to make it back to our room before
we get too wet...that is, if we hurry."
Kerry sighed, and tapped her crutch pointedly against the ground.
"You might," she said.
Luka smiled at her. "Put your crutch down and put your arms
around my neck."
The words were barely out of his mouth before Kerry had her arms
wrapped tightly round Luka.
"A little looser please," gasped Luka. "That's
better," he said as Kerry relaxed slightly.
"So what did you have in mind?" asked Kerry with a
smile.
In reply, Luka bent down and picked Kerry up in his arms.
Instinctively she tightened her arms around him. Picking up her
crutch, he set off down the road towards the buildings.
In spite of Luka's efforts, they were both fairly wet by the time
they got into their apartment in the Corrib Village. Being a
student residence that was used as holiday accommodation out of
term, they had two small two bed roomed apartments at their
disposal. Kerry had made sure that she and Luka had been assigned
the relatively bigger one, citing their seniority as sufficient
reason.
Luka kicked the door shut behind him and lowered Kerry to the
ground. She leaned against the wall and looked up at him. With a
smile, she reached out and gently traced a line down the side of
his face. "You know, Kendra was telling me about a tradition
that she and her friends had when they were in College," she
said.
"Oh yes?" said Luka, making no move to stop Kerry's
hand.
"Yes," replied Kerry. "She said that whenever the
club would go away for a weekend, they had a rule that 'whatever
happened on the weekend would stay on the weekend'."
------------------
Kerry and Kendra had been in the ladies toilets when she had said
this.
"It made sense then," said Kendra as she reapplied her
lipstick - the first coat having ended up all over Dave's face.
"The weekends were all about fun...having a good time...but
sometimes people would say things...or do things...that they
wished they'd thought twice about." Kendra paused as she
examined her work in the mirror. Smiling approvingly, she
continued, "So it became an unwritten rule. No matter what
you did...no matter how big an idiot you made of yourself, nobody
mentioned it once the weekend was over."
------------------
"So?" said Kerry, as she moved her hand lower.
Luka carefully took Kerry's hand and kissed it softly, before
saying, "I am not that type of man, Kerry."
Kerry pulled her hand away from Luka and looked away, trying not
to let her disappointment show. "Oh..." she said,
softly.
Luka took Kerry by the chin and turned her head to face him.
"I said, I am not that type of man...because if something
were to happen...I would not wish to 'not mention it' once we got
back to Chicago."
Kerry looked at him, a mixture of surprise and delight on her
face. Luka gently bent his head and kissed her on the lips. This
was no chaste kiss between friends...this was a full on spine
tingling brain melting type of kiss. Pulling away, Luka saw that
now Kerry's expression was a mixture of delight and amazement.
"You've still got it," he thought to himself with
pleasure.
Out loud, he said, "Your room or mine?" he asked softly.
---------------------
To be continued
Author's notes.
The 'Corrib Village' is the U.C.G. student residence. During the
summer it's let out to tourists. (It's not strictly a hotel, but
I only thought about using it <after> I'd posted part 9).