Stuck With You by Vanessa

Written in response to Ceindreadh's lift" fic challenge...

"Well it's none of my business, right?"

Dave wondered how he could have said that to Kerry. He felt his face grow
hot... It was almost two days later and he was still thinking about the
uncomfortable moment he'd shared with 'the Chief' when she'd confronted him
about his snooping among the various employees at County in an effort to
find out why Kerry used a crutch.

Dave held his grumbling stomach as he rode the elevator up to the third
floor to the cafeteria. He stopped on the second level.

Ding! The doors swung open and Kerry Weaver walked in. Dave couldn't
believe his own dumb luck. Kerry was followed by a frazzled looking woman
and her little boy.

"Hey, chief!" she smiled hard.

"Dr. Malucci," she nodded to him.

'Oh, god, this is uncomfortable!' Dave thought to himself. He'd never be
able to see her without thinking about what had happened. Well not for a
while at least.

Suddenly, a clunk came from underneath them in the elevator shaft. They came
to an abrupt stop. Dave looked around, he only had a couple of minutes to
grab lunch... now he wondered if he'd be eating at all.

"Oh, great," Kerry muttered while the mother of the little boy just sighed
heavily. They all stood in silence leaning against the wall until the little
boy broke the silence.

"Why do you have a crutch?" he piped up loudly.

"Sammie!" his mother scolded. She looked at Kerry but before she could begin
to apologize Kerry stopped her.

"No, it's okay," she smiled and tuned to the child. "Do you know what cancer
is?"

He nodded solemnly. "My grannie had that. She died."

"I'm sorry. I had cancer in my leg when I was very young so they had to
amputate. But now I'm all better." Kerry lifted her pant leg to reveal a
prosthetic leg. "See?"

Again the boy nodded. "I'm glad you're all better."

"Me too," said Kerry.

'Now I know,' thought Dave. But somehow it wasn't what he was looking for.

Finally a whirring sound was heard and the elevator reached the third floor.
Dave walked quickly towards the cafeteria but heard Kerry calling after him.

"Malucci!"

He spun around and raised his eyebrows at her

"I told you all you had to do was ask..."

He felt his face flush again as he turned around and quickly walked off down
the hallway.

Author's note: C'mon... have YOU ever seen Kerry's leg?

--
Vanessa

Homepage: www.vanessaonline.com
ErikOnline : http://fly.to/erikonline

"Shiny happy people holding hands. Barbie dolls with overactive glands!"
- Hit Song by No Happy Faces (Erik P.'s band)
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