She wondered what his problem was then it dawned on her. He'd seen her

kissing Riley. She resisted the urge to flip him off. She felt too damn good to

care about some homophobe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam stood nervously outside the security gate leading to Riley's condo complex.

She'd parked in the visitor lot and was now looking for Riley's condo number.

She pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket that Riley had written the security

code on. As she punched in the number another couple came up behind her.

"Hi." She greeted.

They just looked at her their eyes lingering on her cane before carefully skirting

her and walking away. Sam shrugged her shoulders and looked around. The

complex was beautiful with incredible landscaping, not a leaf out of place. She

finally spotted Riley's condo. She checked her appearance one last time before

ringing the bell. Her black jeans fit well but not tight, as her incision was still

tender, the blue polo shirt was just the right shade to bring out the color of her

eyes and her engineer boots shined. She glanced down at the mixed flower

bouquet in her hand wondering if Riley even liked flowers. Knowing she was just

stalling she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and rang the bell.

It seemed like forever before the door opened but in truth, it was less than a

minute. Riley greeted her with a bright smile. Sam allowed her eyes to skim the

length of Riley. She was wearing stone faded jeans with an emerald green long

sleeve shirt open in the front showing a white tank top underneath. It was the

first time that Sam had seen her in anything but scrubs. God she'd

beautiful. When she finally made it up to Riley's eyes their gaze locked and they

simply stared at each other for several moments neither one quite able to

speak.

"Hi." Sam finally greeted then kicked herself mentally. Hi that was the best you could do after standing there ogling her. She suddenly remembered the flowers.

She held the flowers out to Riley. So far, Riley hadn't said a word.

Riley was busy trying to force her mouth to work. Her brain was too busy

drooling over Sam to form a coherent sentence. She had only seen her in a

hospital gown or sweats. Being that gorgeous should be illegal! was Riley's first

thought. She finally noticed the flowers Sam was holding out and blushed. She

reached out to take them and their fingers brushed. She jerked back slightly

when an electric tingle ran up her arm.

"Come on in Sam, it's good to see you." Riley said kick starting her brain back in gear.

Riley led Sam into the living room. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back. I

want to put these in some water."

Sam looked around the living room. It appeared like something out of a

magazine. The stark white leather couch and pale rose side chair sat on thick

beige carpeting. The end table and coffee table were glass with metal bases.

The coffee table was bare and the end table held only a lamp. The walls were

white and several impressionist paintings adorned the walls. A small mahogany

entertainment center that was closed up sat off to the side. It looked like a model

where no one lived. Sam felt incredibly out of place. She sat gingerly on the

edge of the sofa waiting Riley's return.

Riley breezed back into the room carrying a crystal vase filled with the flowers

Sam brought. She set them down in the middle of the coffee table then flopped

into the chair next to the couch.

"Thank you for the flowers they're beautiful."

"You're welcome."

The two women looked at each other unsure of what to say next. Riley finally

broke the silence.

"Would you like a tour?"

"Sure lead on." Sam said rising carefully from the sofa.

They headed into the kitchen first. It was just as stark as the living room. The

countertops were bare not even sporting your typical coffeemaker. The cabinets

were white with black accents; the counters were black marble. All the

appliances were stainless steel. There was a breakfast nook in the corner that

showed the only sign of life in the form of a small plant in the center of the table.

They headed upstairs next. There was a full bath off the hall again; it could have

come straight out of the pages of a magazine. The towels were perfectly

matched and the counter held a small basket with shaped soaps that appeared

to have never been used.

"I use the second bedroom as an office. Come on I'll show you." She offered.

The office matched the rest of the house. Everything was picture perfect there

wasn't even a pen or piece of paper on the ordered computer desk. The

bookshelves lining the room had the books neatly arranged by size. Sam

couldn't help comparing the room to her cluttered second bedroom that acted as

a guest room and housed her computer on a small desk tucked in the corner.

She was lucky if she could even find the desk under all the disks and CD's not to

mention all the papers. That's when it stuck her how little she actually knew

about Riley. She had only known the charismatic doctor in the hospital setting as

she breezed in and out of her room. This was a Riley she didn't know and she

began to wonder how the obviously upscale surgeon would view her decidedly

middle class life. Sam shook away the gloomy thoughts and followed Riley down

the hall. Riley stopped outside the last room at the end of the hall but didn't

enter.

"This is my bedroom," she said shyly.

Sam glanced in the door. It was the first room that looked like someone lived

there. There was a brass bed against the far wall unmade with clothes thrown all

over it. The dresser sitting on the wall near the window had keys, pens and

various paraphernalia strewn across the top. There were several prints that

looked to be by Ansel Adams. Riley pulled the door shut before Sam could get a

better look. She glanced at Riley and noticed her embarrassed flush.

"Excuse the mess, I didn't get home 'til late and my bedroom is the one place

the cleaning lady doesn't do." Riley explained.

"No problem, you should see mine." Sam said trying to ease Riley's obvious

embarrassment. Riley smiled gratefully before turning to walk back down the

hall.

A cleaning lady huh, well that explains the spotless rooms. It was just one more

thing emphasizing the differences in their lives.

They made their way back to the living room. Sam sat on the couch and Riley

sat in the chair next to it. They make mindless small talk for a few minutes

before the stilted conversation finally trailed off. Riley could see Sam was

uncomfortable but couldn't figure out why.

"So how long have you lived here?" Sam asked. Maybe she just moved in and

that's why everything is so sterile. She hasn't had time to add her own flair to things.

"Oh I've been here three years. My aunt and uncle pick the place out when I

started my Fellowship here."

Sam tried hard to hide her shock. Deciding it was time to change the subject she

glanced at her watch. "We need to leave if we're going to make our

reservations." She told Riley.

They head for the door and Sam breathed a sigh of relief as they left the condo.

She'd been very uncomfortable and felt incredibly out of place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they walk toward Sam's car Riley was having second thoughts. This wasn't

turning out the way she expected. She stopped just as they reach the security

gate.

"You want me to follow you? That way you won't have to drive all the way back

up here after dinner."

Sam frowned. Doesn't she want to ride with me? She wondered. She couldn't

quite read the look on Riley's face so decided to take a chance. "It would be my

pleasure to drive you to the restaurant then escort you home." Riley's reaction

was a bright smile. "Come your chariot awaits." Sam said smiling naturally for

the first time since entering the condo complex. She gallantly offered her arm to

Riley.

Riley took the offered arm squeezing it in response. She'd thought Sam was

regretting asking her out and was trying to give her a way out in case things

didn't improve.

Sam led Riley to her 98' Thunderbird opening the door for her. Sam couldn't help

noticing her car was the oldest one in the sparsely populated visitor's lot. As she

slid into the driver's seat, she felt a need to defend the car.

"I've never found another car with this much leg room. I was bummed when Ford

stopped making them."

Riley looked over to see Sam's long legs stretched out under the wheel. "I can

see that, I hope the seat isn't stuck in that position. I couldn't even reach the

pedals to drive."

Sam grinned; pleased Riley would even consider driving her car. "Don't worry we

could always get you those little blocks made for the pedals," she teased.

Sam burst out laughing at the look of outrage on Riley's face. Riley leaned over

the console lifting up slightly until she was next to Sam's ear.

"Watch it." She growled. "I'm a doctor and know just where to really hurt you."

Sam shivered at the sensation of Riley's hot breath in her ear. It caused a spark

of arousal to shoot through her body. Riley noticed Sam's sudden shiver.

"You should be afraid." She said with a satisfied smirk before sliding back into

her seat.

Sam grinned at her. If you only knew doc, she thought to herself. Sam reached

over and patted Riley's thigh. "I'll be good. No more vertically challenged jokes."

Riley looked over at Sam's grinning face, her eyes sparkling. Here was the

woman she'd come to know in the hospital. Her face was alight with mischief.

She relaxed back into the seat as the tight band across her chest let go. She

hadn't realized how tense she'd been.

Sam saw Riley sink into the seat and her whole body appeared to relax. She felt

the knot in her stomach disappear. They laughed and joked with each other all

the way down to the restaurant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley looked around with interest as they waited to be seated. The restaurant

consisted of one large room decorated with a variety of item from maps of

Europe to photographs of Italy. The tables were covered with checkerboard table

clothes. She started noticing the clientele. She had never seen so many same-

sex couples in one place before. There were a few heterosexual couples but

they were in the minority. The hostess came over to seat them.

"Hey Sam, long time no see." The hostess said hugging Sam. "How are you

doing? I heard about the shooting. Are you alright?" She asked glancing down at

Sam's cane.

"Hey Mary, I'm good. Going to physical therapy. I'll be back on the job soon. I'd

like you to meet my friend Riley."

"Hello Riley," Mary greeted politely. She checked the other woman out noting

how close she stood to Sam. I wonder just how close friends they are?

Mary led them over to a small table.

"How about one of the booths?" Sam asked. Mary glanced over at Riley to see

her reaction. She appeared clueless. Sam only asked for a booth when she

brought a hot date.

"Sure Sam, if you're positive that's what you want?" Mary glanced over at Riley

again; she just didn't seem Sam's type. She usually didn't go for the quiet shy

types.

Sam grinned. "Oh yeah, I'm sure."

Riley wasn't sure what was going on. It felt like she was missing half the

conversation.

Mary led them to a small booth. Sam slid in first then moved over next to Riley

once she sat down. Their thighs pressed together under the table. Sam's arm