looked familiar but Sam couldn't place him.

Riley took the tray from Sam's hands putting it down on her desk with a thump.

"That was my boss."

"Is it a problem me being here while you're working? I don't want to cause

problems for you. I can go." Sam said her disappointment obvious. She took a

step toward the door.

Riley quickly moved back over to Sam. "It's no problem. If I get paged then I

have to go. He's just a small-minded bigot who thinks he can tell me who I can

be friends with. He's a friend of my uncle."

Sam was confused. How would he even know they were friends and why would

he care? All of the sudden it hit her; why he'd looked so familiar. He was the guy

who'd seen them kissing in the parking lot.

"Oh Riley... I'm so sorry." Sam told her obviously distressed.

"Sorry for what?" Riley asked seeing the stricken look on Sam's face.

"He saw us kissing in the parking lot last week. I didn't even think about it, I just

figured that he was another doctor. I had no idea he was your boss. I'm really

sorry Riley." She apologized again.

"There's nothing to be sorry about Sam. I was the one who kissed you

remember." Riley assured Sam.

"But I mean... I'm sure you didn't want people to find out like that. This is all new

for you. I mean... I didn't want to 'out' you to your boss. You might not be sure

and people will talk... I don't want you to be uncomfortable or feel obligated or

anything... Sam's rambling finally trailed off. She wouldn't meet Riley's eyes and

stared at her shoes shifting nervously."

"Sam." Riley stepped closer into Sam's personal space. She reached up to

stroke Sam's cheek forcing eye contact.

"I don't care who saw us. I told you I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm

not and I meant it. You're not an experiment and I am sure. I promise." She

assured Sam. She put her hand on the back of Sam's neck urging her to lean

down. She sealed the promise with a soft gentle kiss. Sam sighed and pulled

Riley into a tight embrace when the kiss ended.

"I'm glad." Sam whispered next to Riley's ear. "Did he say something to you?"

Sam felt Riley's body go tense and her jaw clench. She ran her hands up and

down Riley's back trying to calm her.

"Oh yeah, he had plenty to say." She told Sam. "He informed me I should be

careful who I was friends with and not allow them to unduly influence me. Then

the bastard had the nerve to tell me he'd seem us kissing and he was sure my

uncle wouldn't approve of such deviant behavior." Riley ranted. "To top it off he told me I really didn't want to get involved with one of 'those people'.

Riley was obviously angry about the whole situation but Sam couldn't help

feeling guilty. She was the one who'd pushed Riley to be involved with her and

now she was suffering the consequences. Her heart ached for what she was

about to do but she cared too much for Riley to cause her any pain.

"Maybe it would be better if I didn't come around anymore. This is a big step for

you. You need to take some time and think about things. People will treat you

differently when they find out. Is this really the lifestyle you want to lead? I don't

want to cause any trouble for you at work or with your family." Sam regretfully

told Riley.

Riley tightened her hold on Sam. "The only thing that would be a problem Sam

is if you decided to walk away. I care about you deeply and I have thought about

it... a lot. I told Stevens my personal life was none of his damn business and that

I was one of 'those people'. Unless you've changed your mind about us." Riley

started to pull back out of Sam's arms as the realization hit her that maybe Sam

had changed her mind. "You haven't have you?" She asked fearfully.

Sam held on to Riley not allowing her to step away. Sam was amazed Riley had

outed herself to her boss. "No I haven't changed my mind. I just don't want to

see you hurt or estranged from your family because of me.

"The sooner people like Stevens get used to it the better. If he stopped talking to

me that would be great." Riley said smiling up at Sam trying to lighten the mood.

"As for my family, I've spent too many years already living the life my aunt and

uncle expected of me. I'm not going to do it any more. I understand now why my

father moved away from his family so he could live the life that made him and

my mom happy. It's time I did the same. And you Sam McKenna make me

happy." Riley adamantly told Sam.

Sam leaned down and took Riley's lips in a deep kiss. Riley moaned and

opened her mouth inviting Sam's tongue in to play. As their tongues wrapped

around each other in an increasingly erotic dance Sam backed Riley up and

pressed her against her desk. She pressed her good leg between her thighs.

Riley groaned as her hips began to thrust against Sam's leg. Sam's hand came

up and slipped beneath Riley's lab coat kneading her scrub-covered breasts.

She managed to release the tie on Riley's scrubs and slid her hand down inside

the front of her pants. Riley instinctively spread her legs further giving Sam

access. Riley moaned into Sam's mouth when Sam's hand pressed between her

legs and cupped her. Riley's pager shrilled interrupting.

Riley groaned pressing herself into Sam's hand. Sam growled in frustration at

the interruption. She pulled Riley tighter against her body as her fingers gently

stroked between her legs. Her face was pressed into Riley's neck where she

was placing open mouth kisses on the exposed skin.

Riley's pager shrilled again. "Oh God Sam please, you have to stop."

Sam growled again, "No don't want to." She husked against Riley's neck. She

continued stroking Riley feeling the wetness soaking through her underwear.

When the pager let out a third shrill beep, the two women forced themselves

away from each other. Their faces were flushed and they were both panting.

Riley finally managed to get her pants retied and checked the display on the

pager.

"It's the ER I have to go. Call me later!" And with that she was gone.

Sam stayed in Riley office until she managed to calm down and regain her

composure. So much for going slow, She thought as she made her way home.

She was still throbbing from their brief encounter.

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

Sam snarled in frustration as she slammed the phone back onto its cradle. She'd

gotten Riley's voice mail again. She'd been trying to catch up with Riley since

their encounter in her office. It was Friday and they'd been playing phone tag

since Monday. Riley in one of her messages explained she was not only

covering her call but one of her fellow staff. His wife had gone into labor early

and delivered their son 6 weeks prematurely. Riley was covering his patients

and call for him so he could be with his wife and son. Even though Sam

understood what Riley was doing, it didn't make not seeing her any less

frustrating. She'd even tried stopping by Riley's office in the evening hoping to

catch her between patients. The office had been empty each time. She'd paged

her three times in three days. The same OR nurse had answered her each time

informing her that Riley was in surgery and would get back to her. The third time

the same woman answered her page Sam could hear the amusement in her

voice when she promised her Riley would call her back. Sam had finally given

up not wanting embarrass Riley with her persistent calls.

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

Riley felt like she was slowly being driven insane. She hadn't had a frenzied

week like this since she was a Fellow. It seemed like the whole world was

conspiring against her to keep her from seeing Sam. The ER had been just

crazy; then Denny's wife, Carol had gone into premature labor and he'd called

asking her to cover his call and patients. They'd been friends since med school

there was no way she could refuse.

Paula one of the OR nurses had been razzing her about Sam's pages. Every

time Sam had paged her she'd been in the middle of an operation. It was just

her continued bad luck Paula had been the head nurse all three times. Riley

didn't want to ignore Sam so had been forced to ask Paula to call her and let her

know why she hadn't answered her page. Paula was one of the few OR nurses

Riley was friendly with.

Riley forced her attention back to the patient on the table. This was the last one

from an earlier MVA. She'd been in the OR off and on for the last 12 hours. She

was starving and her bladder was about to pop. As she was finishing up the last

of the sutures, her pager went off.

Paula was again the head nurse. She stepped behind Riley and slid her hands

under her gown to take her pager off her pants.

"Do I even need to look to know who this is?" She teased. She leaned close to

Riley so no one could overhear. Being careful not to touch her, she whispered in

her ear. "So when're you going to tell me who this Sam with the incredibly sexy

voice is?"

Riley ground her teeth together. "See who it is and answer the damn page

Paula." Riley ground out as her pager shrilly beeped again.

Paula laughed not the least bit put off by Riley's response. Paula looked down at

the display. "Sorry Doc... It's the ER again."

"No not again!" Riley groaned.

She'd finished closing the incision and the patient was ready to go to the

recovery room. She quickly shucked her gloves and gown then grabbed the

pager out of Paula's hand. "Call and tell them I'll be right down. I have to make a

quick pit stop. Get this woman into the recovery room and I'll come back up and

write post-op orders on her as soon as I can. Page me if there's a problem."

Riley was out the door before Paula could respond.

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

Riley stumbled into her condo early Sunday morning. Denny's son was holding

his own and he'd come back to take over from Riley. He'd helped her clear out

the rest of the patients from a gang fight. After hearing what her week had been

like he'd told her to go home, telling her he'd cover the rest of Sunday and not to

come in until Noon Monday. Riley made him promise to call if there was a

problem and she'd come back in. She gratefully made her way home and

promptly fell into her bed fully clothed. She was asleep before her head hit the

pillow.

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

Riley rolled over with a groan. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand it

almost 10 am. Her bladder was screaming for relief and her empty stomach

wasn't far behind in its protests. She rolled out of bed to take care of her bladder

first. After grabbing a quick shower she felt almost human. She headed for the

kitchen to see what she could scrounge to eat. She hadn't had time to do any

shopping recently so she knew the cupboards were pretty bare. She started

opening cabinets wondering where the hell the cleaning lady put the coffee

maker this time. Riley had repeatedly told the woman to leave it on the counter

but every time Riley came back after she'd been there she'd put it away

somewhere else. Finally finding it under the counter she got a pot of much

needed coffee brewing. She managed to find some orange juice in the fridge but

not much else.

Leaning against the counter sipping her coffee she contemplated her options.

She could go grocery shopping. That idea was quickly squashed she had no

interest in that. She could go out to eat but the idea of eating alone in some

restaurant didn't appeal. Come on Riley, she chided herself, make a decision

already before you starve. Suddenly a third option came to her... Sam. I wonder if I could interest her in lunch somewhere. We never did get to eat the lunch she