Radclyffe - Turn Back Time

Pearce pushed her back. "You can sleep another hour or so. Do it.

You'll need it later." She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on her boots, then found her shirt.

Wynter stroked her back. "I want to walk you out."

"Stay." Pearce leaned down and kissed her. "See you soon, Doc."

"See you soon," Wynter whispered as Pearce disappeared. She listened to Pearce's footsteps in the hallway, and then as they faded as Pearce disappeared downstairs. It didn't feel right--she couldn't just let her walk away. She bolted from the bed and scrambled for her robe.

Barefoot, she ran from the room and down the stairs to the front door.

She pulled it open just as Pearce closed her car door and started the engine.

"Pearce!"

Pearce look back toward the house, frowned, and opened her door.

"What's wrong?"

Wynter came down the stairs, mindless of the cold.

"Jesus, Wynter," Pearce exclaimed. She left the engine running and hurried toward her. "It's freezing out here. Go back inside."

"Be careful." Wynter wrapped her arms around Pearce's neck and kissed her, hard. "Just be careful."

"Hey, I'm not the one running around half naked in the middle of February." Pearce put her arm around Wynter's waist and led her back upstairs. She stepped inside the foyer with Wynter, pulled her tightly to her, and buried her face in Wynter's hair. "I wouldn't go if I didn't have to."

"I know." Wynter stroked the back of her neck, kissed her throat, her jaw, her mouth. "I just..."

"I'm not going anywhere, babe," Pearce murmured. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Wynter nodded and reluctantly released her, knowing as she watched Pearce pull away that it wouldn't be soon enough. She missed her already.

CHAPTER THIRTY

An hour and a half later, Wynter slid a bowl of instant oatmeal into the microwave and set the timer. She checked the temperature of the bowl she had just heated and then placed it in front of Winston. "Use your spoon, honey."

Ronnie made impatient sounds and tried to get her hand into Winston's oatmeal. Winston ignored her.

"I think he's got the disposition of an anesthesiologist," Ken noted as he ambled into the kitchen, already in scrubs, as was Wynter. "He doesn't get bothered by people crowding his territory."

"He is pretty unflappable," Wynter agreed as she gave Ronnie her own portion of oatmeal. She looked at Ken. "Want some?"

"Sure. I've got a little time. Thanks."

"Mmm," Wynter replied absently.

"Pearce gone?"

Coloring, Wynter looked over her shoulder at him. "How did you know?"

"I kind of guessed when I saw the T-shirt."

"Oh yes," Wynter said, recalling that she'd picked it up off the hall floor after her hasty flight downstairs had knocked it off the doorknob.

"Not too subtle."

Ken laughed. "I kind of felt like I was living in the frat house again."

"Nice."

"I heard her old man farmed her out. What's going on with that?"

Wynter shook her head. "I'm not sure. I don't think it really has anything to do with her."

"It still stinks."

"Yes." She passed Ken his oatmeal and then hastily ate her own.

After she ran two dish towels under the warm water, she passed one to him. "You get yours, I'll get mine." As they cleaned up their respective children, she asked, "Is Mina awake?"

"Yep. She's just moving a little slow."

"Is Chloe coming over today? I'm not sure Mina is up to watching all of these kids any longer."

Ken nodded. "Chloe's going to be spending part of the day here until the baby's born, and then for a week after. She'll help keep things under control." He hefted Winston.

"I want to pay a little extra, then," Wynter said, lifting Ronnie into her arms.

"No need," Ken said as they carried the kids upstairs.

"I want to anyway," she said firmly.

Mina met them in the hallway. "Have the little darlings been fed?"

"All taken care of," Wynter pronounced. "I left the fixings out for Janie."

"Park them in there, then," Mina said, indicating the playroom.

Then she looked at Ken. "Janie's still asleep. Don't wake her."

"I won't." He kissed Mina's cheek and then headed toward his daughter's room. "I just wanna see her before I go."

"How was your night?" Mina asked suggestively as she joined Wynter in the playroom and settled into the easy chair with a sigh.

"Too short," Wynter said brusquely as she dragged out Ronnie and Winston's favorite toys.

"Get any sleep?"

"Some."

"Are you all right?"

Wynter settled a hip on the arm of Mina's chair. "More or less. I miss her already, and it feels like we're constantly stealing time to be together. But it was..." She smiled. "Wonderful."

"Mmm. I'm looking forward to this story."

Wynter slid an arm around Mina's shoulder and squeezed. "Well, you're going to wait for a long time. I don't kiss and tell."

"Since when? I knew every little detail about you and Dave."

"You did not," Wynter protested. "And even so, this is different."

Mina gave her a long, serious look. "It is, isn't it?"

Wynter nodded.

"Does she feel the same way?"

Again, Wynter nodded.

"Then that's just fine." Mina patted Wynter's knee. "But I still want details."

Laughing, Wynter got up, kissed Ronnie and Winston, and started for the door. "Maybe just a few. When I have time."

"Tease," Mina called after her.

Wynter met Ken in the hall. He looked toward the playroom with a perplexed expression. "Is she talking to me?"

"No. Me," Wynter said.

"Huh. Want a ride to work?"

"I'd love one. I'll wait for you downstairs." She listened to Ken and Mina laughing together as she started down the stairs and allowed herself one brief instant of imagining what it would be like if she and Pearce shared the kind of life that her friends had. Then she chased the thought away. It wasn't that she didn't trust her feelings. She did. She trusted Pearce's too. But she didn't trust much of anything else. She'd seen too much of life's fickle cruelty to plan too far ahead.

v "See you later," Wynter called to Ken as she headed for the women's locker room. She hung her parka in her locker, grabbed her lab coat, and pulled it on as she took the stairs down to the ground floor.

She needed another cup of coffee to really get her brain working. She was tired, but it had been worth it. Smiling to herself, she replayed the night with Pearce. Her blood ran hot as she thought about making love to her, the way it had felt to make Pearce's body writhe with pleasure.

"Jesus," she breathed as the heavy ache of desire descended. "I can't think about that now."

Still smiling, she checked her watch. Pearce had been gone a little over two hours. She should be almost there by now. Wynter got a large cup of coffee and a bagel, paid, and started toward her usual table. She frowned when she saw that it was empty. She checked her watch again.

She was right on time. Glancing around the cafeteria, she realized that none of the surgery residents were there for sign-out rounds. No one had been in the locker room, either. It was Saturday, which meant that only a handful of the residents were on call, but someone should have been in the cafeteria. Since there was no point in sitting around waiting, she started back upstairs. Just as she reached the main corridor, she saw Bruce jogging toward her.

"What's going on?" Wynter asked. "Where is everyone?"

"Downstairs in the ER," he huffed. "Pearce is there."

"She's back?" Wynter said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.

Bruce looked at her curiously. "They medevaced her in about fifteen minutes ago. Something about a carjacking..."

Wynter stared at him, hearing the words but unable to decipher them. Her head filled with a roaring sound and the coffee cup dropped from her hand. Bruce jumped back with a surprised yelp.