Title: Sad Tidings Then Cheer
Fandom: ER
Word Count: around 1,000
Prompt: Alpha 26. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead
A/N: This is for delgaserasca's ficathon. Thanks (and love) goes out to Meish for being the worlds best beta ♥



She watches the two of them from the safety of the lounge; she can see them, but they can’t see her. She thinks that maybe this is how her life was meant to be, completely empty and watching the one person she wouldn’t mind spending every day and night with work so well with someone else.

They sneak around the Emergency Room from bed to bed and room to room, leaving little presents for the children who would be missing Santa’s visit. After making sure that every second-hand toy has made its way into a deserving child’s arms they wander back to the admit desk to observe their handiwork. If we can do this we can do anything, they think to themselves, vowing to change the world someday. Someday definitely isn’t tonight though, for they’re too tired. Neela sidles up to Abby and lays her head on the brunette’s shoulder.

Her mind wanders and it's then that Kerry realizes that she's been thinking about something else all together, somehow losing track of Abby (and Neela, but that isn't her main concern at the moment). The lounge feels dark and empty now, for she has just come to realize how foolish it is to be stalking her employees like this. Although Abby falls into a completely different category altogether, and somehow this makes Kerry feel a little less lonely.

"Kerry? What are you doing down here?" Abby asks, and Kerry realizes that she must have missed the brunette’s entrance. She watches Abby as she walks to her locker, the question obviously obligatory, for it seems as though she doesn’t really even want an answer that badly anyway. This is a good thing, because "I was just watching you through the lounge blinds" sounds somewhat juvenile.

Abby turns around, awaiting Kerry's answer as she slips into her coat. She cocks her head a little, confused as to why Kerry continues to face the opposite way, apparently fascinated by the liquid the hospital likes to pass off as coffee.

"Kerry?" she asks again, and Kerry quickly responds, whipping her head around to see what it is that Abby wants. Abby smiles at her eagerness and waits for an answer.

"Well?" Abby inquires, and her question is met with a shy muttering of simple phrases that don’t quite fit the particular situation. Without thinking Abby walks across the room and places her hands on both sides of Kerry's face. Kerry looks down, in what seems like an attempt to see what Abby wants, then looks up into her eyes.

"Abby?" a voice asks, and both Kerry and Abby turn towards the door to see who their visitor is. Neela stares back, raising an eyebrow then rolling her eyes as if to say "I don't want to know".

"Our plans still on for tonight?" Neela asks Abby, opening the fridge to survey its contents. After finding nothing edible, she looks up, awaiting an answer.

"Yeah, definitely," Abby replies reassuringly as she tucks a few strands of hair behind her ear. Neela leaves as quickly as she arrived, and once again they are left alone.

"You have plans for tonight?" Kerry asks, and Abby can't really figure out whether she's jealous or just curious. Her face is expressionless, to which Abby replies that her ‘plans’ consist of opening up a few presents and drinking some very strong eggnog. Kerry nods and says something about having to get home, as she walks around Abby to get to the door.

"Merry Christmas Kerry."

||

The living room is dead silent, and Kerry pulls her knees closer to her chest, reassuring herself that the house isn't really so quiet after all. But it is. The silence shouldn't bother her so much she thinks, Henry would normally be sleeping, his breathing barely audible on the baby monitor. But she knows that he's not here.

She tries so hard to be the perfect daughter-in-law and the only way she knows how to please her in-laws is to give them Henry. They love their grandson, they could live without the woman that calls herself his mother. Sandy is the only mother Henry has in their eyes, and Kerry thinks that maybe that's what kills her the most.

Kerry slowly gets up off of the couch, grabbing an almost empty glass of scotch on the way to the window. The weather seems unusually strange, for it’s raining on Christmas Eve. How ironic, she thinks, leaning against the wall as she continues to watch the people outside of her window. A few people were without umbrellas, some were sharing, some had their own, but they all seemed to share the same momentary goal; getting out of the rain.

The doorbell rings, and it's Abby.

||

Neela had laughed at the rain boots Abby had found a while back, calling them childish and ridiculous, but Abby likes them. There was something about them that made a stormy day just a little bit brighter and puddles a little more fun. Abby stares into the window of Kerry's apartment, trying to tell herself that she isn't home and that it would be much better if she just followed through with her previous plans. But the rain boots didn't think that was such a good idea and the next thing she knew, she was on her boss's porch, ringing the doorbell.

After about a minute Abby hears a lock turn and the door opens. Kerry stands in the doorway, her eyes red and her face paler than usual. She uses one hand to brace herself against the door and the other to hold her robe as tightly as possible.

Without thinking twice, Abby steps into the doorway and grasps both sides of Kerry's face, looking into her eyes. She supposes that she should ask what's wrong, maybe try to fix it, but it seems that they don't normally work that way. Actions speak louder than words she thinks, as she presses her lips against Kerry's. This was how they worked, these were the actions that reassured them more than anything in the world.

"That's what I was going to do earlier," Abby says as she pulls away and makes her way down the porch's steps. She's not positive, but Abby's pretty sure she smiled, and when Kerry was happy, it made her happy too.

"Maybe I didn't completely change the world tonight," Abby thought, stepping in all the puddles she could see, "but I think I might have made it a little bit happier."