I don't own any of the ER characters, Im not sure who does but it definately isn't me. Carter was assigned a new medical student after Lucy left County General (Lucy didn't die,she left to work at a hospital in San Franscico) Her name is Linda and she has been at County General for about a year now. She has a promising career in medicine. This story is about the ER in general and because Linda (it is also my name!) is my character, she will be featured alot. Im new at this fanfic thing, so please be gentle. Here goes:

It was a freezing cold, February morning in Chicago. Snow had started falling at 5.30am and the weather was miserable outside.

Meanwhile, in the ER, the heating system wasn't working properly and everyone had been freezing their butts off for the last half hour. Kerry was in an good mood, considering it was a Monday morning and this was her second double in the last week. The morning had been very quiet, there was nobody waiting to be seen and there hadn't even been any homeless people come in with frostbite.

Linda, the medical student, walked through the front doors of the ER, ten minutes early. Kerry was standing at the admit desk, talking to Randi about the new code system for the board. Randi was trying her best to look interested, when clearly, all she wanted to do was paint her nails. Kerry noticed that Linda was very conscientious about her work and she always complimented her on this. She also noticed that out of all the medical students, residents and interns, Linda was the first to arrive and the last to leave.

"Good morning Doctor Weaver" said Linda cheerfully. It didn't matter how good or bad Linda felt, she was always friendly and smiling. She said hello to Randi aswell, who threw her a quick smile. Randi then opened a bottle of nail polish and started painting her nails.

"Good morning Linda" Kerry replied, noting that the girl looked a bit pale.

"Are we quiet?" Linda asked, grabbing a patient's chart from the pile on the admit desk.

"We are now and Doctor Carter has already seen to that patient" said Kerry, pointing to the chart in Linda's hand.

"Oh, okay. I will just grab another one then" she said, taking the next chart from the pile.

"That patient can wait. Linda do you feel okay?" asked Kerry, taking the chart out of her hand.

Linda just looked at Kerry, hoping she hadn't noticed how bad she looked. Obviously, she had.

"Im okay" Linda lied, because she didn't feel well at all. She hated being sick and she hated it when people noticed.

"You look a little pale. You know, if you're not feeling well, you could lay down in curtain 2" said Kerry.

Linda ignored this, not wanting to be sick today. She was so interested in her medical training that she didn't want to miss anything. Last week, she observed Carter intubating a patient and she wanted to do one by herself. If she was sick today, and layed down in the lounge, she might miss out on other amazing procedures.

Carter came out of the ICU, after visiting the patient he had intubated last week, with Linda observing. His patient had end stage liver cancer and was not expected to last more than 24 hours. The tragedy of it all was that he was only 32 years old; He had three very young children and a loving wife. Carter hated this part of the job and it was something he would never get used to.

About an hour later:

Lydia, Yosh, Haleh, Abby, Connie and Chuni were at the admit desk discussing their favorite restaurants. Randi was chewing on her gum, also involved in the conversation. Linda staggered out of curtain 3 after seeing seven patients in a row. She looked exhausted and very pale. She walked over to the admit desk, grabbed the chair next to Randi's and sat down.

"Hey, has anyone seen Carter?" she asked, her breathing heavy and slow. "I think he went up to the ICU. Hey girl, you don't look so good" said Haleh.

"Yeah, Linda are you feeling okay?" asked Randi, remembering that she didn't look well earlier either.

"Im fine. I need Carter to sign off on my patients" Linda said, thinking it probably would be a good idea to admit to not feeling the best. She was about to answer when the phone rang. Randi picked it up before the end of the first ring.

"Hello, ER" she said, in her usual, deadpan voice.

At the same time, Mark and Elizabeth came over to the admit desk.

Mark grabbed a patient's chart.

"Mr Beckingham needs a surgical consult. On examination I detected a hiatus hernia" he explained, Elizabeth nodding. Mark walked over to the board to read it but found that someone had made up new codes for everything.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" he yelled, staring at the board in confusion.

"And why is it so cold down here?" he asked, shivering.

"I saw Kerry changing the codes around before Doctor Greene" Linda said, closing her eyes.

"I don't feel too good" Linda said, finally admitting that she was indeed a sick girl.

As she said this, the radio beeped. Chuni answered it and the paramedic on the other end was screaming about a multiple victims trauma, ETA five minutes. Everyone at the admit desk, except Abby and Randi, disappeared in all directions. Carter, who had just come down from the ICU, saw what was going on and ran outside to meet the ambulance. He didn't even see Linda slumped over in the chair, with her head on the desk.

Half an hour or so later:

"Linda?" Kerry said, patting her softly on the cheek. Kerry had found her with her head on the desk, slumped over in the chair in an awkward position.

"Linda, are you okay?" Kerry asked, with alot of concern in her voice.

"No, I feel really bad. I took my jumper off because I was hot" she said, looking at how worried Kerry was.

"You were hot?" she asked, feeling Linda's forehead.

"You're burning up. Im going to check you out in curtain 3" said Kerry, hinting to the medical student to get up.

"But Kerry Im okay really" Linda said, getting up and nearly falling over with dizziness.

Luckily Kerry caught her before she hit the ground and yelled out for someone to grab a gurney - and quick!!

Dave Malucci was in the lounge, eating a bowl of captain crunch. The only milk he could find was a carton with 'Weaver' marked clearly on the side. He knew his life wouldn't be worth living if he used some but the chief was up in a meeting for the next three hours and she would never know - well he thought she was in a meeting but it had been cancelled and she WAS in the ER! Cater and Carol came into the lounge.

"Hey Malucci, Weaver said if you even think about touching her carton of milk, she will make you clean out the fridge for a month" said Carter, with a grin on his face. "Yeah, yeah she's in a meeting for the next three hours" as Dave was saying this, Kerry opened the door to the lounge.

"No she's not!!" said Carol, qucikly scooting out the door before she got involved in any arguments.

"Carter, can I see you a second?" she asked, still worried about Linda.

Carter walked out of the lounge and closed the door.

"What is it Doctor Weaver?" Carter asked, noticing how worried she was.

"Your student is sick, I have her in curtain 3" Weaver explained.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Carter.

"Well Im not sure. Her BP is low 90 over 50, the glands on her neck are swollen and she has a rash on her neck and chest" explained Kerry.

"It's probably a virus. I will go and say hello" said Carter.

Okay, thats all I have for now! I hope it didn't bore you too much!

-- (fanfic@ertvonline.net), January 15, 2001