Chapter 1

Beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ... beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep'.

Lisa reached over and after just a seconds hesitation, turned the alarm clock off, instead of hitting the snooze button. The extra nine minutes just wouldn't be worth the rush later. Jeff and the dogs still snored, not even fazed by that annoying alarm going off at the ungodly hour of 5 AM.

Pulling the covers back, the cold air hits her with it's instant wake up effect. The master bath is only six steps from her side of the bed. Groping in the dark, she closes the door before turning on the light. Jeff was taking the day off to get some projects done around the house today. In exchange for letting him sleep in, taking the dogs our, getting the food and water dishes filled, he was going to finish two things she wanted done and he was going to make dinner tonight. It was a fair trade. Usually, she got up later so he would take care of the dogs. And she did most of the cooking. It would be nice to come home to a hot meal today.

Damn brights lights!

'Why can't it be light out when I have to get up? Because I'm a friggin' idiot for picking up an extra shift that starts before dawn, that's why!'

Hump day.

'I wish ... can't remember the last time we had mid-week sex.'

Lisa turned on the shower and brushed her teeth while it warmed up. The hot water warming the bathroom to a more tolerable temperature. She thought about the last time they had any sex. Oh, my God, it's been at least two weeks - two and a half since it was on the weekend. The sex was awesome as always. Jeff was a caring, passionate, talented lover. He grumbled that they should do it more often, but so did she.

Their son was grown now - married last June and expecting their first grandchild next June. They were going to be grandparents and that made both of them feel so OLD. But they weren't - at forty-five and forty-six, they were still young, fit, healthy. It was weird. They had more time, more money and were too tired to make the effort to do the things that they had promised each other 'when the house was theirs again'. Top of that list was sex. Maybe tonight, maybe for desert!

It was only when she was done with everything else that she got the dogs to go outside. Then she saw the snow. At least six inches of white stuff.

Shit.

'Now I'll probably be late.'

Opening the door, the dogs rushed to get out, the youngest rolling and biting at the snow, ready for playtime. The two older dogs did their business and were ready to get back into the warm house. She let them in and hit the automatic car starter - the BEST Christmas present she had ever gotten - and then threw the ball for the playful mutt they had adopted a year ago.

'A few minutes to let the car warm up won't kill me and the puppy needs the exercise.'

Lisa glanced at her watch, five minutes and she would have to get going. The big mutt was running and rolling and playing as if it was a balmy day on the beach instead of dark, freezing cold and windy. Whistling to the dog, she held the door open and a snow covered blur ran past her, into the house and over the other two waiting for their cookies.

'Stupid dog - can't watch where she's going.'

After handing out cookies, grabbing her purse, the tools of her trade (stethoscope, penlight and half a dozen clicker pens), she went to her now warm car. Backing out of the driveway she tried to get her mind off sex and into 'work mode'. The drive was twenty-five minutes in good weather, forty in bad. Hopefully the snow plows had cleared the roads. She double checked that she had her cell, 'just in case', and put it on the dash. Tuning the radio to an oldies station, she drove out into the dark, singing "California Dreamin'" with the Mamas and Papas.

She had made it to work with six minutes to spare. Coffee in hand, she had sat through the usual morning whining from the night shift, got report on her two patients in the CCU, checked orders and meds, answered inane questions from the residents about patients she hadn't even seen yet, and put her day in order. Both of her patients were very ill and would take all her skills. It was going to be a long twelve hours.