Disclaimer: any resemblance these characters bear to anyone else, either in Fiction or Reality, is purely coincidental.

Title: More Than a Lifetime

Author: Ruth Hyler

Rated: R

Parts: 1/?

Pairing: Leslie/

Archive: Sure

Content Warning: nothing to worry about, yet...

Author's Notes:

More Than A Lifetime

by Ruth Hyler

Leslie slipped into her apartment. The sounds of the New York traffic below were barely a whisper here. The view was fantastic, but she had no stomach for it tonight. Tonight she was humiliated, and alone… two things Leslie Marie Brackett wasn't used to. Loneliness was a normal, constant companion. She was never good at relationships… But to be humiliated by a predatory, pompous…. She closed the door behind her, and dropped her bag onto the couch. Her coat soon followed as she spotted her answering machine. It was a recent gift. She smiled slightly, from the brother she barely knew. She still remembered the card, the remark about never being home. She looked around the nearly Spartan apartment, and wondered what there was supposed to be to come home to, as she pushed the switch to stop the blinking light and let her hear whoever was calling her.

"Les…" her heart almost stopped at the sound of the voice she thought she'd never hear again. "It's Kel…I don't know… I just… well, I just wanted to talk… wondered if anything was wrong…" at the end of the message, he left his number. The private one that Leslie knew was his home.

Leslie looked at the machine as her heart dropped into the puddle at her feet… Maybe… after all, if calling was a mistake, there was all those miles between them… Leslie took a deep breath, and picked up the phone…

Kelly Brackett watched as the runway for the New York airport raced beneath the landing gear of his plane. He didn't know his way around here, had not spent a lot of time in New York City before… he hoped he could get to where Les was supposed to be working. If not, he did have her address written down, he was sure some cab driver could get him where he needed to go.

He disembarked from the plane, his change of clothes in his briefcase. He couldn't stay long, and Les had told him he didn't need to worry about that anyway… IF she hadn't sounded so wounded already, he might've taken offense. But Dix was right. He was only at Rampart long enough this morning to make sure the friend he'd called last night would really be covering his patients, and to leave some last minute instructions with Dixie…

"Why can't I resist telling you everything," he said with a sad smile as he watched her blue eyes.

"Well, that's because I have you under a spell…" she answered with a wry smile before her gaze deepened. "I hope everything will be okay," she added as he picked up his briefcase, and the notes for that meeting he had next week with the Paramedic Budget committee.

"Me too, Dix," he said with a sigh before he breezed from his office to the cab that was waiting…. That was this morning, a couple of hours ago as he stepped from the plane and onto the tunnel that led to the welcome gate…

Kelly was headed toward the front of the airport where he knew he could catch a cab, when he heard a familiar voice call him. He turned to see a slender, brunette woman waving at him. He started toward her in surprise. "I thought I was going to meet you where you're working nowadays…" he said in surprise as she met him partway. He frowned at the look on her face.

For just an instant, their father's words about absolute failure echoed in her mind before she managed to gain control of herself once more. She shrugged, "Thought I'd meet your plane, instead," she said, almost too sensibly as he slipped his arm around her.

They were seated almost as soon as they entered the restaurant. The maitre'd signaled to a waiter and he hurried over to see what they would want. Kelly glanced around before he looked over the menu, it was like every other small Italian restaurant he'd ever seen on tv.. He wondered absently if it was also family owned as he scanned the menu for something to his liking. His stomach rumbled a little. In California, it was lunch time. Here, it was the middle of the afternoon… The smells from the kitchen were wonderful and he glanced up as he ordered to see Leslie with her arms crossed over her menu as she watched him quietly. He was confused, and he knew it showed. "Aren't you going to order?" He asked as he slowly handed his menu to the waiter.

Leslie smiled a little as she lifted her arm so the waiter could take her menu. "They know what I like…" she said simply as the waiter brought back some coffee mugs and some breadsticks. Kelly was surprised, they looked homemade. He stirred his coffee as Leslie took a breadstick and broke a piece off.

Lunch had consisted of a wonderfully tasty Italian meal, small talk, and good coffee.

"Okay…" Kel said as he stirred his coffee. He watched Leslie's reaction as she studied her plate, and ran her finger lightly around the edge of her cup when the waiter came for the plate. "Give. What's up with the day off already?" he stirred his coffee, adding the cream the waiter brought to their table.

"I got my walking papers this morning…" she said quietly, so softly he barely heard what she said, and then he couldn't believe it. She waited for the 'absolute failure' speech but it didn't come.

Instead, Kel slapped his napkin in his lap. "What in he-." He glanced around, there was no one sitting close to them, "What for?" he rephrased what he was going to ask.

"It came down from the Board… there was nothing my boss could do." She said simply. She didn't want to talk about it, certainly not in so public a place.

"Now, why didn't you tell me it had gone that far?" Kelly asked, briefly forgetting it had been 3 years since the last time they saw each other.

"I just found out today… and… I.. well…" Leslie was reluctant to tell him that she didn't think he'd actually come all the way to New York.

The anger faded in him as he realized she probably didn't think he would come. They barely knew each other… Brother and sister, the youngest kids in their family, and they barely knew each other… He picked up the check as she reached for it. "I'll take it," he said quietly as he checked his wallet. He put some money on the small tray and took Leslie's hand as she stood away from the table. "Come on, we have some talking to do…" he was only planning to be here one day, and he realized that was hardly enough time to cover the years that were really between them.

PART TWO

When they landed at the LA airport, Kelly grabbed Leslie's suitcases from the luggage pick up and waited for her to join him. He'd spent two extra days in New York than he'd planned, but it was worth it. He and Les had gotten to know each other a little better. It still wasn't perfect, but at least she agreed to come to LA with him. That was more than he'd hoped for when he left for New York. He was glad Les had been laid off at the hospital. If he had seen that guy, after all Les had told him, he'd have done more to the guy than just deck him. Being that manipulative, and hiding behind his wife's albeit powerful skirts if the harassment didn't work out to his own satisfaction was hardly what Kelly Brackett would call a productive member of the medical staff of that hospital.

Kel had done more than mutter about it while they were in New York, but there was just too much to get done to go after some idiot who happened to be married to a member of the Board of Directors for that hospital Leslie had been working at. Now that they were in LA once more, as the cab drove through the familiar streets toward Rampart, considering what Leslie had told him, he knew the guy was just crazy enough to completely ruin Leslie's career, for daring to question him or oppose him. Bullies didn't always pay attention to distance when it came to trouncing their victims…

He remembered the kids in the neighborhood when Leslie was little, the teasing, the joking… "A stack of books with legs," because Leslie took study to heart after their mother died. She was as much a study-holic as any adult would have been a workaholic, in those circumstances. He had even gotten into it with a couple of older brothers of the kids doing the worst of the teasing, the joking… who were mouthing off about her. He didn't think Leslie remembered, until they got to talking about the stuff that had been going on since she called him. He had to admire her bravery. For all she knew, he could've been making that call just to keep him on her mind. Not to really, genuinely offer the help he'd discovered she needed. In those two days, he'd gotten more done than he thought he would. He contacted her boss who was more than willing to supply letters of reference, and also copies of her file, and everything he'd been given when Leslie Brackett applied there for work as a general practitioner with the Family Clinic at the hospital. It had been delivered the night before they left. Messenger'd to him specially.

Les had gone out to the restaurant on the corner to pick up some take out. Kelly read her records, impressed with what he read.

Les was going to stay with him for a few days or more, her stuff was on it's way from New York. There wasn't much. Just what was necessary… maybe a few things that weren't… The answering machine was still wearing the ribbon he'd put on it himself.

He loaded Leslie's stuff into the trunk of his car at the hospital before he checked in with Dix… He took Leslie's arm, what had happened in New York was traumatic enough. He didn't want her to think he didn't want her to meet his friends. That would give credence to what that slime had threatened her with.

Like he'd told Leslie as he bought the other ticket, it was time to start a new life, and begin a new way of looking at things…

He didn't think he'd tell Dad about her coming back right away, though. The family was never really close after mom died, when Leslie was only 7. He was only 12, but he and their father had gotten a little closer over the years since he'd graduated from Medical school, and when their father was in Rampart hospital last year. But Leslie, for all her early independence since their mother died had never gotten along with their father who didn't know how to cope with two young children who needed him as much as he needed to work 2 jobs while they were still young.

He didn't think their father ever forgave Julie for getting married at 19 and moving to Minnesota with her husband who was in the Army at the time. Kelly was 16 then, but he still remembered the last donnybrook between his sister and their father. Nowadays, they received a form letter inside of a Christmas card every year. Julie was happy with her life, and completely tied up in her family there. Kelly was happy for her. But he sometimes wished they could hear from her a little more often… Julie was the oldest child of Grace and Calvin Brackett.

She had five children of her own, and it wasn't until recently that Kelly had ever heard his dad regret his sister's move to Minnesota. Though Kel encouraged him to go for a visit, he declined. This year, though, if their father brought it up one more time, Kelly planned on not only buying the ticket himself, but putting him on the plane himself, too.

"Kel!!" Dixie greeted him warmly as he entered Rampart Emergency. She stepped toward him with a warm smile.

Kelly felt Leslie take an inadvertent step back and wound his fingers through hers, firmly as he greeted Dixie. Leslie always had been shy of new people. He would have thought that, considering the work she did, she'd be over that by now. "Hi, Dix… anything new while I was gone?" He asked as he waited for her to reach them. He wasn't about to shout Leslie's name through the momentarily quiet hospital corridor that led to his office.

"Only that Joe's been looking for you. He's asked about every 10 minutes when you were going to show up." Dixie smiled, with a cheerful wink, as she got level with them. She recognized uneasiness with a practiced eye.

"Dixie, this is my baby sister," Kel said warmly, a hint of teasing to his voice. He held her left hand firmly. He was proud of the way she was handling all of this so far. LA had changed a great deal in over the years. Les hadn't called LA home since she was 16, and a prodigy who graduated early from high school. "… Leslie Marie Brackett….Les, this is Dixie McCall…"

Leslie shook Dixie's hand warmly, with a warm smile that just "hinted" at timidity beneath it. "Hello," she said just as warmly as that side of her that allowed her to walk through the difficult situations suddenly kicked in. "Baby sister, indeed," she threw back at Kelly. "Now, to Julie Anne, I'm a baby sister, just like you're the little brother--." Les teased warmly.

He shrugged at Dixie with a delighted smile, not the least disturbed by his sister's warm choice of words. "Well, let's see. There's just the three of us, right? Me, you and Julie…" Kel pretended to count on his fingers… "That's three, isn't it?"

"It used to be," Leslie said.

"And you're the youngest…by how many years was that?" He grinned at his joke.

"Five years. Is he always this subtle?" She asked Dixie, as she indicated Kelly with a nod. Kelly had done nothing but talk about Dixie while they were in New York, that and the good old days that Leslie didn't remember as being quite as good as Kel had painted them.

"I don't remember. You'd have to ask Joe Early on that one," Dixie quipped back at him.

"Joe Early?" Leslie asked in amazed surprise.

"Yeah, wellll...." Kel said, drawing the word out a little. "About that…" He threw Dixie a dirty look as she chuckled at him.

"Is there something you should be telling me, Older Brother?"

Joe Early spotted them and headed over. "Kel! Where've you been?" Joe greeted him pleasantly. He glanced at Leslie warmly, questioningly.

"Leslie, this is one of my oldest friends. Joe Early, my little sister, Leslie Marie Brackett."

"Leslie Brackett," she replied good-naturedly as Joe took her hand in his welcomingly. Kel squoze her hand warmly, slightly. He was proud how his little sister interacted with his friends. The last time they'd seen each other, their uncle had died. That was over 3 years ago. She had stayed with their aunt Sheila for those two weeks of being needed.

"Kel?" Joe wanted to ask him a question about a patient he was taking care of in Treatment room 1. Kel had glanced back at Leslie before he asked Joe to go ahead, he glanced at Leslie, and confied to Joe she was a practitioner in New York, with a Family Clinic there.

"Oh yeah? Started a family tradition, huh," he smiled agreeably before he got into discussing what was wrong with the patient he was treating now.

"Something like that," Kel said, with a warm backward glance at Leslie before he dropped her hand and turned back to Joe and his patient problem.

Leslie looked a little lost and Dixie smiled, "How about a cup of coffee?" she offered with genuine warmth.

"Sure," Leslie smiled wryly, "I've seen that look before. He could be busy for hours…"

"Les," Kelly turned toward his sister. "Where ya going?" he asked, puzzled.

"For some coffee," Dixie answered.

"Well, take a look at this first," Kel responded as he turned back to what test results Joe had shown him. When Leslie stepped up beside him to look at the paperwork, she brushed against his side, and Kelly moved his arm to rest across her shoulders companionably. Dixie sighed, she loved to see the warmer, caring side of Kelly get some application other than those private times she and Kel spent away from the hospital together.

Kelly checked his watch, he was surprised it was hours later than it was when he'd just "stopped by to check in with Dixie"… He'd only meant to stay for a few minutes, he and Les hadn't even had breakfast yet. It was already close to two thirty in the afternoon. And three hours later than Leslie was used to. He sighed and headed for the cafeteria. He thought he'd seen Dixie headed that way with Leslie a while back.

"I didn't mean for you to think I was going to starve you to death," Kel said apologetically. He didn't glance away from the road.

"I didn't think you were, Kel," Leslie told him as the streets of LA sped by them. "Nice car, though."

He smiled a little, their first stop was to his place. To stow Leslie's stuff, and to check his own answering machine. Marvelous little invention, now that they had that small tape cassette instead of those bulky reel-to-reel things. That was how he got the idea to send Leslie one. Then to a nice restaurant in his neighborhood that he and Dixie had discovered a few weeks back. As much homestyle as the one Les had taken him to in New York. This one was more Southwestern than Italian, though he didn't think Les would mind.

PART THREE SOON