The sky had turned a deep red when Kate stepped out into the hallway after finishing her last case of the day, a complicated cardiac repair. She didn't have the opportunity to admire the color for long, because an angry-looking Rose immediately stepped in front of her and blocked the view.

"What was that? Now you're sending lackeys to mislead me about your case times?" Rose gestured wildly as she spoke.

Kate squirmed under Rose's glare. The way Mari had presented her plan had given her confidence that it would work out at least two or three times. It clearly wasn't to be.

"Just when I was headed to your case some woman walked up and told me the surgery had been postponed in favor of an emergency. I suppose part of the blame falls on me for believing her, but I really expected better of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kate lied.

Rose's pointed glare bore into her. "I may not have any solid proof this time, but know that I'm on to you." She turned on her heel and walked away at a brisk pace.

***

The sun had gone down by the time Kate and Mari gathered in the former's office. Mari sat cross-legged on the floor while Kate was slumped listlessly on her chair. Kate's eyes traced the letters of a hand hygiene poster on the wall. Management had stuck them all over some three months ago in an attempt to appear productive.

"So much for your plan. She immediately went and confronted me with her suspicions."

"Hey, at least she bought into it, meaning lover boy also must have." Mari pouted. "And what does it matter if she doesn't trust you? There are plenty of others who will, and the point of all this is to mislead your admirer, isn't it?"

Kate felt her neck grow hot. Whenever she talked about her issues to Mari she seemed to forget about her original cover story. Better to get back on track before Mari figured out the whole thing.

"Yes, sorry. I guess I just ended up focused on her because of the way she chewed me out. That glare really bores into you." She leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees. "Any ideas for our next course of action?"

"Depends on where he tries to track you down. If he goes after you in the cafeteria you could burp really loud and generally try to make yourself unattractive. If anyone else notices you just tell them it was on a dare." Mari shrugged. "Should be simple enough, right?"

Indeed. It was a plan that would be hard to mess up and actually presented a certain chance of success. If her actual intent had been to scare off an admirer. She squirmed on her chair. Directly asking Mari to do something about the researcher would be too obvious.

"My problem isn't getting away from him in the cafeteria. I could just tell him I've got to get ready for a case and hurry off. Most of the time it wouldn't even be a lie. But if he gets the go-ahead to observe one of my surgeries I'm going to be trapped in a room with him for hours."

Mari tilted her head. "And how did misleading the researcher tie into that?"

"I figured that she might bring it up in casual conversation with the director or her son, which might give him the idea to chase after me in the operating room." Whew. Kate exhaled deeply. She had somehow managed to make that sound sensible.

"Okay, okay, I get it. So we want her away from the operating room so she doesn't go boasting about your skills to your prince and makes him want to see it for himself. Except, I can't see how that would help. You're aware that your magic touch is regularly discussed all over the hospital, right?"

Kate twined her fingers. "That's," she trailed off trying to find an objection. "It's not like anyone pays much attention to it. That's just regular hospital gossip. It would be different if someone like that researcher began talking about it."

Mari shrugged. "Oh, you'd be surprised. But I suppose I'll go with that since you insist. I wonder if we could manipulate the case schedule somehow." She put a finger to her lips as her face scrunched up into a complicated expression.

"Let's not go with that. It's unprofessional. Even potentially dangerous." Kate didn't like the notion of messing with schedules that involved several others. At best it would confuse the involved parties, more likely it would earn Mari and herself a stern talk from the administration. That could quickly lead to trouble further down the road.

"Sorry. I tend to get a little carried away when it comes to these things." Mari laughed sheepishly. "Then someone comes along and points out how bad it sounds, and I can't deny it."

"Maybe put some thought into the consequences of your ideas before you carry them out." Of course it was easy to get carried away sometimes, but there were things one just didn't do. Mari sometimes seemed to lack a component of common sense in that area. "You'd make a good TV writer. Whenever I'm watching a movie everyone seems to leap before they think."

That remark earned Kate an elbow to the side.

"Hey, be nice. It's not like I've ever killed someone with my ideas."

"Messing with the operating room schedules might end in that if you were unlucky," Kate pointed out.

Mari pouted. "Now you're just being unfair. All the checks we do before starting surgery would clear up any misconceptions."

"I'm not so sure about-"

"Let's just get back on topic, okay?" Mari snapped, her pitch higher than usual.

Kate nervously held her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, okay. Just calm down."

She didn't understand what had Mari so riled up. Mari had a bit of a temper, but there usually was a sensible reason behind her anger. That was why the current outburst had caught her off guard. Mari still glared at her for a while without saying anything, but then her expression returned to normal.

"I guess you could try using your charms at unexpected times," she finally said.

"Use my charm? Isn't that going to have the opposite effect? The point is to get him off me, not flirt and end up together." She for sure couldn't picture how making lovey dovey eyes at the inspector was going to help her in any way. Hell, they had already started the flirting part and would probably have kept it up if not for the whole observation deal.

Mari leaned forward and wagged a finger at Kate. "No, you misunderstand. The whole point is to do something drastic that will catch them off-guard and use the moment of surprise to strike or flee." She straightened her posture and crossed her arms over her chest. "For instance, back when Bron and I were still discussing the divorce I'd avoid him at home so he'd try to corner me at the hospital instead. One time he was overly persistent I grabbed his butt and shouted very loudly about what a fine ass he had. And," she paused for dramatic impact and grinned. "He was stunned by the surprise and I slipped away masterfully."

Kate wasn't feeling particularly impressed by the story. "But he's still chasing you. Just over different matters."

"Well of course." Mari rolled her eyes, as if it all should be obvious to Kate. "It's just a stop-gap measure, and if I did it now I'd just give him the wrong idea about our relationship. But it's not like you work OR with the director's son. Slip away enough times and he's sure to lose interest."

"That sounds incredibly embarrassing. But you have a point." The researcher wasn't going to stick around forever, and Kate supposed she could endure some notoriety for the sake of guarding the secret of her magical abilities. Still, things could go either way with that approach. Sure, she had opted to avoid gossip earlier, but the way things were going it increasingly looked like a lesser evil.

The only thing she felt sure of at this point was that whatever the outcome was, it would be interesting.