Title:

Author: Ingrid aka 'Cartercanhaveyou'

E-mail:

Rating: PG-13

Description: Angstridden Carby, isn't that what you all want?!

Spoilers: Set straight after season 10, so all of season 10 WILL be discussed, but no spoilers from season 11 will be unspoiled, I promise. This is just a take on where things could have gone.

Summary: Kem's gone, Carters just trying to pick up the pieces of his life and start over from where he left off. Starts where season 10 left off.

Disclaimer: None of the characters or settings are my own, I just like to borrow them and play around with their lives now and then. Also the title and lyrics used are borrowed, see the author's notes for details.

Author's Note: Hello, I hope you enjoy this, I basically had two different pathways when writing 'This Years Love' in this one, he doesn't bump into Abby at the airport, he heads straight home form the airport. I think I prefer this one in some ways, its far more angsty though, Carter is really hurting right now. To be honest 'This Years Love' is finished, as I think the ending of the last chapter pretty much wrapped up, and I'm not sure where it could go, that I'd really want to write. Anyway I'll stop babbling and let you read on... any thoughts/feelings, review please, I love constructive criticism as much as compliments, I only want to improve. Feel free to email me a review, or whatever. I just hope it doesn't suck too much :-p

What now?

He pushed the door shut behind him, pulling out the key, he let it fall to the floor along with his shoulder bag. It had been a long flight and he was exhausted. He didn't turn on any lights, it was late, he was tired, and the harsh lighting from the bulbs would just hurt his eyes. I meant to get lampshades, he thought. But I was too preoccupied with life. He went upstairs. Walked into the first room he came to and opened the windows again, breathing in the cool air, he felt suffocated. He sat down on the floor, and looked around, hugging his knees to him, his eyes adjusting to the light. He knew where he was, he saw the walls covered in bright pictures of animals, the cot still smelling of new paint, the mobile swinging in the breeze. He shut his eyes, before they noticed anything else. The traffic was pretty bad down town, he could hear it from here, a few blocks away. He could hear ambulance sirens, maybe there had been an accident. He couldn't take listening to that. He stood up and shut the windows. His other hand brushing something onto the floor, he heard a gentle snap. He turned the dimmer switch just enough, so he could see what had fallen. It was an ornament. Of a tiger, Kem had bought it, for the nursery. Its back leg had snapped off in the fall. It had been delicate, and now it was broken, just after one fall, it hadn't been very strong in the first place, he mused, or perhaps he had been too careless. He put it back on the window ledge, and walked out of the room. Shutting the door behind him. He went down the stairs, and bent down, fumbling for his keys. He opened the front door, hauled his shoulder bag over his left shoulder, and walked out the house. He didn't recall having opened any windows, let alone think of shutting them before leaving. It didn't matter anyway, nothing in there meant anything to him, and he would not go back there. He would call his estate agent tomorrow, but he could not stay there tonight. He walked along the street and to the nearest El station.