Dr. Carter And Miss Hyde
Summary: You know Jeckle and Hyde? Just a little something that happens when Carter's past comes back to haunt him. Literally. And when he starts acting strangely, Abby makes it her business to find out why.
Disclaimer: Own no characters!
WARNING: Do not read if you are easily confused!
-------------------------------------------------------------
**Hello, Dr. Carter**
Lucy, you're here!
**Yes, I'm here. You've been looking for me, haven't you?**
It's been so long, Lucy.
**How long, Carter? Months? Years?**
Too long. Much too long.
**But I was always here. Didn't you know that Carter?**
Sometimes I thought you were.
**You just didn't look long enough or deep enough.**
I tried, Lucy!
**Did you try hard enough?**
I did everything I could, Lucy.
**Did you really want to bring me back?**
Yes, of course!
**Maybe you were fooling yourself. Or fooling me. Or is there a
difference?**
Don't play games, Lucy
**I'm not playing games, Carter. I was just wondering if you really
wanted me back. I came back before.**
But I didn't know!
**Yes, you knew. I had to leave, but now, I'm back again.**
And I'm glad, Lucy, glad.
**Don't you want to know where I've been?**
You don't have to tell me, Lucy.
**Because you already know, don't you Carter?**
Don't say that, Lucy.
**I want you to say it.**
Say what?
**Where I've been. Where I've come back from.**
But I can't say it!
**Yes, you can.**
But I don't want to say it!
**Too bad, too bad. It took so long to bring me back. All that time. All that time staring out the window. All that time laying awake at
night when even the pills didn't put you to sleep. All that time and
now you don't want to say it.**
I can't say it!
**Yes, you can. Try at least.**
Why should I?
**Because you owe me that much. Now, tell me where I came from.**
Alright then.
**From where?**
Me. From me.
**Where in you?**
From deep inside.
**So deep it was hard to bring me back, wasn't it?**
Yes, it was hard.
**But now, I'm here, aren't I?**
Please, go back, Lucy, go back!
**But I just got here! And it took so long to bring me back. But now, I'm here. And you're here. At last.**
Go back, Luce!
**But why should I go back when you tried to hard to bring me here?**
Because I'm tired, Lucy, so tired.
**Why did you want to bring me back then, Carter?**
You know, Lucy, you know.
**Do I?**
Yes.
**But tell me. I want to hear you say it.**
I wanted to ask you to... Forgive me. For what I did to you.
**And what did you do?**
I should have looked out for you, but I didn't. I'm a doctor, Lucy!
But... I couldn't save you.
**I know you're a doctor Carter. But I also know you wouldn't have been able to save me. Why me, Carter? Why not someone else?**
I ask myself the same question Lucy and I honestly don't know. I
honestly wish it were someone else. It's been so hard for me over all this time. Trying to get over that one... One night.
**But what about me?**
What do you mean?
**I mean what about me? How do you think I felt? The knife in my back. I knew I wasn't going to make it through the night, Carter. Though all of you hoped and prayed and wished, I knew it wouldn't help. I knew I was going to die. Could you handle that knowledge, Carter? Could you handle knowing you were going to die in probably less than an hour?**
Lucy, I... Anyone could have died after all that. I could have. Did it hurt you?
**But I was the one that died. I was expected to die! Whether the pain was bad or not is beside the point. I just knew I was going to die.**
You didn't die to me.
**Yes I did.**
No, you didn't.
**What did I do then?**
You slept.
**Slept?**
Yes. Laying dormant all these years to be awakened now. I'm sorry, Lucy. I was sorry as soon as I saw you. As soon as I saw your face on the floor and realized what I'd done to you. I thought, I'd make it up to you. If it took months, years... I'd make it up to you.
**And then I died.**
Oh Lucy!
**Another death, another day.**
I tried to save you Lucy!
**But you were too late, weren't you?**
I failed you...
**And you buried me.**
Yes.
**Twice.**
Yes.
**Once in the ground, in the cemetery. And again inside of you. You buried me deep inside of you.**
Yes. I tried to forget. To escape.
**But you keep burying me back!**
I know. I need to tell you I'm sorry. To ask for your forgiveness.
**Then why not ask me?**
**Because I'm afraid.**
**Afraid of what?**
It's hard for me to say it.
**Let me say it for you. Your afraid that I won't forgive you.**
Yes.
**That's why you keep bringing me back and then making me go.**
Yes.
**Then let me say it!**
Would you?
**Yes. I'll say it. I forgive you, Carter.**
Thank you, Lucy.
**See, I said it. Now you won't have to send me back again. Now I can stay.**
But I think you should go, Lucy.
**But I like it here. It's nice. It's like the old days, back in the ER together, remember? And your new therapist. Doesn't he remind you of Dr. Benton? Always telling you what to do, what's wrong with you, giving you false comfort.
I think you ought to go now, Lucy.
**And the others. My old friends. Kerry, Mark, Elizabeth… They're still here, aren't they?**
I want you to go, Lucy.
**It would be just like the old days, Carter. Think. You, me, working side by side, together again.**
Please, Lucy, stop.
**No. I don't think I'll stop. I don't think I'll leave either. You once said: 'Put yourself in my shoes, Lucy.' Well, that's exactly what I'm doing.**
You can't.
**Why can't I?**
Because you can't stay.
**Oh yes I can.**
You can't.
**But I like it here.**
You must go.
**I think I'll stay.**
Lucy, I order you to go!
**Tell you what, Carter.**
What?
**You go.**
I have to stay!
**That's it. You go.**
No, I can't go.
**Why not?**
I won't go!
**Yes you will.**
Lucy, this is my head. Please, Lucy.
**You brought me here, but that doesn't mean you can send me away. You brought me back before and made me leave. But this time, I'm staying.**
No, you can't, you mustn't!
**This time, you're going, not me.**
I can't!
**Yes, you can.**
I won't!
**Yes, you will.**
No.
**You better go now, Carter.**
No...
**You can't stay any longer.***
Please...
**I'm here to stay.**
No...
**Goodbye, Carter.**
Dave walked into the room and saw Carter laying there on the couch.
"Hey Carter, wake up! Your shift started... uh..." he glanced at his watch, "Wow, a whole half-hour ago. Weaver's going to be pist if she comes in here and sees you like this." Dave smiled. Abby entered after him.
"What's wrong with Carter?"
"Nothing. Just sleeping," Dave said, pouring himself some coffee.
"Come on, Carter, get up!" Abby laughed, shaking him. Carter didn't budge and her smile faded, "Carter?" at the way Abby worriedly said Carter's name, Dave looked up from his coffee his two colleagues.
"Carter!" Abby said again, shaking him more violently. She checked his pulse. She looked up at Dave, horror in her eyes. Dave knew that look.
"SOMEONE GET IN HERE!" He shouted out the door, running to Carter, and checking Carter's pulse himself. It was faint, like his breath. Mark ran in a few minutes later.
"What the..." he started. Abby started shaking her head, looking at Carter.
"I don't know..." she said.
"Malucci! Get off of him!" Mark ordered. Dave had tried to wake Carter up as well by shaking him and had even slapped his face gently a few times.
"Somebody get a gurney in here!" Mark cried over his shoulder. Minutes later, Peter came rushing in with a gurney.
"Carter, no!" Peter said, seeing the site before him. He and Mark lifted him up on the gurney.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Abby demanded.
"You expect us to know? We just got here!" Mark said. Abby was lost for words as Mark, Dave and Peter rushed Carter down the hall. She wanted to help but she didn't know how.
"What the hell, did Carter take anything?" Peter asked Mark as they turned into the trauma room.
"Not that I know of," Mark replied.
"Abby!" Peter called. Abby appeared instantly in the doorway, eager to be of assistance.
"What?" she asked.
"Look for a bottle of pills," Peter told her. Abby ran back down the hall and did so obediently, searching all over for the pills. She found nothing.
"There's nothing in there," she told them. Mark dug through Carter's pockets.
"He's clean."
"Then how..." Peter started. Soon, Kerry came in.
"Is that Carter?" she asked, "What happened, where did you find him?" before anyone could answer, Randi poked her head in.
"Dave! Your patient is screaming for you!"
"Right," Dave said, taking one last glance at Carter, and left.
"What's wrong with him?" Kerry repeated.
"We don't know! He doesn't seem to have taken anything, he was just lying there almost as if it were natural!" Mark said.
"God..." Peter said, staring at Carter.
"What?" Mark and Kerry asked.
"Carter's in a coma."
It was weeks later. Carter hadn't woken up.
"What set this off?" Abby asked, pacing around Doc Magoo's.
"Abby, calm down," Luka urged from his seat in the booth. She had been worried about him for all these weeks now.
"Luka, I can't calm down. One of my good friends is in a coma!"
"Abby..."
"How could this have happened? How did he fall into this coma?"
"Abby!"
"Shut up, Luka!" Abby screamed. Luka was slightly surprised by her sudden outburst, "I... I'm sorry, Luka. I'm stressed, I'm worried-"
"You haven't gotten a lot of sleep!" Luka said.
"You're right, I haven't," Abby sighed.
"Please, Abby, sleep, you need it," Luka pleaded.
"What I need is to know if Carter will be OK," tears were beginning to form in Abby's eyes as she sat next to Luka in the booth. Luka put his arm around her.
"He'll be fine," Luka smiled, wanly. Suddenly, Abby's cell phone went off.
"Hello?" Abby said.
"Abby, you wanted to be notified as soon as Carter showed signs of waking." Kerry said.
"Yes?" Abby said, expectantly.
"He's awake."
"Thanks!" Abby hung up instantly.
"What happened?" Luka asked.
"Carter's awake," Abby said. And they both ran to the hospital. When they got there, Carter was sitting up and rubbing his head. Mark, Kerry, and Peter were already there.
"Man, that was one hard struggle!" he said.
"Carter, are you OK?" Abby asked.
"Abby Lockhart," Carter smiled, "I remember you."
"Huh?" Abby was only slightly confused. Then she remembered he'd been in a coma, "Never mind."
"Carter, I am so glad you are all right. Abby was worried sick. Now we will all sleep easily."
"Not as easily as you may think, Dr. Kovac," Carter muttered. He had a mysterious smile on his face. Something was different about him. He had the strangest air of something... else.
"Carter, lie down. You need to lie down," Benton told him.
"Dr. Benton. You may have told me what to do before but you aren't going to do it anymore."
"Carter-"
"Don't worry about me, Benton, I'm fine," Carter said, interrupting him, "I'm refreshed! I'm alive again!" Carter took in a deep breath. Abby pondered his word choices.
"Alive again?" she asked.
"When you've been in a coma for a while and wake up, you feel like you died and came back to life! You ever known that feeling?" Carter asked. Abby looked at Luka, Luka looked at Mark, Mark looked at Peter, Peter looked at Kerry, Kerry looked at Carter.
"Carter, what are you..."
"Dr. Weaver, I am completely fine, I assure you. I feel that I will be able to get back to work in a day or two," he paused. He realized something. His training. He had no memory beyond his third year of medical school. Though he didn't tell them this.
"Carter, one thing. Have you been taking any drugs?" Mark asked.
"Dru- Drugs... Drugs! Oh no, I'm not taking drugs, that's not why I fell into the coma!"
"You know why you fell into a coma?" Peter asked, suspiciously. Carter seemed to know a lot about the coma that he fell into.
"Oh, yeah, that's easy!" Carter said.
"Why?" Mark asked, "You seemed to do it without warning." Carter bit his lip. He knew why.
"I hit my head really hard on something and I think I got a concussion or something."
"A concussion?" Peter asked.
"Yeah."
"Made you go into a coma?"
"Possible, isn't it?"
"Whatever!" Peter was frustrated and left. He didn't like this new Carter at all.
"I'll meet you outside," Luka whispered to Abby. Abby nodded.
"I have a patient to see!" Kerry said, also frustrated.
"I should go, too," Mark said, following Kerry. Abby stayed, staring at Carter quizzically, her arms crossed, her head tilted. Carter felt as if she were trying to see straight through him with her burning gaze to the chair. She frowned. She relaxed and dropped her composure. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling.
"What's going on, Carter?" she asked.
"Abby, Abby, Abby!" Carter shook his head, "Nothing is wrong!"
"What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing! I promise, Abby, you have nothing to worry about!" Carter kept saying it but Abby didn't believe it. Something was very wrong.
"You're different..." she tried taking a different approach. She stepped closer to him.
"Of course I'm different, Abby. Because I'm not the Dr. Carter you used to know," Abby stared at him.
"Carter, you're scaring me now."
"You have nothing to be afraid of. I've changed. And if you have a problem with it, you will just have to get over it."
"You didn't hit your head, did you?" Abby asked, carefully. Carter hesitated.
"How else did this happen?" he asked. Abby sighed. She knew she couldn't get any more out of him. She turned around and headed for the door. When she got there, she paused and turned to Carter again.
"I will find out what's going on," she vowed, "You can count on that," and she left. Carter just looked after her, shaking his head.
"She's resourceful, that one. I forgot how much so. But she won't find out. She has no way of knowing," he smiled. Deep inside, he felt something strange, almost painful. It was the scream of despair and anger from the real John Carter.
Summary: You know Jeckle and Hyde? Just a little something that happens when Carter's past comes back to haunt him. Literally. And when he starts acting strangely, Abby makes it her business to find out why.
Disclaimer: Own no characters!
WARNING: Do not read if you are easily confused!
-------------------------------------------------------------
**Hello, Dr. Carter**
Lucy, you're here!
**Yes, I'm here. You've been looking for me, haven't you?**
It's been so long, Lucy.
**How long, Carter? Months? Years?**
Too long. Much too long.
**But I was always here. Didn't you know that Carter?**
Sometimes I thought you were.
**You just didn't look long enough or deep enough.**
I tried, Lucy!
**Did you try hard enough?**
I did everything I could, Lucy.
**Did you really want to bring me back?**
Yes, of course!
**Maybe you were fooling yourself. Or fooling me. Or is there a
difference?**
Don't play games, Lucy
**I'm not playing games, Carter. I was just wondering if you really
wanted me back. I came back before.**
But I didn't know!
**Yes, you knew. I had to leave, but now, I'm back again.**
And I'm glad, Lucy, glad.
**Don't you want to know where I've been?**
You don't have to tell me, Lucy.
**Because you already know, don't you Carter?**
Don't say that, Lucy.
**I want you to say it.**
Say what?
**Where I've been. Where I've come back from.**
But I can't say it!
**Yes, you can.**
But I don't want to say it!
**Too bad, too bad. It took so long to bring me back. All that time. All that time staring out the window. All that time laying awake at
night when even the pills didn't put you to sleep. All that time and
now you don't want to say it.**
I can't say it!
**Yes, you can. Try at least.**
Why should I?
**Because you owe me that much. Now, tell me where I came from.**
Alright then.
**From where?**
Me. From me.
**Where in you?**
From deep inside.
**So deep it was hard to bring me back, wasn't it?**
Yes, it was hard.
**But now, I'm here, aren't I?**
Please, go back, Lucy, go back!
**But I just got here! And it took so long to bring me back. But now, I'm here. And you're here. At last.**
Go back, Luce!
**But why should I go back when you tried to hard to bring me here?**
Because I'm tired, Lucy, so tired.
**Why did you want to bring me back then, Carter?**
You know, Lucy, you know.
**Do I?**
Yes.
**But tell me. I want to hear you say it.**
I wanted to ask you to... Forgive me. For what I did to you.
**And what did you do?**
I should have looked out for you, but I didn't. I'm a doctor, Lucy!
But... I couldn't save you.
**I know you're a doctor Carter. But I also know you wouldn't have been able to save me. Why me, Carter? Why not someone else?**
I ask myself the same question Lucy and I honestly don't know. I
honestly wish it were someone else. It's been so hard for me over all this time. Trying to get over that one... One night.
**But what about me?**
What do you mean?
**I mean what about me? How do you think I felt? The knife in my back. I knew I wasn't going to make it through the night, Carter. Though all of you hoped and prayed and wished, I knew it wouldn't help. I knew I was going to die. Could you handle that knowledge, Carter? Could you handle knowing you were going to die in probably less than an hour?**
Lucy, I... Anyone could have died after all that. I could have. Did it hurt you?
**But I was the one that died. I was expected to die! Whether the pain was bad or not is beside the point. I just knew I was going to die.**
You didn't die to me.
**Yes I did.**
No, you didn't.
**What did I do then?**
You slept.
**Slept?**
Yes. Laying dormant all these years to be awakened now. I'm sorry, Lucy. I was sorry as soon as I saw you. As soon as I saw your face on the floor and realized what I'd done to you. I thought, I'd make it up to you. If it took months, years... I'd make it up to you.
**And then I died.**
Oh Lucy!
**Another death, another day.**
I tried to save you Lucy!
**But you were too late, weren't you?**
I failed you...
**And you buried me.**
Yes.
**Twice.**
Yes.
**Once in the ground, in the cemetery. And again inside of you. You buried me deep inside of you.**
Yes. I tried to forget. To escape.
**But you keep burying me back!**
I know. I need to tell you I'm sorry. To ask for your forgiveness.
**Then why not ask me?**
**Because I'm afraid.**
**Afraid of what?**
It's hard for me to say it.
**Let me say it for you. Your afraid that I won't forgive you.**
Yes.
**That's why you keep bringing me back and then making me go.**
Yes.
**Then let me say it!**
Would you?
**Yes. I'll say it. I forgive you, Carter.**
Thank you, Lucy.
**See, I said it. Now you won't have to send me back again. Now I can stay.**
But I think you should go, Lucy.
**But I like it here. It's nice. It's like the old days, back in the ER together, remember? And your new therapist. Doesn't he remind you of Dr. Benton? Always telling you what to do, what's wrong with you, giving you false comfort.
I think you ought to go now, Lucy.
**And the others. My old friends. Kerry, Mark, Elizabeth… They're still here, aren't they?**
I want you to go, Lucy.
**It would be just like the old days, Carter. Think. You, me, working side by side, together again.**
Please, Lucy, stop.
**No. I don't think I'll stop. I don't think I'll leave either. You once said: 'Put yourself in my shoes, Lucy.' Well, that's exactly what I'm doing.**
You can't.
**Why can't I?**
Because you can't stay.
**Oh yes I can.**
You can't.
**But I like it here.**
You must go.
**I think I'll stay.**
Lucy, I order you to go!
**Tell you what, Carter.**
What?
**You go.**
I have to stay!
**That's it. You go.**
No, I can't go.
**Why not?**
I won't go!
**Yes you will.**
Lucy, this is my head. Please, Lucy.
**You brought me here, but that doesn't mean you can send me away. You brought me back before and made me leave. But this time, I'm staying.**
No, you can't, you mustn't!
**This time, you're going, not me.**
I can't!
**Yes, you can.**
I won't!
**Yes, you will.**
No.
**You better go now, Carter.**
No...
**You can't stay any longer.***
Please...
**I'm here to stay.**
No...
**Goodbye, Carter.**
Dave walked into the room and saw Carter laying there on the couch.
"Hey Carter, wake up! Your shift started... uh..." he glanced at his watch, "Wow, a whole half-hour ago. Weaver's going to be pist if she comes in here and sees you like this." Dave smiled. Abby entered after him.
"What's wrong with Carter?"
"Nothing. Just sleeping," Dave said, pouring himself some coffee.
"Come on, Carter, get up!" Abby laughed, shaking him. Carter didn't budge and her smile faded, "Carter?" at the way Abby worriedly said Carter's name, Dave looked up from his coffee his two colleagues.
"Carter!" Abby said again, shaking him more violently. She checked his pulse. She looked up at Dave, horror in her eyes. Dave knew that look.
"SOMEONE GET IN HERE!" He shouted out the door, running to Carter, and checking Carter's pulse himself. It was faint, like his breath. Mark ran in a few minutes later.
"What the..." he started. Abby started shaking her head, looking at Carter.
"I don't know..." she said.
"Malucci! Get off of him!" Mark ordered. Dave had tried to wake Carter up as well by shaking him and had even slapped his face gently a few times.
"Somebody get a gurney in here!" Mark cried over his shoulder. Minutes later, Peter came rushing in with a gurney.
"Carter, no!" Peter said, seeing the site before him. He and Mark lifted him up on the gurney.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Abby demanded.
"You expect us to know? We just got here!" Mark said. Abby was lost for words as Mark, Dave and Peter rushed Carter down the hall. She wanted to help but she didn't know how.
"What the hell, did Carter take anything?" Peter asked Mark as they turned into the trauma room.
"Not that I know of," Mark replied.
"Abby!" Peter called. Abby appeared instantly in the doorway, eager to be of assistance.
"What?" she asked.
"Look for a bottle of pills," Peter told her. Abby ran back down the hall and did so obediently, searching all over for the pills. She found nothing.
"There's nothing in there," she told them. Mark dug through Carter's pockets.
"He's clean."
"Then how..." Peter started. Soon, Kerry came in.
"Is that Carter?" she asked, "What happened, where did you find him?" before anyone could answer, Randi poked her head in.
"Dave! Your patient is screaming for you!"
"Right," Dave said, taking one last glance at Carter, and left.
"What's wrong with him?" Kerry repeated.
"We don't know! He doesn't seem to have taken anything, he was just lying there almost as if it were natural!" Mark said.
"God..." Peter said, staring at Carter.
"What?" Mark and Kerry asked.
"Carter's in a coma."
It was weeks later. Carter hadn't woken up.
"What set this off?" Abby asked, pacing around Doc Magoo's.
"Abby, calm down," Luka urged from his seat in the booth. She had been worried about him for all these weeks now.
"Luka, I can't calm down. One of my good friends is in a coma!"
"Abby..."
"How could this have happened? How did he fall into this coma?"
"Abby!"
"Shut up, Luka!" Abby screamed. Luka was slightly surprised by her sudden outburst, "I... I'm sorry, Luka. I'm stressed, I'm worried-"
"You haven't gotten a lot of sleep!" Luka said.
"You're right, I haven't," Abby sighed.
"Please, Abby, sleep, you need it," Luka pleaded.
"What I need is to know if Carter will be OK," tears were beginning to form in Abby's eyes as she sat next to Luka in the booth. Luka put his arm around her.
"He'll be fine," Luka smiled, wanly. Suddenly, Abby's cell phone went off.
"Hello?" Abby said.
"Abby, you wanted to be notified as soon as Carter showed signs of waking." Kerry said.
"Yes?" Abby said, expectantly.
"He's awake."
"Thanks!" Abby hung up instantly.
"What happened?" Luka asked.
"Carter's awake," Abby said. And they both ran to the hospital. When they got there, Carter was sitting up and rubbing his head. Mark, Kerry, and Peter were already there.
"Man, that was one hard struggle!" he said.
"Carter, are you OK?" Abby asked.
"Abby Lockhart," Carter smiled, "I remember you."
"Huh?" Abby was only slightly confused. Then she remembered he'd been in a coma, "Never mind."
"Carter, I am so glad you are all right. Abby was worried sick. Now we will all sleep easily."
"Not as easily as you may think, Dr. Kovac," Carter muttered. He had a mysterious smile on his face. Something was different about him. He had the strangest air of something... else.
"Carter, lie down. You need to lie down," Benton told him.
"Dr. Benton. You may have told me what to do before but you aren't going to do it anymore."
"Carter-"
"Don't worry about me, Benton, I'm fine," Carter said, interrupting him, "I'm refreshed! I'm alive again!" Carter took in a deep breath. Abby pondered his word choices.
"Alive again?" she asked.
"When you've been in a coma for a while and wake up, you feel like you died and came back to life! You ever known that feeling?" Carter asked. Abby looked at Luka, Luka looked at Mark, Mark looked at Peter, Peter looked at Kerry, Kerry looked at Carter.
"Carter, what are you..."
"Dr. Weaver, I am completely fine, I assure you. I feel that I will be able to get back to work in a day or two," he paused. He realized something. His training. He had no memory beyond his third year of medical school. Though he didn't tell them this.
"Carter, one thing. Have you been taking any drugs?" Mark asked.
"Dru- Drugs... Drugs! Oh no, I'm not taking drugs, that's not why I fell into the coma!"
"You know why you fell into a coma?" Peter asked, suspiciously. Carter seemed to know a lot about the coma that he fell into.
"Oh, yeah, that's easy!" Carter said.
"Why?" Mark asked, "You seemed to do it without warning." Carter bit his lip. He knew why.
"I hit my head really hard on something and I think I got a concussion or something."
"A concussion?" Peter asked.
"Yeah."
"Made you go into a coma?"
"Possible, isn't it?"
"Whatever!" Peter was frustrated and left. He didn't like this new Carter at all.
"I'll meet you outside," Luka whispered to Abby. Abby nodded.
"I have a patient to see!" Kerry said, also frustrated.
"I should go, too," Mark said, following Kerry. Abby stayed, staring at Carter quizzically, her arms crossed, her head tilted. Carter felt as if she were trying to see straight through him with her burning gaze to the chair. She frowned. She relaxed and dropped her composure. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling.
"What's going on, Carter?" she asked.
"Abby, Abby, Abby!" Carter shook his head, "Nothing is wrong!"
"What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing! I promise, Abby, you have nothing to worry about!" Carter kept saying it but Abby didn't believe it. Something was very wrong.
"You're different..." she tried taking a different approach. She stepped closer to him.
"Of course I'm different, Abby. Because I'm not the Dr. Carter you used to know," Abby stared at him.
"Carter, you're scaring me now."
"You have nothing to be afraid of. I've changed. And if you have a problem with it, you will just have to get over it."
"You didn't hit your head, did you?" Abby asked, carefully. Carter hesitated.
"How else did this happen?" he asked. Abby sighed. She knew she couldn't get any more out of him. She turned around and headed for the door. When she got there, she paused and turned to Carter again.
"I will find out what's going on," she vowed, "You can count on that," and she left. Carter just looked after her, shaking his head.
"She's resourceful, that one. I forgot how much so. But she won't find out. She has no way of knowing," he smiled. Deep inside, he felt something strange, almost painful. It was the scream of despair and anger from the real John Carter.