Title: Chocolate Fudge Sundae

Rating: PG

Author: Jo

Spoilers: Nope!

Author's Note: So…this fic is kind of out of date. I wrote it ages ago, and just never posted it. And then the spoilers changed from what we thought, and BOOM, this fic meant nothing. So I didn't post. But Nette told me it doesn't matter, it's still a great fic (although I'll leave that to your judgement!) Just to put it into context, I wrote this back when we thought Carter and Debbie would be an item in the Congo. When we had the very first spoilers for 10.08, that Carter would be "back". Back then, I took that to mean back in Chicago. And with Debbie trailing along too. So this is what came from it! Doesn't really contain spoilers, since I only had up to 10.08 then, and they're not even what happened.

Please review to let me know what you think. And yes, this is a stand-alone. So no continuing it. Sorry. And thanks to Nette for suggesting the title! :)

Jo xx

***

Carter stepped through the doors of County General's ER, holding Debbie's hand tightly. There was a general bustle around the place, as usual. No one seemed to have noticed him yet. He was relieved at that. He may have come here to see them all, but he felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Are you okay?" Debbie's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he realised he'd come to a stop, just staring at the admit desk.

"Yup." She squeezed his hand reassuringly, causing him to smile slightly. "Hey, Haleh!" he called, noticing the nurse.

"Carter!" She turned around grinning, and walked towards him. Her grin soon faded when she noticed his hand wrapped around Debbie's. "Sorry, we're really busy." She turned, leaving him standing in the same place.

"What was that all about?" Debbie muttered. He shrugged.

"Must be a bad day." He walked towards admit once more, taking Debbie with him. He spotted Susan sitting at the desk doing her charts, and grinned at the sight of his friend. It was good to see her again. "Hey Susan, guess who's back!"

Susan slowly looked up at him, a solemn expression on her face. "Hello Carter." She looked back down at the chart, scribbling something down on it.

"Susan? Is something wrong?" He looked sideways at Debbie, shrugging his shoulders to show he didn't know what was going on.

"You tell me Carter." She looked up once again, her eyes settling on Debbie. "So this is what that letter was about. I thought better of you." Looking Debbie up and down, she gave her a fake smile. "Sorry, I have to go treat some patients." With that she turned and left them standing at admit.

"Letter? What letter?" Debbie queried, giving him a confused look. "Who's that, and what did she mean about a letter?"

"That's Susan, one of my best friends."

"Doesn't seem like much of a best friend to me," Debbie snorted. Carter sighed sadly. "Oh come on John, I'm sure she's just upset over a patient or something."

***

"We need a surgical consult on this," Susan instructed Chuny as they walked away from a patient.

"I'll call up to surgery."

"Yeah, but can you do me a favour? Don't get Corday. Or at least, make sure she leaves Abby up there." Chuny gave her a curious look. "That's why," Susan responded, pointing at Carter and Debbie who were still stood at admit, now talking to Frank.

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

"What's he doing? And who is she?"

"Being an idiot, and I have no idea. But Abby doesn't need to see that." Chuny nodded her agreement, and left to call surgery, whilst Susan made her way back over to Carter.

"Hi again," she said, this time deliberately not looking at Debbie. "Sorry I was a bit rude earlier, you know what it's like here." She smiled at him slightly, trying to make it look genuine. "So, are you going to introduce me to…well, are you going to introduce me?"

"Ah right, yeah!" He smiled, obviously pleased that she wasn't mad with him. "Susan, this is my…err, this is Debbie."

"Debbie. Hi." She held out her hand to shake Debbie's, once again giving a slightly fake smile. "Soooo nice to meet you," she said, staring at the woman. "We'll have to have coffee."

"Susan…"

"What's wrong?"

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm just asking your…err, Debbie, to coffee." Carter glared at her, realising that she was still mad with him.

"Yeah, Debbie doesn't want coffee, thanks."

"Oh okay, maybe Abby does."

"Susan…"

"Shall I just go get her? You know, introduce her to your…well, whatever she is." She gave Debbie a disgusted look. "I'm sure they'd get on famously."

"Susan, shut up. My life is my business."

"Not whilst Abby's my best friend."

***

"Abby, they need a surgical consult down in the ER, you want to come?" Elizabeth asked as she made her way towards the elevator.

"Sure." Abby joined her. She liked going down to the ER, she knew everyone down there and it was a great atmosphere. They stood in the lift in a comfortable silence for a while, before Elizabeth spoke.

"How do you fancy doing something this evening? I've got Ella obviously, but I thought we could get a video and pizza or something. You know, girly teenage type sleepover. Maybe invite Susan?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Abby grinned. She'd never really known Elizabeth until recently, but they'd suddenly become great friends.

"Okay, here we go. Let's hope it's an easy case," Elizabeth said, as the doors of the elevator opened. They made they way into the main part of the ER, and past admit. "Abby, can you get the…" she looked around behind her to see Abby standing still, staring at one thing. "Right…"

"Elizabeth, I told Chuny to get you not to bring Abby down," Susan hissed angrily.

"She's my student, I can't not bring her." She looked at Susan pointedly for a moment, before rolling her eyes. "Well, I think I've got a surgical consult to do for you." She turned, leaving Abby at admit, continuing to stare at Carter and Debbie.

"Susan," she whispered, not taking her eyes off them. Her friend approached and stood next to her. "What's he doing here, and who's she?"

"He came back," Susan explained as best she knew. "And that's Debbie. Don't ask me anymore, I don't know."

***

"Hey John?" Debbie said, tugging slightly on his arm.

"Hmm?"

"Why's that doctor staring at us?" she nodded towards the other side of the admit area. "She's freaking me out."

"Don't be silly," he said, rolling his eyes and turning round slowly. "She's probably just…" he trailed off when he saw who it was.

"She's probably what?" Debbie joined him in staring at the woman.

"She's a med student," he uttered, barely audible.

"Right, med student, doctor, doesn't really matter." She rolled her eyes at him. "You know her? We should go say hi, you can introduce her to your new girlfriend."

"Uh, I don't think so. I just…"

"Too late!" she laughed. "She's coming over to us right now, by the looks of it."

***

Abby watched Carter and the woman – what was her name, Debbie? – stare at her. She felt a wave of disgust. He was holding her hand. What did he think he was up to? Now it all suddenly made sense, why he'd sent that letter. He wanted to get rid of her, so he could start off with some blonde bimbo. She shook her head in disgust, before making her way towards them. Right now, she really felt like having a bitch.

"Hello," she said, in a fake friendly voice. She didn't let her eyes set on him, but looked this new woman up and down. "You must be Debbie. I've heard so much about you, it's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand, which Debbie shook.

"Thank you. You know, it's nice to see a friendly face around here. No offence to all your co-workers, I'm sure they're lovely people, they just haven't been very warm towards me." Abby gave a small laugh.

"Debbie…" John said in a warning voice, guessing what Abby was up to.

"And Carter!" Abby exclaimed, turning to him now. "What a delight to see you back. It's been far too long, old friend." She let her smile falter slightly, allowing him to see the true anger in her eyes, before plastering it back onto her face again. "You know we've all missed you so much. It was great to hear from you in that letter though."

"Letter?" Debbie interrupted. "Susan said something about a letter earlier. She didn't seem too pleased."

"To know that you were thinking of us all," Abby continued, ignoring Debbie. "And to know that you were well, and enjoying yourself. It was such a comfort to know that, and to know that you'd managed to move on from that…that terrible relationship." She emphasised the word terrible, and smiled sarcastically at him.

"Abby, it wasn't terrible," he said angrily, speaking to her directly for the first time.

"Hang on," Debbie interrupted once again, "I get why Susan was so upset. Is Susan your ex?!"

"No," she replied curtly, before continuing her spiel. "Anyway, as I was saying. It was such a relief when Frank and Jerry fetched the letter out of the trashcan where it had mistakenly been dumped. And so wonderful when Romano read it out for the whole ER to hear, so that everyone knew exactly what you'd said. Everyone should know about that sort of thing, don't you think?"

"Abby, please explain what you're talking about."

"Why don't you ask Mr. Robson."

"Mr. who?"

"Mr. Robson. He was a patient the day I received the letter. Dislocated shoulder, if I remember correctly. He could tell you all the details." She inserted a little laugh here, just to keep up the friendly pretence.

"Abby, could you tell me where the bathroom is?" Debbie asked, changing the subject.

"Down the hall and turn left."

"Thanks. It's been really great to meet you," she grinned. "We'll have to grab coffee sometime. You can tell me all sorts of embarrassing stories about John here."

"Oh yes, that would be fun." She watched Debbie walk away down the corridor, before letting the smile drop from her face. She turned back towards John, tears welling up in her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"What? Debbie's just…"

"Just what? Your new girlfriend?" He shrugged, unsure what to say. "Thought so. And I mean, why not? After being in a relationship for a year, why shouldn't you just get it off with the first bimbo you find?"

"Debbie and I have a solid relationship."

"Solid relationship?! What's that's supposed to mean? You've known her ten minutes compared with what we had, John."

"I'm sorry Abby." He raised a hand, and ran it gently down her arm.

"You're sorry? I think it's a bit late for that," she exclaimed, shrugging his hand off. "You humiliated me, in front of everyone. In front of my friends, my co-workers, complete strangers. So thank you very much, but an apology really isn't worth much right now." She looked over her shoulder in the direction Debbie had gone. "Especially not with that bimbo here."

"So you went back to med school then," he said cautiously, changing the subject.

"Shut up Carter." She turned away from him, storming off to find Elizabeth to help with the consult.

***

"You spoke to Debbie then?" Susan asked, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"Yup." She looked between Susan and Elizabeth, and sighed, knowing they wanted details. "I think she thinks I like her."

"Really?!" Susan laughed out loud, before suddenly quieting herself. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh."

"No, it's okay. I found it hard not to laugh myself." She giggled for a moment. "I was fake nice to her. It was really quite fun – you should have seen the look on Carter's face! And there she was thinking I was the only friendly person she'd met all day."

"Yeah, I was a bit rude to her…" Susan laughed once more. "Not that the bitch doesn't deserve it."

"I didn't do it to get at her." Abby shrugged. "I mean, if I'd wanted to get at her I would have just mouthed of in front of her and slapped her or something. But she obviously didn't have a clue who I was. I did it to get at him. And it definitely got to him."

"You think he's starting to feel guilty then?" Elizabeth queried.

"I'm not sure. Maybe." She paused, grabbing some popcorn. "He might just be angry," she added, before shoving the popcorn into her mouth.

"You want him to be angry?"

"Dunno," Abby mumbled through her mouthful of popcorn. When she'd cleared it, she began to explain. "I mean, he's made me so angry at him and hurt me so much that I kind of want him to know how it feels to be treated like that. But I don't want to make everything worse."

"You want me to do some digging around and find something that will make them break up?" Susan offered, only half joking.

"No!"

"Why don't we start the video now?" Elizabeth asked, sensing it was the right moment to end any conversation about Carter and this Debbie woman.

***

"I like Abby," Debbie said as they sat at the table in the large kitchen, eating a take out pizza. "She seems nice. Friendlier than everyone else was."

"Be careful with her," he muttered, staring at a piece of pepperoni on the pizza.

"Why?"

"She…oh, just watch out. She's not entirely what she seems."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she laughed. He looked at Debbie thoughtfully for a moment, debating whether to tell her or not.

"She may have other motives." Debbie raised an eyebrow.

"She's a lesbian?"

"No!" he laughed. "No offence, but I very much doubt she's interested in you."

"What then?"

"She…" He sighed, deciding it would be easiest just to explain. "She's my ex."

"Oh. Okay." Debbie didn't look nearly as shocked or worried as he'd expected. "How long ago? Like, a year?"

"Like two months." She didn't respond to his statement. Now that was the response he'd been expecting. "Debbie…" he reached across and took her hand in his. "This doesn't change anything. Things are over between us."

"Okay. But if they are, what's so strange about her being nice to me?"

"It's complicated." He sighed sadly.

"Is she why everyone was being so hostile towards me?" He nodded. "How long were you together?"

"A year."

"Wow." She squeezed his hand tightly, trying to show that this didn't matter to her. "But that's it, yeah?"

"She was my best friend."

"Oh."

"I know, it just gets better and better, doesn't it?" Once more he sighed. "But I want you to know that she doesn't change anything between us. We'll just have to put up with her being a bit of a bitch sometimes."

***

"You should have seen his face when I told Debbie it was a pleasure to meet her!" Abby laughed loudly, glad that she had the opportunity to laugh about it with her friends rather than feel sorry for herself.

"I can imagine. The look on his face when I offered to have coffee with her was quite priceless too!"

"You know Susan, she thought you were his ex."

"Really?" Elizabeth exclaimed. "What did you do to make her think that Susan?"

"I don't really know." She shrugged. "But then again, I am actually his ex!" The trio laughed.

"Thanks you two," Abby said, suddenly serious. "It's great to have a laugh, you're really helping."

"We're your friends Abby, that's what friends up for."

"Yup," Susan agreed. "And you know what else would really help?" Both Abby and Elizabeth shook their heads. "A good session of Carter-bashing!"

***

"Ready for bed?" Debbie asked, slipping out of her seat and moving to stand behind him. She draped her arms over his shoulders and leant against him lazily.

"Hmm," he mumbled, taking one of her hands in his and rubbing it gently. "I'm not really tired."

"Well me either," she whispered seductively in his ear. "But we may as well go to bed anyway, make ourselves a bit tired." When he didn't reply, she began to kiss him up and down his neck.

"Debbie, what are you doing?"

"Seducing you," she murmured as she continued to kiss him. "Since you're ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you Debs," he said, dropping her hand. "I'm just tired."

"What?" She pulled away slightly. "You just told me you weren't really tired."

"I…" He hesitated slightly, not sure what to say to her. He was making a mess of this, just like everything else. "I'm sorry, it just feels a bit awkward."

"Why? We did in Africa John, why's anything different now?" He shrugged. "Is it because of Abby?"

"No!" he answered, maybe a little too fast. "You go on up, okay? I'll just clear up the pizza things."

***

"I can't believe he just carried on dating me when he was in love with you. I mean, what a cruel thing to do."

"Oh come on Susan!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "Is that the best bitching you can come up with?"

"No, the best bitching I can come up with is what an ass he's been the last few months, but I'll leave that to Abby."

"He was cute with you though," Abby said, going back to Susan's earlier comment.

"Cute?"

"Yeah, really sweet. Apart from when he got mad at you for staying at Mark's. That was a picture."

"He was pretty mad about everything that day. He scared me a bit."

"He scared you?" Abby laughed loudly.

"Hang on you two," Elizabeth interrupted. "Firstly, this does not sound like bitching. And secondly: what were you doing at Mark's while you and Carter were dating, Susan? Should I be worried?"

"I stayed with him after his first round of chemo. I'm sorry." The room fell under a sad silence.

"Do you remember his attempt at Hamlet?" Abby laughed, interrupting the silence. Susan and Elizabeth both smiled, grateful to their friend for breaking the moment.

"Luka really showed him up."

"Hang on, you're totally leaving me out!" Elizabeth laughed, slightly annoyed she couldn't join in their laughter.

"Sorry," Susan apologised, continuing to laugh. "Let's talk about something Elizabeth knows about."

"The lockdown."

"I wasn't there for that either." She rolled her eyes. "I think I missed out on all your defining moments, somehow or other."

"We'll make sure you don't miss out on anymore." Susan smiled warmly at her friend, and earned herself a glare from Abby.

"What happened to bitching, anyway?"

***

Debbie groaned as she was awoken by the light streaming through the windows, where she hadn't quite closed the curtains properly. Squinting she looked sideways at the clock to see the time. Nine. She ought to get up soon. But not just yet. For now, she was happy to just lie in bed with him, without a worry in the world. She reached out an arm towards him. It landed on the bare sheet next to her. She opened her eyes slightly again, and looked over to his side of the bed. Where was he? She sighed, and swung her legs over the side, forcing herself to sit up.

She made her way along the corridor and down the stairs, heading towards the kitchen. He'd probably got up already and was cooking breakfast. Gently she pushed the kitchen door open, hoping to surprise him, but she found the room empty. The pizza boxes and soda cans from last night were still on the table. She frowned, wondering where he could be. Finding him wasn't exactly an easy feat in this house.

Turning out of the kitchen she stared at the hallway. The door to what she remembered was the library was slightly open, so she decided to start there. Pushing it gently, she peered inside. There he was, lying asleep on the couch, a book lying on the floor next to it where it had obviously been dropped. Why hadn't he come to bed?

She walked over to him, and ran a finger down his cheek, smiling slightly. He looked so adorable asleep. Bending down she picked up the book, and set it down on the coffee table. "John," she whispered, rubbing his shoulder gently. Maybe he'd just come here to read for a bit, and fallen asleep. "John, it's time to wake up."

***

"Mama! Mama!" Abby groaned at the sound of the child's voice. What was going on? She rolled over in an attempt to go back to sleep, but came against an obstacle.

"Abby," Susan mumbled, half asleep herself. "Don't roll into me."

"Mama!" The voice continued. Abby racked her brain for who was asking for Mama. Where was she? And when was this? Did she have kids? She opened her eyes slowly, and looked up at the concerned face staring down at her. "Mama?" As she focused on the face, she realised who it was. Ella.

"Hey, Elizabeth." She nudged her friend in the side. "Your daughter wants you." Elizabeth groaned, and pulled herself into a seated position. Ella jumped into her arms and gave her mother a hug, causing Abby to grin to herself. "Wish someone gave me hugs like that." Elizabeth whispered in her daughter's ear, and a moment later the two-year-old was in Abby's arms. Abby stiffened for a moment, not sure what to do, but then she wrapped her arms around Ella and smiled happily. "Thanks."

***

"I was thinking, maybe we could go out this evening. Maybe for a meal in town or something?" Debbie tried, desperately hoping he'd agree. There was something up with him this morning, and she wasn't quite sure what.

"Maybe." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure, I thought maybe I'd take a shift."

"Why?"

"Because I need to get back to work."

"Tonight?" He shrugged once again.

"I don't know, it shouldn't be too busy, it'll be a good time to get myself re-aquainted."

"On a night shift?" She stared at him, not sure what to say. "Surely a night shift's not the best time to go back."

"I said I don't know, okay?"

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Well something's up, John." She pushed some bacon around her plate nervously with her fork. "Is it Abby?"

"Is what Abby?"

"Is Abby working tonight? She is, isn't she?" she accused. "That's why you want to go in."

"No! Abby's in the past. I have no idea if she's working, and I wouldn't want to work with her anyway."

"Right," Debbie muttered angrily, letting her fork fall with a clatter onto her plate. She looked across at his plate and changed the subject. "You've hardly touched your breakfast. Are you feeling okay?"

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, ignoring her comment. "Can't you believe me, Debbie?"

"I believe you that you have no idea if she's working," she admitted, now staring at him with a look of slight anger. "But you want to see her."

"No I…"

"Don't try to lie to me!" she exclaimed, getting up from the table and storming towards the door. "I might be blonde, but I'm not stupid. I can see that you want to see her, and you don't give a damn about me."

"Debbie…"

"You said she wouldn't change anything between us. But from the moment we've been back things have been different. You shove me off, ignore me, sleep on the sofa…"

"I was reading, I fell asleep…"

"Oh don't try that one." She stared at him angrily for a moment, before turning and storming out the door.

"Debbie…come back Debbie," he shouted, but she didn't respond. After a moment, he heard the large door at the front of the house slam shut. He wanted to get up and go after her, to tell her that he was sorry and everything would be okay from now on. But he didn't want to, as well. Maybe she was making his decisions for him, helping him to go in the direction that he should. Everyone seemed to be pointing him towards one thing. Was there any point in denying it now?

***

When Debbie got back three hours later, after a long time just wandering around the suburbs of Chicago, she found the house empty. She sighed angrily, and threw her shoes across the hallway when she'd pulled them off. Why had they even bothered coming back, they could have stayed in Africa. But for some reason she'd persuaded him that he needed to come back to Chicago and face whatever demons he'd been running away from. She'd never pushed him to tell her what those demons were. Maybe if she had she would have known about Abby, and they wouldn't be in this mess they were in right now.

She wandered into the kitchen, planning to make herself some coffee. Everything was still out from breakfast, as if he had just abandoned it to go and do something. She felt like screaming, or shouting, or something. What was he trying to do to her?

A thought suddenly struck her. What if this was her fault? Maybe she hadn't appreciated the complexity of the man that she had become involved with. Maybe she hadn't totally understood his emotions before she'd let herself become so attached to him. Most of all, maybe she had given him the impression that she expected him to go back to Abby, that he should. Was he with her now? It seemed like the most likely explanation.

Coffee forgotten, she made her way into the study in search of a phone. She picked up a telephone directory from the shelf next to it, found the number she wanted, and dialled. "Hello? Do you have any flights this afternoon?"

***

Carter sat alone in a booth in the replacement Doc Magoo's, drinking his third coffee since he'd been here. He noticed the staff were giving him strange looks, but it didn't really matter. He knew Susan was working today, he'd seen her by an ambulance earlier, and she was sure to come over here some time. So he was just going to wait until she did, even if it did mean he got labelled as a poor friendless loser. He needed to talk to Susan, to set some things straight with her. She was his best friend, after Abby. And he didn't want to lose both of them. He needed her to understand what had happened, and why he done it. He knew some of his actions were inexcusable, and he knew she was mad at him. But he hoped she'd be able to forgive him, if she just understood a little.

As if on cue, Susan walked through the door. He watched her go up to the counter and order a coffee. She hadn't noticed him yet. As she stood waiting for her coffee, he decided it was time to grab her attention. "Hey Susan, fancy some company for that coffee?" She looked round at him slowly, not showing whatever emotion she was feeling on her face.

"Do you think that's such a good idea?"

"Please. Let me explain myself." She watched him for a moment, as if considering this, and then nodded and made her way towards him.

"This better be good," she said as she sat down opposite him.

"Look, I know you're mad. But hear me out, okay?" She nodded. "That letter was…inconsiderate, to say the least. I don't know what I was thinking. I just thought that I needed to be free of her. I couldn't do it face to face, if I had I don't think I would have gone through with it. I don't know whether I wrote the letter because of Debbie or not. We never officially got together, it just sort of happened."

"Sort of happened?" Susan interrupted, not sounding impressed.

"Can you just let me finish?"

"Okay."

"I thought once I'd written the letter things would be okay. Abby would be able to carry on with her life, I'd be able to carry on with mine, we'd never think of each other again. I don't know how I thought that, I could never not think about her. If anything, I thought about her more after I sent the letter. I spent all the time I wasn't working or with Debbie wondering how she would have reacted, whether I'd hurt her. Even some of the time that I was with Debbie. I thought we would be better off without each other because all we ever seem to do is hurt each other. In Debbie, I saw someone strong, confident and attractive, who I couldn't hurt so easily, who wasn't so delicate. I realise now that it's hurting both of us more being apart. Because I still love her, Susan."

"Really?" She seemed a little less annoyed now, and genuinely interested to know how he actually felt.

"I could never not." She seemed satisfied with this answer, and allowed him to continue. "I don't think I realised what a mistake I'd made until we got back to Chicago. At first, I was annoyed that everyone couldn't just leave the past in the past and accept that I'd found someone else. I promised her that nothing would change. But then all of a sudden everything felt wrong. Last night she asked me if I was coming upstairs to bed, and I made some stupid excuse. And then I went and slept on the sofa in the library. Because it didn't feel right to sleep in the same bed as her when I knew I was in love with someone else. And then this morning I told her I'd take a shift tonight, and she accused me of doing it because I wanted to see Abby. We argued, she stormed out, and I couldn't even be bothered to go after her. It didn't seem to matter so much anymore. I came here to wait for you. I thought explaining all this would be a more worthwhile use of my time. I've known her for two months. You're one of my best friends, that's far more important."

"I'm glad you came." She smiled warily at him now.

"To be honest, I think things are pretty much over between us now. I could see it in her eyes this morning. She's realised that I can't be bothered with it anymore. What's the point in pretending?"

"There isn't any." She paused for a moment. "I know I'm biased in all this, but I think you should tell Debbie that. Might make things easier for both of you. And then I think you should tell it to Abby too."

"Susan, I can't…"

"Do you still love her or not? I think she needs to know."

***

"Debbie, it's John again. I'm sorry things had to go like this. I didn't want you to leave, but looking on it now I guess it's probably for the best. Sorry. I'm not sure what else to say. We had a laugh. But you're right, I can't lie to you about Abby. Erm…call me, I think we need to talk about this. At least clear the air a little. So…well, bye." John sighed as he left yet another message on Debbie's voicemail. To be honest, he'd expected this. He'd told Susan things were probably over, so it wasn't much surprise to find Debbie had thought the same and left. In a way it was a relief.

He was once again sat alone in that booth, drinking coffee. He was going to get quite the reputation here. This time, he was waiting for Abby who was now working. He just hoped she wasn't in surgery, or he'd be here all night. It would be worth it, but he didn't really want to sit here too long.

Not long later she appeared through the door, making her way straight towards the counter to order. "Hey," he said, grabbing her attention immediately. Cautiously she stepped towards his booth, not saying a word. They watched each other for a while, until the waitress brought her coffee. "I got that. Would you put it on my bill please?"

"Oh no, it's okay," she protested.

"It's a cup of coffee. Why don't you sit down?" She stared at him for a moment more, before taking a seat opposite him.

"This is where it all started, isn't it?"

"Where what started?"

"Us. Doc Magoo's. You insisting on paying for my coffee. Us splurging on hot chocolate fudge sundaes."

"You want one?"

"No, it's okay."

"This is kind of appropriate."

"What is?"

"Being where it all started, as you put it. Because I was thinking maybe we could start it over again."

"Carter…" She moved as if to get up, obviously not comfortable with where this was moving.

"Please stay here and listen to what I have to say. After that, if you want to just turn and walk out then feel free. But please, give me a chance?"

"Okay. But it better be good."

***

"Where's Abby?" Elizabeth exclaimed as she stood at admit. "I told her to take a fifteen minute break, and she's been gone for almost an hour. I've got consults coming out of my ears, and skiving med students really don't help." She moved charts about, frantically looking for one. "Dammit, has anyone seen Mr. Donald's chart?"

"It's here." Chuny passed her the chart. "And last I saw she was in the new Doc Magoo's, eating hot chocolate fudge sundaes with Carter."

***