Author: Allie. That'd be me. waves

Title: Of Punk Rock and Pixies

Spoilers: Um, no. Again, quite the amazing feat for me. Not sure I want to write about current spoilers anyway. Meh.

Disclaimer: At the rate we're going on the show right now, I'm actually rather glad I don't own them. If I did, I can guarantee you we wouldn't be in the pickle we're in right now. Le sigh.

Summary: An early morning drive in the Jeep with the radio blaring brings about an epiphany of sorts.

A/N: Okay, I'll be honest. I've been holding out. I wrote this fic quite a few months ago and just never posted it. Mostly because it was a random thing. Melly and Mary (don't a lot of my fics lately start with "Melly told me to…"?) told me to write them something fuzzy involving Carby driving around in the Jeep listening to punk music. So, this is what they got.

Hopefully everyone else will get as much glee out of it as they did. Although I don't necessarily think it's that good shrug

The air is unseasonably crisp and warm for April in Chicago as he pulls the Jeep out onto the streets that lead away from the hospital and toward her apartment.

Their apartment, he quickly reminds himself.

The apartment that started out as her's, but has recently become his official dwelling place as well.

Things had been strained between them for quite some time, what with her mother and brother seeming to overwhelm their lives and make it impossible for them to concentrate on simply loving one another. But in the past month, everything has changed. Maggie and Eric are back in Minnesota attempting to care for one another and let Abby live a life of her own. And his own relationship with Abby has changed, as well. It's no longer about comfort and support and a shoulder to cry on. Granted, those aspects still are and always will be a part of them. But now…the good times have returned. It's fun again, this being together.

Laughter and smiles. Hugs and kisses.

No more tears.

About the only thing that has remained the same is Abby herself. She amazes him with her ability to withstand so much torture and pain, maintaining that witty and sarcastic personality that he fell in love with in the first place. No matter what happens, she's still the same Abby who can be moody and cynical one minute, then quickly switch to upbeat and energetic the next.

She's just…Abby.

He's jolted from his thoughts suddenly when the sound of blaring music fills the Jeep. Good thing he's removed the top and they're driving convertible-style this morning, otherwise the volume reverberating off of the sides of the enclosed vehicle might have caused them both to go deaf. Without thinking, he reaches for the volume control in an attempt to lessen the noise, but his hand is slapped away with a harsh smack and he looks over into the eyes of the woman beside him, finding her smiling with mischief.

"Don't you dare touch that. I love this song."

Shaking his head slightly, he laughs to himself before returning his attention to the road. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her tapping her feet to the beat on the floorboards of the car and waving her hands around in an attempt to manage some sort of dancing as she quietly sings along with the music.

"Abs, how can you possibility be this awake and hyper at seven in the morning after we just finished a double shift?"

Her only response is to look at him, raising one eyebrow and enlarging her smile as she continues to sing, elevating the volume of her voice and shouting, "I wanna grow up to be - be a debaser!"

This causes a roar of laughter to erupt from within him, and he rolls his eyes in her direction. After a few seconds, he turns to her again.

"Seriously, how can you understand a single word of this crap? It's just…noise."

"Just shut up and listen to it, Carter. You drive, I get to play radio nazi. That's the rule."

"Since when?" he scoffs, concentrating on the road again.

"Since now. So shut up," she responds, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

Another moment of listening intently and he's suddenly intrigued. What the hell makes a person listen to a guy doing nothing more than screaming into a microphone?

"Abs…?" and she looks his way again in mock-frustration of his continued talking. "… 'slicing up eyeballs'? What the hell is this song even about?"

She groans at his inability to be open-minded about the different forms of music and reaches for the CD player. He thinks he's won, assuming she's finally going to change the track to something less…loud. But instead, she hits the back button and the same song starts over again.

"You love me, John?" she asks suddenly, catching him off guard.

He looks at her in wonder. "Where did that come from?"

She shrugs slightly and gives him a smile that melts his heart. "Do you?"

Reaching for her hand, he keeps his left hand on the steering wheel and squeezes her hand tightly with his right. He takes his eyes from the road again to look directly into her eyes.

"You know I do, babe."

"Good," she replies, then turns the music up louder. "Then you can love my music, too."

Again, he finds himself filled with laughter. He walked right into that one - set himself up.

Words could never express how much he loves this woman. And her ability to constantly find new ways to be charming will never cease to amaze him. Everything she does simply makes him love her more.

Honestly, he doesn't mind her music that much at all. It's merely become somewhat of a ritual for him to hassle her about it and for her to only raise the volume in an attempt to annoy him further, because she knows as well as he does that they're both only joking.

He relaxes a bit and listens to the lyrics once more, turning down another road that leads toward their apartment. His hand still in hers, he feels her raise them both into the air together and force his own hand to join hers in her waving, dancing motions. A smile spreads across his face as he again finds himself thinking of all of the things that he loves about this woman. And then he catches another of the hard-to-decipher lyrics.

"… 'Girl is so groovy…'" he repeats, putting emphasis on the last word and turning to give her a wink.

She smiles widely in return, continuing to sing all of the lyrics that he himself cannot understand.

And he realizes now that it isn't just one or two or ten things that make him love her. It isn't even one hundred aspects of her personality that cause his heart to skip a beat whenever he sees her.

It's just her.

All of her. Everything good and bad, depressed and happy, sarcastic and witty about her. Everything. He couldn't even begin to list off all of the reasons that he loves her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her as she dances and sings, her hair blowing back in the wind as they drive. And he realizes that this is perfect. This moment. This woman. This relationship. There's nothing he wants more, and there's no one he would rather be with.

Despite all of her faults and insecurities, it's moments like these when the real Abby makes an appearance. The Abby who is open and unconcerned with what the world thinks of her. The Abby that encompasses all of the other aspects that he knows and loves so deeply.

As they reach a stop light, he turns and stares at her as she's lost in her own world of punk rock and Pixies.

"Hey Abby?" he shouts over the music, and she stops her motions, turning to look into his eyes.

Her expression is surreptitious and joyful as she waits patiently for him to continue. She's truly happy today, and it doesn't really matter to him what brought this mood on. It's rubbed off onto him, now, and he's had a revelation.

He reaches for the volume again and this time succeeds in turning it down slightly without a protest from her. Looking back at the beauty before him, he smiles and simply says, "Don't ever change, okay?"

This comment wins him a questioning look, but a small smile still plays upon her lips. As the light turns green, she simply raises the volume again and skips to the next track on the CD. The only song in her punk collection that she knows he actually enjoys. And she smiles outwardly as the music begins, imagining the thoughts that might run through his head when he hears this song. The thoughts that cause this song to be the one he always chooses to listen to at full-volume.

Without a second thought, she leans to place another kiss upon his cheek and captures his hand in her own once again as the Jeep makes it way down the final street toward home, the heavy percussion and guitar sounds filtering through the air. And as the lyrics begin, he looks her way and catches her eye, smiling widely before he himself begins to sing along.

"I fell in love with a girl…"

Okay, there you have it. Just FYI, for anyone not a punk fan and therefore not completely up to speed on the punk scene, "Debaser" is a song by The Pixies. It's also the song that played for about 2 seconds in "A Thousand Cranes" last season when Carter and Maggie were in the Jeep and he popped in a CD that started blaring scary, loud music. That was "Debaser." Great song. The song at the end that Carter likes is "Fell In Love With a Girl" by The White Stripes. Again, great song. Not exactly romantic or anything, but Carter's liking it in this story kind of goes along with the theme that he doesn't exactly listen to/understand all of the lyrics. He just likes it because it's about falling in love. And I'm rambling. Just review, please : )