Author's Note : I want to thank my jetlag for allowing me to write this at 4 am. I would also like to thank my twin sister Kirsten for putting up with my ER obsession, and my best friend Roisin for fuelling it. You're the best, Ross. I mean, who else would tape every episode of Er when I was on holiday? Thanks
Disclaimer : I own only one of the characters mentioned in this story, Jessica Melbourne; the rest belong to the WB and TPTB etc etc you know the drill. No pilfering Jessica without my consent, and no posting my story anywhere else without my consent.(I'll probably allow you, but it's polite to ask first)
Mirror Images *** Two In A Million
"I'm gonna miss you, Luce," Dr. John Carter said, hugging his former med. student Lucy Knight at Gate 17 of Chicago O'Hare Airport.
"I'll miss you too," Lucy replied. "Thanks for everything, Carter. I just need to get away from here for a while, take a year away from my studies to think if I could ever return to a hospital after the accident." A tear slid down her cheek. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry," she laughed through her sobs, "but I guess you and the other hospital staff are a bigger part of my life than I realised!" she said, referring to her workplace.
Carter reached out and brought her close to him. As she cried into his chest, he thought back through the months of pain and torture they both had just made it through, and dwelled on the most painful memory of all. The memory of watching the woman he loved fall to the floor as a crazed patient slid a knife into her back, neck, and chest. Hearing her gasp as she fell, too shocked to scream. Seeing her reach out to him for help. Nothing else in his life came close to that - losing his brother to leukemia, Chase overdosing, Anna going back to Philadelphia. Not even the physical pain he himself felt when the patient stabbed him, or the emotional agony that followed. He was going to miss her, but he had to think about what was best for Lucy, and that's exactly what this trip was.
Lucy pulled away from Carter as the final boarding call for her flight to Melbourne, Australia was announced over the loudspeakers. "I guess I'd better go," she sniffled, wincing as she pulled her heavy rucksack onto her shoulders.
"Here, let me help you with that," Carter said, adjusting the bag. "Well, I guess this is goodbye," he whispered, kissing her.
"Yeah, I guess it is," she replied, pulling away. "Goodbye, John. I love you."
"I love you too," he called softly. As she turned away, he blew a kiss at her retreating back.
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It was a busy Saturday night at Cook County Hospital in Chicago when Jessica Melbourne walked through the front doors and into the busy ER. She slowly walked towards the admissions desk, taking in her hectic surroundings. *Whoa, this place is busy* she thought. *I wonder how my mom copes with this every day.* When she reached the desk, she received a strange reaction from the clerk. "Lucy, you're back!"
"Lucy? I'm not Lucy; I'm Jessica Melbourne. I'm a medical student; I just transferred from Australia. I start today," she said in her soft Australian drawl.
"Oh, sorry, you look really like a med. student who left two weeks ago. Anyway, I'm Jerry, the Unit Service Coordinator."
"You mean you're the desk clerk," she giggled, noticing the nurses and doctors behind the desk laughing. Noticing his hurt expression, she said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade. You're a very good Unit Service Coordinator," she assured him, mildly mockingly. "Anyway, where am I meant to be?"
"You're with...Dr. Carter," he said, consulting a sheet. "He's the guy with the beard over there." Jerry pointed him out as Jessica walked towards Carter.
"Dr. Carter?" she asked, coming up behind the man. He swiveled around, gasping in shock.
"Lucy!" he exclaimed.
"No, Jessica Melbourne," she corrected, slightly annoyed, but mostly amused. "That's the second time I've been called Lucy and I've only been here five minutes!"
"Sorry," Carter replied, "It's just you look exactly like her, but I guess, at second sight, your not that alike," he lied. Noticing Jessica's puzzled expression, he continued, "You have different coloured eyes, her hair is shorter, stuff like that. Anyway, we better get you into a lab coat and get you seeing patients." The handsome doctor led his confused medical student to the staff lounge to prepare her for he first day in an American ER.
++++++++++++++++++++
An exhausted Lucy Knight shrugged her backpack off and threw it on the floor of the apartment she was staying in in Melbourne, Australia and started digging in her suitcase for her pyjamas. Successfully retrieving them she pulled off the clothes she had traveled in since her stopover in Singapore, she slipped into her jammies and jumped into bed, pushing all thoughts of John Carter out of her mind.
The sun streamed through the windows waking Lucy from a deep slumber induced by 24 hours off travelling. Groaning, she rolled over and buried her head under the pillows, and pulled the covers up over them, only to be woken again a few minutes later by the telephone ringing.
"Hello?" she answered groggily, wondering who could have her number.
"Hey Lucy," a familiar voice answered her. "It worked, they're all really spooked. That guy Carter nearly had a heart attack when he saw me! It was great!!"
"Great! Thanks, Jess, you're one in a million! Actually, when you think about it, you're two in a million; we are identical twins.............."
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