It Started With a Kiss, How Did it End Up Like This?
Summary: Carter and Susan have a secret affair/relationship. Carter/Susan set during Season 1 from Ep 6. Carter and Susan's POV.
Disclaimer: I don't own ER or these characters.
AN: I've only recently got into ER and have only seen the first season. Apologies if they are out of character, constructive criticism would be most appreciated! I'll write more if you like it! Please R&R.
Chapter 1 - Happy Birthday
So here I am with the bottle of champagne Dr Greene gave me, but no one will drink it with me. In my opinion you should never drink champagne alone, it's just depressing! I'm going to go and find Dr Lewis. It's her birthday and she's had one hell of a day. Her older sister showed up and ended up going completely AWOL, so she turned down dinner with her boyfriend and went off on her own somewhere.
"Hey Jerry have you seen Dr Lewis?" I ask as I pass the desk.
"She muttered something about being on the roof if anyone needs her." Jerry replied not taking his eyes off the chart he was reading.
"Thanks." I call back as I head off to the Doctor's Lounge. I take two clean mugs from the sink, taking a quick moment to contemplate the fact it was strange to find not one but two clean mugs in here, before heading off towards the roof.
"Hey Carter, you off?" I turn around to see Dr Greene.
"Um, yeah. I was just going to see if I can find Dr Lewis and cheer her up a bit." I inform him, holding up the bottle of champagne he had given me in my left hand.
He chuckled softly. "Yeah? Good luck with that. And once again, good job today." He said sincerely with a gentle smile.
"Thanks." I replied, unable to keep the smile off my face. "See you tomorrow." I quickly add.
"Goodnight Carter." He replied before turning back to his patient charts.
Still grinning, I finally climb the stairs that lead to the roof. I swing the door open and there she is.
* * *
I turn around as I hear the door swing open. There he stands as large as life. Carter.
I couldn't stand it. I needed air, to be away from everyone. Chloe had gone crazy, verbally and nearly physically attacking me in the middle of the ER, in front of all my colleagues. Div came and checked her over, then promised he would help her get well again. He then enquired if we were still going out for dinner. I told him no, that I needed my space and proceeded to race to the roof in my little black dress. This was where Carter found me.
"I cant find anybody to drink this with me." He said sweetly, indicating the champagne he held, breaking me from my thoughts.
I put out my cigarette. "I don't know that I'm the best candidate." I sighed.
"You are the only one with a birthday." He pointed out.
"Oh, please." I turned to face him.
"However, you're not the only one with a crazy family." He held two mugs towards me. I chuckled softly and took them from him.
"My dad said you should never, ever do this with a bottle of champagne." He raised an eyebrow and began to shake the bottle.
I moved from my chair to stand beside him, laughing softly. I didn't want to get covered in champagne. He continued. "Now if that's not crazy…" We both laughed gently.
"Are you ready?" He asked me as he began to take the wrapper off.
"I don't think so, but okay." I sigh. We both stand in anticipation as Carter goes to pop the cork, big grin on our faces.
"Woah." I shout as the frothy liquid comes spurting out. "Here." I stick one of the mugs under the flow.
"Thanks." Carter replied as he poured some into both mugs.
"You know Carter, this is a whole side of you I've never seen before." I comment as I sit down.
"What do you mean?" He sounds confused. "I come up here a lot."
"You do?" Now I sound confused.
"If you were Dr Benton's student you'd come up here a lot too." He informs me as he takes a seat next to me. He's rather close actually.
"However, today was an excellent day. I performed my first lumbar puncture." He raised his mug towards me.
"How was it?" I ask curiously.
"Really scary." He admitted, turning to me with a boyish smile on his face. He's really rather cute.
"But Dr Greene talked me through it. And the patient did have meningitis and now he's gonna be okay, so I guess that's worth a little scare." I nod encouragingly as he tells me how it went, I give him a soft smile.
"You know, Carter, you can call us by our first names." I tell him with a raised eyebrow.
He gave me a cheeky grin. "You call me Carter." He took a long swig from his mug.
"Yeah, well, that's different…somehow." I tried to reason.
"So your sister, she's really stuck on this guy with the greasy hair?" Carter asked innocently enough.
I sighed and shook my head a little. "I doubt she knows his last name. Why?"
"I was gonna ask her out." He replied.
I turn to look at him, shaking my head. "Who are you?" I ask, sounding pissed.
"I'm just kidding…" He trails off, "…Susan." He smiles innocently.
My heart jumped out of my chest when he said my name. He is so cute.
I grin. "I get it…" I nod my head, still smiling, "…John." I bump me elbow gently off his, he smiles as I brush my fringe away from my face.
"No, it doesn't sound right." I admit and turn to stare at him expectantly.
"Okay, call me Carter." He says sweetly. I laugh softly as we clink our mugs together then proceed to drain them. I hold mine to him and he refills it. We're both smiling, I cant remember the last time I had this much fun.
* * *
"You look beautiful tonight, Susan." I tell her, remembering to call her by her first name as I refill my mug.
I watch for her reaction. She blushed, her cheeks turning a soft pink colour. Then she smiled.
"Thanks Carter. I was supposed to be going out for dinner with Div before the whole Chloe thing, he loves this dress." Susan explained, taking a sip from her mug.
Damn! I forgot she had a boyfriend. I forced myself to smile before continuing the conversation.
"Well Div isn't that dress' only fan. I quite like it myself." I openly flirted with her, making her blush once more. I loved that I could do that to her.
"You look pretty damn cute yourself Carter." She smiled and gently pinged my braces. It was my turn to blush and I heard her laugh softly.
I took a large gulp of my drink. I really liked Susan. Not because she was older, I don't care what age she is. I like her because she is beautiful, intelligent, funny and caring.
Susan smiled at me once more. "Oh Carter, thank you for keeping me company. I didn't want to be with anyone but you really cheered me up." She said before leaning over and gently resting her head on my shoulder.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer so her body was pressed up against mine. "You're welcome." I told her then hesitantly placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Carter!" She exclaimed, pulling out of my embrace.
"What, did I do something wrong?" I didn't think I'd gone too far but maybe Susan did.
"Susan?" I prompted.
"I'm sorry, it's just been one of those days." She said softly and drained her mug. She got up to leave but I caught her hand.
"Stay." I whispered.
She sat back down without a word and I poured her more champagne.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, honestly. I thought we were friends can you really blame me for caring about you?" I question, felling more scared than ever that I've crossed the line.
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "We ARE friends Carter and I guess I cant blame you for caring about me. Circumstances throw us together through good and bad, today was one of those bad cases. But above everything you have to remember I'm still your teacher." She told me, the slightest hint of a frown playing on her lips.
I decided to take the plunge. "I like you Susan. If you don't feel the same way, tell me now, I'll never bring it up again."
Susan took a large sip from her mug and then her gaze locked with mine. As I stared intently into her beautiful brown eyes she remained silent. She wasn't denying it. I took a gulp from my mug for some dutch courage and began to inch my face slowly towards hers.
* * *
I didn't deny Carter's claims of an attraction between us, I couldn't bring myself to. I did think he was cute and he told me I was beautiful. Which was why I didn't move when he slowly began to lean his lips towards mine.
He placed a hand ever so softly on my neck as he drew closer. My breath shuddered at his touch. I cant recall if anyone else has ever made me feel this way. I placed my free hand on Carter's cheek and began to inch closer myself, my breathing becoming heavy.
I screw my eyes up tightly just as our lips are about to meet. "Carter!" I whisper warningly through a shuddering breath.
"Susan, you want this too." He whispered, neither of us moving from our current position.
"What about Div?" I found myself asking. 'Do I really care?' I thought to myself but knowing in my heart that I didn't, I wanted to kiss Carter.
"It's your birthday, you deserve to be kissed. One kiss?" He questioned softly, his warm breath tickling my face.
"One kiss." I agreed, my heart doing somersaults.
Our lips finally met in a gentle sweet kiss. Suddenly I felt like I was back in high school. However this feeling didn't last long as our kiss became more passionate. He sucked my bottom lip gently between his and I moaned at the sensation. I slid my hand from his cheek into his hair, pulling myself closer to him. I slipped my tongue into Carter's mouth as he parted his lips. He gasped gently but soon began to respond to my actions and our tongues began to wrestle. Carter sat his mug on the bench, also removing mine from my hand. His arms snaked around my waist and effortlessly pulled me close so I was practically on his lap, I wrapped my arms round his neck. I ran my tongue along the inside of his bottom lip and felt him moan into my mouth. Very reluctantly we broke apart, gasping for air.
We held onto each other tightly and rested our foreheads together. I could feel his breath tickling my face and I sighed contentedly. As far as kisses go, our one and only kiss was amazing.
"So," Carter began, "Can I count on a repeat performance?" He asked cheekily. Which was all part of his charm.
I definitely wanted a repeat performance, without a doubt. That kiss was too good to be a one time thing. I nodded. "It's nothing official though. I still have Div to consider." I admitted, unsure of what I was going to do there.
"Sure!" Carter grinned and began to press gentle kisses to my exposed skin around my neck and collar bone. I moaned softly at the contact. His soft lips against my skin felt amazing.
"But Carter, we'd be dead if they knew." I warned.
"They?" He asked, in that confused manner I loved.
"Everyone down in the ER!" I tried to sound exasperated and I raised an eyebrow which he probably cant see as we're still pressed against each other.
"I think I can do that. And don't think I didn't feel you raise that eyebrow!" He retorted.
I laughed as he passed me my mug back before collecting his. "Happy Birthday!" Carter grinned as we clinked our mugs together.
This turned out to be a good birthday after all.