Title: One More Day
Author: Doc
Email: laura_c@imagin.net
Category: Angst, Alternate Universe, Carter/Lucy Romance
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All in the Family
Disclaimer: I don't own ER, nor the characters, but I do own Stephen
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I just found this dug up in my old stash of fanfics.
Please enjoy.
SUMMARY: Going back to earth for one full day to tell someone you love
them
Flashback:
"I feel like an elephant sat on my chest."
"We can't do this, you're the student and I'm the doctor."
"Sometimes when you've done everything you can, even more
than you thought you could, you have to walk away knowing
you fought the good fight. You fought the good fight, Lucy,
and tomorrow you'll fight another one."
"Lucy, you bit me."
"I have him, just advance the needle, good flow, you did
it."
"I think he may be psychotic."
"Just forget it, Lucy."
Tears ran down Lucy's face as she remembered him. Her last
memory of him was him looking at her with pain and fear in
his eyes. They did have good times together. She still
remembered the time they raced all over Chicago looking for
Corina's father. And the time she started her psyche
rotation, and he missed her. She was on the roof of county
right now, looking down at the city.
"Why did I have to die?" She yelled into the night air.
"I wish I were alive. I wish that I could eat pumpkin pie
on Thanksgiving, and I want to go to sleep and actually
wake up. I want to help people again." She sighed, and
wiped away her tears. "I want to tell carter I love him one
last time!" She whispered.
The next thing she knew she was flying through the heavens.
What did I do this time? She asked herself, as she hit the
ground with a thud.
"Ouch." She said as she realized what she felt. Pain? Pain!
She looked at the palms of her hands which were pink and
flesh-like instead of being ghostly white. What the? Just
then she saw a familiar face in front of her. It was Denis
Gant, her best friend in the next world.
"Lucy, you got your wish. For one full day you are human.
The only thing is that everyone thinks you're still alive.
Tomorrow they will all forget what happens in the next
twenty four hours. Everything." He said. "Since you are
human, you can't see me." He said as he slowly disappeared.
First his feet, then his calves, then his thighs
disappeared into thin air.
"Why did your legs disappear?" Lucy asked, in astonishment.
"Because, you are 1/3 human right now. Soon, you will be
all human, and I will be gone. You have to do this alone.
Good luck Lucy, and don't do anything too stupid, okay."
Denis said as his face disappeared.
She suddenly realized where she was, she was right outside
County General. The place that killed her, and yet kept her
alive. She loved County, she loved the people there, and
she loved what she did. She held her head high and walked
into the hospital with pride.
Chapter II
She walked into the lounge and touched her nameplate on her
locker. She wished it would stay here, but she knew all too
well. She opened up her locker and put on her lab coat and
stethoscope. Just then Carter walked into the lounge.
"Hey Lucy, we've got an arm lac in three, can you take it?"
Lucy's blood ran cold.
"Exam room 3, right Carter?"
"No, curtain area 3." She got a knot in her stomach.
"Carter, I can't. Please don't make me go in there." She
pleaded. He shrugged.
"Okay, I'll give it to Abby. Are you okay, Lucy? You seem
tense."
"Just fine." She said as he walked away, confused. She
couldn't bear going in there. She went to feel the scars on
her neck and chest, but they weren't there. It was before
this had happened. She put her lab coat on, and was ready
for what hit her. As long as it wasn't curtain area three
she could deal with it.
She worked on various cases, and soon it was noon. Her
stomach growled and she was quite hungry.
"Randi, tell Dr. Weaver that I'm getting lunch." She said
as she walked across the street. She walked in and sat at a
table. Hey, it was her only day on earth for eternity, who
said she couldn't go all out. It wasn't like she'd get fat.
She ordered a double decker turkey bacon sub sandwich, with
a side order of coleslaw and potato salad. And a sundae for
desert.
When she was full as she would ever be, before she was
outside, she heard a loud ear piercing noise. The sky
turned black, and as a natural reaction, she put her hands
on her head and fell to the ground. Then the noise stopped.
There was debris everywhere, and she felt her forehead and
saw she had a small cut. She rummaged through the reckage,
assisting help wherever she could. She only heard silence,
which in this case was deafening. That meant there were
perhaps no survivors. She then realized it was an explosion
that happened. The door was blocked with wooden beams, so
the ceiling could crumble any minute. She heard the sound
of a child crying. Thinking that he was hurt, she crawled
over.
"Mommy!" he cried. Thinking he was hurt, Lucy checked him
out, and saw not a scratch on him. But he still could have
internal bleeding that nobody knew about.
"Where's your mommy?" She asked, and he pointed under the
rubble. Lucy checked her pulse, and she had none.
See you soon. Lucy thought inwardly. She led the boy away
from his dead mother, and proceeded to make small talk.
"I'm Lucy, what's your name?" she asked to try to calm him
down.
"Stephen."
"Lucy, my heart hurts." He said as he crawled into her lap.
"On the inside I mean." He said as he hugged her tightly.
"Mine does too." She said, as she could feel the young
boy's heart beating against hers. Stephen stayed there
until he was sound asleep. She lay him on the floor, and
put her lab coat around him.
Then she heard a soft groan. A soft, yet familiar tone. She
went towards it, curious.
"Lucy?" The voice asked weakly. She knew that voice, she
dug and dug, her fingers raw and bleeding from the cement
she dug at. And she gasped at what she found.
"CARTER?!"
Chapter III
He was so filthy and so beat up, she didn't know it was
really him until she read his lab coat. He was hanging onto
consciousness for dear life.
"Lucy, its you." He whispered.
"Carter, I'm here." She said as she touched his cheek
tenderly. She suddenly shifted from friend to doctor.
"Carter, are you hurt?"
"It hurts."
"Where, John, where does it hurt?" Lucy asked, trying to
feel for bruises and lacerations.
"Does your neck hurt?" She asked as she stabilized his neck
with her hands.
"No, but my chest does." He said as she felt his chest and
he yelped in pain.
"Sorry about that. You probably have a rib fracture." She
asked, trying to free him from the rest of the mess.
"Where else does it hurt?"
"My, my, my leg." He said as he started to shiver.
"So c-c-c-cold." He whispered, on the verge of losing
consciousness.
"Carter, John, stay with me." She was losing him fast. She
crawled to where Stephen was sleeping, not very far away.
She just couldn't bear to disturb him.
Just then there was another storm of dust. The ceiling
couldn't hold much longer. She then remembered she had a
coat on because it had just started to snow.
She took off her jacket and pulled it around Carter. He was
sweating now. She felt his head, and he was burning up with
fever. Perhaps it was infection.
"Lucy, please don't leave me. Don't go Lucy. Stay with me."
He yelled, delirious with fever. She went over to him and
took his hand.
"I'm here, Carter. I'm not going anywhere. I promise I wont
leave you." She said, knowing that tomorrow she would leave
him. Just then she heard a cry from next to her. Stephen
had woken up with a nightmare.
"I had a dream my mommy went up there. And she was never
going to come back." He cried as Lucy hugged him.
"Don't worry, Stephen. Your mommy is safe. She feels no
pain, trust me." Lucy hugged and rocked the small boy in
her arms.
Then there was a loud noise and Lucy threw herself against
Carter and Stephen, shielding them from danger.
She felt pain, and then darkness.
When she woke, Carter had gone to sleep. Sleep for which he
may not wake from. Stephen was okay, other than his head,
which might need a few stitches. Her hands hurt, and she
looked down to see blood dripping on her pants from how raw
she had rubbed them. She crawled over to the hole and dug
with all her might to get out. She suddenly felt dizzy and
sleepy. Her mind snapped. What are the results of an
explosion? Toxic gas.
"Is anyone alive in there?" she heard out of a megaphone,
but only faintly. She yelled and screamed with all her
might.
"Lucy, I'm going to go to sleep now, okay?" Stephen said as
he sat down next to carter and fell into a deep sleep.
"Stephen, no!" She said as she tried to wake him up. She
heard the clinking of meatal, and then she saw the greatest
thing on earth. And God said, let there be light. She was
so tired, sleep was all her body needed, sleep she might
not wake up from.
Lucy woke to Elizabeth Corday and Kerry Weaver staring down
at her. "Carter!" She yelled. As she came to understand
the reality of everything, she bolted up, and felt a wave
of dizziness hit her.
"Woah, take it easy there. Carter's fine. He's got a broken
leg, a few cracked ribs, a small infection, and he's
unconscious from a concussion, but he's going to be fine.
But he's a fighter, so I know he'll pull through.
"Stephen?" She asked and Kerry looked down.
"He's in surgery. Trying to repair internal injuries."
Kerry said, as Lucy's eyes filled up with tears.
"He'll be okay."
"Do you want to see Carter soon, when he wakes up?"
She wheeled herself up to his bed. He was so beat up. She
put the back of her hand on his cheek, glad the fever went
down.
"Carter, I'm so sorry. How can you ever forgive me? I'm
sorry I left you alone without a friend. Carter, you have
to wake up, its not your time."
In that instant, his heart monitor went insane, throwing
PVC's and fibrillations.
"I need a crash cart in here!" she yelled into the hall,
but nobody answered.
I don't want to do this, but I don't have any other choice.
She knew her power, and she shouldn't use it. She knew the
consequences. She put her hands on his chest, and put the
life back into him. She knew the eternal consequences it
had for her, but she had to. Carter's monitor beeped back
to normal rhythm.
"What I do for the man I love." She said, sighing deeply.
She took his hand in hers and squeezed.
"John, I know you can hear me. You have to wake up. I love
you. There I said it. I've loved you since we fought the
good fight . You faught the good fight, Carter, and
tomorrow you'll fight another one." She said, as she felt
pressure as his hand squeezed hers.
"Lucy?" Carter groaned. "Was I dreaming, or did you just
say what I thought you said?" He blinked sleepily, and Lucy
blushed.
"Lucy, come here." He said, gesturing with his hand.
"I love you too." She pulled up fast. Was he hallucinating?
Carter smiled one of his famous smiles that made Lucy's
heart melt.
"You will be a good doctor someday, Lucy. You stay so
calm." He said.
"I've loved you ever since you gave me that hickey in exam
room 6."
"Oh Carter." She said as she hugged him as tight as she
could without hurting him. She started to cry.
"Lucy, what's wrong?" She pulled away from his embrace and
sat in her wheelchair.
"Carter, tomorrow you will forget me. You will remember
reality. I am dead. You and I were stabbed 11 months ago.
In May, Abby caught you using drugs and Dr. Greene sent you
to Atlanta on therapy. I got my wish that I would come back
for just one day. Tomorrow I will be dead again."
"But then why come back?"
"To tell you that I'm in love with you, and that I am okay.
I feel no pain, now and I'm happy." She said as she kissed
him, long and slow, just as the clock struck twelve.
"I will never forget you, Carter. Please never forget me. I
will always be there. I have learned to hold on, but you
need to learn to let go." She said as she slowly faded into
nothing.
Carter woke with a start, and looked down at his leg. The
cast was still there. Something happened yesterday that he
just couldn't put his finger on. Just then, Abby walked
into the room.
"Hey carter, how are you doing?"
"What exactly happened to me."
"Well, you were at Doc Magoo's yesterday, and there was an
explosion. You and a six year old boy, Stephen, were the
only ones who got out alive. He wants to talk to you."
"Me? I don't even know the kid. But okay, I guess. "
She brought in the boy, and he was holding something white.
"Dr. Carter do you remember yesterday?" I don't remember
much, except that there was this person's coat around me.
Do you know who she is?" Stephen asked as he put the lab
coat in Carter's arms. He gasped when he saw the stitching.
L. Knight
"Doctor Carter, we'll be okay. We just have to remember and
try." Stephen said as he curled up beside carter and fell
asleep.
"We'll be okay, Stephen. We'll be okay."
"Lucy, you know your behavior was unacceptable." The judge
stated as Lucy put her head down guiltily. "You can be
human, but this has gone too far."
"WAIT!" A voice said as everyone's heads turned in the
courtroom.
"Don't do a thing to this girl. She saved my son, and let
him have a friend, and not realize what was really going
on. Please, I did not want to leave my son, but I know he
is safe, and in good hands." The woman said as she showed
them Dr. Carter and Stephen sleeping side by side, kind of
like father and son.
"I suppose that this will go as a warning, Ms. Knight. Just
be sure it never happens again."
"Yes, Sir."
Both Carter and Stephen left with a sense of understanding,
of the heavens, of the afterlife, and of each other.
Finis
Author: Doc
Email: laura_c@imagin.net
Category: Angst, Alternate Universe, Carter/Lucy Romance
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All in the Family
Disclaimer: I don't own ER, nor the characters, but I do own Stephen
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I just found this dug up in my old stash of fanfics.
Please enjoy.
SUMMARY: Going back to earth for one full day to tell someone you love
them
Flashback:
"I feel like an elephant sat on my chest."
"We can't do this, you're the student and I'm the doctor."
"Sometimes when you've done everything you can, even more
than you thought you could, you have to walk away knowing
you fought the good fight. You fought the good fight, Lucy,
and tomorrow you'll fight another one."
"Lucy, you bit me."
"I have him, just advance the needle, good flow, you did
it."
"I think he may be psychotic."
"Just forget it, Lucy."
Tears ran down Lucy's face as she remembered him. Her last
memory of him was him looking at her with pain and fear in
his eyes. They did have good times together. She still
remembered the time they raced all over Chicago looking for
Corina's father. And the time she started her psyche
rotation, and he missed her. She was on the roof of county
right now, looking down at the city.
"Why did I have to die?" She yelled into the night air.
"I wish I were alive. I wish that I could eat pumpkin pie
on Thanksgiving, and I want to go to sleep and actually
wake up. I want to help people again." She sighed, and
wiped away her tears. "I want to tell carter I love him one
last time!" She whispered.
The next thing she knew she was flying through the heavens.
What did I do this time? She asked herself, as she hit the
ground with a thud.
"Ouch." She said as she realized what she felt. Pain? Pain!
She looked at the palms of her hands which were pink and
flesh-like instead of being ghostly white. What the? Just
then she saw a familiar face in front of her. It was Denis
Gant, her best friend in the next world.
"Lucy, you got your wish. For one full day you are human.
The only thing is that everyone thinks you're still alive.
Tomorrow they will all forget what happens in the next
twenty four hours. Everything." He said. "Since you are
human, you can't see me." He said as he slowly disappeared.
First his feet, then his calves, then his thighs
disappeared into thin air.
"Why did your legs disappear?" Lucy asked, in astonishment.
"Because, you are 1/3 human right now. Soon, you will be
all human, and I will be gone. You have to do this alone.
Good luck Lucy, and don't do anything too stupid, okay."
Denis said as his face disappeared.
She suddenly realized where she was, she was right outside
County General. The place that killed her, and yet kept her
alive. She loved County, she loved the people there, and
she loved what she did. She held her head high and walked
into the hospital with pride.
Chapter II
She walked into the lounge and touched her nameplate on her
locker. She wished it would stay here, but she knew all too
well. She opened up her locker and put on her lab coat and
stethoscope. Just then Carter walked into the lounge.
"Hey Lucy, we've got an arm lac in three, can you take it?"
Lucy's blood ran cold.
"Exam room 3, right Carter?"
"No, curtain area 3." She got a knot in her stomach.
"Carter, I can't. Please don't make me go in there." She
pleaded. He shrugged.
"Okay, I'll give it to Abby. Are you okay, Lucy? You seem
tense."
"Just fine." She said as he walked away, confused. She
couldn't bear going in there. She went to feel the scars on
her neck and chest, but they weren't there. It was before
this had happened. She put her lab coat on, and was ready
for what hit her. As long as it wasn't curtain area three
she could deal with it.
She worked on various cases, and soon it was noon. Her
stomach growled and she was quite hungry.
"Randi, tell Dr. Weaver that I'm getting lunch." She said
as she walked across the street. She walked in and sat at a
table. Hey, it was her only day on earth for eternity, who
said she couldn't go all out. It wasn't like she'd get fat.
She ordered a double decker turkey bacon sub sandwich, with
a side order of coleslaw and potato salad. And a sundae for
desert.
When she was full as she would ever be, before she was
outside, she heard a loud ear piercing noise. The sky
turned black, and as a natural reaction, she put her hands
on her head and fell to the ground. Then the noise stopped.
There was debris everywhere, and she felt her forehead and
saw she had a small cut. She rummaged through the reckage,
assisting help wherever she could. She only heard silence,
which in this case was deafening. That meant there were
perhaps no survivors. She then realized it was an explosion
that happened. The door was blocked with wooden beams, so
the ceiling could crumble any minute. She heard the sound
of a child crying. Thinking that he was hurt, she crawled
over.
"Mommy!" he cried. Thinking he was hurt, Lucy checked him
out, and saw not a scratch on him. But he still could have
internal bleeding that nobody knew about.
"Where's your mommy?" She asked, and he pointed under the
rubble. Lucy checked her pulse, and she had none.
See you soon. Lucy thought inwardly. She led the boy away
from his dead mother, and proceeded to make small talk.
"I'm Lucy, what's your name?" she asked to try to calm him
down.
"Stephen."
"Lucy, my heart hurts." He said as he crawled into her lap.
"On the inside I mean." He said as he hugged her tightly.
"Mine does too." She said, as she could feel the young
boy's heart beating against hers. Stephen stayed there
until he was sound asleep. She lay him on the floor, and
put her lab coat around him.
Then she heard a soft groan. A soft, yet familiar tone. She
went towards it, curious.
"Lucy?" The voice asked weakly. She knew that voice, she
dug and dug, her fingers raw and bleeding from the cement
she dug at. And she gasped at what she found.
"CARTER?!"
Chapter III
He was so filthy and so beat up, she didn't know it was
really him until she read his lab coat. He was hanging onto
consciousness for dear life.
"Lucy, its you." He whispered.
"Carter, I'm here." She said as she touched his cheek
tenderly. She suddenly shifted from friend to doctor.
"Carter, are you hurt?"
"It hurts."
"Where, John, where does it hurt?" Lucy asked, trying to
feel for bruises and lacerations.
"Does your neck hurt?" She asked as she stabilized his neck
with her hands.
"No, but my chest does." He said as she felt his chest and
he yelped in pain.
"Sorry about that. You probably have a rib fracture." She
asked, trying to free him from the rest of the mess.
"Where else does it hurt?"
"My, my, my leg." He said as he started to shiver.
"So c-c-c-cold." He whispered, on the verge of losing
consciousness.
"Carter, John, stay with me." She was losing him fast. She
crawled to where Stephen was sleeping, not very far away.
She just couldn't bear to disturb him.
Just then there was another storm of dust. The ceiling
couldn't hold much longer. She then remembered she had a
coat on because it had just started to snow.
She took off her jacket and pulled it around Carter. He was
sweating now. She felt his head, and he was burning up with
fever. Perhaps it was infection.
"Lucy, please don't leave me. Don't go Lucy. Stay with me."
He yelled, delirious with fever. She went over to him and
took his hand.
"I'm here, Carter. I'm not going anywhere. I promise I wont
leave you." She said, knowing that tomorrow she would leave
him. Just then she heard a cry from next to her. Stephen
had woken up with a nightmare.
"I had a dream my mommy went up there. And she was never
going to come back." He cried as Lucy hugged him.
"Don't worry, Stephen. Your mommy is safe. She feels no
pain, trust me." Lucy hugged and rocked the small boy in
her arms.
Then there was a loud noise and Lucy threw herself against
Carter and Stephen, shielding them from danger.
She felt pain, and then darkness.
When she woke, Carter had gone to sleep. Sleep for which he
may not wake from. Stephen was okay, other than his head,
which might need a few stitches. Her hands hurt, and she
looked down to see blood dripping on her pants from how raw
she had rubbed them. She crawled over to the hole and dug
with all her might to get out. She suddenly felt dizzy and
sleepy. Her mind snapped. What are the results of an
explosion? Toxic gas.
"Is anyone alive in there?" she heard out of a megaphone,
but only faintly. She yelled and screamed with all her
might.
"Lucy, I'm going to go to sleep now, okay?" Stephen said as
he sat down next to carter and fell into a deep sleep.
"Stephen, no!" She said as she tried to wake him up. She
heard the clinking of meatal, and then she saw the greatest
thing on earth. And God said, let there be light. She was
so tired, sleep was all her body needed, sleep she might
not wake up from.
Lucy woke to Elizabeth Corday and Kerry Weaver staring down
at her. "Carter!" She yelled. As she came to understand
the reality of everything, she bolted up, and felt a wave
of dizziness hit her.
"Woah, take it easy there. Carter's fine. He's got a broken
leg, a few cracked ribs, a small infection, and he's
unconscious from a concussion, but he's going to be fine.
But he's a fighter, so I know he'll pull through.
"Stephen?" She asked and Kerry looked down.
"He's in surgery. Trying to repair internal injuries."
Kerry said, as Lucy's eyes filled up with tears.
"He'll be okay."
"Do you want to see Carter soon, when he wakes up?"
She wheeled herself up to his bed. He was so beat up. She
put the back of her hand on his cheek, glad the fever went
down.
"Carter, I'm so sorry. How can you ever forgive me? I'm
sorry I left you alone without a friend. Carter, you have
to wake up, its not your time."
In that instant, his heart monitor went insane, throwing
PVC's and fibrillations.
"I need a crash cart in here!" she yelled into the hall,
but nobody answered.
I don't want to do this, but I don't have any other choice.
She knew her power, and she shouldn't use it. She knew the
consequences. She put her hands on his chest, and put the
life back into him. She knew the eternal consequences it
had for her, but she had to. Carter's monitor beeped back
to normal rhythm.
"What I do for the man I love." She said, sighing deeply.
She took his hand in hers and squeezed.
"John, I know you can hear me. You have to wake up. I love
you. There I said it. I've loved you since we fought the
good fight . You faught the good fight, Carter, and
tomorrow you'll fight another one." She said, as she felt
pressure as his hand squeezed hers.
"Lucy?" Carter groaned. "Was I dreaming, or did you just
say what I thought you said?" He blinked sleepily, and Lucy
blushed.
"Lucy, come here." He said, gesturing with his hand.
"I love you too." She pulled up fast. Was he hallucinating?
Carter smiled one of his famous smiles that made Lucy's
heart melt.
"You will be a good doctor someday, Lucy. You stay so
calm." He said.
"I've loved you ever since you gave me that hickey in exam
room 6."
"Oh Carter." She said as she hugged him as tight as she
could without hurting him. She started to cry.
"Lucy, what's wrong?" She pulled away from his embrace and
sat in her wheelchair.
"Carter, tomorrow you will forget me. You will remember
reality. I am dead. You and I were stabbed 11 months ago.
In May, Abby caught you using drugs and Dr. Greene sent you
to Atlanta on therapy. I got my wish that I would come back
for just one day. Tomorrow I will be dead again."
"But then why come back?"
"To tell you that I'm in love with you, and that I am okay.
I feel no pain, now and I'm happy." She said as she kissed
him, long and slow, just as the clock struck twelve.
"I will never forget you, Carter. Please never forget me. I
will always be there. I have learned to hold on, but you
need to learn to let go." She said as she slowly faded into
nothing.
Carter woke with a start, and looked down at his leg. The
cast was still there. Something happened yesterday that he
just couldn't put his finger on. Just then, Abby walked
into the room.
"Hey carter, how are you doing?"
"What exactly happened to me."
"Well, you were at Doc Magoo's yesterday, and there was an
explosion. You and a six year old boy, Stephen, were the
only ones who got out alive. He wants to talk to you."
"Me? I don't even know the kid. But okay, I guess. "
She brought in the boy, and he was holding something white.
"Dr. Carter do you remember yesterday?" I don't remember
much, except that there was this person's coat around me.
Do you know who she is?" Stephen asked as he put the lab
coat in Carter's arms. He gasped when he saw the stitching.
L. Knight
"Doctor Carter, we'll be okay. We just have to remember and
try." Stephen said as he curled up beside carter and fell
asleep.
"We'll be okay, Stephen. We'll be okay."
"Lucy, you know your behavior was unacceptable." The judge
stated as Lucy put her head down guiltily. "You can be
human, but this has gone too far."
"WAIT!" A voice said as everyone's heads turned in the
courtroom.
"Don't do a thing to this girl. She saved my son, and let
him have a friend, and not realize what was really going
on. Please, I did not want to leave my son, but I know he
is safe, and in good hands." The woman said as she showed
them Dr. Carter and Stephen sleeping side by side, kind of
like father and son.
"I suppose that this will go as a warning, Ms. Knight. Just
be sure it never happens again."
"Yes, Sir."
Both Carter and Stephen left with a sense of understanding,
of the heavens, of the afterlife, and of each other.
Finis