CHAPTER 1: THE DAILY ROUTINE DISTURBED

It was one of Chicago's warmest days this year. The city woke up in a lazy, sluggish atmosphere.
Somewhere in the city, in an apartment not far from a park, a woman got up, woken by her alarm clock, and turned it off with an annoyed bang. She stood up. Her hair was messy, her face looked worrisome; the classic type of face people have if they've slept only a couple hours. She stretched herself out and walked to the bathroom. Ten minutes later a whole different person came out.
Her hair was neat; her face was fresh and energetic.
She started the coffee machine, opened the fridge and took out what she needed. She made her breakfast just the way she liked it: a little scrape of butter and big slices of cheese. Then she grabbed a cup of coffee and drank it up like there was no tomorrow. After she finished her quick breakfast she put all the dishes in the sink and went in her bedroom again. It was her morning ritual.

She came out all dressed in a black top and white linen pants. Five minutes later she stood outside of her apartment building when her beeper went off.

She called back. "Hey Frank, it's Abby. Why'd you page me?" the guy talked some and then Abby answered, "I'll be right there".

Abby got in the car and drove to the hospital. When she walked in Dr. Weaver almost immediately handed Abby 4 charts and the sad story of why it had been so busy. Abby didn't listen. She was checking which patients she got: Bloody diarrhoea, anaemia with chronic pain and a knee lack that probably only needed suturing. She'd better got started before Dr. Weaver enriched her with more beautiful charts and patients. However, first she needed to get a caffeine fix. She hung her coat up in her locker and poured herself some coffee. When she was ready to go another doctor came in the staff room. Dr. Lewis looked stressed and at the end of her sanity. "I'm so sorry, Abby. I tried to call Morris, but he didn't pick up! Weaver made me do it!" "Susan, It's ok, I had to be here in 2 hours, and I didn't have anything special planned or something…" with that she walked out into the waiting area. "Madeline? Madeline Smith?" a young woman stood up. She walked towards Abby, who took her to an exam room. "Madeline, what seems to be the problem?" the woman answered that she was a little woozy and had chronic pain in her chest, and that it was probably nothing, but wanted to be sure it really was nothing

Four hours, an ECG, several x-rays and an echo later the same patient still sat there in that exam room, but now with a cardiologist, the surgeon on call, dr. Corday, and Abby. The woman had pericarditis and needed surgery. In two hours she would be on the operating table and she wasn't happy about it. After the cardiologist and Dr. Corday left, Abby asked if she could do anything. Madeline asked her if she could stay a bit longer, because she was really afraid. Abby could imagine that. She wondered how it would be if she had a life threatening disease. Would friends and family surround her or would she have to go through it alone, like so many things these days. She used to have it all. A boyfriend, john. A family, although only if were medicated, or else she didn't want to know them. Friends, A job as a nurse. Now, that was the only thing that got better. She was a doctor now. And surprisingly enough, she was good at it. But a while ago she couldn't imagine it would be this way. Abby pictured herself married with John, a healthy baby and maybe a dog. But those retrospect's belonged to the past now. But after Abby and john broke up, she decided to make some changes. He ran off to Africa when thing became complicated and met another woman. Probably when he still hadn't broke up on the cowardice way of a letter. She still didn't forgive him about that.

But here she was, two weird years later, where she went back to med school to get her degree. When john came home half a year later, she didn't feel much for him anymore. Anyway she couldn't, because the new woman, kem, was pregnant. What a foolish girl was that! But when the baby died she did feel sorry for him. He didn't deserve that. No one did. But Abby and john's friendship was changed. It wasn't what it used to be, charity dates to the history museum, breaking and entering at luka's place. Or just getting coffee seemed so different now. There was only one thing that Abby still didn't understand… john paid her tuition. Why would he do such a thing?

Abby woke up out of her daydream when Susan walked in the room. "Abby, com on let's get some coffee." "Yeah okay, I'll be right there''. Susan went away again. Abby looked at Madeline. She was asleep. Five minutes later they stood outside in the summer heat. "Coffee? Maybe I'll take ice tea for a change" Susan began to her. "Yeah, I will, it's too hot for coffee now…" "In Arizona this was like the standard temperature. How late does your shift end?" "I'm on till nine, so still got ten hours to go… time is not too pleased with me now.'' "Well, if it's going to be as rustig as it was all morning, you'll can probably go home early." "That would be nice, thanks. Any gossip?" "No, rarely enough not. Now to think of it, it's been rather dull lately," Susan replied. After they went back to the ER they both went separate ways.

Abby continued working until seven pm. It did become busier, but still easy to handle. Abby liked it when it wasn't busy, so she could pay more attention to patient-care and her paperwork. A wide variety of cases she's seen. From sunburns to pregnant teens, and from simple stitching to trauma codes. She loved the diversity in her work. No day was ever the same.

When Abby walked out of the doctor's lounge and into the nurse's station she grabbed a new chart. She walked slowly to the waiting area. She pronounced the patient name, but she wasn't prepared for what see would find when she looked up from the chart. A guy stood by the drinks machine. To any other person he would be just a guy, but for Abby he wasn't. It was a guy she knew… she knew him from ever since he was born. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Hey, Eric", she said surprised.

Eric hugged her back and Abby took him to the back. They talked for five minutes about what's up, when Abby just couldn't resist ask why he was here. "Because I need work… I left the army. I was really tired of being treat like I was mental. So I left". "And do they know that?" Abby said with just a little suspicion. "Of course they do! What do you think? I don't want to pull the whole court Marshall thing again!" Abby laughed "so… now what? Have you been able to find something else?" "Well, I have four possible jobs running now. One's on O'Hare here in Chicago." "Great" Abby replied, but a little less enthusiastic. She loved her brother but she wasn't sure how this would affect their relationship. Eric was bipolar and was as normal as anyone when he was on his meds. But when he wasn't he became impulsive and annoying. It was part of the disease, Abby knew that. But she hated that part. She absolutely hated it. Abby grew up with her mother, who is also bipolar. She frequently 'forgot' to take the medication.

So ten minutes later when Abby was on her break and she and Eric walked to jumbo mart, Abby just couldn't resist asking it. "So… are you on your meds now?" Eric said "yes, Abby, I am. But now we're talking about it, I got only four pills left, so would you-?"

"Of course" Abby replied instantly. She was happy to.

So when her break was over, Eric had to go to his interview. Abby wished him luck and said to call her. And with that he went away. Abby returned to work and when her shift was over she went home. She checked her messages, and yes there were two messages. One from Eric: "hey Abby, guess what? I got the job! I got it! I got it! So I guess we need to celebrate it somehow…well I'll call you later, bye" Abby couldn't help thinking it was good but how come she felt a little disappointed? The second message was from her mother, asking if Eric was there. She needed to talk to him. And after the usual chit- chat her mother did on her answering machine she hung up.

Abby cooked her supper and settled herself in her big couch in front of the TV. As she was watching her last taping of fear factor she thought about her mother. What was so urgent? Why did she call to Abby's phone and not Eric's cell? Why did she need to talk to him? All these questions filled her up, but not enough to doze off to sleep. Suddenly the phone rang. Abby had caller ID, so she could see it was john. She picked up and said a simple "hey john". John first was puzzled why Abby knew that he called but soon he got it. "Hey, I saw your brother today, and I thought I'd call, is he alright?" "Yeah, he quit the army and he's found a job here in Chicago on O'Hare" Abby said, in a rather monotone voice. "That's great, right?" Abby and john talked on for another half hour about the subject and when she hung up she felt better. Much better. It was weird. John always made her felt good without much effort. How could it be that after talking to him she felt better? And after some cleaning up, that actually was really necessary, she went to bed.

The next morning she woke up after the alarm clock tortured her again. After the regular morning rituals she packed her stuff and was ready to leave for work, when a loud bang on the door disturbed the silence. "abby! Open up! I need to talk! Open up, I tell YOU! abby I know you're in there! open the DOOR, ABIGAIL WYCZINSKI".