DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me. If they did, the second half on Season 9 would have closely resembled this story! Also, the title has been taken from the Neil Young song, "Harvest Moon," which can be found on his album, Harvest Moon.
CATEGORY: Carby Angst RATING: PG-13SPOILERS: This story takes place after No Strings Attached (mid-season 9). Some parts in the initial chapters may mirror events in A Boy Falling Out of the Sky.
SUMMARY: Abby receives "the other call," and Carter tries to support her, but finds himself being pushed further and further away.
CHAPTER TWO:
The Other Call
Darling are you
healing
from all the scars appearing
Don't it hurt a lot
Don't know how to stop
Don't know how it stops…
Annie Lennox
The shrill ring of Abby's cell phone causes Carter's eyes to fly open. He is disoriented for a moment, and finds himself wondering why he is sleeping in his clothes, on top of the covers. However, by the third ring, the events of that morning come back to him, and the sick feeling in his stomach that has been present ever since Abby called him at the airport immediately returns. He sits up and sees Abby sitting on the edge of the bed, reaching for the phone. He notices her hands are shaking.
"Hello?"
Carter scoots over so that he is next to Abby on the bed.
"This is she."
He rests his hand on her thigh. Abby looks at John and nods her head; this is the call that they have been simultaneously praying for and dreading. He gives her thigh a gentle squeeze. Abby is silent for a moment as she listens to the voice on the other end of the phone. He hears the faint murmur of the voice stop, and wonders why Abby is not saying anything. The person on the phone must too, because after a moment Abby says,
"Yeah, I'm still here." She grabs a pencil and notepad from the nightstand and jots down a phone number. He cannot read her expression, and it is a little unnerving to see her so emotionless after hearing what could either be extremely good or bad news.
"Alright, thank you." Abby turns off her phone and sets it down on the nightstand.
He patiently waits for her to tell him what happened, but she remains silent, staring at the floor.
"Well?"
Her head remains low and her voice quiet as she replies, "They found his plane. It washed up on the shore of Lake Erie. Eric is dead."
Eric is dead. He waits for her to break down into tears or start shouting, but instead she stands up and walks into the living room. Carter follows her and watches as she straightens the pillows on the sofa.
"I need to tell Maggie. Did she say what time she would be back?"
He shakes his head no, and she walks to the kitchen where she begins to put away the dishes from the dishwasher.
"He gave me a number to call to get the full report, but they won't have that for a few days. They're going to transport his body back to Minnesota…"
She stops and holds her forehead in her hands, her elbows resting on the counter. He walks over to her and gently turns her around. She looks down at the floor.
"I should have known when he came to see me. He was so at peace with himself. He apologized and told me he loved me. He was saying goodbye."
Carter takes her hands in his own. He is surprised she isn't crying. He thinks he would somehow feel better if she was.
"Abby, listen to me. Do not blame yourself for this. You did everything you could to help Eric. This was not your fault."
She shakes her head and turns away from him. He knows she is trying to push him away; it is what she does when she is hurting.
"Could you go try to find Maggie?" Abby turns around and looks at him with pleading eyes.
He really does not want to leave her alone right now, but he knows that Maggie needs to be told. He notices Abby's gaze is fixated on something behind him on the counter. He turns to see what she is looking at. The sick feeling in his stomach doubles when he realizes it is the bottle of tequila.
"John, please…" Abby whispers.
"I'm not leaving."
Abby nods her head, knowing that she won't win this argument. She turns and heads toward the bedroom. He is not sure if he should follow, and she clears up his confusion when she calls out in a shaky voice,
"I just need a couple minutes by myself."
He hears the bedroom door slam shut and tears begin to form in his eyes. He thinks to himself how unfair this is. How can one person be put through so much? And why now? He and Abby were doing so well. He was happier than he had ever been in his life, and he was pretty sure the same was true for Abby. Abby had finally begun to allow herself to believe that she could be happy, and that she deserved to feel that way. And now, well, he knows this is going to be near impossible for her to go through.
He sits down on the couch and throws his head back, praying that eventually things will return to normal, and this will turn out to just be a horrible nightmare.
~
About twenty minutes later Maggie bursts through the door.
"John, where's Abby? I got us two tickets to Cleveland. We leave in an hour."
He opens his mouth to reply when he hears the bedroom door open.
"We're not going to Cleveland, Maggie."
"Of course we are. It's so much better to talk to these people face to face rather than-"
"They found his plane." Abby has now reached the living room. Maggie stands with her mouth open for a moment. Carter wonders if he should say something, but Abby continues.
"Eric is dead."
Maggie shakes her head slowly from side to side for a moment, and then breaks down and begins sobbing. She walks over to Abby and holds out her arms, and Abby rather stiffly returns the hug. After a few minutes, Abby pulls back, looking very uncomfortable. She relays the information the FAA has given her.
Maggie is a wreck, and shakily asks Abby, "Can I use your phone? There are a few people I should call."
Abby nods her head and gestures towards the phone. She then heads back to the bedroom. This time, he follows her. She grabs a cigarette off the dresser and stands by the window, silently inhaling and exhaling the smoke.
"Can I do anything?" He knows it is a stupid question, but is not sure what else to say. He has never seen her in this state before. She looks completely devoid of any emotion. She ignores his question and continues to look out the window.
" John?"
He immediately walks over to her.
"He did this because of me."
He looks at her quizzically.
"He knew that I'd have to spend the rest of my life taking care of him, worrying about him. He told me when we went to see his plane that he didn't want that to happen. I told him it wouldn't be like that, and even if it were I wouldn't care because I loved him. But he didn't believe me."
He doesn't know what to say in response. He knows that there is nothing he could possibly say that would make her feel any better. She puts out her cigarette and she turns to face him. He examines her face for a moment and sees that her eyes have filled with tears.
"It's okay to cry you know."
She whispers so softly that he can barely hear her. "No, because then it would be real."
He pulls her close to him, gently stroking her hair with his left hand, his right resting on her back. She remains quiet, but after a few minutes he feels his shirt becoming wet and realizes that she is crying. They remain like this for a while. Carter occasionally whispers words of comfort while Abby continues to silently sob into his chest. While they stand there, he looks out the window at the night sky. It is overcast, and that, combined with the haze of the city's lights, makes it impossible to see any stars or the moon.
And he wishes that he could take her away to a place where nothing could hurt her, and the night sky is so clear that every constellation is bright and vivid, and where their is always a full moon, because the lighted side would constantly be facing the Earth.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to those who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm glad that you are enjoying it so far.
Please Review! I haven't written much, and can use all the feedback I can get!