Disclaimer: I don't own ER. I'm not happy with this chapter, I've been working on it for a while, and I just can't get what I want from it, now the next chapter, I like! Let me know what you think.
Abby didn't know about his accident, didn't know where he was now. Which meant, he didn't know where she was, didn't know why she hadn't been in touch. She'd managed to do it again, abandoned him, proved that he was right, she didn't care, but that was wrong, she did.
But she couldn't call him, see him. She needed to know as much as possible, needed to know that their baby would be okay. There were tests, so many tests, tests and scans, and more tests. A little girl, perfect, as far as they could tell, perfect. A child as stubborn as her parents they said, unwilling to give up.
She begged and she pleaded but they wouldn't say yes. She wasn't well enough, strong enough, there were too many risks, she couldn't fly. With Abby's persuasion, her reassurance that she would be with her, they eventually said yes, but only by road.
So in a car with a toddler in the back and a frail, fragile Neela in the front, Abby drove them South.
A long journey, a hard journey, a tiring one. She slept a lot, but the nightmares Abby had witness over the last couple of weeks kept coming. So bad that she had to pull the car over, and take her in her arms until the screaming, the whimpering stopped, until the tears dried, until she was awake again. Then she had to calm Joe who was unsettled by the drama and then she would curse Luka, then they finally started on their way again, only for the loop to repeat again.
And then there was the eating, she was tiny, literally wasted away in her hospital bed, so Abby had to get her to eat, to build her up, so that her body could provide for herself and the baby, but she wasn't hungry, she had no appetite, she knew she had to eat, but the reality was a few morsels passing her lips, anything more was rejected. So they progressed with a stop every hour or so for a few bites of food and then continued.
They checked in. They were finally there. One room for the three of them, she couldn't be left on her own, Abby could already see how much the trip had drained her, and she felt the fear rising in her body, it was too soon, they shouldn't have come. When she collapsed on the bed, her eyes fluttering closed, Abby didn't resist the urge to check her pulse.