Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

Chapter 10

New ER doctor

The next week, Lucy and Carter had both taken the night shift, which meant they had to be at County at 6PM and work until 2 AM. At the moment it was 5:59. Lucy was already at County, she was very excited for her first day as an ER doctor. She was already seeing her first patient, a man in his mid 20's had an infected leg, and she had to treat him. Although she was already at County, Carter was not, he was on the El. It had been a long time since Carter had taken the El, he had a car, and he didn't think he should waste it. But today, he decided for once to change, so he took the El, which was taking a lot longer than usual. For the last couple of months, the El had been closed due to construction and the trains had been mobbing much slower so they didn't cause accidents. Carter checked his watch. 6:03. He was late.

It was 6:10 at the ER, and Carter still hadn't showed up. Kerry kept checking the door to see when he would come in. It was very unusual for him to be late, in fact he was always early. Kerry walked up to the front desk, and saw Lucy checking a chart.

"How's your first day?" Kerry asked

Lucy grinned "It's great"

"I wonder why Carters late?" Kerry checked her watch. 6:13.

Lucy put her chart down on the counter. She flipped the pages up and began scanning the words. "He decided this morning that he wanted to take the El. I guess it's backed up because of construction" Lucy picked up the clipboard and began to walk to curtain 3 "If he comes, can you page me?"

Kerry nodded "No problem"

"Thanks "

Kerry smiled "You're a doctor Lucy, call me Kerry"

Lucy smiled, and continued towards curtain 3. "Miss. Kingsbure?" Lucy walked inside

"Yup" She sat on the bed, with a upside down foot, which was obviously broken.

Lucy put the clipboard on the little stand by the bed and turned to face Miss Kingsburge "What seems to be the problem?"

Miss Kinsgburge gestured towards her foot and Lucy sat down. "I feel down the stairs this morning, and that's when I noticed my foot looked funny"

Lucy touched her foot and Miss Kingsburge slapped her "Hey! Cut it out, not so hard"

"I barely touched you" Lucy got up and grabbed the clipboard "It's obvious a really bad fracture, but I'm going to get a scan just in case, in the meantime, wait here" Lucy left the patient and checked the time. 6:35. Carter was taking a really long time.

Carter ran across Chicago as he tried to make up time. He was ten minutes away from County. It had taken a very long time for the El to reach his stop, and after the doors had opened, he had bolted outside. Carter finally reached County, running 35 minutes late.

Lucy was doing a trauma. A 42 year old female had been hit by a school bus. Lucy was accompanied by Carol, Luka and Mark.

"She's crashing" Lily shouted over the noise

"I need the paddles" Lucy called

Carol was performing CPR on the patient and Mark was try to insert a tube. Lucy grabbed the paddles and rubbed them together. "Charge to 200" Lily charged the paddles.

"Clear" Lucy waited until Carol and Mark put their hands up. She pressed the paddles against the patient, but still couldn't get a pulse. They continued.

"Charge to 250" Lucy's beeper went off, but she ignored it "Clear" She waited, then pressed the paddles against the patient. Still no pulse. "Charge to 300. Clear" She pressed the paddles, the machine went dead.

"We should call it"

Lucy sighed. Her first trauma as a doctor "Time of death, 6:36" Lucy removed her gloves and eye goggles.

"Nice job" Mark patted Lucy on the back "For a first day, you're doing really well"

Lucy nodded. She checked her beeper and saw that Kerry was still paging her. She looked up and saw Carter talking to Karla, who was holding some paperwork. Lucy didn't smile, she still hated Karla with a passion.

She was approached by Robert Romano a couple minutes later as she was heading towards the cafeteria for a break. "Why hello Lucy. You don't mind me calling you Lucy?"

Lucy smiled "Of course not"

"Good. You can call me Robert, becoming a doctor has special privileges"

Lucy sat down and Robert sat beside her "I was wondering how your first day as a doctor was going"

Lucy smiled "It's going great"

"But…" Robert looked around so no one was listening "I am aware that you are in relationship with "

Lucy frowned and leaned against the table "Who told you that?"

Robert laughed "I have ears, and eyes. I've known for awhile but I kept it a secret" Robert looked over towards the cafeteria doors "I came to warn you"

"I wasn't aware that you gave out warnings" Lucy looked to the floor

"I do. But only to doctors who I think actually have a future" Robert moved in closer to Lucy "Karla Winter is a very powerful and nasty person. She recently threatened a colleague of mine, and I thought it would be my place to warn you that she is not going to give up a fight"

Lucy looked off into space. "I'm not willing to let her beat me in anything" Lucy looked back at Robert "Thanks Robert, I appreciate it"

Robert checked his watch "I better get back to surgery. It was a pleasure Lucy"

Robert left and Lucy began to think. She knew that Carter felt something special for her and that he knew it, but Lucy was scared that Karla would interfere.

Carter was kind of bored of Karla. She had been trying to get back together with Carter, but he had refused her. Carter was now walking around trying to find Lucy. The elevator came up and Lucy exited it. She didn't look up as she walked through the halls and passed Carter.

"Lucy!" Carter called after her

Lucy turned around and smiled "Oh, hey Carter"

Carter caught up to her "I've been trying to find you"

"I was downstairs 10 minutes" Lucy continued to walk towards the front desk

"I've been her at least 20" Carter frowned "In fact, I saw you earlier"

Lucy scratched her head "You were talking to Karla, I wasn't going to interrupt" Lucy gulped. They were now standing at the front desk, in front of all the nurses and patients.

Carter rolled his eyes "I don't like Karla, you know that"

"That's not the impression I got" Lucy grabbed a clipboard and began scanning it

Carter frowned. How could she think that? "In case you aren't aware, she's very nasty. I don't like Karla. I love you"

Everything in the ER went silent. Jerry, Randi, Chuni and Connie were watching Carter and Lucy as they began an argument.

Lucy smiled "Yeah I know" She looked around "You do realize we're being watched"

Carter looked up at Jerry and glared "Jerry!"

"Sorry Dr. Carter" Everyone continued to work, and the patients started talking again.

Carter grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her to exam 4. He locked both doors and turned around "You're still not convinced are you?"

Lucy shook her head "You just seemed to really enjoy talking to her"

Carter smiled "I was trying not to be rude Lucy"

"It doesn't matter, either way, you acted like you really liked her"

Carter moved closer to Lucy "What can I do to let you know I love you more?" He wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist.

Lucy didn't look up at him. She could feel sadness gathering up in her heart, and it was showing in her face. Carter smiled. He kissed her and felt an emotion run start. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck, and smiled. Carter parted for a quick moment as he pulled Lucy to a desk and hid behind it. The kiss continued and Lucy was on the floor" being pressures against the ground by Carter.

"John" She looked up at him "I need to get back to work"

Carter frowned "Screw work"

"Seriously, I need to get back to work" Lucy pushed Carter back and began to stand up. She felt dizzy, and abruptly fell right down "Wow"

Carter grabbed Lucy's shoulder "You okay?"

She put her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes "Yeah. Just needed a moment" She slowly got up, and this time didn't get a dizzy spell. Lucy sighed. She unlocked the door and walked out.

It was a very slow day. Carter had only done one trauma, which took only two minutes because he got announced DOA. Today had been the day for deaths. It was 2 o'clock finally, and Carter was already to leave. Lucy closed her locker and walked over to Carter. "Ready?"

Carter took her hand and they left the ER

"The lovebirds are leaving the building" Chuni called

Mark smiled "See you tomorrow"

"Bye" Lucy called out