Disclaimer: Everything that is anything to do with the ER does not belong to me. Obviously, as if it did, Shane West would also belong to me, and let's just say I wouldn't be wasting time writing on here.

Author's Note: Hm, last chapter wasn't my favourite, it didn't feel like it flowed as smoothly as the others, so if I get a better idea, it might go. The Neela and Pratt bit would definitely stay though, I think it would be important to Neela to tell Michael's best friend about her and Ray face to face. And as for this chapter, you said you liked Abby, so here you get Abby.

Abby got to the hospital eventually at about ten thirty. Joe's regular sitter, having been told she had the day off, had made plans and after calling most people she could think of, which wasn't many, Abby had eventually left him, with a degree of trepidation, with a neighbour from down the hall.

She was greeted by a scene of what looked like utter chaos, being presided over by an even more miserable than normal looking Frank. 'What are you doing here? Don't you have a kid to look after or something?'

'Lovely to see you too Frank, on this fine day.' Sometimes Frank just seemed to like being miserable, the best way to shut him up was to let him. 'What's up anyway? Why is it so busy, has there been a major trauma?'

'Some scaffolds on a construction site collapsed first thing, had a few in from that. But everyone's useless this morning, Barnett's been wandering around with a grin on his face and his head in the clouds ever since he and Neela had a little rendezvous in the doctors' lounge and Gates is a no show.'

Wow, Abby thought, it really doesn't take people long in this place, does it? Trying to keep her and Luka's engagement from everyone was hard enough, an entire relationship was obviously impossible.

'Well, don't worry about Gates, I'm here to cover.'

'Didn't you just get off a double only a few hours ago?'

'Keen as ever, Frank.'

He frowned at her. 'Am I missing something here?'

Abby smiled sweetly at him, just to try to throw him a bit. Until she knew exactly what had happened, she didn't know what she was trying to cover up, so she wanted to give away as little as she could. Whatever it was would probably be blown out of all proportion at any rate.

'Look, you were a doctor down, and now you're not. Problem sorted.' At that point, Luka came up behind her.

'Good morning,' he leant down to give her a welcoming peck on the cheek. 'How come you are here? Who is Joe with?'

Abby took his arm and led him away a little, out of the earshot of Frank, who she knew was eavesdropping keenly despite his pretence of avidly shuffling paper. 'It's all right, Mrs Szepietowski has taken Joe for the day.'

'Yes, but why are you –'

'To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I got a call at eight o'clock this morning from Neela asking me to cover Gates' shift today, but she wouldn't explain why.'

Luka frowned. 'Do you think perhaps he is ill? Should I call him?'

Abby had to suppress a little chuckle at her fiancé, he really hadn't caught on at all, bless him. Had he not seen Ray's face? Abby could only imagine how big the grin was now he and Neela were finally together. Goodness knows the poor guy had been waiting long enough. 'Umm, I don't think that he's ill Luka.'

He looked so confused that Abby took pity on him. She patted his arm and smiled up at him gently. 'Don't worry about it right now, I'll explain it later.'

'So you know what is going on then?'

'Well, sort of, I know some of it. Let me find out the rest and then I'll tell you.'

He gave her a wry look, and said teasingly. 'Who exactly is meant to be the Chief of Staff around here, hey?' In fact, he didn't mind. If there was something personal going on behind the scenes, he would far rather his staff didn't bring it to work, although he wasn't entirely happy with Abby working yet another shift.

'Behind every great man is an even greater woman – think of me as the driving force behind your success.'

Laughing, he smiled at her. 'Don't I know it.' He wanted sometimes to tell her just how true that was, but he knew she didn't have to be told things like that, they understood each other in ways that went beyond words. It was one of the many, many reasons he loved her.

They were interrupted by Frank calling over. 'Hey, Luka, call for you.' Abby had a feeling she knew who it was going to be, so she gave him a gentle shove towards the admit desk. Resisting the temptation to listen, Abby went about her shift. If it was Tony, she'd hear about it soon enough.

'Thanks Frank, who is it?'

'Gates.'

Luka reached out and took the phone. 'Tony, why is my girlfriend covering your shift this morning? This had better be an explanation, and it had better be good.'

'I'm sorry Luka. I'm calling to hand in my notice.'

Luka was floored. This was entirely out of the blue to him; he knew things had been very difficult for Tony lately, with Meg's death, and gossip, which he usually declined to listen to, but on occasions, couldn't avoid, also had hinted at the girl being his daughter, but leaving? He hadn't expected that one, although he had a feeling Abby wouldn't be as surprised as he was, as whatever was going on, she must be at least partially privy to; she had admitted as much.

In the unlikely event of him ever learning to take orders, Luka felt that Gates had the potential to be a great doctor; he had a talent for putting the patients, particularly children, right at ease and helping them understand what was happening. Throwing in the towel now seemed such a waste in Luka's eyes.

'Tony, I have to say I am surprised, and disappointed to hear this. You know I am going to ask you to reconsider, don't you?'

'I hope to continue with medicine, but as far as leaving County goes, my mind is made up Luka. Meg's parents are taking Sarah back to Wisconsin with them, and I am going as well. She's my daughter, so my main responsibility lies with her. I hope you understand.'

One thing Luka did understand was the importance of family, but he felt instinctively there was a lot more to it than that. 'Yes.' He paused. 'How immediately am I to accept your resignation?'

'Umm, as soon as you will let me. I don't want to leave you in the lurch, so if I'm needed then I will come in, but if you could schedule me for as few a shifts as possible… Well, I expect Neela's already spoken to you about that.'

'Neela? What does Neela have to do with this? I expect my staff to keep their personal lives out of my department Tony, so if this is something to do with –'

Tony sighed. He had wanted to leave Neela completely free to tell Luka what had happened so she could put whatever spin on it she wanted, and he didn't want to say anything to conflict with that, but it was clear that she hadn't managed to get round to it yet.

'Look, Luka, I'll make this easier for you. I'm resigning with immediate effect, I'll be in later in the day to empty my locker, after which I won't be back. Please take me off any future rosters and accept my apologies for the inconvenience this is causing.'

Luka was left looking slightly quizzically at the receiver, connecting him to the now dead line, he still held in his hand. 'Frank, is there something going on around here today that I should know about?'

'Don't ask me, no-one tells me anything,' he grumbled.

Just then, a pair of paramedics burst through the doors with a man writhing on a gurney, and covered in blood, and that, followed by a procession of cases as the day went on, gave Luka no chance to think any more about what to do with Gates for hours.

Abby, however, wasn't one to give up as easily as that. Since Crenshaw had discovered in Jane a kindred spirit of cynicism and sarcasm, he had been taking it upon himself to do the ER consults far more often than he was generally known for, which made it more difficult to pin Neela down without having to find an excuse to go upstairs. Eventually, just as she had finished patching up a little girl who had been knocked off her bike, she saw Neela waiting in the doorway for her.

'Quickly, before Crenshaw sees me down here. Do you have time to pop over to Ike's to grab a coffee? Now I'm not Dubenko's favourite anymore, and with Crenshaw following Jane around, it's suddenly become easier to catch a break.'

Abby knew it was too busy really for her to go, but she was far too curious not to. And besides, there was something not right that had gone on, and she thought Neela would probably need someone to talk to. 'Okay, but I can't spare long.'

In Ike's, they ordered a coffee and slipped into a booth. 'Go on then. I'm covering the shift, now it's your turn. What happened?' Under Abby's even stare, Neela knew she had no chance of keeping it a secret.

'Promise me you won't fly off the handle.'

'Why? What did he do? I might need to fly off the handle.'

'Abby, I mean it. I don't want this widely known. I'm telling you now, and I'll tell Ray tonight.' She paused, then added as an afterthought, 'and you can tell Luka. But that's all. Once the words are out, this will not be mentioned again, ever.'

'Okay Neela, whatever you say, I promise.'

Neela gave her friend a shrewd look, then decided to trust her. She was sure Abby would not to tell anyone in the hospital about it, she was more worried about what she might do than what she might say, but Abby was one of those people who always kept their word.

'I went round to see him early this morning, before work, and I told him I didn't want to see him anymore.'

'Well done, good for you. How did he take it?'

In reply, Neela gingerly rolled up her right sleeve to expose the bruising, and looked at Abby deeply. 'Not so good, actually. In fact, I would go as far as to say, definitely could have been better.' She tried to make light of it, but she knew she wouldn't get away with it that easily.

Abby's eyes first widened at the sight of the bruises, then narrowed in anger. 'Are you telling me he did that to you?'

Neela looked down, ashamed. 'Things got a little out of hand, he –'

'Out of hand?' Abby exploded. 'He's hurt you, he actually left bruises, that's assault Neela, you can't just let him get away with it. You've seen what happens when men do this and women don't report it.'

'Abby, calm down. You promised.' At that, Abby sat back in her seat and tried to rein in her anger a little, for the sake of her friend. 'Look, it doesn't matter now, he's leaving Chicago, he's moving away to be with Sarah.'

'Neela, it doesn't matter where he is, he still shouldn't be allowed to get away with it,' Abby tried to remonstrate. By Neela's expression though, she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she changed tack.

'Are you going to tell Ray?'

'I wasn't sure at first, but I know I can't keep anything from him, I wouldn't want to. I'm just afraid of what he might do; I don't want any more confrontations, that one was bad enough.'

'He'll probably kill him.'

Neela pulled a face. 'Thank you Abby, that comment was really helpful.'

'Hey, I'm sorry, but Ray would do anything to defend you, especially against something like this. I'm not saying lie to him, but are you sure telling him is the best idea?'

'No, but I'm going to anyway. Besides, I can't exactly hide the bruises, can I?'

'Well, just wear long sleeves for a few days, I wouldn't have known they were there until you rolled your shirt up.' Neela looked away bashfully, which elicited a wide grin from Abby. 'Oh, I see. That gentlemanly air didn't last long, did it?'

'I kind of didn't let it…'

'Come on then, let's hear it.'

Right at that moment, Neela's pager went off, and she shot Abby a triumphant look. 'Oops, looks like I'm needed somewhere, guess I can't stay and chat.' She then lost her playful air, and became serious again. 'What I just told you, you will keep it quiet, won't you?'

'Neela, I don't know. If you were a patient and I suspected a violent assault had taken place, I would call the police, and so would you. I can't see how this is any different.'

'The reason it's different,' Neela replied, 'is that I'm not asking you as a patient, I am asking you as a friend.' Abby sat back in her seat, and sipped at her now cold coffee, watching Neela's retreating back. There was no way she could say anything after that.