(Before I start there are a couple of author's notes for this part. You've probably already gathered this but I wanted to clarify that, unless otherwise stated, a series of short line like this '--------' means another day, not necessarily the next one. It could be, or it could be several days later. Also I apologise for the gratuitous quoting of Walt Whitman: John Wells started it and I'm just taking advantage of the situation!)
(Okay, now I have a confession to make. The reason this instalment is late is because I abandoned you...only temporarily, but I abandoned you nonetheless! I got paid on Friday so I went out and bought the first Season of The West Wing on DVD so my computer has been occupied all weekend with watching the disks and devouring all the Josh/Donna fics I could lay my hands on. I'm sorry, and I hope this chapter makes up a little for the lateness.)
Part 8
Carter sat quietly at the back of the lecture hall and watched a chastened Abby remove a cigarette from between her lips and place it back in the packet. She looked like a little girl who had been caught eating sweets before dinner as Gallant told her off for attempting to smoke, and Carter couldn't help but laugh quietly as she turned around and tried to occupy herself with something else. She was staring at the writing on the blackboard, probably trying to place the obscured quote when Susan, observing what Abby was doing, tried to start up a conversation.
"I think that's Whitman," she said, also reading the writing on the blackboard. "Somebody erased most of it, but 'To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing..." that's 'I sing the body electric.' "
"Oh yeah, I know that one," Abby replied, deep in thought as she tried to remember the rest of the quote.
"You know Whitman?" Susan asked, genuinely interested, but Abby as ever decided that she was going to take this the wrong way. Carter could practically hear her roll her eyes as she turned to reply.
"Don't sound so surprised."
"No! It's just that not a lot of people do," Susan said in defence of herself, trying to make peace with Abby. "I mean, how many of you guys know him?" she turned to her left to include Gallant and Luka in her field of vision. They both admitted to only a cursory knowledge of him, and Susan was about to return to her conversation with Abby when a voice drifted over her right shoulder:-
" 'I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing
flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch anyone, or rest my arm ever so
lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this
then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.' "
While he was talking everybody had turned to look at Carter, who had effortlessly tossed of the rest of the quote that was written on the blackboard. Abby had listened to him entranced, edging closer to him as if she were in a dream and couldn't stop herself. He had made eye contact and had spoken the last part directly to her, as if there were nobody else in the room. They continued to stare at each other until the silence was broken by Susan...('Boy' he thought, 'she's certainly good at that!')
"*YOU* know Whitman?" Susan asked incredulously, hardly taking Carter for a poetry buff.
"Doesn't everybody?" he asked, reluctantly breaking eye contact with Abby to look at Susan. "Actually this is one of my favourites." He returned his gaze to Abby and could see that this little fact had raised him in her estimation. He smiled. He wasn't going to say that after establishing she liked Whitman he had gone home and searched through his Gamma's library to find this particular quote and had spent the last week reading and memorising everything he could by the poet. It looked like it was doing the job, though, because Abby moved to take a chair beside him and starting to talk to him in a better mood than she had been in all day.
"So when did you start liking Whitman?" she asked.
"Oh, it seems like five minutes but at the same time it was months ago," he said enigmatically before carrying on. He had been planning this exchange for days, and now that it looked like he had the perfect opportunity. "I always carry a volume of 'Leaves of Grass' with me if you want to read it?"
"Sure." Abby shifted her chair nearer to his as he bent over to reach into his bag and pull out the leather-lined volume he had grabbed out of the library on his way out that morning. Abby took the volume from his hands and casually flipped the pages until she came to the title page and noticed the print date.
"Oh my God, Carter, this is a first edition!" She gasped and ran her fingers lovingly down the pages. "Where did you get a hold of this? Susan, come look at this."
"What is it?" The blonde doctor asked as she came over and took a seat beside Abby.
"Carter's got a first edition of Walt Whitman," she said as she carefully handed the volume over too Susan.
"Oh my God! And you brought it in in that silly little bag of yours? Do you have any idea how much a book like this is worth?"
"It's just a book!" he laughed at the two women who were pouring over the book as if it were made of precious metal.
" 'Just a book?' It's a very expensive book!" they chorused at him.
"It's only money!" The second the words had left his lips he regretted saying them. He knew that Abby was sensitive about the subject of money, specifically *his* money, and on every other occasion the subject had arisen at the seminar she had become defensive. He could see that look in her eyes now.
"Well, I wish I could be that dismissive of money," she said, closing the book and handing it back to Carter. "And to think for a second I thought you'd sprung a couple of bucks at a book-store like the rest of us mere mortals." She ran her hand one last time over the cover of the book before getting up from her seat and resuming her place at the front of the hall.
"Great!" Carter whispered under his breath. He knew he'd misjudged this one: Abby was always ready to take offence at the slightest thing and he'd just jumped right in and given her a reason to pull away from him again. He watched the back of her head for the rest of the day as this was the only view she would let him have of her, and formed a plan to change his actions the next time...
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"...I always carry a volume of 'Leaves of Grass' with me if you want to read it?"
"Sure."
Carter reached into his bag and pulled out an old dog-eared book which he passed over to Abby who looked over it with interest.
"This is falling apart Carter, you must have read this a hundred times at least." She turned over pages at random, careful not to rip out any of the few remaining pages that were still attached to the binding. She stopped when she appeared to find something that interested her. "Wow! And you made notes as well..."
"I did? ...I mean I did." Carter moved his chair across to look over her shoulder. "Remind me again what I wrote?"
"You don't remember?" she teased him, moving the book away from his line of vision.
"Of course I do! It's just I made those notes when I was in school and...and your interpretation changes as you grow older...and...and why are you laughing at me?"
Abby was smiling at Carter and laughing quietly, finding great amusement in Carter's discomfort. She managed to stop sniggering for a few moments and looked into his face. "Admit it Carter, you can't read your writing either! Honestly, this is even worse than that scrawl you use to fill in charts!"
"Yeah...I guess I decided I should make my writing more legible if I was going to be a doctor!" She started laughing again and he joined in with her. He was just relieved that she hadn't noticed the writing wasn't his, or that this was in fact an old second-hand copy he had found in a store on his way over. He had figured that 'yesterday' Abby had thought he was taking his wealth for granted yet again, treating a first edition as if it were a dime-store copy, and that a much better way to impress her would be to show her a cheap and well-loved book. On his way home the night before he had stepped into the store and found the book at the back, so first thing in the morning he had rushed over to buy it before dashing over to the seminar. Truth be told he hadn't bothered to look inside the book other than to check the publisher's date so Abby's little revelation about the notes had been news to him. Well. He wasn't going to be the one to set her straight!
They talked and laughed about nothing for a while until he heard Abby sigh with contentment. He looked around the room; Susan and Luka appeared deep in conversation about something Carter didn't care about, and Gallant was busy Drilling down by the blackboard. Sensing that Abby had something on her mind he turned in his seat to face her.
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that there's only one more thing that could make this moment perfect," she said dreamily.
"Oh yeah?" He smiled and leaned a little closer towards her. "And what would that be?"
"Coffee...I didn't have time to wait in the queue this morning otherwise I would have been late and I need my caffeine fix to fully appreciate the poetry."
Carter didn't bother listening to the rest she had to say. The idea formed as soon as he heard the word 'Coffee'...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Here you go Abby," he announced, brandishing a steaming coffee cup underneath her nose.
"What is it?" She looked up and her eyes brightened a little as she saw the coffee cup Carter was carrying.
"Vanilla latte, half caf, extra foam. Your favourite!" He appeared proud of himself and smiled smugly, a feeling that soon passed when he saw how disappointed Abby was.
"Hazelnut," she stated simply, lowering her gaze to the paper she had borrowed from Luka.
"Excuse me?"
"Hazelnut. My favourite is hazelnut. Vanilla gives me hives."
"Oh." His face fell. Yet again he had managed to offend Abby. She probably thought he had forgotten all about her, and hadn't he just proved it? What kind of friend forgets the way a friend takes their coffee! He moved to the back of the room, placing the cup in front of Luka as he went, and waited for the next day...
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"Here you go Abby."
"What is it?"
"Your favourite: hazelnut latte, half caf, extra foam."
"Um, okay, thanks," she said awkwardly as she took the cup from him.
"What's the matter?" He saw the look of uncertainty on her face and wanted to know what he had got wrong this time.
"Don't think I'm not grateful, because I am, but I don't think I'm the only person in this room that likes coffee." She jerked her head slightly and he noticed the glares being sent by Susan and the inquisitive glances of Luka and Gallant. Wonderful, he thought...
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"Abby: hazelnut latte. Luka: black, one sugar. Susan: skinny cappuccino. Gallant: diet pepsi." Carter walked around the room distributing the coffee cups and accepting everybody's surprised thanks, then returned to stand in front of Abby. "Anything else?"
She looked at him in puzzlement. "Why would there be anything else?"
"I don't know. Maybe you think I should have bought a cup for the janitor!" He knew that was uncalled for but the last week spending every morning in the same Starbuck's queue, trying to perfect Abby's order, being served by the same dejected student, was beginning to get on his nerves a little. He walked to the back of the room and dropped into his usual seat, waiting for the opportunity to work his magic with Whitman again...
~~~~
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until the seminar leader arrived. There were no duels, no catfights about the superiority of doctors over nurses, and no obvious jealous fits. Even Susan seemed to realise that nothing was going to come between Carter and Abby and that she should give up trying.
At the end of the day they gathered outside the building to say their good-byes, and Carter persuaded Abby with very little difficulty to allow him to walk her to work. He had spent the day, as he saw it, being all that was charming and good. He had even been nice to Luka which took a hell of a lot of effort (although he had to admit that the guy wasn't so bad once you got to know him), so the prospect of being alone with Carter didn't scare her as much as it normally would.
Seeing as they had a few minutes to spare before the start of her shift they decided to go for a short walk down by the river. Before they knew it they had arrived by their usual spot
"How is it that we always end up by this bench?" Abby asked as she sat down.
"Well I didn't want to admit this," Carter replied as he took a seat beside her, "but I think it's because we both follow each other and neither of us wants to be the first to walk in a new direction."
"So you're saying we walk all this way from the hospital, even though Doc's is across the road, because we're lazy?" She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him, causing him to smile back at her.
"No, I'm saying that we've found something...I mean some*where* where we're both comfortable and it's easier for us to slip back towards it than strike out for pastures new." He looked down into Abby's eyes and could see that she was a little uncomfortable with the direction their talk was taking.
"Carter I don't think I..."
"Let me finish. Abby, our friendship is something easy for the both of us. I know we've not been close recently, and I know a lot of that is my fault, but look how easily we both slip back into it. We were meant to be friends...but I think we could be so much more; it's just neither of us wants to make the first move in case it ruins our friendship and we neither of us want to face losing that. But I can't go on like that anymore. I want to be more with you Abby. I know we'll be great together. Can't you take a chance on us?"
He stopped talking and looked down into her face. She appeared to be in a daze as she tried to digest what Carter had just said to her. Was it a declaration of love? He wasn't sure himself, but he knew he had to say or do something quickly before Abby had too much time to think and ran away from him again as she always did when somebody got too close to her. Impulsively he leaned forward and kissed her firmly on the lips. It was clear she was surprised at first, but as he leaned in for a second kiss he could feel her relax and melt into the kiss. The feeling of her gloved hands at the back of his neck was driving him crazy, and all he could think of was getting her into a bedroom so he could feel his flesh against hers.
"So do you want to go back to my place?" he asked, kissing along her neck. "We can phone in sick for your shift and...get a cup of coffee or something..." he added suggestively.
He could sense the change in Abby immediately. It was as if somebody had poured cold water on top of her and woken her up from the daze that his kisses had put her in. He stopped kissing her when he realised she was no longer kissing him back and sat back to look into the eyes of a very angry Abby, a sight he was getting to know well.
"That's what all this has been about?" she shouted. "I should have known How DARE you! You know for a second there I thought you might be different. I mean you bring coffee without being asked, you recite poetry, you make me laugh, but when everything comes down to it you're just..." she searched around in her mind for an appropriate insult, "...you're just a *man*!"
She drew back her hand and brought it sharply across his cheek.
*SLAP*
He winced from the impact her hand had made and immediately brought up his hand to his cheek in an attempt to soothe the throbbing pain. He stared at the image Abby's figure produced as she walked angrily away from him and gave a bitter laugh.
"Now why is this a familiar scene?" he muttered to himself. Oh well, back to the drawing board. He'd just have to find some other way to phrase it tomorrow that would produce a different effect...
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The day at the seminar had progressed much the same as the day before. Carter had been the perfect gentleman and had managed to persuade Abby to once again let him walk her to work. He took her down to the riverfront and started up the conversation from yesterday, trying to remember as much as possible from the speech he gave that had appeared to do the job. He leaned in to kiss her and found her responsive. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and softly traced the line of her jaw with kisses until he reached her lips, where he resumed his welcome assault. He soon found himself desperate to be closer to her, but learning from his previous attempts he knew that all suggestions they go to his place or her place would be met with a sharp slap. He drew away from her slightly and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, and one on her forehead, before bending his head to her ear and whispering into it the revised statement he had been thinking of all day.
As he spoke Abby's eyes shot open.
*SLAP*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*SLAP*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*SLAP*
"Would it kill you, just for once, to just say 'No'????" he shouted at her retreating back. He started to walk back towards home when he remembered something else he'd wanted to say. "And by the way *OUCH*!!!" he shouted.
Five days and still she kept slapping him. This was obviously the wrong approach! He rubbed his cheek and groaned inwardly as he realised that this now officially meant he only had one other idea to use, and suffice it to say there was a reason it was his last choice...
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(And that's all she wrote! I swear on my mother's grave...I should be so lucky...that I will have a new chapter up by the weekend if I have to lock my annoying, whining, precocious little brat of a nephew into a room to get some peace and quiet!)
(Okay, now I have a confession to make. The reason this instalment is late is because I abandoned you...only temporarily, but I abandoned you nonetheless! I got paid on Friday so I went out and bought the first Season of The West Wing on DVD so my computer has been occupied all weekend with watching the disks and devouring all the Josh/Donna fics I could lay my hands on. I'm sorry, and I hope this chapter makes up a little for the lateness.)
Part 8
Carter sat quietly at the back of the lecture hall and watched a chastened Abby remove a cigarette from between her lips and place it back in the packet. She looked like a little girl who had been caught eating sweets before dinner as Gallant told her off for attempting to smoke, and Carter couldn't help but laugh quietly as she turned around and tried to occupy herself with something else. She was staring at the writing on the blackboard, probably trying to place the obscured quote when Susan, observing what Abby was doing, tried to start up a conversation.
"I think that's Whitman," she said, also reading the writing on the blackboard. "Somebody erased most of it, but 'To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing..." that's 'I sing the body electric.' "
"Oh yeah, I know that one," Abby replied, deep in thought as she tried to remember the rest of the quote.
"You know Whitman?" Susan asked, genuinely interested, but Abby as ever decided that she was going to take this the wrong way. Carter could practically hear her roll her eyes as she turned to reply.
"Don't sound so surprised."
"No! It's just that not a lot of people do," Susan said in defence of herself, trying to make peace with Abby. "I mean, how many of you guys know him?" she turned to her left to include Gallant and Luka in her field of vision. They both admitted to only a cursory knowledge of him, and Susan was about to return to her conversation with Abby when a voice drifted over her right shoulder:-
" 'I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing
flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch anyone, or rest my arm ever so
lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this
then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.' "
While he was talking everybody had turned to look at Carter, who had effortlessly tossed of the rest of the quote that was written on the blackboard. Abby had listened to him entranced, edging closer to him as if she were in a dream and couldn't stop herself. He had made eye contact and had spoken the last part directly to her, as if there were nobody else in the room. They continued to stare at each other until the silence was broken by Susan...('Boy' he thought, 'she's certainly good at that!')
"*YOU* know Whitman?" Susan asked incredulously, hardly taking Carter for a poetry buff.
"Doesn't everybody?" he asked, reluctantly breaking eye contact with Abby to look at Susan. "Actually this is one of my favourites." He returned his gaze to Abby and could see that this little fact had raised him in her estimation. He smiled. He wasn't going to say that after establishing she liked Whitman he had gone home and searched through his Gamma's library to find this particular quote and had spent the last week reading and memorising everything he could by the poet. It looked like it was doing the job, though, because Abby moved to take a chair beside him and starting to talk to him in a better mood than she had been in all day.
"So when did you start liking Whitman?" she asked.
"Oh, it seems like five minutes but at the same time it was months ago," he said enigmatically before carrying on. He had been planning this exchange for days, and now that it looked like he had the perfect opportunity. "I always carry a volume of 'Leaves of Grass' with me if you want to read it?"
"Sure." Abby shifted her chair nearer to his as he bent over to reach into his bag and pull out the leather-lined volume he had grabbed out of the library on his way out that morning. Abby took the volume from his hands and casually flipped the pages until she came to the title page and noticed the print date.
"Oh my God, Carter, this is a first edition!" She gasped and ran her fingers lovingly down the pages. "Where did you get a hold of this? Susan, come look at this."
"What is it?" The blonde doctor asked as she came over and took a seat beside Abby.
"Carter's got a first edition of Walt Whitman," she said as she carefully handed the volume over too Susan.
"Oh my God! And you brought it in in that silly little bag of yours? Do you have any idea how much a book like this is worth?"
"It's just a book!" he laughed at the two women who were pouring over the book as if it were made of precious metal.
" 'Just a book?' It's a very expensive book!" they chorused at him.
"It's only money!" The second the words had left his lips he regretted saying them. He knew that Abby was sensitive about the subject of money, specifically *his* money, and on every other occasion the subject had arisen at the seminar she had become defensive. He could see that look in her eyes now.
"Well, I wish I could be that dismissive of money," she said, closing the book and handing it back to Carter. "And to think for a second I thought you'd sprung a couple of bucks at a book-store like the rest of us mere mortals." She ran her hand one last time over the cover of the book before getting up from her seat and resuming her place at the front of the hall.
"Great!" Carter whispered under his breath. He knew he'd misjudged this one: Abby was always ready to take offence at the slightest thing and he'd just jumped right in and given her a reason to pull away from him again. He watched the back of her head for the rest of the day as this was the only view she would let him have of her, and formed a plan to change his actions the next time...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...I always carry a volume of 'Leaves of Grass' with me if you want to read it?"
"Sure."
Carter reached into his bag and pulled out an old dog-eared book which he passed over to Abby who looked over it with interest.
"This is falling apart Carter, you must have read this a hundred times at least." She turned over pages at random, careful not to rip out any of the few remaining pages that were still attached to the binding. She stopped when she appeared to find something that interested her. "Wow! And you made notes as well..."
"I did? ...I mean I did." Carter moved his chair across to look over her shoulder. "Remind me again what I wrote?"
"You don't remember?" she teased him, moving the book away from his line of vision.
"Of course I do! It's just I made those notes when I was in school and...and your interpretation changes as you grow older...and...and why are you laughing at me?"
Abby was smiling at Carter and laughing quietly, finding great amusement in Carter's discomfort. She managed to stop sniggering for a few moments and looked into his face. "Admit it Carter, you can't read your writing either! Honestly, this is even worse than that scrawl you use to fill in charts!"
"Yeah...I guess I decided I should make my writing more legible if I was going to be a doctor!" She started laughing again and he joined in with her. He was just relieved that she hadn't noticed the writing wasn't his, or that this was in fact an old second-hand copy he had found in a store on his way over. He had figured that 'yesterday' Abby had thought he was taking his wealth for granted yet again, treating a first edition as if it were a dime-store copy, and that a much better way to impress her would be to show her a cheap and well-loved book. On his way home the night before he had stepped into the store and found the book at the back, so first thing in the morning he had rushed over to buy it before dashing over to the seminar. Truth be told he hadn't bothered to look inside the book other than to check the publisher's date so Abby's little revelation about the notes had been news to him. Well. He wasn't going to be the one to set her straight!
They talked and laughed about nothing for a while until he heard Abby sigh with contentment. He looked around the room; Susan and Luka appeared deep in conversation about something Carter didn't care about, and Gallant was busy Drilling down by the blackboard. Sensing that Abby had something on her mind he turned in his seat to face her.
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that there's only one more thing that could make this moment perfect," she said dreamily.
"Oh yeah?" He smiled and leaned a little closer towards her. "And what would that be?"
"Coffee...I didn't have time to wait in the queue this morning otherwise I would have been late and I need my caffeine fix to fully appreciate the poetry."
Carter didn't bother listening to the rest she had to say. The idea formed as soon as he heard the word 'Coffee'...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Here you go Abby," he announced, brandishing a steaming coffee cup underneath her nose.
"What is it?" She looked up and her eyes brightened a little as she saw the coffee cup Carter was carrying.
"Vanilla latte, half caf, extra foam. Your favourite!" He appeared proud of himself and smiled smugly, a feeling that soon passed when he saw how disappointed Abby was.
"Hazelnut," she stated simply, lowering her gaze to the paper she had borrowed from Luka.
"Excuse me?"
"Hazelnut. My favourite is hazelnut. Vanilla gives me hives."
"Oh." His face fell. Yet again he had managed to offend Abby. She probably thought he had forgotten all about her, and hadn't he just proved it? What kind of friend forgets the way a friend takes their coffee! He moved to the back of the room, placing the cup in front of Luka as he went, and waited for the next day...
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"Here you go Abby."
"What is it?"
"Your favourite: hazelnut latte, half caf, extra foam."
"Um, okay, thanks," she said awkwardly as she took the cup from him.
"What's the matter?" He saw the look of uncertainty on her face and wanted to know what he had got wrong this time.
"Don't think I'm not grateful, because I am, but I don't think I'm the only person in this room that likes coffee." She jerked her head slightly and he noticed the glares being sent by Susan and the inquisitive glances of Luka and Gallant. Wonderful, he thought...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Abby: hazelnut latte. Luka: black, one sugar. Susan: skinny cappuccino. Gallant: diet pepsi." Carter walked around the room distributing the coffee cups and accepting everybody's surprised thanks, then returned to stand in front of Abby. "Anything else?"
She looked at him in puzzlement. "Why would there be anything else?"
"I don't know. Maybe you think I should have bought a cup for the janitor!" He knew that was uncalled for but the last week spending every morning in the same Starbuck's queue, trying to perfect Abby's order, being served by the same dejected student, was beginning to get on his nerves a little. He walked to the back of the room and dropped into his usual seat, waiting for the opportunity to work his magic with Whitman again...
~~~~
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until the seminar leader arrived. There were no duels, no catfights about the superiority of doctors over nurses, and no obvious jealous fits. Even Susan seemed to realise that nothing was going to come between Carter and Abby and that she should give up trying.
At the end of the day they gathered outside the building to say their good-byes, and Carter persuaded Abby with very little difficulty to allow him to walk her to work. He had spent the day, as he saw it, being all that was charming and good. He had even been nice to Luka which took a hell of a lot of effort (although he had to admit that the guy wasn't so bad once you got to know him), so the prospect of being alone with Carter didn't scare her as much as it normally would.
Seeing as they had a few minutes to spare before the start of her shift they decided to go for a short walk down by the river. Before they knew it they had arrived by their usual spot
"How is it that we always end up by this bench?" Abby asked as she sat down.
"Well I didn't want to admit this," Carter replied as he took a seat beside her, "but I think it's because we both follow each other and neither of us wants to be the first to walk in a new direction."
"So you're saying we walk all this way from the hospital, even though Doc's is across the road, because we're lazy?" She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him, causing him to smile back at her.
"No, I'm saying that we've found something...I mean some*where* where we're both comfortable and it's easier for us to slip back towards it than strike out for pastures new." He looked down into Abby's eyes and could see that she was a little uncomfortable with the direction their talk was taking.
"Carter I don't think I..."
"Let me finish. Abby, our friendship is something easy for the both of us. I know we've not been close recently, and I know a lot of that is my fault, but look how easily we both slip back into it. We were meant to be friends...but I think we could be so much more; it's just neither of us wants to make the first move in case it ruins our friendship and we neither of us want to face losing that. But I can't go on like that anymore. I want to be more with you Abby. I know we'll be great together. Can't you take a chance on us?"
He stopped talking and looked down into her face. She appeared to be in a daze as she tried to digest what Carter had just said to her. Was it a declaration of love? He wasn't sure himself, but he knew he had to say or do something quickly before Abby had too much time to think and ran away from him again as she always did when somebody got too close to her. Impulsively he leaned forward and kissed her firmly on the lips. It was clear she was surprised at first, but as he leaned in for a second kiss he could feel her relax and melt into the kiss. The feeling of her gloved hands at the back of his neck was driving him crazy, and all he could think of was getting her into a bedroom so he could feel his flesh against hers.
"So do you want to go back to my place?" he asked, kissing along her neck. "We can phone in sick for your shift and...get a cup of coffee or something..." he added suggestively.
He could sense the change in Abby immediately. It was as if somebody had poured cold water on top of her and woken her up from the daze that his kisses had put her in. He stopped kissing her when he realised she was no longer kissing him back and sat back to look into the eyes of a very angry Abby, a sight he was getting to know well.
"That's what all this has been about?" she shouted. "I should have known How DARE you! You know for a second there I thought you might be different. I mean you bring coffee without being asked, you recite poetry, you make me laugh, but when everything comes down to it you're just..." she searched around in her mind for an appropriate insult, "...you're just a *man*!"
She drew back her hand and brought it sharply across his cheek.
*SLAP*
He winced from the impact her hand had made and immediately brought up his hand to his cheek in an attempt to soothe the throbbing pain. He stared at the image Abby's figure produced as she walked angrily away from him and gave a bitter laugh.
"Now why is this a familiar scene?" he muttered to himself. Oh well, back to the drawing board. He'd just have to find some other way to phrase it tomorrow that would produce a different effect...
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The day at the seminar had progressed much the same as the day before. Carter had been the perfect gentleman and had managed to persuade Abby to once again let him walk her to work. He took her down to the riverfront and started up the conversation from yesterday, trying to remember as much as possible from the speech he gave that had appeared to do the job. He leaned in to kiss her and found her responsive. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and softly traced the line of her jaw with kisses until he reached her lips, where he resumed his welcome assault. He soon found himself desperate to be closer to her, but learning from his previous attempts he knew that all suggestions they go to his place or her place would be met with a sharp slap. He drew away from her slightly and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, and one on her forehead, before bending his head to her ear and whispering into it the revised statement he had been thinking of all day.
As he spoke Abby's eyes shot open.
*SLAP*
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*SLAP*
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*SLAP*
"Would it kill you, just for once, to just say 'No'????" he shouted at her retreating back. He started to walk back towards home when he remembered something else he'd wanted to say. "And by the way *OUCH*!!!" he shouted.
Five days and still she kept slapping him. This was obviously the wrong approach! He rubbed his cheek and groaned inwardly as he realised that this now officially meant he only had one other idea to use, and suffice it to say there was a reason it was his last choice...
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(And that's all she wrote! I swear on my mother's grave...I should be so lucky...that I will have a new chapter up by the weekend if I have to lock my annoying, whining, precocious little brat of a nephew into a room to get some peace and quiet!)