It had been years since he'd seen her, they had so much to catch up on. It only occured to him as the plane pulled to a stop that he would have to tell her about the attack...and the drugs. But he pushed the thought away as he stood, watching the line of people exiting the plane and entering the airport. A few families, one with a toddler and a baby, one with teenagers. An older couple, a young man in a suit carrying a briefcase and a talking into a cell phone. A little boy travelling alone tightly gripping the hand of a flight attendant whose name tag read "JANE" in bold letters, running to a waiting couple standing near John's seat. And then he saw her, her wavy blonde hair loose, falling over her shoulders. He broke out into a grin as she looked at him.
~*~
Anna could barely contain her excitement as she walked through to the airport, wanting to shove all the people who were ahead of her and run to John. But she controlled herself, barely. When she saw him standing there she froze, looking at him. He was watching the people coming out of the little doorway, his eyes following the progress of a young boy running to a waiting couple. When he turned, she could see how much time had changed John Carter. He had a tired look on his face, and dark circles haunted the area under his eyes. But when he saw Anna, his face lit up in a goofy grin. Forgetting the pained look on his face, she ran to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She knew she'd have to tell him about everything that had happened to her since she left Chicago, but she didn't want to think about that.
~*~
John almost fell backwards when Anna flew into his arms, but he managed to keep his balance and returned her warm hug. "Anna!"
"Hi John!"
"How was the flight?"
"Horrible. They served lunch, which is always a bad sign. It was too long, anyway."
"I was wondering when you'd finally get here."
"It was pretty late. 28 minutes and 33 seconds."
"You counted too?" He asked, surprised.
"Of course. So, is the Carter family limo waiting to pick me up?"
"How about the Carter family Jeep?"
"That'll do."
"Good. Let's go get your bags."
~*~ Later ~*~
"Feels weird to walk back in here." Anna sighed as she stepped into the ambulance bay, John following close behind.
"Well, only Greene and Weaver know you're coming back. And Romano, but, you know, no one else who we're going to see."
"What, you don't want to visit my best buddy Rocket? I missed the arrogant little jerk." She started laughing, and John quickly joined in. They entered the ED, walking towards admit.
"Yo Carter, I'm outa here...whoa, who's this?" Dave stopped in his tracks as he saw Anna standing next to Carter.
"Dave. No way." John shook his head at Dave and answered, "Anna Del Amico, meet Dave Malucci. Watch out for this one, Anna."
"Oh I will, I can tell he's trouble already." She winked at Dave, and he grinned. When John gave her a warning glance, she smiled and smacked his arm lightly. "Calm down, John."
"Yeah, sure...well Dave, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye...see ya. You too?" He asked, motioning to Anna.
"I'll be around." She smiled as he walked away, whistling.
"Anna, don't encourage Dave. Trust me."
Randi was flipping through a magazine as the phone rang repeatedly. She didn't look up, so Anna grabbed the phone. "Hold on, let me check." She held the phone away from her mouth and asked John if someone named Abby Lockhart worked there.
"That's me...Randi not answering the phone again?" Abby had been putting away a chart, so she had come over when she heard her name. "Did they say who it was?"
"Luke?"
"Luka." She smiled, and took the receiver from Anna. "Thanks..."
"Anna." She said as she tapped Randi on the shoulder. "Time to get back to work, Randi."
"Is that you? What are you doing back here?"
"Pedes attending job. You haven't changed a bit, Randi."
"Thanks...I think."
"OK, where are Doug, Carol, Kerry, Mark..."
"Doug and Carol don't work here anymore, Anna. They moved to Seattle about 2 years ago. Well, Doug moved before Carol...it's a whole big thing. But they have twin girls, Tess and Kate, who'll be turning 2 this November."
"Oh, that's so sweet? Are there any pictures around?"
"Yeah, sure, in the lounge. We can go..."
"Anna?" Kerry Weaver came down the hallway as fast as her crutch would allow. "It *is* you! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. How are you? We didn't expect you until Tuesday."
"I decided to come a few days early, catch up with everyone. So, what's new around here?"
"Not that much, really. We've had a few new faces since you left, marriages, babies...but I'll leave it up to you to find out which ones. I should go, I'm late for an appointment. I'll see you tomorrow, if you're around." Kerry wasn't sure if Carter had mentioned the attack or Lucy, and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable, so she didn't mention it.
"Dinner plans, Dr. Weaver?"Carter raised an eyebrow and nodded towards the elevator.
"Yes Carter. Dinner plans. Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
"Nope. Think we'll hang around here." Carter knew Kim would be coming down any second to join Kerry, and since she was so ok about it all, enough to confront Romano, he couldn't think of a better way to tell Anna about Kim and Kerry.
"You don't give up, do you?"
"Never, Dr. Weaver, never." She groaned at Carter's sly smile, and Anna's confused face. The elevator chimed, signalling that it had arrived, and Kerry heard Kim's footsteps approaching. She came over to Kerry and said hello, not wanting to be overly affectionate in case Kerry was still uneasy about PDA.
"Hi Kim. Kim Legaspi, this is Anna Del Amico. Kim's a psychiatrist here, and Anna used to work in our emergency department...and if she's half as impressive as she was the first time she came to work here, she's going to be working here again soon."
"Dr. Weaver, stop it." Anna's fair cheeks turned a fierce shade of red.
"Well Kerry, should I be jealous?"
"Of course not. You ready for dinner?" She knew she shouldn't have been so careful about protecting Carter.
"Someone's blushing...you haven't told her, have you?" Kim smiled warmly, shaking Anna's hand. "Hi Anna, nice to see you again, Carter."
"Same here, Kim." Carter grinned at Kerry. "Sorry Dr. Weaver, I couldn't resist."
"Nice to meet you, Kim." Anna replied, extremely shocked.
"Well, I guess I'm making Kerry uncomfortable. Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Kim smiled again as she turned to Kerry. "You want to leave now?"
Kerry let out a small sigh. "Oh they already know...everyone does. If you want to stick around for a few minutes, it's OK with me."
"Thanks. So Anna, are you doctor, a nurse, a physician's assistant?" Both Kerry and Carter stood back, watching the women get to know each other. Kerry didn't speak to Carter, and he knew better than to try to speak to her.
"A doctor, a pediatric emergency physician."
"Really? How nice...kids are great. So you worked here before?"
"Yeah, my first year of residency. I went back home after, to a hospital with a pedes emergency department. But a position opened up here, so..."
"You figured you'd come back? You kind of miss this place when you're gone...I know."
"Yeah, you sure do. How long have you worked here?"
"This time? A few months. Before that I was here for a little over 6 months."
"What happened, if you don't mind my asking."
"I was fired, it's a long story, but we worked it all out. Anyway, we'd better be going. I guess you'll be around if you're applying for the job, so I'll see you."
"Definitely. Hey John, is that place George's still open?"
"Oh yeah. That's actually where we're going. It's a great little place." Kim said, not giving John a chance to answer. "Would you like to join us? If Kerry and John don't mind, that is." She looked to the others for confirmation.
"If Dr. Weaver doesn't mind..." John shifted uneasily.
"Well if you're all ok with it, then I guess so. We can call George's to change the reservation. I'll go do it." Kerry walked, banging her crutch loudly on the floor as she usually did when she was upset.
"She doesn't seem very OK with it." Anna remarked, looking at Kerry punching numbers angrily into the keypad of the phone.
"She was expecting a nice private dinner. She's still uptight about telling anyone about us...guess she was upset you found out this way. Not that she'd ever tell you herself, and she'd hate it more if you heard it from someone else." Kim sighed. "But it's worth the struggle. She's great."
"So how long have you been seeing each other?"
"Officially since June. A few months."
"That's great, congratulations."
"Thanks."
"They'll have our table ready at 7:45."
"Well, why don't we just go, it's 7:15 already." John pointed out, glancing at his watch.
"Yeah, sure."
"We can have a double date." Anna grinned at the group standing with her, not thinking of the meaning of what she had said for both couples.
~*~
A date. Does Anna really think of this as a date? That means I really have a chance with her, I could really end up with her this time. She really likes me, she's over Max, she's over it all and she wants to date me. And I'd wanted this since we became good friends. It was like a dream come true. Now all I have to do is tell her about what I've been up to since she left. See if she still wants me.
~*~
A date. It's been so long since I've been on a "date". It's always 'Hey Kerry, want to get some dinner?' or something like that. Never a date. It's a whole new thing, dating Kim. We're not just getting together, having dinner, having a drink or catching a movie. We're dating. We live in the same house, it seems odd to date her. I think the courting is done. But still...I can share a bed with her, I can have a relatonship with her, but I can't get over the word "date". I didn't know one word could cause so many problems.