TITLE: Ten Year's Time
AUTHOR: Lisa Brown, ERDrLewis@aol.com
PART: Part 4, Faced With the Past.
ARCHIVE: ask and ye shall receive. Archived at my site, http://er.shh.nu
CATEGORY: Carter/Abby
RATING: PG-13, but later parts may have a harsher rating.
SPOILERS: "Rampage" and before.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This part is a bit awkward. But, Carter and Abby are at an awkward stage. Inspiration? "If We Could Start Over" by Celine Dion. Words are used throughout the fic. =) Thanks to my Editor, Lucie, whom I forgot to thank in the first 2 openings. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, I'm not making money off of this, so everyone at Warner Bros. and their whole menagerie of people over there can just leave me alone.
Ten Year's Time: Part 4, Faced With the Past.
by Lisa, ERDrLewis@aol.com
###
For so many years now
I've held inside things I meant to say
But faced with the past now I realize
I can't let that stand in our way
###
By the time Abby's shift ended Friday morning, everyone knew about Chuni interrupting her and Carter in the lounge the night before. By the time of her next shift, Saturday morning, the rumors were flying. The story just kept growing. She and Carter were passionately lip-locked on top of the table. She and Carter had been found on top of each other with their shirts off. She and Carter were having wild sex in the ladies' room. Whether that was an entirely different rumor, or a misconception of the first, Abby wasn't sure. But, Abby was pretty sure who to thank.
By Monday, she had had enough. She hadn't seen Carter since Thursday night, but apparently they had been caught in flagrante on the roof. "Chuny, could I see you in the lounge for a moment please?" She pursed her lips together for a smile.
"Uh ... sure, Dr. Lockhart."
Abby turned on her heel and walked to the lounge. On her way there, she mustered up her dominant look on her face. The 'I'm in charge, so you better listen' face. The 'I don't really care, you're going to heed what I say' face. Carter called it "Weaveresque." He also laughed every time he saw it. Hopefully, it would have a better effect on Chuny.
The lounge was empty. *Excellent.* "Chuny, I'm pretty sure you're aware of the state you found Carter and I in after his party, right?"
"Umm ... yeah," Chuny said slowly.
"Could you care to remind me? Because I've heard so many 'states' I'm quite confused."
"I think you were --"
"You know what? It doesn't matter. Now, I can't speak for Dr. Carter, on the account that I haven't seen him since *Thursday,*" she said, emphasizing that, "but I can speak for myself. And this is getting out of hand. You may not have started every rumor flying around, but you certainly got the ball rolling. I would certainly appreciate your help in stopping these rumors. Because, not only is it none of your damn business, it's not professional. I try to run a decent ER, here, okay? Understood? And do not forget, I have a yearly budgeting meeting with Romano today and I WAS going to try and get higher nurses' salaries ... but if all my nurses do is stand around and gossip ...."
"Uh, no, I understand, Dr. Lockhart! I'll go start right now." Chuny flashed an apologetic smile.
"That's the spirit, Chuny!" Abby walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Damn.
That felt GOOD.
She made a mental note to add "gets to yell at people and boss them around" to her job perks while stirring in a pack of sugar.
"Hey, Abby."
She looked up to see Carter standing there.
"Uh, hi Carter! How was your birthday?" she asked before taking a sip of coffee. She felt her cheeks getting pink. She wasn't sure if it was because of the rumors or the fact that he looked so damn sexy in those suspenders. She regarded it as the latter, and forced herself to pay attention to his face.
"Good," he said walking over to his locker. "Hey, before I hear it from someone else, have we had any more wild sex lately?"
Abby almost choked on her coffee. She looked up and saw the twinkle in his eye. At least he had a sense of humor about it. "Yeah, I heard Grace telling Brandon and Chuny about us up on the roof last night. And from what I hear, it was pretty hot." *My god, Abby, you did NOT just say that.*
Carter smiled. "Good. Because, no offense, but I can't recall a damn thing about being up on the roof with you last night. I thought I was having dinner with my kids."
Abby was about to say something, but she looked over to the lounge door and quickly saw Grace's face disappear from the window. "Hold on," she said, walking over to the door. She opened it to find half of the staff that was on crowded around it. She cleared her throat. They all jumped away from the door. "And to think, I TRY to run an ER here!" she said loudly. "Come into the lounge, stay out of the lounge, but do not hover around the door like idiots, please! Don't you all have work to do?" she said before slamming the door.
"Ooh, Alpha-bitch Abby. I think I like that," Carter said.
"I'll keep that in mind." *JESUS! What has gotten into you today, Abby?*
Carter chuckled and looked towards the ground. Abby could swear he was blushing. "Hey, what time are you off? Eight?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, my car is in the shop, and my mom took the kids out for the whole day. I was wondering if I could hitch a ride home with you. If it's a problem, I can just take the El."
"What? No Carter family limo to pick you up?" Abby said, grinning.
"No, Mom didn't like their service, so we don't --" Carter looked up. *She was JOKING, Carter.* "Ah, no. No limo. Is it any trouble?"
"Of course not. Now, we better get to work before we start having some more of that wild sex again. From what I hear, it's pretty much all we do."
###
It had been a hard shift. Long and lots of patients, and Abby's budget meeting with Romano did not go as well as planned. Carter and Abby decided to drown their day in large cups of coffee and bad, greasy food from Doc Magoo's. They had just sat down at a booth, when Chen walked in.
"Hey guys! Just get off?" she said, walking up to the table.
"Yeah. You pulling the graveyard?" Carter asked.
"Mhmm. I decided I had better try and get something to eat before I'm on."
"Care to join us? We just got here," Abby said.
"You sure?"
"Don't worry, Deb, contrary to popular belief, we're not going to jump on the table and start going at it," Carter said, motioning for her to sit.
"Oh, god, Carter, don't add fuel to the fire. Next thing we know that'll be going around."
Chen laughed. "Hey, at least you guys have a sense of humor about it."
"Yeah, well, I tried to bribe Chuny today to get her to help stop the rumors, but that did no good," Abby said, mindlessly stirring her coffee.
"No, I heard her telling Shane to can it once today. She's trying," Carter said, hoping it would cheer Abby up.
"Really? Good. She should be."
The waitress came and took their orders and the three made small talk until their food arrived. Eventually, Chen had to go to work and Abby and Carter headed home.
The ride to Carter's was a silent one. Abby was trying to remember if she had ever been to Carter's parents' house. She knew she had gone to a reception after Jamie's funeral there, but she never recalled going inside. It was held outside, and she remembered only staying a short while. There was no guarantee that she would see the inside of the mansion tonight anyway.
Carter hoped Abby knew the way to his place, because he sure wasn't paying attention to the road. He was paying attention to Abby. Her hair had grown out, just below her shoulders. This was the length when she usually seemed to cut it back to it's normal shortness. Carter much preferred this length. Her deep brown eyes were intently staring at the road.
"Am I going the right way?"
Carter sharply spun his head around to see where the were. "Yeah, up here you'll make a left, then a right," he said. Finally, they were there.
"Do you want to come in for a while?" Carter asked.
"Sure. I don't think I've actually ever been inside of the Carter mansion."
Carter raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'll have to give you the nickel tour then!"
Abby laughed. "I think it's more than a nickel tour."
They walked up to the door after parking the car. Carter put a key in the door, and once inside turned of the security alarm.
"What? No butler to answer the door? Getting cheap on me, are you, Carter?" Abby smiled at him.
"Well ..." Carter said, pausing for a moment. "If you really must know ... the butler is on vacation."
Abby burst into laughter. "You're kidding, right? The day I visit, the butler's on vacation. What other kind of help you have here?"
Carter smiled. He always hated the fact that his family had money, because he always felt pretentious talking about it. "Just a cook, because no one in my family can cook. We're missing that gene, I suppose. But she always leaves by eight."
"I see. So, did you say something about a tour?" Abby asked, her eyes sparking.
Carter took the liberty of showing her around. Abby seemed amazed at everything. The size of the kitchen, the number of bedrooms. By the time that they had reached the third floor, where he, Melina, and Jason had their rooms, Carter was feeling mighty pretentious. "My parents were actually using it as an attic of sorts until we moved in. It's nice, because it's small and a bit isolated from the rest of the house." He showed her the children's rooms, and finally they reached the room at the end of the hall.
"This must be your room," Abby said, pointing to the closed door.
"Uh, yeah. Let me see if it's decent. I wasn't expecting company."
He walked in and shut the door partway. Abby leaned forward and peered through the narrow crack between the door and the wall. She saw Carter frantically gathering clothes and shoving them in the closed. She chuckled and stepped back from the door.
Suddenly, Carter flew the door open. "Decent?" Abby asked.
Carter smiled apologetically. "Yep." He stepped back from the doorframe to let Abby in.
Abby noticed it was remarkably smaller than the children's rooms. It was most definitely the smallest room in the house. A mahogany bed, dresser, and nightstand took up most of the room. Abby could see a small bathroom off to the side, and a small closet on the other side. She couldn't understand why Carter would choose this room to stay in out of the many he had to choose from. It was bothering her so much, she asked him.
"You'll have to remember the state of mind I was in when I moved here. This room was furthest away from civilization, so to speak. I didn't necessarily want a huge, bright room. This would do," Carter said, sitting down on the bed. "Also, while my family may be rich, I, most certainly, am not. I don't want a huge culture shock when we move out. If we move out." Carter aimlessly traced his finger over the pattern of his bedspread.
"You're actually considering living with your parents for the rest of your life?" Abby said, cocking her head and sitting down next to him.
"Yeah, well, while it's just me and the kids, it's almost easier to stay here. So, until that changes," he said looking over at Abby. "That reminds me," he said, clearing his throat. "Abby, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you ..."
"Yes?" She looked into his eyes, trying to find clues to what this mysterious question was. He looked unbelievably nervous.
"I was wondering ..." Carter started. The words would not come out of his mouth. "Ah," he said, breaking eye contact and looking down at the bedspread he was still aimlessly tracing.
*I should kiss him,* Abby thought. She wasn't sure why she got the sudden urge to kiss him. Maybe it was those darn suspenders again. But, she knew she was going to do it. She cupped his chin to raise his face once again to eye level.
Carter remembered his earlier dilemma *Ask her or kiss her.* He decided he was going to go for kiss her once again. But he would actually accomplish his task this time.
Both leaned forward and lips met. Before Carter knew it, Abby was on top of him unbuttoning his shirt and kissing the trail her hands left behind. And all Carter could think of was how good it felt. It had been a long time, too long. As he put his head back, his eye caught a glimpse of a picture sitting on his nightstand. Of he and his kids. They were going to be home any minute. *Oh, shit.*
"Abby, wait!" he said. She looked up at him. "We ... we can't do this. Not now, not like this."
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Oh. Of course not. It's too soon, I knew it was."
"Abby, that's not --"
She got up and began to straighten her clothes. "Shh, shh, you don't have to explain, Carter, I understand. I'll just go. Yeah. I'll show myself out." She turned and walked out the door.
"Abby, wait." Carter got to his feet and tried to fix his clothes as he followed her. But she was too fast for him, and already downstairs by the time he got to the stairwell. Hearing the door open, he turned the corner to see that it was not Abby who had opened the door.
"Hi, Dr. Abby!" he heard Melina exclaim. "What are you doing here?"
*Shit,* thought Carter. He ran back to his room to make sure he looked presentable for his family.
"Hi Melina, Jason, Mrs. Carter. I just gave your daddy a ride home. He was just looking for some papers upstairs for me. But I have to go, so can you tell him he can just give them to me tomorrow?" Abby said, smiling.
"Sure, Dr. Abby," Melina answered.
"Bye-bye, Dr. Abby," Jason said.
Abby put on a smile and said her good-byes before walking to her car. *God, Abby, why did you do that? You knew he wasn't ready. It was too soon,* she thought to herself as she unlocked the car door. Although she was leaving all hot and bothered, she knew it was for the best. She put the key in the ignition and drove off, playing the radio loudly to try and help her forget what might have been.
Finally fully dressed, Carter ran back downstairs. "Hi guys!" he said, seeing his children and mother.
"Hi, Daddy. Dr. Abby left. She said to give her the papers tomorrow."
For a second, his face fell. She was gone already. He wouldn't get to explain. And the night most certainly would not end up as he had thought it would five minutes ago. Well, he couldn't worry about that right now. "Ah, okay. Thanks, Mel. Did you guys have a good day?" Hopefully, that would make him forget. At least for now.
###
Carter turned over for the umpteenth time to see what time it was. The red numbers stood out in the dark -- 11:18. Since he wasn't getting any sleep, he sat up in bed. He knew why he couldn't fall asleep. It was her.
As he wandered down the stairs, he could see a light on in the library. Going in to turn it off, he saw a figure curled up in the chair.
"Mom! You scared me," Carter said.
"Sorry. I couldn't sleep. And from the looks of it, you couldn't either." Mrs. Carter placed her bookmark in her book and looked up at her son.
"Yeah ... I just thought I'd run those papers over to Abby now," Carter said, somewhat distracted.
Mrs. Carter smiled. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, pointing to his hands, which were empty.
"Ah ... yeah, they must be still in my room," Carter said, stumbling over words.
Mrs. Carter softly chuckled. "You don't want to go see Abby about papers, do you John?"
"No," he replied. "I've been trying to ask her out, but --"
Mrs. Carter held up a hand. "No need to explain to me, John. But, if you're going over to her house late at night to ask her out, you might want to rethink your wardrobe."
Carter looked down and saw himself still dressed in his sweatpants and tee shirt. "Yeah, I should probably go change."
Mrs. Carter smiled. "I'll go up to my room to read, so you don't think I'm waiting up for you. See you in the morning, dear."
"Good night, Mom. And thanks."
Mrs. Carter just smiled at him as she headed up the stairs. Over the years, his mother had become more understanding and ... motherly. Like Gamma was. He liked that.
When he got to his room, he opened his closet, searching through it to find something to wear. What would one wear to go seduce a woman? He wasn't necessarily seducing her, he reminded himself, he was just going to ask her out. Right? He sighed, and finally pulled out a pair of khaki pants and a casual blue shirt. He looked at the clock. It was already after eleven-thirty, it would be midnight by the time he got to Abby's. He didn't really think she would care what he was wearing.
###
Abby yawned and looked at the clock. Just after midnight. She reasoned that she really should try and get some sleep, since she was on at six. But she would think about *him.* She picked up the remote and flipped through the channels once more. Infomercial. Talk show. Infomercial. Old reruns of Law & Order. News. Grainy triple bypass surgery. Power off. Abby sighed. She gathered her blanket up and began to make her way to her bed. Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door. Who would be coming over this late?
She walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. "Carter?" she said. What was he doing here? She opened the door. Sure enough, it was him. "Hi," she said, a somewhat puzzled look on her face.
"Hi," he said. "Sorry it's so late. Can I come in?"
###
End P.4
###
AUTHOR: Lisa Brown, ERDrLewis@aol.com
PART: Part 4, Faced With the Past.
ARCHIVE: ask and ye shall receive. Archived at my site, http://er.shh.nu
CATEGORY: Carter/Abby
RATING: PG-13, but later parts may have a harsher rating.
SPOILERS: "Rampage" and before.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This part is a bit awkward. But, Carter and Abby are at an awkward stage. Inspiration? "If We Could Start Over" by Celine Dion. Words are used throughout the fic. =) Thanks to my Editor, Lucie, whom I forgot to thank in the first 2 openings. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, I'm not making money off of this, so everyone at Warner Bros. and their whole menagerie of people over there can just leave me alone.
Ten Year's Time: Part 4, Faced With the Past.
by Lisa, ERDrLewis@aol.com
###
For so many years now
I've held inside things I meant to say
But faced with the past now I realize
I can't let that stand in our way
###
By the time Abby's shift ended Friday morning, everyone knew about Chuni interrupting her and Carter in the lounge the night before. By the time of her next shift, Saturday morning, the rumors were flying. The story just kept growing. She and Carter were passionately lip-locked on top of the table. She and Carter had been found on top of each other with their shirts off. She and Carter were having wild sex in the ladies' room. Whether that was an entirely different rumor, or a misconception of the first, Abby wasn't sure. But, Abby was pretty sure who to thank.
By Monday, she had had enough. She hadn't seen Carter since Thursday night, but apparently they had been caught in flagrante on the roof. "Chuny, could I see you in the lounge for a moment please?" She pursed her lips together for a smile.
"Uh ... sure, Dr. Lockhart."
Abby turned on her heel and walked to the lounge. On her way there, she mustered up her dominant look on her face. The 'I'm in charge, so you better listen' face. The 'I don't really care, you're going to heed what I say' face. Carter called it "Weaveresque." He also laughed every time he saw it. Hopefully, it would have a better effect on Chuny.
The lounge was empty. *Excellent.* "Chuny, I'm pretty sure you're aware of the state you found Carter and I in after his party, right?"
"Umm ... yeah," Chuny said slowly.
"Could you care to remind me? Because I've heard so many 'states' I'm quite confused."
"I think you were --"
"You know what? It doesn't matter. Now, I can't speak for Dr. Carter, on the account that I haven't seen him since *Thursday,*" she said, emphasizing that, "but I can speak for myself. And this is getting out of hand. You may not have started every rumor flying around, but you certainly got the ball rolling. I would certainly appreciate your help in stopping these rumors. Because, not only is it none of your damn business, it's not professional. I try to run a decent ER, here, okay? Understood? And do not forget, I have a yearly budgeting meeting with Romano today and I WAS going to try and get higher nurses' salaries ... but if all my nurses do is stand around and gossip ...."
"Uh, no, I understand, Dr. Lockhart! I'll go start right now." Chuny flashed an apologetic smile.
"That's the spirit, Chuny!" Abby walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Damn.
That felt GOOD.
She made a mental note to add "gets to yell at people and boss them around" to her job perks while stirring in a pack of sugar.
"Hey, Abby."
She looked up to see Carter standing there.
"Uh, hi Carter! How was your birthday?" she asked before taking a sip of coffee. She felt her cheeks getting pink. She wasn't sure if it was because of the rumors or the fact that he looked so damn sexy in those suspenders. She regarded it as the latter, and forced herself to pay attention to his face.
"Good," he said walking over to his locker. "Hey, before I hear it from someone else, have we had any more wild sex lately?"
Abby almost choked on her coffee. She looked up and saw the twinkle in his eye. At least he had a sense of humor about it. "Yeah, I heard Grace telling Brandon and Chuny about us up on the roof last night. And from what I hear, it was pretty hot." *My god, Abby, you did NOT just say that.*
Carter smiled. "Good. Because, no offense, but I can't recall a damn thing about being up on the roof with you last night. I thought I was having dinner with my kids."
Abby was about to say something, but she looked over to the lounge door and quickly saw Grace's face disappear from the window. "Hold on," she said, walking over to the door. She opened it to find half of the staff that was on crowded around it. She cleared her throat. They all jumped away from the door. "And to think, I TRY to run an ER here!" she said loudly. "Come into the lounge, stay out of the lounge, but do not hover around the door like idiots, please! Don't you all have work to do?" she said before slamming the door.
"Ooh, Alpha-bitch Abby. I think I like that," Carter said.
"I'll keep that in mind." *JESUS! What has gotten into you today, Abby?*
Carter chuckled and looked towards the ground. Abby could swear he was blushing. "Hey, what time are you off? Eight?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, my car is in the shop, and my mom took the kids out for the whole day. I was wondering if I could hitch a ride home with you. If it's a problem, I can just take the El."
"What? No Carter family limo to pick you up?" Abby said, grinning.
"No, Mom didn't like their service, so we don't --" Carter looked up. *She was JOKING, Carter.* "Ah, no. No limo. Is it any trouble?"
"Of course not. Now, we better get to work before we start having some more of that wild sex again. From what I hear, it's pretty much all we do."
###
It had been a hard shift. Long and lots of patients, and Abby's budget meeting with Romano did not go as well as planned. Carter and Abby decided to drown their day in large cups of coffee and bad, greasy food from Doc Magoo's. They had just sat down at a booth, when Chen walked in.
"Hey guys! Just get off?" she said, walking up to the table.
"Yeah. You pulling the graveyard?" Carter asked.
"Mhmm. I decided I had better try and get something to eat before I'm on."
"Care to join us? We just got here," Abby said.
"You sure?"
"Don't worry, Deb, contrary to popular belief, we're not going to jump on the table and start going at it," Carter said, motioning for her to sit.
"Oh, god, Carter, don't add fuel to the fire. Next thing we know that'll be going around."
Chen laughed. "Hey, at least you guys have a sense of humor about it."
"Yeah, well, I tried to bribe Chuny today to get her to help stop the rumors, but that did no good," Abby said, mindlessly stirring her coffee.
"No, I heard her telling Shane to can it once today. She's trying," Carter said, hoping it would cheer Abby up.
"Really? Good. She should be."
The waitress came and took their orders and the three made small talk until their food arrived. Eventually, Chen had to go to work and Abby and Carter headed home.
The ride to Carter's was a silent one. Abby was trying to remember if she had ever been to Carter's parents' house. She knew she had gone to a reception after Jamie's funeral there, but she never recalled going inside. It was held outside, and she remembered only staying a short while. There was no guarantee that she would see the inside of the mansion tonight anyway.
Carter hoped Abby knew the way to his place, because he sure wasn't paying attention to the road. He was paying attention to Abby. Her hair had grown out, just below her shoulders. This was the length when she usually seemed to cut it back to it's normal shortness. Carter much preferred this length. Her deep brown eyes were intently staring at the road.
"Am I going the right way?"
Carter sharply spun his head around to see where the were. "Yeah, up here you'll make a left, then a right," he said. Finally, they were there.
"Do you want to come in for a while?" Carter asked.
"Sure. I don't think I've actually ever been inside of the Carter mansion."
Carter raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'll have to give you the nickel tour then!"
Abby laughed. "I think it's more than a nickel tour."
They walked up to the door after parking the car. Carter put a key in the door, and once inside turned of the security alarm.
"What? No butler to answer the door? Getting cheap on me, are you, Carter?" Abby smiled at him.
"Well ..." Carter said, pausing for a moment. "If you really must know ... the butler is on vacation."
Abby burst into laughter. "You're kidding, right? The day I visit, the butler's on vacation. What other kind of help you have here?"
Carter smiled. He always hated the fact that his family had money, because he always felt pretentious talking about it. "Just a cook, because no one in my family can cook. We're missing that gene, I suppose. But she always leaves by eight."
"I see. So, did you say something about a tour?" Abby asked, her eyes sparking.
Carter took the liberty of showing her around. Abby seemed amazed at everything. The size of the kitchen, the number of bedrooms. By the time that they had reached the third floor, where he, Melina, and Jason had their rooms, Carter was feeling mighty pretentious. "My parents were actually using it as an attic of sorts until we moved in. It's nice, because it's small and a bit isolated from the rest of the house." He showed her the children's rooms, and finally they reached the room at the end of the hall.
"This must be your room," Abby said, pointing to the closed door.
"Uh, yeah. Let me see if it's decent. I wasn't expecting company."
He walked in and shut the door partway. Abby leaned forward and peered through the narrow crack between the door and the wall. She saw Carter frantically gathering clothes and shoving them in the closed. She chuckled and stepped back from the door.
Suddenly, Carter flew the door open. "Decent?" Abby asked.
Carter smiled apologetically. "Yep." He stepped back from the doorframe to let Abby in.
Abby noticed it was remarkably smaller than the children's rooms. It was most definitely the smallest room in the house. A mahogany bed, dresser, and nightstand took up most of the room. Abby could see a small bathroom off to the side, and a small closet on the other side. She couldn't understand why Carter would choose this room to stay in out of the many he had to choose from. It was bothering her so much, she asked him.
"You'll have to remember the state of mind I was in when I moved here. This room was furthest away from civilization, so to speak. I didn't necessarily want a huge, bright room. This would do," Carter said, sitting down on the bed. "Also, while my family may be rich, I, most certainly, am not. I don't want a huge culture shock when we move out. If we move out." Carter aimlessly traced his finger over the pattern of his bedspread.
"You're actually considering living with your parents for the rest of your life?" Abby said, cocking her head and sitting down next to him.
"Yeah, well, while it's just me and the kids, it's almost easier to stay here. So, until that changes," he said looking over at Abby. "That reminds me," he said, clearing his throat. "Abby, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you ..."
"Yes?" She looked into his eyes, trying to find clues to what this mysterious question was. He looked unbelievably nervous.
"I was wondering ..." Carter started. The words would not come out of his mouth. "Ah," he said, breaking eye contact and looking down at the bedspread he was still aimlessly tracing.
*I should kiss him,* Abby thought. She wasn't sure why she got the sudden urge to kiss him. Maybe it was those darn suspenders again. But, she knew she was going to do it. She cupped his chin to raise his face once again to eye level.
Carter remembered his earlier dilemma *Ask her or kiss her.* He decided he was going to go for kiss her once again. But he would actually accomplish his task this time.
Both leaned forward and lips met. Before Carter knew it, Abby was on top of him unbuttoning his shirt and kissing the trail her hands left behind. And all Carter could think of was how good it felt. It had been a long time, too long. As he put his head back, his eye caught a glimpse of a picture sitting on his nightstand. Of he and his kids. They were going to be home any minute. *Oh, shit.*
"Abby, wait!" he said. She looked up at him. "We ... we can't do this. Not now, not like this."
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Oh. Of course not. It's too soon, I knew it was."
"Abby, that's not --"
She got up and began to straighten her clothes. "Shh, shh, you don't have to explain, Carter, I understand. I'll just go. Yeah. I'll show myself out." She turned and walked out the door.
"Abby, wait." Carter got to his feet and tried to fix his clothes as he followed her. But she was too fast for him, and already downstairs by the time he got to the stairwell. Hearing the door open, he turned the corner to see that it was not Abby who had opened the door.
"Hi, Dr. Abby!" he heard Melina exclaim. "What are you doing here?"
*Shit,* thought Carter. He ran back to his room to make sure he looked presentable for his family.
"Hi Melina, Jason, Mrs. Carter. I just gave your daddy a ride home. He was just looking for some papers upstairs for me. But I have to go, so can you tell him he can just give them to me tomorrow?" Abby said, smiling.
"Sure, Dr. Abby," Melina answered.
"Bye-bye, Dr. Abby," Jason said.
Abby put on a smile and said her good-byes before walking to her car. *God, Abby, why did you do that? You knew he wasn't ready. It was too soon,* she thought to herself as she unlocked the car door. Although she was leaving all hot and bothered, she knew it was for the best. She put the key in the ignition and drove off, playing the radio loudly to try and help her forget what might have been.
Finally fully dressed, Carter ran back downstairs. "Hi guys!" he said, seeing his children and mother.
"Hi, Daddy. Dr. Abby left. She said to give her the papers tomorrow."
For a second, his face fell. She was gone already. He wouldn't get to explain. And the night most certainly would not end up as he had thought it would five minutes ago. Well, he couldn't worry about that right now. "Ah, okay. Thanks, Mel. Did you guys have a good day?" Hopefully, that would make him forget. At least for now.
###
Carter turned over for the umpteenth time to see what time it was. The red numbers stood out in the dark -- 11:18. Since he wasn't getting any sleep, he sat up in bed. He knew why he couldn't fall asleep. It was her.
As he wandered down the stairs, he could see a light on in the library. Going in to turn it off, he saw a figure curled up in the chair.
"Mom! You scared me," Carter said.
"Sorry. I couldn't sleep. And from the looks of it, you couldn't either." Mrs. Carter placed her bookmark in her book and looked up at her son.
"Yeah ... I just thought I'd run those papers over to Abby now," Carter said, somewhat distracted.
Mrs. Carter smiled. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, pointing to his hands, which were empty.
"Ah ... yeah, they must be still in my room," Carter said, stumbling over words.
Mrs. Carter softly chuckled. "You don't want to go see Abby about papers, do you John?"
"No," he replied. "I've been trying to ask her out, but --"
Mrs. Carter held up a hand. "No need to explain to me, John. But, if you're going over to her house late at night to ask her out, you might want to rethink your wardrobe."
Carter looked down and saw himself still dressed in his sweatpants and tee shirt. "Yeah, I should probably go change."
Mrs. Carter smiled. "I'll go up to my room to read, so you don't think I'm waiting up for you. See you in the morning, dear."
"Good night, Mom. And thanks."
Mrs. Carter just smiled at him as she headed up the stairs. Over the years, his mother had become more understanding and ... motherly. Like Gamma was. He liked that.
When he got to his room, he opened his closet, searching through it to find something to wear. What would one wear to go seduce a woman? He wasn't necessarily seducing her, he reminded himself, he was just going to ask her out. Right? He sighed, and finally pulled out a pair of khaki pants and a casual blue shirt. He looked at the clock. It was already after eleven-thirty, it would be midnight by the time he got to Abby's. He didn't really think she would care what he was wearing.
###
Abby yawned and looked at the clock. Just after midnight. She reasoned that she really should try and get some sleep, since she was on at six. But she would think about *him.* She picked up the remote and flipped through the channels once more. Infomercial. Talk show. Infomercial. Old reruns of Law & Order. News. Grainy triple bypass surgery. Power off. Abby sighed. She gathered her blanket up and began to make her way to her bed. Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door. Who would be coming over this late?
She walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. "Carter?" she said. What was he doing here? She opened the door. Sure enough, it was him. "Hi," she said, a somewhat puzzled look on her face.
"Hi," he said. "Sorry it's so late. Can I come in?"
###
End P.4
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