What A Wonderful World
Carter was hyper, and it was becoming increasingly obvious to both his patients and co-workers. He had been practically jumping from the moment he had woken up, and had turned up at work over an hour before the start of his shift, having given up on sleep. Mark and Kerry had put it down to excitement at the prospect of Kat's high school graduation that night, Deb had noticed but had chosen to keep her mouth shut, and Anna had a day off. Luka, however, finally noticed that he was acting more and more like Dave Malucci as the day wore on, and promised himself that he would drag him off as soon as they got a chance. As it turned out, it was an unnecessary promise.
Nervously patting the small object in the pocket of his lab coat, Carter attempted, for the third time in ten minutes, to start an IV. This time, he poked the needle straight through the vein and swore under his breath.
'You sure you've done this before?'
'Yes!' He had to admit, as far as his IV skills were concerned, he was back to his first day on ER rotation. Heaven help him if a trauma came in. He gave up. 'Haleh, can you start a saline IV, get a CBC, chem 7, EKG and cardiac enzymes?'
'Sure. Are you sure you're OK?'
'I'm fine.' He let the door slam behind him and started hunting for Luka, who he eventually found hiding in a corner of the admit desk with a pile of charts, looking very much as though he was avoiding being landed with any more patients. Glancing round to make sure that they were reasonably safe from the nurses hearing them and posting their conversation in a memo, he said quietly, 'Luka? I need to talk to you.'
'Sure. Here?'
'Um, no. Doc's, ten minutes?'
'Sure,' he repeated.
Exactly ten minutes later, Carter cut across the ambulance bay, crossed the street, and entered the diner. Luka was sitting at the counter drinking coffee. He joined him, ordered a decaff, and lit a cigarette. After finding out about Kat, he had never quite managed to quit again. Luka raised his eyebrows.
'Decaff?'
'I'm hyper enough without any extra caffeine.'
'So I noticed,' he said wryly. 'Is this about Kat graduating? Or is there something else?'
'It's certainly not helping,' Carter admitted, pulling a black velvet box out of his pocket and putting it down on the counter. 'That's the something else.'
'Oh, you shouldn't have.' Luka opened it with a certain degree of curiosity, although he was pretty sure what it contained. Sure enough, a beautiful silver ring set with two diamonds and a sapphire stared back up at him. 'Wow. Nice.'
'Do you think it's too early?'
'Not at all.'
'No?' He questioned this with a grin. 'It only took you two and a half years for you to propose to your wife, and you think that six months isn't too early.'
Luka twisted his very new wedding ring with a small smile. He and Abby had finally tied the knot three weeks ago in the same church that Mark and Elizabeth had had their wedding. He had heard a lot about Carter and Anna's story from various people who had been there when she first worked there as a paediatric intern double boarding in emergency medicine, and, after considering his answer, said, 'You're perfect together. You know, we look at you and we see you together, and it just fits. And you know that it's going to last forever.'
'Really?'
'Yeah. Really. And with Abby I did wait a long time… largely because I wasn't really sure whether she wanted me or you… but Danjiela and I were married ten weeks after we first met and we were together for almost ten years, until she died.'
'Do you still miss her?'
'I still love her, Carter, just as I still love and will always love Marko and Jasna. But it's time to get on with my life. And now I have Abby - and our baby.'
'You mean Abby's - oh, congratulations, man.'
'Thank you. But Anna will say yes. When were you planning on proposing to her?'
'Tonight. After Kat's graduation. Can I tell Abby that I know?'
'Of course. You're one of her best friends, I don't think that she would mind. But we want to keep it under wraps for a little longer, so don't tell anyone else just yet.'
~~~~~~
When Anna and Carter walked in the emergency doors for their 6pm shifts the next day, Abby and Luka were at the admit desk and jumped up. By means of waving his arms around to attract their attention and violently shaking his head, he managed to convey a vague message. It was unclear exactly what he was trying to say, but they got the impression that his night had not exactly gone as planned and they shouldn't say anything in front of Anna. When she disappeared into the paeds ER, he sat down on the desk.
'John?' Abby looked worried. 'What happened? Did she say no?'
'I didn't ask her!'
'Oh.' That put kind of a new spin on things. 'Um, are we allowed to ask why?'
'I guess so. Kat knew that I was going to propose last night, because it was her graduation and you know, I asked her if she would mind, and she said no, of course not. And then, she was valedictorian. And she was so happy - and, by the way, we got incredibly drunk and I have the most horrendous hangover ever - and I just couldn't do it, y'know? I couldn't overshadow her big night by asking my girlfriend to marry me.'
'No,' Abby agreed, handing him a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol. 'I can see that.'
'So now I just have to find another way of doing it.'
'You'll be OK,' Luka told him. 'But if I would strongly advise you to stop acting all weird before she figures something out. You can't put it down to excitement about Kat today.'
'No, I guess not.' He stood up. 'Okay, I need coffee.'
Abby and Luka managed to waylay Deb as she was leaving after the day shift. They gave her their keys and asked her to go home and come back, stopping by their apartment on the way. A little after ten, they engineered it so that Carter and Anna would go into the lounge within a couple of minutes of each other. Anna had already gone in, and Carter nearly crashed into her when he opened the door. She was standing motionless and staring at the lounge. There must have been two hundred candles lit, and, looking at the door, he saw Luka peering through a crack between the door and the frame. He mouthed a silent 'thank you' to him, and the door was closed. Anna finally managed to regain her speech.
'What's going on in here?'
'Oh.' He smiled and dragged her into the middle of the room. 'I think I know what's going on.'
'John…'
He knelt down on the floor. 'Okay, I was going to do this last night, and I had a speech all memorized, but suddenly I can't remember a word of it. But now I know that it doesn't matter what I say, all that matters is that you make me happy and you love me more than I ever thought was possible, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.' He scrabbled around for the box and opened it. 'Anna Del Amico, will you marry me?'
She wiped her eyes and mumbled something inaudible, then nodded her head, slid the ring onto her finger and whispered. 'Yes.'
I see trees of green, red roses too
I watch them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, clouds of white
Bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying, 'how do you do'
They're really saying, I love you.
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself - what a wonderful world.
Oh, yeah.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, so not quite a double bill. But almost. Part 8 (8, right? Whatever, the next bit) will be up sometime tomorrow evening. Right now, a shower and the episode of The West Wing that I missed on Tuesday are taking priority. The song I used at the end was 'What A Wonderful World' by Louis 'Sachmo' Armstrong. Luka's line in Doc Magoo's about Carter and Anna, and the lounge being filled with candles for Carter to propose were both stolen from Friends. TOW The Truth About London and TOW The Proposal respectively. They did not belong to me.
Carter was hyper, and it was becoming increasingly obvious to both his patients and co-workers. He had been practically jumping from the moment he had woken up, and had turned up at work over an hour before the start of his shift, having given up on sleep. Mark and Kerry had put it down to excitement at the prospect of Kat's high school graduation that night, Deb had noticed but had chosen to keep her mouth shut, and Anna had a day off. Luka, however, finally noticed that he was acting more and more like Dave Malucci as the day wore on, and promised himself that he would drag him off as soon as they got a chance. As it turned out, it was an unnecessary promise.
Nervously patting the small object in the pocket of his lab coat, Carter attempted, for the third time in ten minutes, to start an IV. This time, he poked the needle straight through the vein and swore under his breath.
'You sure you've done this before?'
'Yes!' He had to admit, as far as his IV skills were concerned, he was back to his first day on ER rotation. Heaven help him if a trauma came in. He gave up. 'Haleh, can you start a saline IV, get a CBC, chem 7, EKG and cardiac enzymes?'
'Sure. Are you sure you're OK?'
'I'm fine.' He let the door slam behind him and started hunting for Luka, who he eventually found hiding in a corner of the admit desk with a pile of charts, looking very much as though he was avoiding being landed with any more patients. Glancing round to make sure that they were reasonably safe from the nurses hearing them and posting their conversation in a memo, he said quietly, 'Luka? I need to talk to you.'
'Sure. Here?'
'Um, no. Doc's, ten minutes?'
'Sure,' he repeated.
Exactly ten minutes later, Carter cut across the ambulance bay, crossed the street, and entered the diner. Luka was sitting at the counter drinking coffee. He joined him, ordered a decaff, and lit a cigarette. After finding out about Kat, he had never quite managed to quit again. Luka raised his eyebrows.
'Decaff?'
'I'm hyper enough without any extra caffeine.'
'So I noticed,' he said wryly. 'Is this about Kat graduating? Or is there something else?'
'It's certainly not helping,' Carter admitted, pulling a black velvet box out of his pocket and putting it down on the counter. 'That's the something else.'
'Oh, you shouldn't have.' Luka opened it with a certain degree of curiosity, although he was pretty sure what it contained. Sure enough, a beautiful silver ring set with two diamonds and a sapphire stared back up at him. 'Wow. Nice.'
'Do you think it's too early?'
'Not at all.'
'No?' He questioned this with a grin. 'It only took you two and a half years for you to propose to your wife, and you think that six months isn't too early.'
Luka twisted his very new wedding ring with a small smile. He and Abby had finally tied the knot three weeks ago in the same church that Mark and Elizabeth had had their wedding. He had heard a lot about Carter and Anna's story from various people who had been there when she first worked there as a paediatric intern double boarding in emergency medicine, and, after considering his answer, said, 'You're perfect together. You know, we look at you and we see you together, and it just fits. And you know that it's going to last forever.'
'Really?'
'Yeah. Really. And with Abby I did wait a long time… largely because I wasn't really sure whether she wanted me or you… but Danjiela and I were married ten weeks after we first met and we were together for almost ten years, until she died.'
'Do you still miss her?'
'I still love her, Carter, just as I still love and will always love Marko and Jasna. But it's time to get on with my life. And now I have Abby - and our baby.'
'You mean Abby's - oh, congratulations, man.'
'Thank you. But Anna will say yes. When were you planning on proposing to her?'
'Tonight. After Kat's graduation. Can I tell Abby that I know?'
'Of course. You're one of her best friends, I don't think that she would mind. But we want to keep it under wraps for a little longer, so don't tell anyone else just yet.'
~~~~~~
When Anna and Carter walked in the emergency doors for their 6pm shifts the next day, Abby and Luka were at the admit desk and jumped up. By means of waving his arms around to attract their attention and violently shaking his head, he managed to convey a vague message. It was unclear exactly what he was trying to say, but they got the impression that his night had not exactly gone as planned and they shouldn't say anything in front of Anna. When she disappeared into the paeds ER, he sat down on the desk.
'John?' Abby looked worried. 'What happened? Did she say no?'
'I didn't ask her!'
'Oh.' That put kind of a new spin on things. 'Um, are we allowed to ask why?'
'I guess so. Kat knew that I was going to propose last night, because it was her graduation and you know, I asked her if she would mind, and she said no, of course not. And then, she was valedictorian. And she was so happy - and, by the way, we got incredibly drunk and I have the most horrendous hangover ever - and I just couldn't do it, y'know? I couldn't overshadow her big night by asking my girlfriend to marry me.'
'No,' Abby agreed, handing him a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol. 'I can see that.'
'So now I just have to find another way of doing it.'
'You'll be OK,' Luka told him. 'But if I would strongly advise you to stop acting all weird before she figures something out. You can't put it down to excitement about Kat today.'
'No, I guess not.' He stood up. 'Okay, I need coffee.'
Abby and Luka managed to waylay Deb as she was leaving after the day shift. They gave her their keys and asked her to go home and come back, stopping by their apartment on the way. A little after ten, they engineered it so that Carter and Anna would go into the lounge within a couple of minutes of each other. Anna had already gone in, and Carter nearly crashed into her when he opened the door. She was standing motionless and staring at the lounge. There must have been two hundred candles lit, and, looking at the door, he saw Luka peering through a crack between the door and the frame. He mouthed a silent 'thank you' to him, and the door was closed. Anna finally managed to regain her speech.
'What's going on in here?'
'Oh.' He smiled and dragged her into the middle of the room. 'I think I know what's going on.'
'John…'
He knelt down on the floor. 'Okay, I was going to do this last night, and I had a speech all memorized, but suddenly I can't remember a word of it. But now I know that it doesn't matter what I say, all that matters is that you make me happy and you love me more than I ever thought was possible, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.' He scrabbled around for the box and opened it. 'Anna Del Amico, will you marry me?'
She wiped her eyes and mumbled something inaudible, then nodded her head, slid the ring onto her finger and whispered. 'Yes.'
I see trees of green, red roses too
I watch them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, clouds of white
Bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying, 'how do you do'
They're really saying, I love you.
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself - what a wonderful world.
Oh, yeah.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, so not quite a double bill. But almost. Part 8 (8, right? Whatever, the next bit) will be up sometime tomorrow evening. Right now, a shower and the episode of The West Wing that I missed on Tuesday are taking priority. The song I used at the end was 'What A Wonderful World' by Louis 'Sachmo' Armstrong. Luka's line in Doc Magoo's about Carter and Anna, and the lounge being filled with candles for Carter to propose were both stolen from Friends. TOW The Truth About London and TOW The Proposal respectively. They did not belong to me.