Marriage and Doctors
Carter fingered the envelope in his pocket that had arrived at the hospital for him that morning. Unfortunately, since getting his hands on it, he hadn't managed to get hold of Anna for longer than thirty seconds. Kerry, he mused, had been more cooperative than he had ever known her be before. He couldn't ever remember getting a week off so easily. But then, she had been cooperative about most things since he had got engaged. Now all he had to do was hope that Anna would go for this. Telling her would be a good start also, and that was proving more difficult than he had imagined. Eventually he found her alone in the lounge, getting coffee.
'It started snowing again,' he commented.
'Yeah.' She stirred sugar into her mug. 'What wouldn't I give for a few days of actual sunshine. As in, warm sunshine. I swear to God, it wasn't this cold last February.'
'Well.' Carter pulled the envelope out of his pocket. 'I can't make the Chicago snow go away, but how does a week in the Caribbean sound?'
'Really?'
'Really. Fly out of O'Hare tomorrow morning. I grovelled to Kerry and got the two of us next week off.'
'Wow.'
~~~~~~
24 hours later, Carter and Anna disembarked the American Airlines plane on the tiny island of Nevis. Dressed like Eskimos as they were coming straight from what, for the last few weeks, had closely resembled Antarctica, the heat hit them. Carter pulled off his trench coat and slung it over the top of his flight back. It wasn't exactly tropical, but compared to Chicago it felt like the middle of summer, and when they got out of the airport they discovered that they were on a real paradise island.
'You know,' said Carter, as he dragged his case into the hotel, 'Chicago's going to feel twice as cold when we get back after this.'
'Don't talk about going back. For seven days, we don't have to be ER docs, and we don't have to live in a city where it snows incessantly, and we can pretend that this is forever.'
'D'you want it to be forever?' he asked, half worried that she would say yes.
'Part of me, the part with my six-mile-wide romantic streak that doesn't need a hospital to justify its existence, says that I would quite like it. You know, living in a small community and being the town healer kind of thing. The bigger part of me, the part that does require a hospital to justify its existence, reminds me that I'd hate it after six months, if not sooner. Anyway…' She yawned. 'Chicago's home.'
They dropped the subject, but the part about her romantic streak had set Carter thinking. He had a romantic streak as well, that was why he had loved Abby and Luka filling the lounge with candles for him to propose so much. They had been there for four days before it hit him. They hadn't set a wedding date, largely because they were still trying to think of ways to avoid having a 'Carter', high-society type of wedding and none of them seemed to be working. Sitting on the beach, watching the sun set, he suddenly said to her,
'Anna, why don't we get married while we're here?'
He barely waited for her to agree before going off to find out if they actually could. After discovering that, as long as they had their passports with them and had been on the island for three days, there was absolutely no problem with them getting married on the island, he made two phone calls. The first one was to Mark, and, for a change, he was at home.
'Mark? It's Carter. I need to ask a favor.' He was hopping with excitement.
There was a small pause while Mark, in Chicago, tried to figure out what was wrong with this picture, and finally he said, 'Carter, aren't you in the Caribbean?'
'I'm getting married on Friday.'
'You're whaaaat?'
'I would love it if you would be my best man…'
'Carter, I would be honored.'
'…and I know that Anna wants Elizabeth to be there too.'
'We'll be there. Technical question: do we get to tell everyone, or do you want to keep it quiet?'
'Would you keep it quiet? We want this to be a surprise, and if you tell, say, Dave, it'll be all over the hospital in less than an hour.'
'Sure. I'll see you on Friday.'
'Yeah… oh, wait, Mark! Has Abby dropped that goddaughter of mine yet?'
'Um, no, but I saw her yesterday and she's pretty keen to get the show on the road.'
Carter laughed and hung up. His second call was to Massachusetts, where he told Kat what was going on and extracted a promise from her that she would be there or die. When Friday came around, Anna disappeared with Kat and Elizabeth in a semi-traditional not seeing the bride before the wedding thing. Carter's nerves were killing him. Mark, who had arrived the night before with his wife, made several unsuccessful attempts to calm him down before letting something slip that he had intended to keep a secret until after the wedding.
'Abby had her daughter yesterday.'
'She what? Mark, how come you didn't tell me this before?'
'I intended to tell you and Anna together after the wedding. But I thought it might calm you down a bit if you knew. She went into labor not long after you called. Erica Danjiela. Born at five to four yesterday morning, eight pounds. She's beautiful. I know that Danjiela's after Luka's first wife,' he added, 'But I don't know where they got Erica from.'
'And nobody knows where you and Elizabeth got Ella from,' Carter quipped. 'It's after Abby's brother. He's an air traffic controller in Florida.'
'I never knew she even had a brother,' Mark confessed. 'But everyone was so damn excited over the baby that they couldn't have cared less why Elizabeth and I were disappearing for two days, so your secret's safe.'
After that, Carter's nerves dissipated somewhat. At least, he was no longer breaking out into a hot sweat every five minutes, and he was reasonably calm when, at ten to six, he and Mark made their way down to the beach where Anna, Kat, and Elizabeth were waiting. It was a short ceremony, the kind of wedding they had, essentially, been trying to find a way to have since they got engaged. Since it was also slightly unplanned, neither of them had written vows, but managed to make something up on the spot. The one thing that they had actually managed to plan was to agree that Anna should go first.
'John, you've been my best friend since I met you six years ago, but I was an idiot and I ran away. I had some bad love in my life, and I spent a lot of time wondering whether there was anyone out there who was right for me. Then I realized that he was in front of me the whole time, and I fell in love with my best friend. I love you, John, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'
After that, Carter was a little choked up, but he managed to talk. 'I believe in soul mates, that there's one person we're supposed to find, one perfect person under the stars who is truly right for us. You are my soulmate and the love of my life, and I'll never love anyone else the way I love you.'
Clearing his throat, as everybody was crying real tears, the justice of the peace spoke. 'Do you, Anna Catherine Del Amico, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?'
'I do.'
'Do you, John Truman Carter, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?'
'I do.' Reaching for her hand, he slid the plain silver band onto it.
'By the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.'
Carter took his wife's face in his hands and kissed her, as the sun went down on a perfect end to what had been the perfect wedding.
~~~~~~
They returned to Chicago early, with Mark and Elizabeth, after seeing Kat off back to college, and went straight to the hospital. Since they weren't exactly sure how to do this, Mark offered to tell everybody. The three of them went to the admit desk and Mark called everyone round.
'Okay, I don't know quite how to say this, but Dr Corday and I were called away for an unexpected event in the Caribbean a couple of days ago, and anyway it's this. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Drs John and Anna Carter.'
The ER staff stood still for a moment before going insane.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, well, the original idea was to just have them go on holiday and come back like normal people, but hey, this happened. Thank you to The Hysterical Rhino aka Rhiannon for the title, which she gave to me ages ago. I stole Anna's line about her six-mile-wide romantic streak and needing a hospital to justify her existence from Mike Sugimoto's medical commentary for 'Middle of Nowhere'. Right, apologies. I don't know whether I'll get part 10 up before the end of the weekend. I will try, but obstacles stood in my way. Namely, I slept later than I intended to this morning, this was longer than I thought it would be, and I have a family commitment tomorrow (read: a christening that it might be an idea for me to go to, given that she's my goddaughter). I'll try. If not, look for it to be here by Monday night.
Carter fingered the envelope in his pocket that had arrived at the hospital for him that morning. Unfortunately, since getting his hands on it, he hadn't managed to get hold of Anna for longer than thirty seconds. Kerry, he mused, had been more cooperative than he had ever known her be before. He couldn't ever remember getting a week off so easily. But then, she had been cooperative about most things since he had got engaged. Now all he had to do was hope that Anna would go for this. Telling her would be a good start also, and that was proving more difficult than he had imagined. Eventually he found her alone in the lounge, getting coffee.
'It started snowing again,' he commented.
'Yeah.' She stirred sugar into her mug. 'What wouldn't I give for a few days of actual sunshine. As in, warm sunshine. I swear to God, it wasn't this cold last February.'
'Well.' Carter pulled the envelope out of his pocket. 'I can't make the Chicago snow go away, but how does a week in the Caribbean sound?'
'Really?'
'Really. Fly out of O'Hare tomorrow morning. I grovelled to Kerry and got the two of us next week off.'
'Wow.'
~~~~~~
24 hours later, Carter and Anna disembarked the American Airlines plane on the tiny island of Nevis. Dressed like Eskimos as they were coming straight from what, for the last few weeks, had closely resembled Antarctica, the heat hit them. Carter pulled off his trench coat and slung it over the top of his flight back. It wasn't exactly tropical, but compared to Chicago it felt like the middle of summer, and when they got out of the airport they discovered that they were on a real paradise island.
'You know,' said Carter, as he dragged his case into the hotel, 'Chicago's going to feel twice as cold when we get back after this.'
'Don't talk about going back. For seven days, we don't have to be ER docs, and we don't have to live in a city where it snows incessantly, and we can pretend that this is forever.'
'D'you want it to be forever?' he asked, half worried that she would say yes.
'Part of me, the part with my six-mile-wide romantic streak that doesn't need a hospital to justify its existence, says that I would quite like it. You know, living in a small community and being the town healer kind of thing. The bigger part of me, the part that does require a hospital to justify its existence, reminds me that I'd hate it after six months, if not sooner. Anyway…' She yawned. 'Chicago's home.'
They dropped the subject, but the part about her romantic streak had set Carter thinking. He had a romantic streak as well, that was why he had loved Abby and Luka filling the lounge with candles for him to propose so much. They had been there for four days before it hit him. They hadn't set a wedding date, largely because they were still trying to think of ways to avoid having a 'Carter', high-society type of wedding and none of them seemed to be working. Sitting on the beach, watching the sun set, he suddenly said to her,
'Anna, why don't we get married while we're here?'
He barely waited for her to agree before going off to find out if they actually could. After discovering that, as long as they had their passports with them and had been on the island for three days, there was absolutely no problem with them getting married on the island, he made two phone calls. The first one was to Mark, and, for a change, he was at home.
'Mark? It's Carter. I need to ask a favor.' He was hopping with excitement.
There was a small pause while Mark, in Chicago, tried to figure out what was wrong with this picture, and finally he said, 'Carter, aren't you in the Caribbean?'
'I'm getting married on Friday.'
'You're whaaaat?'
'I would love it if you would be my best man…'
'Carter, I would be honored.'
'…and I know that Anna wants Elizabeth to be there too.'
'We'll be there. Technical question: do we get to tell everyone, or do you want to keep it quiet?'
'Would you keep it quiet? We want this to be a surprise, and if you tell, say, Dave, it'll be all over the hospital in less than an hour.'
'Sure. I'll see you on Friday.'
'Yeah… oh, wait, Mark! Has Abby dropped that goddaughter of mine yet?'
'Um, no, but I saw her yesterday and she's pretty keen to get the show on the road.'
Carter laughed and hung up. His second call was to Massachusetts, where he told Kat what was going on and extracted a promise from her that she would be there or die. When Friday came around, Anna disappeared with Kat and Elizabeth in a semi-traditional not seeing the bride before the wedding thing. Carter's nerves were killing him. Mark, who had arrived the night before with his wife, made several unsuccessful attempts to calm him down before letting something slip that he had intended to keep a secret until after the wedding.
'Abby had her daughter yesterday.'
'She what? Mark, how come you didn't tell me this before?'
'I intended to tell you and Anna together after the wedding. But I thought it might calm you down a bit if you knew. She went into labor not long after you called. Erica Danjiela. Born at five to four yesterday morning, eight pounds. She's beautiful. I know that Danjiela's after Luka's first wife,' he added, 'But I don't know where they got Erica from.'
'And nobody knows where you and Elizabeth got Ella from,' Carter quipped. 'It's after Abby's brother. He's an air traffic controller in Florida.'
'I never knew she even had a brother,' Mark confessed. 'But everyone was so damn excited over the baby that they couldn't have cared less why Elizabeth and I were disappearing for two days, so your secret's safe.'
After that, Carter's nerves dissipated somewhat. At least, he was no longer breaking out into a hot sweat every five minutes, and he was reasonably calm when, at ten to six, he and Mark made their way down to the beach where Anna, Kat, and Elizabeth were waiting. It was a short ceremony, the kind of wedding they had, essentially, been trying to find a way to have since they got engaged. Since it was also slightly unplanned, neither of them had written vows, but managed to make something up on the spot. The one thing that they had actually managed to plan was to agree that Anna should go first.
'John, you've been my best friend since I met you six years ago, but I was an idiot and I ran away. I had some bad love in my life, and I spent a lot of time wondering whether there was anyone out there who was right for me. Then I realized that he was in front of me the whole time, and I fell in love with my best friend. I love you, John, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'
After that, Carter was a little choked up, but he managed to talk. 'I believe in soul mates, that there's one person we're supposed to find, one perfect person under the stars who is truly right for us. You are my soulmate and the love of my life, and I'll never love anyone else the way I love you.'
Clearing his throat, as everybody was crying real tears, the justice of the peace spoke. 'Do you, Anna Catherine Del Amico, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?'
'I do.'
'Do you, John Truman Carter, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?'
'I do.' Reaching for her hand, he slid the plain silver band onto it.
'By the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.'
Carter took his wife's face in his hands and kissed her, as the sun went down on a perfect end to what had been the perfect wedding.
~~~~~~
They returned to Chicago early, with Mark and Elizabeth, after seeing Kat off back to college, and went straight to the hospital. Since they weren't exactly sure how to do this, Mark offered to tell everybody. The three of them went to the admit desk and Mark called everyone round.
'Okay, I don't know quite how to say this, but Dr Corday and I were called away for an unexpected event in the Caribbean a couple of days ago, and anyway it's this. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Drs John and Anna Carter.'
The ER staff stood still for a moment before going insane.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, well, the original idea was to just have them go on holiday and come back like normal people, but hey, this happened. Thank you to The Hysterical Rhino aka Rhiannon for the title, which she gave to me ages ago. I stole Anna's line about her six-mile-wide romantic streak and needing a hospital to justify her existence from Mike Sugimoto's medical commentary for 'Middle of Nowhere'. Right, apologies. I don't know whether I'll get part 10 up before the end of the weekend. I will try, but obstacles stood in my way. Namely, I slept later than I intended to this morning, this was longer than I thought it would be, and I have a family commitment tomorrow (read: a christening that it might be an idea for me to go to, given that she's my goddaughter). I'll try. If not, look for it to be here by Monday night.