"So", Lucy mused. "You were my secret admirer."

"Yeah," he muttered.

Carter dug through his locker and grabbed a scarf, despite the fact that he already had one on, and wrapped it tightly around his neck. She grabbed her hat and mittens and they proceeded to leave the hospital into the chilly February weather. He offered her a ride in his Jeep and she kindly accepted his offer. As Carter stepped into his Jeep (with Lucy already inside), the first thing he did was start up the engine so that he could turn on the heat. He let the car rev up for a few minutes before shifting into drive and driving down the road to the house where Lucy lived. He saw her to the doorstep before driving off to his own humble home.

He heard the reassuring beep of his car alarm before fumbling with his keys at the front door. When he got the front door open, he opened the lid of the mail box and he fished around in there revealing no mail. He quickly ran inside and shut the door, shutting out the cold. He was extremely hungry and cold. His heater was working but he still wore a coat for he was very cold. He took out a can of soup and opened it, poured it into a pot, and heated it until it was steaming. It was quite delicious, despite the fact that it first burned Carter's tongue. After a good dinner, he relaxed on the sofa, tossing his pager carelessly onto the coffee table. He fell asleep but woke up when his pager started beeping. He dialed the unfamiliar number.

"Hello?" asked a voice on the other line.

"Lucy?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Yeah. What do you want, Carter?" she replied dryly.

"You called my pager."

"Damn. Did I?" she replied, sarcastically.

"Yeah. What do you want, Lucy?"

"Nothing. Come to the hospital. I need you in a surgery assist."

"If you're at the hospital, wouldn't I have recognized the number?" he whispered to himself.

"There are things called cell phones, Carter. Now, get your butt down here," she ordered. "Great. See ya soon."

He sighed as he shirked back into his coat and wrapped the wool scarf around his neck. It itched so bad but it kept him warm and that was the important thing. He grabbed his keys and pager and raced outside, locking the door, and unlocking the Jeep, letting him drive back to the hospital.

"I'm here. What's the big emergency?" he asked.

"We're understaffed and we have lots of things to worry about, Carter," informed Kerry nasally, indicating she was a victim of the flu.

"It's flu season again, isn't it?" he groaned.

"Nice deduction skills, Carter," Anne replied, hastily.

He rushed into the Lounge and changed immediately before taking on several testy, sneezing flu cases. When he was done, he had to take on a few surgeries from a car pile-up out by the interstate. Then, he had a three-year-old with a gunshot wound. He sighed when he stared at his watch in the Lounge, sipping his bad-tasting coffee, but coffee was coffee.

"Four 'o' clock in the morning," he groaned followed by a loud sneeze. He had caught the flu from one of his patients.

"Go home, Carter," replied Kerry, coughing.

"We need a pharmacy of our own in this hospital," he moaned, as he picked up his stuff and prepared to leave.

"You are in absolutely no condition to drive, Carter. Let me drive you home," Lucy offered, smiling. She was the only one who had flu patients but didn't contract the virus from her patients.

"I have the flu. It's not like I'm crippled or anything," Carter remarked, followed by a loud sneeze.

"I think that's all the evidence you need, Carter. Fork over your keys, dude," she added, laughing.

"Everyone's contracted the flu, except you. What's your secret?" asked Carol, wheezing loudly.

"When I was a kid, when flu season came around, I was the first kid to get it. I was always wheezing and sneezing and coughing. You get the idea. Well, anyway, after going through the flu every single year, after I turned twenty-two, I stopped contracting it. I guess my body just built up an immunity," she told.

As the rest of the staff rolled their eyes, Lucy grabbed Carter's keys and helped drive him home. As soon as she did, he offered her to come inside for coffee or tea. She accepted his offer.

"How are you going to get home, Lucy?" he asked.

"I'm going to walk. I'm certainly not going to drive your Jeep back to my place," she replied, proudly.

"Well, you could always swing by tomorrow morning and we could drive off to work," he suggested.

"I don't", she started, when the phone rang.

Carter ran to pick it up. He held the phone to his ear as he grabbed a tissue. "Hello?" he answered. "Yeah. Uh-huh. I'll tell her. Thanks, Dr. Weaver. See ya. Bye."

"What happened?" asked Lucy.

"We have off tomorrow. Kerry gave us the day off. She told me to call you but now I don't need to," he announced before sneezing. "Do me a favor, Lucy. Can you go pick up my flu prescription?"

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Sure enough, she came back soon and sure enough, he was up on his feet again. He decided that he could drive her home and that maybe tomorrow, they could go out on a date.

"Sure, Doctor Carter. Sure," she murmured.

He flashed his brilliant smile before leading her outside to drive her home. As soon as she was dropped off, he went back home and made himself another bowl of canned soup. As soon as he was full, he watched some television and headed toward the shower. It had been a while since Kerry had kicked him out of her basement.

After his shower, he grabbed his telephone and the weighty phone book. He ran downstairs in a hurry and dialed the number for "Le Grande Restaurant", a fancy French restaurant in town and made reservations. He dialed Lucy's number but got her answering machine and heard the faint water running in the background. Deciding that she was in the shower, he left a message that he had made reservations at a grand restaurant and to dress formally. After he left his message, he hung up and went upstairs and slept for the longest time he's ever slept in weeks (because of the whole fact that he's a doctor) and dreamt of tomorrow.