A/N- An update from me coz I just couldn't wait to write this chapter.
Please R&R
Set about a month and a half after last chapter. Abby is now 3 months pregnant.
They had been shown around several houses since they made the decision to go buy a house, but none of the houses they had seen had been.... perfect. They wanted to buy a perfect house, where their child and possibly in the future, children could grow up. It was breezy spring day and after driving to the house in their car they met the estate agent there. Her name was Marie and she proved to be the most irritating being imaginable. Five minutes into the 'grand tour' of the house both Carter and Abby were filled with strong desires to strangle her. Marie may not have been perfect, but the house was. And after all, they weren't going to be buying Marie with the house, were they?
The house was medium sized, spacious yet cosy and most important of all, it was only about a ten minute drive from the ER.
"This is the kitchen," Marie said, as Abby rolled her eyes at Carter.
"It is simply fab, for all of your needs and it's rather homely, if I say so myself." She looked again at Abby's stomach, obviously wondering whether Abby was pregnant or just a bit fat. She seemed to think about it for a minute, before deciding that Abby had probably just had a bit too much to eat and resuming the tour of the house.
"You two like, work in like a hospital, right?"
"yes...." said Abby slowly, not really wanting to get into a conversation with her,
"That must be really gory, I can't stand the sight of blood. I guess you get used to it, right?" the question, it seemed was a rhetorical question, judging by the fact that she didn't pause for an answer, before continuing, "So you get to inject all the stuff into people, I wouldn't be any good at that, I'm not very good under pressure,"
"I'm sure," said Carter under his breath,
"Actually I'm not that good without the pressure. The only thing I'm good at is selling houses. I sold lots and lots of houses last month. Actually I sold more than any other person in my estate agency and I still didn't get a raise! Can you believe that? You'd think that my boss didn't like me or something. So, what's it like being doctors?"
"oh, I'm not a doctor," said Abby cheerfully, determined to give the girl a chance, "I'm a nurse."
"Oh, well that must be fun too What do you do, like do the doctors dirty work?"
"Well actually......" Marie didn't let Abby finish, because it seemed that she couldn't go a minute without talking.
"And hey, nurses get to go out with the doctors. That's much better than any Christmas bonus, huh?" she said, winking at Abby, stomping all over the chance Abby had decided to give her.
"So, tours over. If you want the house, phone the estate agent and ask for me, okay?" Carter and Abby nodded at her, before looking at each other and grinning.
On the way back to the ER Carter and Abby sat in the car, talking about the house and things.
"Did, um did you have a little fantasy of strangling Marie, or was it just me?" Carter asked, grinning, his eyes on the road.
"Oh I had the images. I always thought that fantasizing about other women wasn't a good thing, unless you're, well, unless you're gay."
"I think you get the benefit of the doubt if the fantasy includes a rope."
"Oh, I dunno, I've had nice fantasies that include ropes."
"About me?"
"No Carter, about Luka."
"Well that would make you a slut, being with one man and fantasizing about another."
"Are you calling me a slut?"
"Actually no, I'd prefer to call Luka a slut."
"Oh you can do that."
"I plan to."
**********************************Later in the ER**********************************
Carter was working and was surprised to see the man himself, Dr Romano walking towards him.
"Carter! Do you remember a patient, Kara Connor, came in a moth and a half ago...." Romano asked, in his usual, brisk manner,
"Car crash? Father died?" Carter responded, interrupting Romano
"Yes, do you know who treated her?"
"Abby did,"
"Right, and you wouldn't happen to know where your little girlfriend is right now?"
"Well actually technically she's my little wife,"
"Well yeah,"
"You should know that, you were a witness at our wedding!"
"Well...."
"And compared to some people she's not little."
"I'm gonna ignore that."
"You should. She's just...cute."
"Who's cute?" asked Susan as she walked by,
"Abby," Carter said, grinning like a madman.
"Oh right." Susan said, before walking off to see a patient.
"So," said Dr Romano, feeling frustrated, "I'm not here to talk to you about your wife, I just want to know where the hell she is."
"Suture room." he said and Romano made his exit
***************************In the suture room***********************
Abby was sorting some things out, alone in the suture room and was surprised to see Dr Romano enter the room. She turned round to face him,
"Hi Dr Romano" she said, unsure of what he wanted,
"You remember a patient who came in a month and a half ago, Kara Connor?"
"Yeah. The social services took care of her. Her father died, she was okay though."
"But you got a chest x-ray done."
"Well yeah, she was in a car crash, it's routine. You should know that Dr Romano."
"Well, Miss Connor was brought in today by one of her foster parents. Nasty cough, general nausea."
"She was okay when she left."
"Right." He said, giving her an x-ray. "This is the chest x-ray you had taken and you looked at. Care to take a look at it?" She put the x-ray up to the light and after a few minutes of examining it, she saw what could have been a death-star, a mass on the left lung.
"Miss Connor was diagnosed today with advanced lung cancer." Romano said, feeling his anger get to him.
"I was called in for a surgical consult, it's inoperable. If caught over a month ago when you had the chance it would have been operable. This girl is going to die."
"I.. I didn't see the mass."
"The girl's mother died of cancer, lung cancer in fact. You should have been a little more cautious and you should have seen it! It's obvious, it's staring you right in the face! How the hell could you miss it? No, don't tell me, you were too busy cuddling up with your new husband, contemplating your new baby. There is a reason why pregnant women shouldn't work here, it's affecting your performance as a nurse."
"I'm, I'm sorry," she said, truly meaning it,
"Don't tell me that," he said, "Try telling the little girl who you just killed. She doesn't know what's going on, she hasn't been told she has cancer and is going to die within the space of two months. It can be your job to tell her." He left, slamming the door behind him, leaving Abby to sit there on the gurney and cry.
*************************Meanwhile************************
Carter was interrupted from his work by the screech of a little girl.
"Dr Carter!" she squealed, running up to him. He picked her up and placed her on the gurney.
"Heya Kara. What are you here for?"
"I'm not feeling so good today and my new mommy took me in here."
"You have foster parents?" he asked,
"Yeah, my new mommy is really old, I don't like her that much. She smells funny." Their little chat was brought to a halt when Susan ran in, out of breath.
"There she is!" she said, gasping for breath. She walked over to the gurney where Carter and Kara were.
"She ran right away from me!"
"I can take her if you want,"
"Yeah, I want."
"How was your date last night?"
"Oh it was great!" she said, beaming.
"It's so strange, a blind date actually turned out really well. Who would have guessed, you and a lawyer."
"Well, Greg's a very sweet lawyer. Anyway I gotta go, talk to you later?"
"Yeah, sure." She hurried out of the room and Kara turned to him,
"How do you know Dr Lewis?"
"I actually used to go out with her."
"Well, I think you're better with Abby. Abby is really nice."
"So is Dr Lewis."
"But Abby is nicer."
"It's nice you think that." Abby entered the room and Carter was shocked to see that she had been crying. Kara jumped up at once, yelling, "Abby!!!!!!!!!" and running up to her. Abby picked her up and smiled weakly at her,
"Hi Kara."
"Hello!"
Abby suddenly felt something break inside her, she put Kara down and ran out of the room. After telling Kara to stay put Carter followed her into the lounge. She was crying on the couch when he entered and he went down to sit next to her.
"Abby," when she didn't answer him, he prodded further. "what's wrong?"
"Dr. Dr Romano told me that Kara has lung cancer. It's. uh inoperable and he. he told me that if I had caught it earlier, when she came in before, it would be operable. She's gonna die because of me, John." She leant her head on his shoulder and cried even more.
Stroking her hair, he said to her, "You don't know that. A month and a half might not have made any difference. It would have been advanced then, we don't know that the surgeon would be able to remove it.
She looked at him, wanting to believe what he was saying. " It would have given her a chance, right now she doesn't even get a chance. I got too caught up in the emotion of everything and I didn't pay enough attention to her x-ray. I could have caught it, I should have. I just, I just feel responsible for the fact that she's gonna..die."
"I think that.. right now the best thing you can do is, be there for her. She needs someone to reassure her, to make sure that she's not scared."
"To stop her from dying." Abby said, a tear trickling down her cheek.
Set about a month and a half after last chapter. Abby is now 3 months pregnant.
They had been shown around several houses since they made the decision to go buy a house, but none of the houses they had seen had been.... perfect. They wanted to buy a perfect house, where their child and possibly in the future, children could grow up. It was breezy spring day and after driving to the house in their car they met the estate agent there. Her name was Marie and she proved to be the most irritating being imaginable. Five minutes into the 'grand tour' of the house both Carter and Abby were filled with strong desires to strangle her. Marie may not have been perfect, but the house was. And after all, they weren't going to be buying Marie with the house, were they?
The house was medium sized, spacious yet cosy and most important of all, it was only about a ten minute drive from the ER.
"This is the kitchen," Marie said, as Abby rolled her eyes at Carter.
"It is simply fab, for all of your needs and it's rather homely, if I say so myself." She looked again at Abby's stomach, obviously wondering whether Abby was pregnant or just a bit fat. She seemed to think about it for a minute, before deciding that Abby had probably just had a bit too much to eat and resuming the tour of the house.
"You two like, work in like a hospital, right?"
"yes...." said Abby slowly, not really wanting to get into a conversation with her,
"That must be really gory, I can't stand the sight of blood. I guess you get used to it, right?" the question, it seemed was a rhetorical question, judging by the fact that she didn't pause for an answer, before continuing, "So you get to inject all the stuff into people, I wouldn't be any good at that, I'm not very good under pressure,"
"I'm sure," said Carter under his breath,
"Actually I'm not that good without the pressure. The only thing I'm good at is selling houses. I sold lots and lots of houses last month. Actually I sold more than any other person in my estate agency and I still didn't get a raise! Can you believe that? You'd think that my boss didn't like me or something. So, what's it like being doctors?"
"oh, I'm not a doctor," said Abby cheerfully, determined to give the girl a chance, "I'm a nurse."
"Oh, well that must be fun too What do you do, like do the doctors dirty work?"
"Well actually......" Marie didn't let Abby finish, because it seemed that she couldn't go a minute without talking.
"And hey, nurses get to go out with the doctors. That's much better than any Christmas bonus, huh?" she said, winking at Abby, stomping all over the chance Abby had decided to give her.
"So, tours over. If you want the house, phone the estate agent and ask for me, okay?" Carter and Abby nodded at her, before looking at each other and grinning.
On the way back to the ER Carter and Abby sat in the car, talking about the house and things.
"Did, um did you have a little fantasy of strangling Marie, or was it just me?" Carter asked, grinning, his eyes on the road.
"Oh I had the images. I always thought that fantasizing about other women wasn't a good thing, unless you're, well, unless you're gay."
"I think you get the benefit of the doubt if the fantasy includes a rope."
"Oh, I dunno, I've had nice fantasies that include ropes."
"About me?"
"No Carter, about Luka."
"Well that would make you a slut, being with one man and fantasizing about another."
"Are you calling me a slut?"
"Actually no, I'd prefer to call Luka a slut."
"Oh you can do that."
"I plan to."
**********************************Later in the ER**********************************
Carter was working and was surprised to see the man himself, Dr Romano walking towards him.
"Carter! Do you remember a patient, Kara Connor, came in a moth and a half ago...." Romano asked, in his usual, brisk manner,
"Car crash? Father died?" Carter responded, interrupting Romano
"Yes, do you know who treated her?"
"Abby did,"
"Right, and you wouldn't happen to know where your little girlfriend is right now?"
"Well actually technically she's my little wife,"
"Well yeah,"
"You should know that, you were a witness at our wedding!"
"Well...."
"And compared to some people she's not little."
"I'm gonna ignore that."
"You should. She's just...cute."
"Who's cute?" asked Susan as she walked by,
"Abby," Carter said, grinning like a madman.
"Oh right." Susan said, before walking off to see a patient.
"So," said Dr Romano, feeling frustrated, "I'm not here to talk to you about your wife, I just want to know where the hell she is."
"Suture room." he said and Romano made his exit
***************************In the suture room***********************
Abby was sorting some things out, alone in the suture room and was surprised to see Dr Romano enter the room. She turned round to face him,
"Hi Dr Romano" she said, unsure of what he wanted,
"You remember a patient who came in a month and a half ago, Kara Connor?"
"Yeah. The social services took care of her. Her father died, she was okay though."
"But you got a chest x-ray done."
"Well yeah, she was in a car crash, it's routine. You should know that Dr Romano."
"Well, Miss Connor was brought in today by one of her foster parents. Nasty cough, general nausea."
"She was okay when she left."
"Right." He said, giving her an x-ray. "This is the chest x-ray you had taken and you looked at. Care to take a look at it?" She put the x-ray up to the light and after a few minutes of examining it, she saw what could have been a death-star, a mass on the left lung.
"Miss Connor was diagnosed today with advanced lung cancer." Romano said, feeling his anger get to him.
"I was called in for a surgical consult, it's inoperable. If caught over a month ago when you had the chance it would have been operable. This girl is going to die."
"I.. I didn't see the mass."
"The girl's mother died of cancer, lung cancer in fact. You should have been a little more cautious and you should have seen it! It's obvious, it's staring you right in the face! How the hell could you miss it? No, don't tell me, you were too busy cuddling up with your new husband, contemplating your new baby. There is a reason why pregnant women shouldn't work here, it's affecting your performance as a nurse."
"I'm, I'm sorry," she said, truly meaning it,
"Don't tell me that," he said, "Try telling the little girl who you just killed. She doesn't know what's going on, she hasn't been told she has cancer and is going to die within the space of two months. It can be your job to tell her." He left, slamming the door behind him, leaving Abby to sit there on the gurney and cry.
*************************Meanwhile************************
Carter was interrupted from his work by the screech of a little girl.
"Dr Carter!" she squealed, running up to him. He picked her up and placed her on the gurney.
"Heya Kara. What are you here for?"
"I'm not feeling so good today and my new mommy took me in here."
"You have foster parents?" he asked,
"Yeah, my new mommy is really old, I don't like her that much. She smells funny." Their little chat was brought to a halt when Susan ran in, out of breath.
"There she is!" she said, gasping for breath. She walked over to the gurney where Carter and Kara were.
"She ran right away from me!"
"I can take her if you want,"
"Yeah, I want."
"How was your date last night?"
"Oh it was great!" she said, beaming.
"It's so strange, a blind date actually turned out really well. Who would have guessed, you and a lawyer."
"Well, Greg's a very sweet lawyer. Anyway I gotta go, talk to you later?"
"Yeah, sure." She hurried out of the room and Kara turned to him,
"How do you know Dr Lewis?"
"I actually used to go out with her."
"Well, I think you're better with Abby. Abby is really nice."
"So is Dr Lewis."
"But Abby is nicer."
"It's nice you think that." Abby entered the room and Carter was shocked to see that she had been crying. Kara jumped up at once, yelling, "Abby!!!!!!!!!" and running up to her. Abby picked her up and smiled weakly at her,
"Hi Kara."
"Hello!"
Abby suddenly felt something break inside her, she put Kara down and ran out of the room. After telling Kara to stay put Carter followed her into the lounge. She was crying on the couch when he entered and he went down to sit next to her.
"Abby," when she didn't answer him, he prodded further. "what's wrong?"
"Dr. Dr Romano told me that Kara has lung cancer. It's. uh inoperable and he. he told me that if I had caught it earlier, when she came in before, it would be operable. She's gonna die because of me, John." She leant her head on his shoulder and cried even more.
Stroking her hair, he said to her, "You don't know that. A month and a half might not have made any difference. It would have been advanced then, we don't know that the surgeon would be able to remove it.
She looked at him, wanting to believe what he was saying. " It would have given her a chance, right now she doesn't even get a chance. I got too caught up in the emotion of everything and I didn't pay enough attention to her x-ray. I could have caught it, I should have. I just, I just feel responsible for the fact that she's gonna..die."
"I think that.. right now the best thing you can do is, be there for her. She needs someone to reassure her, to make sure that she's not scared."
"To stop her from dying." Abby said, a tear trickling down her cheek.