"Leave me alone, please," she whimpered quietly.

The man hovered in her face, looming above her. "I will get what I want and there won't be a goddamn
thing that you can do about it." He said to her through gritted teeth. Abby shuddered beneath his grasp.
She was horrified. His face inched closer to hers and his lips pressed strongly against hers. She tried to
turn her head, but he only grabbed at her throat. She couldn't breath and she felt as if she were going to
throw up. She tried to push him away from her, but he grabbed one of her arms and punched her in the ribs
with the other. She hollered out in pain. Tears streamed her face. She wanted him to stop. She had no
strength left and feared what he would do to her now that the elevator had been on emergency stop.

"Did you really think that you could fight me off? That's real cute." He smiled at her and stroked her hair.
"I like it so much more when you fight. But don't worry, nothing is going to happen now, not yet. I want
it to be perfect. Perfect for you and me."

Abby tried to control her anger, and her fear. She wanted nothing more than for the elevator doors to open
and Carter to be standing there, waiting for her. Dr. Johanssen stared at her for another minute.

"It would be in your best interest to keep this between you and me. If you don't, I promise you that I will
make your life a living hell. Understand?"

"Yes," she said weakly. She watched as he pressed the go button on the elevator. He threw a napkin at
her.

"Clean yourself up. You look dreadful." The doors opened and he was gone. Abby couldn't move. She
just stood there shaking, trying to control herself. She need to get out of the hospital and she needed to get
out now.
"Abby, you can't leave. We are already short-handed," Susan spoke to Abby on the phone.

"Too late, I'm already gone. Look, Susan, just tell them something, make something up, I don't care, but I
can't be here today. I'll explain it later." She hung up. She took the El home and stopped by the liquor
store. Why? She didn't know why, it just seemed like the thing to do. She needed something to make it
all go away.
"Carter, I think you should go and talk to Abby," Susan said to him outside of Exam 1.

"Why?" He asked not looking at her.

"Well, for one, she left the hospital without a reason, just said she'd tell me later, and she sounded really
upset on the phone."

"Well, she's a big girl, she doesn't need me." He started to walk away. Susan grabbed his arm.

"Would you get your head out of your ass and step down from you high horse! She needs you more than
anything right now, especailly since you backed down last night, you ig chicken."

"How did you know?" Carter was shocked.

"She told me. She saw the ring Carter, it fell out of your coat. Why didn't you go through with it?"

"I couldn't. She didn't seem like she was all there. I was talking about changing and she was like 'people
don't ever change' and I didn't know what to do."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes, I am" he made quotation marks with his fingers, "desperately in love with her."

"Then go to her. She needs you. I'll cover."

"Thanks Susan."
Abby sat on her couch facing the unopened bottle that sat on the coffee table. When she had gotten home,
she had taken a hot scolding shower and cleaned up her face, although she had a nice cherry welt forming
under neath her eye that was going to be hard to cover with makeup. She wanted to drink. She wanted to
make all of her pain go away, but she couldn't force herself to take a drink. Why? Because of Carter. He
was right. It wouldn't help her to drink. It wouldn't stop tomorrow from coming. It wouldn't make Dr.
Johanssen leave her alone. Nothing would. She was interrupted in her thoughts when she heard a knock at
the door. She didn't move, only stared at the locked door. There was another knock.

"Abby! Are you in there?" It was John. She couldn't face him, but she knew he would keep banging at
the door until she opened it. She carefully got up and walked over, unlocking it and then opening it,
turning around quickly.

"Hey you," he said quietly and tried to put his hand on her shoulder. She quickly brushed it off. "Abby,
what's going on?"

"Nothing," she mumbled and walked back over to the couch.

"Then why did you leave the hospital," he followed her, "And why is there a bottle of tequila on the coffee
table?"

"Just leave it alone John. It's not your problem."

"Abby," He sat down next to her, and she turned away from him. She did not want him to see her face. "I
love you. That makes your problems mine whether you like it or not. I am here now and I will always be
here, so please just talk to me." He stroked her hair and could hear her trying to muffle her cries. Slowly
she turned around and faced him. He saw her face, her fat lip and bruised eye. Tears welled up in her eyes
and she tried to speak, but no words came. Carter simply wrapped his arms around her. As he pulled her
closed to him, her robe had fallen open and he had seen the redness that was now appearing around her rib
cage. He felt anger rise up inside him.

"John, I'm so sorry," she whimpered.

"It's not your fault, do you understand that, none of this was your fault." He held her chin in his hands and
looked deeply into her eyes. "I love you and I will take care of whom ever did this to you." He leaned in
and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly to her. The phone was ringing
in the back ground. Neither moved.

"Hi, this is Abby, you know what to do……BEEP!"

"Abby," Dr. Johanssen spoke, "Susan told me you left. I hope you remember what I said. I will come for
you when the time is right. I will get what I want and what I want is you. Just remember it can get much
worse if you don't do what I want."

Abby stared at the machine in horror. She was trembling in John's arms.

"Was that him?" He asked quietly.

"Yes," she whispered, "He is the new attending in the ER," John could barely hear her.

"We'll get through this, I promise."

"Just hold me, please, don't ever let me go."

"I'm not going to let you go for a very long time." They sat on the couch embraced in each other's arms.