"Dear John, or Advice from the Edge of an Abyss" by VjeraNadaLjubav

Summary: A letter for Carter... (Yes - not terribly imaginative but you try coming up with a good summary while jittery and hungover.)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: NOT MINE!!! NOT GETTING MONEY!!!!
Spoilers: none really.
Song (or snippet) info: none this time. Brain's not working.
Acknowledgements: to my sick mind.
Author's note: After I nearly got to live through Abby's experience in "A Simple Twist of Fate" last night, I got very hyper and I wrote this in one night.

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Well –

I don't really know how I should start this letter. Definitely not with "Dear John" – even I know what the connotation of that is. I don't know you well enough to call you John anyway, so I will just do away with the greetings. If you ever read this, then something must have happened to me, or I left, without saying good-bye to her. Please tell her that I will miss her and that I have always loved her. I know that I can rely on you to do this. I hope that she will remember me sometimes, and that she is not mad at me for doing whatever I will have done when you read this.

It is a pity that we never became friends. There were some tensions between us – and I regret that. I will attempt to rectify this a bit by trying to give you some advice. I am only five years older than you, so I cannot vie for the title of "old and wise", but sometimes experience teaches much more then age - and perhaps my experience can help you in some way. If any one of these pieces of advice helps in any way, I will be very happy.

I am not going to pretend that I have never been jealous of you – I still am. But that is my nature – once I get attached to things, I can never let go. Some day it will catch up with me, or probably already did, if you're reading this. Well, Abby is definitely worth of being jealous over. She can be quite infuriating at times – you know that, and you probably also know how beautiful she is when she smiles, more beautiful than anyone else in the room. If everything goes well with you two – love her with all your heart, but never be blind to her problems, never try to intrude into her life but always try to help her with her troubles. I am sure that you have thought of all this before, but this is the kind of thing that seems so incredibly natural that it is sometimes overlooked, especially with those one wants to give their heart to.

Love is a beautiful and a dreadful thing all at once – it can give one a new life and it can destroy one already on the verge of shattering. I have been lucky to have loved two women so intensely that they took pieces of me with them, and I encourage you to give yourself to her, because even during a worst fight you have the good memories to fall back upon, good things to remember. Love is not always smooth, but there are many things worse then love...

If you marry her or anyone else, and get to the point where you have children – love them as much as you can. Never spend a free moment away from them. Never leave them. Pray to whatever higher power you believe in to protect them. Take photographs of them to give to your friends, look at their faces while they sleep, hold them in your arms and memorize everything about them so if the unthinkable happens, you will have a memory of them that nothing will ever erase from your mind.

Just to put my mind at ease, I want to ask you again to never try to ignore her problems. Abby is a great person, but if you don't approach her in just the right way when she is having problems, she won't let you help her. Wait for a moment when she is ready and then help her as much as you can, and if you don't achieve it all at once, wait for the next moment. I hope that one day she will be able to be happy, after you or someone else will manage to get through to her.

And one last thing – always ask for help and be thankful for it. I hope my advice was not annoying, and that it will perhaps help you in some way. I wish you luck in life, with or without Abby in it, and I wish her luck too. Please give her a kiss from me. And have a good life.

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The End