"Hey, sleepyhead," I heard Carter say the next morning.

         "What time is it?" I asked groggily.

         "Almost 9:30."

         "And you're waking me up why?"

         "We've got stuff to do today, you know," he replied.

         "Oh really?" I asked, rolling over on top of him. "And what exactly would that stuff be?"

         "Well, for starters, I believe there's a lovely breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen."

         "Okay, okay, I'm up. Just let me get myself together enough to walk out there."

         "Or…" he said, rolling me over, "I could carry you out there."

         "You wouldn't…aah!" I screamed as he picked me up and walked out to the kitchen.

         "I wouldn't, huh?" he asked, grinning.

         I laughed, as we sat down to breakfast. It was great- eggs, pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. And everything tasted really good, surprisingly.

         "I didn't know you could cook, Carter," I told him.

         "Yeah, well, I learned when I was in college. I got sick of eating fast food all the time."

         "Aah, yes, the great mystery that is John Carter," I joked. As I finished my breakfast, I thought back over the past year. What a crazy ride it had been. If you had told me a year ago that I would be dating Carter, I probably would have laughed in your face. Then I would have gone to work and- and ended up getting stuck in the ER for two straight weeks with him. Even though most people would have been miserable spending two weeks in quarantine, looking back on it, it was actually kind of fun. I wonder how much of an impact that had on our relationship- I mean, most couples don't spend their first two weeks dating by living together in an ER. Actually, it was probably good for us- it let us know that we could tolerate each other 24/7. I guess that'll be a good thing to know if…well, if this relationship ever goes any farther.

         Somehow, I don't think I'll ever really forget Carter screaming, "I wanna marry you!" on the rooftop of County. At the time, I thought he was joking, and although I later realized he hadn't been, I'm not so sure now. He hasn't said anything about it since that day we almost broke up. To this day I'm still amazed that he came back. Those few moments when I thought I'd lost him forever were the hardest moments in my life. Up until then, I didn't think anything could be harder than growing up with Maggie, but I was wrong. Carter is the only person in my life who's ever tried to understand me, and the thought of losing him scared me to death. I'm not sure what I would have done if he hadn't come back.

         "Abby?" Carter snapped me out of my reminiscing.

         "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about stuff," I said. He flashed one of his big goofy grins at me, and I smiled back. At that moment, all I could think about was that I hoped my ranting and raving that night didn't ruin any chance Carter and I might have of a future together- because that's the only future I could picture.

* * *

         "So, we've got the whole weekend to ourselves. What do you want to do?" I asked Abby, while we were sitting on the couch after breakfast.

         "You mean there's actually stuff to do out here in the middle of nowhere?" she asked incredulously.

         "Hey, we are not in the middle of nowhere," I retorted, my eyes flashing. "I don't think you appreciate…" I trailed off as I realized that she was cracking up laughing at me.

         "It's not nice to laugh at people," I mock pouted.

         "Yeah, well, I guess I missed that day in school," she said, grinning. "Seriously, though, this is your place. You're the one who knows what there is to do here. Why don't you give me the grand tour, or whatever?"

         "Sure, sounds good to me." Abby and I spent the next couple hours watching TV and parts of various movies. Then, at about 11:30, I "disappeared" into the kitchen and packed us a picnic lunch. After about fifteen minutes or so, she must have realized I was gone, because she wandered in, coming up behind me.

         "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

         "Making lunch."

         "Ooh, looks good," she remarked, peering into the basket.

         "I'm almost done," I replied. I went to the refrigerator, took out two Cokes, and tossed them into the picnic basket. "Okay, ready?" I asked.

         "Yeah, I'm ready. Where exactly are we going, again?"

         "You'll see," I said mischievously. She rolled her eyes at me, but followed me out the door.  About ten minutes later, we found ourselves sitting on a grassy hill overlooking the lake. When we were done with lunch, I flopped back on to the blanket, staring over at the calm water.

         "Trying to get a tan, Carter?" Abby grinned at me.

         "No, trying to decide if that water is actually warm, or if it's just tricking me into thinking it is."

         "You didn't even bring a bathing suit with you," she pointed out.

         "What, you mean there's not gonna be any skinny-dipping this time?" I asked.

         She laughed. "No. That," she said, lying down next to me, "was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

         "Well, then, I guess it was a good thing I took advantage of it, huh?" I said, pulling her on top of me. A little off balance, she took the opportunity to pull me over too, and before I knew it, we were rolling down the hill together like a couple of little kids.

         She shrieked with laughter. "I'm gonna kill you, Carter!" she screamed.

         "Hey, this wasn't my fault. You're the one that pulled me over!" I screamed back. Finally, we made it to the bottom of the hill, screaming and laughing our asses off. After we both calmed down, we just lay there for a few minutes, silent.

         "This is really nice," Abby said.

         "So's this," I said, leaning over and giving her a big kiss.