Acting on instinct, she stamped on the foot, and it recoiled.
She slammed the door and leant against it, panting.
She flinched as the intruder banged ferociously on the door, and her ragged breath caught in her throat.
She raced across the room to the phone, and called the one person that she needed the most.
"Carter…" Her breath came in fits and starts. More vicious beating came at the door.
"Come on, Carter, pick up!"
"Hello?"
"Carter, there's some one outside"
"Abby, is that you?"
"Please, Carter, there's someone outside. I think it's him. Can you come?"
"Don't worry. Stay inside and I'll be right there." The phone blipped, and he hung up.
**********************************
Carter ran the short journey to Abby's in a panic.
What if he had gotten in? This guy was dangerous.
He took the stairs to her apartment in twos, using the banisters to propel himself forwards.
When he reached her floor, he was met by a sight he didn't anticipate. Someone was outside Abby's door alright, but it wasn't who he was expecting.
It was Luka.
Catching Carter in the corner of his eye, Luka rounded on him, almost loosing his balance.
He's drunk, Carter thought.
Luka stumbled up to him, and got close enough for Carter to smell the alcohol on his breath.
"This is your fault." Luka stated in a slurred whisper
"You're drunk. Go home, sleep it off." Carter's priority was Abby. He pushed past Luka and almost reached her door.
"Hey! I was talking to you!" Luka placed a hand on his shoulder and span him round.
Carter shrugged it off.
"Go home; she doesn't want to see you."
"You won't let me see her. It's your fault." Luka swung a fist at Carter, and it landed with a thud on the side of his face.
Gasping, Carter reeled and his back hit Abby's door. His hand shot to the side of his face and he could already feel his eye throbbing and swelling.
"Oh my god, Carter, I'm so sorry…"
Luka, sobering a little, tried to apologise.
He held out his hand
to Carter to help him balance back on his feet,
but Carter wouldn't take it.
"Go Home, Luka." Carter's hand clenched to a fist at his side, but relaxed again as Luka gave up and disappeared down the stairs.
Carter turned to face Abby's door, wincing as his bruised eye began to swell shut.
Knocking gently on the door, He called out to her.
"Abby, it's Carter. He's gone. Can you let me in?"
**********************************
He heard the scratching and scraping back of bolt after bolt. He counted five in all.
As she opened the door tentatively, she looked straight past Carter into the hall behind.
"It was Luka" He could almost feel her relief.
"He was drunk. He's gone now. You Ok?"
She didn't respond. He tried again.
"Can I come in?"
Abby swung the door open and walked away, rubbing her pale face in her hands.
"Abby?" He closed the door gently behind him, and started towards her.
Something on her coffee table caught his eye.
A bottle.
He stopped and squinted at the table. There was a glass close by, but he couldn't tell if the bottle was missing any of its contents.
He followed her into the kitchen, and watched her draw some water. Her hand was shaking, and she could barely keep the glass under the stream.
"Abby…"
"I'm ok"
Her hand began to convulse, and more water fell in the sink and on her hand than into the glass.
Carter took the glass from her and, filling it, handed it back.
She took a long drink, and it seemed to steady her a little. "Thanks."
She placed the glass on the draining board, and leant on the worksurface.
**********************************
Abby turned her head toward him, but Carter looked away, trying to hide his face. He didn't want her to see him like this, and he didn't want to explain how it had happened.
She misunderstood his inability to look at her as disappointment.
She walked over to him, and softly turned his head with her hand. "I didn't drink it." As she saw his quickly purpling eye, her mind raced, finishing up somewhere between concern and confusion.
"What happened?"
He ducked the question "It's nothing. You didn't drink it?".
"No, I mean, I was going to, but…You should ice that eye."
"I'm ok, really." She could see he was lying, and in a lot of pain.
He winced as Abby gently brushed his eye with a careful thumb.
"I think it's serious."
"It's fine really. You were going to?"
"I didn't though, did I? Can you just drop it?" She snapped, then, she turned her back and began to rummage in the freezer
"I think I have some ice."
When she turned around again, he was gone. Putting the ice on the draining board, she went in search of him.
**********************************
She found him sitting on her couch, staring at the bottle.
"See? It's full. Now, please, let me look at that eye."
He said nothing. Picking up the unopened bottle, he strode past her and back to the kitchen. She was at his heels.
He stood at the sink and twisted off the top of the bottle. Now, he spoke.
"Do you have anything else here?"
"No"
He gave her a look of scepticism.
"No, Carter!" She couldn't believe he thought she'd lie, after all that had happened. "That's all I have."
He started to pour it down the sink.
"Why keep it here?"
"Because…"
The drink noisily made its way from bottle to drain.
"Why?"
"Because it protects me…"
As Abby watched the last drops of liquor fall from the bottle, she saw her safety net slip away.
Her tears mimicked the falling liquid, cold and pearly.
"…if he comes back, it's the only thing that can help me."
His anger faded.
"No, its not."
She sniffed "What do you mean?"
He stepped up to her, and took a deep breath.
"I can help you."
She looked at the floor and shook her head.
"No, you can't. No-one can."
"Let me try. Please."
Carter took her by the shoulders, and she looked at him with dark orbs, red rimmed and glistening.
"Abby…"
"Will you stay tonight?" She threw a glance at the door. "In case…"
"I don't think he'll come back-"
Seeing the expression on her face when she thought that he wasn't going to stay almost broke his heart.
"-But I don't think you should be alone right now."
He had every intention of staying, from the moment she called.
**********************************
His eye, long forgotten, began to pipe up again, sending long fingers of pain down his cheek.
He inhaled sharply through his teeth, and raised his hand to the source.
"You should really
let me ice that eye." She wanted to do something to
ease his pain, as he had done hers.
"No, it'll be fine, honestly"
"Come on Carter, quit being macho."
Relenting, He nodded.
She disappeared, and returned with the ice wrapped in a tea towel.
"Um, I don't think I can reach properly."
He was a good foot taller than her, so he obligingly sat on a chair at her breakfast bar.
She leant into him, and began to softly place the ice pack on his eye.
"Ouch! Well, I don't think much of your bedside manner, Nurse."
He mocked her, smiling.
"Hey, watch it, blinky!"
She laughed.
"That's the first time I've seen you laugh in a long time."
"Yeah, well…" she trailed off, returning her focus to his bruised face.
"How'd you get it?"
"What?"
"Your sparkling wit, Carter, what do you think?"
What was he supposed to say?
Should he say Luka did it, and make her more afraid? Or should he lie to her? He didn't want to lie to her, but she certainly didn't need the extra worry.
He took a deep breath.
"Argument with a door."
She tilted her head, and looked at him through disbelieving eyes.
"Oh, really."
"Yeah, I just don't look where I'm going, that's all. No big deal."
"Huh."
He was a worse liar than he was a patient. She knew that wasn't the truth, but she had no idea what was. Maybe she'd push him for it later, but for now, she was content to accept his story and leave it at that.
"There, that should reduce the swelling a little. Can you open it at all?"
He tried, but there was too much swelling and pain.
"Maybe tomorrow" He conceded defeat.
She nodded and agreed. "Maybe tomorrow"
**********************************
He ran her a bath while she found him out some blankets and a pillow. He would be sleeping on the couch, of course.
Carter knelt beside the tub and swirled the water with a finger. It was just right to soothe her aching.
He sat on his
haunches and deliberated over which bubble bath to add,
her bathroom held such a selection.
"…it's like a spa in here…"
"Well thanks; I'm sure there was a compliment in there somewhere."
He turned around, and his one good eye met with a pair of shapely legs poking out from underneath a lavender robe, knotted at her waist.
"Did you pick one yet?" she bounced on the balls of her feet impatiently.
"Uh, no"
"Well, come on, a girl could get cold standing here."
"Right, um…"
He scanned the rows of bottles, and then selected one that was lavender, almost matching her robe exactly.
He unscrewed the lid and poured a little under the stream of water. It frothed and foamed instantly, and soon the room was filled with the scent of lavender flowers, relaxing and calming.
"Excellent choice, Dr Carter" She commented, giving him a subtle wink.
He turned off the tap and stood up.
"There you go."
She walked up to the edge of the tub and perched on the edge, dipping an elegant hand into the bubbles. He moved to the doorway, and leant on the frame. Using her other hand, she let her dark hair fall down onto her shoulders.
She really was beautiful, he thought, watching in the doorway.
Why Luka would do that to her, he didn't understand.
"Thanks, Carter." She turned her head to face him, and that dark hair fanned. "There are a couple blankets and a pillow on the couch."
He took that as his cue to leave. He nodded to her, and gently closed the door.
**********************************
Walking back into the kitchen, Carter placed his hands on his hips and wondered what to do next. His stomach growled its thoughts, and he realised he hadn't eaten in what seemed like forever.
Returning to the closed bathroom door, he called out to her.
"Hey, Abby, you hungry?"
She thought for a moment. She hadn't eaten since the breakfast this morning.
"Yeah."
"Shall I order takeout?"
"Um, get Chinese, yeah. The phone is on the table by the couch. There should be a menu and phone number there too."
He had registered this before, but didn't say.
"Ok, Thanks." He went back to the lounge, picked up the phone, and dialled the number.
