Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that appear on the show, however I have made up a few of my own.

Apprehension: Returning

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They weren't together, so why was she so jealous and nervous to find out what this woman really wanted and why she was coming to Carter's house unexpectedly like she wasn't quite sure of herself. The woman stood frozen, like she knew she'd interrupted something, and she almost changed her mind and turned to leave but the woman at the door opened it more fully.

"It's for you," Abby yelled leaving the door wide open and walking into the kitchen.

"Don't yell," he called.

"What? Drink too much again."

"I've had enough of you." He appeared at the top of the stairs, pulling on a shirt. "What don't you go to your own apartment?"

"Hi Scooter." His eyes shot away from Abby and landed on her. For the first time Abby could see every emotion pass across his eyes. It was interesting because his face didn't show a thing, but his eyes turned three different shades before turning hard and unemotional again.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and glanced to Abby. He followed her gaze before sighing. "Can you disappear?" he asked Abby.

"Is that a request or a demand?" she asked.

"Please leave," he emphasized.

Abby grabbed her bag and left finally.

"You're not nice," the other woman said.

"Forget about her. What's wrong, Anna?" he asked walking down the stairs.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" she asked. He reached out and gently touched her cheek where the black and blue bruising was still evident no matter how much makeup she put on. She winced. Then he took the bag out of her hand and let her to the couch.

"What happened?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

For a good two hours they talked about their lives, their mistakes since they had parted and their future intentions. He confessed about the stabbing, Lucy, rehab, Abby, Africa, and how he still felt the quilt every time he woke up when he realized how he'd argued with her about Max's drug problem and then went and betrayed everything he believed in by sinking deeper into despair. She told him about her almost wedding to Max, his relapse and his abuse, that resulted in the miscarriage of her first baby, conceived by rape. He felt so torn about everything, yet Anna understood as everything he'd felt for the past few years flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall. He sat with his head bowed, resting in one hand, as the other lay clasped between Anna's clammy palms.

Then the door opened and Andrew walked in with Abby, laughing and joking about something they had just witness.

"Hey, you'll never guess what happened when we were shopping for dinner," Andrew said, tossing his keys onto the counter as Abby placed the bags next to them. When they didn't get a response they both looked over to the couch where Carter and Anna were both trying to hide any signs of tears. "What's going on?" Andrew asked.

Carter slowly stood up, leaned over and whispered in Anna's ear before kissing her temple and walking over to Andrew and Abby.

"Listen, about earlier . . ." he started.

"Forget about it," Abby waved it off.

"Thanks. Anna's going to crash here for a few days, until she can find a decent apartment. Without bugs," he said with a smile, which he knew was making her smile.

"That's fine. Who's Anna, though?" Andrew asked.

"I am," she said appearing at Carter's side. "You must be the roommate." Andrew shook her hand. "And you're Abby?" Anna asked.

"Yeah." Anna only nodded. If Andrew didn't notice the slight tension in the room, there was something seriously wrong with the man.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well, look at you, handsome ma," Susan said as she saw Carter walk out of the elevators.

"I'm ready to change," he complained pulling at his tie. "It's been ages since I had to wear one of these things."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Romano offered me a faculty position."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What'd you say?" she asked.

"Why? Worried I'll steal your spotlight?" he asked.

"No, I just don't want to mix business with pleasure."

"Trust me. I won't let it get in my way," he said with a wink as they approached admit where Abby was talking to other nurses.

"So, you took the job?"

"Of course. I had to pull a couple more figures out of him by letting it slip that Northwestern offered me chief of emergency medicine."

"And you chose this place over chief?"

"I miss it here," he said, as he saw Abby start to approach.

"When do you start?" she asked.

"Tomorrow. We've been in talks for awhile so my schedule is clear."

"What about the exotic vacations? The spotted dog? Rescuing people in distress?"

"You do what you have to do. Exotic vacations will continue because I have a commitment and I told Romano that. Surprisingly, he agreed."

"Well, I insist on a celebratory drink tonight."

"And I will take you up on that." Carter looked at Abby. "Did you need something?" he asked.

"Anna find a place?"

"Yeah. Why are you so interested?"

"Why are you so hostile?"

"Jealous?" he asked as she started to walk off.

"Bite me," Abby called.

"I'm off in five minutes if you want to hang around."

"I'm on it," Carter said before taking his eyes off Abby walking into the lounge.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: Can you tell I like obstacles? More to come. Remember, it gets worse before it gets better.