Chapter 4

Carter wasn't sure how to act around Abby when he saw her at work two days later. So he decided that slightly cool would be the best attitude. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but he was still mad that she hadn't opened the door.

She looked tired, liked maybe she had lost weight in the past two days. Carter feared that his suspicions were true, and that she had started drinking again. She sure looked like it.

"Hey, Abby," Susan said, walking into the lounge where Carter and Abby were sharing an uncomfortable silence. "What happened to your face?"

Carter swiveled around to see what Susan was talking about. Abby had a large bruise on the side of her face, going down into the collar of her turtleneck.

Abby subconsciously pulled her turtleneck higher. Her bruises had gone down enough that she could walk without pain, but she was still sore. She had even considered taking another day off work, to give her face some more time to heal, but she had finally decided to just blame it on a rowdy patient.

"Crazy patient, kicked me in the face," she said, trying to look towards Carter discreetly and see if he was listening. He was, but he pretended not to be when he saw her looking at him.

She felt really bad about telling him to go away, but she still didn't want him to find out what happened. She couldn't think of a good excuse that would explain why she wouldn't let him in, so she didn't know what to say to him. She figured he was probably still mad, and he had a right to be.

"I gotta go. My break ended five minutes ago," Abby said, exiting the lounge. Carter continued rifling through his locker and pretended he didn't notice Susan staring at him. Finally, he turned to her and said, "What?" in an irritated voice.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?"

"Well, she's the one who practically threw me out of her building. Don't you think maybe she should be the one to initiate the talking?"

Susan looked at him. "Carter, if she's started drinking again, you know she's not going to come to you," she said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Go back to her apartment and beg her to let me in again?"

"No, you could maybe talk to her while you're both right here in the same building." Susan suggested this as if he was too stupid to think of it himself.

"If she wanted to talk, she would've just now," Carter pointer out wearily.

"So what are you going to do? Just ignore her for the rest of the time you're working here?" Carter sighed, but didn't respond. "We both know you love her, and she loves you too. Just talk to her, Carter. Find out what's going on. You guys were so happy just three days ago; are you gonna just throw that all away?"

Carter thought for a moment. He knew Susan was right. He loved Abby, and he didn't want to just give her up. He feared that she had started drinking again, but if she had, he would help her through it. Even though he was mad, he didn't want to lose her.

"Okay, I'll talk to her," Carter agreed.

"Yes! Score one for Susan the matchmaker!" Susan said, smiling at her success. What would the couples at County General do without her?

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Abby stood out on the roof, smoking. Normally, she would be leaning against the railing, but her stomach was still too sore for that. So she stood in the middle of the roof, back ramrod straight like a competitor for Miss Etiquette. She coughed, and her stomach clenched with pain. Maybe she would have to give up smoking until she was healed a little bit more. She threw the cigarette on the ground and took a deep breath of fresh air. She could breathe more freely, now that she had bandaged her broken ribs.

She heard the door to the roof opening and knew who it was. Her heart started pounding as he approached. She wished there were something she could do to fix this; she didn't want him to be mad at her.

Of course, there was ONE thing she could do to fix it: she could tell him what had happened. But it was too late for that now. He would want to know why she hadn't told him earlier. AND he would think she was a complete idiot for going out by herself at three in the morning. So she didn't tell him.

"Hey," he said, as if they were just having another casual conversation, and Abby's heart flip-flopped as she remembered when they had had normal, fun conversations. She wished she could go back to that. But she couldn't, right now. What if they made up, then Carter discovered the bruises on her stomach and back? Then he would be even madder because she had never told him. So Abby had decided that they should put off making up until her bruises healed.

Carter walked over to stand next to her. "Can we talk?" he asked, using the deep, serious voice that she loved. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"Um, actually, my break's almost over so I better get back..." Abby said this as she edged towards the door, hoping to make a quick escape.

But she didn't. Carter arm shot out, preventing her from walking any further. "Abby, we need to talk," he said quietly.

"Quite true! And we can talk- later!" Abby moved towards the stairwell. She was almost there; freedom was near.

"Have you started drinking again?" Carter blurted.

Abby stopped dead in her tracks. "What?" she asked.

"Have-you-started-drinking-again," Carter repeated it more slowly this time, which made her even madder.

"NO! Of course not!" Now she was really mad.

"Well how am I supposed to know? All I know is, you wouldn't let me in your apartment until I threatened to break down the door, and then all you say is 'I'm fine, go away'? And I go to your apartment at five in the morning and you're not there, then I come by twice and you won't open the door or talk to me until I force you to! What kind of conclusion am I SUPPOSED to draw from that situation?"

"Maybe that I was sick and couldn't come to the door, but since you insisted on breaking the door down like an IDIOT I had to come out there to make you go away!" Abby knew her explanation wasn't very plausible, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice.

Carter was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Is that really what happened?"

Abby scoffed. "I guess there's no point in telling you, since you've already decided that I've fallen off the wagon again," she said bitterly.

"Well, what was I supposed to think when you won't even talk to me? I was worried about you, and you couldn't even pick up the phone and tell me that you were okay!"

"I apologize. I was too busy suffering to chat," she said sarcastically.

Carter sighed. He wasn't sure what to make of this conversation. Was Abby telling the truth? Had she really been sick? He realized that her story was a possible explanation for what had happened. But where had she been when he came to her house? Maybe she was out getting medicine, he thought. But I had just seen her 12 hours ago, and she was fine! He had seen symptoms come on quick, but not that quick. He didn't know whether to believe her or not.

Abby walked past him. "I have to go," she said, running down the stairs.

"Abby, wait," Carter said, but she was already gone. He sighed. Well, at least this would give him some time to think about whether her story made sense. If it did, he would apologize later.

Abby ran back into the crowded ER, glad to be free from his interrogation. She prayed that he had bought her story.

Luka was speed-walking towards trauma one. "Abby, we'll need you in here," he said to her, walking in. She went in behind him. A man was laying on the table, flailing wildly, screaming about his rights. "Get some restraints," Luka said to Haleh, and she nodded and walked out. "Squeeze in the rest of that IV," Luka said to Abby. Abby nodded and reached for the bag suspended on the rack above her head, leaning onto the gurney slightly as she did.

The patient chose that moment to kick his legs with all his might. His left foot hit Abby squarely in the stomach, and Abby screamed and fell to the floor, her slightly healed wounds all reopened. The pain in her stomach was so intense, she thought for a moment she might pass out. It was even worse than the original attack, because she was already injured.

Luka saw the man kick Abby in the stomach, and when he heard her scream he knew that she had been seriously injured. He ran over to her and knelt down beside her. "Abby, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.