Part 6: Hanging by a Moment

The weeks flew by with no word from Eric. Carter and Abby were back to themselves. Carter had been staying at the apartment more now than ever. Gamma called him that morning to see if they could have breakfast together. He was on his way to work and had to decline. She seemed more disappointed that he couldn't do it more than she normally was. He told her that he would come over when he got off work. He was sorry that he couldn't do breakfast with her, but that he would see her as soon as he could.

He threw himself into his work. They were busy and short handed. Romano had been assigned to the ER as chief of emergency medicine and it was driving everyone nuts. Everyone was short with one another and it seemed like nothing was going right today.

John was in the middle of a trauma when Kerry came in, "John you have a phone call." She said to him.

"Take a message Kerry, I'm in the middle of a trauma." He said to her.

"No you need to take this." She said looking at him, "it's about your grandmother."

Carter momentarily stopped what he was doing at looked at Kerry, "is she dead?"

"I'm sorry Carter." She said to him.

Carter finished with his patient. He was not going to walk out in the middle of a trauma. He snapped off his gloves and walked to find a phone. He called the house and was told what had happened. Millicent had laid down for a nap and didn't wake up from it. Carter was devastated. He had loved his gamma dearly, she was the closest thing to a mother that he had ever had. Not the Elanore wasn't his mother, but she and his father were gone so much that gamma had filled in for them, providing John and Barbara a stable home environment. He walked out to find Abby. He was going to leave the hospital. He needed to do other things right now. And he didn't want to be around any more death and dying. He couldn't handle anymore.

"Abby," Carter called to her.

"I was looking for you John," She said looking up, "I'm catching the next flight up to Minnesota, Eric called I'm going to go and get him."

"Abby do you have to go now, send Maggie to get him."

"John he called me he's off his med's, if I don't go he might disappear again." She said to him.

"My grandmother just died, do you care?"

"I'll be back later tonight." She said taking off.

"Abby do you give a damn about me?" He asked not waiting for an answer as he stormed off. He couldn't believe that she would be so cold towards him after all they had been thru. He thought a minute to himself oh wait that's just Abby. She cared more for her family than she did for him. That was nothing new. He had been hanging on a moment with Abby for almost a year now. There would be no more hanging on. He couldn't do it anymore.

Abby caught her plane. She felt awful about leaving Carter, but there was nothing else that she could do. Eric was off his meds and in a café in the middle of nowhere. He needed her. She would be back with Carter before he knew that she had been gone. She could make this trip in a day. She'd be back later tonight with Eric in tow. She would get him back on his meds, get him in a treatment program and everything would be fine.

Carter sat by his grandmother and cried. He had never felt so alone in his life. His world had just come crashing to an end. The only person who had ever cared, the one woman who had taken care of him his entire life had just died. She would never be there for him again. He was going to have to make it thru the world alone now. His parents, god only knew where they were. He was sure that someone had managed to track them down. Corinne had probably tracked him down by now.

Abby never called John that night. She couldn't get her flight out. There was no way that she was going to be able to be back into Chicago until tomorrow. She knew that he had enough going on with out her calling and saying that she was stuck. She glanced over Eric was sleeping on the bed next to her. She closed her eyes. There had to be a silver lining here somewhere. She just wasn't sure what it was. She wasn't sure if John was going to be able to forgive her for this. She hated that she had run out of town when he needed her most, but Eric was her brother. He would be there no matter what, and boyfriends came and went.

Abby closed her eyes and went to sleep. She wasn't sure what the morning would bring for her. Nothing was the same anymore. She was happy that Eric had called her. But she didn't know how she was going to handle things when they got back to Chicago.

Carter was upset that Abby hadn't come back into town when she said that she would. He needed her. There was no one here to support him. His father was upset with him because his grandmother had left him everything. Not that he wanted it; he was never comfortable with all that money. And here now even from the grave she had managed to find a way to control his life. There had to be someway that he could get out of some of these responsibilities, but someone else in charge of it, cause he wasn't ready to leave his job at County yet.

He didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't know how he was going to handle Abby when she came back. He was toying with the idea of going to Africa now even more than before. It would give him a chance to get away from all of this for a while and not have to deal with it. He knew that she wouldn't want him to go. She had made that perfectly clear when Luka had first brought up the suggestion in the Trauma room that day. Maybe he would go. But then maybe he wouldn't. His cell phone ran.

"Carter," He said answering it.

"It's Abby, I'm back in town." She said.

"And Eric?"

"He's here too, thank you John." She said, "I have him in a treatment facility while I am at work." Abby told him. "I think that he's really ready for treatment."

"I hope so Abby." John said. He wasn't sure how to react to her anymore. How to take the news that she was sharing with him. Her brother was safe and sound, but could he say the same for himself. He was burring his gamma today. With out Abby there, he hadn't asked her to come, cause he figured that there would be something that she would need to do. "Look I have to go."

"Why Carter, what's up?" she asked, "Is there anything I can do for you."

"There isn't anything that you can do." He said. He wanted to tell her that he needed her to hold him tight and tell him that everything was going to be okay. He wasn't sure why he was being so stubborn. Maybe it was because he was suffering from a broken heart. But he was going to be too stubborn to tell her that. Nothing between them was right anymore.