Ch. 4
A Precious Thing
Romano took Abby by the hand, he was right he could be very sweet if he tried, and he brought his face close to her while never moving his eyes from hers. "Ok" he began, "When we gave Carter an X-Ray there were some masses by his liver that could have been anything. So we took some blood tests, and Abby I personally checked them twice, everything that came back was all consistent with Metastatic Liver Cancer." As Abby leaned back in her chair she closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her face. "Now it might not be as bad as it sounds." To that Abby rolled her eyes, "I'm not just one of these happy ignorant people you can tell that too." To that Romano cracked a small smile. "Yeah I know, your right, so I wont beat around the bush. He." Romano quickly changed his wording, "You guys have three options as I see it. One is Chemotherapy. Now in early stages of the disease that might do it all, however Carter's is right on the borderline so for now I wouldn't leave that as our saving grace. Second is for some surgeons to go in there and remove some of the tumors. The problem with that is that on the X-Ray they are all really close together so we can't tell how many there are. If we do this and there are too many then it will be a waste of time that had opened him up to infection." Abby now had her head down in her hands. She could feel Romano's apprehension to the third possibility and now she was feeling almost sick. "The third option we have is looking like our best one. That is a transplant. Now the good thing with the liver is that we don't have to wait for a brain veggie or car mash to come in. As long as we find someone who is a match to Carter then we can remove his infected liver, and a little less then half of the matching person's and BAM! You have one healthy good looking doctor boy back in action." This lighter remark almost made Abby smile, but then her mind raced back to the information that Romano had just told her. "Ok" she managed to say, "Let me go in and tell Carter." As they both stood up and looked into the exam room window Abby reached for the door then turned to Romano, "Thanks. Thank you for doing this. I'll wait for Carter to wake up and then I'll tell him." Romano nodded but as he turned to walk away he stopped and without turning around said, "Abby. I wouldn't wait too long to decide. Time is a precious thing." With those haunting words Romano left Abby to tell her best friend. The man she loved, his very limited options and get him to pick one as quickly as possible.
They both sat there for a half an hour without talking. Abby had already said enough. This was hard for her but she knew it was even tougher for him. He always liked to be the stronger one of the two of them. He rarely asked her to do anything for him unless it was to pick up some take- out or to rub his neck. For the first time he really needed her, and she was scared of only one thing, that she might let him down. "Ok" Carter finally said, "Lets find a match." Abby smiled. She knew he made the right choice, the only one he could. As she stood up she pulled her hair back and kissed him on the forehead. She was relieved that his temperature had gone back down to normal and he was beginning to look better. "I'll go tell Romano and he will get cracking on it. We will call up your family and you better believe that everyone here is going to be tested also!" They both smiled as she left the room. Carter was starting to feel better but he couldn't believe that this had happened to him, and now of all times. He laid his head back on his hospital pillow and remembered what he had wanted to do the previous night but hadn't gotten the chance. Abby was going to walk in and see the beautiful decorations. She would have been home at the perfect time that his pie would have been out of the oven. They would have gone out to the quiet Italian restaurant down the street for dinner. Carter didn't care much for it but Abby did. He would do anything for her. Once they came back it would have been pie time. Once on the couch he would have started his speech that he had been practicing for weeks now to make sure he hadn't left anything out. A speech about love, how much he loved her and needed her. Then he would have gotten down on his knees and slipped a beautiful ring on her finger, "I love you with all my heart, will you marry me?" That's what he would have said. It all seemed so wrong, nothing was supposed to happen that night, everything was supposed to be perfect. He thought back in his head on the night that he almost asked her to marry him but didn't. "I must have been dumb." He thought. "I hope it's not too late now. I need her to know."
After Abby told Romano his choice they all swung into action. Calling up relatives and making tests. After they drew blood from just about everyone in the hospital and Carter's family that was in Chicago, Romano took them up personally to the lab for the tests to be made. Abby and Carter sat alone in the exam room. All of their friends had walked by and wanted to join them but after seeing Carter and Abby's faces decided it was best to let them be for now. Until the tests came back. The next morning Romano was woken early. "We have the results." No snappy wiseass remarks came out of his mouth. He shot out of bed and grabbed the chart, searching for the only word that mattered, 'Match'.
Romano called Susan on her cell. "Susan get Abby and Carter up now! They need to hear this right away." Susan hung up the phone and ran to the exam room. "You guys need to hear this, they found a match!" Carter's face lit up. Abby looked in shock, "Really? Who?" "I don't know" Susan responded, "But it is a great thing! Romano wants to take Carter up to the OR soon to brief him and get things ready. Come on I'll wheel you up." Everyone's face was glowing. Once they reached the OR Susan had barley opened the Exam Room doors before her happy face was shot to a more serious one. There stood Romano, Pratt, and Deb waiting for them to enter. Once everyone was settleled Romano started. "Ok here's the scoop. Somehow by the grace of God you and hommie-P here are a match." Carter's eyes got big and his face turned pale. Pratt looked up and immediately started shaking his head. "I'll be damned, you two are blood brothers!" Romano was the only one who thought his joke was funny. Carter looked at Pratt waiting for a response. Deb started in, "I don't know about this. What is the possibility of this working and what is the possibility of them dying in surgery?" Romano shocked at the response given said, "Well 60-40" "of it working or not?" Pratt shouted out. "No. Living-dieing ratio. The chances of it working are 50-50. A whole lot better then our other options." Romano said, his voice now raised in irritation. "I'm going to be a father in six months, I-I don't know about this!" Came the soft reply from Pratt. Romano getting furious now started pacing. The only expressions on Abby and Carter's faces were that of shock. "You know what Pratt, it is your decision and it is one that you and Chen have to think over, but quite frankly there are only too kinds of people I hate, one are procrastinators and the other are cowards. We can't afford for you to be either!" Romano shouted. Finally after a long silence Pratt and Chen left the room and soon after so did Romano and Susan. "I will see you guys soon, ok?" Susan said in her always-cheery voice. Once the door was shut they both looked in at Abby and Carter. "It's not fair. People finally find love then one gets sick. They finally find hope and it gets shot down. It's just not fair." Susan said quietly. Romano looked at Susan surprised at the anger in her voice. "It's funny." He said. Susan, shocked as Romano's choice of words asked, "I beg your pardon? What in the hell is funny?" Romano looked up at her. His watery eyes almost broke her heart. "The two most precious things in this world we have the least of." After a moment of silence Susan looked back at him, "What are they?" she asked. Again he looked up at her, clearing his throat first to be sure not to have it crack. "Love and time. They have the one but not the other, only Pratt can give them time, and right now I'm not sure if he will." Silence. It was awkward for Susan to be this close to Romano, normally she thought he was a jerk but now she was seeing the other side of his cool exterior, she saw that he really did care. Romano changed his voice to the cocky, angrier tone that everyone was used to and said, "I will go talk to Pratt so he doesn't take up anymore of it." With that Romano walked off to go 'talk' with Pratt. Although Susan didn't know how much 'talking' would really be going on she knew that there wasn't any in Carter's room. Carter and Abby were both just holding each other, scared now that they might have to spend the rest of their lives apart. Susan wouldn't let that happen. "Love and time" she said to herself, "Love and time."
Romano took Abby by the hand, he was right he could be very sweet if he tried, and he brought his face close to her while never moving his eyes from hers. "Ok" he began, "When we gave Carter an X-Ray there were some masses by his liver that could have been anything. So we took some blood tests, and Abby I personally checked them twice, everything that came back was all consistent with Metastatic Liver Cancer." As Abby leaned back in her chair she closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her face. "Now it might not be as bad as it sounds." To that Abby rolled her eyes, "I'm not just one of these happy ignorant people you can tell that too." To that Romano cracked a small smile. "Yeah I know, your right, so I wont beat around the bush. He." Romano quickly changed his wording, "You guys have three options as I see it. One is Chemotherapy. Now in early stages of the disease that might do it all, however Carter's is right on the borderline so for now I wouldn't leave that as our saving grace. Second is for some surgeons to go in there and remove some of the tumors. The problem with that is that on the X-Ray they are all really close together so we can't tell how many there are. If we do this and there are too many then it will be a waste of time that had opened him up to infection." Abby now had her head down in her hands. She could feel Romano's apprehension to the third possibility and now she was feeling almost sick. "The third option we have is looking like our best one. That is a transplant. Now the good thing with the liver is that we don't have to wait for a brain veggie or car mash to come in. As long as we find someone who is a match to Carter then we can remove his infected liver, and a little less then half of the matching person's and BAM! You have one healthy good looking doctor boy back in action." This lighter remark almost made Abby smile, but then her mind raced back to the information that Romano had just told her. "Ok" she managed to say, "Let me go in and tell Carter." As they both stood up and looked into the exam room window Abby reached for the door then turned to Romano, "Thanks. Thank you for doing this. I'll wait for Carter to wake up and then I'll tell him." Romano nodded but as he turned to walk away he stopped and without turning around said, "Abby. I wouldn't wait too long to decide. Time is a precious thing." With those haunting words Romano left Abby to tell her best friend. The man she loved, his very limited options and get him to pick one as quickly as possible.
They both sat there for a half an hour without talking. Abby had already said enough. This was hard for her but she knew it was even tougher for him. He always liked to be the stronger one of the two of them. He rarely asked her to do anything for him unless it was to pick up some take- out or to rub his neck. For the first time he really needed her, and she was scared of only one thing, that she might let him down. "Ok" Carter finally said, "Lets find a match." Abby smiled. She knew he made the right choice, the only one he could. As she stood up she pulled her hair back and kissed him on the forehead. She was relieved that his temperature had gone back down to normal and he was beginning to look better. "I'll go tell Romano and he will get cracking on it. We will call up your family and you better believe that everyone here is going to be tested also!" They both smiled as she left the room. Carter was starting to feel better but he couldn't believe that this had happened to him, and now of all times. He laid his head back on his hospital pillow and remembered what he had wanted to do the previous night but hadn't gotten the chance. Abby was going to walk in and see the beautiful decorations. She would have been home at the perfect time that his pie would have been out of the oven. They would have gone out to the quiet Italian restaurant down the street for dinner. Carter didn't care much for it but Abby did. He would do anything for her. Once they came back it would have been pie time. Once on the couch he would have started his speech that he had been practicing for weeks now to make sure he hadn't left anything out. A speech about love, how much he loved her and needed her. Then he would have gotten down on his knees and slipped a beautiful ring on her finger, "I love you with all my heart, will you marry me?" That's what he would have said. It all seemed so wrong, nothing was supposed to happen that night, everything was supposed to be perfect. He thought back in his head on the night that he almost asked her to marry him but didn't. "I must have been dumb." He thought. "I hope it's not too late now. I need her to know."
After Abby told Romano his choice they all swung into action. Calling up relatives and making tests. After they drew blood from just about everyone in the hospital and Carter's family that was in Chicago, Romano took them up personally to the lab for the tests to be made. Abby and Carter sat alone in the exam room. All of their friends had walked by and wanted to join them but after seeing Carter and Abby's faces decided it was best to let them be for now. Until the tests came back. The next morning Romano was woken early. "We have the results." No snappy wiseass remarks came out of his mouth. He shot out of bed and grabbed the chart, searching for the only word that mattered, 'Match'.
Romano called Susan on her cell. "Susan get Abby and Carter up now! They need to hear this right away." Susan hung up the phone and ran to the exam room. "You guys need to hear this, they found a match!" Carter's face lit up. Abby looked in shock, "Really? Who?" "I don't know" Susan responded, "But it is a great thing! Romano wants to take Carter up to the OR soon to brief him and get things ready. Come on I'll wheel you up." Everyone's face was glowing. Once they reached the OR Susan had barley opened the Exam Room doors before her happy face was shot to a more serious one. There stood Romano, Pratt, and Deb waiting for them to enter. Once everyone was settleled Romano started. "Ok here's the scoop. Somehow by the grace of God you and hommie-P here are a match." Carter's eyes got big and his face turned pale. Pratt looked up and immediately started shaking his head. "I'll be damned, you two are blood brothers!" Romano was the only one who thought his joke was funny. Carter looked at Pratt waiting for a response. Deb started in, "I don't know about this. What is the possibility of this working and what is the possibility of them dying in surgery?" Romano shocked at the response given said, "Well 60-40" "of it working or not?" Pratt shouted out. "No. Living-dieing ratio. The chances of it working are 50-50. A whole lot better then our other options." Romano said, his voice now raised in irritation. "I'm going to be a father in six months, I-I don't know about this!" Came the soft reply from Pratt. Romano getting furious now started pacing. The only expressions on Abby and Carter's faces were that of shock. "You know what Pratt, it is your decision and it is one that you and Chen have to think over, but quite frankly there are only too kinds of people I hate, one are procrastinators and the other are cowards. We can't afford for you to be either!" Romano shouted. Finally after a long silence Pratt and Chen left the room and soon after so did Romano and Susan. "I will see you guys soon, ok?" Susan said in her always-cheery voice. Once the door was shut they both looked in at Abby and Carter. "It's not fair. People finally find love then one gets sick. They finally find hope and it gets shot down. It's just not fair." Susan said quietly. Romano looked at Susan surprised at the anger in her voice. "It's funny." He said. Susan, shocked as Romano's choice of words asked, "I beg your pardon? What in the hell is funny?" Romano looked up at her. His watery eyes almost broke her heart. "The two most precious things in this world we have the least of." After a moment of silence Susan looked back at him, "What are they?" she asked. Again he looked up at her, clearing his throat first to be sure not to have it crack. "Love and time. They have the one but not the other, only Pratt can give them time, and right now I'm not sure if he will." Silence. It was awkward for Susan to be this close to Romano, normally she thought he was a jerk but now she was seeing the other side of his cool exterior, she saw that he really did care. Romano changed his voice to the cocky, angrier tone that everyone was used to and said, "I will go talk to Pratt so he doesn't take up anymore of it." With that Romano walked off to go 'talk' with Pratt. Although Susan didn't know how much 'talking' would really be going on she knew that there wasn't any in Carter's room. Carter and Abby were both just holding each other, scared now that they might have to spend the rest of their lives apart. Susan wouldn't let that happen. "Love and time" she said to herself, "Love and time."