Sights went flashing past his eyes as the El train flew through the city of
Chicago at a rapid rate. The train was full to the brim with business
people, taking the early train to their destination of work in the city.
The 6.40am train was never occupied by youngsters or by the elderly, just
by professional adults in business attire. John Carter fitted in
surprisingly well with this type, in fact he was one of them himself, a
little younger than the majority, but still, a professional working adult.
The journey from his apartment to County General took roughly ten minutes;
however, the few yards from the El station to the ER took forever. People
rushing to get off, and pushing to get on - it was hell. The only bonus at
the present point in time was that it was late in the summer season. Late
August was a generally warm time in Chicago, with temperatures averaging at
seventy degrees. In a few weeks, the weather would begin to turn. As soon
as September hit, the mornings would become chilly and the nights darker.
Those winter months were the times that the morning El rides seemed like
hell had hit. It would be below zero; even the warmest coats could not keep
out the cold. When Chicago got its familiar dosage of snow the El would not
even run. That meant a long, freezing walk to work was in store for Carter
and the rest of the ER staff.
This morning's journey, however, seemed to really bite according to Carter.
He had been looking forward to arriving into work with Abby, but this
morning the excitement was broken when she had told him she was not on the
same shift. In the month, since they had made their relationship public to
others and to themselves, they had worked the same shift nearly every day.
Those rides on the El together had been great. They would cuddle up to one
another, whispering in the others ear and occasionally sharing a sweet
kiss. One morning, an elderly woman situated behind the two had stuck her
head between the seat in front to speak to Carter and Abby. She had
outwardly mentioned how the two of them were suited and how she wished her
grandchildren would end up with partners as well suited as the two of them
were to one another. This thought had stayed with Carter for the remainder
of the day, and the kind words would probably stick with him for the rest
of his life. It was weird how something so small could mean so much. He had
never been so openly affectionate towards any of his other girlfriends. He
was, in some way, embarrassed about public affection. This did not matter
to him with Abby, he just wanted the world to know she was with him and
that he was in love with the woman. He had not yet admitted to her that he
was in love, as it had only been two weeks since the two of them had
defined themselves as being in a relationship. To be honest though, they
had been dancing around with one another for two years now. The attraction
had been there for both of them since they had met; it had just been down
to timing. He did not know if she was in love with him and that was why he
was so reluctant to tell her about his feelings - because he did not want
to have his heart broken. He was not scared to admit it to himself though;
he had been in love with her for months now, maybe even longer than that!
Now, he sat alone as the train pulled into the station and the crowds of early morning passengers huddled far too closely to depart. Carter was now sandwiched between a fifty something year old man who had an unfortunate smell of sweat surrounding him, and a woman around Abby's age who stood behind him a little too closely. He did not wish to turn around and so made his move away as fast as he possibly could, up the concrete stairs and out into the open air of Chicago once more. There was no possibility of standing still for one second, even once you were out of the station. The crowds continued to move at a rapid rate, and so you were forced to move with the flow of human traffic. Luckily County General was only a mere minute's walk away and so as Carter rushed to escape his creepy admirer, he was immediately walking into the ambulance bay. Things were looking good so far as there were no signs of ambulances pulling up with traumas. He spotted Chen walking through the doors and he smiled a welcoming smile as he made his way towards her.
"Hey stranger. You off already? Shift hasn't even started!" He joked.
Chen smiled wearily as she stood in front of Carter. "Well, I got stuck doing night shift so I am in some desperate need of some sleep. I am not even going to pretend that I am one bit happy for you who is only just starting your shift."
"Hey, well, someone's gotta do it. You go home, get some rest. You in tomorrow?"
"Yeah, normal shift tomorrow. I'll catch you then."
Carter patted her on the shoulder as they parted and he made his way through the doors and into the ER. The same scene greeted him as he made his way past the admit desk and over to the lounge. Haleh, Connie and Randy were gossiping by the desk and bursting into laughter every few seconds. Kerry was seen ordering Frank to get back to work as he munched on a doughnut. Carter pushed the door to the lounge open and was greeted by another familiar face. Susan was seated at the table, reading a women's magazine and looked up as the door opened.
"Slacking off already Susan?" Carter asked light-heartedly as he opened his locker to retrieve his stethoscope and lab coat.
"Ha ha very funny. My watch states it is only 6.57am so I have another three minutes before I am officially on." She spoke, her head returning downwards to the magazine.
Carter slammed the door to his locker shut, pausing to hang the stethoscope around his neck and pull on his lab coat. He was now ready for his shift. "Whatever you say."
"So, where's the other half? Not attached to each other's sides as usual? Everything OK in the world of Abby and Carter?" Susan continued to read as she spoke.
Carter smiled at the mention of Abby. "Her shift was changed and so she's not on for another two hours, meaning I traveled into work on my own and am here on my own, with no Abby attached to my side, OK?"
Susan looked up with an amused look on her face. "Oooh, touchy! You missing your security blanket already? Poor baby."
Carter shot her a look as he turned around and walked out of the lounge to start work. His day was not getting off to a good start and he did admit to himself that he was feeling a little frustrated this morning because Abby had not come in with him. He looked at his watch as he approached this desk. 7.01am, another hour and fifty-nine minutes until Abby would appear through the doors. He sighed to himself. Time was going to drag this morning. Doctor Weaver slowly approached John from across the hall. He leaned back against the front of the desk, awaiting her directions.
"OK John, there is a woman in curtain three who needs seeing, a piece of lint or something flew in her eye. Then there is a gentleman in four, complaining of throat pains and blurred vision."
When Kerry had finished speaking she handed Carter two charts and made her way into chairs. Carter sighed for the hundredth time that morning and made his way over to curtain three. He scanned the chart briefly as he entered checking for the patient's name.
"Mrs. Kingston I presume?" He asked, his eyes moving from the chart held in front of him to meet the patient's eyes, well eye seeing as one was very red and closed shut. A middle-aged woman, probably in her forties, met Carter's stare. She was very, well, how could he put it.tough looking? She sported a tattoo on each arm, and had multiple piercings covering her face. Her arms were probably nearly as big as his were, if not bigger, and he was rather apprehensive about this.
"Yeah honey, that's me. Who are you cute thang?"
Carter's eyes widened a little. He drew in a long breath and let it out before he spoke.
"I'm Doctor Carter. Now what seems to have happened here?"
"Well ya see I was on my bike minding my own business when this stupid piece of sommat flew into my goddamn eye!" She pointed to her eye, making sure Carter knew what an eye looked like.
He carefully approached her trying to take a better look without getting beaten up in the process. "You weren't wearing a helmet when this happened then?" Her head shot up and Carter immediately regretted his words. "Who do you think you are sugar? A cop? When do you get off telling me what to do?"
Carter distanced himself a little. "I wasn't ma'am, I was purely asking you a question. Just trying to get my head around what must have flown into your eye."
"I already told someone. A piece of lint! Are you people stupid?"
"Can I take a look then?" Carter asked, almost timidly.
"Now ya talkin' sweet thang!"
Carter's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "Uh, I meant in your eye."
"Sure ya did. Don't be scared to admit ya wan' a bit of the mature woman. I can tell ya do."
Carter stepped forward and prepared to inspect Mrs. Kingston's eye. Suddenly, a pair of hands clasped his butt firmly. He looked up to see a sneaky grin plastered across the woman's face. Carter jumped away to the other side of the room.
"What's wrong precious? Can't handle a real woman?"
Carter was still too shocked. "I . . . I . . . I'm gonna . . . gonna go get another doctor . . . a . . . a FEMALE doctor."
With that he ran out of the room as fast as he could and into the lounge. He burst through the doors thankful to see Susan seated at the table.
"Where's the fire?" She asked as Carter burst through the door trying to catch his breath.
"I was just hit on in curtain three by a middle ages woman!!" His cheeks flushed as he spoke.
Susan tried to contain the laughter building up inside of her but it proved impossible. She burst out laughing and Carter's face of pure shock only added to the comic situation. "You're kidding me right?" She managed to say.
"No! Susan it's not a laughing matter! I could do her for sexual harassment! She grabbed my butt!"
Susan's laughs turned hysterical. "Oh . . . Oh stop it Carter! You're killing me!"
"Look, I came in here to ask you to take over. Would you?"
"Well, why should I? You sure she won't grab my butt too?" Susan burst into giggles once again. Carter was about to open his mouth when Susan jumped in first, "OK, OK, I'll do it, don't get ratty again. Geez!"
Susan got up from her position at the table and laughed once more as she approached Carter. She sneaked up besides him and pinched his butt quickly before running out of the room, giggling like crazy. Carter almost jumped out of his shoes. He growled in frustration as Susan left the room. He was never going to live this down once Susan opened her mouth, he thought. He noticed he was still holding another patient's chart in his hand. He was not up to seeing another patient right now. He sat down on the sofa and leaned his head back. He closed his eyes momentarily. He had not gotten very much sleep last night. He remembered waking up shaken because of some nightmare. He could still not remember what it was of, and why it had shaken him up so much. He had not really gotten much sleep after that, resulting in him being tired as hell this morning. He could barely keep his eyes open. Just a few minutes rest, he thought as his mind relaxed and sleep over took him.
- - -
A bang startled him and he opened his eyes slowly. The door to the lounge had been thrown open and Haleh stood in the doorway searching the room. As soon as Carter popped his head around to look towards the doorway Haleh's eyes met his.
"So that's where you've been hiding out? What did you do, go to sleep?"
Carter looked around the room confused. "What time is it Haleh?"
"It's a quarter past nine, meaning you better get your butt back in the ER."
The word 'butt' seemed to be the only word that rung out in that sentence, until he picked up on the time.
"Abby." He muttered, jumping up from the sofa.
"Huh?" Haleh questioned.
"Abby, where is she? What curtain or room?"
"She's not in yet."
"Sure she is." Carter said, dismissing her answer.
"Uh, no Carter she isn't." Haleh confirmed.
Carter looked a little confused. "She probably just slipped in quietly, I'll go and see."
"Nah ah, sorry, not possible. You'll have to arrange your little rendezvous for another time. We have multiple traumas coming in."
Carter followed Haleh out of the lounge, scanning the area for Abby. She was not in her usual place, hanging around the admit desk. Probably with a patient, he thought. Then another though occurred to him. Why didn't she wake him when she hung her coat up and retrieved her scrubs from the lounge? Kerry interrupted his thoughts.
"There's been a shooting, we have at least four traumas coming in, maybe more. I need you to suit up and be out in the ambulance bay."
Carter sighed. "What's the ETA?"
"Two minutes." She replied before walking off.
"Where's it happened?" He shouted back to Kerry. He hoped it wasn't at a school or anything like that. He couldn't bear to deal with kids who had been shot by some psycho.
"Huh?" She called back.
"Where'd it happen? The shooting."
"Oh, some wood."
Carter nodded in understanding. "Oh."
He went to retrieve an apron from the box by the door, still searching for Abby. Her jog couldn't have taken that long, he thought. Unless she sprained her ankle tripping over a random log in the.
His thought trailed off as his stomach turned and he thought he was going to throw up right there and then. He stumbled as his vision blurred and the room began to spin. He felt a figure besides him, and he grabbed onto their shoulder to steady himself. He heard Susan's worried voice besides him, but he couldn't see her, he couldn't see anyone.
"Carter? CARTER? What the hell is wrong? Talk to me John!" He couldn't form words. His mouth opened but nothing would come out. He tried for a few more moments and eventually words came. "I . . . I . . . uh . . . wh . . . what woods?"
"Huh?" Susan asked confused.
"Wh . . . what wo . . . woods? The shooting?"
"Oh. Bemis. Quite close, which is quite freaky . . . "
Carter only heard the first two words and his mind and world went black. His body fell limp and once it hit the floor his mind shut off.
--- OK hope you all likes that. I thought I would post 2 chapters to start with so you knew I was serious about continuing. Please review so I know to keep posting. Chapter 3 should be up mid week, if not definitely by Friday. Should be before. Luv Laura.
Now, he sat alone as the train pulled into the station and the crowds of early morning passengers huddled far too closely to depart. Carter was now sandwiched between a fifty something year old man who had an unfortunate smell of sweat surrounding him, and a woman around Abby's age who stood behind him a little too closely. He did not wish to turn around and so made his move away as fast as he possibly could, up the concrete stairs and out into the open air of Chicago once more. There was no possibility of standing still for one second, even once you were out of the station. The crowds continued to move at a rapid rate, and so you were forced to move with the flow of human traffic. Luckily County General was only a mere minute's walk away and so as Carter rushed to escape his creepy admirer, he was immediately walking into the ambulance bay. Things were looking good so far as there were no signs of ambulances pulling up with traumas. He spotted Chen walking through the doors and he smiled a welcoming smile as he made his way towards her.
"Hey stranger. You off already? Shift hasn't even started!" He joked.
Chen smiled wearily as she stood in front of Carter. "Well, I got stuck doing night shift so I am in some desperate need of some sleep. I am not even going to pretend that I am one bit happy for you who is only just starting your shift."
"Hey, well, someone's gotta do it. You go home, get some rest. You in tomorrow?"
"Yeah, normal shift tomorrow. I'll catch you then."
Carter patted her on the shoulder as they parted and he made his way through the doors and into the ER. The same scene greeted him as he made his way past the admit desk and over to the lounge. Haleh, Connie and Randy were gossiping by the desk and bursting into laughter every few seconds. Kerry was seen ordering Frank to get back to work as he munched on a doughnut. Carter pushed the door to the lounge open and was greeted by another familiar face. Susan was seated at the table, reading a women's magazine and looked up as the door opened.
"Slacking off already Susan?" Carter asked light-heartedly as he opened his locker to retrieve his stethoscope and lab coat.
"Ha ha very funny. My watch states it is only 6.57am so I have another three minutes before I am officially on." She spoke, her head returning downwards to the magazine.
Carter slammed the door to his locker shut, pausing to hang the stethoscope around his neck and pull on his lab coat. He was now ready for his shift. "Whatever you say."
"So, where's the other half? Not attached to each other's sides as usual? Everything OK in the world of Abby and Carter?" Susan continued to read as she spoke.
Carter smiled at the mention of Abby. "Her shift was changed and so she's not on for another two hours, meaning I traveled into work on my own and am here on my own, with no Abby attached to my side, OK?"
Susan looked up with an amused look on her face. "Oooh, touchy! You missing your security blanket already? Poor baby."
Carter shot her a look as he turned around and walked out of the lounge to start work. His day was not getting off to a good start and he did admit to himself that he was feeling a little frustrated this morning because Abby had not come in with him. He looked at his watch as he approached this desk. 7.01am, another hour and fifty-nine minutes until Abby would appear through the doors. He sighed to himself. Time was going to drag this morning. Doctor Weaver slowly approached John from across the hall. He leaned back against the front of the desk, awaiting her directions.
"OK John, there is a woman in curtain three who needs seeing, a piece of lint or something flew in her eye. Then there is a gentleman in four, complaining of throat pains and blurred vision."
When Kerry had finished speaking she handed Carter two charts and made her way into chairs. Carter sighed for the hundredth time that morning and made his way over to curtain three. He scanned the chart briefly as he entered checking for the patient's name.
"Mrs. Kingston I presume?" He asked, his eyes moving from the chart held in front of him to meet the patient's eyes, well eye seeing as one was very red and closed shut. A middle-aged woman, probably in her forties, met Carter's stare. She was very, well, how could he put it.tough looking? She sported a tattoo on each arm, and had multiple piercings covering her face. Her arms were probably nearly as big as his were, if not bigger, and he was rather apprehensive about this.
"Yeah honey, that's me. Who are you cute thang?"
Carter's eyes widened a little. He drew in a long breath and let it out before he spoke.
"I'm Doctor Carter. Now what seems to have happened here?"
"Well ya see I was on my bike minding my own business when this stupid piece of sommat flew into my goddamn eye!" She pointed to her eye, making sure Carter knew what an eye looked like.
He carefully approached her trying to take a better look without getting beaten up in the process. "You weren't wearing a helmet when this happened then?" Her head shot up and Carter immediately regretted his words. "Who do you think you are sugar? A cop? When do you get off telling me what to do?"
Carter distanced himself a little. "I wasn't ma'am, I was purely asking you a question. Just trying to get my head around what must have flown into your eye."
"I already told someone. A piece of lint! Are you people stupid?"
"Can I take a look then?" Carter asked, almost timidly.
"Now ya talkin' sweet thang!"
Carter's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "Uh, I meant in your eye."
"Sure ya did. Don't be scared to admit ya wan' a bit of the mature woman. I can tell ya do."
Carter stepped forward and prepared to inspect Mrs. Kingston's eye. Suddenly, a pair of hands clasped his butt firmly. He looked up to see a sneaky grin plastered across the woman's face. Carter jumped away to the other side of the room.
"What's wrong precious? Can't handle a real woman?"
Carter was still too shocked. "I . . . I . . . I'm gonna . . . gonna go get another doctor . . . a . . . a FEMALE doctor."
With that he ran out of the room as fast as he could and into the lounge. He burst through the doors thankful to see Susan seated at the table.
"Where's the fire?" She asked as Carter burst through the door trying to catch his breath.
"I was just hit on in curtain three by a middle ages woman!!" His cheeks flushed as he spoke.
Susan tried to contain the laughter building up inside of her but it proved impossible. She burst out laughing and Carter's face of pure shock only added to the comic situation. "You're kidding me right?" She managed to say.
"No! Susan it's not a laughing matter! I could do her for sexual harassment! She grabbed my butt!"
Susan's laughs turned hysterical. "Oh . . . Oh stop it Carter! You're killing me!"
"Look, I came in here to ask you to take over. Would you?"
"Well, why should I? You sure she won't grab my butt too?" Susan burst into giggles once again. Carter was about to open his mouth when Susan jumped in first, "OK, OK, I'll do it, don't get ratty again. Geez!"
Susan got up from her position at the table and laughed once more as she approached Carter. She sneaked up besides him and pinched his butt quickly before running out of the room, giggling like crazy. Carter almost jumped out of his shoes. He growled in frustration as Susan left the room. He was never going to live this down once Susan opened her mouth, he thought. He noticed he was still holding another patient's chart in his hand. He was not up to seeing another patient right now. He sat down on the sofa and leaned his head back. He closed his eyes momentarily. He had not gotten very much sleep last night. He remembered waking up shaken because of some nightmare. He could still not remember what it was of, and why it had shaken him up so much. He had not really gotten much sleep after that, resulting in him being tired as hell this morning. He could barely keep his eyes open. Just a few minutes rest, he thought as his mind relaxed and sleep over took him.
- - -
A bang startled him and he opened his eyes slowly. The door to the lounge had been thrown open and Haleh stood in the doorway searching the room. As soon as Carter popped his head around to look towards the doorway Haleh's eyes met his.
"So that's where you've been hiding out? What did you do, go to sleep?"
Carter looked around the room confused. "What time is it Haleh?"
"It's a quarter past nine, meaning you better get your butt back in the ER."
The word 'butt' seemed to be the only word that rung out in that sentence, until he picked up on the time.
"Abby." He muttered, jumping up from the sofa.
"Huh?" Haleh questioned.
"Abby, where is she? What curtain or room?"
"She's not in yet."
"Sure she is." Carter said, dismissing her answer.
"Uh, no Carter she isn't." Haleh confirmed.
Carter looked a little confused. "She probably just slipped in quietly, I'll go and see."
"Nah ah, sorry, not possible. You'll have to arrange your little rendezvous for another time. We have multiple traumas coming in."
Carter followed Haleh out of the lounge, scanning the area for Abby. She was not in her usual place, hanging around the admit desk. Probably with a patient, he thought. Then another though occurred to him. Why didn't she wake him when she hung her coat up and retrieved her scrubs from the lounge? Kerry interrupted his thoughts.
"There's been a shooting, we have at least four traumas coming in, maybe more. I need you to suit up and be out in the ambulance bay."
Carter sighed. "What's the ETA?"
"Two minutes." She replied before walking off.
"Where's it happened?" He shouted back to Kerry. He hoped it wasn't at a school or anything like that. He couldn't bear to deal with kids who had been shot by some psycho.
"Huh?" She called back.
"Where'd it happen? The shooting."
"Oh, some wood."
Carter nodded in understanding. "Oh."
He went to retrieve an apron from the box by the door, still searching for Abby. Her jog couldn't have taken that long, he thought. Unless she sprained her ankle tripping over a random log in the.
His thought trailed off as his stomach turned and he thought he was going to throw up right there and then. He stumbled as his vision blurred and the room began to spin. He felt a figure besides him, and he grabbed onto their shoulder to steady himself. He heard Susan's worried voice besides him, but he couldn't see her, he couldn't see anyone.
"Carter? CARTER? What the hell is wrong? Talk to me John!" He couldn't form words. His mouth opened but nothing would come out. He tried for a few more moments and eventually words came. "I . . . I . . . uh . . . wh . . . what woods?"
"Huh?" Susan asked confused.
"Wh . . . what wo . . . woods? The shooting?"
"Oh. Bemis. Quite close, which is quite freaky . . . "
Carter only heard the first two words and his mind and world went black. His body fell limp and once it hit the floor his mind shut off.
--- OK hope you all likes that. I thought I would post 2 chapters to start with so you knew I was serious about continuing. Please review so I know to keep posting. Chapter 3 should be up mid week, if not definitely by Friday. Should be before. Luv Laura.