The following day Sara went to work. Carter had called her the night before to see was. She had thanked him for his help before engaging in a friendly conversation where they both spoke about the ER staff and how she would be sucked back in to the ER vortex.

Once at work, Sara second nature kicked in and she went through a total of 18 patients. She had asked Weaver, who had conveniently returned to work, for Friday and the weekend off just in case. She had granted Sara the days off but wasn't very happy about it.

Once it hit 5.30 Sara headed home to get ready. She hadn't seen Carter all day as he was assisting Gamma with the preparations.

Lisa had come over to help Sara get ready. She had put her hair up and had a flower in her hair to match her dress. Her dress was gorgeous and complemented her figure. The accessories, which were a necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings, hung elegantly on the corresponding body parts.    

Carter too was getting ready; he'd brought a new tux and a new pair of shoes. His mind however was not focused on doing his shirt up properly (which looked lop sided due to getting the buttons in the wrong holes) but was on how Sara would look. He had seen her go clubbing and in scrubs but had never seen her in a dress. But he knew that he wouldn't be disappointed.

At 6.30 Carter arrived at Sara's apartment. He was early. He decided to drive around for about 15 minutes but the suspense was killing him so he gave up and at quarter to 7 knocked on Sara's apartment to find Lisa opening the door.

Lisa: Hey Carter. You look really nice

Carter: Thank you. Is Sara ready?

Lisa: Yeah, She'll be down in a minute. Would you like a drink?

Carter: No thanks

Lisa: So what charity is the money going to? (a tactful distraction)

Carter: Oh, um… it's for a cancer charity

Lisa: Oh rite. Um…I'll just go and get Sara.

Lisa ran up the stairs while Carter fumbled with his fingers and tried to distract himself by staring at the pictures on the shelves. About 2 minutes later Lisa came downstairs.

Lisa: She's just coming.

Carter and Lisa headed toward the staircase as Sara descended it. Carter looked up at her. She looked gorgeous. He never thought she would look this stunning and felt like the luckiest guy in the world.

Carter: Sara…you look gorgeous.

Sara gave him a peck on the cheek.

Sara: You're looking very nice yourself.

Carter felt like a hormonal teenager as a surge of emotions caused a sea of butterflies to wreak havoc in his stomach.

Carter: We better get going.

Sara: Ok then. Thanks Lisa for everything

Lisa: Your welcome. Have a nice night

Carter: Yeah you too.

Carter and Sara left the apartment and made their way to the venue.

Once they arrived, Carter noticed that the majority of the male population were staring at him in envy. He had the most beautiful date there and Carter was happily basking in the glory.

After they entered the beautifully lighten room Carter introduced Sara to Gamma who was stationed near the door welcoming her guests. Carter could tell that Gamma liked Sara by the way she spoke to her.

A few minutes later the rest of the ER gang walked through the double doors and joined Carter and Sara and a table near the back of the hall. Susan, Abby and Deb looked gorgeous. Sara had joked that they had put in the effort in order to get dates with some of Chicago's richest bachelors.

On the other hand Pratt and Luka were looking around the room to find an unattached female as their prey for the night.

The night was as promised, a boring one, full of speeches, and cheque giving. However, once the food arrived no one seemed to care as they tucked into a delicious meal.

Carter however was distracted from the boredom of the night by Sara. He felt so lucky to have her as his date and was determined to make the night as entertaining as possible for Sara and hence he kept talking to her through speeches which in turn resulted in him receiving a number of dirty looks from the guests.

Sara was actually enjoying the night. It was nice to have a change of scenery rather than just going out to a restaurant or clubbing. The room and Carter were helpful distractions from the droning voice of one of Carter's family friends talking about the generosity of the Carter family. 

As much as she tried to cover it up, Sara had to admit that Carter did look extremely cute tonight in his tux. He was a gentleman the whole night, opening doors, getting her drinks and introducing her to his family.

A few minutes after dinner finished, the music started and couples began to approach the dance floor. Carter was just about to ask Sara to ask when Pratt got there first.

Pratt: Sara, would you do me the pleasure dancing with me?

Sara looked at Carter who cleverly hid his disappointment and nodded for her to go and "enjoy herself".

Sara: I think hanging out with me has had a positive effect on the way you address women.

Pratt: Ha ha. (Sarcastically)

Sara handed him her hand and they headed towards the dance floor as the music brought back to Sara the ballroom dancing lessons she had to take in high school.

Once the song was over Sara headed back to the table quickly before she was asked again to dance. She sat next to Carter and sipped her glass of orange juice. She never did acquire a taste for wine.

Carter stared at Sara, contemplating whether to ask her or not. He finally gathered his courage.

Carter: Sara, would you like to dance?

Sara: Yes of course I would.

Sara and Carter headed towards the dance floor. The lights dimmed low and Sara's heart jolted at the thought of dancing with Carter. But as the music came up, and Sara recognised the song as the instrumental version of "someone to love you" by Ruff Ends, Sara's relaxed a little and just went with the flow.

Carter placed his hands on Sara's waist, while Sara wrapped her arms around his neck. It wasn't traditional but no one cared. They both moved in time with the music and each other. The light reflected off the embroidery in Sara's dress and the smell of Carter's after-shave was intoxicating. 

Sara rested her head against Carter. Nothing had ever felt so right in her life. Sara closed her eyes and Carter too felt at ease.

The coda of the music came and Sara looked up toward Carter. Their eyes linked like they had done before. Except this time the pull was stronger. Sara's heart was winning the battle over her thoughts. Carter realised that the moment in Sara's apartment was not a figment of his imagination. Their faces came closer together until finally their lips met in an embrace that had threatened to happen before. The kiss was soft yet passionate, gentle but yet it said all that they both had wanted to say for weeks. Until finally, Sara realised what she was doing and pulled away. 

The sudden movement of Sara confused Carter. Sara looked into his eyes shocked at herself for what she'd just done. She quickly walked back toward the table picked up her bag and left the room. Carter began to follow her in order to talk to her until Gamma called him for help. Carter had no choice but to stay.

Sara ran out of the double doors and down the street. She ran out of the building down the road to a corner where she knew it as safe yet nobody would disturb her. She fumbled in her bag and got out her phone and rang a cab.

Sara told the operator the directions to her location. She kept the conversation as short as possible and kept looking around for a sign of Carter.

Before she could dwell on things any further, she noticed a cab pull up and she got inside quietly.

She directed the cab driver to her apartment after which she paid him and entered her apartment. She rang Ty to tell him she couldn't make it tonight and that she'd see him tomorrow. She made herself some cocoa, got changed and sat in front of the T.V watching stand up comedy acts. None of them helped her mood much.

She felt awful. Why had she run out like that? She was such a drama queen. She felt like she was playing with Carter's mind and he probably thought she was angry with him when in fact she wasn't, she with her lack of self control. But it was for the best, at least now he would know that she didn't want it to progress any further. Looking rather sullen, Sara fell asleep on the couch a few hours later.

Meanwhile, Carter helped Gamma with paying the next band who insisted on money straight away. He dealt with it quickly and wanted to go and find Sara. He didn't know what happened. He felt both happy and confused at the same time. Firstly he knew she felt the same way from the passion in the kiss. But then again he didn't understand why she left. Had he done something to upset her? But she had kissed him back. Carter began walking toward the doors when Susan caught up with him.

Susan: Carter where's Sara? We saw what happened

Carter: I haven't got a clue. She just ran out. I'm going to look for her.

Susan: Did you do anything?

Carter: What do you mean? We kissed but she kissed me back.

Susan: Maybe she was a little tipsy?

Carter: She doesn't drink

Susan: Maybe she's just feeling a little confused

Carter: Yeah maybe. I'm going to find her.

Susan: I'll come with you

Carter and Susan quickly exited the ball and began to search every street nearby.  Pratt and Abby soon joined them while Deb was looking after a rather tipsy Luka.

After 20 minutes of searching they gave up, which left Carter feeling a bit empty. A while later the ball ended and Carter gloomily joined Gamma in order to thank the guests for their support.

Once Carter left the ball, he headed home still engrossed in deep thought about the events of the night. He picked up his phone and punched Sara's number into the handset. He needed some answers. He wasn't angry, just confused. Confused why she ran away when she knew that they could have something special together and when she knew that their feelings for each other were mutual.

The phone began to ring until it reached Sara's answer phone. Carter left a message along the lines of:

"Sara, look we need to talk. Give me a ring when you get this message"

Carter hung up. Then an overwhelming sense of worry over took him. She had left over an hour and a half ago and she still hadn't got home.  Say if she was attacked or hurt? He didn't know what to do.  But say if she is at home but just isn't answering? She might be mad at him?

Carter phoned about 4 times over the next 2 hours, he paged her and even text her but he didn't get a reply. He finally picked up his phone and found Ty's number and rang him.

Ty: Hello

Carter: Hey Ty, its John here. Um. I'm sorry to ring so late, but do you know where Sara is?  I can't get hold of her. I've paged her, text her and even rang her and she isn't replying.

Ty:  Um… she just rang me a minute ago and said she's at home and couldn't make it here tonight

Carter: Oh rite (Relieved)

Ty: Didn't you two have a charity ball to go to?

Carter: Yeah we did but it ended early

Ty: And you didn't give her a lift home?

(Thinking quickly) Carter: She took a cab home, as I had to stay and finish up

Ty: Oh rite. I'll tell Sara to ring you when I see her tomorrow.

Carter: Thanks

Carter hung up feeling relieved.

He decided to go to bed, he had an early shift the next day, but he had a hard time going to sleep. He kept on thinking about the kiss. It was perfect. At the time he thought all his wishes had come true but then she ran away. Unanswered questions plagued Carter's mind until he finally dropped off to sleep some 3 hours later.