ER

Back from the Dead-6

Valentine's Day, 2000

Carter's back hurt, but he didn't fall to the floor like he remembered. He fought back, because he was tough. He stabbed Sobriki, and THEN he fell to the floor, slipping into unconsciousness.

Lucy Knight, a fourth year med student entered the room, rushing to Carter's aid. "I need a gurney in here…"

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"So, you saved me?" Carter asked.

"Yes, but you might want to hear the whole story."

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Lucy ran along side the gurney with Kerry Weaver trying to push her away. "Lucy, go to chairs. We can take it from here."

Lucy felt like she was back in her third year when they didn't want her to help on her first day. She protested, but Kerry insisted that she rest. Lucy would rather be with John.

Ever since exam room six, Lucy had undeniably strong feelings for Carter and was able to hide them well…until now. With that last thought, she strode off after Kerry, passing exam room three on the way.

She tried to look away, but couldn't so she looked into the room. Blood was on the floor, cops were taking pictures and Sobriki's body was on a gurney, covered by a sheet. Lucy let out a cry that that could've been her. She could've been dead had it not been for Carter. How did he know? She broke down in exasperating tears as Carol passed by.

"Lucy?" she asked. She had only left for a few minutes to go home when she had a phone call. Not knowing what it was about, she came back to the ER to find Lucy in tears. She'd never had liked Lucy, but she felt for her…she really did.

Lucy looked up at Carol and some instinct came over her. She got off the floor and ran for Carol's arms. Carol hugged her, wondering out loud, "what's wrong?"

"Carter…oh god," Lucy replied while her tears began flowing like a river.

"Lucy, what happened to Carter," Carol asked, holding Lucy at arms length.

"He's been…stabbed," said Lucy, hiding her red eyes. "Carol…I love him. I can't lose him."

"You love Carter?"

"Last year," Lucy began. "We had a…thing in exam 6…"

"So it was true?" Carol interrupted, half questioning and half wondering.

"Yes, but he didn't want to go through with it. But tonight has made me realize…" she looked up, her tear stained eyes visible with pain and sorrow. "I can't live without him."

Carol held Lucy again as her crying became more than she could handle. "It'll be all right."

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"You love me?"

"John, how can you say that?" Lucy asked, smiling "Of course I love you, why else would we be married with two kids?"

John took Lucy's hands and held them in his. "Lucy, I'm so sorry about not taking our relationship further in exam six," Carter replied. "I shouldn't have let my stupid pride and stupid respects for this…job get in the way of us."

Lucy looked lovingly into his eyes and gave him a passionate kiss. "It's okay John, we're together now. But…the story's not finished."

"What else could there be?"

Lucy sighed. "A lot."

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Jing-Mei, Abby, Dave, Luka, Mark and Elizabeth entered the emergency room to find Carol and Lucy hugging on the chairs.

"Are you sure?" Carol asked as they all came over.

"Yes," replied Lucy.

"All right," Carol said, motioning for the others to come over.

"Where's John?" Abby asked.

"Surgery, with Benton, Romano and Elizabeth," Carol replied. "Guys, Lucy wants to pray for Carter's safety."

Everyone knew Lucy was atheist, but went with it anyways. Everyone gathered in a circle and bowed their heads as Carol began speaking. "God, we are praying to you tonight a special request. Our friend, John Carter, has been hurt. We pray to you that you will guide him, love him and heal him. Our father…"

"Who art in heaven," everyone said with Carol. "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…"

"On earth, as it is in heaven," Lucy joined it. "Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

Everyone finished it, but not one wasn't looked at or looked to another with tears in their eyes. They sat back, hugging, awaiting then news that they hoped would come.

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"So…you prayed for me?" John asked, shocked that Lucy was praying or even thought about God.

"Yes, and we also go to church just about every Sunday now," she replied, taking his hand."

"So…what happened next?"

She sighed, afraid to go on. "We sat there for what appeared to be forever. Mark and Elizabeth went to help, Carol and I were hugging, Abby cried and Jing-Mei, Dave and Luka just sat there, not knowing what to say or what to do. About two hours had passed…"

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The ER couldn't have gotten any scarier than this. Hardly any patients, except for a couple of minor ones and two surgeries, one that tore the whole ER to shreds.

John Carter's.

Carol sat in chairs holding onto Lucy afraid that if she let her go, Lucy would run out. But Lucy was too distraught to do such a thing. Her only thought was Carter, and hoping that he would live. Abby couldn't think. She hadn't been here that long and Carter was so nice to her. How? How could this happen? Jing-Mei knew Carter from way back then and Luka and Dave practically became brothers to Carter. This couldn't be happening…could it?

The doors opened, and Kerry stood there. Her face solemn, so much that they couldn't depict a thing.

Carol stood, pulling Lucy up with her. Jing-Mei, Dave and Luka stood. Abby stood as well, but ran and held onto Dave. Any other time Dave would hit on her, but not tonight. Not like this.

Kerry sighed, looking at the doctor's and med-students and noticing Lucy's massive tears for the very first time.

"Is he…all right?" Carol asked, gulping a bit.

Kerry nodded. "His surgery went great, and he's waking up."

Everyone sighed and rejoiced. Lucy stood in shock. She just…smiled.

"He's asking for you, Luce," Kerry said, going her way. Lucy turned to follow when she felt a nudge on her arm and turned back to face Carol.

"Looks like it's about time," Carol said, winking. Lucy giggled a bit, wiping her tears away and sighing in relief, she followed Kerry.

The room was dark when they came on the surgery floor. She could see his form lying there and could hear the door shut when Kerry left. Lucy walked over and sat by the bed, seeing him turning to face her.

"Hi beautiful," he said.

Lucy giggled. How she longed for those words. "I think you're drugged up too much, Carter. How are you?"

"Better. Lucy, I've realised something."

"What?" Her eys glistened with tears as she searched his eyes.

"Lucy, I…"

The monitor's began beeping widly. Lucy stood up, panicking, as Carter began to seize.

"HELP ME! HELP!" Lucy screamed while rushing out of the room and finding Elizabeth, who was talking to Romano and Peter. They all followed her back into the room, where they found him in…

"V-Tach," Elizabeth screamed, grabbing a crash cart.

Lucy backed up, holding her ears and shaking her head. Why her? Why him? Why now?

She sunk to the floor and exhaustion took over. She passed out.

"Lucy…"

Lucy's mind was swarming. Where was she? She opened her eyes and saw a few blurry figures. She blinked her eyes a few times and finally saw that Carol and Malik were standing above her.

"Lucy, are you all right?" Carol asked. All right? What did she mean? She looked around her and saw that she was in one of the exam rooms on the surgical floor. She was on a gurney, in a gown but…why?

"What's going on?" Lucy asked.

"You passed out. You were pretty tired," Mark Greene walked into the room. "We couldn't move you and we decided to let you sleep for a while."

That's when it hit her like a ton of bricks. John, she visited him and then he…oh god…he was dead. Lucy began crying as furiously as earlier.

"Luce, what's wrong?" Malik asked.

"John, he was about to tell me…he seized…and now he's…" she said between tears. Carol hugged her.

"Lucy, Carter's fine," Mark replied.

Lucy stopped crying. "What?"

"When you got into his room, you passed out," Carol explained. "Kerry said that you just fell to the ground."

"How long has it been like this, Lucy?" Mark asked.

"What?" Lucy questioned.

"We know that the hospital puts pressure on you, but you need to sleep and eat when you can," Malik joked. "I'm glad I'm just a male nurse."

"I agree, but switch mine to female nurse," Carol laughed.

Lucy just sat there, bewildered. John wasn't dead; he was fine.

"But what was he going to tell you, Lucy?" Mark asked. "We couldn't get him to talk."

Lucy smiled. "Can I go find out?"

"Yes."

A couple of minutes later, Lucy was wheeled down the hall and into Carter's room. Carter sat up in bed, eating.

"Decide to grace me with you presence?" John joked.

Lucy laughed and blushed a little bit. "Sorry about that, John."

"That's okay," he replied. "And why are you calling me John?"

Lucy realized that she might have been wrong. After all, she did dream it up. "I don't know."

He sighed. "Lucy, I have wondered about things over the past year or so, and I have come to the conclusion…that I'm a jackass." Lucy giggled and looked to the floor, afraid that he would see her smiling. "But I want you to know that I do have feelings for you, and have since I met you. It was mostly sexual tension between us. And if you would like, I would really like to pursue a relationship with you."

Lucy looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear that."

"The only thing is, we have to hide it for a couple of months," John replied, looking into her eyes.

"Why?" Lucy asked, inching closer to him. You could really see the spark fly between them both.

"Because it's against the rules for a teacher and a student to date."

And they kissed.

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Lucy and John broke the kiss. It was now the future, and Lucy had just finished the story.

"Wow," John said. "That was amazing."

"The kiss or the story?" Lucy questioned, and glowing in her eye.

"Both," John replied.

Lucy went on. "So after that, we got married, had two kids and named them…"

"Jonathan Truman Carter the fourth and Lilliana Roberta Carter," John finished.

Lucy smiled from ear to ear. "That's correct. You remember now?"

"Yes, I do," he said, bending down to kiss Lucy. But…he pulled away. "I'm also starting to remember how well I know you, and you look like…you have news."

Lucy giggled, the glowing in her eyes apparantly back. "Yes, I do."

Carter jumped back, pointing at her with such excitement. "You're pregnant."

She nodded. "I am. Carol did the test this morning. I'm 12 weeks along."

Carter kissed her and then bent down and kissed the small bump on Lucy's stomach. "Hi baby. I love you…" he looked up at Lucy, who had tears in her eyes. "…Both."

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That's it. Epilogue will be up soon.