Mother Dear

A/N:  Read and Review PLEASE!  Also, ignore the boringness of the first few chapters. I just have to give background info.  It will get more interesting as the story starts up more.

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize, I don't own.

~*~

Susan turned around and then quickly turned back to face Abby.

"Hey, Abby…"  Abby faced her, but her eyes gave way to her distraction, "Why don't I show you around?  A lot has changed in seven years."  She looked over her shoulder at Carter once more, grabbed hold on Abby's arm and pulled her toward the lounge.

They walked into the lounge and Susan eyed Abby sheepishly.

"So," asked Abby, trying to sound nonchalant, "how is everybody?"

"You mean Carter?"

"Well, I –"

"He's great."

"How's Kem?" Abby asked, but her voice sounded harsher than she had intended.

"She's –"

"And the baby.  How's the baby?" Abby's voice was becoming shrill.

"They're-"

"How old is he now?  Six?  Seven?"

"Abby-"

"Carter must really like being a dad.  What is this?  John Carter IV?"  Abby practically spit it out.

"Abby!" Abby faced Susan and, seeing the look in Susan's eye, she listened quietly, "They're dead."

After a moment of silence that felt like much longer, Abby cleared her throat and fidgeted with a ring on one of her fingers.

"Well…"  She said breaking the silence.  This was followed by another pregnant pause, "I just had to stop by to talk to Dr. Bennings.  I don't start until tomorrow and I have to go and pick Ashley up from school.  So-" Susan looked devastated.

"Abby, I didn't mean it like that.  Honestly, don't do this, Abby."

Abby gazed intently out the window trying to seem as though she was very interested in the shape of the clouds.

"Abby…"  Abby picked up her bag and looked at Susan.

"Don't worry about it."  She said, "I mean, what did I expect coming back after seven years without seeing or hearing from anyone."  She turned to leave.

"Abby, I just have one question."  Abby faced Susan.

"Why did you leave?"

"It's complicated."  Abby sighed and finally returned to the admit. desk to ask for the whereabouts of Dr. Bennings.

~*~

Dr. Bennings finally retreated from Trauma 1 pulling the trauma gown and blood stained rubber gloves off.  She approached Admit.  looking for a new chart to attend to.

"Hey, Dr. B."  said the man at the desk, "You've got a visitor."  He nodded his head toward Abby who was sitting in a chair near triage.  When she noticed his gesture, Abby stood up and approached Dr. Bennings with her hand out.

"Hi, I'm Abby Lockhart," she stated, shaking Dr. Benning's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Lockhart, I'm Olivia Bennings, chief of emergency medicine.  You must be the new nurse."  Abby nodded, smiling.  "I wasn't aware that you were starting until tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm not," began Abby, "but I got a phone call stating that you wanted me here a day early for a walk through or something along those lines. And please, call me Abby."

"Ah, right, I remember now."  She motioned for Abby to follow her as she led her throughout the various trauma rooms, drug lockup, and etc.  Abby was silently praying that no matter what, she didn't run into Carter.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you've taken so easily to the surroundings here," Said Olivia Bennings as they made their way back to the admit. desk.  Abby smiled again and briefly pondered over whether to tell Dr. Bennings that she had worked there years ago.  She decided against it.

"I guess we'll see you bright and early tomorrow.  Ask Brian at admit. to give you a full copy of this month's schedule.  We've taking into account your situation and have tried to give you only day shifts so that you can spend the nights with you daughter."

Abby smiled gratefully and thanked Dr. Bennings profusely.

"Yes, well, we'll see you tomorrow."  Said Bennings and she turned on her heel to attend to the gurneys that had just come crashing through the doors from the ambulance bay.

~*~

"How was school today?" asked Abby as she took her daughter's knapsack from her, "do you like your new teachers?"  Ashley nodded thoughtfully, took Abby's hand and said,

"Mommy, how come we had to leave New York?  School was better there."  She was skipping again to keep up to Abby's quick pace.  The air was cold and harsh and Abby's ears were getting numb even beneath her thick hat.

"Ashley, we've discussed this.  Chicago is where I used to live; it's cheaper than New York and I could find a good job here.  We can live in a bigger apartment here and we have a porch.  We can plant flowers this spring.  Remember how you always wanted to plant flowers outside?"  The girl nodded.  Abby stopped once to make sure zipper was all the way done up and that her hat covered her ears completely, but the rest of the ride home was made in silence.

~*~

Abby lay awake late into the night.  She had stayed up too late it was trying to get some unpacking done.  She knew that she would be pressed for time and that the boxes would most probably remain unopened for months, but she had tried nonetheless.

She hated having to move her daughter.  Ashley had been so happy in New York, but the truth was that Abby couldn't make ends meet there.  She had to choose between having her rapidly growing daughter in shoes that pinched her toes or uprooting her and moving her in the middle of the school year.  She had, obviously chosen the latter and she hoped that it would turn out to be the right decision.

She shifted slightly in bed as she thought of having to return to work with Susan and Carter and the others.  She didn't even know who of her old co-workers still worked at county.  She hadn't kept in touch with any of them when she left so long ago.  She was surprised that Susan had been so friendly when she saw her.  She was, after all, one of Carter's best friends.

Her thoughts had returned to Carter, as they so often did.  She couldn't imagine what it would be like on their first encounter.  Her stomach fluttered and she didn't want to think about it anymore, but the image of him approaching her today kept sliding back into her mind, haunting her dreams and forcing her into a fitful night of little sleep.