Mother Dear

A/N: Please Please Please REVIEW!!!!  Honestly, I actually don't care if you love it or hate it, just please give me a truthful, honest review.

DISCLAIMER: I don't know own anything you've heard of:  AKA: ER, Barbie, Styrofoam, (yes, this is a copy-righted word- weird, huh?) etc.

~*~

Abby was just mixing the chocolate mix into the steaming milk when Ashley entered the kitchen in her purple jeans and polka-dotted turtleneck. 

"Mommy?" the little girl asked, squinting her eyes against the electric lights.

"Hmmm?" 

"I was thinking…"  Abby smiled to herself.  Ashley was so cute.  She was smart and observant and she had a nervous habit of pulling on one of her curls when she was thinking hard and Abby just couldn't get her to shake it.  Not that Abby had given it a full effort, Ashley looked adorable when she stood with her face scrunched up in concentration pulling on that darned curl. 

"Yes?"  Abby prompted her.

"Remember how you got me a Barbie for Christmas?  The one I named Annie because of her red hair?"  Abby nodded and smiled remembered Christmas morning only a few months ago.  Times had been tough and Abby could only afford to get Ashley one present, so she settled on a redheaded Barbie that was wearing a purple dress that resembled one of Ashley's.

"I think she needs a sister."

"A sister?" asked Abby, tickled at the idea that Ashley had been thinking about this so hard.

"Yes, a sister, but maybe she could have curly brown hair like me. Then they could play together, because now that we moved, Annie doesn't have a friend anymore."  Now Abby was catching on to what Ashley was saying. 

"Oh, honey, do you miss your friends from New York?"  Ashley nodded sadly as she sat at the table and put a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"But Mommy, I think that it's okay because we have each other.  Only, Annie doesn't have any family, so she's lonelier."  Abby nodded understandingly.

"I'll tell you what, squirt," she said, wiping a dribble of milk off Ashley's face and sitting down next to her, "next time I have a day-off we can go and buy Annie a nice little sister so that she can someone to play with, okay?"  Truthfully, Abby felt both guilty and proud.  She knew that Ashley must hate having to leave her friends in New York in the middle of first grade.  First grade was a big year for all kids.  On the other hand, Abby was certain that she would make new friends, especially after this little display of kindness.  Ashley nodded thoughtfully and continued to eat her cereal in silence.

~*~

Abby entered the busy realm of the ER a mere two minutes before her shift was scheduled to start.  She clocked in before heading over to the lounge and changing into scrubs.  Susan came into the lounge in a hurry just as Abby was slamming her locker shut.

"Oh, gosh, I'm late again.  Olivia is going to kill me," she muttered fretfully putting her coffee on the table and unraveling her scarf from around her neck.  She nodded to Abby and continued ranting,

"But honestly, you know, Chuck is so demanding sometimes.  He made me toast two new pieces of bread because he said his were burnt."  Abby grinned and chuckled as Susan continued, "and then Norma was late," she noticed Abby's confused face, "the babysitter," Susan added.  Abby nodded and Susan ranted on some more, "And Neil is sick," she didn't even wait for Abby's reaction before she said, "my two year old."  Abby smiled warmly.  She knew how it was to have a sick kid on your hands, "and I'm afraid that Robbie is going to come down with it too," Susan's voice was becoming slightly whiny, "Robbie's five," she clarified.

Abby chuckled as Susan grabbed dropped her labcoat over her arm and swung her stethoscope around her neck.  She slammed her locker shut, pulled on her labcoat and picked up her coffee.  They exited the lounge together, Susan still muttering.

"Sometimes, I just want to crawl back into bed after I get in the morning, you know those days?"  Abby nodded.  They headed towards admit.

"I mean, how many times can I listen to Chuck complain about his coffee being to cold," they each picked up a chart and Susan made a face, "uch, chronic diarrhea. Not only that, but anything I make for dinner, someone has a complaint about."  Abby smiled again,

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," she stated.

"You could say that again," said Susan in complete agreement.  She smiled grimly at Abby and threw her half full cup of coffee into the garbage and before she disappeared behind a curtain she said, "Shame to get rid of perfectly good coffee, but diarrhea and all, you know how it is."  Abby laughed and headed towards curtain three to treat her first patient.

~*~

Abby took a break halfway into her shift.  She headed towards the lounge to get her coat as she planned on going to 'Ike's' for a coffee.  She headed past the nurses' station and she saw him there, entering the lounge, presumably about to start a shift.

She hesitated before continuing on her way.  She pushed the door to the lounge open and approached her locker.

"Hey," she said quietly. 

"Miss Lockhart," he said with a nod of his head.

"Listen, Dr. Carter…" she began.  He shook his head and put on hand up to motion her to stop.

"No, really, it's alright.  I understand."

"Carter!" she said sharply, "I'm about to apologize.  Let me finish and then you can thank me profusely for my apology."  Carter subsided.

"What I said yesterday," she eyed Carter's expression, "was wrong and I'm sorry.  You scared me and I get offensive when I get nervous.  I should have left-" after a sharp intake of breath, she continued, "I should have left Kem out of it.  It's none of my business what happened.  I'm not justifying your blackmail" she said jokingly to lighten the mood, "but I just wanted to apologize.  It's been bothering me since yesterday.  Something happened, and I- I just realized how important family is to everything and it was below the belt for me to say that." Carter nodded thoughtfully,

"Well," he began, "thank you for the apology."  He grinned impishly, "I wasn't serious about the whole blackmail thing either.  I was being a big-headed idiot."  He shook his head and looked at the ground,

"Who would have thought-" he started again, "Six years ago I thought I'd never see you again and now, here you are, big as life, wreaking havoc just like the old days."  He cracked and grin and pulled his stethoscope around his neck before slamming his locker shut.  He looked at his watch,

"Well, I'm late to start my shift."  He sighed.

"And my break is almost over.  Maybe if I run, I can manage to get a coffee."  She grabbed her coat off the hook in her locker and pulled it tightly around her as she exited the lounge on her way to 'Ike's'.

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