Mother Dear

A/N: Please read and REVIEW!! I love reviews.  Really, I don't care if you love it or hate it, just review and be honest so I know how to improve.  And thanks to all those who have reviewed already!!

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

~*~

Abby and Carter sat in silence, Abby looking at Carter and Carter looking wistfully at the pictures he now held in his hands.  A waitress approached the table, chewing her gum noisily and eyeing them expectantly.

"I'll have a coffee- black, and a piece of chocolate pie," Abby said.  Carter looked up from the pictures looking as though he had forgotten where he was.

"Um, I'll have the same," he said.

"Is that together?" she asked them, pointing the eraser of her pencil at Carter, and blowing a small bubble with her chewing gum.

"Yeah," he said quickly, "I'll take the bill."  The waitress turned to take their orders to the kitchen.

"You didn't have to do that," said Abby quietly.

"I know," he replied turning his attention back to the pictures.

"What's she like, Abby?" he asked curiously.  "I dreamt about her last night.  She was running in the park and we had a dog," Abby was gazing intently at him.  He was still looking at the pictures, "she was laughing happily and it was sunny out and she looked at me for a second, laughing at something I was doing.  And then I woke up," he finished.  Abby smiled sadly at him. 

"She's wonderful," she responded, "she's just like that.  She loves to run around and she's so happy.  And she's mature and she's so sweet.  She refuses to wear anything other than pink and purple.  In nursery one week, she refused to change out of her purple dress.  The teacher must have thought I was crazy."  The waitress brought them their orders and the bill, but Abby continued talking, "and she loves playing with her dolls.  You should hear her singing to them when she puts them to sleep.  It's so cute."  Carter was looking at her hungrily,

"Please. Continue," he prompted her.

"She, she knows who you are, Carter.  She keeps a picture of you, well, you and me really, in her sock drawer.  The one from when we went to Navy Pier with Eric and Jody.  She loves listening to stories about you.  She told her classmates one day that her father was a brave doctor who helped save people who were sick." Carter looked like he could burst with pride and happiness.  She stopped talking suddenly and looked at her food quietly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's just- it's nothing," she answered, "nothing." She tasted a piece of her pie and looked at Carter,

"I was just thinking about how we used to do this all the time. Come here for coffee and pie."

"Yeah," he said, picking up his own fork, "we did, didn't we?"

They ate in silence for a little while.  It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but it wasn't the old chummy, satisfied silence from so many years ago.  They were just two strangers, sitting at a table, contemplating each others' lives and how much they had changed.

"Abby?" he asked her after a few moments.

"Hmmm?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Does she know I'm here?"  Abby  nodded.  Carter nodded too, put the pictures away in his pocket, picked up the bill and was about to leave to pay it.

"I have to go back to work."  He said.

"Yeah, me too," Abby replied pushing her plate away and taking one last sip of coffee before getting up and wrapping her scarf around her neck. 

Carter left to pay the bill and Abby returned to the hospital without him. 

The moment was over.

~*~

Late that night, Abby lay in bed listening to Ashley humming quietly in the next room.  The humming stopped momentarily and she heard her bedroom door creak open. 

"Ashley? Is that you?"

"Yes," came a whisper from the doorway.

"What is it, hun?  Come here," she patted the bed and Ashley climbed up to take a seat.

"I was thinking," she said, pulling on one of her loose curls in concentration.

"Yes?"

"I think I'm ready."  Abby didn't understand.

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to meet my father."  Abby sat up and looked through the darkness at Ashley worriedly.

"Are you sure?" she asked her in all seriousness.

"Yes," the little girl nodded, "I'm sure."

~*~

The next morning, after dropping Ashley off at school, Abby entered the hospital.  She needed to talk to Carter, tell him that Ashley had decided, let him know that he could finally meet his daughter.

"Hey, Brian, is Carter coming in today?" Brian looked at the computer screen.

"Not until noon," he replied.  How was she supposed to wait four hours?  She had hardly slept last night because of this. 

"Thanks," she mumbled as she went to take off her coat and change into her scrubs.

Her shift was passing so slowly that Ashley was forced to ask a young resident the time, believing firmly that her watch- and all the other clocks in the ER- had stopped working.  She looked up at the doors every time they swung open, their automatic sensors making swishing noises. 

Four coffee breaks and two traumas later, Abby looked up at the door tiredly.  There he was… finally.  She cursed herself for being in the middle of treating a patient right when she needed to talk to him most.

"All done, Mrs. Timmons," she said after finally administering the drugs to the patient.

"Thank you, dear," the old woman said gratefully, "I feel better already."  Abby nodded and smiled warmly before hurrying off to catch Carter in the lounge.

"Carter!" she exclaimed as she pushed the doors open briskly.  He turned around to face her, his somber expression and bags under his eyes giving way to his exhaustion.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Ashley-" Carter looked at her with more interest.

"Yeah?"

"She said she wants to meet you," Abby blurted out.  All of Carter's exhaustion was gone immediately.

"I didn't sleep last night," he said happily, wiping his eyes with his palms, "I was so upset.  I couldn't understand how she could know I was here and not want to talk to me."

"She said she had to prepare herself," Abby stated in all seriousness, but her eyes twinkling in humour.  Carter smiled and his expression lit up.

"Can I come over tonight? Or you can come to the mansion?  Or, we could go out. Yeah, let's go out," he sounded so excited.  Abby chuckled.

"You can come to our place, but we're just having spaghetti, nothing fancy."  Carter beamed.

"That'd be great!" he said, delighted. 

Abby wrote down their address and number on a slip of paper and told Carter to be there at seven, giving Ashley plenty of time to 'prepare herself' from the time she got home until supper.  Carter left the lounge, a grin plastered to his face and Abby followed suit, her own smile lightening her expression.

~*~

Later that night, after Ashley had taken a bath and changed into her favorite dress (she had to 'make a good impression for my father'), she and Abby sat on the couch nervously.  Abby, however certain she was that Carter would love his daughter and Ashley would love her father, was still worried about the outcome of the night.  She could tell that Ashley was nervous as well as the little girl just sat, rigid, her hands folded, staring at the television set, her jaw twitching.

Finally, at five to seven, a knock on the door startled both mother and daughter.  Abby jumped up from the couch.

"I'll get it," she said without need. Ashley's face was white and her eyes bright.  She nodded nervously. 

"Hi," said Abby opening the door to a grinning Carter.  Carter was holding a present wrapped beautifully in pink paper and a bouquet of flowers that he handed to Abby.

"Hey," he said and Abby could tell he was just as nervous.  His eyes traveled to just behind Abby where a frightened little girl was standing, crossing and uncrossing her legs and staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her father.

"And hello to you," said Carter crouching down to meet Ashley at eye-level.  Abby stood observing the two of them. 

Ashley smiled politely.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"I got you something," Carter whispered, his eyes alive with interest, he handed Ashley the package.  Ashley took it, shook it next to her ear and sat on the floor to open it.

Abby cleared her throat.

"Thank you," Ashley told the father she didn't know.  Carter nodded and grinned up at Abby.

The little girl opened the package and gasped.  Inside was beautifully carved pink music box.  She opened it and it began to play a soft, sweet tune.  Ashley stared at the little ballerina that twirled about within the box, mesmerized. Carter grinned happily at her and Abby stood watching the scene, tears threatening to fall.

"Do you like it?" asked Carter needlessly.  The little girl nodded and looked up at Carter.

"Yes, thank you very much.  It's beautiful." Abby cleared her throat after a moment or two.

"Ashley, go and put the box in your room and wash up for supper." Ashley got up slowly, still looking closely at the box that she held open.  Carter stood up too and looked at Abby.

"Can I help?" he asked. She shook her head and gestured toward the couch.

"Take a seat.  I know it's not much and we haven't finished unpacking but-"

"It's fine, Abby," he said, taking a seat at the couch that had, not so long ago, been filled with an anxious mother and her petrified daughter.

Please REVIEW!!!!!!  I want to know what you thought of the Carter/Ashley meeting~~!