Mother Dear

A/N: Review me.  Snow day today, so I thought I'd get some done.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own it.

~*~

Abby was all alone that night.  Carter had taken Ashley to the mansion for the night and she smiled thinking what Ashley would say when she saw the immense house.  She closed her eyes uncomfortably, trying to fall asleep.  The bed was hard and the temperature in the room was unpleasantly warm.  She would be going home tomorrow though she had committed to at least a week of bed rest.  Her stomach felt fine as she lay in the bed, but when she got up, the pressure on her lower abdomen made her cry out in pain.  She could hardly get to the washroom and back to bed.

Carter had kindly offered for her to stay in the mansion 'you can have the other wing if you want'.  She didn't want to test his hospitality, she didn't want his charity and she didn't want to be served hand and foot by Carter's maids. 

On the other hand, she knew that she would have trouble at home if she had to stay in bed.  Ashley was a good kid, but even she had her moments.  And how was she supposed to cook?  And clean? 

She sighed loudly.

And Carter was at Carter's house… She revoked herself inwardly for even thinking something so stupid.  Of course Carter was there, what did that matter?  But she knew it did.  It mattered a lot.  Abby wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even to herself- and definitely not to him- but she was falling for the handsome doctor… again.  She knew that he liked her too, hadn't he kissed her?  But she didn't want to take things too fast.  She had just moved back, she had Ashley, she had to get her career on the go again, and, more importantly, she had to recover from her surgery.

She closed her eyes once more, thinking of Carter and Ashley together.  Though she was slightly jealous that they were together while she was here, she was so happy that they got along so well.  They were so cute together and watching them made her proud.  Her daughter finally had a father.

~*~

Abby was sitting by her bed again at 4:30 in the afternoon, clutching Abby's hand and telling her mother about her day.  Carter wanted to take her to 'Ike's' for dinner, but she refused to leave Abby's side or let go of Abby's hand, so he left quietly and said he would return with enough food for both of them.

"And then," the girl took a deep breath, "I made a picture of a pony and then it was recess and we played duck-duck-goose.  I got picked twice, once by Ben and once by my other friend, Anna.  And Anna has dolls too, Mommy, so she said I could go to her house and we could play dress up and dolls together.  Do you think I could go, Mommy?  Last night, at Daddy's house, I found a doll, but it wasn't a Barbie.  Its head was made of the same stuff as a tea-cup and it was bigger and it had a soft stomach even though its arms and legs were hard.  But Daddy said I couldn't play with it because it was his Gamma's before she died so I watched the big TV instead.  I got lost once, but Daddy found me.  I was in the basement and the room had a funny green table with balls and sticks on it.  Daddy said it was a game, but it didn't look very fun to me.  It looked like someone could hurt themselves with one of those sticks…"  Abby looked at Ashley strangely.  It was unlike her to think of the safety hazards of… well, of anything.  Plus, she had a rather uncomfortably tight grip on Abby's hand and when Abby tried to wriggle free, the little girl just held on tighter, her knuckles now becoming white and her eyes open with fear.

"And his house is really big, Mommy," she ranted on about nothing in particular and Abby noticed how, this too, was unlike her daughter. Ashley was a chatter box, but she usually had a point to her chattering.  Now it seemed as though she was just talking for talking's sake.  Not only that, but whenever Abby looked away or closed her eyes momentarily, Ashley would look at her worriedly and feel her forehead.

"Are you okay, Mommy?  Do you feel sick again?  Should I call a doctor?"  She did this again for about the tenth time in the conversation just as Carter walked into the room with two plates of food.  He looked at Abby's empty plate.

"Not hungry?"

"Oh, no, I'm hungry," Abby said nodding, "but my only good arm is occupied so it's rather hard to get the food into my mouth."  Ashley looked at Abby but refused to let go of her mother's hand.

"Ashley…" Carter began, taking the seat next to the little girl, "don't you want to eat?" Ashley shook her head resolutely.

"You didn't eat breakfast either."  Abby shot him an angry glare.  She let her leave without eating breakfast?

"You don't know what they put in that food," Ashley said pointedly, "You might throw up later if it's bad."  Carter nodded and Abby began to comprehend what was going on.

"Ashley, honey, I didn't get sick last night because of something I ate, I got sick because a little thing in my stomach called my appendix exploded."  Ashley looked at her mother.

"I know," she said, "but I don't want to take a chance."  Abby nodded understandingly.

"I know that you're upset-"

"I'm not upset."  The girl squeezed Abby hand even harder and it was getting painful.

"Ashley… don't you think it's time to let go of my hand?" Ashley shook her resolutely.

"Something might happen to you if I'm not here to watch."

"Ashley, nothing's going to happen to me."

"How do you know?" the little girl whispered, "Something happened two nights ago."

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