Mother Dear

A/N: That last chapter was so unlike me.  Snow day blues.  Gosh, you're so excited when they announce it on the radio, but the second one in a row, blah.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own them… I seem to be saying this a lot lately.

~*~
It was a few days later when Abby started to feel significantly better.  It was still uncomfortable to walk around, but it wasn't the sharp, stabbing pain it had been.  Her arm had become more a nuisance than a source of pain.  Abby was starting to feel fidgety, she hated sitting in bed all day and she felt like Carter and Ashley were just leaving her there.

She knew that was stupid, they came to see her every night, but what had started out as morning meetings, dinners together and a movie before bed had turned into a quick 'good night' followed by a kiss on the head.  She wanted to go back to the apartment.  She hated having servants bustling around the room and cleaning up after her.  It had been nice at first, to be able to leave stuff lying around, but the neat-freak in her was coming out and she was almost jealous of the maids who at least got to walk around to their own content.

She was also beginning to feel pangs of jealousy whenever she heard Carter and Ashley giggling or joking outside her bedroom door.  Was it wrong to just want to take Ashley back to the apartment so she could have the little girl all to herself?

And what about the apartment? No one had been there in nearly two weeks and though Carter had gone to lock the place up, she was becoming paranoid of criminals- burglars and thieves- looting the two bedrooms flat while she was gone.

She heard a shriek of laughter just outside the door and she sat up straighter, waiting for her daughter and Carter to come into the room to say hi.  It was nearly seven and it was about time for their nightly visit.  She heard their footsteps echoing away and she sighed deeply, hurt.

~*~
Later that evening, when she heard a knock at the door, she considering pretending to be asleep, but the door swung open before she could decide and she had to paste a fake smile on her face to greet them.

"Hi, Mommy," Ashley said with glee.  Abby smiled back, avoiding making eye-contact with Carter.  She wondered if he noticed.  This was the point in the conversation when Abby usually asked her daughter how her day had been.  She didn't and there was an uncomfortable silence.

"School was good."

"Hmmm." Abby was trying to sound vaguely interested, though she was becoming less and less so as the days passed by.  The girl stared at her mother.

"Ben is going to come over in a few days."

"That's nice." Why was she being like this?  Why couldn't she just answer her daughter normally?  She didn't dare look at Carter or Ashley's face now.  She knew the girl would look disappointed and Carter angry.

"Come on, Ashley," Carter muttered taking the little girl's hand.

"That's right, Carter, take her away again."

"I don't know what your problem is lately, Abby, but don't take it out on us!" He nearly screamed.

"I don't have a problem," Abby said roughly.  She couldn't believe herself.  She still loved him, didn't she?  And with her daughter right there, what was she thinking?  Abby saw the little girl's lower lip tremble and her heart broke.  Carter, enraged, let go out of Ashley's hand and approached Abby.

"I let you sleep in my house; I give you food and shelter.  If you don't want it Abby, you're free to go," he nearly spat, "stop being so damned ungrateful."  His face was inches from hers.

"Don't talk like that in front of my daughter," Abby said quietly.

"She's my frigging daughter too," Carter said angrily. 

"I said stop," Abby said, her voice still barely above a whisper. Carter laughed quietly.

"You can't tell me what to do," he said, "You take her away for seven years, and then after I spend five minutes with her, you want to whisk her away again?  I don't think so."

Abby watched a tear fall from Ashley's cheek and soil a spot on her new pink shirt that Carter had bought her.  She looked at the little girl, her heart past broken.  Ashley was looking at Carter, her fear apparent on her face.  Carter was still staring at Abby, fuming.  She had been trying to protect herself from this for seven years.  She looked out the window momentarily and then back at Ashley.  She wouldn't dare look at Carter's face.

Carter turned around and motioned for Ashley to follow him.

"Come on, Ashley," he said roughly.  The girl didn't move; she was frozen to the spot, her eyes glued to her mother's.

"I said come on," Carter repeated. Ashley shook her head slowly and walked up to Abby's bed, leaning herself against her mother's shoulder.  Carter looked from woman to child and back again.

"Fine," he said, his anger melting to grief, "Fine," and defeated he exited the room alone.

"Why was Carter so mad at me?" Ashley asked quietly.  Abby's insides shriveled up when she heard Ashley calling her father 'Carter'.

"He wasn't.  I did something very mean to him and now he's upset," Abby lied.  She didn't want Ashley to hate her own father, to fear him.

"What did you do?"

"It doesn't matter, Ashley.  It's just important that you know that he's not mad at you, he's upset at me and he's angry at what I did, but he'll get over it soon."

"Why did you do that then?"

"I don't know, Ashley, it was wrong of me, and I should apologize.  But you understand that he loves you very much, right?"  Ashley nodded.  Abby smiled sadly at her daughter.  She hated having to lie to her, but she knew she had started the heated conversation, her with her selfish jealousy.  Carter had just met Ashley, they were just getting introduced, they were just bonding, and she had been jealous?  Ashley had known her for seven years, she admired her and adored her and Abby knew it.  She felt so stupid.

"Okay then, go and say sorry to him, okay?" Ashley nodded and scampered off to find her father. 

What Abby didn't know was that Carter had been standing just outside the door.  He had been about to come back to apologize when he heard them talking and he decided to listen instead.  His heart flooded with emotion and he backed away just in time to see Ashley scurry out in search for him.

Hate to leave Carter and Abby at odds at the end of a chapter… Hate to have them at odds at all, but I needed to add some conflict. Tell me what you think.