AN: Sorry I was so long writing chapter 12, but for some reason I found it hard to write. Hope you can follow the Dirkiss bit with all the Mr, Mrs and Dr all in the same paragraph. Sorry if this chapter is short. Also Marjorie and Bill's children are called Claire (as previously mentioned), Larina, Nick (of course) and Drew, just in case you get confused.
Again I apologise for any English words I have used instead of US ones.
The Other Side Of Never
Chapter Thirteen
September 2010
Carter pulled up at the parking lot of the hospital after a two-day trip to New York.
'What's been happening?' Carter asked Christy the desk clerk. 'Slow today?'
Christy looked somewhat anxious. What?' Carter asked
Christy pointed to the chairs and sat there were Elise and Toby with a nurse, Rachel. As Carter walked over to them he could see that Elise was trying her hardest not to cry and Toby had an expression of bewilderment on his face. The children heard his approaching footsteps and they hurtled towards him.
'Carter!' they both cried flinging their arms around him.
Carter's heart was pounding uncontrollably in his chest as he bent down and scooped them both up into his arms, where they buried their small heads either side of his neck.
'Rachel?' he queried keeping his voice steady and neutral, while his brain was telling him otherwise.
'Mr Dirkiss had a MI, he's still in trauma. Dr Dirkiss is with Mrs Dirkiss trying to console her. I was waiting either for you or one of Mr and Mrs Dirkiss's children to arrive. Dr Dirkiss explained to the children what was happening, but Mrs Dirkiss really lost it and Dr Dirkiss just had to go sit with her alone'
Carter was filled with relief and concern at the same time.
He nodded to Rachel and said 'I'll just take these two to the lounge for a minute, thank you for watching them'
'You're welcome' she replied, heading back to work
Carter closed the door to the lounge with his foot and sat on a sofa with the kids, who were still nestled against him.
They sat there for a few minutes until Elise lifted her head and looked directly at Carter.
'Carter?' she asked sniffing and wiping her eyes
'Is my Grandpa going to die?'
'I don't know' Carter replied honestly
'If he dies, will he go to heaven like Daddy?'
'Uh huh' Carter said nodding
'Will you and Mommy die too?'
'One day. Hopefully not until you're grown up'
'Everybody dies?'
Carter nodded 'You know, I was really sad when my Grandpa died and I was grown up'
'You were?'
'Uh huh. It's okay to be sad and cry' he told Elise thinking that he could have used his own advice a few years back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby quietly opened the door, she saw Carter sitting with the kids on the sofa, as she tip toed over she noticed that they all seemed to be sleeping.
Carter however on hearing footsteps opened his eyes and caught her gaze. She sat down on the coffee table opposite him. She looked drawn and exhausted as she bent forward and gently rubbed the kid's backs briefly.
'How was the flight?' she whispered to Carter
'Okay' he whispered back 'What's happening?'
She sighed deeply 'Claire's taken Marjorie home with her'
'She's not staying?'
Abby looked at him for what seemed like an eternity 'He died. Bill's dead' her voice was lacked emotion, but her expression gave her true feelings away.
Carter wished that he could give her the hug that she desperately needed, but that was somewhat impossible with the kids asleep on him.
Eventually he replied 'Sorry'
She sighed again and gave him a sad sort of smile and nodded. 'The kids okay?'
'Considering, yes'
'Thanks'
'I haven't done anything'
'For, being here'
He nodded and said 'We going to head home?'
She chewed her lip and nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby couldn't sleep, she carefully lifted Carters arm off her body and got out of bed, finding her dressing gown and heading downstairs.
After they had arrived home and explained as best as they could to the kids they had all attempted to eat and then put Elise and Toby to bed.
She guessed one reason for the insomnia was that she was expecting the kids to have nightmares or something.
She made her way to the kitchen, it was cold and the heating still didn't work well, she decided it was about time she updated it as she made a hot drink.
She took the drink with her as she walked to the lounge window, pulling back the drapes she silently surveyed the night, lost in her own world.
Abby was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she almost spilt her coffee when Carter laid his hands on her shoulders making her jump.
'Carter' she said surprised 'I thought you were sleeping'
'Missed you' he replied 'I turned over and you had gone'
He moved in closer to her body wrapping his arms around her.
'Can't sleep?' he asked after a few moments
She shook her head slightly and sighed 'No'
'Want to talk? It was difficult earlier with the kids and the phone constantly ringing'
'It was kind of sudden, wasn't it?' she said sighing again as she tried to keep a grip on her emotions.
'It sometimes is'
'Yeah' she said almost inaudibly. 'You know, he was....he was.. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I would have like a Dad like Bill'
'He was a good guy' Carter agreed, taking the coffee from Abby and sitting it on the window ledge.
He was about to turn her, around when she did it by herself, burying her head into his chest and wrapping her arms tightly around his body. They stood there as one silently mourning the loss of a man who meant so much to them. They didn't know how long there had stood there but suddenly they were joined by Elise and they put her back to bed together, before heading back to their room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After much thought and consideration Abby had let Elise go to the funeral. Toby didn't really understand and thought that his Grandpa was going to come back at any minute, so stayed back at his Aunt Claire's house with another couple of small children and an adult to watch them.
The air was sombre as they went to Claire's house for the gathering afterwards. People chatted quietly around the house, although the children all made more noise upstairs.
'You okay?' Abby asked Carter
'Mmm what?' he asked
'Here, you know, it been a while since..'
'Yeah' he sighed 'That was the last funeral I attended'
'Sorry I didn't mean to stir it all up for you'
'It's okay, I wanted to be here, and funerals well they're a part of life'
She gave him half a smile and then squeezed his hand reassuringly.
'Abby?' Marjorie came over to them 'Can we talk?'
'Sure, alone or...' she looked at Carter
'Both of you' she replied
Carter, Marjorie and Abby headed outside to the back yard for privacy.
'Firstly I want to thank you, both of you for your support'
'You're welcome' murmured Abby
'I have decided to go and live near Larina and her family, I know this is rather sudden but I feel that I can't stay here. Claire's family are older than Larina's and as they live a couple of hours drive away.... Well I'm going to buy someplace smaller. Drew as you know is moving to Seattle after Christmas anyway. I won't be going immediately, I'll look after the kids 'til I go...... I just wanted you both to know... I'm sorry'
'You have to do what's best for you' Abby said encouragingly, thinking that she would have to put Toby in pre-school or get a childminder or something, to cover additional hours. She smiled at the older woman and gave her a reassuring hug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'There, finished' Elise told Abby. 'Want to look?'
Abby sat down at the table with Elise and Toby as they showed her the books they had made so that they could remember their Grandpa. It was filled with pictures, some photographs, some drawn by the kids. Places Bill had liked to visit, things that he had enjoyed doing.
'They are beautiful' Abby told them and they smiled at her.
'We'll still see Grandma won't we?' asked Elise
'Sure will, it will be more like seeing Grandma Maggie and Uncle Eric, you know sometimes, instead or nearly everyday'
'I miss Grandpa' Toby said sadly
'It's okay to still feel sad, but every time you look at your books you can remember all the fun things you did together, and not just then any time, it's okay'
'Who's going to look after us when you and Carter are working?' Elise asked
'I'm working on that' Abby replied 'Grandma's not leaving 'til after Christmas so we've got some time to get it sorted. What do you want me to do?'
They looked at her thinking as they did so.
'Alicia at school goes to like a childminder, she's says it's good' Elise said
'Toby?'
'I just wanna be with 'Lise' he replied still not quite able to pronounce his sister's name properly.
'You know I love you both and I want what's best for you' Abby said
They nodded, Abby stood up deciding that they would do something to take their minds off things.
'Okay, who would like to make cookies?' Abby asked
'Me' they both shouted in return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
