AN: Here it is the last part, hope you enjoy.

The Other Side Of Never

Chapter Sixteen

One Sunday in December 2013

10 am

Carter walked in to the bedroom to find Abby sitting in the rocking chair feeding the new baby, Katrina who was now eight weeks old. Matthew her older brother of the great age of sixteen months was standing at Abby's knee begging some attention too.

'Hey' she said acknowledging him. 'Everyone ready?'

'Not sure, Susan and Luka have just arrived'

'Can you go check?' she asked

'Oh Abby, I not even ready myself' he complained

'I see that' she commented 'Please, and take Matthew with you, Katrina and I have to get ready yet'

He studied Abby for a minute or two.

'I'll take over when I'm done' she bargained with him

'Okay' he finally gave in, walked over to pick up Matthew whilst giving Abby a half grin, and left the room.

Their first port of call was Elise's room where Carter knocked gently on the door.

'Come in' she replied

'Wow, you look pretty' commented Carter looking at Elise who had actually put a dress on for the occasion.

'Well, it's a special day' she replied

'Are you almost ready?'

'Yeah, but I can't do my hair, is Mom free?'

'No' Carter replied bluntly 'What you want doing with your hair?'

'French Plait'

'Beyond my talents'

'I know' she replied

Carter turned to head out the door.

'Dad?'

'Yes Elise'

'What about my hair? I can't go like this, it has to be right'

'Why don't you go down and ask Susan, I'm sure she's qualified for that kind of stuff'

'That's a great idea, thanks Dad' and she walked out her room and down the stairs.

'Now' Carter said to Matthew 'Let's go see what Toby's up to'

They walked down the landing to Toby's room and Carter knocked and opened the door. Toby was trying to get dressed and Carter was pleased that Toby was almost done.

'Hey' he said

'Dad, can you do my tie?'

'You don't want to wear the one on the elastic?'

'No. I want to look good and I want to wear a proper tie'

'Okay' Carter said putting Matthew down.

'Hey Dad, don't do that, he'll mess my stuff up'

'I can't fix your tie and carry Matthew at the same time, and anyway what happened to all that 'I want a baby brother talk' '

'Yeah well, I did want, do want him, but it was better when he was like Katrina and didn't move around much, just ate, cried, poohed, slept and threw up'

'You said he was boring then because he didn't do anything' Carter added as he fastened the tie.

'Well yeah, but now all he wants to do is mess my things up. I think when he gets a bit bigger it'll be better. You know I love him right'

'Yeah' Carter replied smiling

'Dad!'

'What?'

'Quick!' said Toby taking Matthew and half carrying half dragging him away from his Harry Potter Lego construction that he had made the previous day

'You shouldn't drag him like that'

'He's heavy'

'Tell me about it' muttered Carter under his breath then to Toby said 'Right go downstairs and entertain our guests'

'What?'

'I don't know, talk to Luka about school or something, but don't get messed up'

'Okay'

Carter sighed deeply. 'Right Matthew, your turn' and they headed into Matthew's room.

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Carter and Matthew were almost at Carter and Abby's door when it opened and Abby and Katrina stood there, ready.

'Right I'll take him down with me' she said.

He handed her the toddler 'You sure you can handle both'

'I have to if your out, what do you do when I'm out?'

'Manage'

'Ten minutes'

'What?'

'We need to leave in ten minutes'

'I was going to have a shower'

'Well that's not going to happen now, have you shaved?' she asked examining his face

'No'

'Well have quick shave and stick a suit on, and use plenty of deodorant'

'See, I need, to shower'

'There's not time' she said gently nudging his legs with her foot in the direction of their bedroom. 'By the way have you seen my locket? I can't find it anywhere'

Carter didn't appear to hear her 'Never mind' she said to herself under her breath.

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'Hey, let me take one of them for you' Susan said to Abby as she descended the stairs. 'Where's everyone else?'

'Not coming' said Abby handing Katrina to Susan, shutting the stair gate and putting Matthew down.

'Not coming? What about family, friends from work?'

Abby shook her head 'Nope, not invited'

'You didn't invite anyone else?'

'Oh well, er... well Jack who's in London, Eleanor who's in Barbados, Maggie who can't get the time off and Eric who won't travel without Maggie, so there is just you and Luka, which is the main thing'

'You sure about this?'

'We wouldn't have asked you if we weren't sure, why are you two getting second thoughts?'

'No. No of course we're honoured that you chose us to be Godparents, really, and they are just so cute'

Abby raised her eyebrows at her 'You won't be saying that by the time you leave to go home'

'I'm sure I will' Susan replied reassuringly.

'Saying what?' said Carter coming down the stairs

'Nothing' said Susan

'Right are we all ready' Carter asked gathering everyone together and heading out, to the ceremony where Matthew and Katrina would be Christened.

'I've got a question' Luka said and they walked towards their cars.

'What?' asked Carter

'You never said why you were getting them christened together'

'Oh well, you know we were just thinking about Matthew when we found out about Abby expecting another baby and we decided that it would be easier to have a joint celebration, with all our friends and family'

'Well that idea worked well' Susan said sarcastically

'In theory it was good' Carter replied 'It's not our fault no one else could make it'

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2pm

The christening went okay; Matthew was rather in awe of the whole thing clung to Carter most of the time, while Katrina screamed her head off. Susan was beginning to think Abby had been right earlier when she said that Susan would have second thoughts about the kids being cute all the time as they drove back to the house.

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9pm

The youngest three kids were asleep in bed and Elise was in bed reading as Abby finally got downstairs to the kitchen where Luka, Susan and Carter sat round the table.

'I thought you were moving to the lounge' she said to them

'We just got talking' replied Susan 'You know I have to ask you both one more time'

'Ask us what?' said Carter

'If you will come back to Chicago?'

Abby and Carter shared a secret kind of look which Luka and Susan picked up on.

'What?' Susan asked

Carter smiled and bit his lip before looking over to Abby again who mirrored his body language.

'What?' this time Luka and Susan asked together

'Actually, we're heading back' Abby finally confessed

'To Chicago?' Susan asked

Abby and Carter nodded.

'For good?' asked Luka

They nodded again.

'What changed your minds, and don't say it was the offer of a job at County because I know that's not true' Susan said to them.

'You're right it's not that, but if there's a job going then I'm looking' Carter told Susan.

'It's complicated' Abby said

'It always is with you two' Susan said with a smile on her face.

'It's several things, not least because we've seem to outgrown this house somewhat and there is a perfectly large one in Chicago, which is standing empty'

'Well if you keep having children at the rate you've been going, what do you expect' Susan said half joking

'No more kids' said Abby

'Yeah right' said Susan

'No really, I'm getting too old' Abby said

'Hundreds of babies are born to women in their forties' Luka said

'Yeah and I've had two of them, and well four children is plenty'

'I thought it was difficult with two' Carter said 'But with four well, it's an unique experience, that I wouldn't alter for the world'

'So?' Susan said prompting

'So?' Abby said

'So, what else?'

'Oh right. Well... umm... well for one, our neighbour died recently' Abby told them

'What the crotchety old spinster who lived on the farm?' Susan asked

'Yeah, that one. Agnes' Carter said

'In fact she was our only neighbour, really' Abby said 'And her heart was in the right place even if she always spoke her mind'

'What's this got to do with you leaving?' Luka asked

'She left us her property, she didn't have any living relatives, so she left us the farm and lands, some of which back on to this property' Carter said.

'You don't want to extend the house?' Luka asked.

'No. Not for us anyway'

'We decided that if we live in Chicago I wouldn't have to leave home as much as most things can be dealt with in Chicago, with regard to the foundation. Most importantly we want this house and the farm to be altered to provide holiday accommodation for underprivileged inner city kids. We've looked into planning and everything. It doesn't look like there will be a problem. If we sold it, it would probably be built on, people in town are looking to move out here now' Carter told them

'Wow, that's some plan' Susan said 'And there will be a job at County, actually I'm down at least two attendings,'

'Will you get a new job?' Luka asked Abby

'Yeah but not in the ER' she replied

'When do you think you'll move?'

'Sometime in the New Year' Abby said

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11pm

'Hey' said Carter coming up behind Abby who was staring out the window, putting his arms around her. 'I thought you were going to bed'

'I don't know there doesn't seem much point, Katrina will wake for a feed in about an hour'

'You haven't got any expressed milk in the fridge?'

'When have I had time to do that today?'

'Good point'

'You sure you're happy about going back to Chicago?'

'Yeah, you?'

'Yes. I don't want to have to keep jetting off and leaving every couple of months, it's not fair, on any of us'

They stood there in the silence of the night relishing the time alone, for the first time that day.

'Abby?'

'What?'

'About the locket'

'Mmmm?'

'This morning you asked me about the locket'

'Oh, I thought you hadn't heard'

'Oh I heard, it just wasn't the right time'

'The right time for what?'

'This' he said dangling the locket in front of her.

'What? Where?' she asked turning round to face him. Seeing his grinning expression she said 'You knew where it was all the time didn't you?'

He nodded. 'Yeah, open it'

Puzzled she took it from him and did as he requested; there she saw that the other side of the locket had been filled with a picture of Matthew and Katrina.

'I know I said you could fill the other side, but...'

She gave him half a smile 'This is great, thank you. I probably wouldn't have had the time 'til Katrina was about three'

He took it from her hands, unclasped it and fastened it around her neck before gently kissing her.

'You ever take that shower?' she asked pulling away slightly.

'No, I never did, can't you smell?' he replied lifting his arm to see how bad he smelt.

She wrinkled her nose and took half a step back. 'You need a hand? I've probably got half an hour or so before Katrina yells for my attention, what better than to waste my time with you'

He stared intently at her and replied saying 'You know what, I think I do' and he took her hand and led her upstairs to their en-suite bathroom, where they stayed until Katrina did indeed yell for attention.

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The End

AN: I guess I could have carried on but it's got to end somewhere. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and to everyone who reads and reviews this final chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it.