I carried Annie into Carter's apartment; her head drooped on my shoulder. I took her into her room and lay her gently on the floor. I pulled off her wet clothes and found some warm pajamas. I tucked her in and kissed her lightly on the head.

I went into the living room where Carter was sprawled across the couch. "You should get out of those wet clothes," I said, sitting next to him.

He said nothing. "Carter," I said sternly. "You'll catch your death."

He nodded. "Yeah." He disappeared into the bedroom and returned in dry clothes. "Put this on," he said, handing me a shirt.

I pulled off my wet shirt and Carter averted his eyes. I laughed softly. "It's not like you haven't seen it before," I said, crossing the room to him.

"Abby . . ." he said. He put his hands out to stop me from hugging him. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't so this." He walked around me and sat on the couch. I followed him.

I ran my hand up his leg but he pushed it away. "Put that shirt on before you freeze."

I stood up and pulled the shirt over my head. It came down to my knees so I took my pants off too. "I'll sleep on the couch," Carter said. "You can have my bed."

I smiled seductively. "Well, why don't we both use your bed?" I tried to cuddle up next to him but he scooted away. "Why won't you touch me? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I won't touch you because you're not my girlfriend."

"I thought we settled this," I said. "I thought you forgave me."

He nodded. "I did. And we're friends now. But you kissed someone else and I just can't trust you."

I looked away. "I don't know what to do to make you realize that I love you," I said. "I just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes."

I curled up into myself and after a moment I felt John's hand on my back. I turned to him. He didn't say anything, just looked at me. I crawled across the couch and sat on his lap facing him. I leaned forward slowly and kissed his neck, his jaw line, and then his lips.

It took me a minute but soon he was kissing me back. He ran his hands up my back and I could feel he was getting excited. I stood up and led him to the bedroom. He lay down on the bed and I followed. I pulled my shirt off, leaned over, and kissed him.

He rolled me over and kissed my body lightly. I moaned softly and Carter smiled.

We made love three times that night and when we were finished Carter rolled over so his back was to me. I kissed it and he flinched.

I sighed. "What now?" I asked

"It's nothing new," he said. "Same thing we talked about on the couch."

I sat up and pulled the sheet around me. "We just had sex," I said.

"And that's all it was," he said, still facing the wall. "It meant nothing."

"How can you say that?" I asked. "How can you say it meant nothing?"

"Because it's the truth."

I pulled my knees up to my chest. "It meant something to me," I said sadly. Carter was silent.

"So this is it?" I said. "For the rest of my life all I'll ever be to you is a casual fuck? I mean nothing to you? I'm nothing?"

He sat up and turned to me. I could see in his eyes that he didn't mean what he was about to say but it still hurt. "You're nothing," he said. "Nothing but a casual fuck. And not even a very good one, at that."

I stared at him for a moment and then got out of bed. I went into the living room and got dressed.

I made sure to close the door softly behind me as I left. I didn't want to wake up Annie.

Response to reviews -

Maven - Nope, not a dream, real stuff.

Carbylobsterandavrilfan - I agree. Carby rules!

Jackie - Yes, we are all very sad about the loss of Binker. But I think Carter would be slightly more upset about losing his daughter than loosing a stuffed dog.

IDontWriteIJustRead - Yeah, Carter's being pissy. Bad Carter!

Canard - Kids are very resilient so she'll be OK.