AN: Thank you all for your reviews. It's very encouraging to hear from you.
The Rainbow After The Storm
Chapter Twenty Three
November 2005
On the occasion of the second sonogram the foetus was lying in a more favourable position and being experienced at looking at such things, they could see for themselves the gender of their unborn child. Everything was progressing normally.
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December 2005
As Abby had been scheduled to work Christmas. Carter volunteered himself too. At least that way they got to spend some time together. They were luckily enough to work the same shift of six to six. It was a quiet day in the ER, it was either like that or manic on holidays but this particular holiday was slow.
Carter had planned that they celebrate when they got home, but after stepping out of the shower he discovered that his wife exhausted was already on the bed asleep. Not wanting to wake her he covered her with a comforter and went downstairs to eat.
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Having to work Christmas rewarded them with a day off at New Years. Abby was working until ten and Carter until six. Carter remembering Christmas somehow doubted that Abby would actually manage to stay awake until midnight.
Carter wasn't sure if he was glad in his assumptions or not, but Abby although she tried very hard to say awake, fell asleep in his arms at around 11:30pm whilst they lounged on the sofa together. Feeling comfortable and snug on the sofa with her, he decided to stay there. But regretted it halfway some hours later when he realised not only was he alone but his back hurt, a lot, from lying in an awkward position.
Cautiously he got up and plodded upstairs where he discovered Abby asleep in their bed. He carefully got in beside her, partly due to the pain he was in and partly because he didn't want to wake her.
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January 2006
January was the time that they started to think about decorating and furnishing the nursery. They spent ages discussing the all aspects before they came to a mutual discussion. They also went to a store out of town and ordered a pile of baby things, some essential and some extra bits.
Meanwhile everyone in the ER were running various pools on the sex of the baby, the weight of the baby, a name for the baby, run of course by Frank and Jerry.
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February 2006
The day was not going well and it had only just begun. First she had overslept. Emily the housekeeper had had to have a couple of days emergency leave for a family bereavement, otherwise she would have woken Abby up. Although if Carter knew he never would have gone to Boston to visit his father. In her haste to get ready she didn't look where she was going and stubbed her toe hard on the doorframe of the bathroom to which she cursed, strongly.
Later she was walking down the sidewalk approaching County, still not paying attention to what she was doing but focusing of her apology that she was going to have to make to Dr Wright. Who always had a shift if she was running late. When suddenly she slipped on the icy pavement and landed on her backside.
'Damn' she said, probably the mildest word she had used out loud that morning.
It surprised her that she felt like crying right there on the sidewalk. A couple of people walked by but no one offered to help her so she got onto her hands and knees and carefully stood up.
Abby hobbled slightly into work. Fortunately for her Dr Wright was involved in trauma but Susan was there and after she took one look at Abby she frowned and walked over to greet her.
'Okay, spill' she said to looking worried and deciding that it looked as though Abby had shed a few tears.
'I know I'm late' she said
'Not that' said Susan 'You're limping'
'Oh that, I slipped on some ice outside, ended up on my butt in the street. Not a pretty site'
'Okay. We're just check everything's alright'
'Oh Susan, I'm, we're fine' she replied as Susan led her over to a bed in the curtained area. 'Susan, this isn't necessary'
'Yes, it is. Besides Carter would insist'
'He's not here'
'But I am and you're not going to start work until I decide you're fit enough to'
'She's right you'd better listen to her' Frank added
Abby looked at Frank and then at Susan and realised that Susan wasn't going to let up.
'Okay' Abby conceded
'Good' said Susan making sure Abby was comfortable on the bed and drew the curtains.
'Abby not in?' asked James Wright when he exited trauma.
'Yes' answered Susan 'She took a tumble, so I put her in curtain one, I thought it best to check everything was okay'
'Is it?' he queried
'Looks like it, she's going to bruise though'
'Okay well put on no trauma today, will that help?'
'That will be great. I would have sent her home, but if she's here I can keep an eye on her'
'We all can' added Luka joining in the conversation. 'When's Carter due back?'
Susan shrugged and said 'Not sure, soon I think'
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Not that the lack of trauma patients helped the day much she seemed to be inundated with elderly patients, three of whom died. Feeling weary and sore she went home. She knew the baby was fine and probably protesting from the incident that morning, had been kicking all day.
She was somewhat surprised when she was half undressed and Carter entered the room, he wasn't due back for a least another day.
'Got everything done sooner than expected' he said coming up and pulling her into his arms and kissing her, gently at first and then with more vigour. 'What are you doing?'
'Kissing you'
'Before that'
'About to take a bath'
'Need a hand?'
'Sure' she said forgetting about the sight of her right side.
She was just about to get into the bath when he noticed the bruising that had emerged over the course of the day.
'What's that?' he asked
'Oh' she tried to brush it off. 'I fell on my butt' seeing his worried look she continued 'It's okay Susan wouldn't let me do any work 'til I, we, were checked out and everything was declared okay. You would have been proud of Susan she was very insistent and bossy'
'Good' he replied 'You sure everything's okay?'
She nodded and said 'I feel a bit sore, maybe you could give me a massage'
'Now that sounds like a very good idea'
And after the bath, her bath as he figured there wasn't much room for him that's just what they did.
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Saturday April 1st 2006
'Blasted Braxton Hicks' she thought rolling out of bed and waddling to the bathroom, after a very restless and unsettled night so much so Carter had taken himself off to another room to get some sleep.
She met with Carter in the hall where he was just preparing to leave for work.
'Hey' he said 'Try and take it easy, it's your day off, you're supposed to rest. Especially as you didn't sleep well'
'What exactly do you mean?' she asked pretending she didn't know what he was talking about. Thinking about the past few weeks where she had rather over done it at work and had passed out and felt dizzy a couple of times, plus one or two other minor things.
'You know exactly what I mean, like last week when I came home and you were hanging curtains'
'Oh, that'
'And then...'
'Okay' she cut in 'I promise I won't go climbing'
'Good' he said as he kissed her goodbye.
She got dressed leisurely and had breakfast, then spent part of the morning pottering around the house, becoming increasingly bored with each passing minute. Suddenly the telephone rang.
After speaking to the proprietor of a baby boutique out Crystal Lake way, where they had been waiting for some a few last minute items that they deemed necessary. She decided to go out there and collect them, it was a fine day, a good day for a drive. She couldn't spend the rest of the day cooped up in the house and it was not in any way climbing ladders.
As a safety measure she left a note for the housekeeper, telling her she would be out most of the day, who was at that moment out and then she set off in her car.
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Some time later as she entered the store she was surprised, rooted to the spot as what she could only describe as a contraction ricocheted through her body.
'Great' she thought 'Absolutely great, keep calm Abby. It's just one contraction. Just one sharp one anyway. Maybe they weren't Braxton Hicks that I've been having since yesterday after all'
'You okay?' asked the proprietor
'Yeah I... um, I'm'
'Why don't you sit down for a moment' she said showing Abby to a chair
'Thank you' Abby replied sitting down heavily.
'Are you sure you're okay?' the lady asked
Abby nodded, hoping that she was 'I had a call this morning. The items I ordered had arrived'
'Your name?'
'Carter' she said thinking that it still sounded a bit odd, calling herself Carter.
'Oh yes I remember'
'Good' thought Abby, she really needed to get home.
The proprietor and her sales assistant loaded the car up for Abby. Who after having two more contractions realised that this might actually be the real thing. She felt uncharacteristically tearful about the situation, especially as she was not in Chicago. She held onto the shop counter and tried to control her breathing.
'I don't know if you should be driving back to Chicago like that' commented the shop assistant
Abby smiled but it was more of a grimace.
'Really' the assistant added 'I mean it'
Abby didn't have the inclination to argue as she was determined not to cry in front of these people she didn't know. But she knew the woman was right, she was not going to be able to drive back to Chicago. John was going to be really mad, she just knew.
'When's your baby due?' asked the shop assistant
'16th'
'This month?'
Abby nodded and sighed resigned to the fact that she was not at this moment going home. The tears brimming in her eyes.
'Your car will be fine parked here. We're not too busy so I'll get Jenny to drive you to the nearest hospital, its a few miles the other side of Crystal Lake. Okay? That's the nearest one from here' the shop owner gently told Abby.
By the time Abby had been booked into the ER two hours had passed. She was somewhat surprised to be admitted to OB half an hour later. But then this hospital was nothing like County. Which started her thinking about Carter.
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The phone rang 'County' said Frank 'He's in trauma, message? Yeah, okay. Got that' and he stuck the post-it note on to a computer screen. A note for Carter and a phone number for him to call.
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She lay on the bed, alone in the room they had allotted her. It had started raining, she noted, hard. She looked at the clock; she had been here in this room for over two hours with no word from Carter. She started wondering what had happened to him when another contraction hit.
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Frank forgot about the urgent message. The note fluttered to the ground, in the past two hours it had been moved all over the outside of the screen to suit everyone who had looked there. Everyone that was except Carter.
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