Author's Note: Okay, first things first, sorry for not updating this for so long. I know, I'm a bad, bad author. And I just update more often. But my exams finished today, so hopefully everything will get back to normal! :-D ;) This is chapter 3…I have one more thing to say before I let you all read: please give this chapter a chance, however strange it may seem (and you'll not what I mean when you read it!). Keep on with it and I promise you it's got a point. Anyway, read on and enjoy! I love you reviews, don't ya know?! Jo xx

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"Where do you want to go?" Susan asked as they left County ready for their night out.

"I don't know, a club somewhere? Or what was that bar we went to once, you know with Deb?"

"How about we just go to a café and have coffee?" Abby rolled her eyes, but realised she wouldn't win if she started arguing the suggestion, and so just followed Susan's lead.

They found themselves in a quiet coffee bar near the outskirts of the city, and before they knew it two hours had passed and large amounts of coffee had been drunk. It felt good to just be able to chat to someone without questions being asked. Abby felt that if Susan asked about the Carter incident she might actually be willing to tell. But she wasn't going to volunteer the information if she wasn't asked.

"I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be right back," Susan told her, getting up and leaving. The waitress came as they left, collecting up their empty mugs, and Abby ordered two more lattes. This much coffee surely wasn't good for her. But then again, it was better than sitting at home drinking the amount of alcohol she had drunk last night. She felt ashamed now. She really ought to go to an AA meeting, right now. But now wasn't the time. She was still too upset. And she didn't think she could bear to listen to everyone's stories.

"Excuse me, can I join a lovely lady?" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see a handsome young man smiling at her.

"Sure, take a seat." As he sat down, the waitress arrived with the coffees.

"Two coffees? Ooh dear, boyfriend?"

"No, just a friend," Abby explained. "She's in the bathroom."

"Well that's a relief." He winked at her, and she found herself liking him already. "Sorry, how rude, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Kevin." He held out a hand to her, which she shook.

"Abby. Nice to meet you."

"Abby. You're a very pretty young lady, you know Abby."

"Thank you. But flattery won't get you everything."

"Ooh, feisty too?" he laughed. "Just the sort of girl I like. One has to wonder why you're not already snatched up."

"You want the whole history or the abridged version?"

"Abridged sounds good."

"Difficult family, and I just had a messy break up."

"Ah, so no one likes the family, huh?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." She grinned at him, feeling at ease and for a moment slightly happy. She was being chatted up by a gorgeous guy, what more could she ask for?

"Well, I'm not great with difficult families, but I don't think coming back to mine for something a little stronger than coffee requires meeting the family, does it?"

"No, I don't think it does," she responded. She saw him stand to leave, but didn't make a move to get up.

"I'm going out to wait in my car. I'll be outside for five minutes if you decide you want to join me." He winked at her, before turning and leaving.

She was torn. Should she go with him? It seemed so appealing. A quick escape, a further way to distance herself from Carter. But then she would feel like she was cheating on him. And she had that niggling thought in the back of her mind that she'd only known this guy two minutes, and had no idea what he was really like. But he seemed like a perfect gentleman, and she was certain he wouldn't hurt her. What was the harm in it?

After scribbling a note on a scrap of paper and leaving it for Susan, who had still not returned from the bathroom, she gathered her coat and bag and made her way out the door. Looking around she couldn't see where he was, but then she heard a hoot of a car horn, and saw him sitting in a car on the other side of the road, waving at her.

"So, you decided I'd be more fun than coffee, huh?" he asked once she'd got into the car.

"Yeah. But my friend's going to be mad that I abandoned her, so you'd better make it worth my while."

***

"Hey Susan, come on in," Abby greeted, opening the apartment door wide for her friend.

"Congratulations!" Susan grabbed her into a hug, squealing as she did so. "This is so exciting!"

"Yeah, but you're sounding a little over enthusiastic: it's my wedding not yours," Abby joked as she pulled away, before calling to Carter. "John, Susan's here!" He emerged from the bedroom, and before he could get very far Susan had dashed across the room and gathered him up in a hug too.

"Took you long enough you fool," she joked, finally calming down slightly and taking a place on the sofa. Abby and Carter joined her, sitting down cautiously as if she might leap on them at any minute for another hug. "When's the big day then?"

"We didn't really decide that yet. We've only been engaged for less than twelve hours!"

"Twelve hours is a long time!" Susan exclaimed, laughing. "You should have the plans well underway by now. Still, it doesn't matter, I'm here now we'll sort it all out. Carter, who's going to be best man?"

"I…"

"Come on, you can't hesitate like that!"

"My goodness Susan, I know why you got married on the spur of the moment now," Abby laughed. "No one would be able to cope with you, you'd be the bride from hell. You're definitely trying to be the maid of honour from hell right now."

"Maid of honour?" Susan stared at her, mouth wide open in shock, before a grin slowly formed. "Ah! Abby, thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I've got a pretty good idea," she responded, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, come on, this is my responsibility even more now. Carter, you have to come up with a best man."

"I really don't know. There's no one I can think of that I'm that close to…You could be the best man Susan!"

"Look Abby, your fiancé's got a sense of humour! First off I'm not a man, and second I'm already maid of honour."

"Best woman then? I know how much you love to multi-task."

"Okay, I suppose we can leave you to think about best man for a while. We'll sort out Abby's dress while you decide!" She delved into her bag and pulled out a stack of bridal magazines.

"Oh my goodness, it's like Mary Poppins' bag!"

"Well, there's so many different styles to choose from, you have to think really carefully about it. And you have to decide what colour you want too."

"Aren't wedding dresses just white?" Abby queried, confused.

"No, you can have loads of shades of cream and things," Carter joined in. "I think white's nicest though, don't you Susan? Although maybe a bit of embroidery in another shade would go nicely too…"

"Okay, that does it, gets your coats," Abby exclaimed, rising from the sofa.

"What?"

"I know I said earlier that I was excited about the preparation, but I can't be bothered with it all. I just want to get married. So come on, let's get ourselves down to City Hall."

"Now?"

"That's what I said!" she exclaimed, giving the trade mark roll of the eyes. "That is, if you're happy with that John."

"Yeah, totally!" he grinned, and she sighed with relief, glad that he obviously meant it too. "But won't your mother kind of kill us if she doesn't get to be at our wedding?"

"Nah, she'll just be happy that I got married to you at last. As long as we send her a nice photo."

"I'm sure we can manage that." He got up from the sofa now, and fetched all their coats. "Let's go then."

"Hang on, does this mean we don't get to plan the wedding and buy the dress?" Susan asked, slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry Susan, I just…I can't be done with this. At my first wedding I had the dress and everything but it didn't mean anything. This time I just want to get married, I don't care about the wedding."

"If you two weren't so sweet I'd probably want to be sick. Come on, let's go." They rushed out of the apartment, and piled into Carter's jeep, before making their way towards City Hall. "Hang on, you need another witness!"

"There will be someone around, won't there?" Carter asked, keeping his eyes on the road. "It doesn't matter who it is."

"Not legally, but surely you want it to be someone you know. You should have a best man." She paused, racking her brain for any possibilities. "Ooh, I know! I don't think Chuck's busy this evening, I'll call him and get him to meet us there."

When they arrived at City Hall, Chuck was stood outside waiting for them, a grin plastered on his face. "I would make a joke about this being a quick marriage after the engagement, but then you'd probably call me a hypocrite," he joked when they approached him.

"You ready?" Carter asked Abby, taking her hand in his.

"Yup, let's go for it."

***

"Oi, time to get up Miss Abby," a voice called her back into the waking world. Abby groaned as she tried hard not to be woken up. She really wanted just another hour's sleep. When the voice called her to wake up again she gradually forced her eyes open, blinking hard. "Ah, that's better! There's coffee in the kitchen if you can drag yourself that far." She blinked at him again, confused for a moment, before remembering and laughing slightly to herself. Last night hadn't been too bad.

"Thanks. You're showered and dressed already?"

"Why sleep in the morning when you're wasting part of the day that you could be doing something?"

"My philosophy has always been why do something when you could be sleeping."

"You know what they say, opposites attract." He took her hands, and pulled her up into a seated position. "Like I said, coffee's in the kitchen. I showed you where the bathroom was last night, feel free to take a shower or bath or whatever. I have to go to work, just let yourself out when you leave." He stood up from the position he had taken seated on the bed, and walked towards the bedroom door.

"Thank you Kevin," she called after him. "Last night was really good, it was good to relax again."

"Yeah, it was really good. Maybe I'll see you again sometime Abby." He turned and walked out of the bedroom. A couple of moments later she heard the apartment door slam shut, and she allowed herself to fall back against the pillow.

Was what she'd done really wise? She wasn't sure. But Kevin had been charming. And she'd had a laugh, something she hadn't thought she'd be able to do without Carter. Last night didn't mean anything. That was the appeal of it. No commitment. No love. No pain. She smiled to herself, before finally swinging her legs over the side of the bed and making her way into the bathroom for a shower. Then she would leave for work, walking out of the door and out of Kevin's life, with no pain surrounding the event, just a sweet memory.

***

"Good morning Mrs. Carter."

"Go back to sleep," she mumbled, annoyed that anyone dared to disturb her. She flung an arm out to hit him playfully, but managed to hit him a lot harder than she'd intended.

"Oww!" he yelled, before bursting out laughing. "I don't know about this husband abuse." She opened her eyes slowly, and looked over at him.

"I'm sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you so hard."

"I'll live," he winked at her.

"Oh, I don't know. You look like you're injured about there." She pointed to an area of his neck, before leaning over and kissing that area. "And here too." Kiss. "And here." Kiss. "And definitely here."

"You can hit me in bed more often if this is the treatment I get," he responded, wrapping his arms around her, and then kissing her on the lips.

"Yeah, I'll hit you more often if I get thanks for treating you too." She glanced at the clock, realising the time. "We have to work today, don't we?"

"How much does that suck? We can't even have the day after our wedding off."

"Well, we'll make up for it this evening." She pulled away from him, swung her legs off the bed and made her way towards the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower, you coming?" She entered the bathroom, and turned the shower on, allowing it to warm up while she waited for him. She smiled happily at her reflection in the mirror. She was sure life couldn't be better.

***