Return

Abby hurried out of the room as quickly as she could, escaping to the ambulance bay for a breath of fresh air. She tried to breathe normally, but she couldn't.

She heard the doors of the ER skid open automatically and she saw him rush out of the doors, eyeing the expanse of the ambulance bay hastily. He spotted her and she knew she had to face him now. Get it over with.

"Abby," he panted as he reached her.

"Carter," she said brusquely.

"Wow. Long time no see. How are you?" Abby felt her eyes boggle out of her head. This wasn't real. Those words weren't coming out of his mouth. How could he be so casual about this?

She saw his face fall as he realized his coy wouldn't work and she noticed certain nervousness in the lines around his brow.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, "I shouldn't have…" he gestured behind him – toward the lounge, "You shouldn't have had to see that."

Abby snorted in disgust. She didn't care, she told herself. She didn't care.

"It's not what it looks like."

"I've heard that somewhere before," Abby muttered.  She looked past Carter at the young woman standing in the doorway of the hospital, looking on.

"I have to get back to work," she said finally, walking past Carter, past his barely-past-teenagehood girlfriend into the hospital, trying to put the whole encounter behind her.

~*~

Abby unlocked the door to the house that night and sighed as she pushed the door open. She didn't know what to tell Sara.

She walked into the house and heard the television on in the other room being flicked off as Sara approached her.

Abby felt a tear fall down her cheek as she watched Sara come from the den. She was remembering all those years ago when they were a family, when Carter used to come out of that very same door for dinner with Sara on his shoulders smiling happily.

Abby opened her arms and Sara walked into them. They hugged each other momentarily, Abby rubbing Sara's back comfortingly.

"I hate him," Sara muttered into Abby's shoulder, "I hate him."

Abby didn't know what to say. She didn't want Sara to hate her own father, but she couldn't find anything nice to say about Carter just then. In fact, she hated him too.

"It'll be okay," Abby soothed. After a momentary silence, she continued, "Have you eaten yet?"

Sara pulled away and nodded.

"Yeah, Summer was here before, but she left about an hour ago."

"Want to keep me company while I eat?"

"Sure."

And that was it. They didn't talk about him again all night.

~*~
Abby walked into work the next morning, eyeing the facility briefly to be sure that he was nowhere around. After verifying that she would not run into him again, she scurried to the lounge to put her stuff away and start work, hopefully distracting herself from thinking of him.

~

It was nearly four hours later when she trudged across the ambulance bay toward Ike's for a quick lunch. The air was damp and she was inwardly hoping against rain.

She took a seat in a booth and awaited the arrival of a waitress by staring idly out the window.

He was pulling his car up.

She turned toward the counter, hoping the waitress would hurry so she could order already.

He was stepping out. His girlfriend wasn't there.

She hoped that he didn't see her. She didn't want to talk to him.

He was entering the hospital…. No, wait, he was approaching Ike's. It seems he hadn't eaten lunch before his shift.

Abby picked up a menu hastily and buried her head behind it, desperately wishing that he not see her.

She peered over the edge and she knew it was late.

He was already approaching the small corner table.

"So, how's Sara?" he asked cheerily as he took a seat.

Abby imagined needles sticking through various parts of his body and it made her feel slightly better, but she still ignored him, got up and headed toward the exit.