Thanks for those reviews! I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be doing a major 'thank you' list in the following chapter.
As for the rest of this story, it will be following the events of Season 10 almost exactly, with a few minor changes here and there. Of course, this means no Kem, and no Carter returning to Africa anytime soon. From here on out will be my take on what would have happened after Abby had followed Carter to Africa and back. Although some scenes in these first chapters were repetitive, they were necessary so I could rewrite the outcome of Season 10.
Enjoy, and don't forget to review!
6 PM
"He says to keep following him, this way," Gillian shouted over her shoulder back to Carter, Abby, and Debbie. The soldier from Kasese had accompanied their small group to another nearby town, which was in just as bad shape as Kasese had been. Apparently this man knew where he was going, and after parking the truck only minutes before, the four had followed him quickly down the path towards the smoking town.
Pausing outside a whitewashed building, Carter stopped and tried to make sense of the soldier's directions. He pulled Abby along by the hand once he entered the building with Debbie and Gillian. They quickly passed a woman and her amputee child, only to find the solider pointing at a huddled mass in the corner, near a window. The body was covered by a blanket, and it was slumped in such a way that the face could not automatically be made out.
"Le prêtre," the soldier spoke urgently.
Gillian watched as Carter moved towards the body and squeezed her eyes shut. "He says it's the priest," she whispered. She leaned back up against Abby, who wrapped an arm around Gillian's shoulder.
"It'll be okay," Abby told her soothingly. She watched with bated breath as Carter rolled over the body. It was Luka. He was alive. Barely, but alive. Abby could see the slow rise and fall of his chest and Gillian cry out in shock.
"He's okay!" Carter called out over his shoulder while checking Luka's pulse and vital signs. Gillian crouched over Luka and moved his sweat-slicked hair off of his forehead while Abby hovered near Luka's feet.
"I'll drive the truck over," Debbie offered. "We're not out of the woods yet."
Carter smiled at Abby, who had now crossed her arms over her chest and was surveying the scene between Luka and Gillian. "You all right?"
She nodded. "You did a good thing, John. Coming out here and rescuing him. At first I didn't understand why you were taking off again, but I guess it took me actually coming out here with you and experiencing everything firsthand to really get it. And now I do. I'm proud of you, Carter."
"Thanks," he grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. "You were a pretty good trooper yourself, you know that?"
"Yeah," Abby laughed. "Right." She leaned her head back against his chest and lifted her chin in such a way that their lips brushed together softly. "We have a lot to talk about."
"I guess you can say we'll make good use out of the plane ride home," Carter smirked, dropping his arms and once again appearing at Luka's side. "Can you hear me, Luka?"
"Mmhmm," Luka croaked. "Abby?"
"Yeah?" Abby answered, kneeling down and crouching over Luka.
"What…are you…doing here?"
She shot an amused look at Carter, who simply shrugged his shoulders. "It's a long story. I came with Carter once I heard the news."
But Luka had fallen asleep, and once Debbie arrived back in the building, all four hoisted Luka up and led him towards the flatbed of the truck, resting his head against the various duffel bags. Gillian followed, crouching right next to Luka, almost as if she was afraid to ever let him out of her sight again. Carter helped Abby hop up onto the flatbed and took one final look around at the ruined town before climbing up himself. Lastly, Debbie made sure the mother and her son were situated comfortably before driving everyone back to the base camp.
Abby stirred the remainder of the soup left in her bowl, surveying the now empty cafeteria of the base hospital. It had taken them all a good two hours before they had reached the clinic, and everyone was more than thrilled to have gotten back safely with Luka. Things had gotten tense at one point in the ride when Charles had radioed Debbie, stating that there was an outbreak of Mai Mai fighting in between Kasese and Matenda. Luckily, they had made it through unharmed.
"Hey."
She yawned tiredly as Carter approached the small table and took a seat across from her. "Hey."
"How's Luka doing?"
"Pretty good. He has a bad case of malaria, but it's treatable, and once he gets back to Chicago I think it's safe to say he'll make a full recovery." He leaned over and looked into her bowl. "What are you eating?"
Abby pushed the bowl towards him with a smirk. "Chicken noodle soup. Angelique made some for me."
Carter smiled and finished off what was left in the bowl within three gulps. "Can you tell I'm starving?"
She shook her head and laughed. "No, I can't." Abby placed her pack of cigarettes on the table and pulled one out, lighting it quickly. She exhaled a long drag. "Don't look at me like that. I'm quitting, I promise."
"The minute we get back to Chicago I'm getting you the patch," Carter told her sternly. "And then that'll be the end of it hopefully."
Abby rolled her eyes. "You talk like you're such a saint yourself."
"Definitely not," he smirked back. "A transport is meeting us at the airport first thing in the morning to take us all back to Chicago."
"Really? It feels like we just got here," she replied sarcastically. She crushed out the rest of the cigarette with a sigh. "I didn't even smoke all of it."
"That's some progress."
She rolled her eyes. "What time is the transport?"
"It'll be there by six thirty, Charles told me. We should be in Paris by noon, and in Chicago early tomorrow morning."
"So…we'll be leaving here in five hours or so?"
"Yup," he nodded. "Better get some sleep then, don't you think?"
Abby stood up from the table and set the bowl in the small kitchen area before returning to Carter's side. "I wonder if I still have a job at County."
"Kerry said she understood why we were coming out here."
"She could have changed her mind."
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," he responded as they headed towards their tent. "Just think, this time tomorrow we'll be able to sleep in a real bed."
"Oh, a real bed. Just when I was getting used to the ground," Abby smiled before climbing into the tent after Carter. "I know how to rough it now."
"Then maybe we'll go camping when we go back?"
Abby slipped under the sleeping back, resting her head on Carter's chest. "I said I knew how to rough it, not that I was voluntarily willing to rough it anytime soon."
"Oh, my mistake."
"Don't be such a smart ass."
"It's part of my genetic makeup."
Abby stepped out of the backseat of the jeep that had taken her and Carter to Kisangani Airport. Heavy clouds filled the skies, and a few yards in the distance she could make out the transport plane that would be taking them to Paris, and then, home. What had seemed like three weeks spent in the Congo searching for Luka and trying to figure out her relationship status with Carter really had only been four and a half days. Four and a half somewhat stressful, crazy days. Even though she and Carter were know longer bashing each other to the point of embarrassment, things weren't certain between them, and Abby was sure the long plane ride home would be quite useful.
Quickly, she slung her only duffel bag over her shoulder and double-checked that her passport hadn't been lost in the shuffle of moving from place to place in the short time she had spent in Africa. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Carter shaking hands with Charles before moving on to do the same with Debbie. At one point he had looked back over towards Abby and given her a half smile, but she looked down and away.
Abby was hoping that this trip to the Congo to rescue Luka would bring her closer to Carter again and fix whatever had gone wrong in their strained relationship. It wasn't, however, until the day before that she had realized she was searching for something that had already been found. Glancing back at Carter, Abby knew that this was the person she loved when it counted the most. He was the person she called at the end of a rough shift. He was the person she called when she was ready to divorce herself from her zany family. He was the person Abby used to call her best friend, and to this day, he still was. John Carter, through all his flaws, was meant to love her, as stupid and clichéd as that sounded. And even through all of her own flaws, they fit together in away that couldn't be matched or replaced. That was what this whole trip had opened her eyes to. Abby still loved Carter, and he, in turn, still loved her. Coming here together made Abby realize that they didn't have to get married or force themselves into a long-term commitment to be happy together. They didn't have to run away anymore when their problems got the best of them. With a little bit of luck and the willingness to work things through, they'd make it back on track in no time.
Abby couldn't help but smile at Carter's boyish grin while he shared a few final words with Debbie and Charles. It made him look so young and innocent. He always had this incredible ability to make her laugh, and to see him have that effect on others made her smile as well. Abby saw Carter walking towards her now, and she waved a final time to Charles and Debbie. She had already said her goodbyes.
"Ready to go?" Carter had shoved his hands in his pockets just as the van that was to be carrying Gillian and Luka pulled up.
"Something like that," Abby remarked back. She smiled at Gillian, who had hopped down from the back of the van while Luka was being unloaded on a stretcher. "You better call Kerry."
"I'll call her from Paris," he added, moving closer to Luka. "How are you feeling?"
"Terrible," Luka groaned. "Where am I going?"
Abby smiled. "We're going home."
Luka reached for her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Where's that?"
"America," Carter grinned, helping Gillian wheel Luka towards the awaiting transport plane. "This medical transport plane is taking us home to Chicago."
"Expensive," Luka smiled.
Carter shrugged. "I know somebody who knows somebody."
Luka motioned for Carter to lean closer and wrapped one arm around his neck, giving him a good kiss on the cheek. "Thanks." He motioned for Abby next and did the same before Carter and Gillian helped the paramedics lift his stretcher onto the plane.
Abby took one look back at the land surrounding the airport before climbing the stairs onto the plane. Carter had been right about one thing—the country was beautiful, but home never had sounded as good to her as it did right now.
Abby unlocked her apartment door with a sigh and pushed it open slowly. "Home sweet home."
Their plane from Paris had landed at O'Hare around three in the morning, but once they had sent for an ambulance to take Luka and Gillian to County General, they hadn't ended up leaving the airport until almost quarter to five. Everyone had been dragging on their feet from jet lag. Even Carter had kept mumbling about having a shift at nine until Abby convinced him that no, they had just gotten home, and he didn't have a shift until Thursday at the earliest.
Carter nodded and yawned. "You can say that again. I'm about ready to crash right in the middle of your hallway."
"Sounds like a plan to me. You get the pillows, I'll get the blankets," Abby joked. They tossed their duffels into the living room and turned to each other. Carter started to laugh and wrapped his arms around Abby, pulling her into his chest.
"I'd say we need showers."
"I can deal with your smell if you can deal with mine. I need sleep right now." Abby tossed her hair over her shoulder and flicked the light switch on. Carter spotted the bed automatically and ran over to it, jumping onto it like a four year old on Christmas Day.
"Oh, god," he groaned. "I never thought I'd be this thankful to see a bed in my life."
"Don't fall asleep there," Abby warned. He had sprawled out onto the bed spread-eagled, exactly in the center. "Because I'm not sleeping on the couch." She opened the middle drawer of her dresser and pulled out a tee shirt and cotton sleep shorts. It felt so good to be home.
Quickly, she brushed her teeth and washed her face, debating whether or not she should take a shower. When a wave of tiredness suddenly hit her, she knew she might as well wait until they woke up much later. She definitely planned on taking today and tomorrow off, but knew Weaver would expect her back in work on Thursday. That didn't exactly pose that much of a problem, since all Abby really had to do was her laundry and take care of grocery shopping, other than catching up on some much needed sleep.
"John, are you taking a shower?" Abby yawned and pulled her hair up into a messy bun. Once she re-entered her bedroom, she automatically smiled. Carter had rolled over onto his side on her bed and had fallen asleep, not even bothering to take his shoes off. So instead, she gently untied the laces and slipped off the sneakers, placing them on the ground.
Abby padded over to the wall and turned the lights off, then crawled under the covers of her bed.
"Night Abby," John said, flipping onto his stomach.
"Thought you had fallen asleep?"
Her answer got a simple grunt and she smiled, closing her eyes. "Night Carter."
4:30 PM
Carter heard the loud ringing of Abby's cordless phone and reached his hand over groggily, not bothering to lift his head off the pillow. "Hello?" he croaked, finally opening his eyes. They rested on Abby's digital alarm clock, which now read four-thirty.
"John, it's Kerry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you and Abby."
"No, that's all right. We've been asleep for about nine hours anyway. What's up?"
"I just thought you would want to know that Luka has been moved to a private room."
"Yeah, thanks. Hey, do I have a shift this week?"
"I have you down for a seven AM to seven PM shift starting Thursday morning, and Abby has a shift from ten AM to ten PM the same day. Then on Friday you're working from noon to midnight, and Abby is working from nine to nine. You both are clear for the weekend. Get some rest. I'm sure you both have things to catch up on."
"Thanks Kerry. We appreciate that."
"Take care, John. Tell Abby I said the same. See you on Thursday."
"We'll probably stop by to see Luka tonight."
"Sure, John."
Carter yawned and tossed the phone onto the floor, too tired to even reach over to place it back on its cradle. Abby was still asleep, her body curled up into the fetal position with the blankets tucked under her chin. Carefully, he brushed a piece of hair out of her face and smiled. He didn't feel like getting up at the moment, so instead he rested his head back against the pillow and watched her sleep. About five short minutes later, he felt his own eyelids start to droop once again and kissed Abby's forehead softly.
Abby could sleep through anything and never stir.
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