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Friday

June 21, 2003

Three and a half weeks had gone by since Carter and Abby had returned from the Congo with Luka. Things had reached a level of normalcy with their return to County. Luka was expected back to work at the beginning of July, and Carter had picked up a few back to back twelve hour shifts throughout the month to keep himself busy, or more importantly, to keep his mind off of his grandmother's estate and Abby. He had finally taken care of the lawyer, not wanting to put if off any longer or put up with Frank constantly complaining about taking the phone calls. Carter had returned to the mansion and was living there by himself, even though he had taken to staying at Abby's before his first trip to the Congo. Their relationship had changed, and he didn't think it would be a good move to live with Abby again, at least not right away.

Abby had been sucked right back into her duties as Nurse Manager, and her latest task included showing a round of new residents around the hospital. Sofun, Morris, and Cooper were a little overly eager to get started, and she had been annoyed with all three of them, especially Morris, from the start. She had also gotten to know Neela, a new medical student, although she too tended to get on her last nerve sometimes, especially in traumas. The nursing schedule was disorganized, as per usual, and unfortunately there was not much Abby could do about it. She couldn't please everyone.

Glancing up at the clock, Abby noted that her shift was finally over for the day. It was three in the afternoon, and she had been on since five in the morning. Exhausted didn't even describe how tired she was right now, and she was automatically glad that she was free until Monday morning. All she really had to do was go grocery shopping and fold her laundry, and then she could probably go to bed early. She thought about calling Carter briefly to see if he had any plans, but considering she hadn't talked to him for a few days, Abby didn't want to bother him. He was probably just as busy and tired as she was.

Within twenty minutes, Abby had gotten off the El and arrived back at her apartment. It was sweltering inside, which only meant one thing—the building's central air conditioning was malfunctioning for the second time that month. Quickly, Abby dropped her bag on the couch and ran to check the thermostat, which was stable at eighty-four degrees. The forecast called for a heat wave to last until the early part of next week, and highs were supposed to reach the early to mid nineties. The temperature today had been eighty-five with high humidity. Abby only had one ceiling fan, and that was in the living room.

"Perfect," she muttered to herself, turning on the television to hopefully catch the latest updates on the weather report. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and stripped off her scrub top, just leaving herself in a black tank top and scrub pants. Abby switched on the ceiling fan to high and opened the two living room windows as high as they could go. Hopefully she could get a little bit of circulation in the room, just so it wasn't so stuffy.

She then opened every window in the entire apartment, even the bathroom window that had a habit of sticking when it was hot out. Entering the bathroom, Abby splashed some cool water onto her sweaty face when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" she shouted, grabbing the hand towel and patting her face with it as she ran down the hall. She unlatched the door, only to come face to face with Carter himself. He was dressed casually, in khaki pants and a polo, and had a pair of sunglasses in his hand. "Hey."

"Hey," he greeted her, taking in her appearance. "Did you just get off?"

Abby nodded and stepped aside, letting him walk into the hall. "Yeah. I just got home about ten minutes ago."

"Why are all your windows open? It's in the mid eighties." Carter glanced around, noting how warm her apartment was. He knew from living with Abby that she was unbearable to be around in the heat, because it irritated her allergies and made it hard for her to breathe if she didn't have the air conditioning running in the summertime.

"Oh, apparently the building's air conditioning broke when I was at work. I haven't even gotten a chance to call the landlord yet and see what's up."

"Stay at my place for the weekend," Carter suggested. "There's more than enough room."

Abby eyed him cautiously and shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough stuff to take care of around here anyway."

"Oh." He shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I came by to see if you wanted to get something to eat tonight? I haven't really talked to you lately, so I figured we could catch up if you wanted to. Maybe go to that sushi place you've wanted to check out since..." Carter quickly caught himself. He had almost mentioned about wanting to have dinner at that place since before he ran off to Africa for the first time. "...since it opened in March."

Abby hadn't seemed to notice his mistake, but nodded. "Sure." She picked up a pillow from the floor and tossed it back onto the couch, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Is this a date or something?"

Carter smirked. "Do you want it to be?"

She turned off the television and said nothing at first. "I don't know. I guess a date would be sort of...nice?"

"Then we'll make it one."

Abby eyed Carter's clothes and then realized what she was still wearing. "Did you mean right now?"

"No. I just came from a meeting with my dad. We're trying to figure out what we're going to do with the mansion."

Abby walked into her bedroom and Carter followed. It brought back many memories, both good and bad. It was here that they would wake up in the mornings together, where they ended their night, and where they had gotten into the worst arguments of their relationship. "You're going to sell it?"

"Everything's up in the air right now, but yea, that's one of the options we're looking at. Gamma left it in my name, so I have the last deciding word," Carter explained. "It's hard to let it go. I grew up there."

Abby gave him a reassuring smile and started going through her closet. "You'll be okay."

"Yeah." Carter cleared his throat. "So, I'll pick you up around seven?"

"Sure."

Before leaving, Carter turned around and leaned up against up the doorframe. "The offer still stands about staying at my place for the weekend."

"I'll think about it."

As promised, Carter had picked up Abby around seven, and they had arrived at the sushi bar for there seven thirty reservations. They had gotten settled at the table, and Carter had requested a bottle of wine while they waited on their sushi rolls.

"You look great tonight," Cater complimented her as her poured the wine into their glasses.

Abby blushed slightly under the dim lights and took a sip out of the glass. "Thanks." The temperature had dropped to the low seventies by the time Carter had picked her up, so she had settled on an off the shoulder black v- neck shirt and tan pants, which she paired with her favorite stiletto heels that she rarely wore. She had straightened her hair and left it down, partly because it was easier to handle that way, but also because in the back of her mind she knew Carter loved it that way.

"So...how have you been?"

"Okay. Busy. I haven't really been home much lately."

Carter nodded. "I know the feeling. I'm trying to get another place for myself, another apartment, maybe—since I moved out of my last one. I don't really want to live in the mansion anymore. If Gamma were still alive I'd have no problem to, but now I feel out of place. I never really realized how much more empty space there is now."

"I'm sorry." It was silent between them for a moment or so, and then Abby glanced up at him. "I think I should apologize to you about the situation with my brother. I never meant to hurt you, John. I'm not going to make up any excuses anymore—I could have handled everything with my brother better and been there for you, too. You needed me and I pretty much brushed you aside to make sure my brother was okay and help him handle his disease. And at the funeral—god, that was never supposed to happen and it was so embarrassing. But I want you to understand that Eric couldn't help himself. He was off his meds and didn't want to have anything to do with my help. I think in the long run that's what hurt me the most—the fact that I tried to do everything I could for Eric and he clung to Maggie instead, and now there's just me, who's pretty much isolated from them because I'm not bipolar and 'wouldn't understand' what they're going through. I'm sorry."

Carter listened and reached his hand over the table, resting it in Abby's. "Hey, that wasn't your fault. I never blamed you. You did what you thought you had to do, and it was a tough decision. You're a good person, Abby. You did help your brother. Don't think that because he ran to Maggie means that he doesn't care about you and how you tried to help him. I'm not mad at you for what happened. I never was. I was just frustrated. Everything was on me then and I didn't know what to do, so I took the easy way out from everyone and ran off to Africa."

Abby watched as the waiter set the sushi rolls onto the table. "Yeah."

He picked up his chopsticks and dipped the sushi roll into the soy sauce. "I miss you."

She glanced down and finished chewing the sushi. "I miss you too. I thought things would be easier when we came back from Africa."

"They can be. We just have to let everything fall into place. Like this. I haven't been on a date with you since...since that night at the restaurant."

Thinking back to that night reminded Abby of his failed proposal. "I don't think we were ready for a commitment then."

Carter shook his head. "Neither do I." He took another sip of the wine. "But are we ready now?"

Abby didn't know why she was holding herself back any more. She wanted everything that they had once before back. She wanted to wake up next to Carter in the mornings and make love with him at night. She wanted to be able to kiss him at the hospital when they passed each other in the hall. She wanted to work beside him in traumas and know that in a few hours they'd be able to go home together and spend the rest of the day or night with each other. She wanted to be sitting at admit and look across the room, only to find Carter staring right back at her with a smile. But most importantly, Abby wanted that second chance to make things right. They had agreed not to take the easy way out anymore. "I'm ready."

He grinned at her from across the table. "Me too."

By eight thirty, they had finished their sushi and Carter had taken care of the bill. Once they had gotten into the jeep, Carter rolled down the windows and turned the stereo up. He pulled sped out of the parking spot and onto the street, heading for the parkway.

Abby laughed, turning up the volume on the stereo. "I can't believe you have Styx in here. And you were making fun of me for listening to it!"

"Hey, I figured I'd get on your good side!" He yelled back. He pulled onto the entrance ramp for the parkway, and as they drove along, with the wind blowing through the jeep, Abby decided to start singing along as Styx's 'Renegade' came on.

Carter glanced over and smiled, watching her. He loved how the wind blew through her hair as she sang, moving her head from side to side with the beat. Abby looked over and gave him a smile before running her fingers through her hair.

God, she was beautiful.

By nine, Carter had pulled into the driveway of Gamma's mansion and he and Abby were heading up the path towards the front door.

"Did you have a good time tonight?"

Abby nodded and smiled, wrapping her arms around herself. It had gotten chilly out, and the wind had slightly picked up. "Yeah, I did. Did you?"

He nodded and unlocked the door of the mansion. "We haven't done that in awhile. It's still early. We could watch a movie. Did you want to stay here tonight?"

"I guess it's better than sleeping in my apartment right now," Abby smirked. She followed Carter up the large, intimidating stairs of the mansion to his room. He turned on the lights and started digging around in his drawers, finally pulling out a pair of sweatpants and tee shirt for her to sleep in.

"It's gets pretty cold sometimes with the air on."

"Yeah, I remember," Abby told him. She started looking around in his DVD collection on the side of his dresser. The rest of the movies were downstairs in the theater, but it didn't appear that either one wanted to go all the way back downstairs if they just had to come back up to go to sleep anyway. "What about the 'Godfather'?"

Carter nodded and took off his shoes. He got up and took the DVD from her and placed it in the player attached to his television. "Sure. Haven't seen it in awhile anyway."

"I don't think I've ever seen all of it."

He stretched out on his bed and turned out the light, motioning for Abby to do the same. She kicked off her shoes and curled onto her side, not against him, but not too far away from him either. They stayed like that for the first twenty minutes of the movie. Abby hadn't even realized that she was practically resting her head on Carter's chest and he was running his fingers through her hair by then.

Carter looked over and smiled. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yea." Abby noticed how close their lips were then, and without much hesitation, she tilted her chin up and kissed him softly. It had started out as just a peck on the lips, but when Carter returned the kiss, it started to turn into a heavy make out session. The movie had long been forgotten about in the background as Abby wrapped her arms around Carter's neck and he rested himself on top of her, his hand slowly inching up the back of her shirt.

Abby had unbuttoned half of Carter's shirt and he practically had her pants off before he pulled away.

"Are you sure?" he whispered in her ear.

She nodded and kissed him again, waiting patiently as he reached over and got the condoms out of the drawer. Abby didn't know where this was going to take them. They hadn't had sex since a few weeks before he left for Africa, and she had even stopped taking her birth control in early April because it was making her hormones crazy, along with everything else that had been going on in her life at that time.

Whatever happened between them was a big step, but it was something that they both wanted to happen—have wanted to happen since the Congo. Abby was tired of hesitating and always shutting Carter out, and there was no better night than tonight to start.