Thanks for the review britgirl 2003, I will take this advice on board and try and slow down a bit. It will be a bit slower from here as I really wanted to get the basics over and done with in the first chapter. Please everyone Read & Review honestly.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything to do with the ER.

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Chapter 2

It was cold, the wind was cold, the ground was cold and frozen and the air between Susan and Abby seemed cold. They trudged across the frozen Ambulance bay and crossed the street and entered the café across the street from County General. Susan went and got a table whilst Abby ordered.

Abby placed the cups of coffee on the table, and managed to splash them everywhere. The silence between the two of them was remarkable. Abby couldn't concentrate on eating for worrying about Susan and thinking about what to say next. Meanwhile, Susan just didn't eat.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence Abby said, "It's great to go for a break isn't it?" Susan's reply to this was a half-hearted nod. No matter what Abby did or said she could not get any kind of conversation out of Susan.

Susan remained still and very quiet, staring into her coffee. Abby was really happy when the awful lunch was interrupted by Susan's pager. They both got up and ran back to the ER. In fact, they seemed to slide more than run to the ER. As they got there, Luka and Chuny were waiting for them with plastic aprons and gloves. Three ambulances rolled up one after the other. There had been a gang fight. There were two victims who had been shot – one in the chest and the other in the leg. The third ambulance carried a teenager who did not seem badly injured as he was shouting and swearing at the other two. The teenager who had been shot in the chest was crashing. Luka screamed for a gurney and rushed him inside. "What's open?" he yelled at Jerry. "Trauma 2", was the reply.

 Abby took the aggressive man into the Curtain area. As he could see the doctors working on the injured man in the next room, he shouted, "Don't you let him die!" As Chuny was pushing the man who was shot in the leg around the corner, the aggressive man suddenly jumped up and tried to grab him. He screamed "This is you fault man, and I'm gonna get you for it!" He dived at him and Abby seemed to get in the way. He slapped Abby instead of the man. Jerry and Malik came running and managed to restrain the man for long enough to let Chuny put hard restraints on him. Security arrived. They were a bit late.

Even though he was restrained he continued to thrash about on the gurney. Abby was still slightly stunned and did not know whether to sedate him. She technically still needed the order from another Doctor. She looked up and through the window to the Trauma room. Luka was pounding the man's chest and Susan was charging the Defribulator. All she needed was for the man she was helping to restrain to see his friend's life nearly over. Just at that moment Dr. Weaver reappeared.

"What the heck is going on here? It looks like no-one can handle a situation down here but me!" Kerry looked from the floor where various things that were knocked over in the fight, still lay. She then looked at the Security guards helping to restrain a patient and then she looked at Abby. Abby had a small cut below her lip from where she was hit, and the area around it was already starting to bruise.

Kerry snapped, "Abby go put ice on that, Jerry call the police, Malik go get some sedative and someone…tell me what happened!" Abby, rather glad that she could escape the scene, headed to the lounge to get some ice from the freezer. She opened her locker and looked in the mirror, "that's going to be one hell of a bruise," she said. After a minute or two she was joined by Dr. Weaver. She wanted to know Abby's point of view on the incident. She explained what happened and Dr. Weaver seemed to have calmed down by this time. Her pager went off and the anger boiled back up. She was late for a meeting. Kerry flew towards the elevators. At least we are going to have a quieter afternoon if she's at a meeting. Abby liked Kerry, but at times she could become too much.

Abby headed out to the admit. desk. The waiting area was not too bad and the board was fairly quiet. As she was deciding which case was the best and easiest one to take, she was joined by Luka.

 "How's the kid who got shot?" she asked.

"He's in the OR. He crashed twice, but I think that we got him back. It's a tough one to call," he replied. "Looking for an easy case?" he asked.

"Yeah." replied Abby. "It looks like you got the easiest one though," she called to Luka who had gotten a simple sprained ankle. She picked up a chart for a lacerated arm. She thought that this would be good because she needed practise at doing stitches. She stitched the gentleman's hand up and went searching for an Attending to sign a prescription for painkillers. "Why do they all disappear when you need one of them?" she asked herself. Carter was not an option in her mind and Luka looked as if he was having to much fun talking to the 'sprained ankle patient's' mother. It meant that it had to be Susan. It gave her an excuse to try and talk to her though. She found her on the phone to the ICU. She signed the chart and Abby stood waiting until she had finished on the phone.

"So…how are you?" Abby asked.

"Fine, why wouldn't I be?" Susan asked, before Abby had the chance to answer Susan asked if she wanted to go for a coffee after work.

"Sure," Abby replied. As she walked off she thought that this might be her chance to find out the real reason that Susan was acting strangely. She had four hours left. These were filled up with mainly minor cases and a stint in triage.

About two and a half hours later she was sitting at the admit. desk with Jerry when she heard a loud crash. It came from Exam 2. Jerry and Abby rushed over there and opened the door to find the patient that had attacked Abby, had kicked over a trolley just as Susan was about to start stitching his leg. He started shouting obscenities at Susan and Jerry. Abby called Security. "What a waste of time," she thought as it usually took Security so long to get there that the event was over. The Security guards held the man down so that Susan could stitch his leg. Abby and Jerry left the room and went and sat at the desk.

About 15 minutes later, Susan emerged from the room going, "I hate doing that to someone who is so ungrateful."

Abby followed her into the lounge saying, "At least he didn't slap you!"

"I suppose you are right," she called as Abby left. Susan sat down on the couch and started to work on a pile of charts and before she knew it her eyes started to become heavy and she nodded off.

An hour and ten minutes later Abby entered the lounge and found her sleeping. She gently woke her up and began to get her coat from her locker. Susan did the same and sat and waited for Abby. Susan said that it must be all the long shifts that Kerry was making her work.

"Really," Abby muttered.
"What do you mean by that?" Susan replied sounding slightly angry.

"It's just that you haven't seemed yourself recently," Abby said.

"I told you that I was fine." Susan replied sounding slightly angrier.

"Well, I just think that you aren't and there is something that you're not telling me," Abby told her.

"So you think that I'm purposely not telling you something, you think that I'm lying to you?" Susan said, nearly at breaking point.

Abby thought that it was unusual to see Susan like this.

"It's not that I think that you're lying to me, I didn't say that, it's because I care," Abby said.

"I know you care, but drop it, will you." Susan said slightly calmer.

"No, I won't drop it, not until I find out what you're hiding from me!" Abby said.

"So you do think that I'm lying to you!" Susan said, the anger very evident in her voice.

"Well, yes!" Abby said very frankly.

"Fine!" Susan said, a mixture of anger and emotion in her voice. She turned around and walked out of the lounge, slamming the door behind her.

Abby was left standing there, alone, wondering what tomorrow's shift would bring!

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Please Read & Review honestly, as I said.

I will probably update tomorrow.