Summary: just read the damn thing. Pretty please. (and review it. Pretty please)
Disclaimer: not mine etc etc
AN: you asked for it, so here goes.....
PART 2 - Sausages and Salad
Abby stood by one of Susan's 'CAR' signs and looked around. She still didn't really understand what that was all about. She'd asked earlier, but Susan had just come out with something vague about sharing lifts or something. She'd ask again later. Maybe the three-month-old was driving her crazy. Carter wasn't here yet, so she could afford to mingle without risking bumping into him.
When he finally entered, she was chatting to Neela on the other side of the room. She watched as his eyes searched the room. Finding her face, they lingered for a second, and she held his gaze. A second later he had turned away, handing a bottle of wine to Susan, saying all the right things to his hostess.
At one point she got stuck next to him at the buffet. They shared an abrupt hello, and then she managed to avert disaster by leaving the sausages on cocktail sticks for the green salad at the other end of the table. Cursing herself, she realised that Carter knew she'd never been a fan of lettuce. But then he knew she was avoiding him anyway, so she supposed it didn't really matter.
Half an hour later a momentary parting in the company showed him looking pointedly at the green salad left on her plate, and then at her face with just the hint of a smile. She was surprised by his sudden openness, and glad when Susan blocked her view.
"Having fun?" Susan asked.
"Yeah, thanks. It's been a while since we had a proper staff party."
"I know. Everyone seems to have been so busy recently. We must be getting old - no time to party."
"I don't know, things seem to have settled down a bit lately. I'm getting used to this whole doctor thing, at least."
"You get any roses this morning?"
"I got some from my Mom," Abby said, rolling her eyes. "You?"
"Well, Chuck kinda went to town. Let's just say I got corn with cheese on top. Nothing on the cards with you and Carter?"
"Susan! We've been through this before. We're just friends."
"Really? Because for friends you don't seem to have been talking very much recently. You two have a lovers' tiff?"
"Susan, we're friends! And we didn't have a tiff! We just had a....a disagreement, that's all."
"Could I use your bathroom?" Morris interrupted, looking like he was about to spew and feeling sorry for himself.
"Sure, through there on the right."
"What did you invite him for?"
"I didn't. He just showed up. Had the cheek to bring some of his friends with him as well." She sighed, "Guess I'd better go mingle."
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Carter sat and watched Abby and Luka dancing. At least someone was having a good time. Luka seemed very animated, and Abby was laughing. She caught Carter's eye, and quickly became serious again.
"So, how's Sam?" she asked Luka absently
"She's fine. She had to take a shift, but she's coming over later."
Step three of Operation Carby (Susan had come up with this name herself, and had thought it terribly clever until Neela had said that the amalgamation of two peoples' names was frequently used by strange obssessives on the internet to refer to couples from TV shows.) having been initiated successfully by Luka, Susan moved on to step four, the most perilous of all the stages so far. Slowly, she made her way over to Carter. This was going to be a delicate operation.
"Care for a dance, Doctor Carter?"
Not waiting for an answer, she dragged him to his feet and picked a spot where Carter would have a good view of Abby. She had planned to start off with a couple of gentle conversations about old times. However, Carter was already staring at Abby, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. She jumped straight in.
"You still love her, right?"
His eyes snapped back to her face. "Who?" he asked, quickly.
"Luka," she answered, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Who d'you think?"
His eyes returning to Abby, he said, "we...we're complicated."
"You fell out?"
"Not exactly. Well, kind of, I guess. Like I said, we're complicated."
"Well, don't you think Valentine's Day would be a good time to kiss and make up?"
"I don't know..."
"Let me put it more simply for you. If you don't get your butt over there right now and ask her to dance, I will have to resort to physical force. And I took self defence. So, what's it gonna be?"
She gave him a gentle-ish shove in the right direction for good measure, with the result that he arrived abruptly behind Luka looking more than slightly sheepish.
"Ummm, ummm...mind if I cut in?" he asked, self-consciously.
"She's all yours," said Luka, transferring Abby's hands to Carter's shoulders before she could protest.
Luka grinned at Susan, who had just signalled to Neela at her post by the hi-fi to put on 'Reunited' by Peaches and Herb, which had been selected at the meeting the week before, and which Chuck had sweetly spent two hours searching through packing boxes to find. After that, they'd got a whole set of slow love-songs lined up.
"Going well so far," Luka observed.
"Yeah, apart from Neela was supposed to wait for the end of the song that was on, not just switch straight away," Susan responded anxiously.
"I don't think they noticed," he reassured her.
They danced in silence for a while, awkwardly. He spoke first.
"Abby, I think we need to talk."
"You wanna get out of here?" she said, "you know...and the ditch the friends?" He smiled, remembering.
They fetched their coats, made their apologies to Susan, and left, closely followed by a wolf whistle from Pratt. Fortunately Susan managed to close the door before the applause broke out.
It was unusually still for Chicago, but there was a biting chill in the air, and the sidewalk was icy. Abby quietly snuck her hand into Carter's, looking up at him to check that it was ok. By wordless mutual consent they wandered the quiet streets at random, lost in thought.
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