Thanks plenty to:
Steelerfan, Hibbs, Lilkimi88, leslet, starbright and britgirl2003 (as ever) for all the early encouragement
Carter does not feature in this chapter
This is mainly to introduce Abby's current life
But he does make an appearance in the next one, promise
Enjoy! Love LJ xXx
Beyond All Of Everything. Chapter Two. Just For You
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o SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1: Abby finds out she's pregnant. She and Richard don't divorce.
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ABOUT SIX YEARS LATER
A sudden burst of sunlight floods the room. Abby Lockhart flinches and recoils back into the darkness of her duvet, vaguely murmuring incomprehensible words. Small feet pad across the bedroom carpet and small hands, the same ones that had wrenched open the curtains to let in the morning light, gently inch back the covers. Oliver Elliot Lockhart was born on the 8th of June and weighed 7lbs 6oz – but that was almost six years ago. Currently, the five-year old boy is poking his head under the blankets of his mother's bed and smiling broadly as she blearily opens her eyes.
"You have to get up now, Mom," he whispers. Abby groans.
"Already?" she complains.
"But you have to go to work," he says, firmly. Then he adds as an afterthought: "And I kinda have to go to school." She smiles and sits up, slowly.
"Yes, you do, even though you are the most brilliant boy in the whole world," she mumbles as she pulls him onto her lap. "You're fantastic and I love you. Have I told you that?"
"Every morning," Ollie replies. Abby wraps her arms around him and rocks him in her lap while she buries her face in his brown hair and kisses the top of his head.
"Well that's cos it's true. And I'm always right, aren't I?" she murmurs into his hair.
Ollie grins, cheekily and shakes his head. She draws back with an expression of exaggerated indignation.
"What was that?" she growls in his ear, feigning anger. He giggles and squirms in her lap so he can turn to face her.
"Nope," he chirps and even dares to poke his tongue out at her. Abby grins back and lets him wriggle off the bed. He is now jumping and dancing animatedly, in his pyjamas and bare feet, by the side of the bed. His face is split in an excited smile, part terrified and part deliriously gleeful.
"Right, well in that case –" she begins firmly, lunging across the bed to grab him but letting him run off, shrieking with laughter. "I'll get you for that!" she yells after him and smiles to herself.
"Get ready for school, okay?" she calls out. Then she falls back on the pillows, moaning as her pager begins to bleep somewhere in her room. When she eventually crawls out of bed she has to kick aside many empty vodka bottles before she can find the source of the beeping. Her head spins and throbs, so she swallows a few pills with water before getting up to get breakfast for Ollie.
"Hold my hand," Abby instructs as the EL pulls into the station. "Hold my hand, honey. This is our stop." Ollie grabs her hand and together they leap off onto the platform. She checks the time on the station clock.
"Oh crap!" she mutters. Ollie giggles and looks up at her. Abby notices his innocent wide-eyed stare and imitates him with her own faux-shocked expression.
"What? It's nothing that you haven't already heard from your father," she tugs on Ollie's colourful backpack to make sure it's on correctly. "Right, we gotta run cos we're late."
"I'm not late," Ollie insists. Abby smiles at his adamant tone.
"Well, I am. So let's get going."
Still holding tightly onto his hand she begins to run out of the station and towards County General.
"Come on, honey, come on," she calls as she races down the sidewalks. Ollie is lagging behind.
"Mommy, I'm tired," he whimpers. She stops and looks at him, thoughtfully. Then, with a flourish, she scoops him into her arms and carries on running as Ollie hoots with laughter.
Man, I wouldn't be able to do this if I still smoked, she thinks while she sprints across the street, avoiding the other pedestrians.
"Coming through! Excuse me! Get out of the way!" Ollie yells out as the people scatter to get out of the way of the speeding child and his frantic mother. At last, they arrive outside County General Hospital and she puts him down on the ground.
"Boy, you're heavy," Abby gasps. "What have you been eating? You're pretty big for a five-year old." She takes the hand of the boy who is actually fairly small for his age.
"It's because I'm almost six," he informs her, proudly. She ruffles his hair as she leads him into the hospital.
"Really? When?" she asks, surprised.
"In three weeks," he reminds her, genuinely believing she'd forgotten.
"Hey," Abby greets Susan at the desk. "Am I late?" Susan glances at the board and then at her watch.
"Yeah, I guess you are – but Kerry hasn't said anything so you got away with it," she answers. Then she peers over the desk and sees Ollie smiling up at her. "Hey Ollie."
"Good morning," he chirps, politely and Susan laughs slightly.
"Shouldn't you be going to school?"
"I've gotta take him in about an hour," Abby explains. "Reckon I could get away with that, too?"
"All I can say is, good luck to you on that one," she takes a small stack of charts and heads off. "Bye Ollie."
"Bye," he calls. Abby leads him to the Doctor's Lounge.
"So, what do you want for your birthday?" she asks him. He looks up at her.
"I want you to stop getting drunk," he tells her. She stops dead outside the door and looks around her.
"What have I told you about talking about home things outside?" she hisses at him. Ollie cowers.
"Sorry," he squeaks, meekly. He is truly scared and it breaks her heart.
"No, I'm sorry," she sighs heavily and hugs him. "I'm sorry, baby."
"Please? For my birthday?" he asks. They walk into the Doctor's Lounge and she sits him up on the sofa.
"Ok then," she relents. "Alright." She takes out his puzzle book from his backpack and puts it on his lap.
"Promise?"
"I promise" she nods, reluctantly. "And I'll buy you something else for your birthday, too." Then she smiles and kisses him.
"You stay right here. I'll come and check on you later, ok?" Abby orders him. He nods vigorously as she leaves the Lounge.
Once outside, she leans against the door and sighs again. Giving up drink was easier said than done, but a promise was a promise and a promise made to Ollie was the most important kind. She would do it – she knows she will – even though it will be difficult. But she'd get through anything if only so she wouldn't have to hear him tell her that all he wanted for his sixth birthday was for her to stay sober.