Ok all, after all that incredible reviewing you did, I hate to disappoint
But let me just clarify, here:
Abby hasn't fully left Richard for Carter
She just has kind of – sought refuge
Or flown south for winter
But don't despair!
There's still quite a few chapters to go!
Thanks for, as I said, your incredible reviewing
Carby-Always, overrated, love-carby, raeraegreen (who also reviewed C16!!), Hibbs, mcan3, Carby6, Kathryntally (who I'm guessing is from the Channel4 forum), fiery red-haired girl, starbright, carby luva 313, carbytothecore, Dracula5555, striker20, hyperpiper91, sam, Angel Dust, eve1980, loocy, dynamitedawn, missy-maura, mandi, Britgirl2003, Caroline25 and Dragonfly Faith.
Wow – that looks even more now it's all written up.
NICE ONE, GUYS!
But I'll stop talking now and let you read the more…important stuff
Enjoy! Love LJ xXx
Beyond All Of Everything. Chapter Eighteen. Stay
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o SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 17: Richard uses the baseball bat against Abby and she leaves for Carter's with Ollie.
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Abby grits her teeth, determined not to make a sound as Richard swings the bat against her back and head.
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"Wow…" Abby stands in the big hallway, looking around her and suddenly feeling very small and out of place. "I guess you've got a few rooms to spare, then." Carter smiles slightly and takes the sleeping six year old from her. He leads her up a staircase, carrying the small boy as she rubs her bruised shoulder. Opening a large panelled door reveals a big room with two beds in it, perfectly made and looking as though they were never slept in. He lays Ollie down onto the smaller bed and steps back for Abby to tuck him in. She kisses her son, the birthday boy, and strokes his hair back off of his forehead before turning to Carter with a smile.
"Thank you," she whispers in the quiet room but he only shrugs.
"Will you tell me what happened?" he asks. Abby looks at Ollie and then sits on the edge of the other bed. Carter sits beside her in the silence.
"I – um – well it sort of…um…" Abby frowns, trying to sort the muddled memories into chronological order.
"Do you want to go downstairs? Get a drink?" he suggests, cutting her off as he sees the confusion crease her bruised face. "Or some first aid?" Abby raises her eyebrows but gets shakily to her feet. He catches her as she falls off balance; he says nothing but his face is etched with deep concern.
"Ow…" Abby breathes in and bites her lip as Carter inspects the re-opened cut on her forehead. They sit in the dining room at a table.
"Sorry," Carter wipes away some blood and looks at it again. "I should put some new stitches in that." Abby laughs while taking a sip of water.
"Got a suture kit handy?" she jokes. Carter raises his eyebrows and opens a drawer in the dining room cabinet.
"I do, actually." He replies, holding one up. Abby shakes her head in disbelief.
"Wow, you have everything here, don't you John?" she smiles. He leans over and begins to work on the deep wound on her forehead.
"Sorry if I hurt you," he apologises in advance and she looks doubtful.
"After everything, do you think this would hurt me?" she comments, bitterly. Carter is silent. Everything is silent.
"I'm sorry," Abby says finally. Carter draws back having finished the stitches.
"Huh? Why are you saying sorry?"
"I don't know. You seem upset," she shrugs.
"I am upset, but it's not your fault." Carter answers. "All I can do is patch you up when you come to me beaten and abused. I can't stop it. Do you know how much that's killing me?"
"But you understand, don't you?" Abby urges. "You can see why nothing must be said, can't you? If he can do this to me then he can do it to Ollie. He swung that baseball bat at Ollie but it's just good luck that I was in between."
"Good luck?" Carter repeats, incredulously. "Good Luck? Abby, he beat you with a baseball bat. Where did he get you?" Abby looks at the floor and refuses to answer for a while.
"Well, my back, I guess," she relents, in a dull voice. "And my right arm…my ribs…my head…" Carter stares at her with a pained and distraught expression and she looks at him with an uncertain smile.
"Oh god, Abby." He murmurs and gets up from his chair, wandering around the room. "What kind of a person am I, to let this go on?"
"A great person," Abby asserts with that same earnest look that Ollie often had. "A really great person who I can trust. This is not your fault, John."
"And it's not yours, either." He says, despairingly. "So why are you putting up with it? Yes – I know. Ollie. But Abby…Abby…"
"What?" her voice takes a defensive edge. "You don't have kids – how can you even begin to know?"
"This isn't about whether I can fully empathise with you or not – you're really badly injured, can't you see that?" Carter's voice rises.
"I'm fine, I'll get over it," she snaps, getting to her feet. The next moments don't exist in Abby's memory because, due to the sudden leap up coupled with the bruises all over her skull, she collapses on John Carter's dining room floor, unconscious.
Abby Lockhart wakes in the arms of John Carter and just gazes at him for a while, convinced she's still knocked out. He looks straight ahead as he carries her carefully up the stairs and gently lays her onto the other bed in Ollie's room. As he slides her limp body under the covers she struggles to sit up.
"Is this real?" she asks, confused. John smiles patiently.
"Yeah – you blacked out for a few minutes."
Abby rests her head gingerly onto the soft pillow and says nothing while Carter takes a seat by her bed.
"Are you still mad at me?"
"I never was," Carter replies simply.
"Okay."
Carter sighs and absentmindedly strokes her hair while she closes her tired eyes.
"I thought you always used to be mad at me cos you hated me," Abby continues. "I thought you hated me for drinking."
"I didn't. It was just worry, I guess," Carter answers. "I didn't want you to let yourself go when you're so much better than this. You deserved better than a stupid drink problem. I cared about you; I didn't see it then, but I really cared about you. I still do."
There's a pause.
"I should take you to the ER," he tells her, quietly. She opens her eyes.
"Please don't," she looks worried. "I swear I'm fine."
"You are not fine. But don't worry, you can sleep here. I've got a whole load of medical stuff here anyway." She shuts her eyes again and smiles, starting to drift off to sleep.
"You really have got everything you want, haven't you?"
Carter shrugs. "Well anything you want, you can have." He offers. "You want anything?"
"I want…" Abby mumbles sleepily, not really listening to anything she's saying. "I want to stay here forever." He looks up.
"But you can. You can stay here. Both of you," he insists. "Abby…? Abby?"
Abby is asleep.
The Carter family have vast amounts of money, big houses and fast cars. John Carter grew up believing and always thought he had everything he could ever want until Abby Lockhart walked away from him that cool calm night in early June. After that, everything meant nothing. He sighs heavily as he sits between the two beds.
"Well, if you need anything…" he whispers in the dark room. Both Ollie and Abby are fast asleep but John Carter sits up all night – just in case.
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