Chapter 2
Lucy
After getting Paige, Ruthie, and Bella off to school, Carter headed to the hospital with Julia, Adrian, and Gabe in tow. They all spent the day in the hospital's daycare. Most of the time, Carter was at the hospital longer then he was supposed to so the girls just walked home and he got home with the triplets whenever he could.
"Kitty!" Julia cried and pointed at a black cat outside the car window.
"Is that a kitty cat Julia?" Carter asked trying to concentrate on something different then the long day ahead of him. "Yeah," she replied. Julia was really small and sweet. She had a tiny, coy, little voice that would make you want to rush up and hug her. She made you happy you were alive to see that pretty little smile and hear that little giggle.
"What color is he?" he asked her.
"Back," Adrian answered. Adrian was the leader. He was always the first one to try new things or go downstairs in the dark when Julia and Gabriel didn't want to. But he was also very clung to Carter and wanted to be a 'Docer' just like him when he grew up.
"He's pooky," Julia giggled.
"Is he a spooky kitty?" John asked.
"He's not pooky Daddy," Gabriel assured him. Gabriel was an anxious little boy. He had troubles breathing at birth which is why Carter thought he was so active and hyper now. It was like he was making up for lost time. He also had a temper and would bite and kick and scratch. But only to a certain extent. Once Daddy came to calm things down everything was okay. John pulled up into the parking lot of the hospital and unloaded the three out of the car.
"Wucy!" Adrian giggled. Carter turned his head to see his med student, Lucy Knight, just getting out of her car a few cars down.
"Mini's!" she cried and they ran up to her. John shook his head slightly getting into his coat. Lucy had always been really good with all of his kids and, even though he would never admit it, she reminded him of Jessica. She held Julia close to her as she rested her head down on her shoulder.
"Hey Lucy," Carter said casually coming up to her and picking up Adrian.
"Hey John. How was your night?" she asked taking Gabriel's hand as they walked across the street.
"A disaster." As soon as the words left his mouth he didn't know why he had said it. They walked into the front doors of the ER and immediately the kids spotted Jerry.
"Jerry!" the all screamed and ran up to him.
"Hey guys. Sheesh you're getting bigger every day," Jerry replied picking up Gabriel, Julia, and Adrian at the same time. Jerry was the prankster that everybody loved but he did get on their nerves at times with his toys and jokes. Dr. Benton walked into the hospital caring his son Reese. Reese was deaf but also went to the daycare the hospital provided.
"Weese!" Adrian cried and ran up to Dr. Benton along with Gabriel. Julia came up and wrapped her arms around Lucy's leg.
"Aww. See John, we have to get Julia some girly girl friends," she said, tightening the bow on his daughters head.
"Hey Peter, will you take the kids over to the daycare?" John asked.
"Sure. No problem," he said. "Come on Julia."
"Bye Wucy," Julia said.
"Bye baby," Lucy came down to Julia's height and Julia gave her a kiss.
"Hey. Does Daddy get one too?" he asked. Julia ran over and gave Carter a wet kiss on the nose and ran after Dr. Benton.
"Their so sweet," Lucy said following Carter to Exam room 4, where he had left his supplies the night before.
"So what was so disastrous about last night?" she asked.
"Bella has this history report due and Paige has an English report due so I was supposed to take them to the library, but Ruthie didn't want to go and made a huge fuss. Adrian and Gabriel felt the need to add to that fuss so they started crying and screaming. So when I was trying to calm them down Ruthie went into Paige's room, without asking again, and colored all over her math sheet. So Paige hit her and we aren't supposed to hit so I was trying to calm down the boys and..,"
"Okay I get it Carter. Rough night," Lucy replied putting a stethoscope around her neck.
"Hey why don't I come over and help you out tonight," Lucy said following Carter out into the hallway.
"I don't think so," Carter replied picking up a stack of patient charts.
"Why not? I could watch Ruthie and the babies while you take Paige and Bella to the library. Come on Carter it's not like I haven't watched your kids before."
"That was different," he snapped. The last time Lucy had watched the kids for him was the night Jessica was shot.
"Will you at least think about it?" she asked. She looked at her and stared into her blue eyes. It was another resemblance she had to Jessica. In his heart, he knew he was going to say yes. He really liked Lucy and thought it was a great idea.
"I'll think about it," he said and headed down the hallway to his first case of what he knew would be many more, that January morning.