**AUTHOR'S NOTE** This chapter's title was taken from a Dixie Chicks song, which Carter and Abby actually danced to in one of my favorite episodes, "One Can Only Hope."

Oh, and I don't think I mentioned before that the title of this story was taken from a Backstreet Boys song. (I know I should be ashamed, but it just seemed to fit here.)

Sorry for the long wait. I hope it was worth it. This chapter's one of my longer ones. It's starts of fuzzy and ends with a little suspense. Enjoy!!

Chapter 6: Long Time Gone

The morning light cascaded through the trees and gently awoke Abby. She lifted her head off of Carter's chest to look around for minute. The air around them was so still that it had a sort of eerie quality about it. She stretched to alleviate some of the aches in her neck and back from sleeping in an upright position with her back against a tree all night. Luckily, however, the soothing beating of Carter's heart had helped her to sleep peacefully. She contemplated whether she should wake him, but she decided against it. Knowing him, he had probably tried to stay awake as long as possible to make sure they were both safe, so he could use the rest.

She wrapped her arm around the tree to steady herself and attempted to stand up. This was not an easy task, considering she had a non-functioning ankle. For about a second, she tried to put some weight on her bandaged foot, but when it caused a sharp pain to rapidly shoot up her leg, she reasoned that it wasn't a good idea.

Once standing, the reality of her injury began to sink in for her once again. There was no way she could walk with only one functioning leg. She knew that Carter would offer to carry her, but he had a bad back, and they wouldn't make it very far if he had to carry her the whole way. If only she had some sort of...

She looked around and spotted a long, straight branch lying on the ground. Three hops later, she reached it and bent down for a closer inspection. It looked pretty sturdy to her, so she picked it up and tried it out. "Not bad," she thought. "I never knew I was such a pioneer girl," she said out loud as she practiced walking with her makeshift crutch.

"You look more like Kerry Weaver to me," Carter's voice behind her made her jump and almost lose her balance.

"You shouldn't scare a cripple like that...How long have you been watching me?" she asked.

"Since your rendition of the 'Bunny Hop' across the forest. Very impressive," he teased.

"If both my feet worked, I would so kick your ass right now," she said, laughing as she hobbled her way back over to him.

"I know. If both your feet worked, I wouldn't have said anything," he replied while standing and stretching.

"So you only pick on the weak and vulnerable?" she asked, now standing very close to him.

"You're anything but weak," he replied, then awkwardly leaned in to kiss her. It was only awkward for a second though. After their lips met it was instantly perfect. Pulling away slightly, Carter asked, "How did you sleep last night?"

"Pretty well," Abby responded. "Pillow was a bit lumpy though," she added—poking at his ribs. Carter smiled. Abby leaned in for another kiss. As soon as their lips met this time, however, Abby lost her balance and began to fall. Carter caught her with one arm, as if they were dancing and he was dipping her.

"That's what you get for picking on me," Carter smiled as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and helped her back up. "So, miss pioneer girl, did you wrestle us up any breakfast?"

Abby looked around, wondering for the first time how they were going to eat. Carter softened his expression and motioned to his black backpack. "It's all right. I have granola bars and water in here," he said as he bent down to zip it open.

Abby smiled, "Who's the pioneer girl now?"

"That's pioneer man to you, Miss," he corrected.

* * * "So, what's the plan, pioneer man?" Abby asked as she finished her granola bar.

"Well," Carter began and then took a sip of water, "Last time I was here, I was told that if we ever got separated and it wasn't safe to return, we should meet in a small village called Tinga. It's about ten miles east of here."

"Okay," Abby answered as she grabbed the water bottle form him and took a swig. "Have you ever seen this place?"

"Nope..."

"Well, how do we know which way is west?"

"Ah," Carter responded as he began to search through his bag for something. When he found what he was looking for, he held it up to show her.

"Wow, a compass, now I'm really impressed."

"Thank you."

"You were a boy scout, weren't you?" she asked with a smile.

He grabbed the water bottle back from her. "Maybe I was and maybe I wasn't..." he answered with a grin.

* * *

"An Easter egg? Your dad put your mom's engagement ring in an Easter egg?" Abby asked as they made their way through the jungle. Abby was doing pretty well using her walking stick for support, but Carter was close by, of course, if she needed to lean on him.

"A chocolate Easter egg...It was specially made."

"Wow, that's original."

"Don't get so excited. You know how their marriage turned out."

"Well, at least it lasted longer than my parents'. I think Maggie told me once that my dad proposed to her at a baseball game. He kind of blurted it out at the seventh inning stretch."

"Hmm...So...What about Richard?"

"What about him?" Abby asked, hoping he wasn't asking her what she thought he was asking her.

"How did Richard propose?"

"How did we get on this subject anyway?" Abby asked, avoiding the question.

"I don't know. It's a long walk. We're cut off from the rest of the world out here. Conversations wonder...So, back to Richard..."

"All right," Abby gave in. "We were on spring break with some friends from college. Now, I wouldn't say we were exactly drunk..."

"Oh, I can tell this is going to be good..."

Abby laughed. "Anyway...he proposed on a pier at sunset..."

"That sounds romantic..."

"Then he fell off."

"The pier?"

"Yeah. He took a step backward and fell. I didn't get a chance to answer—until later in the ER." Carter began to laugh again. "It's not funny. He broke his leg," Abby continued. Carter continued to laugh anyway. Soon Abby joined in. "Okay, maybe it's a little funny..."

After their laughter died down a bit, Abby asked, "So, did you ever propose to anyone?" As soon as the question left her lips, she realized what she had brought up. If she could take it back she would have, but it was too late.

"Almost," Carter answered. "Just once...But I lost my nerve at the last minute."

Maybe she was a glutton for punishment; she didn't know, but she asked anyway. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Carter continued. He couldn't look at her. "It was something she said. Something about people never changing. It just didn't feel right."

"That's not what I meant exactly," Carter stopped at her comment and finally turned to face her. Abby continued. "I just didn't want to feel like I had to change. But, I do believe now that people can change if they really want to. It has to be for themselves though." Carter was silent. Abby kept going. "I mean, look at you. When I first met you, you were a drug addict. How can I look at you and in the same breath say that people can't change?"

"I'm sorry I tried to change you."

"I'm just glad you care—"

"Shh..." Carter cut her off. "Listen..." Heavy footsteps and rustling leaves could be heard in the distance. It sounded like a group of people. Carter scooped Abby up into his arms in one swift motion and made his way, as quietly as possible, off the main path and behind some thick bushes. They could just make out the camouflage garb and heavy black boots of the men swiftly walking passed. One dragged a woman along next to him. She was bound and gagged and had tears in her eyes.

Suddenly one of the men held up a hand to stop and signaled for quiet. He looked around him, silently searching for something. Carter squeezed Abby's hand tightly. The man spotted Abby's walking stick and bent down to look at it. He called one of the other men over and said something to him in Congolese. They started looking around and one came dangerously close to where Carter and Abby were hiding. Carter held his breath. Abby closed her eyes.

All at once, there was a rush of movement and a scream. Abby opened her eyes. She had no idea what had happened, but was too afraid to open her mouth to ask.

After the men had been gone for at least five minutes, Abby whispered, "What happened?"

"That woman just saved our lives. She ran off when they weren't looking, and they chased after her."

Abby let out a deep breath and lay her head on Carter's shoulder. "I want to go home."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

By the way, in case there are any geography buffs out there, I made up the village of Tinga. Did I fool anyone? Does it sound Congolese, cause I have no clue...