The Lucky Ones

Chapter Two

About a week later, it was Carter's first day back to work. He was extremely nervous, and for a moment considered calling Kerry and telling her that he wasn't ready to come back yet. But then he realized that he needed to get back to work. He had missed it too much to stay away. Before he went to the ER though, he knew that he had another stop that he needed to make. It was a stop that was long overdue. After a short elevator ride and going down a long hallway, he came upon his destination. Lucy Knight. That was the name on the door. She had finally been moved out of intensive care and into a private room about two weeks ago. He hesitated when his hand touched the doorknob, but soon realized that he had to see her. He had stayed away too long already and couldn't avoid her forever. Upon entering the room, he saw numerous flower arrangements and balloons filling the empty spaces around her bed. 'They must be from her family and friends.' He hypothesized. Suddenly, he felt really guilty for not sending something to fill her room. He could have at least sent flowers. Then he looked at her. She was lying in the bed, hooked up to multiple machines, but at least she looked peaceful. She looked a lot better than the last time he saw her, lying in a pool of her own blood on the tile of that exam room. Dragging a nearby chair to her bedside, he sat down and grabbed her right hand. He sat there, holding her hand and staring at her face for a long time before he decided to speak. "I'm so sorry Luce. I shouldn't have let this happen to you. I should be the one laying in that bed right now. Not You. I'm also sorry that I haven't come by to see you either. Believe me, I wanted to. But I was afraid. I'm still afraid, but I needed to see you. I needed you to know how sorry I am—how sorry I'll always be for what's happened. I wasn't a very good teacher to you, or a good friend. I yelled at you all the time, and I never listened to you. I pushed you away when you tried to be a friend...and I never told you how I really felt about you after what happened in exam six." He paused. "I'm going back to work today for the first time since...well, you know. And I'm really scared about it. But that's not why I came here. What I came to tell you today is that you really need to wake up now. I miss you Luce, and I know that your family and friends miss you too. I think you've been sleeping for too long. You're ready to wake up and take your life back because you're strong. You can do it. So please come back to everyone who loves back to me." He kissed her hand and then her cheek. He took one last look at her before leaving to go to work so that he wouldn't be late.

As soon as Carter was gone, Lucy started to stir. Slowly, she opened her eyes and got re-adjusted to the bright lights. She had heard someone's voice as she started to regain consciousness. For a moment, she could have sworn that it was Carter's voice. "Carter?" she whispered to the now-empty room.

Carter meanwhile was getting reoriented back in the ER. After everyone greeted him, he took on his first patient. It was just a simple suture, something that in the past he would have made Lucy do, but he had no problem with that right now. He was just glad to be back. About two hours into his shift, he walked towards the front desk to drop off a chart. As soon as Jerry, Deb, Randi, and Chuni saw him approach, they got very quiet. He noticed this and was curious. "What's up? Why are you all being so quiet?"

They all looked at each other, trying to figure out who would be the one to tell him. Finally, Deb decided that she would. "Carter...it's Lucy...she's..."

Right after he heard that it had something to do with Lucy, he ran over to the elevator and pressed the up button. After waiting for a few seconds, he decided that it would be faster to just run up the six flights of stairs to her room. As he was running the only thought that entered his mind was 'She's dead. Oh God, she's dead.' He finally got to her floor and burst into her room, knocking over a small table that was sitting next to the door. He expected to see that Lucy was dead. But instead, he saw that she was awake and sitting up in her bed while Elizabeth was taking her vitals. He desperately tried to catch his breath and noticed that Elizabeth was trying to contain her laughter over his entrance. Lucy, on the other hand, wasn't containing her laughter.

Lucy had to admit that the way Carter burst into the room was pretty funny. So she started laughing, only to find out that laughing really hurt, so she quickly stopped. "Ow." She winced, looking up at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth touched Lucy's shoulder. "Don't worry Lucy, laughing will hurt for awhile, but only until your muscles get stronger again. Then the pain will go away."

"Thanks." Lucy replied, noticing that Carter was still staring at her.

"I'll be back to check on you later Lucy. And...welcome back." Elizabeth smiled as she left the room.

That left Carter and Lucy alone in the room. Carter just stared at her, unable to believe that she was actually awake, and laughing. He wanted to go to her, but he was frozen where he stood. He had been so sure that Deb was going to tell him that Lucy was dead, but he realized that he should've listened to everything Deb was saying before running off.

Lucy couldn't take any more silence. "Hello Carter." She smiled weakly.

Her weak smile and greeting warmed his heard and he walked over to the side of her bed. "God Luce, you don't know how good it is to hear your voice again. I've missed you so much."

"Well it's good to actually be awake." Lucy replied. "I can't believe I've been out of it for so long."

Carter wasn't sure what to say next. He had so many questions, so many things that he wanted to tell her. But it didn't seem like the right time. He noticed that a piece of her hair had fallen into her face and gently pulled it away from her face again as they sat in silence.

Back in the ER, Kerry approached the front desk. "Anyone seen Carter lately?" she asked.

"He ran up to see Lucy. She's awake." Jerry informed her. "Do you want me to page him?"

Kerry smiled. "No. Let him spend some time with her."

"So, you're starting your first day back today?" Lucy asked after a round of silence.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Carter asked.

"I heard what you said this morning when I was waking up. Well, I heard bits and pieces of it." She admitted.

"I didn't think I'd ever get to see you again." He smiled.

"How are you doing? How bad was it for you?" she whispered.

The smile that was on his face immediately fell as he heard her question. How was he supposed to tell her that he was basically fine after a few weeks of physical therapy, whereas she's been in a coma all this time? "It's been rough I guess. Physical therapy wasn't much fun. But now that you're awake, things are looking a lot better."

She noted his reaction to her question. "C'mon Carter! I've been out of it for almost two months and all you can say is that physical therapy wasn't fun? What's been going on with you?" she prodded.

"I don't know what to tell you. I had physical therapy and that was it. There's not that much to tell." He didn't mean to, but the tone of his voice sounded angry.

"Ok." Lucy relented. She recognized that tone of voice of his. It usually meant that she was annoying him and that she should move to another topic.

"So, you're looking good considering..."

"Thanks." Lucy replied softly.

He could tell that he had upset her by the tone he had used with her. "I should probably get back to work before they worry." He didn't want to leave her; he never wanted to leave her side again, but he had to. "I'll let you get some rest."

"Ok." She replied. She didn't want him to go. She wanted to tell him so many things, and ask him so many questions. But he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about what had happened to them. So she decided not to bring the topic up again.

When Carter stepped off the elevator to go back to the ER, he found Weaver. "Sorry I was gone so long..."

"Don't worry about it Carter. I half expected you to stay up there with Lucy longer. How is she doing?" Kerry asked.

Then it hit him. He hadn't once asked her how she was doing. He felt like a complete jerk. "Well, I think she's just trying to adjust to being awake again."

"Yeah. I thought I'd go up and see her later." Weaver smiled. "We were really lucky that we didn't lose either of you that night."

Carter nodded as Weaver went away to yell at Dave.

Lucy was lost in her thoughts when she heard someone knock on the door. She was surprised to see that it was Dr. Romano. "Hello Dr. Romano." She smiled.

"Hello Miss Knight. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I've been better, but I've been a lot worse also." She smiled.

"Well you definitely look wonderful." He smiled.

"Elizabeth told me about what you did for me. Thank you. I probably wouldn't be here right now if you hadn't...'

"No need to thank me Miss Knight. I'm just glad to see you awake." He interrupted her, not wanting to hear her thank him. He didn't like mushy scenes and went to great lengths to avoid them. "Well I have to go do a surgery. I just wanted to stop in and say welcome back."

"Thanks." Lucy replied. She didn't have any time to reflect on Romano's visit because it was only a matter of seconds before there was another knock on her door.

"Hey there. Feel up to a visit from Dr. Dave?" Dave asked with a huge smile on his face.

"Sure." Lucy smiled. "How have you been?"

"Me? Ah you know, just the same old, same old. Date after date after date, and still haven't found anyone I like." Dave joked.

Lucy chuckled. "Well don't worry. There's gotta be a girl out there who can win the heart of Dr. Dave."

"I hope so." Dave laughed. "So, we were all pretty worried about you."

"That's what everyone keeps saying. It seems like everyone I've ever known in this hospital has come to visit today."

"Well then I'm glad I came by." He told her, a huge smile forming on his face. "I would hate to be the one person you know who didn't visit you." He laughed. Then he got serious again. "The ER hasn't been the same without you."

"It's only a matter of time until I'm back." Lucy replied, not sure if she was re-assuring him or herself.

"Glad to hear that. Listen, I gotta get back to work before Weaver finds out I took an extended break. She's already yelled at me twice today. I don't want her to yell at me again."

"Thanks for coming!" she called out to him as he left.

After he left, she sat back down in her bed and the smile fell from her face. She started to replay the day's events. She had started the day in a coma and now she couldn't close her eyes for a minute. Every time she closed them, someone from the ER would come and visit her. And she did really appreciate that they would come and see her, but they all gave her the exact same look. It was the look of pure pity. They all pitied her; she could see it in their faces—even Romano and especially Carter. He was the worse one of them all. He gave her this look of pity and guilt mixed together. The only person who hadn't acted different around her or given her looks of pity was Dave. She didn't want their pity. She didn't need their pity. She was going to be just fine. She'd go through physical therapy, come back to work, and still graduate to become a doctor like she had planned. She wouldn't let this hold her back. This whole bad episode would be nothing but a hiatus for her. She'd be fine, right? Her thoughts went back to Carter. As much as she hated the pity and guilt that he gave her, she was just so glad that he was alive. If he had died and she had lived...well, she wouldn't have been able to live with herself. But they were both alive and she guessed that she was supposed to feel lucky. So why didn't she?

Carter stood outside Lucy's room, watching her through the window. Fortunately, she hadn't noticed that he was staring at her again. He could tell that she didn't like it, but he couldn't help it. He was just so happy that she was alive. Finally, he got up the courage to go inside. "Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." Lucy smiled.

"I brought you something." He said, pulling an object out from behind his back and handing it to her.

"You didn't have to." Lucy protested as she took the object.

"I know, but I wanted to." He told her. "Just think of it as my apology for snapping at you earlier."

"Well don't worry about it. I know that old habits die hard." She replied. 'There's that look of pity and guilt again.' "Thank you." She smiled, clutching the small teddy bear close to her heart.

"So how are you doing?" he asked, sitting next to her bed.

"Fine. I'm fine." She replied for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "I would like to get out of this bed soon, but Elizabeth says that won't be possible for awhile."

"It's probably for the best. You've been through a lot." He smiled.

She nodded, and decided to change the topic. She was tired of talking about herself all day. "So how was your first day back?"

"It was weird. You'll understand when you come back. I'm stuck with five-hour shifts and can't take any trauma cases. But it's only temporary."

"So is Chuni spreading around any interesting gossip?"

Carter laughed. "I thought you hated her gossiping!"

"I do, but I feel completely out of the loop about what's going on in everyone's lives." Lucy explained.

"Well, let me tell you what I've found out today..." he started.