The Lucky Ones
Chapter Eleven
The next day, Lucy and Carter entered the lounge. It was near the beginning of their shift and they needed to get some things from their lockers. "Hey Dave." Lucy greeted as they walked in and saw Dave sitting at the table.
"Hey Lucy, Carter." Dave replied.
"Hi Dave." Carter greeted as he got his things from his locker.
Dr. Weaver came into the lounge. "Carter! Can I talk to you for a moment in private?"
"Sure." He smiled at Lucy and then left to talk to Dr. Weaver.
As soon as Carter and Weaver were gone, Dave turned to Lucy. "So how did last night's dinner go?"
"It was fine. His grandparents are very nice." She smiled.
Dave could tell that she was holding something back. "What aren't you telling me?"
She rolled her eyes. "I just...it's probably nothing. But I overheard Carter talking with his grandfather and his grandfather said something that bothered me."
"Was it a bad comment about you?"
"No! It was nothing like that. He just reminded me that my relationship with Carter could ruin his medical career." She explained. "And that bothers me."
"Lucy, you like to worry. I'm convinced of that now." He laughed.
"Well you may think this is funny, but I don't. You know that I don't want to be the reason Carter gets fired."
"So then break up with him." Dave advised, testing her.
"No!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Then you're going to have to deal with the fact that your relationship could be dangerous to his career."
Meanwhile, Weaver was talking to Carter in an empty trauma room. "There's no easy way to say this, but Valentine's Day is coming up." Kerry said. She didn't want to bring up old memories, but this was a discussion that needed to happen.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Carter nodded.
"So I wanted to tell you that you've got that day off. Lucy does too. I thought it would be best if you guys didn't have to work here then."
"Ok. Thanks."
"So how has your therapy been going? Are you still seeing Dr. Meyers?" she asked.
He didn't want to lie, but figured he had no choice. "Yeah. It's going ok. You know, it's hard work, but it's going ok."
"Good. I'm glad that you and Lucy are talking to someone about what happened. I think it will help you both a lot." Kerry smiled.
"I should get back to work. Is there anything else we need to talk about?" Carter asked, not wanting to have to stay there and lie to her anymore.
"No. You're free to see patients." Kerry replied, going to go find Lucy. She found Lucy standing at the front desk with a chart in her hand. "Lucy! Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Sure Dr. Weaver." Lucy smiled as she walked over to where Dr. Weaver was standing. "What's up?"
"Well, I hate to bring it up, but Valentine's Day is coming up soon." Kerry replied. She saw the smile on Lucy's face fall, and felt bad that she had to bring this topic up.
"I guess it is getting close to that time of the year again." She replied, trying put a smile back on her face.
"I just wanted you to know that I'm giving both you and Carter that day off."
A genuine smile formed on Lucy's face. "Thank you Dr. Weaver. I appreciate that, and I'm sure that Carter does too."
"So if you don't mind me asking, how is your therapy going? Carter was very vague."
"Don't feel bad. He's been very vague with me too. I don't think he wants to talk about it. But I've some good progress. I think I'm ready to quit going soon." She informed her boss.
"I'm very happy for you Lucy." Kerry smiled.
"Thanks." Lucy smiled back.
Later that night, Lucy was sitting on the floor, trying to organize her cd collection. She was waiting for Carter to get back with their food and a video from the video store. She heard the door open and smiled. "Hey. I was wondering what took you so long."
"I ran into Jerry at the video store. He wouldn't leave me alone about my plans for tonight." He explained.
"Do you think he suspects anything?"
"Don't know and I don't care." Carter shrugged.
"Well I care." Lucy replied, standing up and walking to the table, where Carter was pulling the Chinese food out of the take-out bag. "If someone from the hospital finds out about us..."
"It will be ok." Carter interrupted, wanting to re-assure her.
"Yeah? How can you be so sure?" Lucy questioned. "We've broken so many rules already. We're dating, we sleep together, and we live together! Those are three things that a med student and her teacher shouldn't be doing! They could easily fire you for this."
"Well they could throw you out of med school!" he brought up.
"Yeah, they could. But I haven't invested nearly as much time and energy into being a doctor as you have. I don't want to be the reason that you get fired!"
"I don't know what to tell you Luce. Other than everything will be fine." He replied, getting a little annoyed by this conversation. He couldn't understand what was behind this sudden mood change. When he left her to get the food, she had seemed happy. Now she was...well, not happy.
"You know, your blind optimism is very aggravating!" she yelled.
"Yeah? Well one of us has to have some optimism. You seem to be the gloom and doom queen right now." He yelled.
"I'm sorry that I don't have my head up my ass like you seem to!" she yelled louder.
"Luce? What do you want?" he yelled before lowering his voice. Then he said the six words that he never wanted to have to say. "Do you want to break up?"
She looked at the ground for a few seconds before meeting his eyes. "I know that I don't want you to ruin your career over me. So yes, if it ever comes down to being with you or saving your job, I'll save your job."
Carter couldn't believe what she was saying. "Am I the only one in this relationship who is committed here?" he didn't give her time to answer. He grabbed his coat and left because he needed some time to figure out what just happened.
"Fine! Go ahead and leave!" Lucy yelled after him. "But come back." She whispered to the empty apartment. What have I just done?
A few hours later, John came back into the apartment quietly, hoping that Lucy wasn't still mad at him. He had no idea why they let the fight get so bad, or even what exactly they were fighting about. All he wanted to do was hold her and apologize. He found her lying on the floor asleep among the cd's that she was trying to alphabetize. He put his coat down and walked over to her. Being very careful, he picked her up and carried her back to their bedroom. As he was tucking her into bed, she started to wake up.
"You came back." She whispered, still half-asleep.
"Of course I did." He replied, sitting next to her on the bed.
"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time.
"You're not the one who needs to be sorry. I..."
"I shouldn't have left like that." He interrupted her.
"You had every reason to want to get away from me for awhile." Lucy replied. "I was being horrible to you."
"So what's bothering you?" Carter asked, pulling a loose strand of her hair from her face.
"I over-heard a piece of your conversation with your grandfather last night." She confessed.
"Which part?" he asked, wondering if she had heard the part where he told his grandfather that he wanted to marry her.
"The part where you were talking about risking your entire career to be with me."
"Oh, that part." He was glad that she hadn't heard the part about marriage. He was still hoping to surprise her with that.
"It bothers me. The last thing I want is for you to have your life turned upside down again because of me. It happened last year, and I don't want it to happen again!" she started to cry.
Carter looked at the calendar on the wall and remembered his conversation with Kerry earlier. It was February 2nd. The anniversary of their attack was approaching. He wrapped her in his arms. "I guess that February has kind of snuck up on us, didn't it?"
She nodded her head. "Yeah."
"Luce, everything's going to be ok. Even if people find out about us; everything will still be ok."
"How can you know that?" she asked.
"I love being a doctor and being able to help others. But I love you more. If I had to choose, I'd choose you over medicine every day of the week." He smiled. Then he kissed her passionately to prove his point.
"I'm still sorry." She whispered.
"You don't have to be." He whispered back as he laid down on the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her toward him. "So since it's approaching, what do you want to do on that day?"
She knew exactly what day he was referring to. Valentine's Day; a day that most of the population thought was extremely romantic held only horrific memories for the both of them. "We have that day off. Can we just stay in and be together all day?"
"Sure, if you don't mind being perma-glued to me for a day." He joked. She lightly swatted his arm, so he kissed her cheek. "You know I love staying in with you."
"I just don't feel like dealing with any people." She admitted. Though she knew it was an irrational fear, she still wanted to make sure that nothing bad happened to either of them on Valentine's Day again. That's why she was so glad that Dr. Weaver insisted she take that day off from work. A part of her wasn't sure that she could have dealt with working there on Valentine's Day. It might have been too creepy for her to deal with.
"I know what you mean." He nodded. "So we'll just stay in and find some indoor activities to keep up occupied."
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Well to be honest, I don't think I would feel comfortable going out either." He admitted.
"Then it works out great!" Lucy exclaimed. There was a few minutes of silence before Lucy spoke again. "John, I was wondering something."
"What?"
"If it wasn't for the attack, would we have still gotten together?" she turned over to face him.
"Would we have gotten together?" he repeated her question.
"Yeah. I mean, do you ever think about what we'd be doing right now if it hadn't happened?"
"Not really." He shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure if we'd be together right now if it hadn't happened. I'd still be secretly in love with you though. Why?"
"Just wondering. Trying to find the silver lining of what happened." Lucy replied.
"Have you found it yet?"
Lucy snuggled closer to him and put her head on his chest. "Yeah, I think I have."