Ok, I got a couple of reviews saying that you didn't want this to end so you've got a special bonus chapter that I wasn't going to include but here it is anyway, it's a bit weird because it's just pretty much Amelia and Nick, but it's about Abby so I'm giving it to you, but my deal is that …
Blah… please tell me that we can set up some kind of thing where u can tell me what happened in the last friends….
And
Carbybubbles… don't let sixth form defeat you because Uni is far, far better and more fun, if you can drink at 6th form proms you're in the game for uni life… good luck with the exams, or the results pending!
Everyone else wait for the next installment and I'll get back, the reviews are very much appreciated and I've actually been writing epilogues all day so…. Who knows where we'll end, I love that you all give this the time of day so as a result we're looking at 5/6 ch's pending…L
Oh and Blah, there's a chance you're on the right track, who are you looking for?!?
"You and me and me and you"
"You look uncharacteristically happy." Amelia noted as she arrived at admit and Abby pulled a couple of patient reference sheets from under the desk.
"I never look 'uncharacteristically happy'." Abby deadpanned as she stood back up fully.
"She's right y'know, she doesn't." Neela noted smiling as she passed by, charts in hand.
"So does that mean you're actually happy?" Amelia questioned as Lauren tugged at her pant leg from beneath the desk and Amelia returned her eyes from Neela to Abby.
"Why are you here? You're not on today." Abby said rebutting the question, frowning at Amelia who was hauling Lauren up to sit her on the desk as she continued to fuss from around her knees.
"Hi Abby." Lauren said brightly, pacified, adding, "That's the lady who sounds like Daddy." As she pointed at Neela's retreating form. Amelia nodded pretending to be impressed by the assertion as Lauren shuffled more comfortably onto her appointed place on the desk, deflecting Abby's question momentarily as Abby acknowledged her and laid her hand on her back gently, the pen in her hand sticking out at a funny angle.
"Where'd you get the candy?" Abby asked her conspiratorially as she leaned in towards Lauren who clutched her handful of candy protectively and turned towards Abby.
"The Doctors upstairs gave it to me because I was brave." Lauren informed her, proud of herself.
Can I have some?" Abby asked her, biting back a smile fully expecting Lauren to turn her down flat as she played with her niece, instead she eyed her suspiciously for a second before offering her two pieces of gum.
" Mom wont let me eat these and this is for Imm." She said handing her the third semi redundant piece of candy clearly allowed and prized in all four-year-old eyes.
"Ok." Abby said smiling, pocketing the prize as she looked at Lauren who returned her grin, momentarily.
"You're going to give that to Imm right?" She asked obviously troubled about whether or not to retrieve the candy and give it to Imogen herself.
"I'll definitely give it to her." Abby smiled reassuringly at Lauren who continued to stare at her wide-eyed looking for confirmation.
"You're not allowed to eat it." Lauren shook her head sternly as Abby laughed slightly.
"I won't." Abby reassured her smiling at Lauren. "In fact, how about you take this." Abby smiled pulling a couple of treat sized bars from her pocket, handing them to Lauren with a smile. "and then I'll give Imm what you gave me." She smiled, rubbing her nieces back a half smile on her face as Lauren nodded at the treats enthusiastically.
"Hey, Dr Mac." Randi said brightly talking to Amelia who had been watching the exchange between Abby and Lauren with a smile on her face, Randi spoke as she made her way from one side of admit to the other. "Is this one yours?" She asked indicating Lauren. Amelia nodded resigned and acceptingly, with a slightly proud nod.
"So what are you doing here?" Abby frowned at Amelia "Apart from the candy exchange I had to do with her I mean." She asked smiling as Lauren was distracted by Randi, who'd been joined by Jerry, Lauren had Jerry pinned as her favorite person in the ER.
"Last blood draw today." Amelia smiled, "Depending on what the results say it's a landmark." She half smiled, wrestling slightly with her facial features and finally allowing herself a fully-fledged beaming smile, her arms laid either side of Laurens legs, as she leaned towards Abby and Lauren leaned over her mothers arm towards the desk clerks.
"That's great." Abby said genuinely, smiling back at Amelia, rubbing Lauren's back. "What are they looking for?" Abby asked her tone still genuinely pleased but querying.
"Liver function tests, that seems like their main concern." Amelia said as her smile faded slightly.
"How's the whole hearing thing?" Abby asked her eyes narrow, as if she almost didn't want to hear the answer.
"It's the same, but she's good with it." Amelia said shaking it off as a defiant smile returned to her face, she looked as if, given the option of taking all of this on for Lauren she would have instantly, as she smiled at Abby. "Just don't whisper in her left ear and she's fine, they seem to think that she doesn't need a hearing aide or anything so..." Amelia said as her face broke into a grin again and her eyebrows shrugged. "This whole thing was tantamount to uncertainty." Amelia shook her head as Abby's smile began to crack through and broaden as she made her way out from the far side of the desk, drawing her hand off Lauren's back, making her way out, towards her next patient as Amelia's eyes followed her.
"Tantamount?" Abby smirked at her as she attempted to pass by.
"Yeah, you know, equal, equivalent, synonymous to, the same as." Amelia explained, looking across at her.
"I know what it means." Abby pouted shaking her head at Amelia's choice of word, laughing slightly.
"It's my birthday tomorrow." Lauren said brightly as she turned back towards her mother and Abby, her complete irreverence to their conversation obvious.
"I know yeah." Abby smiled at her, rubbing her leg lightly.
"You're coming to my party right?" Lauren asked excitedly, as she grinned at Abby.
"Yeah, I've got to work, but I'm going to come a bit later." She smiled at the excited Lauren.
"But you're definitely coming." Lauren nodded at her.
"I'm definitely coming, yeah." Abby smiled, assuring Lauren of her intent. "I'll talk to you later." She added to Amelia before smiling back at Lauren and heading towards Chuni who was yelling for her assistance.
"Mommy can Jerry and Randi come too?" Lauren asked, getting Amelia's attention again.
"Umm, yeah, you want to ask them?" Amelia said blinkingly, looking back to Lauren who was nodding enthusiastically, at this late stage Lauren's party was taking up so much of her time that two extra people would make no difference at all. "Go on then." Amelia nodded at the two grinning desk clerks, indicating that Lauren should ask, suddenly she got all shy and nuzzled into Amelia's shoulder. Amelia laughed slightly as Lauren shuffled into her and she lifted her off the desk, smiling at Jerry and Randi still. "You guy's are more than welcome, if you can brave a party for a bunch of four and five year olds then by all means." She smiled "I'm trying to get the adult number over the kids to make it bearable." She smiled, scribbling her address on a spare pad, ripping it off and handing it to them. "We'll maybe see you there, I won't hold it against you if you opt out." She smiled raising her eyebrows briefly as she grabbed Lauren's hand and the pair began to squabble over the sheet.
"We'll be there Dr Mack." Randi called after her as she headed away, shooting a smile over her shoulder.
"Looks like you worked that old Mackenzie charming magic again Lo." She muttered as she looked down at Lauren who frowned curiously back up at her and she chuckled slightly shaking her head and they made their way out into the hot midday sun, smiles on both their faces.
"Meals" A familiar voice called over her shoulder as she and Lauren headed for the El, her car was in the shop and Jasper, as of yet, was refusing to let her drive his treasured, newly purchased MG, she had plans for how to make him though.
"Hi." She smiled, turning towards Nick as he approached, jogging towards them.
"You and Imm are coming to my party right?" Lauren asked instantly looking up at him.
"Yeah we are sweetie." He panted slightly out of breath as he stood in front of them, smiling down momentarily at Lauren who was grinning back at him, before adding, "D'you have time for coffee?" as he looked at Amelia.
"Sure, if you're buying I've got time for lunch even." She smiled as she looked at his out of breath form, as they started towards a food place, that wasn't Ikes or even anywhere even remotely related to county but some mysterious place down the street.
"Where's Imm?" Lauren asked squinting up at him as she held her mothers hand.
"She's at school." He told Lauren looking down at his daughter's best friend.
"Oh." She frowned; it was Lauren's usual response, whenever she wasn't with Imogen she wanted to be, she, like her parents and Nick and Abby all knew that the two of them would always be having more fun if they were together. She was excited about her party tomorrow, but Amelia knew the reality of the situation was that if she was sat in a room somewhere with Imogen she'd be just as happy and excited, regardless of whether or not there were a hundred other people there.
"So why are we having coffee, or lunch?" Amelia asked looking up at Nick as they ambled along, leaving Lauren to her now almost five-year-old thoughts.
"I need to talk to you. Nick said his tone slightly worried.
"This sounds serious." Amelia smiled comically at him.
"I think it might be." He said raising his eyebrows in a resigned fashion.
Twenty minutes later they were sitting at a table, salad in front of Amelia, burger in front of Nick, twister fries in front of the seat Lauren should have been occupying had she not been playing in restaurants ball pit.
"So what's so serious?" Amelia frowned digging her fork into her lunch, looking at him.
"I think I'm in trouble." Nick said rubbing his temples, his elbows resting on the table as he did, looking up at Amelia from his hunched position.
"Trouble?" Amelia questioned frowning a little as she laid her fork down. "Trouble how?" She asked, linking her hands in front of her plate and leaning towards Nick as he nodded moving his hands to cover his face.
"Trouble with Abby." He said quietly bringing his hands down and looking up at her again.
"Oh my god is she pregnant?" Amelia laughed slightly leaning further towards him.
"No, god, no she's not, Jesus, no she's not." He said shaking his head, frowning slight, looking away, no she definitely wasn't pregnant.
"Then what?" Amelia frowned at him.
"I think I'm falling for her." He started sighing pushing himself up to a sitting position again, sighing, " And actually, it's not just that I think I might be falling for her, it's that I am, that I have; I'm in love with your sister." He sighed, looking dead on at Amelia.
"Wha…well, hey that's great." Amelia said shaking off a little of her shock.
"Is it?" He questioned frowning slightly.
"Isn't it?" She asked shaking her head. He paused, rubbing his hands over his eyes sighing.
"I don't know Meals, I… I'm in love with the woman, Imogen's in love with the woman, it's just, it's just that I have this feeling that she may not be in love with us, she's great with Imm, and I think that that's something that's swayed me in this direction…" He started as Amelia cut him off.
"Wait, no, wait, if you think you're falling for her because she's good with Imogen then you're not falling for her, you remember when we promised ourselves that we'd never love people because the loved our kids?" Amelia said catching his arm. Suddenly they were back in Birdie and Ed's bar, school books open in front of them, screaming babies around them, stacked spirit bottles behind them, dulled down music in the background, making plans for their futures, making plans for how to be people independent of their children, sacrificing enough, and in some cases everything for them but never lying to themselves for them. "She's not stupid Nick, and she won't live her life knowing that you love her because she loves Imogen, she wont do that, I know that and you know that." Amelia said shaking her head earnestly. " If you love her and you're falling for her then there has to be something that's a hell of a lot more convincing than the fact you love her because she cares about Imm." Amelia said raising her eyebrows, looking intently at him. He paused looking back at her she was right, she was, there was, he closed his eyes as he thought about her, about Abby.
Abby, this person who never saw things in black and white, nothing was ever just right or wrong, she always saw the shades of grey, she saw all the fallibilities of human nature, all that could make a human being react to any given situation in any given way and it was making him fall in love with her, unforgivable opinions she was capable of forgiving, unforgivable actions she was capable of explaining, it wasn't what he'd set out to do, falling for her, it wasn't his intention but he was, and he had, she was beyond critical of her own flaws, and almost impervious to his, the flaws he knew were there, as much as he tried to hide them behind his persona she'd exhumed them, she'd seen them, and she'd shown him that she couldn't care less, with a wry smile on her face all the while, but he'd seen her with his daughter, he'd seen her answering Imogen's inquisitive questions when she thought no one was watching, he'd seen her trying to impart some of her knowledge to his daughter and he had, he'd fallen in love with her. The occasional moment, late at night where she'd been laid bare in front of him, not physically, well, maybe occasionally physically, but the emotional moments were what he remembered, what he knew, where she'd given him a particular glance, or a particular indication, it was always there in her eyes and he'd learned how to read them, he knew when to push past the fronts and he knew when to stop. He was in love with her. That was the bottom line.
"I love her Meals," He started, shaking his head, not looking back at her. " I love her because she's never quite willing to risk it all, I love her because she's lost so much already, I love her because she's willing to tell me things, she's willing to lay things down in front of me, ask me what I want to do with a situation, I love her because she's so fucking cynical about everything while she sees all the sides of everyone and every conceivable situation, I love her because she talks about things and she makes me talk about things that I'd never really talk about, she can explain things that I'd never, ever, even hope to be able to explain. " He shook his head, laughing slightly. "I love her because I know that when she looks at me it's actually me that she sees, she and I…" He paused frowning for a second, shaking his head at himself, "She looks at me Meals and it feels like everything and everything I've ever wanted or ever felt is right there, when she laughs at me, when she shrugs, when she questions anything I do she actually, she's interested, she wants to know and I feel the same way, like, I never ask her a question and don't want to know the answer." He frowned again he hadn't met Amelia's eyes again since she questioned him and he wasn't about to as he continued, breathing in deeply. "I can't remember ever feeling this way, I hate the idea of her not being there and it's been what not even quite six months yet, that's why Meals, that's why, I'm fucking, I'm almost thirty seven years old and I've never felt this way about a woman before." He laughed slightly as his hands returned to his face and he chuckled resignedly, drawing his hands away from his face and looking back up at Amelia. "So what d'you think?" He asked breathing deeply.
"I…I'd say you're in trouble yeah." She nodded at him smiling slightly. "I also think that you need to learn how to use 'like' in the right context." She smiled as he shot her a 'shut up and focus' look. "I think that you've maybe just proved that there's a possibility that you are actually in love with her." Amelia told him a flicker of a smile crossing her face as she looked sympathetically at him.
"Mealia, this woman is rivalling the feelings I have for Immo." He frowned up at her.
"No." Amelia shook her head in resolution. " The feelings you have for your kid and the feelings you have for her are not two things that can be comparable, they're not mutually exclusive." She shook her head, "you love Imogen regardless, and the feelings you have for Abby now are independent of the feelings she has, or you have for Imm, Nick, they have to be to go on with this." Amelia raised her eyebrows earnestly at him.
"So what do I do about the fact that I feel like she may not feel the same way?" He frowned at her.
"I think that you maybe give her time to adjust." Amelia said raising her eyebrows.
"I don't want her not to be there." Nick shrugged
"You seriously want my opinion on this?" Amelia asked looking at him, a twinkle in her eyes, she wanted Nick and Abby to work out, they were a great couple, she'd never seen him quite this riled up about anyone before her.
"I don't know do I?" He asked looking up disinterestedly from his untouched burger.
"Ok, I think that you should go easy, she's tackled the whole Mom thing." Amelia paused as Nick looked at her.
"You know about that?" He asked frowning.
"She was freaked out, of course I know, women talk about these things." She mock smiled at him. Before continuing as he frowned at her. "She's great Nick and I know that I've only known her for a couple of months longer than you but she's pretty good at hiding, she's pretty good at being the supporter and not taking stuff for herself I think." Amelia sighed as Nick nodded his agreement. "Tell her you love her, and you want to be with her but don't do it in a full on way because as I understand it she's been hit with enough full on stuff over the last few weeks." Amelia shrugged. "That's all I've got I'm afraid." She shook her head smiling at him.
"You're not going to tell her I said all this are you?" He asked frowning.
"No, I'm going to play her the surveillance tape that's in my pocket." Amelia said her voice and face completely serious as she dug into her salad again and Nick shook his head at her, smiling, now he had the beginnings of a plan.
Ok, there we go, I'm a big fan of platonic male/female relationships, I know that there are a number of critics out there but I believe in them and this is my first pictorial of one, these guys are friends and they are firm ones, nothing more nothing less but having one friend is as good as another and Amelia and Nick are in my head, buddies so here we go, I think they'd talk about this, in the fic they've been friends for ten years-ish, I think they'd talk about this under the circumstances so they are!!! – I'm not entirely sure why I'm justifying this (Grimace!) Anywho let me know??!! K, XxX
Reviews will follow in the next Ch because I wasn't sure whether or not to include this one or not so….