Ok, here we have ch 54, it's been a while again and I have one more exam to go so I doubt that there'll be another update before next Wednesday, but we'll see.
Thanks so much for all the reviews for the last chapter and all the encouragement, it's awesome that people are reading this still, so cheers guys!
I still own nothing…
If you have the time let me know what you think. XxX Kay
Abby was standing in the lounge, her locker open in front of her, her hand holding the door as she scanned its contents, looking for the notepad she knew was in there somewhere.
"Got the short straw as well hunh?" Amelia's voice interrupted her search as she headed across the room and dropped her bag at her feet as she bent towards her locker next to Abby, pulling it open.
"Yeah, twelve hours on a Saturday night." Abby replied into her locker with a sigh.
"You on already or just early?" Amelia questioned.
"I'm early, I just couldn't stay away after almost two whole days off." Abby said still scanning for the notepad.
"Oh, that's right, how was the move?" Amelia asked as she busied herself.
"Fine actually, fairly uneventful." She smiled with a nod. "The place looks like a warehouse at the moment, but as soon as we get some furniture I'm sure it'll be fine." She laughed slightly rolling her eyes.
"So when do I get to see it?" Amelia asked smiling over at Abby as they turned to face each other.
"I thought you'd seen it already." Abby frowned slightly.
"No, Lauren and Jasper keep telling me how much better it is than our house though." Amelia laughed slightly, smiling.
"At the moment I highly doubt that." Abby said shaking her head.
"We've still got stuff in boxes from when we moved and we've been there what, almost ten months now." Amelia laughed slightly at the exceptional disorganisation that ruled her life.
"If this place still looks the way it looks at the moment in ten months time then I'm going to move out again." Abby said semi seriously as Amelia smiled back at her before turning back to her locker, pulling out her lab coat.
"You think it's going to be busy tonight?" Amelia asked as she reached for her stethoscope.
"It's the summer." Abby replied as if that was an antiquate answer.
"So is that a yes?" Amelia laughed slightly.
"Barbecues going on." Abby noted.
"Beach parties." Amelia mused pulling her lab coat on.
"Food poisoning." Abby nodded, finally finding the pad she was after.
"Too much booze." Amelia said putting her stethoscope around her neck.
"Heat stroke." Abby nodded, bending to pull a stick of gum from her bag.
"Sun burn." Amelia replied, slamming her locker shut.
"Oh the joys of a summertime ER on a Saturday night." Abby said with a sigh as she pushed her locker closed to reveal Amelia who was looking strangely at her, Abby frowned back questioningly for a second. "What." She shook her head as Amelia continued to eye her.
"That looks suspiciously like an engagement ring on your finger." Amelia said as a smile began to curl at the edges of her lips, as she looked at Abby's left hand, Abby glanced at her hand momentarily before looking back at Amelia.
"That's because it is." Abby replied looking unassuming as Amelia looked at her disbelievingly for a second before she smiled and laughed lightly, pulling Abby's hand towards her, inspecting the rock.
"When did that happen?" Amelia asked smiling from her hand and up at Abby, her head shaking slightly as she looked back at the ring.
"This morning… well, a couple of weeks ago, but today." She said, her eyes shining as she pulled her hand back and Amelia gave her a genuine smile.
"God congratulations." Amelia said as she hugged Abby who laughed slightly despite herself, as she and Amelia pulled apart and smiled at each other again.
"Thank you." Abby nodded at her, looking down for a second, a smile still on her lips.
"If that's what you term an uneventful move then I'd love to see what happens during an eventful one." Amelia laughed slightly as she headed for the coffee and Abby sat down.
"I think he's just trying to avoid living in sin." Abby said rolling her eyes as Amelia handed her a cup of coffee and joined her on the couch.
"Oh, so this would be the lesser known god fearing side of Nick Johnson acting then would it?" Amelia laughed as she took a sip. Abby shot her a 'you never know' look along with another smile as she hid her face with the mug. "Look at you, you can't stop smiling can you?" Amelia chuckled looking over at Abby. Abby took a breath, pausing for a second, attempting to compose herself but giving up.
"I actually can't no." She laughed looking back at her sister with a shake of her head and a desperate, genuine laugh.
"Good for you." Amelia grinned back at her with a nod as she met her sister's eyes. She was honestly thrilled for Abby, and Nick and Imogen, there was no doubt in her mind that the three of them would last, that the three of them would be one hell of a good family.
"I feel like a bit of a grinning idiot." Abby laughed at herself.
"You look like a bit of a grinning idiot." Amelia nodded feigning seriousness as she looked into her coffee as Abby looked over at her frowning slightly.
"Thanks, that's reassuring." Abby said rolling her eyes, looking away again with a smile still on her lips.
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with 'grinning idiot' though." Amelia shrugged looking over at her. "In fact i dont think you see them enough." She smiled.
"Are you both on?" Sam asked poking her head into the lounge, they both looked over at her.
"Ten minutes." Abby replied.
"Do you want to jump in now, we've got a multi victim trauma, Carter's disappeared and Lewis isn't on until half past." Sam said looking desperately at them. They exchanged glances and stood up depositing their coffees on the side as they followed Sam, donning gloves as they headed outside.
"What happened?" Abby asked frowning as a fourth and then a fifth ambulance pulled up.
"Some kind of explosion." Sam yelled as she ran off to assist Chen.
"Well this should be enough to destroy your grinning idiot status." Amelia said as she and Abby headed towards the newly arrived rigs.
"It might just be." Abby nodded back at her as she peeled off to join Luka.
"Are you all good in here?" Amelia asked as she pushed through from trauma one to trauma two, she'd just sent her third and final trauma patient up to surgery and could see Abby, Luka and Susan working on another.
"Um, yeah." Susan said with a sigh, standing up and looking around. "Can you go and start on the walking wounded, they're still pulling people out of this thing apparently." She said as she reached for a chest tube, handing it automatically to Abby.
"Ok, are we closed to traumas?" Amelia asked as she headed out of the room.
"Yeah, Kerry's closed us I think." Susan said with a nod as she turned back to the patient who was trying his hardest to die on them and Amelia left.
"I can't remember the last time I worked a twelve hour shift and didn't even leave the trauma rooms." Susan sighed as she placed her last chart in the rack.
"Are you off?" Abby asked as she scribbled her signature on the bottom of her last chart and it followed Susan's.
"Yeah." Susan nodded, running a hand over her face, glancing down at her watch.
"You two off?" Sam called as she emerged from the lounge with Luka.
"Yup." Abby nodded back at her as they made there way over.
"We're heading to get breakfast and coffee you want to join us?" Sam offered.
"Sounds good." Susan nodded.
"Sure." Abby agreed as she and Susan made there way out from the desk.
"We'll meet you over there." Sam said as they headed for the door and Susan and Abby headed for the lounge.
"God I'm exhausted." Susan said rolling her neck as they entered.
"You're not the only one." Abby said as she pulled her locker open. "How's my godson?" Abby asked smiling slightly over at Susan.
"He seems to be hell bent on never letting Chuck or me sleep again ever." Susan laughed slightly as she slammed her locker and turned to see Amelia entering.
"Sleep together or just sleep?" Abby asked with a knowing twinkle in her eyes as she pushed her locker shut and turned to look at Susan.
"Both it would seem." Susan nodded at her before looking at Amelia. "D'you want to come get breakfast?" Susan asked as Amelia pulled her lab coat off and literally threw it into her locker along with her stethoscope.
"Yes and I'll buy." Amelia said pulling her bag out and turning to look at them.
"Why, you feeling flush?" Susan asked laughing slightly at Amelia's deceptively cheerful and non-tired demeanour.
"Nope, but I won a bet with you, Sam, Kovac and my husband." Amelia grinned.
"What bet?" Abby asked frowning at Amelia and Susan.
"Oh my god!" Susan exclaimed pulling Abby's hand towards her.
"You bet on me?" Abby said a mixture of annoyance, astonishment and amusement crossing her face as she pulled her hand away from Susan.
"If it makes you feel any better we actually bet on you and Nick and Jas and I only bet on Nick." Amelia grinned with a laugh as they headed for the door.
"It doesn't." Abby confirmed.
"When did this happen?" Susan asked genuinely interested, looking happily perplexed.
"I told you already that this was going to happen, doesn't that give you an unfair advantage?" Abby asked looking over at Susan deflecting her question.
"Wait, wait, wait…" Amelia started laughing slightly as she stopped Susan leaving the lounge. "Hold on, what did you know already?" Amelia asked looking at Susan.
"Nothing." Susan said slightly to quickly as she looked at Amelia trying to get away with innocence.
"You're sneaky Lewis." Amelia shook her head as the three of them headed from the lounge.
"So when did this happen?" Susan asked again still smiling at Abby as Amelia headed after Neela and Gallant to rope them in for breakfast and coffee as well.
"Why? Does it make a difference to who wins." Abby asked laughing lightly.
"No, sadly your sister's won hands down." Susan shrugged, still looking at Abby with an almost bemused expression on his face.
"It would appear that she has an annoying habit of doing that." Abby laughed as she pulled her hair back, placing her sunglasses on her head.
"Yeah, ok, so come on." Susan dismissed the comment pushing for information as they waited for Amelia in the Ambulance bay.
"Yesterday." Abby said, a small smile creeping onto her lips.
"How did he do it?" Susan asked.
She hated this, she knew it would happen, and she knew that out of pretty much everyone Susan would be the one who wanted to know how and where and when and every other detail, it was just who Susan was, it was part of her charm, but Abby didn't work in quite the same way. This was the part she was dreading, she wasn't about to deny that it had been great, that she'd liked the way she'd gotten engaged but it wasn't a story that she particularly wanted to relate time and time again. If you'd been there then you could understand, she had the image of Imogen grinning at her, her thumb in her mouth and a cuddly toy elephant called 'Alice' dropping from under her arm as she held out the box, and the picture of Nick's eyes as he looked at her and the sound of the lake, it was all etched in there somewhere and it wasn't something she knew how to, or wanted even to explain word for word, or move for move, she didn't know how to; it wasn't something for everyone else to digest. All she knew was that she couldn't help smiling as she thought about it. She loved that Susan was interested, and she could see that Susan was happy for her which was great, but she wasn't someone who said congratulations and was done, she wanted details, and it was all a bit too girly and analytical for Abby's liking.
She paused before replying, smiling for a second at the ground before looking out as an ambulance pulled up and then back at Susan.
"Imogen did it." Abby smiled, her eyes twinkling as she failed to stop herself letting out a chuckle and an eye roll as she looked at Susan.
"His daughter proposed to you?" Susan said with a laugh.
"Yeah… kind of… yeah." Abby nodded smiling, looking away again, it was all she was willing to give up at the moment and it was all she had to give up as Amelia reappeared to save the day.
"They're going to meet us over there." Amelia said bringing them with her as she headed for breakfast and a much-disserved cup of coffee.
The three of them took seats at the table with Sam and Luka who'd been joined by Chen and Elizabeth in the interim. Amelia grabbed a chair from another table and sat along with Susan and Abby.
"Where was the busiest place you worked before county?" Sam asked almost challengingly as she looked between the three new arrivals.
"County's the busiest place I've ever worked." Abby shrugged, slightly bewildered by the challenge that met her. "Why?" She asked frowning.
"Well these guys think that last night was the heaviest trauma load they've handled." Sam shrugged.
"It was definitely the biggest trauma load I've handled for a while." Susan nodded.
"The OR's are still backed up in there." Elizabeth added.
"Ok, Amelia busiest trauma load or not?" Sam asked, looking over at Amelia who wasn't really listening as she sipped from a mug and scanned the menu.
"What?" She asked looking over shaking her head focussing again.
"Last night was that your busiest trauma load?" Sam asked looking at her.
"Um, sheer numbers wise, it probably was yeah, for a while at least." Amelia nodded.
"Does anyone know what actually happened yet?" Elizabeth asked looking between them.
"Some kind of gas explosion at that summer festival thing." Luka offered.
"It'd have to be a pretty big gas explosion to cause that much damage." Susan said with her eyebrows raised.
"Surely it'd be on TV wouldn't it?" Sam offered.
"It was, last night." Luka nodded at her.
"So you're load wasn't too heavy then." Susan smiled at him and he grinned back, a resigned expression on his face, as the waitress appeared to take their orders. They all put in more coffee orders and a couple of breakfast requests. They all reached for their respective wallets as the waitress placed the bill on the table.
"It's all on Amelia." Susan informed them.
"Why?" Elizabeth frowned at Susan questioningly.
Susan said nothing but grabbed Abby's left hand displaying it to the assembled group before Abby knew what she was doing.
"Amelia won." Susan shrugged releasing Abby's hand and Abby shot her a distinctly unimpressed look, as she attempted to pointlessly hide her hand and the rounds of congratulations began.
Abby fended of the expected questions wearily with as much excitement as she could muster as Luka, Sam and Susan handed over a not inconsiderable amount of cash to Amelia.
"How much was this bet?" Abby frowned with a laugh as she watched Amelia collect her winnings.
"Enough to buy you all breakfast or to hire a stripper for your hen night, which would you prefer?" Amelia smiled at her.
"Screw breakfast, you've got to go with the stripper." Susan said seriously.
"There speaks a woman with a five month old at home." Sam smiled at Susan.
"God, and don't I know it." Susan rolled her eyes with a comedic sigh.
The little group sat together for another half hour or so, not discussing Abby, much to her relief until half seven turned into eight and they dispersed, heading back to their respective Sundays. Luka and Sam headed away first, followed by Susan who disappeared back to her new little family, Elizabeth and Deb headed complainingly back to the hospital, and Neela and Gallant disappeared together which didn't go unnoticed by Abby, or Amelia.
"Right, it looks like the time has come to go and see how much damage has been caused at home in my absence." Amelia sighed, pushing her chair back and picking her bag up off the floor.
"What do you think the chances are that Nick and Imogen will have unpacked everything and bought furniture overnight?" Abby asked laughing slightly as she stood up and she and Amelia made their way outside.
"Well, you can always hope I guess." Amelia smiled with a shrug.
"Yeah." Abby nodded. "Listen you should come and see the place." She added, looking over at Amelia.
"Yeah, I'd love to." Amelia nodded.
"Are you on tomorrow?" Abby asked.
"Tonight and tomorrow day yeah." Amelia nodded at her.
"Ok, well I'm off on Tuesday, how does that sound?" Abby asked.
"Tuesday sounds good." Amelia nodded.
"Ok, well, I'll see you tomorrow anyway." Abby smiled at her.
"Yep, tell Nick I said congratulations." Amelia smiled back.
"I will." Abby said with a smile and a nod as Amelia headed away from her.
"And you still haven't gotten out of the hen night stripper." Amelia called over her shoulder. Abby laughed and rolled her eyes as she heard Amelia and headed for the El and her new house.
Ok, let me know what you think if you have the time…please I love all the reviews! Even if they are just like a word to let me know you're reading! (I'm guessing that I'm going to get at least one that says 'a word' now but it's all good!) I think that I've maybe made Susan come across as just a pain in the ass in this chapter, which isn't my intention!