Chapter 5
After making only one wrong turn, Abby found herself staring up at Susan's familiar building. She had been here enough times, but had always gone with someone, even if it were Susan. She had never had to get herself there alone before. She made her way up the front steps, and reached for the keys that were in her pocket. She guessed at which key corresponded with the front door, and surprisingly, she guessed right. She entered the lobby and made her way to the stairs, making it up the three flights to Susan's apartment with ease. This time, however, she was not as lucky with her 'which key fits this lock' guessing. She went through all of the possibilities, and it was the last key on the chain that finally opened the door.
After entering the apartment and ensuring the door was locked securely behind her, a habit she now did when she was alone, Abby stood in the middle of the living room, not sure of what to do. She felt out of place and a little scared. This type of thing didn't happen in real life. Was she ever going to get her body back? Abby shook her head, attempting to clear it of all her unspoken worries, and walked over to the window, pulling the blinds apart. A single ray of dim light penetrated the dully lit room, and Abby felt comfort in it, raising her hand to catch light, as if it were there to be captured and a held onto. Abby's expression changed to a sad smile as she flipped her hand over, expecting to see a twinkle on her finger, but did not. Her hand felt oddly light and naked. She quickly pulled her left hand into her right and brought them together under her chin and sighed, wondering how Carter and Susan were coping half-way across town.
Carter held the door open as motioned for Susan to enter ahead of him.
"Thanks," Susan said. "Aren't you the gentleman?"
Carter smiled. "I try."
"Abby's a lucky girl," Susan responded.
"You think so?"
Susan smiled. "I know so. She seems really happy. She's changed since I first met her," Susan said, then raised her left hand. "And I must admit that I'm really not minding wearing this thing around."
Carter smiled. "You realize you can't keep it when this is all over?"
Susan pretended to be hurt. "That's so unfair. You can't make me give it back, I feel special wearing it." She said, mostly sarcastically, with just a hint of something else.
Carter looked at her seriously. "It'll happen for you, Susan. Just give it time."
Susan smiled. "I know, but I'm allowed to be jealous. You guys are so lucky. You're happy and you're always gonna be happy," she said motioning at the simple, yet elegant ring situated on the fourth finger of her left hand.
Carter smiled. "That's the plan."
"Do you think we should call her? Make sure she got back okay?"
Carter nodded. He went to grab the portable off its charger, hitting the button on the base when it wasn't there. A constant, loud beeping sound filled the room, and he followed it until he found the source to be hidden under a pillow on the couch. He held up the phone triumphantly, and tossed it to Susan.
Susan laughed, as she caught it. "You guys are really organized over here," she stated, sarcasm evident in her voice.
Carter shrugged. "It works for us."
Susan smiled and quickly typed in her number.
Abby was jolted out of her thoughts at the sound of the phone. She quickly walked over to it and reached down the pick it up, but hesitated when her fingers met the cool surface. She knew there was a good chance of it being Carter and Susan, but she was afraid it would be someone else, like Chuck, and she would have to talk to them. Before she could make her decision, the incessant ringing stopped and the answering machine kicked in.
Hello, you've reached Susan's. As you can tell, I'm not here. I'm probably at work, so leave your name and number. I'll call back as soon as I can, but it may be a while because I never seem to be away from the God forsaken hospital.
Abby allowed a small laugh at Susan's outgoing message.
"Abby? If you're there pick up." Susan's voice filtered through the machine.
Abby quickly picked up the phone. "Hey, sorry I didn't answer. I just didn't want it to be someone else, like Chuck."
Susan laughed. "At least that's something we don't have to worry about. He's away for a couple more days, so he shouldn't be calling."
Abby laughed. "Yeah, that would be awkward."
"Did you get in okay?"
"Yup. I made one wrong turn, but still found the place."
Susan laughed. "That's a good thing. Oh, Carter wants to talk to you. Here he is."
"Hey," Carter's familiar voice filtered into the phone.
"Hey."
"You doing okay?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm just a little worried."
"Well, try not to worry too much. We'll get this sorted out. Just give it time, and try to act like Susan. Hopefully this'll work."
Abby laughed. "I just want to wake up to find this a dream."
* * * *
The next morning Carter woke up, uncomfortably on the couch. He grimaced as he tried to stretch, finding more than one crick in his back and neck. After spending a few seconds trying to remember the fight that had caused him to end up on the couch, Carter remembered the situation from the day before and groaned as he sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the couch. He yawned and stood up, making his way over to the bedroom to get changed. He quietly stepped inside, averting his eyes from the sleeping figure in the bed and making his way to the closet. He grabbed a pair of pants and started searching for his favorite sweatshirt. It wasn't anywhere in his side of the closet or in his dresser. Suddenly he smiled, knowing where it was. He opened the second drawer of Abby's dresser and pulled out his shirt.
"Figures," he muttered, stepping into the bathroom to have a shower.
Abby smiled as she sifted through Susan's closet, looking for something to wear for the night shift.
"Wow, Susan has some weird clothes," Abby muttered to herself, holding out a green and purple pin-striped t-shirt. "I should wear this just to embarrass her in the future," Abby said, smiling to herself. Earlier in the morning, she had met Carter and Susan for coffee, but no one had any new insights, so they had once again gone there separate ways.
Through out the day, Abby had done her best to act like Susan, but in the end, she spent most of her time reading through the various medical texts she found on Susan's bookshelf. She wanted to be prepared in the event that she ended up alone with a patient.
Abby entered the hospital and made her way into the lounge, opening her locker before she realized what she had done. She winced, realizing she didn't even know Susan's locker combo. She shrugged before tossing all of her stuff into her locker and quickly closed the door when she heard the door open behind her.
"Oh, Susan, I'm glad to see you here early for your shift. It sets a good example for the other members of the staff. I'm off, but would you stitch up a patient in exam two?"
"Sure," Abby said, heading out the door of the lounge. "Susan had better get here soon, or I'm gonna kill her," she muttered. "I'm making her look good to the boss, she had better do the same thing."
Abby stepped into exam two, lifting the chart off the hook on the wall and heading over to the patient sitting on the gurney. She was a young girl, no older than ten, with her mother sitting beside her, holding her hand.
"Hello, I'm A-Dr. Lewis," she started.
"Hi," the little girl said. Abby could tell she was nervous.
"What's your name?"
"Sarah."
"That's a pretty name. And what brings you here today?"
"I hurt my knee."
Abby smiled and glanced at the mother.
"She fell at the park, landed on a piece of glass." The mother said.
"Oh, that musta hurt," Abby said, returning her attention to Sarah. "Can I have a look?"
Sarah nodded.
Abby smiled at her and pulled the bandage up, so have a look at the cut.
"Someone was already in to clean it, we're just waiting for stitches." The mother said.
Abby nodded. "Okay, I think I can take care of that," she said, grabbing a suture kit from the shelf on the other side of the room and taking a seat beside Sarah's knee. She took a deep breath, hoping she could do this properly. She had been good at stitching when she was on rotation, but that was a long time ago.
"Okay, Sarah," Abby said, looking up. Sarah looked scared. She had tears forming in her eyes and was now holding her mothers hand with both of hers. Abby offered her a smile, feeling her maternal instincts kick in. "I promise this won't hurt, okay? I'm gonna put something on it, a special medicine, that will make it so you can't even feel the stitches at all." Abby pulled out a bottle of lidocaine and filled up a syringe, before administering the drug to the cut. "Is it hurting any less?"
Sarah nodded.
Abby smiled. "Good, okay I'm gonna get started. You might not want to watch."
Sarah looked terrified.
"Think of it this way, when we're done, you'll have a really cool scar to show off to your friends." At this, Abby saw a small smile form on Sarah's face.
Abby got to work, going very slowly at first, but quickly remembering the process. It only took a half dozen stitches to close the wound and before she knew it, she was covering it with a bandage.
"Okay, we're all done."
Sarah brought her head up from her mother's shoulder. "Really?"
Abby nodded. "You bet. You were really brave."
Sarah smiled.
Abby turned her attention to Sarah's mother. "Try to keep it covered and dry, and come back in about six to eight days to have the stitches removed."
"Thank-you," the mother said. She turned to her daughter. "What do you say?"
"Thank-you," Sarah said quietly.
"Any time," Abby said, looking up as she heard the door open.
Carter and Susan arrived just in time to pass Kerry on her way out.
"Carter, Abby," she said, glancing at her watch. "Just a minute to spare. You should take a lesson from your coworkers."
"What do you mean?" Carter asked.
"Dr. Lewis has been here for more then ten minutes and she's already in with a patient."
"We'll try to get here sooner next time," Carter said.
Kerry left and Susan quickly turned to Carter. "She's with a patient? We better go help."
Susan opened the door to exam two, where she had found out Abby was working to see packing up a suture kit.
"Hello, Dr. Lewis," she said carefully. "Do you need any help in here?"
Abby shook her head. "Nope, we're all done."
Susan and Abby stepped out of the room.
"Did everything go okay?"
Abby nodded. "Yup, I guess stitching is like riding a bike. It's something you never forget how to do."
Susan laughed. "Interesting analogy, but very true."
"Where's Carter?"
"Meeting his new med students."
"Right, I forgot they were coming today."
"Even after what Julie caused to happen?"
Abby laughed. "Well, when you put it that way…"
At that moment, Carter appeared down the hall, three nervous med-students trailing behind him, one of them being Julie Smart. He offered a half smile when he saw them. He was good with his students, but was always stressed the first day of their rotation.
Carter stopped as he reached Abby and Susan. "This is Dr. Susan Lewis, she's an attending, and this is Abby Lockhart, head nurse." He said to his students. He turned to Susan and Abby. "These are our new med-students, Dr. Harty, Dr. Stuart and Dr. Smart, who you've already met."
Both Dr. Harty and Dr. Stuart offered greetings, but Dr. Smart hardly acknowledged them, blushing and averting their eyes. Obviously she was still embarrassed. If Susan had been in her own body, she would have felt compelled to feel sorry for the young doctor, but at the moment she was stuck in another body, with no way of knowing how to get back into her own and without the ability to let anyone else know. Susan allowed herself a smirk. When she got her body back she would make Julie pay. She pictured lots of fecal impactions, oddly placed rashes and one screaming kid after another. Julie was going to get more than she bargained for in her ER rotation.
AN: Sorry about the delay, but I have a bad case of writers block. I know where I want the story to go in the long term, but I'm having trouble getting them through the next day or so. I decided to end this chapter here, so you could see where the story is going and maybe leave some feedback. Hopefully I will recover from this writer's block and get back to writing. Thanks for reading.