Chapter 6

Abby yawned as she stumbled into Susan's apartment, half asleep. It was close to noon and she had been at the hospital since the night before. They had been busy and she had barely gotten a chance to sit down, let alone catch a couple of hours of sleep. And she hadn't even slept well the night before. She had been worried and uncomfortable the entire night, not used to sleeping alone anymore.

She blindly found her way into the bathroom, too tired to think about the logistics of it. She blinked at the light and after she relieved herself, stepped in front of the sink to brush her teeth, her thoughts only on getting a couple hours of sleep. She closed her eyes as she went through the monotonous motion of brushing teeth. She didn't notice the movement behind her of the door swinging open. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her.

Abby's eyes flew open and she screamed, dropping the toothbrush and immediately flailing to get away from her 'attacker.' She got in one good elbow and the man behind her immediately backed off.

"Hey, babe, relax," Abby spun to see Chuck standing in the doorway, his hand rubbing the spot on his stomach where her elbow had just been. "It's just me. I didn't mean to scare you." He smirked. "You might have a good elbow, but your nerves suck."

"I'm sorry. I just didn't expect you, and I've been jumpy ever since Br…" Abby trailed off.

"Ever since what?"

"Nothing," Abby said. "Never mind. I thought you weren't going to be home for another couple of days."

"I decided to come back early. I called, but you weren't home. I left a message."

"Oh, I, uh, guess I didn't check my messages yesterday." Abby said, silently cursing Susan under her breath for not telling her how to check her messages.

"So, are you happy to see me?" Chuck asked, giving her a puppy-dog face.

On the inside, Abby hesitated, unsure of the situation and how to handle Chuck. On the outside she presented a large smile. "Of course I'm glad to see you. Why wouldn't I be?"

Chuck shrugged. "You just seem…I don't know, kinda unhappy."

Abby struggled for an excuse. "I'm sorry. I really am happy to see you. I'm just really tired. I worked the night shift and just got home. I guess I really need to go to bed."

Chick raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Would you like some company?"

Abby felt her body tense. "Chuck…" she started.

Chuck smiled. "I know, I know, but a man can try right?"

Abby returned the smile. "Sure."

"Can I at least get a hug?"

Abby stepped forward, slowly wrapping her arms around Chuck's neck. She relaxed as his arms tightened around her waist. This wasn't too bad. After a moment she felt a kiss on her collarbone. "I love you," Chuck whispered.

"You too," Abby said back, after a moments hesitation, hoping this was the norm for Susan and Chuck.

Chuck pulled back from the hug, planting a second kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest. I have to go home and do some laundry and such. When are you working next?"

"Tonight."

"Two nights in a row?"

"I'm on nights all week."

"Okay, how about we do breakfast tomorrow morning? I'll meet you at work at 7?"

Abby nodded, agreeing to the date, not knowing what else to do. "That sounds great."

"Good. I'll see you then." Chuck headed for the door.

"Bye," Abby called after him.

"Bye," Chuck said, opening the front door. He blew her a kiss as he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Abby allowed herself a relieved smile. She quickly locked the front door and went in search of the phone.

"You know, I'm actually starting to see why so many people like this show," Susan said from her spot on the couch. She was leaning against the arm, her legs sprawled out in front of her, with a bowl of popcorn on her lap.

Carter sighed from his position on the other side of the room, sitting up in the armchair. "I still hate it. Why are we watching it anyway?"

"Because you said we have to act like each other. Abby likes her reality shows, so I'm gonna watch them. I want my body back."

"Y'know I think this is Abby's only downfall," Carter said.

"What? That she watches reality television?"

Carter nodded.

Susan laughed. "Of all the things you two have gone through and this is the biggest problem you have with her. Wow, you really have it bad."

Carter smirked. "Well… she does have an interesting taste in music too."

Susan laughed and opened her mouth to respond when she was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing.

Carter jumped up and followed the noise right to the source- the charger. He shook his head as he picked it up. The phone hadn't been left here, unless it was completely dead, for months. Susan was just really neurotic about things going away. "You know, if you want to act like Abby, you have to stop putting the phone away."

Susan glared at him and stuck out her tongue.

Carter smiled before hitting the on button and lifting the phone to his ear. "Hello."

"Hey, its me." Susan's voice filtered through the phone. It took only milliseconds for his brain to realize that it was actually Abby.

"Hey Abbs, what's up?"

"We have a problem."

"What is it?" Carter's voice was immediately concerned.

"Chuck's home early."

"Uh oh."

"What's uh oh?" Susan asked, still on the couch.

"Chuck's back early."

Susan sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the couch. "Okay, that deserves an uh oh." She waited; trying to get what she could out of Carter's half of the conversation. He soon stopped talking into the phone and returned his attention to her.

"Abby said he was at your place when she got home. He left soon after, but made her agree to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning."

"At least we don't have to deal with him until tomorrow."

Carter nodded. "That's what Abby said." He returned his attention to the phone. "Well, there isn't much we can do about it right now. Get some sleep and we'll talk about it tonight… see you tomorrow… love you too…bye."

"This just got more complicated." Susan said.

"Think he'd believe us if we told him the truth?"

Susan shook her head. "I wish I knew."

Abby was jolted awake by the sound of the phone. She groaned and rolled over, squinting to make out the numbers on the clock across the room. Five fifteen. Abby groaned again and almost put her head back down, but was interrupted by a second ring. She rolled out of bed and grabbed the phone from the dresser.

"Hello?"

"Susan, is that you?"

Abby almost said no, but remembered her situation and answered with a hesitant "y-yes."

"Susan I'm sorry to call you now. I know you've only been off for a couple of hours but Chen came in today and is still really sick. We sent her home and have no one else to cover for her. I can't get a hold of Carter…"

Abby sighed inwardly, knowing where this was going. Damn Carter for not answering the phone. Damn herself for answering the phone. Damn Susan for not having call-waiting.

"…If you could come is ASAP I will tell Carter he's the main attending tonight and you can get more sleep."

"Yeah, give me about a half hour and I'll be in."

"Thanks Susan, I knew we could count on you," and with that Weaver hung up.

"Yeah, bye to you too," Abby muttered.

Half an hour later she stumbled in the sliding doors at Cook County General.

"Hey, Susan," Gerry called as she walked by the admin desk. "Chen says she's sorry you had to come in."

Abby rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well she'll be sorrier later."

Gerry laughed. "At least we're not very busy," he said, passing a chart over the counter to Abby. Woman in 3. Little spacey. Found her wandering down the side of the highway. Psych hasn't had a chance to come down yet."

Abby accepted the chart. At least she knew she could handle a psych patient. "Thanks Gerry," she said, heading towards exam 3.

One very long shift later, a very tired Abby and somewhat less tired Carter and Susan finished their night shift and made their way out of the emergency room doors, thoughts only on getting some sleep.

"Hey Babe," Chuck's voice filtered through their foggy thoughts. All three turned their attention to the man standing outside the door. The man all three had forgotten was going to be there.

"Hi, Chuck," Abby said, attempting to present a believable smile. "You here for breakfast?"

Chuck returned the smile, a small questioning look behind it. "Of, course. You still up for it?"

Abby almost said no, but knew she couldn't keep putting him off. She nodded. "Yup, but I invited Carter and Abby to come with us. I hope that's okay."

Chuck nodded. "Of course it's okay. The more the merrier." He promptly placed an arm over Abby's shoulders and led her across the street to the small diner.

Abby did her best not to flinch when Chuck's arm landed on her shoulder. He must have felt her hesitation though, because he gave her a questioning look and began to withdraw his arm. Thinking quickly, Abby reached up and grabbed his hand with hers. She gave him the warmest smile she could. "Sorry," she said quietly. "I'm just a little tired."

Chuck was aware that Susan was acting funny, but didn't know how to bring it up with her friends around. He had met Carter and Abby on numerous occasions, but had never spent much time with them. It made him wonder why she had invited them. He hoped everything was okay between them. If it wasn't then his plans were sure ruined.

Everyone ordered as soon as the waiter arrived.

"I didn't know you liked pie," he said to Susan.

"Oh, I, uh, just felt like getting some today, that's all."

Susan seemed really nervous for some reason. He couldn't think of any reason for her to be nervous, he knew he was nervous. He was also uncomfortable under the stare coming from across the table.

Chuck leaned over to whisper in Susan ear. "Is it just me, or is Abby checking me out?"

Abby felt Chuck lean over and almost pulled away. She didn't feel comfortable around other men, especially in front of Carter. When she heard what he had to say her eyes snapped across the table. Sure enough, Susan, in her form, was staring at Chuck. One well-placed kick put a stop to that.

Susan felt a sudden, sharp pain on the shin of her left leg. "Ow!" She said, reaching a hand down. She saw the surprised look on Chuck's face and the pretend surprised look on her own face across the table. "Just a cramp," she said, glaring at Abby, who matched her glare. She realized what she had been doing. She had to fix it fast, or Chuck would think that Abby had a crush on him. And what Chuck didn't need was a bigger head. Thinking fast, she moved over, closing the inches between her and Carter and quickly closed her hand around his. There was an uncomfortable moment as Carter realized what she was doing and closed his grip on her hand. They did their best to look comfortable with each other.

Abby watched from across the table, wishing none of this had ever happened. She had no idea that only hours later she would rather be back in this situation.

AN: So sorry for the really long delay. I had no idea that it had been this long. But, I have made the decision to buckle down and finish this story. Thank-you to everyone who has bugged me with e-mails and reviews all summer, it's because of you that this chapter is up now. Anyway, I have a fresh idea to go to next, so chapter 7 should be along shortly. I'm sorry if this one didn't completely make sense, but the next one should flow better. NCUS.