CHAPTER 8

Abby groaned as she felt someone squeezing her hand, and feeling her neck for a pulse. The ground under her was hard, and she realized she was on the floor of a trauma room. She remembered being on the ladder, and then…well, here she was. She slowly opened her eyes to see Carter's worried face staring back at her. He helped her sit up.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.

Abby nodded slowly. "I think so." She glanced around her, looking for Susan and the worker, knowing they had been with her.

"Susan got called to a trauma," Carter offered, understanding what she was looking for. She was fine."

Abby nodded. "And the worker?"

Carter shook his head. "What worker?"

"The one on the ladder."

"What ladder?" He looked at her, concern now etched across his face.

"The- never mind," Abby shook her head and attempted to get up, off the floor.

She struggled slightly and Carter was immediately there to help her up, wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her.

"Thanks," Abby said with a smile. It was then that she noticed how much taller he was than her and she felt her heart jump. She subconsciously felt her left hand with her right and found the ring that she had been missing so much for the past few days. Her hand traveled up to her hair and she smiled. It was as unruly as ever.

Abby let out a small laugh. "I'm back!" She said excitedly.

Carter gave her a concerned glance. "Yeah, you are," he said, unsurely. "Although I wasn't really aware that you were gone."

Abby rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it that way, I just meant, that I'm back in my own…" She trailed off at Carter's expression. Maybe she didn't need to keep talking. She glanced around the room. There was no way she could have landed in the trauma room from the ladder down the hall. She glanced at the patient on the gurney and recognized him from the day Julie Smart had shocked her and Susan. Well, that had been a weird dream. She turned back to Carter and smiled. "Never mind," she said happily. "How long was I out?"

Carter shook his head. "Not long, maybe two or three minutes. Pretty much I came down the hall to see the future Dr. not-so-Smart run out of the room in tears and come in the find Susan picking herself off the ground. She muttered something about incompetence and feeling like a baked potato, and then her beeper went off. You were only out for another minute or so."

"Huh," Abby said. "Seemed like longer."

Carter laughed. "Were you aware of being unconscious?" He asked, sarcastically.

Abby smacked him playfully across the chest. "No, I just had a really weird dream, which seemed to last a long time."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

Abby shook her head. "Nope." She said simply. She knew Carter loved her, but she also knew the psyc ward was only a phone call away, literally. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a few things to do." And with that she planted a quick peck on Carters cheek and stepped out of the room.

Calming Julie Smart down, two traumas and a second almost run in with a certain new med later, Abby found her self in the lounge looking through the fridge for a water.

"Hey," she heard from across the room, and jumped. She turned to find Susan sprawled across the couch.

Abby laughed at her expression. "What happened to the on-call room?"

"They keep finding me in there."

Abby laughed. "Oh, well, just to let you know, the lounge, not really that inconspicuous."

"I know, I just came in here for some Tylenol and the couch looked so comfy…"

Abby nodded, knowingly. "Still paying for last night, huh?"

Susan glared at her. "It wasn't so bad until that damned med student shocked us. Now I have a headache times two."

Abby nodded. "I know the feeling, I've had a headache all afternoon. And I had the strangest dream."

Susan looked at her. "Me too. And it seemed so real."

"Really real, even though it was totally unrealistic."

"Totally unrealistic." Susan agreed.

"Wait," Abby said. "Are we talking about the same dream?"

Susan looked at her suspiciously. "Is that possible?"

Abby shrugged, "I'm not the doctor," she said, jokingly.

"So, in this dream, you and I kinda switched…"

"Bodies?"

Susan nodded. "And we both dreamt the same thing."

"You think it wasn't a dream?"

"What else could it have been?"

Abby shrugged. "Don't ask me. It's a little creepy."

Susan laughed. "It's a lot creepy."

"Let's make a deal."

"That we never speak of this again?" Susan asked.

"Exactly."

"Deal."

"Cause we don't need to end up in the psych ward."

"Definitely not."

"Why would you end up in the psych ward?" Both girls jumped to see Carter standing in the room.

"Why do you always come in at the most inappropriate times?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, do you ever knock?"

Carter was taken aback. "First off, I don't seem to remember walking in at any other time recently, second of all, this is a public room and I can come in when ever I want."

"Whatever, Carter."

"So, what was it that you were talking about?"

"Can't tell you," Susan said quickly.

He turned to Abby.

She shook her head. "Can't tell you either, we made a pact."

"But, we're getting married and we should tell each other everything."

Abby smiled mischievously. "Well, in that case, maybe I should tell Susan about you new hair style from when you were younger?"

Carter immediately held up a hand and shook his head. "Nope, that's quite alright. I don't need to know anything."

"Thought so," Abby said.

The door to the room swung open again and Halle's face poked in. She looked relieved to see Carter. "Carter, it that med student again. You need to come quickly."

Carter groaned and glanced at Abby. "You're not going to say anything to Susan, right?"

Abby smiled and nodded. "Of course not."

"Good," and with that Carter hurried out of the room in search of his student, all he had to do was follow the path of destruction.

Susan laughed. "How long do you think it's going to take him to realize I already know he got a perm?"

Abby shrugged. "Hopefully a long time, that we I can keep using it against him.