So TPTB own ER but they were not responsible enough to provide the viewers with the aftermath that we love so much… so here is my take on how the episode should have ended…

Skin – Epilogue

Abby stood there, not sure she believed what just happened to her. Her arms hung lifeless at her sides. They hurt. The human body was not made to perform CPR for extended periods of time. She looked at the ER entrance, 'Safety', was all she could think. She hesitated a minute. She did not want to face the questions. 'What was everything thinking in there?' She had walked out of the ER angry at Susan, she never asked about the renal patient, and did not even try to defend her. That ticked her off more than the reviewing of all her charts, a good leader looks out for their people, and gets all the facts first. That seemed like a life time ago that that all happened, and it all seemed so petty now. The indecision about where to go left her when she started feeling the effects of shock begin. It was cold outside, but her shaking had nothing to do with that. She started to get tunnel vision, and she needed to get inside before she passed out in the street. She took a step unsure of herself, and then ran for safety.

The sliding doors seemed to understand her urgency as she did not even have to break her pace for them. Once inside she stopped abruptly. She did it, she was inside, but her legs would not move another step. She leaned heavily against the glass next to the door, and closed her eyes. She opened them when she heard her name. She saw Susan; she looked worried, not mad.

Susan was standing at the admit desk, looked up from her chart briefly and saw her. "Oh, God" she whispered drawing Carter's attention. "Abby!" She dropped her chart and ran to her missing intern. "Get a gurney!" She called out as she ran, and felt Carter right behind her. The sudden activity seemed to startle Abby. Susan stopped her breakneck pace to a hurried walk the rest of the way. She looked into her friend's eyes, they were watery with unshed tears, and her pupils were dilated. Susan put a hand on Abby's shoulder to comfort her, but she flinched, causing her to cringe in pain. She was going into shock, hurt and covered in blood. She spoke softly, "Abby, is any of this blood yours?"

The gurney was brought by an unknown nurse, when he spoke, his deep voice caused Abby to attempt to push herself further away, but the pressure from the glass on her shoulders caused her to wince again. Carter watched this reaction with anger and concern. She had been hurt by a man, and his mind began to imagine the possible scenarios. "Abby," he began, testing her reaction to his voice, she made eye contact, but made no movement, panicked or otherwise, and he was going to take what he could get. He knew Abby, and wanted to make what was going to happen next up to her. "Abby can you walk?"

Abby felt so exposed. She didn't see the nurse that spoke, his voice didn't even sound like either of the gang members, but it was an unfamiliar male voice. Then she heard Carter. He hadn't said her name like that in a long time. She blinked and tried to focus on him. Walk? She doubted it, and she was sure both doctors in front of her knew that was not going to happen, but was grateful for his approach. She pushed off the glass and tried to stand but her knees buckled. Both Susan and John grabbed her around the biceps to steady her, but the pressure caused pain to shoot up and down her punished arms. Tears formed and she bit her lip as a cry escaped her.

Susan almost cried as she watched the reactions of her friend. She insanely thought of how she could delete the messages she left on her phone. She was covered in blood, afraid of men, in shock, and crying out in pain at the slightest touch. She did not want to let go of her arm, because she was sure she and John were the only thing keeping her from falling. She looked at John. His anguish was clearly evident.

Carter acted quickly. He bent slightly and lifted Abby gently. He felt her stiffen, and then suddenly relax. At first he was concerned that she had lost consciousness because of the suddenness of her reaction. He looked down, her hand had a loose hold of his scrubs, her hands were crusted with blood, and she was crying openly, but silently.

Abby first reaction to John's movements was to protest, but she needed to feel safe and welcomed the feeling. His arms held her securely, still she grabbed his scrubs. In her life she had never felt so safe, and she knew that was because in her life she had never felt so scared, and she began to cry.

Susan ran ahead of Carter to trauma room one. Abby wasn't a trauma patient, but Susan wanted to give her as much privacy and safety she could find. She rushed passed the sea of concerned faces that had gathered as the word spread that the missing intern thought to have walked off the shift was standing in the ER full of blood, and not talking. "Neela, get a new set of scrubs, everyone else get back to your patients."

Carter walked through the two way doors, and leaned over to put her on the exam table while Susan pulled a screen in front of the windowed doors. She turned around and Carter was already positioning the X-ray machine.

Neela walked in as he was pulling the films out of the machine to examine them. She handed the green scrubs to her boss and looked on. For the first time in her life she was more concerned with comforting the person in the bed then trying to determine what was wrong with them. Susan walked over to look at the film as Neela made her way to Abby. She took her hand, and placed the other on her friend's forehead smoothing back her hair. She picked up a few of the words spoken behind her—"stress fractures…both ulnas…right radius…her wrist…look at the scapulas…"—as they spoke she looked at Abby's wrist and forearm, they were both showing bruising. Neela nodded and began to put the pieces together, "Prolonged CPR." She said out loud, Abby looked at her in fear confirming her diagnosis, and the doctors behind her stopped and turned to the intern.

Carter looked at Abby who had closed her eyes and began to sob for the first time. He tried to imagine what had happened. He walked over to the gurney as Neela made room for him. Then everything clicked. The traumas they had received and she went missing around the same time. "God, Abby, the gang war?" All she could do was nod.

Susan finished the thought for them all, "They needed a doctor."

Carter pulled Abby up to a sitting position and sat on the gurney so he could hold her. She was limp and fell into his arms. "Ok, you're ok now. You're safe. Abby, I'm sorry, you're safe now." He continued to comfort her as Susan pulled Neela aside.

"Ok, let's assume she was exposed to HIV and get her on ZDV and 3TC, there isn't much we can do about the stress fractures except painkillers, but we need to assess the damage done to her muscles and soft tissue…" Susan closed her eyes and whispered softly as she thought about her next words. "We should think about a rape kit too."

Neela had been nodding up until that point. She looked from Susan to Abby. Carter had clearly heard, but Neela doubted Abby was listening. "Should we call the police?"

Susan shook her head, "No, let's take this all one step at a time and let Abby decide if she wants to do that." She walked over to Abby, and Neela left to a take care of her orders.

John had not broken eye contact with the blonde since she suggested the rape kit. He couldn't ask her, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Susan understood and placed her hand on the back of Abby's head, stroking her hair. "Abby, do we need to do a rape kit?" Susan felt a sense of déjà vu, when Abby had been attacked by her neighbor she had lost consciousness and was unsure if she had been raped. This time Abby had no head injuries. If she had been raped she was conscious for all of it.

Abby pulled away from John, she wiped her eyes, "No," she whispered, "I thought…I thought they were going to…" She began to cry again as the fear returned. When they pulled into the forest reserve she was positive that was going to happen.

Susan was relieved, "Ok, it's ok now. I want to get you out of those scrubs, and cleaned up."

Carter leaned her back on the gurney, and propped it up so she was upright. Abby shifted so she could take her shirt off, but was stopped by John. "Let's cut them off." She nodded and was grateful, lifting her arms up was going to be a painful task. Abby leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She felt John and Susan cleaning the blood from her skin, and allowed their presence on either side of her provide the sense of safety she had been looking for. Exhaustion soon took over she and she allowed the blackness of sleep to ascend.