Chapter 6
Carter stood in one corner of the room rubbing his wrists raw with worry trying to cope with what was happening. Luka was holding onto to Sam trying to comfort her and find some solace himself. Jake was sitting by himself, head in his hands, not knowing what he could do anymore. Abby was hurt, he was a doctor, yet this time he wasn't the one who could help her.
Susan was sick with worry wondering how all of this could have happened in the first place, knowing that if she got her hands on Morris there would be no trial, she'd strangle him on the spot. Kerry was sitting down, the only one of them who was relatively calm, that was not to say she wasn't worried, for she was, Abby had been in her ER for six years now, first a med student, then nurse, once again med student. She had been there when Henry came into the world, and she had taken care of him.
They were all in different stages, each one of them having a different connection with Abby, but it was still a connection. Some where ex lovers, friends, colleagues, but it didn't matter right now what the connection was, they all had the same things written on their faces, and that was the look of desperation, of worry. She had to make it through this, she just had too. They had all been through so much together that they had to have faith that they too could make together as a team through the crisis that was unfolding before them now.
"Someone should call Maggie." Kerry said standing up from the chair that she had been sitting in, "surely Abby would want her to know. Carter, Luka do either of you have Maggie's number?" She hated to ask but Maggie was next of kin and Abby's mother, if it got to the point where it became a question of removing Abby from life support, Maggie was the only one who could legally make the decision.
Luka shrugged his shoulders, "no I don't have it Kerry." He looked over at Carter, who could feel now both Kerry and Luka's eyes upon him, "what are you looking at me for?" He asked with a snapping tone to his voice. "I might have it at home I don't know; it would probably be in her locker she carries a phonebook with her. Or it might even be in her cell phone. Try there" Kerry just looked at her two senior Attendings for a minute.
"I'll go look and call her, but John wouldn't it be better coming from you, since you have a relationship and know Maggie." Carter just looked at Kerry with almost a blank stare on his face. He didn't want to be the one to make that phone call. Granted he might have been the only one in that room right now that had even talked or spent more than five minutes with Maggie, but it had been a long time. "No Kerry I think that you should do it, after all you are Abby's supervisor." Kerry nodded in her own understanding way as she turned to leave the waiting room,
"Susan, page me if there is any news," she said simply as she headed back downstairs towards the ER, the long day dragging on everyone there, slowly but surely taking it's toll on the entire staff.
Once back in the ER, Kerry reassured Abby's patients that their doctor was doing okay. "Dr. Lockhart is still in surgery, her condition is listed as critical, that's all the information that we have at this time." She said to the media that had gathered there, upon receiving word that a doctor was stuck by a car near the hospital at which she worked. She was used to dealing with the press, a part of her job that she was accustomed to. Kerry walked into the lounge heading directly over to Abby's locker, her hand on the lock about to turn the combination when she had to stop.
She could feel the cold metal against her back as she slowly slid down to the floor. In the silence of the lounge the gravity of the situation hit her full on. She had been like a mother to Abby, who had been a med student when she first arrived in her ER, a nurse, and now a doctor. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she sat on the floor alone. She had done what she did best, reassuring her doctors and nurses who had the medical training themselves, that everything was going to be alright, that Abby was a fighter and she would pull through this just fine. Yet in the back of her mind, the grim fact that the odds were not in Abby's favor, was eating at her. But she did what any good Chief would do to keep the moral of her staff up, she had lied.
Kerry knew the grim truth and now in the silent, empty lounge, she able to take a minute and let it all catch up with her. The full force of reality, a slap in the face, Kerry would never admit to anyone else how she felt, for the sake of her staff she would put up the brave, strong face that everyone was use to seeing. But once she was by herself, the emotional tidal wave was unleashed. All the pain, fear, and uncertainness concerning Abby, came full force as the tears began to fall.