Chapter Two: Under Control

It has been two weeks since the concert now and Abby and I still haven't found a way to talk to her. We work together, but yet we are avoiding each other as if one of us has the plague. She has started working opposite shifts as if she couldn't stand to be in the ER at the same time that I was.

I can't believe what I've just seen. She promised me it was just one drink, that she had it under control. Well now, here she is, at the local store, buying a six pack! Abby doesn't know that I've seen her, the last thing I need her to accuse me of is stalking. But it's not like I am really stalking her I am on my way into work. The trip to the EL just happened to take me past the quick mart that she had decided to frequent on her way home that day; I have no control over that. I am more worried about her now that I had been that night of the concert.

I'm at a lost as of what to do now, she sure a hell wont listen to me, she's to damn stubborn. She wont listen to anyone, won't take anybody's advice, I guess that's what makes Abby, Abby. But I refuse to let her do this to herself, not after all the hard work she has gone through. Now she might think that I am the words largest jackass, and that might have been true, but Abby saved my life before, now it was my turn to return the favor. I couldn't let her go through the downfall to hit rock bottom before someone intervened and saved her from herself.

I hate to do what I know I have to. I have to talk to Luka about her, about the problem that is starting to resurface. But he's seeing her right now so if anyone should be the one to talk to her. She might listen to him, maybe, I guess that one can only hope; hope that it's not too late to stop. So here I am at the ER, searching for my colleague. I look towards the admit desk, and there he is. I suck back any feelings that might make my blood boil.

"Luka, you busy?" I ask, trying to keep any sign that something is wrong from my face. The last thing I need is Frank to overhear the conversation that I'm about to have with Luka. I don't like the man right now and this is going to be one of the harder conversations that I have had to have. I'm not happy with the way that things are going while she is seeing him.

"Kind of Carter, can it wait?" I was not in the mood to be toyed with. It's not that I was overly upset but more along the lines of extremely worried. She was going to crash and I couldn't let the woman that was my best friend, or had been my best friend. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't do something to help her? I would have been the worst kind of friend.

"No it can't, really this is something that just can't wait." He looks back at me, knowing now that whatever I have to say is urgent. I have gotten my point across to him and I watch him as he sets down the chart that he had been working on and I fall inline behind him as Luka starts walking to be and together we head to the lounge. I pray to god that it was empty. I didn't want anyone to over hear this; it was something that it didn't need to be getting around right now until I knew what we were dealing with. For the first time in my life, a prayer has been answered. The lounge is absolutely deserted.

"What is it Carter?" he asks and pours himself a cup of coffee, not bothering to offer to pour me one.

"Were you aware that Abby is a recovering alcoholic?" no sense in beating around the bush. It needed to be brought out into the open and I had to problem being blunt with Luka, there was no love loss between the two of us. I didn't think that we would ever be to a point where we would be anything more than working colleagues, and that was just fine with me.

"Yeah, I know a little about it." He said as if this was nothing that I should be talking about with him.

The cold reaction that I was getting from him, wasn't sitting well with me. His entire tone that he was using with me just seemed to be as if he was wanting to blow me off and not talk. As if this was none of my business and while Abby was his girlfriend, she was my friend.

"I saw her today, she was buying beer." I am rather blunt again with him. He had left me with no other alternatives.

"How do you know it wasn't for someone else," he was wanting to doubt it just as much as I was. Either that or he was being extremely protective of her. He didn't want to admit that she was drinking while she was with him. Maybe he was more into denial or thought that it was not the problem that he wanted to deal with.

"Because we went to a concert together and she was drinking a beer. When I asked her about it, she said she had it under control." I am fighting not to yell at him right now. "Buying a six pack and taking it home is not having it under control. I do not consider that under control."

"Abby is a big girl Cater, she knows what she's doing?"

"Does she? Luka, because it sure as hell didn't." Now I am livid with him, he is completely blowing me off.

"Fine, what do you want to do about it? I can guarantee you, it won't be easy. She will not accept our help." he set the coffee cup down, a sign that he was actually listening to what I had to say. But it was as if he didn't want to do anything about it. Like if he ignored it, it would go away on it's own that whatever problem was causing her to decide she needed to drink would resolve itself and she would go back to AA meeting and start over again.

"I don't know. I'm not sure what to do." I throw my hands up in frustration. Frustration that he's not taking me serious and that he doesn't seem to want to touch this either. "She's not talking to me if you haven't noticed. Abby hasn't talked to me for weeks."

"Well Carter, when you come up with a plan, let me know." with that he walked out. Was he still upset over the fact that I had taken her out while they were together? Christ it's not like I was trying to take her away from him, I took her out as a friend. The trip to Oklahoma I did because she was my friend, he didn't seem to want to go, and Abby didn't need to be taking that trip along. If he was, he needed to get his ass out of his head and help me, help one of our best friends.