Chapter Eight

Abby caught the EL. She needed to get to Carter and get to him fast. She was extremely worried about him. She had tried calling his cell phone several times, but he wouldn't answer it. She knew that he wouldn't have had enough time to get all the way home yet. She should have known that something was up when he came to her apartment last night.

He was looking for someone to talk to, for someone to understand what he was going thru right now. Something had been amiss then, she just could take her mind off what was going on between the two of them long enough to actually focus on John. She just hoped that she wasn't to late to undo anything that he might have done. She hadn't waited for Susan or Kerry to come with her. She needed to do this with out them.

Abby got off the EL and started to head up the street to Carter's apartment building. There was a little bar on the corner and as she walked by she saw his familiar face sitting there. She didn't expect that she would find him in there of all places, and who he was sitting with came as a shock as well.

Carter had left the hospital. He was angry at the world. His heart ached something awful and he was pretty sure in his mind that what ever he and Abby had was gone for good now. When he got off the EL he for some reason had decided to stop at the bar on the corner. He walked in and sat down at the bar.

"Beer." He grunted at the bar tender. This was going to be the start of his fall from grace. If he was going to crash and burn he thought to himself he might as well enjoy the ride down. He didn't expect Luka to walk into that very bar.

"Carter what are you doing here, I didn't think that you drank." Luka said to him. He seemed as surprised as Carter was that he was here.

"Rough day today. I thought that I would unwind and drown my sorrows before heading home." Carter said, "Want to join me?"

"Sure." Luka said. They moved from the bar over to a table in the corner near the window.

"Do you come here often?" Carter asked to Luka.

"Just every now and then on my way home." Luka said to him, "what about you?"

"Nope, I live just down the street and was on my way home, saw the place and thought that I would come in."

"I see." Luka said taking a swig from the beer bottle.

"I'm sure you've heard the news by now." Carter said. He wasn't a big fan of Luka's but he thought that since they were both here, he might as well try to make some conversation. It beat awkward silence.

"What news?" Luka asked. He hadn't been there when Abby started screaming at John in the ambulance bay.

"About Abby and I," John said, he could tell by the look on Luka's face that he hadn't heard from the rumor mill yet what had unwound at County yesterday. "Abby and I split up. And today I told Weaver that I wanted a month off and I would let her know by tomorrow if I would be coming back or not."

"What are you talking about; you live at County why wouldn't you come back to work. Even I haven't been able to leave there and I have only been there a couple of years. County has a strange hold on it's doctors." Luka said.

"I'm tired of it all. And I don't want to have to face Abby every day." John said finishing his beer; he motioned for the bar tender to bring him another one.

"I'm sorry about you and Abby. I really wanted her to be happy with you." Luka said.

"It just wasn't meant to be. I thought that with time she would open up to me let me in her live, but she doesn't seem to want to do that. I was foolish enough to give her an ultimatum and she gave me her answer." He said, "She broke my heart when she left and there's nothing left here for me now."

"Come on Carter. You're a great doctor and you are needed at County. I've never worked with a better doctor than you. There's plenty of reason for you to stay at county. Abby or no Abby." Luka said. He could tell that the young doctor was in trouble.

Carter finished his second beer and started a third and they hadn't been there for more than 10 minutes. He was really guzzling them down. The bartender brought him a third one. Carter finished that one, and started a fourth. Luka watched him.

"Hey Carter I think that you had better slow down there." Luka said knowing that Carter hadn't drank in a long time and was probably starting to get intoxicated.

"I'm fine. You know I haven't drank since before I went into rehab until the last two days." Carter said. "Everything changed for me when I went there. Here I thought that I was getting everything back on track, but we all have our slipups now don't we. After all docs are only human now too." Carter said beginning to slur his words.

"Carter sure you are only human." Luka said. He was there when Carter went into rehab.

He remembered to clearly what the young doctor had gone thru. He wasn't close to Carter when it all happened, but he remembered Abby helping him get back up on his feet. He didn't want to see Carter go back down that road. Luka was just coming off a path of self destruction himself. No one should go down that road if it could be helped. Carter finished his beer and set it down on the table. A fifth one arrived. Carter started to drink that one as well.

Luka thought that he saw Abby standing outside the bar. He looked again, it was her. He motioned for her to come in. He didn't know if she could help Carter or if she was only going to make the situation worse for the young man. Abby came inside. She walked over to where Carter and Luka were sitting. She couldn't help but notice the beer sitting in front of Carter.

"How many has he had Luka?" Abby asked.

"I'm sitting right here you don't have to talk around me." Carter said sarcastically adding, "Oh wait that's all you do."

"He's on his fifth one Abby." Luka said, "I found him here on my way home."

"He's losing it." She said turning her back to John and lowering her voice, "I'm afraid he's stumbling."

Luka understood what she was saying and just nodded in response. Carter hadn't heard her and didn't realize that she had said anything to him.

"Carter come on, why don't you and I go home?" Abby said to him.

"We don't have a home." Carter said to her.

"Okay why don't we go back to your apartment or my apartment?" She said trying to reason with him. He was drunk. Carter was bloody drunk. He had always been the one taking care of her, and here she was going to be the one needing to take care of him and pull him up from the pits of despair.

"I don't think that we should. You know I mean we're not, not dating anymore. I don't t-think t-that we should do t-that." Carter's words were starting to slur together even worse than they were a few minutes ago.

"No John, I think we really need to." Abby said and she tried to put his arm around him to lead him home.

"Come on Carter, let's go." Luka said noticing that Abby was having trouble convincing him that he needed to go home. "Let me help you." He said looking at Abby. He was going to have to help her get him back to his apartment. He assumed that they would be taking him to his apartment since there was no way that they were going to get Carter this drunk across town to Abby's apartment.

John reluctantly went with them. The world was starting to spin on him and he realized that he had gotten himself drunk. He put his arm up on Luka's shoulder, "guess that I did have a little to much to drink."

"That's an understatement John." Abby said to him, "come on let's get you home so you can sleep this off."

Luka and Abby helped John to his apartment. Abby opened the door and they led him down to the bedroom. He collapsed on the bed. Abby and Luka walked back out to the living room.

"Is what he told me right; are the two of you not seeing each other anymore?" Luka asked.

"If that's what he said." Abby said to Luka. "I told him that we couldn't go on as if we didn't have the fight. It was until just a little while ago that he said that we were through."

"Is that what you wanted?" Luka asked.

"No it's not. I just wanted a little more time to work thru the issue's that we were having. I didn't see last night when he came to my apartment that he was starting to self destruct again. After he left the ER tonight it became clear what was happening with him. Kerry let me leave the ER to come and find him. We were all worried about him. I hate to see him like this." She said.

"It's always hard to see someone you love doing something that you know that they shouldn't be doing. Maybe when he sobers up you two can talk and try to work things out. What ever has happened between us, Abby I really do want you to be happy. And you seem happy with Carter." He said.

"I am Luka. I am very happy with Carter." She said, "The past couple of days have been hard on both of us. I just didn't realize how hard it had been on him. Walking out on me during out last fight had to have been tearing him apart; I just wish that I could have seen it sooner." She said.

"Abby do you think that he has started using again. I mean that could explain his odd behavior."

"No I don't." She said, "But there's only one way to find out."

Abby walked to Carter's bathroom. She looked in the medicine cabinet for any sign that Carter's addiction was back. Then she walked into the bedroom where he was snoring loudly. She checked his arms, and under his watch. When he was abusing last time he had hidden the needle marks under his watchband. She didn't see any tell tale signs that his addiction was back. She opened up the nightstand draw and what she found inside shocked her. There was a bottle of Soma. She picked it up and headed out to the living room where Luka was sitting.

"I found this." She said tossing the bottle at him.

"Oh man." He said, "Why would Carter have this. Has he done something to his back recently that you know of? I don't want to think that he has this for any other reason. But then who would prescribe something like this for him knowing that he was a recovering drug addict."

"I don't know. Carter didn't say that he was going to see anyone about any pain in his back. He hasn't even mentioned that it has been bothering him lately. He's slipped up again Luka. That could be the only reason." She said the tears starting to fall from her eyes.

Luka couldn't stand the sight of her in so much pain. What was going on between her and Carter was tearing them both apart something needed to be done to get this relationship back on the right track.