Smashed

A/N: This chapter has more about some of the other members of the ER, simply because some people may be getting bored of me always on about Sam & Luka. Thanks for reviewing.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of it… not a sausage… zilch! Except of course Bryony, and any other characters you don't recognise!

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Sam didn't feel like going in to work, and now she was there, she felt worse, but she was putting on a brave face as always. Unlike the day before, which had been very quiet, the hospital was quite busy, and only one nurse was back from being off sick. After being sent out of trauma for yelling at one of the med students, Sam had shut herself in the drug store room, hoping nobody would go in there for a while, which was stupid because she knew people used the room at least 100 times a day.

Susan walked in, not noticing her at first, and reached for a bottle of something. Catching a glimpse of Sam out of the corner of her eye, she dropped the bottle to the floor in shock, where it smashed.

"Sam?" Susan knelt down and started to pick up the tablets she'd dropped "What are you doing in here?"

The nurse turned her head away, "If you're here to yell at me some more, then I wouldn't bother. I've heard it all before,"

Susan sighed, resting a hand gently on Sam, who was slouched against one of the walls, facing the corner to hide the tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. She batted Susan's hand away from her shoulder.

"What happened?" Susan sighed again.

"Like you don't know," She snapped, drying her eyes with both hands.

"Not that,"

Sniffing, Sam turned her head to face her friend, who was dumping the dropped bottle and its contents in the bin, but looking at where Sam was sitting at the same time. She's just trying to help, she decided, tucking strands of blonde curly hair behind her ears, "What do you mean?"

"With Clare,"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Angrily, she turned back to the wall.

Susan began to walk out, but turned to say one last thing, "I just wanted you to know, nobody blames you for this,"

-

Carter stretched, rubbing off yet another patient's name from the board, and picking up a chart. It had been a long shift, but it ended soon, and he was determined to squeeze in just one more patient, even if it was just to make Susan happy. His colleague, and one of his oldest friends, had gone around all day with a look of sorrow, or maybe just stress, and it was horrible to see her so sad, though nobody was actually sure why she was sad in the first place.

"Darn it!"

Turning, Carter spotted a med-student behind him who had dropped an armful of charts, and was quickly trying to pick them up. He knelt down beside her, gathering the last couple of charts before adding them to the pile she already had. Gratefully, she smiled at him.

"You okay… G… no… L…?" Carter stumbled to remember the student's name though he'd seen her around the hospital many times over the past few days.

"Harley," the blonde filled in for him, "My name's Harley, Dr. Carter,"

He nodded, a slight blush playing on his cheeks. Mostly, the students stuck with one of the interns so Carter didn't really see many of them, and practically never got to know them, so it was no big surprise that he didn't even know her name. She was pretty though, blonde hair swept up into a clip with a few strands falling down, and soft features which added to the young look of her. Harley reminded him of someone but he couldn't think who.

"Thanks, I must have tripped or something. It was kind of you to help me," She rested a hand on his arm for a moment, before pulling herself up.

"It's okay Lucy, anytime,"

It was only when she'd walked away that he realized his mistake, and of course who she reminded him of. He almost couldn't believe he'd forgotten the date. February 15th 2006. Exactly 6 years since Lucy Knight had died from multiple stab wounds and a massive Pulmonary Emboli.

"I… I meant Harley…" He called after her, but the med-student had already rounded the corner, disappearing into Triage.

He looked at his watch, feeling tears stinging at his eyes, 2.57pm. Suddenly, he felt he needed to sit down, and grabbed for a stall. Make that exactly 6 years, 12 hours and one minute ago.

"Dr. Carter?" He was tapped on the leg by a crutch, "Do I pay you to sit around being lazy?"

She didn't wait for an answer before turning on her heel, yelling over her shoulder, "No I do not, so get off your fat ass and do some work!"

-

Wide haunted eyes greeted Alex's, framed by curtains of long blonde hair. She sucked in a small gasp of air, breathing out slowly before laying a shaky hand on top of his. Her blue-grey eyes shot down, before lifting to his again, a panicked look in them. Moving just a little closer to him, she swallowed.

"I see dead people," The icy, raspy voice murmured.

Alex burst out laughing, as Harley tucked strands of blonde hair back behind her ears, also laughing. Removing her hand from his, she put it with the other on the arm of the break room chair. Her eyes were back to their sparkly selves by now, and a smile stretched across her face.

"Oh my gosh, do it again! It's so class!" Alex managed to say, now clutching his stomache from too much laughter.

"Do what?"

Turning round, Alex realized his Mom was stood behind them, her head round the door, mascara had run a little as if she'd been crying, but managed to wipe off most of her make-up. Alex decided not to mention it.

"Oh hey, I was just playing with Holly," He stood up, "She does the best impressions ever!"

Harley stood up also, flashing a quick smile at Sam, before turning back to Alex, pretending to blow a much exaggerated kiss at him, "Mwah! Chow!"

"What film's that from mom?" Alex asked as his mom pulled him away from the room,

"Ryan Phillippe, 'Cruel Intentions'" Sam muttered angrily.

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A/N: More Samka next chapter, and hopefully the story will fit together a little better!