Chapter Three: Repair
Carter that night as he laid in bed wondered how to go about repairing the relationship that was in the front of his mind. He didn't quite know the best way to go about it. There had been a lot of damage done, baby steps were the way that they needed to go, and he just couldn't come right out and say Abby I'm still in love with you, for he really didn't know if that was what he felt, the only thing that he was certain about was that there was something missing from his life and that she was it.
He tossed and turned most the night. Unable to find that all elusive sleep and when his alarm went off he grumbled as Carter climbed out of bed and headed for the shower in a feeble attempt to wash the sleep from his body. Carter finished, dressed and then headed for the EL, getting coffee before finally heading into the ER. He wished that he had been able to get some sleep last night, but the coffee was helping to clear the few remaining cobwebs from his head.
Chairs were a nightmare as he crossed into the ER; it seemed that everyone in Chicago had decided to come in that morning. He made short work of putting his things in his locker before heading out to the admit desk to dig in to the pile up of patients. He had decided on the EL train on the way in that he would just have to bit the bullet and ask her to dinner. He could take her someplace where they could sit and talk.
He started in not seeing her there and as the morning went by there was still no sign of her, but they were definitely busy and it was highly possible that they just kept missing each other. He came out of an exam room and there she was standing at the admit desk her nose in a chart with the phone held up to her ear. She looked like she was seriously concentrating on something.
He didn't want to interrupt her flow or train of thought but he didn't know if he would get another shot at this today. Carter stood at the admit desk now waiting for her to finish what she was doing before he would talk to her.
"Frank would you please let me know when psych decides that they are willing to get down here." Abby said as she hung up the phone, a look of frustration upon her face.
"Yeah, if I have too." The desk clerk replied.
Abby just rolled her eyes, "hi Carter." She said looking up at him. After their talk yesterday most of the hard feeling that she had towards him had dissipated. It wasn't that Abby hated him, he had just hurt her and well, he did have a human appearance to him now. She still wanted to be at least friends with him, but not much more at the time. Besides Carter had someone in his life and that someone wasn't her. She had come to terms with that.
"Hey Abby." Carter said setting the chart that he was holding down to actually look at her, "you have a minute that we might talk?"
"Interns never have just a minute." She said the frustration slowly slipping off her face. "What do you need?"
"Let's go outside." Carter said not wanting to have this conversation where other's could hear incase he got shot way down. He did not want the entire ER to know what he was up to, just in case she said no. He was worried about that right now, what if she shot him down? What if he made a complete ass out of himself? He might never live it down if that happened.
"Yeah sure." Abby replied setting the chart that she had been working on down. It wasn't like her patient was going to go anywhere. She had him heavily sedated and was waiting for psych to come down to see him, and at the rate that psych moved that patient might just be there for the rest of the day. She followed him outside and stood now leaning against the wall not far from the bay doors, "what did you need Carter?"
Carter kicked the ground not sure if he really could do this right now, but he knew that he needed too. He took a deep breath in before saying anything not wanting the silence to be between them and create this awkward situation. "I was wondering," he said his voice was not very loud and he was definitely nervous about all of this. "if you might like to have dinner with me, maybe tomorrow night?"
Abby wasn't sure what to say to that. She was a little shocked to be asked by Carter to go to dinner, and she didn't know if she should say yes or no. She wasn't expecting this and the silence that was between them was making things just a little more awkward than she wanted. "Uh well I guess I could have dinner with you Carter." She said wondering why he just asked her out, did Carter just ask her out on a date, or was this an I need a friend type deal.
"Great," he said letting out the breath that he had been holding all this time. "What time can I pick you up?"
Oh, he had asked her out on a date. She wasn't sure about this now. "I'm off at seven tonight."
"Do you want to go home and change or just leave from here?" He asked knowing that they would have to get back to work here pretty soon.
"We can leave from here." She said turning now to head back into the ER. She wasn't sure about all of this.
He followed her back inside so that he could go back to work, "okay." He gave her a rather simple response. He was glad that she had said yes and he knew that he would be able to get more work done now that he had that weight lifted from his shoulders. He was still nervous about how things would go but it was one less thing that he didn't have to worry about.
