Chapter 1: July

Summary:

Nobody ever said that moving, starting a new job, and raising two kids was easy.

This is the story of Ray Barnett and Anabel Walker. Anabel has just moved from Baton Rogue with her twin sons, Logan and Tobias, and has to start her job at County in 12 days. Oh and I need 3 reviews before I post again. And just so you know, I've already got most of this story already written. So the faster you review, the quicker I update. And no, this is not a cheap rip-off of the Sam/Luka story.

The address and the hospital in Baton Rogue aren't real. If they are, purely coincidental considering I just made them up.

July 15, 2004

"Ok, here we are. 576 Pennington Drive, Apartment 5A." Anabel said to her twin sons, Logan James and Tobias Quinn, who were just staring at the door and the hallway in disgust. She just smiled and put their bags down on the floor.

Anabel unlocked the door and pushed it open. She picked their bags up again, and ushered her children inside. She looked around the apartment (which not too big) and smiled again.

"Well, this is it. Home sweet home," Anabel stated as she put the bags down on the floor by the closet. Logan and Tobias looked around the apartment and were not impressed. There was newspapers and paint cans on the floor and plastic sheets were covering the sparse furniture.

The top half of the walls were painted white and the bottom half were paneled. As you walk in, there was a closet on the right and thru a doorway on the left there was the kitchen. When you walk into the kitchen, there was the refrigerator in the far corner of the room, and there were cabinets and cupboards that lined the walls. There was an island in the center of the room. On the right wall, there was another doorway that led to the living room. Against a far wall, next to the refrigerator, there was another doorway that led to the dining room. In the dining room, which had tons of windows, on the right wall, there was another door that lead to a spare bedroom. (Which would probably be turned into her dark room/music room.) On the right side of the apartment, there was a hall. In the hall there was the bathroom, and 3 bedrooms. Anabel had decided that Logan and Tobias would share a room and the spare bedroom would be their playroom. She chose the bedroom that was at the end of the hall, and the twins would have the one at the beginning of it.

"Ok. It's a fixer-upper. But give me a few weeks; it'll be home in no time." Anabel said cheerfully.

"Wrong, mom. Home is 2,000 miles away from here in Louisiana." Logan said.

"Look Logan," Anabel said as she bent down to look him in the face, "I know that you are angry that we had to move. But try to understand, I had to have a job. Chicago is one of the best places to learn because you get all kinds of stuff in the ER. That and they were the only people that would let me get off at 3-ish everyday so that way I can be home when you and Tobias get off the bus. Speaking of which, if I'm not here by the time you two are off the bus, you are to go to the lady next door. She said she would watch you until I can get here." Anabel explained.

"But I still don't understand why we had to move!" he whined.

"I'll tell you what. When I get settled in at my job, I'll bring you and Tobias in so you can watch all the traumas."

"That would be so cool!" Tobias said.

"Yeah, I guess so. So how many bedrooms does this place have?" he asked, completely changing the subject. Something that he had the tendency of doing.

"4. But you and Tobias are sharing one." Anabel answered as she stood up again.

"Aww, mom! Why?" they cried in unison.

"Because, one is mine. One is your playroom. And the other is my dark room and music room. If you really don't like that arrangement, one of you can sleep out on the balcony."

"I will!" Logan exclaimed.

"Without a bed and any blankets," Anabel finished.

"But what about when it's cold?" Logan asked.

"You'll still have to sleep out there!"

"Ok! Fine, we'll share a room!" Tobias said.

"Yes, you will. You have your playroom, and I have mine," she said to her children.

Logan and Tobias picked up their bags and asked in unison, "Which room is ours?"

"Follow me." She led them to the first door in the hall, and opened the door.

The bedroom, like everything else, had the bottom half paneled and the top half was white. They had a big closet and the room was big enough for 3 beds and 2 dressers. But Anabel had a knack for spoiling her children on their birthday and on Christmas (a privilege given that was bestowed on them all their life, due to the fact that Anabel's parents were rich), so she knew that, even though the room was spacious, it would still be too small for her children's toys.

Tobias and Logan set their stuff down on the floor and then followed their mother again as she left the room. This time she stopped at the first door on the right, which would have been the second door in the hall. She opened it, and once again, Logan and Tobias went in.

It, like the other room had a paneled bottom half, a white upper-wall, and a spacious closet.

"This is going to be your playroom," Anabel said as they took in the room.

"Where's your room, mom?" Tobias asked.

"It's at door at the end of the hall." she answered. "Now that you two like the place, you can help me get the rest of the stuff out of the SUV."

With that, they followed their mother out of the room, and went down to the family vehicle and slowly, but surely, unloaded it. Each trip was made together because Anabel knew about the dangers of the Chicago streets.

That night, Anabel tucked Tobias and Logan into their beds in their new apartment for the first time.

"I promise, I'll have it looking great by the time I go to work," she said as she kissed Logan on the head. They had set up their beds and had gotten their dressers up the stairs. Tomorrow, U-Haul would arrive with their couch, and chairs and tables and whatever else they couldn't fit in the SUV.

"Je t'aime," she whispered to Logan. Growing up in Louisiana, Anabel had learned a lot of French.

"Je t'aime," he whispered back to her.

Anabel moved from Logan's bed to Tobias'.

"Je t'aime, Tobias," she whispered.

"Je t'aime, momma," Tobias whispered.

She handed Logan is stuffed dog, Wrinkles, and Tobias his stuffed bear, Grizzly. Anabel turned on the nightlight, which barely glowed, and walked down the hall to her room. She sat on her bed and thought about the day.

It had been quite a day. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday would be even busier. Tomorrow, Friday, the movers would bring the rest of their stuff. Saturday and Sunday would be spent arranging everything and at the hardware store looking for the paint colors that she decided would go in each room. Monday was Logan and Tobias' first day of the day care that would take care of them during the summer while she was at work. On Monday, she would paint their room dark blue, their favorite color, and have glow-in-the-dark stars painted on the wall. Their play room was going to light blue with clouds painted on the walls. She knew that, eventually, they would each want their own space. When that day came, the "play room" would go bye-bye and she would move all of Logan's or Tobias' stuff into the "play room." But today was not that day. She figured she would have to wait a good ten or eleven years before they wanted their own room.

Her last thought before she shut off the light and went to bed was how good it was to finally be home.

July 27

Today was the first time that Anabel had been nervous since the day she started med-school. Maybe it was because she was new in a big city where she knew absolutely no one? Or maybe because she couldn't afford to lose this job and hoped she wouldn't do something to make that possible? Maybe it was because today she would be called "Doctor" for the first time? She wasn't sure, and she didn't care at that point. All she knew was that she was very nervous.

As she walked through the Ambulance Bay doors, she saw that the ER only had a few patients at the moment, which was fairly common anywhere at 7:00 in the morning, and saw several doctors lounging around, what she assumed to be, the main admit desk. As she walked across the ER, several of them stopped talking and looked up at her.

As she came closer to the admit desk, a red-headed doctor with glasses and a crutch came up to her and asked, "Can I help you?"

"My name's Anabel Walker and I'm supposed to start my residency here today," she said.

"Ah, Anabel. From Louisiana. I'm Kerry Weaver and I'm the Chief of Staff here at County General," said the doctor as she stuck out her left arm, as her right was occupied with the crutch.

Anabel shook her hand and smiled.

"Welcome to County," Kerry said as she was starting to walk towards the elevators and motioned for Anabel to follow.

"I'm sorry I can't give you a personal tour or something, but I'm late for a meeting with the Board of Directors," she said as the elevator opened and she stepped inside. "Dr. Kovac will show you where everything is at and I hope you enjoy your first day here at County!" Kerry said right as the elevator door closed, separating the two of them.

Anabel just sighed and walked back to the admit desk, where a tall, dark-haired man came towards her and held out his hand.

"Luka Kovac," he said in a foreign accent that she couldn't place.

"Anabel Walker," she replied as she shook his hand.

"I'll show you to the employee's lounge where you can get your stuff settled," he said as he led the way away from the admit desk to a room full of lockers.

"This one is yours," pointing to the locker with her name on it, "and here is the combination," he said as he held out a folded piece of paper with numbers on it.

"Put your things away and meet me out by the admit desk. I'll show you around," he said politely, and with a slight nod and smile, left her alone.

After she put her coat and purse in her locker, Anabel went to the admit desk.

"Let's begin," he said kindly.

Anabel had just got done working on a patient in Exam 2 and went to the admit desk to grab another chart. She looked it over and saw that the patient was in Exam 3, waiting to be seen by a doctor.

About that time, a young doctor, possibly no older than Anabel, came strolling up to her with an appreciative look on his face. He leaned against the desk and smiled.

"Ray Barnett," he said as he stuck his hand out.

Anabel barely looked up to see him and stuck out her hand to shake his.

"Anabel Walker," she said as she lowered to clipboard away from her face to her side.

"Anabel? That's a pretty name," Ray said surely.

"Thanks," Anabel said hesitantly and turned around and walked towards Exam 3.

She heard the doctor everyone called "Carter" say to Ray, "Suave, Ray. Really." And then he chuckled. Anabel chuckled as well.

Her day went by fairly slowly. It mainly consisted of exams, and Luka, whom she learned was an attending from Croatia, showing her where everything could found. Sam, a nurse, who, Anabel quickly realized, was involved with Luka, told her to be careful of the gossip that went around the ER like a wildfire. She was grateful when 3:00 finally arrived because that meant that she was finally off. But that also meant that she had to start her other job as mom.

'A job that I don't get paid for, either,' Anabel thought amusingly.

Ray walked into the lounge and went to a locker she assumed was his.

"Hey Anabel. Are you off?" Ray asked.

"Yeah. Just now," she replied.

"I was wondering… Could I buy you a cup of coffee?" Ray asked a little nervously.

Anabel smirked at the nervousness in his voice, but she wasn't facing him, so he didn't see.

"I'm sorry. I can't. I have somewhere I have to be. And if I didn't, my answer would still be no."

"Why?"

"Because I don't date colleagues," she said very matter-of-factly. With that she walked out of the ER staff lounge and towards her apartment, where her sons should be getting off the bus in about 10 minutes.

TRANSLATION:

Je t'aime - French - I Love You

So this is the first chapter. What do you think? Let me know if I should post more. All reviews are welcome, even unflattering ones.