Authors Note: Sorry for the delay was debating about two endings I had for the chapter. Thank you for your continuing support. Hope there's enough Carby in this chapter for you all. In fact I hope it is not too mushy.

Chapter 13

She could hear the screech of tyres of the vehicle as it tore round the corner. The shouting made her head reel and the screaming penetrated into the furthest recess of her mind. She tried to run but she was stuck, she couldn't move as she felt a paralysing fear grip her and it all became so real.

She sat bolt upright in bed shaking and shivering at the same time, the only sounds were her ragged breathing which was almost out of control. She shut her eyes but the images of the dream came flooding back and she forced then open again.

Where was she? The room was unfamiliar and she took time to gaze round the dark room her eyes now accustom to the darkness and she forced her breathing back to normal. Where was Michael? She leapt out of bed and instantly regretted it as the room began to sway in front of her; she sat down again to compose herself. On feeling better she crossed the room to the window and pulled the drapes a little and looked out into the night sky. All of a sudden she realised where she was, at Carters.

Feeling better now she knew where she was, where Michael was she moved, still somewhat shakily to the door and wrapped herself in the robe that Carter had loaned her. It was too large, but felt soft and warm and smelt comfortingly of John.

She carefully opened the door and padded along to Michael's room where she watched him sleeping in his cot. She smiled and traced her index finger down the side of his face before retreating out and shutting the door quietly behind her. Then she made her way down the stairs to the kitchen.

0o0

Carter wasn't sure what woke him as bleary eyed he looked at the clock which read a little after four. He sat up slowly and got out of bed slipping into his dressing gown before heading to Michael's room. The monitor hadn't showed that he was awake but Carter wanted to make sure. He stood in the door way and saw that Michael was snug, safe and fast asleep.

Sighing Carter rubbed his eyes but then noticed that the door to Abby's room was open, on reaching it he discovered that she wasn't there but saw the faint glow of light coming from downstairs so he went to investigate.

She was making a drink when he stepped up behind her and cleared his throat to gain her attention. She jumped so much she spilt the hot water over her hand and cursed under her breath.

"Sorry" Carter said and took her hand and stuck it under the faucet and turned on the cold water. She didn't reply and he thought that odd. "You okay?" he continued. She nodded but didn't look at him and it was then that he noticed that she was shaking. "Abby"

"I'm okay" she whispered

"No you're not" he replied taking her hand and patting it dry on a tea towel before inspecting it closely. "Your hand looks okay" he commented.

She sniffed and looked at him forcing a smile and he examined her face carefully and she looked away and muttered "Coffee?"

"Abby" he said "Look at me" he turned her back round to face him "What is it? You know you can tell me" he added gently thinking she looked like she needed a hug and wondering whether he should initiate one or not.

"It's okay" she paused and sighed "I had a dream, that's all"

"It can't have been good you're shaking"

"That was just you making me jump"

Carter raised his eyebrows and looked at her as if to say 'if you think I believe that you're wrong'

"Oh okay" she relented seeing his expression "yeah it wasn't the best dream. I don't know if I want to talk about it though"

"Sometimes it helps" he suggested

"I….I…"

"What Abby? You what?"

She sighed and he wasn't sure whether she was going to tell him what was bothering her or not, but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so he threw caution to the wind and slowly pulled towards him for a hug. She didn't resist him which he thought was a good thing and they stayed there together for what seemed ages as she buried herself into him and drew comfort from the embrace. And he stood there and waited until she was ready to speak.

Finally she pulled away and said "It was because I was here, not that your home isn't good. Unfamiliar, things like this seem to set them off"

"Set what off?"

"The dreams"

"You get them much?" he asked concerned

"Can we sit?"

"Mmm" he said and they went into the lounge and sat side by side on the sofa their bodies touching.

"Usually only when things go wrong or when I have a bad day or very stressed"

"Is it always the same, the dream I mean?"

"More or less" she stopped and they looked at each other and he willed her to continue "You want to hear it all?" and he nodded and she continued "It's usually the same kind of thing. I hear them yelling to me 'Don't you let him die' and then the youth turns into Michael and I can feel myself crying, sobbing. I try CPR over and over but it never works and it switches from the youth to Michael in quick succession and I'm fighting to wake up but I can't. Then I feel the gun at my neck and the cold metal feels like it's really there and I am filled with this fear, despair, hopelessness. Then I wake up"

"I thought the dreams had stopped" he stated "You said…"

"I know but sometimes people don't really want to hear how you're doing, how you're feeling and it's easier to say that you're fine"

"But you're so much better at expressing yourself since you became a doctor"

"I'll take that as a compliment" she said with a half smile and he couldn't help but smile back.

"I still get dreams sometimes" he confessed

"What do you dream about?" she asked

"Various things all muddled into one. It's like all the bad things come to haunt you at once"

"I know what you mean" she told him and sighed, and shivered

"Cold?" he asked and she nodded and he reached and grabbed the comforter and threw it over them both. "Better?" and she nodded again

"Thanks"

"For what?"

"Listening, being here with me. Normally I sit at home fighting the urge to do something stupid, like have a drink, cigarette, not that I have either in the house and taking Michael out in the middle of the night requires too much effort, thankfully"

"You still go to meetings?"

She shook her head and said "Rarely I have to get a sitter for Michael, after he was ill I was dreaming a lot, I felt quite alone, desperate even though Susan, Luka and the rest of the guys from work were great"

"It's good you're holding everything together"

"One look at Michael tells me it's all worth it and more"

"Yeah" he said and she yawned and momentarily laid her head on his shoulder before resting it on the back of the sofa.

"You want to go back to bed, to sleep?" Carter asked

Abby shook her head "No I won't be able to sleep now, never can"

"You can sleep with me. I mean so you won't be alone. Not to sleep, sleep with me" he said deciding that his choice of words had not been the most appropriate

She gave a laugh and told him "No. it's okay, that wouldn't work either, I'd still be thinking about the dream" Carter let out a breath he hadn't been aware he had been holding. "I'd just like to sit here, with you, unless you want to go back to bed"

"No this is good" he told her, relieved in a big way that they weren't going to be in bed together even if it was only for a cuddle, it would have been quite a strain on him to lie there with her. There was less temptation here in the lounge where Jack could enter at any time. "Want to see if we can catch an old movie?"

"Yeah" she replied softly as he switched the television on and surfed the channels until they came to 'It's a wonderful Life'. "Let's watch this" she said

"Yeah? You sure?" he asked looking at her

"Yep"

And they snuggled down close together under the comforter to watch it.

0o0

The crying became incessant as he opened his eyes and looked at the clock and wondered why no one was comforting the child. So he got up slipped into his robe and went to look into the situation.

He discovered that his son or Abby were not in their rooms, so he went to see to Michael himself. The baby looked at him expectantly and Jack tried to remember what to do with a baby. He picked him up and although Michael looked warily at him he did not protest. Jack immediately discovered that one reason Michael was upset was the fact that he obviously needed a clean diaper. Jack couldn't recall the last time he had changed one if ever and not one of these new fangled disposable ones. He would just have to do the best he could.

"Well little fellow" he said having managed that task "You must be thirsty, shall we go find Mommy or Daddy huh?" and he took Michael downstairs to the kitchen where on opening the fridge found some bottles of milk and sighed with relief.

After setting the coffee maker on to do it's thing and provide him with a wake up call he and Michael walked through to the lounge where there on the sofa were Carter and Abby fast asleep. Jack didn't want to wake them, they looked so cosy snuggled there in each others embrace and besides it was a good opportunity for him to spend some time with his grandson.

"Come on" he whispered to Michael "Lets go back to the kitchen for a bit, there will be plenty of time to wake them up later" And there was.