Chapter 9: Lost you

I was sitting at home with Max watching a movie. It was the first time in days that we had gotten to spend any time quiet with each other. Work for him was keeping him busy and mine was just as intense right now. And we decided tonight that we would just savor the down time and the still that was in the apartment right now.

The phone rang shattering that silence that we were enjoying too much. I untangled myself from Max and headed to answer it. Both of us hoping that it wasn't work or if it was work that it was for the other person cause neither one of us wanted to go in.

"Rosher residence." I said as I answered the phone.

"Is Anna Del Amico there," I heard a voice on the other end of the line that sounded semi familiar but I couldn't quite figure it out as to who it belonged to.

"Yes this is she." I said relieved that it wasn't work but someone else wanting something other than me to cover a shift or work a double, or some hospital related objective.

"Anna it's Mark Greene from County General in Chicago."

"Oh Mark, hey hello." I say relieved now that I know who it is and that neither me nor Max was going to have to go anywhere. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually I am calling about Carter." Seemed that no one there ever used that poor man's first time but something just never sounded right when you called him John, or you put the word doctor in front of it.

There's something about the tone of his voice that makes me a little uneasy and why would someone be calling me about Carter, "Mark what happened?" Those words shot out of my mouth before I could even think.

"Carter was stabbed on late yesterday night."

It takes a minute for that to register with me, that's not something that would happen to Carter of all people, "is he… is he… is he alright?"

"He was injured pretty badly and is up in the ICU right now, but he was asking for you."

That had to be a good sign, "oh man." I run my hand through my hair as Max has moved from the couch where he was sitting to standing next to me, I'm sure he got the picture that something wasn't right from the tone of my voice and the posture that my body language had taken on.

"I told him that I would call you and see if you could come."

"Yeah, yeah," I said stuttering some, Max is looking at me with concern in his eyes, "Mark tell him that I will catch the first flight that I can."

"I will be safe Anna."

I hang the phone up and just stand there for a minute unsure of what I should say.

"Anna what's wrong, fly where?"

"Carter's been stabbed," I say with this tone still of disbelieve to my voice, it was almost unreal.

"We will get you to Chicago." I hear Max say to me, "I know he's one of your best friends and you need to be there, let him know you care."

That was the one thing about Max that I never had to worry about when it came to my friends, especially those who were male. He knew where my loyalties lied, that I was the type of person to take a commitment to someone very seriously and never wander away from that.

"Yeah, I need to go he's asking for me."

Saying that out loud just didn't make things feel any better, and I'm not sure that if it was because it made things feel more real or if it had made the situation sound desperately horrible.

Max took my hand and led me into the bedroom and helped me back a bag, "we'll get you tickets when we get to the airport." He said before noticing that I didn't seem to be there all the way with him. "What did Mark say happened?"

"He didn't say what happened, and uh, I didn't think to ask." I look at him, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Anna." He said as we got ready to leave the house, "just go spend time with your friend, call me when you get there so that I know that you are okay and that he is okay." I feel him place a kiss on my forehead, "it will all be okay Anna, and he's going to be fine."

I nod my response back, not hiding the concern for an old friend from my face. Max knows that Carter and I are nothing more than that just old friends and he has been the one who has insisted that I not cut myself off from friends.

I'm in this half shock state right now wondering what had happened, how it could have happened, but what is in the front of my mind is the hopes that he's going to be okay. We drive to the airport and Max grabs my bag from the trunk and leads me into the airport where he gets me onto the next flight to Chicago.

We walk together as far as security. "Here take this." He says, "if you can't find a place to stay get yourself a decent room and eat too."

I am still only able to nod but I kiss him on the cheek. He grabs me into a tight hug before letting go to send me through the security gates to board the plane, "be safe sweetheart." He says as I work my way through to the boarding gates. In a little over two hours I would be landing at the airport and working my way to the hospital where I would spend the next few days sitting by Carter's bedside keeping him company. Shocked that during the entire time I was there not a single member of his family other than his Gamma had come to visit him.

I didn't leave Chicago until I knew for sure that Carter was going to be alright. Actually it was at his insistence that I get back to work that I finally managed to leave. He was going to stay with his Gamma once he was discharged from the hospital and even though with everything that had happened he seemed to be doing okay. I would have stayed longer if he had wanted me too. Maybe he was just tired of seeing my face everyday or perhaps he needed some alone time for a bit, either way I packed up and caught a flight back to Philadelphia making promises to call and write. Both of them I fully intended to keep.