TITLE: Power Struggle
AUTHOR: Lindsey
EMAIL: R (language)
SPOILERS: Season 7-present
ARCHIVE: email me for permission, please
AUTHOR'S NOTES: My chapters usually tend to be on the short side... bear with me: ) Fic authors live for feedback, whether positive or negative! Love it? Hate it? Lemme know!
DISCLAIMER: I have John Carter handcuffed to my headboard... and yet, I still don't own any characters, rights, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc.
SUMMARY: A sudden change in events forces Abby to make a drastic decision.

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...

Abby Lockhart's alarm startled her into the world of the conscious. She rolled over and pounced on the off button with a force to wake the dead.

15 minutes later

"Abby? Aaaaabbbyyyy... Sweetheart, time to get up." John Carter walked to the other side of the bed and knelt down beside her, shaking her gently. "Abby. Your shift starts in less than an hour... time to get up."

"No..."

John smiled. "Yes. Come on... Rise and shine." Waiting a few moments he said, "Abby. Now. You're gonna be late for your shift... You're not sick, you don't have a fever. Get up."

"I'm not going today," Abby mumbled, pulling the covers over her head.

Sighing, John grabbed his coat. "Fine. I'll tell Weaver you're sick and you can deal with her later. Abby?" His only answer was the sound of gentle snoring.

"Hey, Carter?" Malik stepped into the lounge, clutching a pile of charts. "Weaver needs you in Trauma 1."

Putting his hand over the end of his cell phone, Carter turned to face Malik. "Tell her I'm on my break. Get Lewis, she's asleep in Exam 2."

Not wanting to pester him, but feeling he had to, Malik continued. "She... she specifically asked for you."

Carter sighed. "Malik, I'm in the middle of a very important phone call. Please, just tell her I'll be there in a minute. If she doesn't like it she can get someone else."

"Okay, man. Whatever you say," Malik replied, leaving the lounge and heading to Trauma 1.

In the lounge, Carter paced back and forth, listening to the buzz of the phone, then finally the click of the answering machine, 'Hello, you've reached John Carter and Abby Lockhart. We're unable to answer the phone right now, so if you'd please leave your name and number, we'll get back to you.' Beep

"Abby... Sweetheart, it's me. Abby, please pick up the phone... Alright, look, I'll be home around seven. Call me when you get this message. Okay... I love you... bye." Carter closed his cell phone with a sigh. He'd left six messages before this one, telling her each time to call him, and nothing yet. She never acted like this, at least not when she was sober, which she had been for almost a year. He was beginning to get extremely worried about her.

John checked his watch as he climbed the stairs to their apartment. 7:15 Hopefully she'd be home and in one piece. His stomach turned as he unlocked the door.

"Abby?" There was no answer. "I'm home... Abby?" He searched the apartment, calling her name. Again and again, no answer. He returned to the living room and pressed a button on the answering machine. 'You have seven new messages.' John dropped his bag and listened to all seven messages left on the machine. To all seven pleas. To all seven 'I love you's.

Just as he hit the erase button, the door opened and in breezed Abby, carrying an armful of groceries.

Carter rushed to help her, setting the bags on the counter next to him. He passionately kissed her, then grabbed her shoulders and stared at her with a look that could shatter glass. "Where the hell have you been?"

Confused, Abby shrugged off her jacket and slung it over the stool near the counter. "What are you talking about? I went to the store," she said. Suddenly, she started rushing around the kitchen. "After you left, I got this burst of energy, so I got dressed and went to the gym, the grocery store, clothes shopping..." She stopped and looked at him. "What?"

John was looking at her, concern etched on his face. Without a word, he headed for the bathroom.

Following him, she asked, "What... what are you doing?"

"Checking," he said, opening the medicine cabinet.

"For what? What? You think I'm on drugs or something? Is that it, John, huh? You think I'm getting high or something? Well, you're absolutely crazy!" She practically spat the words, ran to their bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

John sighed, turning the light off and leaving the bathroom. He wanted desperately to talk to her, to find out what was wrong, but he knew Abby well enough to know that she needed her space when she got angry.

1 hour later

John knocked softly on the bedroom door, hoping he'd given her enough time to cool down. "Abby? Can I come in?" "Yeah," she answered, sitting up on the bed. John opened the door and found Abby sitting there, hair tousled and clothes wrinkled. "Hey," he said. "Hi," she replied, wiping at her tear-stained face.

Sitting beside her, he gently took her in his arms. "What's wrong?" he asked, smoothing her hair.

"I'm so sorry, John. I didn't mean to-" "It's fine," he said. "Just tell me what's wrong."

"That's the thing. I don't know."

"Did I do something wrong? Did something happen with your mother? With Eric? Was it something at work?"

Abby shook her head. "No, none of those things. I just... have the can't-help-it's I guess."

Suddenly, something occurred to him. "Abby, when was your last period?"

Pulling away to look at him, she smiled. "I'm not pregnant, if that's what you're thinking."

"Are you sure about that?" He knew the possibility wasn't all that great, but he couldn't come up with anything else, and like anything else in life, it was always possible.

"Uh, yeah. I think I would know if I were pregnant, thank you very much."

"Don't 'uh, yeah' me. You're a nurse, hell, you were an OB nurse at one point. You know that's not always true," he said, smiling.

"Oh shut up."

12 hours later County General

Kerry Weaver was on a rampage. She'd pulled two doubles in the last week and a half and she was letting everyone feel the toll it had taken. Practically sprinting to the admit desk, she made her presence known. "Carter!" she barked, snapping her fingers.

"Yes?" he asked, trying to give Kerry his full attention.

"Exams one, two and three are all yours," she said, handing him a chart for each.

"I've already got-"

"I don't care what you've already got," she said, writing his name on the board. "Get to work. There's plenty more where that came from."

As Kerry walked away, he sarcastically saluted her. "Yes, ma'am!" Just as Carter was about to head to Exam 1, he spotted Abby. "So..."

"Sooo...?" she replied, looking up from the chart she was writing on.

Shoving his hands in his pockets and looking straight ahead, he asked, "You take it?"

"Take what?" she asked, putting her pen in her pocket.

"C'mon."

She smiled. "No, I haven't. I was thinking it'd be better to do it at home, y'know... things tend to get around here pretty fast."

John nodded. "Okay, um, my shift is over in, well, never, considering Weaver's mood. Um... I'll... catch up with you later, 'kay?"

Abby laughed. She could see how the possibility of her being pregnant was affecting him. "Okay," she said, kissing him. Starting down the hall, she turned to face him. "Oh, and John? Don't start handing out cigars just yet, okay?"

"Ha ha, very funny," he said, smiling.

11pm John and Abby's apartment

John unlocked the door and threw his bag on the couch. "God, that was the longest shift in history."

Abby laughed. "Why? Because it was physically demanding, or because your little brain couldn't hold anything more than this question?" she asked, holding up the pregnancy test.

"That," he said, pointing to it. He walked toward her, taking the box out of her hands and kissing her deeply. "Or this... I can't remember now." She smiled, reaching for the box. "So, would you like to find out if you're going to be a daddy?" she asked. "Yes. Please." "Okay. I'll be right back," she smiled.

John paced the living room. He heard the bathroom door close as he crossed his fingers.