Goodbyes aren't forever
Abby sat in the back seat of a yellow taxi. She relaxed remembering all of the fond memories of County. Some memories sad, others happy, and the one that was still raw in her mind after twenty years was saying goodbye to Carter. It was like a fresh wound that would never heal no matter how much gauze, band aids, or stitches would heal it. "Lady, were here." The cabbie said as he parked on the curb. Abby nodded, and handed him the exact amount of money for the fare. "Thank you." Abby said as she stepped out of the back seat and gently shut the door. Cook County General had changed, especially the appearance. Walking through the ambulance bay Abby didn't recognize any of the paramedics who were pulling a young child attached to a gurney out of the back of their rig. Abby followed behind them, stopping at the triage desk. She pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to the nurse, "I'm here to see the chief of staff." Abby said, looking curiously at the nurse. She resembled Sam, kind of. "May I ask what your name is?" The nurse asked. "Abigail Lockhart." Abby said, waiting a few moments for the name to click on the nurse's head. "Sam? Do you remember me?" Abby said smiling at the nurse. "Oh my god Abby, I never thought I would see you after you left." Sam said opening the sliding doors for Abby to walk through.
Abby walked through them quickly and gave Sam a hug. "I never expected to find myself back here. The place it all began." Abby said. "Well, Susan is our Chief of Staff, she is going to flip when she sees you though. Twenty years Abby and you haven't changed a bit." Sam said smiling. "Yeah, sure…" Abby said smiling. "Go wait in the lounge, I will tell Susan your in there." Sam said. "Sam don't tell her its me, make up my name." Abby said walking towards the lounge. Sam nodded, and Abby walked inside the lounge, it hadn't changed that much at all. The room was still dimly lit and held all of the lockers, and the coffee machine. It was still stuffy, and held all of the same ratty furniture that had been there when she was a resident. Sitting down in a chair that she had most likely sat in years ago she smiled. Memories flooding back of all the parties they had throw in here. "It's still all so real." Abby whispered.
The door squeaked open, and Abby turned her head to see who it was. The woman looked familiar, but Abby couldn't place a finger on it. "Excuse me, do I know you?" Abby asked looking at the young doctor. The doctor looked at Abby, her blue eyes so familiar. "Wait; are you Rachel, Mark Greene's daughter?" Abby asked, it was so obvious, the curly brown hair, and the face, so familiar. The doctor nodded, "May I ask who you are?" Rachel asked with a British accent. "I worked with your father, I was a nurse. Abby Lockhart, but after you went back to St. Louis I became a doctor." Abby said smiling. "Ah…I went to London after I heard Elizabeth left with Ella, I just needed to start a new, and I was given that chance." Rachel said smiling, "I'm sorry to be abrupt, but I have to meet Elizabeth for lunch." Rachel said walking towards the door. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure we will get a lot of time to catch up." Abby said turning back to face the table.
"Mrs. Tomas, I'm Susan Lewis, Chief of Staff." She heard Susan's voice as the door squeaked open. Abby turned around, and looked at Susan, she smiled, Susan had not changed a lot. "Susan do you remember me, or am I going to have to start working under my new alias?" Abby said jokingly, standing up to meet her old friend. "Abby? Oh my god! Sam was giving me a sly smile, but I thought it was about something else! I can't believe it's really you, you look wonderful!" Susan said hugging her friend. "Susan, I just ran into Rachel Greene, have I really been gone that long? Are we really that old?" Abby asked, a smiled crept on her face. She had missed all of her friends so much. "Oh, we are just that old Abby, and you really have been gone way to long." Susan said smiling. "So I heard I have to see you for a job here." Abby said. "Are you serious, you don't need to see anybody, you could have just started working on patients. Of course your hired, you have your lab coat and everything? Just need to update your ID, and then you are all set. Everything is still the same." Susan said smiling.
"Susan, it has been twenty years, barely nothing is the same. Tell me what has happened here. What I have missed." Abby said looking at her friend curiously. "Alright, you might need to sit down for this one, twenty years is along time. But I will skip to all of the good parts, and skip all of the people you don't know or just don't want to." Susan said pulling up two chairs. Abby nodded, "Its been that bad?" she asked. Susan shook her head, "Just listen. A few weeks after you left, Deb came back. Since you were gone she thought she would immediately take your place. She was wrong and got immediately ousted from the group, pissed that no one liked her she left. We heard she got married to some Chinese businessman and moved back to China. Sam and Luka got married, they have four kids, including Alex. Luka is currently in Africa again, he is looking for some woman he heard went missing. Morris left after two years of being Chief of the ER, we all heard he committed suicide, but we never got confirmation from Mercy or any other hospital around here about that. Well, Elizabeth came back, and Rachel is working here as well. Pratt and Gallant are both in the Army now, we haven't heard from them in a while, but I'm sure they are alright. Neela is married to Ray, and they moved out west, they just kind of disappeared off the radar. I had one more child, a little girl, Abby. She and Cosmo are in high school, at Marist. John came back last year, he came back from Africa, without Kem. She cheated on him or something like that, and he just couldn't stand being there anymore. So he I think is upstairs watching a surgery, but he is still single. Kerry is still here, she is on leave though, Henry is sick. She should be back next week sometime. Everyone else is new, and you don't want to know them. All of the nurses are the same." Susan said taking a deep breath afterward. "That's a lot, you named your daughter Abby?" Abby asked, a bit confused to why. "Yeah, I was worried that I would never see you again, and I didn't want to forget you, ever." Susan said. "Well that is one way." Abby said laughing. "So now you have to tell me what has happened to you." Susan said.
"Well, I moved back to Minnesota, and worked at a hospital right outside of DePaul. It was nothing like here, and very boring. I have no kids, my mom is dead, and my brother is somewhere I don't know. After my mom died I decided that I would come back here as soon as I had the money too. Now I'm here. John would get a kick out of the fact that I haven't drunk a single drop of alcohol or smoked a cigarette since he left though." Abby said smiling. "You cared that much?" Susan asked. "Yeah, I just kept seeing that look in his eyes, telling me no." Abby said. "Well, if it works, it works." Susan said giggling. "Its not funny!" Abby said.