A/N: Please read and review so that I know if this one is liked or hated. I hate working on stories if I don't know that people like them or hate them or if anyone is even reading it. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Chapter 2: Hiding from it.

"Carter!"

"Huh," he answered sleepily. He had gone to lay down around 4:30 when the ER had finally slowed down.

"You wanted woke up at 7," the voice called again; "well it's seven!"

"I'm up." He said waiting for the door to go closed before flopping back down on the gurney, god he was tired and just flat out didn't want to move.

"CARTER!"

"What, what!" He said this time jumping off the gurney, "really I'm up, I'm up."

"Get a move on it." The voice said, "Weaver is bitching about rounds, you need to hand off patients not that you have all but 2 but she's still bitching."

Carter let out a grown as he climbed off the gurney and threw on his lab coat and headed out of the exam room where he had been enjoying a nap.

"Slacking off Dr. Carter."

Oh Weaver's voice this morning was enough to grate on anyone's nerves, especially his. "Yeah I am." He replied back with more sarcasm than he meant to. He picked up the two charts that he had, had from the night, "Drunk in four sleeping it off." He started to give her the run down on what he had, "and there's MI in curtain 3, waiting on enzymes and cardiology to come down. That's it, all she wrote."

"Thank you Doctor."

"You're welcome." He said his tone not changing much. He glance up at the clock, it was quarter past, Abby should have been around there somewhere and he wanted to see her before he took off. "Hey Haleh have you seen Abby this morning?"

"Not yet." She said, "but I just got on a few minutes ago, she might be in the lounge."

"Thanks," Carter replied back as he headed that direction himself. He walked in, there was no Abby. Not even a sign that she had come in that morning. Maybe she had just missed her train or overslept. He might have had the time that she was due in wrong too. But he could have sworn that she said seven. But that did sound a lot like eleven. He headed back out to the admit desk.

"Hey Frank what time is Abby on today?" He asked

"What am I now nurse monitor. Check the schedule." Frank said back to Carter.

"Yeah why did I just think of that instead of asking you to begin with?" He said rhetorically. He managed to find the nurse schedule and it said that she was working seven to two today. She might have just missed her train. He'd give her another fifteen minutes and then call to make sure that she was okay. He didn't want to see as if he was being overprotective or overbearing right now, but he was worried about her, the last time he had a bad feeling and didn't check sooner something horrible had happened. But what were the odds that it would happen again so soon. He didn't want to even think about that right now.

"Okay I know this isn't in your job description but do you think that if Abby comes in you could tell her that I am looking for her." Carter said, "I'm going to get a cup of coffee in the lounge."

"Yeah I'll tell her but you know that's the first place she usually goes when she comes in." He said, "no wonders the docs are always complaining there's no coffee the nurses raid it all."

Carter just shook his head as he walked away. He didn't have any horrible feeling this morning so it was more likely than not that she just missed her train. He walked into the lounge filling up his coffee cup and watching the clock not that it made it go any faster, but it was something to do.

Abby had checked the locks on the doors twice and then the windows. There was no one in the apartment but her right now and she wanted to keep it that way. Her hands were still shaking uncontrollably right now as she headed further into the apartment back towards her bedroom. She jumped through the roof when she heard sirens outside. It took her mind a minute to register that the sound was not near her but coming from outside the window.

A wave of nausea started to creep over her as she darted for the bathroom getting there just in time as she started to vomit. This was not a good morning, not how she intended it to go. She moved towards the bed now that her stomach was empty; her head felt like it was spinning as she reached for the bed. But the bed wasn't there; she wasn't in her apartment anymore. It was cold and dark again. That was the sound of the train coming the one that would take her home. But she had already gone home, hadn't she something wasn't right, something didn't feel right, she was having a hard time keeping her breathing under control.

Abby spun around trying to get her bearings to figure out where she was, what was going on, this wasn't right that much she knew. She closed her eyes and opened them again, the images that were before her eyes were still the same, and she wrapped her arms around her to try to fight off the chill.

She'd have to wait for the next train, she looked down at her wrist to check the time, no it should be here in a couple of minutes she hadn't missed it. She just wanted to get home. Pain followed by the feeling of something cool trickling down her back. She couldn't reach around to feel it though; there was a hand on her back pulling her to sit down. She couldn't move right now, fear, was that what she was feeling, no it was the life slipping out of her body that she was feeling. She could feel the back of her shirt completely drenched by the wet stickiness that was pooling on her shirt under her coat.

Time seemed to be standing still, people, she could hear people moving about but she couldn't make a sound, there was nothing that would come from inside her body no matter how hard she tried. She started to cry, she could feel the wetness of tears on her cheeks right now, and she had never felt so helpless and lost as she did right at that moment in time. Terrified and alone.

The tears turned into sobs. She couldn't stop crying as her bedroom slowly came back into focus. Her body was racked by them now and she couldn't get it under control. She had been alone then and she was alone now. She was never leaving here; she couldn't ever go up onto that EL platform again. She didn't want to put herself back into that place ever again even just thinking about it was enough to make her stomach turn.

A good fifteen minutes later, the shrill sound of the phone ring gave her another heart attack as with a pounding heart and rapid breathing, stuffed up nose from crying so hard so picked it up. "H…h… hello."

"Abby," Carter was relieved to hear her voice.

"Y… y…yeah." She stammered out, it was only Carter.

"Everything okay?" He asked her.

She needed to pull it together right now the last thing that she needed was for Carter to think that she was going nuts. "Yeah." She said sucking it up, "I think I caught a cold or the flu last night. I'm just feeling really bad… I just woke up."

"Okay, hey I'll be home in about 20 minutes or so, do you want me to bring you anything?"

"Uh no, no thanks." She said, "I'm just going to go back to bed."

"Okay honey, I'll see you shortly." Carter was relieved that nothing had happened to her, she didn't sound all that great but then she might have really been ill. He'd take a look at her when he got home.

"Yeah see you shortly." Abby hung up the phone and crawled back onto the bed for a minute before walking into the bathroom and turning the shower on. She needed to try and get the redness out of her eyes before Carter got home.