Chapter 11: Bang

Susan watched Carter as he emerged from Abby's bedroom. They both looked like they had been through the wringer. "How is she?"

"She's sleeping." Carter said as he said down in the chair at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands. "Right now that's the best that we can hope for, is that she get some sleep."

Susan sat down beside him now worried about them both, knowing what affect her in turn affected him and this was killing them both silently. "Carter you need to take her and get her some help. You can't do this one on your own."

Carter looked up at Susan. "I know," his response so soft and so quiet but he didn't think that Abby would be keen on the idea and that was half the battle right there in getting her the help that she needed. He knew that if she didn't want it that it wasn't going to do any good and this was an issue that needed to be walked tight, push her and she might snap, ignore it and try to deal with it on there own and it could blow up right in their faces. He didn't want to push her, have her bolt and then not know where she was or if she was even alright. But if he left it alone, it could fester to a point where one or both of them could get seriously hurt. He was torn with what to do, did he do what he knew he needed to do or did he do what he thought Abby would want him to do.

"I know it's not going to be easy Carter, but she needs it, that's not our Abby that's in there." Susan said.

"Don't you think that I know that?" Carter said as he pushed back angrily from the table. He didn't need to be reminded of how bad things had gotten. He didn't know anymore how to help her and that's what scared him the most. She was his everything. Abby had Carter's heart and when she hurt, he hurt.

Then there was that sinking feeling inside of him that this wasn't going to get any better. A defeat that he didn't want to accept but one that was a real possibility. He wasn't going to let Paul beat them down. He might have lost everything that he had once held dear, but Carter was not going to let that happen to them. He was going to watch her spiral downward farther and farther, just out of the reach of his touch.

"Carter." Susan said when she noticed that her friend had gotten very quiet again. Carter seemed to be lost in his own world of thoughts right now. "I know you know it, but sometimes that's something that even we don't want to admit to ourselves and she's going to be resistant to all of this. You know Abby well better than I do and we both know that she's not one to take help from others. We're going to have an uphill battle on our hands."

Carter just crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the cold countertop. "What am I supposed to do Susan? Drag her down there and make her stay put until she gets what she needs? This is something that I can bargain with her about."

"No you can't, you are right there." Susan said. She had very feeble attempts to reassure Carter that everything was going to be okay but they both right now needed to believe that was how this whole thing was going to end. "but we are going to have to be forceful and not bend on this."

"Forceful, forceful, what are you nuts?" He said looking at her, his arms still crossed over his chest and a look of desperation and frustration now crossed his face, "that's the last thing that she needs right now. Force is what got her into this mess cause her world to start to unravel. My god she was attack in daylight on an EL platform. How do you think you would feel after something like that, your best friend and your boyfriend forcing you to do something?"

"At the time I probably wouldn't like it Carter." Susan said looking at him now there was still compassion in her eyes, but she couldn't let him not help Abby.

Carter rolled his eyes, "you bet your ass she's not going to like it. In fact it might do more harm than good for me to throw her over my shoulder carrying her kicking and screaming out that door. She hasn't left the apartment in days."

"Well it's a chance that we are going to have to take." Susan said.

"We? What do you mean we, since when has there become a we in this?" Carter asked looking at her with intense eyes, wondering what had gotten into her that she was suddenly so willing to come to the rescue.

"Yes, we, I will help you as much as I can." Susan reached over now and put her hand upon his shoulder, they were in this together as far as she was concerned. "I've been there since this started, I took care of her when she came in and I need to as much as you do see it to where she is back on her feet again."

She was right. Carter didn't know if he had the strength to do this alone. If she started crying or begging, he would back away not wanting to upset her or hurt her anymore than she had already been hurt. She was his soft spot, an Achilles heal of the sorts when it came to making Abby do something Carter just didn't have the heart.

They were both silent now as they stood there each locked in their own world of thought as they tried to come up with what they thought would be the best way to handle this. Of course there was the easy way of asking Abby to go with them to get some help and to talk to someone. The both knew that one just seemed to easy that it would be shot down with protest before they could get it out of their mouths. But neither of them wanted to have to actually force Abby to go outside and get help.

Then it happened, a sound that neither one of them wanted to hear, one that shattered the deep thoughts that they had both been stuck inside. It was the kind of sound that pulled at your heart and made you want to cry. You could hear Abby sobbing in the other room and then before either of them could react from the shock of hearing her cry, it was followed by a loud bang.

Carter went white as a sheet for that sound scared him half to death. He didn't know what to make of a noise so horrifying that bang, was not one that you wanted to hear inside a house with a woman who was barely hanging onto reality in the other room. Time seemed now to almost stand still as if they were frozen in that split second. He looked at Susan who was as white as he was.

But what could have forced her hand like that, to take such a desperate measure? Carter could feel his heart breaking; you could hear the sound of his heart breaking in the off silence that was there. Wishing that time would speed up so that he could move again. There was nothing like the feeling of knowing that time should be going faster that you should be doing something but yet you couldn't. There wasn't anything right now that he could make his body do, he was desperate for time.

Then there it was again that same loud eerie bang and he and Susan looked at each other still with horrified looks. Then there was the actual sound of a car motor running. A car outside had backfired twice. Carter let out a sigh but knew that it had probably scared Abby half to death. It was in that instant in time that he knew for both of their sanity and to ease his worries that he was going to take her to get help. He didn't want the fears that had just filled his mind to become reality. He didn't want too, more so he couldn't bare to lose his Abby like that. Something needed to be done before she became that drastic, that irrational, that lost.