Chapter 18: Slowly Forward We Shall Go

Taking it one day at a time never seem so hard, it was as if he was waiting for Christmas to come and that his present was Abby being able to come home. She was far from being able to do that thought. Each day some little step forward was taken. She had her good days and she had her bad days. The good days she would do something that she hadn't done before. Taking a small trip to the end of the hallway, and then on those bad days no one could get her to step outside of her room.

Today she and Carter had made it to the cafeteria where they were going to have lunch. Well that was the plan but Carter had this sneaking feeling that if they made it to the cafeteria even that made it all worth while. She had been speaking to people now for about 2 weeks and Carl was much more confident in her recovery.

"Almost to the elevator." Carter said as they walked down the hallway, "you are doing great." Little words of encouragement to keep her moving forward.

"I can see it." She said a hint of fear in her voice.

"Don't worry I'm right here beside you and if you get uncomfortable we will come right back." He said softly to her now.

"I know." Abby answered back. The walls were trying to close in on her a little now but she tried to think of everything that her and Carl had been working on over the past two weeks and it helped to send them back just a little bit. "Is it nice outside?"

"You could fry an egg on the sidewalk today." Carter answered her now, "too warm if you ask me."

"Sounds like it." Abby said back as they reached the elevator. And she leaned forward and pushed the button, trying to gain her confidence back as well as some of her independence.

"Yeah hopefully it won't last to much longer, they are getting a lot of heat stroke victims in the ER, and it's keeping us busy." Carter answered her.

"I bet." That part made her sad, she knew she wouldn't be able to go back into medicine now that she had become somewhat of what they considered mentally unstable. It didn't bother her that she had the label though, there were reason that were out of her control and in time she would heal completely. It was all from the trauma and it was something that she still didn't like to talk about or even think about it if she could avoid it.

"Are you okay?" There was something about the tone of her voice that wasn't sitting well with him.

"Yeah," she answered back, "wish everyone would stop asking me that. I will let you know if I'm not."

"Okay I will try I promise." He said giving her a soft smile now, he had been keeping his distance from her a little bit not wanting to push her to hard, but he couldn't help but worry about her all of the time.

Now she laughed, "okay Carter you try." She had a soft smile on her face that hid how nervous she really was about all of this. She didn't like leaving the safety of her room or the safety of the floor much for that matter either, but for Carter she was trying.

She was doing okay; well right now she was doing okay. As the elevator descended down towards the cafeteria and more people got on she got more nervous. It stopped on the floor where they wanted to be and she fought the urge to just not get off hit the button and go back up to her room.

Carter cautiously took her hand as they got off and headed for the cafeteria. Abby just kept taking those slow deep breaths that she had been told were supposed to have a calming effect, nope, not today.

He walked over and picked up an orange tray, holding it in his hands, "let's get us something to eat, what do you think you are in the mood for?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders not knowing if she really wanted to eat right now, she wasn't feeling all that great, she knew it was just the fear that she was feeling, and she knew that the only thing she could do right now was try and conquer that fear, not wanting to let it beat her.

They walked through the line and Abby finally settled on a bagel and some Jell-o and a cup of coffee. Hey it was the lunch of champions in her mind. Carter bought there lunch after settling on an egg salad sandwich and a bag of chips. He found them a table that wasn't overly crowded; they had planned the time to come down when there wouldn't be a lot of people in there, as to not overwhelm her just yet.

They sat and ate. Abby was pretty proud of herself for being able to do this and not throw up or run in fear. And from the look on Carter's face you could tell that he was pretty happy with the way things were going. There were few words said between the two of them as they ate and when they finished they headed back upstairs.

"You did great." Carter said as they had gotten back upstairs.

"Thanks, I think." She said giving him that funny smile again.

"Baby steps," he said squeezing her hand softly, "it's just going to take a whole lot of them. But you're here and that's all that matters to me."

Abby for the first time now since this all started stopped Carter from walking as they stood now in the hallway outside her room. She stood up on her tiptoes and placed a small kiss on his cheek, there was nothing huge about it, nothing overly passionate, and she didn't put a whole lot of herself into doing it. But the smile that was on Carter's face from that simple gesture said more than any words could ever say.

He smiled down at her, not wanting to go but knowing that she had things that she needed to do today and he needed to get back to work. "Hey don't get the group leader a hard time today." He gave her a grin.

"Ah shucks and to think I was looking forward to giving him a run for his money."

"You know you can be down right evil when you want to be."

"Nope, just trying. And half the time he deserves it." Abby blushed a little now as she drug her foot across the ground and smiled down. "I won't today." She looked up, "have a good day Carter." She had a hand on the door frame now as she swung herself into the room a little more.

"It will be a good one now." He said watching her as he backed a few steps away. "I'll see you later."

"That you will."

Carter headed off down the stairs to get to work, his heart feeling a little lighter today than it had in a long time they were making some serious progress and each step forward that they took together was one more step closer to being able for her to go home.