We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Twenty-One

A/N: I'm glad that I was able to surprise everyone with the last chapter. This chapter will explain how Lucy was able to beat Paul. Enjoy!

Carter was wondering what was keeping Lucy. She had been gone for about fifteen minutes so he picked up two pieces of cake and walked towards Sobricki's room. He saw the lights were out, and he thought it was odd. After opening the door, he dropped the plates of cake. "What the hell is going on in here?"

At the sound of Carter's voice, Lucy stopped kicking Paul and looked up. She gave him a nervous smile and bit her lip. She pointed at Paul, who was now unconscious and lying on the floor. "He started it."

"Started what?" Carter asked as he walked over to Paul. After finding a pulse and making sure that he was still breathing, he walked back out to the hallway and motioned for Dr. Greene to come over. He came back into the room, hoping for any kind of explanation from Lucy.

"He had Chuni's missing knife. He was going to attack me." She calmly replied, looking at the floor.

"Looks like he got you too." Carter noted, pointing to her right arm. Her lab coat was red with blood.

Mark entered the exam room. "What's going on…" his voice trailed off as he saw Carter and Lucy standing next to a patient lying on the floor. "What happened here?"

"He attacked Lucy." Carter said before Lucy had a chance to speak up. He pointed to Lucy's injured arm. "She was defending herself."

"Looks like you went a little overboard." Mark commented.

"He's got good breath sounds and his pulse is strong. I think he'll be ok." Carter commented.

Mark sighed. "Ok. Carter, help me get him onto the bed and then go get a couple of nurses. We'll put him in restraints and check him out. Then go take care of Lucy's arm. When you're finished, wait for me in the lounge."

"Sure." Carter replied, helping Mark get Paul onto the bed. Then he led Lucy out of the room. "Why don't you go ahead and wait for me in exam six? I'll be there in a minute."

"Sure." Lucy nodded solemnly, heading off to exam six. She went inside and sat down on the edge of the bed. Carefully, she took off her lab coat. Paul had managed to slice her upper arm. It was pretty bloody and she was sure that it would require at least twenty stitches. While she waited for Carter to come in to fix her arm, she thought back to the events leading up to when Carter found her kicking Paul.

She walked back a couple of steps and found herself once again up against a wall. Memories of New Year's Eve flooded her mind and she had to work in order to control the tears that were threatening to fall. She knew that she had to get out of there and away from Sobricki before he killed her or her baby. Her baby. She had to find a way to protect her baby. "Please, don't do this."

"You didn't listen when I objected, so I'm not listening to your objections." Paul replied, walking another step. By now he was only a few feet away from her and there was no way that she could get away from him. "And if you scream, I'll only make it hurt more."

She looked into his eyes and could tell that he was serious. He was really going to start slicing her up like she was a Thanksgiving turkey. She knew that she had to do something. She couldn't let herself be a victim again. She had been paralyzed with fear on New Year's Eve and, although she was scared out of her mind right now, she couldn't let that keep her from fighting back. She couldn't let herself or her baby get killed. Her baby. Once again, she had this maternal instinct to protect her child. She decided that in order to come out of this situation with her life and her child's life, she would have to think of a plan—a strategy to distract him so she could get the upper hand. A strange smile started to form on her face. It was the kind of smile that someone would have if they had just won the lottery.

Paul noticed the smile on her face and started to get confused. "Why are you smiling? There's no reason for you to smile! I'm the one who should be smiling"

She didn't answer his question. She just kept smiling and started to chuckle.

He was starting to get angry now. "Stop laughing! This isn't funny! This is a serious situation!"

"I think it's laughable." She calmly stated.

"Well it's not. Wipe that smile off of your face before I do it for you." He threatened, waving the knife in her face.

"I'd like to see you try that." She replied. She knew that such a statement was bold and asking for trouble, but she had a plan.

He chuckled. "Maybe I will." He moved in closer to attack.

Lucy watched him carefully, choosing the perfect moment to attack. Right before the knife was able to make contact with her skin she kneed Paul in the groin area. This made him back up a few steps from Lucy and cower in pain. "What's wrong? Huh?" She noticed that he was distracted because of the pain she had caused. "Did you think that I would just let you kill me? Cause I won't." She was so focused on what she was saying that she didn't notice he was gaining his composure back.

Paul lunged at Lucy and soon they were locked in a battle of strength. She was trying to hold him back so that he wouldn't be able to cut her, but he was much stronger than her and knew that he would eventually win this battle. Sure enough, a few moments later, Lucy wasn't able to hold him back any longer and he used the knife to slice her arm.

Lucy grabbed her right arm while crying out in pain, noting the blood that was now on her hands and running down her arm. "You're gonna pay for that one." She promised. With renewed strength she kicked him, making the knife fly out of his hands and land on the other side of the room. Now it was far away from him and out of his reach. Her kick had made him fall to the floor, and she saw that his head had made contact with the door of a nearby cabinet. He fell to the floor and appeared to be unconscious. She walked over to him and kicked him in the stomach area. "That was for threatening me with the knife!" She kicked him again. "And that one was for slicing open my arm!" Kicking him again, she said, "That one was for endangering the life of my baby!" She paused before kicking him again. "And that one is because you're making me miss the Valentine's Day party!" She was going to kick him again, but the door had opened and she heard Carter's voice calling out to her.

"Hey Luce? You ok?" Carter asked as he entered the room and saw Lucy staring out into space.

Lucy shook the thoughts out of her head and nodded. "I'm fine."

He sat next to her on her right side so that he could take a closer look at her arm. "Wow, he really cut your arm up badly. Does it hurt a lot? I could get you something for it."

"No thanks. I can deal with it. It's not that bad." Lucy shook her head.

"Ok." He nodded, going back to stitching up her arm.

After a few moments of silence, Lucy finally spoke. "You're probably wondering what happened."

He paused for a moment and then went back to stitching up her arm. "Yeah, but if you don't want to tell me right now, you don't have to. I can wait."

"He was going to kill me. I'm certain of that. There was this wild look in his eyes. I couldn't let him hurt me or my baby." She paused, letting a small smile appear on her face as she turned to look over at Carter. "It was weird. I was thinking about how I needed to protect my baby and then all of a sudden I was attacking him. If you hadn't come into the room when you did, I think I might not have stopped kicking him."

"I think that's what they call maternal instinct." Carter pointed out, locking eyes with Lucy.

"I guess." She maintained eye contact with him for a few seconds and then looked down at the floor. "You know, I went to church this afternoon."

"You went to church?" He asked, surprised by this revelation. "You hate churches."

"I know that." She laughed. "But I went there anyway. I prayed and lit a couple of candles. I had to go and ask God to give me a sign about what to do. Lately everything's been so complicated and I have had no idea what I'm supposed to do next. I needed him to show me what to do, and in a way he did."

"How so?" Carter asked, curious about what she was talking about. Right now, he didn't understand her ramblings or what conclusions her comments were leading to.

"Ever since I found out that I'm pregnant I have been doubting whether or not I could actually be a good mother. My mom has always made it seem so easy, but I know that it isn't and I didn't think I could it. But now I think I can because if I can protect this baby from someone like Paul Sobricki, I can do anything."

He started to smile at her words. He had known that she would never be able to have an abortion, and was glad that it didn't take her very long to realize it either. "I've always known that you would be a great mother. You're a natural nurturer Luce, just like your mom."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"That's what I'm here for." He chuckled. "Your arm is fixed. You're gonna have to have these stitches in for…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know the speech." She smiled.

"Yeah, I forgot who I was talking to." Carter laughed. "Sorry."

"That's ok." She gave him a hug. "Thank you."

"All I did was stitch up your arm." He was surprised by her hug but welcomed it, closing his eyes and taking in the intoxicating scent of her hair.

She pulled away from him but not completely. Their faces were still inches away from each other. "I didn't mean for that…well I did, but I also meant for everything. These past couple of days you've been great and I really appreciate…"

He decided to interrupt her. "You don't have to say it. I know."

"Yeah I do have to say it. You're my best friend and I don't know what I'd do without you." They had been staring at each other and slowly, their mouths started to move closer. She was certain that they were going to kiss any second now. Frightened by this realization, she pulled away and stood up. "Um, we should probably go wait for Dr. Greene in the lounge like he said."

"Yeah." Carter replied, a little disappointed by the fact that they didn't kiss.