Chapter 6:

Abby turns around. She decides that if there ever were a time to invite Carter over it should be now, its not like he had anyone, or anything (Abby had Max at least) to go home to. "Hey Carter!" she yells.

"Hey what?" Carter yells back.

"I think I have someone you aught to meet."

"And who would that be?" Carter asks.

"What would that be," Abby says correcting him.

"Max?" he asks.

"Yeah, come on!" she says, motioning Carter to come over.

They both run over to the El, not wanting to miss it. Abby grabs Carter's hand and starts pulling him along faster. Carter tries to keep up with Abby and how spontaneous she could be. They board the El and sit down next to each other. The ride there is quiet.

They step off the El and start to walk to Abby's place. "Well I didn't think I'd be walking to your place tonight," Carter says, breaking the silence.

"Why what'd you think you'd be doing? It couldn't have been anything more exciting than this," Abby says cheerfully.

"That's true." Carter replies, as Abby tries to find the key to her apartment door. She finds the key and puts it in the lock and opens up the door. A big bouncy poodle comes bounding towards them.

"Hey Max," Abby says as she steps into her apartment. Carter follows in after her and goes to take off his jacket. "I'd leave that on if I were you."

"Why?" asks Carter.

"Cause now its time to go walk Max," Abby says as she looks around for the dog leash. Carter finds it and picks it up. He hands it to Abby who then hooks it to Max's collar. Max waits patiently as Abby goes to open up the door.

"That was a long walk," Carter says, sounding tired.

"Yeah well if Max is gonna have a walk, it might as well be a nice long one. He insists on that actually," Abby says smiling. She notices that when she's around Carter she smiles and laughs more. That's because when I'm around Carter I'm happy, she thinks.

Carter chuckles, he likes Max and is glad that Abby has someone around to keep her company, even if it is a dog. Abby goes to the kitchen area to make tea. Carter goes to sit on the sofa as Max follows him and jumps on right next to where Carter is sitting. "He likes you," Abby says, as Carter pats Max's furry head.

"So how do you like being back?" Abby asks as she sits down across from Carter.

"It's good to be back. I missed Chicago, and you know things weren't really working out with Kem. And then we broke up, and I really had nowhere else to go. There was no point staying in France."

"John, if you don't mind me asking…" Abby says, hinting that she wants him to share what really happened with Kem.

"Sure go ahead, eventually you will probably find out," Carter says, almost falling apart.

"No, its okay… I can tell you don't really want to talk about it just yet."

"Yeah… and thanks for not pushing it, I just don't think I'm ready for everyone to know yet," Carter says, as he gets up to go leave. Abby also gets up to go walk him towards the door. Max stays on the sofa, laying down there sleepily.

"Bye," Carter says, trying to sound more cheerful than he was a few moments ago. Abby opens the door. Before Carter leaves they kiss.