Chapter 42 – Gas n' Air
"Eeeeeeeergh! I want an epidural!" Sam shouted in her push. Her curls look straggly from the sweat.
"No Sam it's too late, I can't give you one, you are too far dilated" Abby answered. She is sitting between Sam's legs, which are up on the stirrups.
"God! I can't stand this anymore"
"You'll have to make do with gas n' air, ok?" Abby smiled wryly at her.
Sam lets out a long groan and glared at Luka "This is your fault Luka, putting me through this, Aargh!"
"What?" Luka shook his head and stroked her hand.
"Get off me, you are not much use here," She snapped.
Abby looked up at them and try not to laugh at them. Luka walked round to Abby and whispered in her ear.
"Abby, why is she being horrible to me?"
"Luka you should know this"
"I'm not a woman"
"Thank god for that!"
"Abby…?"
"Luka… Sam is going through the transitional stage ok, where the baby is almost there, so be prepare for her to say "fuck off" to you" Abby grinned at the worried Croatian, he looked back at her. She's kidding right?
Luka pursed his lips and took a hard swallow glancing back at Abby who is smiling broadly at him. He ran his fingers nervously through his floppy fringe.
"Come on Sam you can do it"
"Will you fucking shut up Luka!" She snarled with saliva dripping from her mouth, huffing and puffing.
"Ok Sam, I want you to push again," Abby instructed, sitting on a stool leaning over to find how near the baby's head is.
Sam lets out a long hard push. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeurghhhhhh!"
"Ok the baby's crowning, I want you to stop pushing"
Abby probed her finger into her opening and swept round to make sure the umbilical cord not wrapped round the baby's neck.
"Ok you can push again"
Sam lets out a loud scream and Luka rushed to beside of Abby who is pulling the baby out. Luka choked with joy when heard the baby cry. Chuny hands over a towel.
"Here" Abby puts the baby straight on to Sam's chest "You have a beautiful baby girl"
Sam lets out a laugh then cried with relief. Abby asked Luka to cut the cord and Chuny hands over a towel for Abby to wrap the baby up.
"Oh she's so beautiful!" They cooed.
"Thank you Abby" Luka said, looking at her with a grin. "We decided to call her Lily, after your suggestion at the prenatal appointment"
"Oh that's wonderful" Abby answered with flattery. She watched them looking so happy. Abby felt a little sadness because she doesn't know what her future holds with Carter. She looked at Chuny who is grinning and asked her to assist her to take the baby from them, to be weigh and cleaned up…
Luka walked out of the delivery room with his new baby in his arms. He was surprised at the turn out from the colleagues, waiting anxiously to see the new arrival. Everyone rushed to him to have a glimpse at the new arrival.
"It's a girl!" Luka grinned.
"Oh she's beautiful!"
"Oh she's got your dark hair"
"She's so small" Neela putting her finger in the baby's tiny hand.
"Not that small if she weighed 8 pounds 9 oz!" Luka chuckled.
"Congratulations Luka" Carter said, shaking his hand.
"Hey welcome back" Luka nodded.
Pratt came up to Luka and puts his hand out "Congratulation's man"
Abby groaned as she arched her achy back as she walked out from the delivery room. Everyone looked in her direction.
"What?" She shook her head defensively and laughed, "No no I'm not in labor!"
Everybody started to chuckle and blew out a sigh of relief.
"What a shame, would have been nice that you both deliver on the same day" Haleh said.
"Oh give me a break! I'm knackered," Abby said, walking towards the brooding crowd. She sighed to herself after seeing Carter, who is already present, smiling at her.
"So does she have a name?" Neela asked, putting her finger in the baby's tiny hand.
"Lily"
"Oh that's beautiful!"
"Named after our nurse?" Haleh asked as she was referring to Nurse Lily Jarvik.
"No no after my grandmother Lilijana, but Sam didn't want her to have a foreign name, Abby came up with short version"
"Aww how sweet of you Abby"
"Actually I like to say again a big thank you to Abby for delivering this beautiful thing" Luka smiled.
Abby gave an embarrassed smile. The baby started to wail and Luka rocked her gently.
"Oh? Tata better return Lily to her mother, she might be hungry" Luka announced.
"We'll pop by see Sam later" Haleh nodded. Everyone left to go back to the ER.
Abby looked at Carter and walks pass him without saying a word. He turned and reached out to grab her arm and pulls her back.
"Hey!" He snapped. Abby glared at him after she looked down at his firm grasp. Carter lets go of her "I understand that you're angry with me, ok? Please don't ignore me"
"I think the word hurt is best described"
"I'm not proud ok? I least I cleaned myself up" He nodded with his brows raised "I wish I could find a way of repairing the damage between us"
"Hope so and hope you do, you look well"
"Thanks and how have you been with pregnancy?"
"Why you should ask? You haven't bothered to be around" Abby gently folds her arms and rest them on her bump.
"Do I have to explain myself again? You want me to grovel?"
"Too damn right I want you to grovel." Abby puts her hands on her waist trying to look assertive.
"What did you want me to do, hold your bump past 8 months?"
"No…" She looked down biting her lower lip and sighed nervously, "I wanted you to hold me…"
They looked at each other in silence. Carter gives her a sad smile and sighed.
"I wanted love and affection but you neglected me"
"Abby I'm so sorry" Carter said in a strangulated voice. He started to cry. "I'm sorry I screwed up!"
"No you didn't you screw up, you went through a hard time coming to terms with the loss of your son" Abby blinked hard at Carter, watching him breaking down in tears, she doesn't whether she should give him a hug instead she gave him a pat on his back at arms reach. She may sympathise but still very bitter because he wasn't there when she is most in need of comfort "I fully understand but running away from it all doesn't help"
"No it doesn't, you're right, I've learnt that now" He agreed, "I've had bereavement counselling when I was away"
"Good for you, I hope it has helped"
"I wished I gone earlier"
"We've all put things off when we can't set our minds straight"
"So who's been by your side, with the antenatal?" Carter sniffed "I hope you haven't been doing this alone, have you been tagging along with Sam then?"
"Not much, we work different shifts, Susan has been there for me"
"Oh Susan? Where is she?" He asked moving his head to look around "I'm surprised that she isn't here to brood over the baby"
"She's not here" Abby shook her head.
"Oh it's her day off" He nodded
"No, she's gone…"
"Gone?"
"She left for New York, 2 months ago"
"Oh? I'm shocked, I thought she was doing great as a Chief"
"Yes she was, but she wanted to move on after splitting with Chuck"
"They've split?" Carter scoffed "Seems like nothing lasts round here"
"Damn right Carter nothing does"
"No one told me downstairs about Suse"
"Oh they assume that you knew then?"
Carter nodded and looked down twiddling his thumbs. He nervously asked her "I was wondering if you would like dinner tonight?"
Abby tilted her head forward to peer her eyes in to his "As a date or as friends?"
"Whichever you want"
"A date… no, as friends? Well I suppose"
"That was a bit vague"
"John… I think we've got a lot of work to do to rebuild that trust you broken"
"Oh it's my fault is it?" Carter asked defensively.
"You left me twice"
"No once"
Abby frowned.
"We weren't together when I left in the New Year"
"Oh I forgot it's only a one night stand? Is that what you call it?" Abby snapped "Jeez I feel better now that I'm a slut"
"Well you're not trustworthy yourself"
"What you mean by that?"
"You were seeing Jake"
"I dumped him after sleeping with you" Abby waved her arms, protesting. "I made my decision wanting to be with you"
"But you had a funny way of showing it that you wanted to reconciled with me after that night"
"I was confused" She shrugged her shoulders.
"Confused about who you should be with?"
"No! Aargh!" Abby growled and clenched her hands with frustration "I wanted to be with you but I put my guard up because you hurt me in the past and I fear that you would clear off again… and you did!"
"You know what our problem is? A breakdown in communication" He pursed his lips.
"Yes… you know what they say action speak louder than words"
"Absolutely…" Carter grinned. "I guess you only want me around just for the baby?"
"Well support would be great but then again, I still want you, I wanted you before I fell pregnant"
"Aah you still want me!" Carter laughed and nodded playfully.
"I didn't say that" Abby said, defensively.
"Yes you did"
"Did I?" Abby smirked and shook her head.