By Ginny
A/N-Thanks to last week's episode, we finally found out Lucien has been married before. I always assumed he had been but now we know. And how cute was he when Neela was talking about the wedding, both in the ER and the OR.
Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming.
Abby snuck her hand out from under the blankets to blindly feel for the cell phone to stop the relentless, obnoxious sound of Flight of the Bumblebee. It took a few seconds for her to sit up and realize it was indeed morning and Lucien had either sleep through the night or had gotten up and hadn't felt the urge to share his restlessness with her.
As Abby glanced out the window she saw that the first actual snowfall had come to the Chicago area. It was only an inch or two but it was sure to bring chaos to the ER as it always did. She tossed aside the blankets, grabbed her overnight bag and headed for the shower. A quick glance into the guest room told her Lucien was still sound asleep.
"Lucien...Lucien," Abby whispered as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She was showered, dressed and had just started the coffee maker. Her shift didn't start for another hour and a half and she wanted to make sure Lucien was up and around before she left him alone. Getting no response from him she reached out to rub his back a bit hoping to wake him gently. "Lucien, I need you to wake up."
"You 'need' me?" he smirked as he rolled over to face her.
"Shut up. Seriously," Abby started as she turned on the light and handed him his glasses, "I want you to get up before I leave, make sure you're up to being left alone."
"Fair enough," Lucien muttered as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"I'm going to make some eggs, want any?" Abby asked as she stood up and offered him her hand.
The mere thought of food turned Lucien's stomach a little. "No, just tea and toast I think." Abby took full notice of the vaguely green look about him but decided not to call him on it.
While Lucien used the bathroom Abby set the kettle on the stove and dropped some bread in the toaster. Lucien shuffled into the kitchen a little while later looking pretty good. The hair was completely out of control but his color was good and he was getting around fairly normally. As he sat down at the table, Abby pushed the toaster button down and poured him some tea.
Lucien read the paper and picked at the toast while Abby inhaled her eggs and two cups of coffee. She packed up her things and tossed them in her car while he went to the family room to watch the Today Show.
"I have time; do you want to shower before I leave?" Abby asked as she poured herself a final cup of coffee.
Lucien thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, I probably should," he muttered as he headed for the bathroom.
"OK, you need to drink enough today," Abby said as she waved in the general direction of the refrigerator. "And don't spend too much time on your feet," she warned as Lucien walked back into the kitchen. He gave her a vaguely amused look as he let her ramble on about what he should and shouldn't do during the day. He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms in thinly veiled amusement.
"Abby, stop, please," he eventually said as he held up his hand in mock protest. Abby chuckled and stop short.
"Sorry," she said with a sigh.
"I'll be fine. And if I'm not, I swear I'll call you. I'll come down to the ER after my appointment," Lucien said as he sat back down at the kitchen table to finish the paper. A gesture that told Abby it was time to go.
"You have my cell and pager numbers, right?" Abby asked as she pulled on her coat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. She had one hand on the door knob when she turned to go back into the kitchen when she didn't get an answer.
"On the fridge," Lucien called over his shoulder when he noticed Abby was standing behind him.
Abby took a deep breath and put her hands on Lucien's shoulders. "Bet you'll be glad to get rid of me," she laughed as she rubbed his shoulders for a minute.
"I think I'll enjoy a little time alone," Lucien admitted as he patted her hand. Abby leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head. "I'll check in every hour."
"Two or three times is fine," Abby teased.
With the sound of the door closing behind Abby, Lucien relaxed a little, actually happy to be alone.
The much anticipated time alone wore pretty thin by lunch time. During the morning, Lucien puttered around, did a load of laundry, read for a while and caught up on his email. He made sure he drank enough and didn't sit in one place too long. After eating the leftovers from the night before for lunch, he found himself a little unsure of what to do. A nap sounded good but the truth was he was pretty much used to having someone look after him while he slept. It was silly, he thought to himself, the fact that he felt uneasy being alone.
Had there not been snow on the ground, he would have walked to the mailbox to get the mail, but he didn't want to risk the chance of falling so he left the mail for later. But fresh air seemed pretty appealing so he bundled up and sat on the porch swing for a little while with a cup of tea and a book. Abby checked in with him during her lunch break and he did his best to sound upbeat and natural but she pretty much wasn't buying it. She didn't call him on it though, she didn't have the time, the weather was causing the ER to be rather hectic. Lucien clicked off the phone, picked his tea back up and stared out over the front yard. His neighbor across the street stopped by for a few minutes, grabbing the mail on the way up the driveway.
At 3:00 Lucien got dressed to go to his appointment, called for a cab and went to wait outside.
It was almost 5:30 by the time Lucien was done with his appointment. He went down to the ER to let Abby know he was done and was going to his office for a while. Now he certainly could have called her or had her paged but he wanted to see her. The ER was busy and he could only catch her eye for a second as she was in Trauma One, tending to the victims of a car accident. He vaguely pointed upstairs and she nodded, not really sure what he meant by the gesture but figured she could page him or call his cell phone if she needed to find him when she was off.
A little after 7:00 Abby passed on her last patient to Ray and headed to find Lucien. She checked the lounge on the off chance he was in there, but she found it empty. Ducking past Frank at the ADMIT desk, she headed for the elevator. Had she turned around she would have seen a small smile on the grumpy clerk's face.
The door to Lucien's office was open a little. Abby knocked once and stuck her head in. Not surprisingly, she found him sound asleep on the couch. Since the quilt was at home, he had procured a white hospital blanket and had it tucked up around his chin. There was a bottle of water, almost empty, on the floor next to him, something Abby was glad to see.
"Hey," she whispered as she sat down in front of the couch. She brushed the stray curls off his face.
"Hey," he muttered back as he struggled to open his eyes and focus. He wiped his hand over his mouth just in case he'd been drooling. "Didn't think I'd fall asleep," he muttered as he sat up.
"How was your appointment?" Abby asked as she folded the blanket and picked up the bottle of water.
"Fine. Can't get rid of the damn catheter yet. Maybe in a few days."
"Better to just keep it in than to have to have it reinserted," Abby said.
"Stop sounding like a doctor," Lucien teased. "Ready to go?" he asked as he slipped his sneakers back on. Abby nodded, held out his jacket for him and they headed for the elevator.
"Do you want me to drop you home? Are you ready to stay alone tonight? Are you hungry? Do you want to get something to eat?" Abby asked as she pulled the car out of the parking garage.
"Slow down Abby," Lucien teased as he squirmed in his seat. He was quickly realizing that riding in a car wasn't not the most comfortable thing to do.
"Sorry," she said with little smile.
"Yes, I'm a little hungry. I'm probably fine to spend the night alone but if you'd feel better staying, I'd like that too. But I'm warning you, I'm getting a big case of cabin fever and I can't promise I'm going to be decent company."
"You've been decent company so far?" Abby shot back with a smirk.
"What?" Lucien cried in mock disbelief. "You weren't charmed by the puking, crying, whining and complaining?" he teased right back.
"Not so much," Abby replied as she patted his hand. "How about we stop by my place so I can grab some clothes, order a pizza and head back to your place?"
"Best offer I've had all day," Lucien.
"Only offer?" Abby asked with a wink. Lucien just nodded.
An hour and a half later, Abby realized Lucien had been right when he said he wasn't going to be the best of company. Dinner had been fine, they ate pizza while watching television but then Lucien got a second wind, emotional second wind, physically he was exhausted but there was no way he was going to settle down without a fight...or a nice sleeping pill.
Abby decided to just let him be, hoping he would eventually just wear himself out. Lucien paced around as Abby cleaned up the few dishes from dinner and made herself a cup of tea. She stayed in the kitchen, hoping Lucien would decide to pace in the other rooms of the house.
Luck was not on her side.
While Lucien clearly did not want to talk and did not want to be comforted, he also didn't want to be alone. So he basically followed Abby from room to room, trying her patience. She did her best to try and ignore him, but when she came out of the bathroom and nearly knocked in to the ground, she lost it.
"Lucien, you need to find something to do," she said as they stood in the hallway, facing each other in some strange sort of stand off.
"Like what?" he all but yelled.
"Taking an Ativan sounds good to me," Abby muttered under her breath. Apparently she didn't mutter as quietly as she thought. The look on Lucien's face was a combination Abby couldn't quite get a handle on. He banged his fist against the wall in utter frustration before turning quickly and heading for his office, muttering a few choice words. Abby ran her hands through her hair and leaned against the wall, wondering what to do next. She was about to take a deep breath and go into the office when the phone rang. Lucien answered it on the second ring so she headed back for the solitude of the family room.
Her nice silence was broken about a minute later by the sound of Lucien's end of the conversation. She couldn't tell exactly was he was saying and she didn't get up and stand outside the office door to hear. But she could tell he was getting rather upset and was torn between giving him privacy and going in to make sure he was okay. The sound of him slamming the phone down got her up off the couch to go check in with him.
Abby knocked once and waited for an answer before barging in.
"Come in," he sighed, knowing there was no way to stop her.
Abby went quietly into the room, not sure what she was going to find. Lucien was pacing around, running his hands through his hair, making it even wilder than usual. Abby gave a little smile in his direction and crossed the room to sit on the window seat. She stretched her legs out in front of her, leaning back against the wall to wait.
Wait for what? She wasn't too sure.
Lucien eventually ran out of steam in the pacing department but as predicted, conversation wasn't exactly forthcoming. He leaned against the desk. Although he was facing Abby's direction, he was more interested in his socks at the moment. "That was my ex-wife," he eventually said with a sigh as he picked his head up just a little to peer at her over the tops of his glasses which had slid down his nose a bit. He'd only mentioned his ex-wife to Abby once or twice in passing, all she knew was that he had been married once and that it obviously hadn't worked out well. "I emailed her this morning, to fill her in on what was going on. Not sure why. I guess because if something like this happened to her, I would want to know...I think," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "Anyway she was calling to check in, or more precisely to see how she could 'help'."
"And I'm guessing her 'help' wouldn't be helpful?" Abby said with a small smirk.
"Her idea of helping would be packing four enormous suitcases, hopping the next flight and moving in to take care of me. And by moving in, I mean moving into this house, my room and every part of my life. Not my idea of helping."
"How long were you married?" Abby asked.
"Almost ten years. We got divorced almost 5 years ago. She loved being married to a surgeon, attending black tie dinners, bragging to her friends, spending my money. But she didn't love me."
"Yet she wants to help now?" Abby asked, a little confused.
"Let's just say she doesn't live the life she'd grown accustomed to when we were married. Don't get me wrong, she's not living a life of poverty, she got plenty in the divorce settlement, but she actually has to work now, something she didn't really do when we were married."
"Ah so she sees this as an opportunity for her?"
"Yeah."
"I assume you didn't have kids?"
"No, we tried but it just didn't happen. I wanted them more than she did. She was never really interested in finding out why we were having trouble conceiving. And now, well, I guess that just a moot point for me," he said quietly.
Lucien pushed himself away from the desk. He was going to sit on the opposite end of the window seat but Abby was effectively taking up the whole thing with her legs stretched out in front of her. Lucien tapped Abby's knee, getting her to give him room to sit. Taking Abby by surprise, he moved her leg off the window seat so he could sit down in front of her. Abby tentatively reached to rub his back, feeling the tension radiating off of him. He flinched at the contact at first, but eventually started to relax a little. When Abby felt him let go of some of anger or frustration or whatever he was feeling, she pulled him back against her chest, holding him close. "Don't take this the wrong way," she teased.
"I won't," he whispered, suddenly finding his voice thick with unexpected tears. He turned a little, facing the window, Abby's chin resting on the top of his head. They sat and looked out the window at the snow that just started to fall again. Abby wiped away his silent tears. He wasn't exactly sure what the tears were for, but that didn't really matter. Since the surgery his emotions were always close to the surface. The doctor in him knew it was perfectly normal, but that didn't make it any easier.
When his tears stopped and he relaxed a little more, Abby kissed his forehead. "Better?" she asked. His response was the expected shrug of his shoulders. "Let's get you to bed," she whispered as she unwrapped her arms.
Abby got him some water, something for pain and a sleeping pill, which she planned on insisting he take. Much to her surprise, he did take it without complaint. She tucked the quilt around him, kissed his forehead and turned out the light.
TBC