A Month Later
Slamming her locker door shut in frustration, Abby flung her stethoscope around her neck.
"Hey what's wrong with you? Sick of being a resident already?" asked Susan slouching down at the staffroom desk, a pile of charts spread out in front of her. It was 2 Am. on Tuesday night and things in the ER couldn't be going any slower.
"Carter says he still loves me." answered Abby bluntly turning round just in time to catch the astonished look spreading across Susan's face.
"He what?" repeated Susan dumbfounded.
"He still loves me." casually replied Abby.
"What did you tell him?" questioned Susan, still trying to get her head round the fact that after all these years Carter was still in love with Abby, she was beginning to think they were a lost cause – after all it was obvious Abby loved him too.
"I told him that I couldn't."
"Why not?" demanded Susan.
"Because I can't, I don't feel that way." coyly continued Abby.
"You've always been a bad liar Abby, ever since high school. You were always the good polite one and I was always the cheeky liar. You can't deny it, you like him and you always have."
"Like" Abby repeated raising her eyebrows slightly before continuing. "Like not love."
"Same difference." insisted Susan. Deep down Abby knew Susan was right and Susan knew that Abby knew she was right. "It couldn't be more obvious."
"You think everyone knows?" Abby asked in a worried tone with such a subtle hint of sarcasm Susan had to think twice before speaking.
Tilting her head slightly to the side, she placed her pen on top of the untouched charts which lay before her. "Abby."
"All right, alright. What do I do though?" she asked genuinely confused.
"Tell him exactly how you feel, and soon!"
"But I can't it, it wouldn't, I couldn't it just..." she trailed off.
Susan jumped in swiftly. "But nothing, after this shift you will tell him, got it?"
"Susan this shift finishes at 7 Am. I probably won't even see Carter."
Susan shrugged; she didn't care about the minor details she was just trying to make a point. From then on in she and Abby just joked on and got through the night without Carter's name being mentioned again.