Sorry this chapter took longer to get posted than I expected. Turned out I had writer's block and didn't even realize it! Thankfully I think that's passed a little now, but hope the wait was well worth it. I also have to apologize for the transition problems in the last chapter. Trying to get the Mac formatting to work on is kind of tricky. Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate it. Keep 'em coming!

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Later that evening, John sat on the sofa in his new apartment attempting to read a book, but not actually concentrating on it, when he heard a knock on his front door. Suspiciously, he got up and walked towards the door. Looking through the peephole, however, all he saw was a black of light brown. Against his better judgment, he opened the door and gave a very surprised look when he realized who it was.

"What is this?" He asked incredulously to the petite woman whose face was obstructed by a very large paper bag, filled with what was obviously food.

"I wasn't sure if you would have eaten yet or not, but I took a chance. It's Chinese. I decided Ike's would probably scare you back across to the other side of the world."

"How did you find me? I didn't think anyone had my new address."

"I have a friend in payroll." Abby admitted.

"Well that was sneaky."

"I was channeling my inner Sydney Bristow." She laughed, but made a face as the bag she was holding shifted in her arms.

"Does Luka know you're here?" He gave her a suspicious look.

"Uh, he's not the boss of me. And yes, he does." She answered, rolling her eyes.

"Well I guess you can come in. You don't have any other surprises do you?"

"Nope. No more surprises." She laughed as she walked through the door. "Wow, this place needs some work!"

"It doesn't need to be fancy. I'm only going to be here when I'm sleeping."

"What if you bring a girl home? Carter, she'll go running away in horror as soon as she steps through the front door!" She was still surveying the small space as she said this, and missed seeing the look on John's face at her words.

"I'll try to find some silverware and plates for all this." John said, walking into the kitchen as Abby started pulling the food out of bags and placing them on the coffee table. John re-emerged several minutes later, with items in his hands.

"You know, we could eat at the kitchen table like real people instead of on the floor. I am civilized. I have a kitchen table."

"Umm, you have a TV, it's 8 o'clock on a Thursday night. We're watching Survivor." She said matter-of-factly.

"Oh god…this was your plan all along, wasn't it?" He rolled his eyes and feigned despair.

"Well it was one of the perks to the plan." She laughed.

For the next hour they ate and watched the show. When it was over, Carter stood up and gathered the plates and started to clean up as Abby stood up as well and grabbed the top box off a pile in a corner of the room. As she ripped open the box, Carter walked back into the room.

"Carter, this whole thing is filled with medical journals. This one is from 1999! Why do you still have all these?"

"I never got around to reading them."

"In the last 7 years?"

"Well I have been a little bit busy in that time."

"Whatever." She moved the box over and went to grab another one as he walked back into the kitchen. She opened this one, and was surprised to see it was full of pictures. She grabbed one of the envelopes off the top and smiled as she opened it to find pictures of various members of the ER. There was one of him, Mark, Carol Hathaway, and who she knew to be Doug Ross, although she had personally never met him. She flipped through the stack and saw more pictures of various members of this group, as well as Peter Benton and Susan Lewis.

She put that envelope back in the box and noticed an album under several other envelopes of photos. Peeking around the corner to make sure Carter was preoccupied, Abby slid the album out of the box and was shocked when she opened it. Page after page was filled with pictures of her, her and Carter, and her at several County parties with other members of the County family. Suddenly she heard the footsteps marking his re-entrance to the room and shoved the album back into the box and looked up guiltily.

"What'd you find now?" He asked, leaning against the back of the sofa across from her.

"Oh, just pictures." She motioned towards the contents of the box before sliding it away. "Have you heard from Peter lately?"

"I talked to him about a month ago. And I got a Christmas card. Reese is going to be 9. And the baby is almost 3."

"Wow, I can't believe they've been married, what, almost five years?"

"Yep. Mark's been gone four years. I don't know. Time flies." Both sat in silence for a moment, each knowing that it had been three years since they had been together, but neither saying this aloud.

"We should probably start actually unpacking some of these. Otherwise I'll be here for weeks." Abby broke the silence and stood up.

Abby emerged from John's apartment several hours later. They had spent most of the rest of the night in silence, except for when she had a question about where he wanted an item to go.

She arrived at the apartment some time later. She let herself in the front door and hung her jacket and her purse on a nearby chair. As she walked into the bedroom she noticed the light was still on, and was surprised to find him still awake in bed, reading a book.

"I didn't think you'd still be up."

"I wanted to make sure you made it back okay. How was it?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." She walked into the closet and started talking off her clothes.

"I could go with you sometime, you know. This is a part of your life. I'm in your life too." She heard him call from the other room.

"Luka, you don't have to go to my AA meetings. It's not really a part of my life, it's just something I have to deal with."

"Are you coming to bed?" He decided changing the subject was a better idea than pursuing it further. Instead of giving an answer, she emerged from the closet wearing an oversized t-shirt and crawled into the bed next to him.

"Good night." She said and he turned and gave her a quick kiss before she rolled over and pulled the covers over her head while he continued reading.

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