Abby checked the saline drips and the IVs on the four little girls that were sharing the two beds on either side of her. She sat back on her stool and smiled as she rubbed one back at a time and brushed away the ever present flies. She looked up as Carter approached and her face fell as he shook his head. It had been 36 hours since they'd arrived at this refugee compound, forty since they left the other one. There was still no word about Luka.
The truck had arrived about an hour after them and Luka was not with them. They hadn't known to wait for him so they'd left. Left him behind. Abby was frantic when she found out. It was all Carter could do to keep her from taking a jeep and going out to look for him herself. Instead he pulled her into the hospital. With the influx of new refugees pouring in, they were needed.
"How are they doing?" he asked quietly. Abby shrugged.
"They're dehydrated," she said. "Obviously. They don't know how long they have been walking. How old are they, Carter? Five...maybe six years old?" She shook her head and brushed another fly away.
"At least they made it here before they were raped," he said. She looked up at him and he nodded slowly.
"That's what I've been doing, " he said. "These people are vicious, Abby. That's why you need to go." She frowned.
"I told you before," she said. "I'm not leaving without Luka."
"You may not have a choice. Your passport..."
"My passport is fine," she said. She turned back to the girls on the bed. John studied her for a moment and shook his head. She was so stubborn. Relief workers were leaving by the plane load. They were either headed home or to other, less volatile, locations. His gut feeling told him to get her on a plane to Chicago. His heart told him to get her out of here...to safety.
"I could talk to someone about your passport, you know," he said. 'I could have it revoked." Abby stood up so quickly that the stool over turned and clattered to the floor.
"And you wouldn't do that, would you?" she said, her brown eyes smoldering with anger. John shook his head in frustration.
"If you were my wife..." he started.
"I'm not," she said. "And I never will be. You had your chance once so stop with all these...bizarre...fantasies that you've been having." She turned and stalked away from him. John was stunned. Was it that obvious? How could she have possibly known? Even while they were on the jeep his first concern was how he would protect her. Take care of her. Rescue her. Then when they'd learned that Luka hadn't made it onto the truck they became even more intense. He wanted to put her in a shell somewhere until he was ready to take Luka's place. He imagined them together in Paris...in Chicago...back here... working side by side...like she'd done with Luka. They had an unspoken harmony with one another. He wanted that as well. And with her again. John looked around the crowded hospital ward and sighed heavily. She was right. He had had his chance.
Abby made her way through the crowded hospital corridors and found the front doors. This camp had been in place longer and was bigger. The hospital facilities were more permanent than where they had been. She had actually been able to take a shower...and try to sleep. That hadn't been easy. She'd thought about going out looking for him. Then she realized that if he were looking for her it would be easier to be found if she stayed in one place. And she knew he was looking for her.
Abby was surprised to find the bench beside the hospital's entrance empty. Usually people were lined up at the doors waiting to be seen. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the rough building wall. She watched the people passing in front of her but she wasn't seeing them. She was seeing him.
She saw the Luka of their very first kiss in the ambulance bay...the Luka of their first date and his laughing frustration at not being able to master the foosball game...the Luka who galloped around the bases on a foul ball...the Luka who loved to tease her and cook for her...the Luka that was so patient with her... that cried with her when their son was born too early and then died...the Luka who took her hand and begged her to marry him and come here...so they could heal together. She looked up as Carter held out a bottle of water. She sighed and took it from him.
"It's always been Luka, hasn't it?" he asked as he sat next to her on the bench. She shrugged as she opened the bottle and took a drink.
"I don't know," she said. "There was a brief moment in time when I thought it was you." Carter laughed.
"Brief?" he said. "More like fleeting..." She looked at him and smiled carefully.
"It was more than that, John, and you know it." Carter looked at her for a moment and then nodded. He opened his own bottle of water and took a drink. He screwed the cap back on before he spoke.
"Think we could have made it, Abby? You and I?" She didn't respond. He sighed and stood up.
"You need to get out of here," he said. "You need to go home."
"I'm not going without my husband," she said calmly as she tossed the water bottle back and forth from one hand to the other. Carter shook his head in angry frustration.
"Do you think that I wouldn't bring him back to you?" he cried. "I did it once before." She looked up at him for a long moment and then swallowed.
"I'm going for a walk," she said as she stood up and headed down the short pathway to the trodden street. John watched her go and shook his head.