She tried to get some sleep. She really did. Debbie had wanted her to take some sleeping pills but Abby had refused. It was medication they'd need for someone else. She wandered through the wards and helped out when she could. She finally managed to rest when she sat in a dilapidated rocker with feverish baby in her lap. She fell asleep amidst a tangle of IV lines. The nurses were so happy to see both of them finally sleeping that they left her there until morning.
There was still no information about Luka. Officials from the L'Alliance sent word that the area they had been had been over run by militant raiders. The area was still too volatile to send someone in search of any survivors. Abby showered and changed into some borrowed scrubs. She washed her own clothes in the bathroom sink and hung them on the clothesline in the sun of the staff's private courtyard to dry.
"Dr. Lockhart." Abby turned as she hung the last of her laundry on the line.
"It's Kovac," she corrected. "'Dr. Kovac." The French aide looked in confusion at the plastic pocket with her identification papers that Abby wore around her neck.
"We were married in Croatia before we arrived in Sudan," she explained. "There wasn't time to change my passport." The aide nodded.
"Dr. Carter sent me to find you," she said. They need you in the clinic." Abby sighed and nodded. She knew what that meant. Carter had his hands full with female patients. They didn't like being examined by a male doctor. Abby had learned from the beginning that her mere presence was highly regarded...and needed.
She could hear the screams long before she reached the doors of the clinic. She hurried into the nearest exam room and stopped. Carter was trying to staunch the bleeding of a young girl. He looked up as Abby stepped inside the curtains.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I know you have other things on your mind but..."
"Go..." she ordered as she pulled on a pair of gloves and pressed her hands over his. "Go on...leave..." Carter nodded an pulled his hands out from under her's and left the exam room. Abby lifted the gauze pad and winced as she saw the deep machete cuts that crossed both of the girl's thighs. She nodded toward the nurse who had inserted an IV line into the girl's restrained left arm. The nurse took her place with the new gauze sponges replacing the soaked pads and Abby moved up to the girl's head.
"Has she had morphine yet?" The nurse nodded.
"I just pushed it."
"Hey...," Abby said softly as she pressed her stethoscope to the girl's chest. "It's okay...it's okay..." Her voice was soft and soothing and the girl slowly stopped writhing and screaming. Her large, terrified eyes rested on Abby's face. Abby smiled sympathetically and rubbed the girl's cheek.
"We're going to take care of you," she said. "It's okay..." It was only a moment before the girl lapsed into a deep sleep as the medication she had received kicked in.
"Abby?" Carter said from the other side of the curtain.
"She's out," Abby said. Carter came in with several suture kits in his hands.
"Do you think we can do this here?" she asked. He nodded.
"We're going to have to," he said. "Surgeons are all tied up. There was an attack on a village close by." They worked in companionable silence as they used a multitude of layered stitches to close the girl's wounds. More than once Carter looked up to watch her face for a second or two. She was serious and absorbed in her work.
"There's really no hope for her here now, is there?"
"What do you mean?" Carter said as he held up the suture needle for the nurse to clip the self absorbing thread close. He bent to take another stitch.
"What is she? Maybe twelve? She's been raped...these cuts will be a reminder of that forever. She'll never get a husband with these scars. No family. No schools to attend... There's no hope." Carter looked up at her curiously.
"She won't be alone...unfortunately, " he said. Abby arched her back and sighed.
"Ready to go home?" Carter asked. Abby rolled her eyes and glared at him. He shrugged.
"Ehh...I thought it was worth a try." Abby finished her last suture and pulled the bloodied gloves off her hands. She examined the IV bag and asked for an antibiotic addition. The nurse left as Carter finished his last suture. He tossed the blood soaked gauzes and bandages into the red trash can and pulled off his gloves. He gazed down at the girl on the gurney and smiled at Abby's gentle movements as she adjusted the sheet covering her and checked the IVs. She used her stethoscope again and then noticed him watching her. She smiled.
"You are a damn good doctor, Abby," he said softly. The nurse entered and handed Abby a small IV bag with antibiotics. She hung the bag and added the line to the saline drip that was already there. Carter ordered the dressings for the girl's wounds and the two of them walked out of the curtained area. Carter reached over and draped an arm across her shoulders. He drew her closer and leaned in to kiss her. Abby cringed slightly and slipped away from him carefully.
"Don't...do that again...please," she said. Carter dropped his arms to his sides and stared after her as she crossed her arms across her chest and walked away from him.
Abby headed back to the courtyard to see if her clothes were dry. The sun was so hot that it shouldn't take too long. She pulled her khaki slacks and cami off the line and folded them. Her thoughts were racing. Damn him. She wasn't leaving without Luka and Carter was making it very difficult for her to be around him.
She changed into her clothes and tossed the bloodied scrubs into the hospital's laundry basket. Damn him. As if she didn't have enough to be worried about...thinking about right now. Where was Luka? She didn't know how much longer she would be able to hold on here. Abby took a deep breath and tried to settle her troubled thoughts. He was fine. She felt he was fine. She knew he was fine. It was just a matter of time before he'd be back. The question was, how much time?
She wandered out the gate of the courtyard and into the teeming camp. There was a parade coming down the road in front of the hospital. A tribal dance of some sort with a crowd of people behind it. Abby stepped up onto a rock to see and smiled as she watched the cascade of colorful robes and head dresses pass by. Her eyes scanned the crowd of faces. This camp was in the depths of despair and they still found a way to celebrate. It spoke volumes about the human spirit. Then her heart leaped to her throat and her head began to pound.
She saw him before he saw her. Luka was climbing out of a jeep that was dropping him off at the end of the crowd of people that were following the dancers. Abby stepped off the rock and carefully made her way through the crowd moving in the opposite direction. When the crowd had gone she was standing alone on the packed road. She stood still with her arms crossed across her chest waiting for him to see her. He looked up and grinned. Abby started walking quickly toward him and then began to run. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she came closer and slowed down.
"Where the hell have you been?" she said.
"Looking for you..." he shrugged with a smile. "We left the compass at home."
She sighed heavily and moved into his arms. Luka wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She lifted her face to his and he grinned as he bent his head to kiss her. She was safe again. He was back.