Chapter 46:

Doug walked down the streets. the sky was sunny but not even close to warm. he looked at his watch. it had been about 15 minutes. hopefully carter was at county now. he knew he would be expected to show up soon. "Ahh damn" he thought to himself. "i forgot to call carol." he had so much going on he hoped she would understand. he couldn't deal with another fight. he stuck his hand in the air to hail a taxi. after a few tries he finally got one. "Uhh County General please."

Abby was resuming compression on Carter's chest. "Come on Carter come on." She said looking for anyone that could help her, "Susan!"

carol heard Abby screamed. 'Its carter, we need to help her" she said to Kerry

"Let's go." Kerry said getting up off the couch. She at least got her 15 minutes. She looked at Luka before she left the room wishfully that she didn't have to leave. She went to find Abby thumping on Carter chest. She started a central line to increase the volume that was lost because of the gun shot. Kerry put pressure dressings over the wounds. "Okay let's move him upstairs so vascular can repair the torn artery." Kerry said snapping off her gloves. She looked at Abby she was covered in blood. "Abby are you hurt," Kerry asked.

Abby looked up at Kerry, "no, I'm not it's all his." She said, moving along side the gurney, "I'm going up with him."

Susan heard her name and flew to see what was going on but they were already taking carter up. "Abby you cant go up to vascular. why don't you just stay down here? they'll let us know what's going on." she felt bad that she hadn't been there when Abby first called her. the least she could do was help her now.

Abby looked at Susan a blank stare on her on her face. "Yeah you're right." She said as she looked at her hands and clothes, "I need to find some clean scrubs."

Doug paid the taxi cab driver and stepped into the ambulance bay. he didn't really want to go in. he figured if anyone needed him they'd call his cell phone. he sat on the bench outside the door to rest. he had carter's blood over his shirt and hands, "hazards of being a doctor." he joked to himself. he wanted to go and see how Anna was doing, but wasn't sure if she wanted to see him. he felt as if she were uncomfortable when he was in the room. he knew carol had to see him in small doses so he just sat in the snow and waited for someone to want to see him.

Susan gently pulled at her arm. "come on. we'll get you some. are you sure you're not cut too?"

Kerry had sent Carter up and stepped outside to see Doug sitting there on the bench outside the ER, she walked over to him and sat down next to him, "Is this a peaceful place to sit and think?"

Abby let Susan put her arm around her and lead her. "Yeah I'm not hurt," she said.

Doug turned and looked at her. He was glad Weaver had changed. Before he left she wouldn't have dared to sit next to him. "Well, it use to be..." he said with a grin."just kidding." he blew into his hands to warm them up. "Crazy week huh? how's Carter doing?"

Susan handed Abby some pants and a top. "I can't believe you were brave enough to go and rescue Carter by yourself...way to go Abs. and I'm sure he's fine, he's been through much worse." she smiled at her friend sad she couldn't do much more than after words. "do you need anything?"

"Yeah crazy week." She said, "Carter's going to be okay. We just sent him up to vascular to repair a torn artery in his arm, but he should be okay." She said looking at him, "for the first time in years, I can't believe I took a nap at work. 36 hour shifts aren't as easy as they used to be. How are you holding up?" Kerry asked him, "it's not like you to be sitting outside by yourself."

"I didn't, Doug went with me." She said, "I couldn't have done that myself. In fact, I can't believe that I let Doug go and do something so stupid with me, we all could have been killed. You're right, Carter's here, they can patch him up, we'll all be okay."

"Yeah we're all getting older." He said with a smile. "In case you haven't noticed I'm not exactly Mr. Popular at that moment… in my usual Doug Ross flare I managed to screw up another new start. I didn't even know it was possible to do that in under a week. You should call the record book." He said with a sigh. Doug knew even if Weaver was trying to be nice he was the last one that she wanted to get into a long conversation with. "Hey if you're getting slammed in there I can help out. Now that Anna's better I don't have a funeral to plan anymore so I'm kind of free." He said grinning at her.

"Well I think it's awfully brave Abby. Risking your life... now you and Carter have to get married." She joked. "Why don't you come sit or something, I'll get you some coffee." Susan walked with her to the lounge, "maybe once Carter gets better we can all hit up the lava lounge again… we could all use a good party after Anna…."

"No we are not getting slammed in there," she said to him letting the rest of his words sink in, "Anna's better, okay Doug. Why don't you go up and visit with her and then I'm going to put you back to work."

"Oh you haven't heard, I thought that Romano would be down here bragging his butt off." Abby said happy to have her mind somewhat off Carter's predicament. "Anna's alive."

Doug sighed and brushed the snow out of his hair. "I would be I don't think she wants to see me… I mean would you?"

"Doug, years ago you and I didn't get along. And here we are sitting and talking like we've always been friends. You're a good guy and she knows it. Right now she needs friends around her to help get her back up on her feet. I'm sure she would loved to be rescued from Robert."

Susan's mouth fell open. "WHAT! That's what I get for giving myself triage duty. I can't believe that! As much as Romano annoys everyone he deserves kudos for that one." Susan looked out the window at the falling snow. "Looks like you guys came in just in time; it's starting to come down out there. It's going to be a busy night."

"Why can't people stay home when it snows like this?" Abby said running her hand through her hair, "idiots I tell you, they are all idiots. I just want a hot shower and another cup of coffee."

Doug smiled. "yeah I guess anyone is better than Romano huh?" He patted her on the shoulder and stood up. He walked to the door and turned his head, "thanks Kerry… for everything." Doug walked in and went straight upstairs. Although he was dreading seeing Anna's reaction he needed to get it over with. Kerry was right, she needed friends. He gave a wave to the nurse at the SICU admit desk and pushed the door open to Anna's room and he stood in the doorway waiting for a reaction.

"I can get someone to cover for you Abby. I'm always on anyway. You should get Doug out of here too before he gets stuck. I know Weaver will understand if you take tonight off… besides I wouldn't trust the showers we have here. I think Jerry made a hole in the wall or something."

Anna shifted her weight when she heard the door open; she was surprised to see Doug standing there. "Hey there." She said smiling, "I am so happy to see someone other than Dr. Romano. Please tell me you are not here to poke, prod, or do so stupid test?"

"Oh God," she said laughing, "that I can so see Jerry doing. But I think I'll hang around for awhile. I haven't seen Doug come back. Maybe he went home first or something. Besides if I get sucked in Weaver has to pay me double overtime."

Doug shook his head and gave a weak grin. "No just here to make an appearance." He took a step in and took off his jacket. There was blood on his shirt. "I knew I should have changed before I came in here." He said looking down at himself. He walked over to the chair and tried to brush the rest of the snow out of his hair. "But at least it's going to be a white day huh?" Doug really didn't know what to say to her, seeing her alive was great but awful at the same time. He could only imagine what it was like for her.

Susan nodded. "Ohhh I should do that… but wait then I wouldn't have time to be set up on another blind date by my dumb friends." She joked handing Abby some coffee and sitting down. "You seem to be able to pick some pretty cute guys. Maybe if I stand next to you the ones you reject will see me? I think I might be worth a shot." Susan laughed picturing it in her head. "So you and Doug are action figures now huh? Hope Romano doesn't hear about this one or he'll lose the rest of his hair…. Speaking of Doug, you hadn't met him before he showed up last week had you?"

"Yeah," she said looking down at the bed as she fidgeted with the covers. "This is awkward. Look I've never died and come back to life before, so this is new for me." She said. She had thought about what she was going to say over and over in her head, too much free time on her hands now. "And I'm so sorry if I hurt you, really I am, I want us to be able to be friends. You're too good of a friend to lose over something like... well… oh god you must think I am some kind of rambling idiot. Robert said Kerry gave my job to a moonlighter and I know that my locker was cleaned out."

After his shoulder was repaired in surgery they moved him into the same room as Anna. The nurse smiled at Anna. "Looks like you got a roommate Dr. Del Amico." She said to her as they put Carter in the room.

Abby laughed, "yeah sure Susan, you can have my rejects. No Doug had left before I started." She said still laughing, "but he seems like a pretty good guy, confused but over all pretty good."

Doug started to say something but stopped when Carter was wheeled in. "Hey John." He was going to talk to him to save himself from dealing with Anna but quickly realized that the anesthesia medicine hadn't worn off yet. He sighed and turned back to Anna. "I didn't beat him up if that's what you think." He joked, "look it's not a big deal getting your job back, and you shouldn't even be thinking about that right now… or me. Just get better." He couldn't look her in the eyes when he talked; it was easier to pretend everything was okay if he didn't. "Carol put you things in a box that's sitting on my coffee table. Remind me and I'll bring it to you." He didn't know if he should let her know that he had read the letter. He figured it might be easier if she didn't.

Susan grinned, "oh yeah, just wait With Doug around here there is always drama. Don't get me wrong, he is a great friend… but confused is just the beginning. Just don't let too much of his charm rub off on you." She said poking Abby gently, "well you could always throw yourself into your work or something to end your worries, even if you're not worried, cause triage sucks if done alone." Susan said with a smile.

"Yeah get better," she said. You could have cut the tension in the room right now with a knife. 'What happened?' she thought to herself, 'other than he read your letter'/ She was silent for a few minutes, collecting her thoughts. "I didn't think you beat him up." She said smiling. "Romano does humor me by going over cases with me. Guess it's his idea of finding ways to spend time in here." She said, "which as grateful as I am for all that he's done is getting a little old. You know he thinks he's god's gift to women, but I hate to tell him that he's just not my type."

"Triage does suck." She said, "I can give you a hand doing it, really I'm not useless tonight. As for Doug's charms, don't worry I am completely smitten for Carter."

Carter was feeling a little groggy as he started to wake up from the anesthesia. Where was he? He didn't remember much of what happened. He was in a daze.

"Yeah well, someone has to." He said with a grin. "Rejection's tough but I'm sure he's dealt with it many… many times." Doug smiled again. It seemed as long as they weren't talking about each other everything was okay, but he knew they could only do that for so long. "Yeah you should have seen Abby today… she was so brave saving Carter like that. I don't know if she was scared at all at the time."

"Ha, ha, oh I know that. Nurse Abby the action hero… I kind of like that, think it would sell?" She said standing up. "I was only joking about triage but if you want to help you're more than welcome to. " Susan said putting her lab coat back on. "I think if I get stuff done now, by the time all the accidents come in I can slip out… but it's just my crazy fantasy. Actually, you should probably go and see Carter. I'm sure he's out and in the SICU by now."

"Must have been amazing." She said laying back down in the bed a little further. "Can't say that I would have been brave enough to do something like that. Oh who am I kidding, I wouldn't have. But I am glad he's okay." She said glancing at her new roommate. Anna cracked a smile, "next time you visit how about smuggling me in a pizza?" She was getting this feeling that he didn't want to be there that she was too uncomfortable for him to be around. He might have thought that he was hiding it from her, but she could read his face too well. She snickered; he was as crappy of a liar as Carter was.

Doug rolled his eyes. "I think Romano would end my life if I did that…. From now on I am staying out of your medical problems." He joked. He thought for a second about the way she said her comment thought and realized what she meant. "I guess that was my clue to leave huh?" Doug asked screwing on a fake smile.

Anna looked at him, moving in the bed. Her backside was killing her, shaking her head, "well not unless you need to." She said slowly but surely she got herself back upright. Romano had given her permission to sit up in the chair, as long as she didn't go any farther than there, "give me a hand would you, I want to sit up for awhile in the chair. It sucks talking to people when you are flat on your back." She said to him, "so no pizza, can't blame a girl for trying. I'd ask Romano but god he would think it was a date."

Carter was looking around, his shoulder hurt and he realized he had just had surgery. He turned and saw Anna and Doug talking. "Hey," he said groggily.

Abby thought for a minute, "yeah I should probably head up there. I thought that I would give him a little longer to recover from being knocked out." She laughed, "and I am not an action hero of any kind. Just an adrenaline junkie, that's why I work here with all of you."

Doug nodded, "yeah well… how bad do you want pizza?" He stuck out his hand for her to grab. He winced when she did. "Ahh, damn," he said looking at his hand, "I must have gotten some glass in it when I went through the window." He looked back at her and held out his other. "Didn't mean to let you fall there." He said pulling her up as he let out a deep sigh. He looked at his hand while he asked the question he'd been meaning to ever since he came in, "so where do we go from here?"

Susan nodded. "It's the best thing… hey you just go and see how he's doing. Page me later and I'll say hey to."

She slid into the chair, "thanks, I can't quite make it myself yet. I don't know where we go from here Doug. I can tell you how I feel, but I'm," She was going to say not Carol but quickly changed her mind, "I'm not sure where I stand with you. I know that I want us to be friends, you're too much fun not to have as a friend, it's okay I know you read the letter."

Doug bit his lip. He didn't want to talk about her leaving. He was glad that he heard Carter and could use it as an excuse. "Hey John." He said still looking at Anna. He gave her a look as if to say, I'm sorry and turned around to see Carter. "How you doing bro… kind of scared us there."

Anna pulled the blanket tighter around her, she saw his look but shrugged it off. She had, had to many serious conversations with him lately and really didn't want another one. She knew where she stood with him. One step behind, a moment too late, the wrong woman. The time wouldn't pass fast enough for her to get out of Chicago and away from the hurt of knowing she was second best.