April 4th, 2005

week 20

Ray stood in Neela's empty room. It had taken them four hours to repaint it white. Neela had left and now he and Abby were here alone. Now they had a decision to make.

"Blue or green?" Ray held up to paint cans. Abby chuckled as she rested her hand on her stomach.

"Such drama in our lives." She said pulling out some border from her walmart bag, "How about top blue and bottom green. I can put this border in between them."

"Nice, Martha Stewart." Ray said. Abby rolled her eyes as she sat down in a rocking chair. She rubbed her stomach. This was nice. She had to admit it.

"Have you thought about names or anything?" Abby asked as Ray opened the green can. He shrugged his shoulders.

"A little. You?" He asked. Abby nodded.

"I'd like him to have Eric for a middle name." She said. Ray nodded as he began to paint the wall.

"That sounds good." Ray said glancing back at her, "Are you going to help?"

"I'm tired." She said as she stood up, "We need our rest. I'll come help after our nap." Ray shook his head.

"Go take a nap." He said. Abby smiled as she walked to the own bedroom. Being pregnant did have its advantages, she didn't have to work around the house. Abby crawled into the comforting bed with a groan. It felt so good to be in it. Almost instantly, Abby was as sleep. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when she finally awoke, but the morning sun was gone and the moon was now out. She must have been sleeping for a few hours.

"Ray?" She called out as she got out of bed. He walked in with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I ordered some pizza. It should be here soon." He said. Abby nodded as he went back into the bathroom. Abby shuffled through the livingroom and into the nursery. She stopped in her tracks. It was completely done. The bottom half of the wall was green and the top half was blue and in the middle was the grasshopper border.

"Ray, you finished itཀ" She grinned.

"Yeah. I was on a roll so I decided not to stop." He walked up behind her. "You like it?"

"It's more gorgeous then I thought it was going to be." Abby said.

"Tomorrow we can move furniture in. Give it a night to dry properly." Ray said as they door bell rang. "I'll get it." Abby stared at the walls. She couldn't believe how beautiful was.

"Thank you, Ray." Abby said walking back into the living room, "Thank you for everything."

"He's my son too." Ray chuckled as he put the pizza on the table, "I should be able to paint his room."

"No, not for just that, but for everything." Abby said, "Finally in my life I'm happy and have everything I want."

"Everything, Abby?" Ray asked.

"Well, I'd like a million dollars to wind up on our doorstep, but nearly everything." Abby said as she sat down on the couch. She opened up the pizza box and saw it was pineapple and ham pizza, "I even got my favourite kind of pizza."

"It's my job to keep you happy and I plan on doing it." Ray said, "Plate."

"Plate." Abby smiled taking the plate from him

"So, Miss I like to sleep for hours on end, I was thinking of names while you were asleep." Ray said. Abby smiled with a mouth full of pizza.

"Oh Yeah? What do you want to name him?" She asked.

"Elijah." Ray said, "I think it's a nice name and Eli is a cool nick name."

"Elijah." Abby let it roll off her tongue, "Elijah Eric Barnett."

"Do you like it?" Ray asked, "I can look for something else." Abby shook her head.

"No don't." She smiled, "Elijah is perfect."

"Great." Ray was now grinning from ear to ear. Today had been a very productive day for Ray, Abby thought. He had painted the nursery and named their child. Less work for Abby and she liked that.


April 18th, 2005

Week 22

The ER was busy. Ray ran from one side of the floor to the other in ten seconds flat. Abby tried, but the pregnancy was starting to get uncomfortable.

"Ray, your earache's fever is spiking." Chuny said handing him a chart. Ray looked at it.

"103?" He groaned, "Okay, find her a room. We're going to admit her."

"Got it." Chuny said walking off.

"Ray, the films on your skateboarder came back." Jerry said handing him the envelope.

"You're the best." Ray walked over to the light box and tossed the films up there. There was definably a hair line fracture on his forearm, but there were about a dozen olds ones evident on the film. "Ray, can you pull this kids records?"

"Got it." Jerry said. Rau spotted Abby standing at the admit desk rubbing her back. She was pushing herself hard. She wanted to prove her pregnancy wasn't a handicap.

"Abby, take a look at this." Ray said. Abby walked over and looked at the film.

"Abuse victim?" She asked. Ray shrugged his shoulders.

"He's a skateboarder so I don't know." He said. She nodded staring at the films.

"I don't know. It's possible those are just evidence of his failed tricks...or abuse." Abby said, "it'd pull his records and see if Social services have ever been to visit him."

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Ray leaned over and kissed her temple.

"Ick." She winked as she walked away.

"I love you too." Ray pulled the films and walked to the room where Aaron Johnson was sitting, "Well, Aaron, it looks like You're going to be getting a cast."

"What's new?" Aaron sighed laying against the pillows. Ray stared at him. He was about fifteen years old with shaggy blond hair. He barely looked Ray in the eyes.

"So you've done this a lot?" Ray asked.

"I'm trying to get better than Magera." Aaron said. Ray laughed.

"Well, I hope you do." He said, "How's your home life?"

"My mom let me drain the pool so I would have a place to practice." Aaron said, "My dad buys me a new board at the drop of a hat. I think I have it pretty good."

"It sounds it." Ray said, "Well, I'll be back to set your arm. Any colour preference?"

"Black." Aaron said.

"You got it." Ray smiled as he left the room.

"Here's Johnsons records." Jerry said holding it up.

"Thanks." Ray grabbed it and opened it up. There was no indications that Social services had ever been called. There were several hairline fractures to his right arm and a compound fracture to his left. This kid was just a die hard skateboarder. Ray rubbed his eyes.

"Ray, there aren't any rooms for your earache." Chuny said.

"Well, she's being admitted upstairs regardless if they have no beds or not." Ray said.

"There aren't any beds." Chuny said.

"Push her upstairs and leave her in their hallway." Ray said. Chuny stood there staring him, "I mean it. I'll sign off on it."

"Fine." Chuny said handing him the chart. Ray scrawled his name on it and gave it back to her. Ray closed his eyes for just a moment.

"Jerry, I think I'm going to go get something to eat." He said pushing off of the desk.

"Get me a bagel with cream cheese." Jerry said. Ray started to walk over to the elevators when, as if on cue, sirens blared from outside. Luka came jogging down the hallway,

"Five car pile up. Everyone in the bay." He yelled. Ray sighed deeply looking at Jerry.

"No rest for the weary, Huh?" Jerry asked. Rau threw him a dirty look. It was just going to be one of those shifts. He wouldn't get sleep nor food.