A/N: This takes place nine days after chapter two. Abby is out of the ICU and is going to be discharged. Emily has been staying with Carter. It's about 5pm.
Abby finished zipping up her bag and threw it over her shoulder; closing the door behind her she made her way down to the ER. As she entered the noise made her stop and laugh to herself; this was one thing she had not missed. The quiet serenity was more appealing. She carried on walking and was greeted by a familiar face.
"Abby I want you to know you're under no pressure to come back yet, take as much time off as you need." This was a side to Weaver that Abby didn't see very often.
"Thank you Dr. Weaver." Kerry continued with what she was doing and Abby carried on into the reception.
Emily was sat on Jerry's lap playing games on the computer; Abby's eyes quickly scanned her surroundings. No sign of Carter anywhere.
"Hey there." Abby said walking over to her daughter.
"Hi Abby." Emily said not taking her eyes away from the computer screen. Abby's expression changed from one of joy from seeing her daughter to one of confusion. Why did Emily call her Abby? She hadn't called her that since she was about three. "Jerry showed me how to play this game where you have to eat these things and then the man gets bigger."
"That's nice sweetie." Abby said kissing her daughters cheek." Have you seen Carter around?"
"Yeah a big trauma just came in so he's down there somewhere." Jerry said pointing in the direction of the trauma rooms.
"Great when you see him say thank you for me." Abby said lifting Emily off of Jerry's lap.
"Abby I was still playing." Emily whined. "Where are we going?"
"Home." Abby said putting Emily on the floor and gripping onto her hand. "Thanks for looking after her Jerry."
Abby lead her daughter outside and hurried across the street to the El, Emily's little legs trying to keep up with her Mothers. The carriage pulled up as they got there, Abby and Emily got in.
"I don't want to go back there." Emily said. Abby could sense the fear in her daughter's voice.
"Don't worry sweetie we're not staying. I'm just going to get a few things, and then we're going to stay with my cousin Sally in New York. You'll like it there and you can play with Isabel and Riley too, you'll like it there." She smiled over at her daughter, who was staring blankly over at a family sitting opposite them. A couple with three children two boys and a girl, the eldest boy looked about fourteen, the little girl looked about ten and the youngest looked the same age as Emily. The little boy was sat on his fathers lap as he read him a story. 'Maybe if I'd have had a son?' Abby thought maybe her life with Richard would be different. She quickly shook her head, Emily was the best thing that had ever happened to her, she wouldn't give her up for all the diamonds in the world. The rest of their journey was sat in silence, until they reached their stop.
"Come on honey." Abby held onto her daughter's hand and led her down from the platform and across the road to their apartment block. "Okay we have to be very quick. I want you to get your bag that you use when you stay at Aunt Susan's and put everything in it that you want to keep." Abby said as she took a deep breathe before opening the door. Everything was how they had left it, obviously Richard hadn't been back. Abby ushered her daughter into her bedroom and quickly went into her own room and began to pack herself. Five minutes later Abby had stuffed as much as she could possible get into two bags and rushed to her daughter's room, filling up another bag with her daughter's clothes. "Okay you ready?"
Emily and Abby quickly fled the apartment, Abby picked up her car keys as they left shutting the door behind her, not even bothering to look back. Once they were outside Abby made sure to be quiet carefully opening the trunk and putting the bags in. Once in the car Abby started the engine and took one last look at their apartment block and drove off.
"Angel Andrews?" Luka called out in the direction of 'Chairs', a young girl stood up with three young children. "Are you Angel?" Luka asked her.
"No Angel's my daughter." The girl answered pointing to the little girl in the stroller. "I'm Lauryn."
"Okay then Lauryn if you'd like to follow me." Luka said making his way over to exam one." If you just go in there, I'll be in, in a moment." He opened the door as they filed in. Luka then made his way over to Carter who's eyes were frantically searching the ER. "Lost something?"
"Not something, someone." Carter said. "A Miss Emily Grace Lockhart. I left her here with Jerry about and hour ago. And now I cant find either of them."
"Abby left about half an hour ago with Emily." Luka said.
"Who signed Abby's discharge papers?" Carter asked, Luka just shrugged his shoulders and made his way back over to exam one.
Abby looked down at the clock, it was eight thirty, she looked up in the rear-view mirror and saw her daughter sleeping peacefully on the backseat. Her cell phone on the passengers seat beeped, Abby picked it up. 'Low battery' Typical! 'What if I breakdown.' Nothing was going her way, it was raining out, the wind was so strong the trees were moving and the radio didn't even work. Her only other source of company was all tuckered out and fast asleep on the backseat. Finally after driving what seemed like an eternity Abby found a motel. They were now just on the edge of Indiana. Abby got Emily out of the backseat and went over to the reception.
"Hi." She smiled at the woman at the desk." Can I get a room please?"
"How many of you?" The woman asked flatly.
"Just me and my daughter."
"We've got one room left. Single bed, cable TV and a refrigerator. And that's
25 for two nights."
"That's great!" Abby replied. The woman handed Abby a key then went back to her crossword. "Okay kiddo, this is it the beginning of our new life." Abby whispered in her sleeping daughters ear, as she made her way up to her room. When Abby got inside she was surprised at what she found, compared to the outside of the place the inside was pleasantly nice. She lay Emily on the bed and took off her shoes and coat, before tucking her into bed. Abby went over to the bathroom and filled the basin with cold water, splashing it over her face to refresh herself. She didn't even know if Sally even still lived in New York, but even if she didn't it was a chance to start over again, totally re invent herself. She remembered back to when she was a child and her and her best friend Teri would play, and they always switched names. And for two weeks she would only answer to the name 'Teri'. 'Maybe if I changed my name it would make it harder to trace me.' She thought. 'But what about Emily? She wont understand.' Abby shook her head. She wasn't eight anymore that was thirty years ago.
Abby kicked off her shoes and lay next to her daughter, watching her sleep. Of all the crap Richard had ever given her, at least there was one good thing that she would never dream of getting rid of. Emily. She was a mixture of both Abby and Richard. She had Abby's nose and her pouty lips, but she had Richards green eyes. They were the first thing that Abby noticed when she first met him, one of the many things that attracted her to him. And they were her daughters best feature , which were framed by her chestnut waves that cascaded down her back.
"Abby" Abby? Abby are you there?" Carter pounded his fist on Abby's apartment door. As Carter turned around he came face to face with a tall attractive blonde.
"Is everything okay Sir?" she asked. "Only I live directly above, is something wrong with Mrs. Lockhart?"
"Not as far as I know. I'm her friend. Carter." He said extending his hand, the woman took it in her hand.
"Nice to meet you I'm Gracie."
"Nice to meet you too Gracie. Ummm have you seen either Mrs. Lockhart or her daughter today?"
"I heard her about three hours ago, but not since them I'm afraid."
"Do you have any idea where she could have gone? A friends or anywhere?"
Gracie looked down at her watch. " Not that I know of but I'm really sorry I'm going to have to go or I'll be late for work. But when you do catch up with her give her my best." Gracie smiled at Carter before dashing off leaving him on his own again. He pulled out his cell phone and started to call Luka, and then he stopped. Why didn't he think of that before?
Abby's cell was charging as it lay on the table beside the bed, she glanced over as she saw the name flash up on the screen. 'JOHN CALLING', she turned her cell off and lay there staring at the ceiling.
Carter shut his cell phone and stuffed it back in his pocket. Sighing, he knew that Abby was probably just ignoring him, he looked at his watch. It was nine thirty he still had two and a half hours left until the end of his shift. 'Better get back before Weaver realizes I'm gone.' He thought to himself'
The next morning was a lot brighter and drier that the night before. Abby turned over to where her daughter lay, but she was gone. She then realized that the TV was on a cartoon channel; she looked down at the bottom of the bed, where she found Emily sat cross legged on the rug eating out of a cereal box.
"Where did you get that from?" She asked
"The cupboard, but they're a bit chewy though." Emily replied holding the box up to her Mother.
Abby took the box and looked at the expiration date. Abby laughed. "That's because they expired two months ago."
"Ewwww! Gross! I need water quick!" Emily said in a panic.
Abby got up off of the bed and got her daughter a glass of water.
"Phew! Abby that was close! I could have died." Emily put the glass on the table and went back to the TV.
Abby didn't understand why all of a sudden Emily kept calling her 'Abby', "It's okay Em because you see I'm a doctor. And Mommy would never let you die." Abby got back on the bed and leant her head over the end to see Emily. "Emily honey can I ask you a question?"
"Of course." Emily giggled playing with her Mothers hair that hung over the bed.
"Why do you keep calling me Abby for? I'm your Mommy." Emily stopped playing with Abby's hair. Abby sat up on the bed pulling Emily up with her sitting her on her lap.
"Because I don't want my Mommy to die, so if I don't call you Mommy then maybe Richard wont come back and get us."
"Oh honey. You don't have to worry about him. I'd never let him take you away from me." Abby embraced her daughter. "I'll tell you what. I'll go make you a bath then after we'll go out and get something to eat. How does that sound?"
"Delicious!" Emily squealed jumping up and down on the bed.
