Title: Midnight Highway

Author: Ashleigh

Disclaimer: I don't own them anymore...my mum said they were too messy to I had to give them up tp NBC. Shame

Spoilers: anything post "Darfur"

Rating: PG

Category: JC/AL/LK

Summary: A story of realisation and friendship. Carter returns to Chicago where old loves, lives and feelings play on his mind. Starts and ends Luby but has strong Carby reminders.

Author's Notes: I have been formulating this thing since before This Little Star was finished. Once that was finally completed I spent a good few weeks working on this. If you can, download the song "Midnight Highway" by Daphne Loves Derby. It seems to run hand and hand with the fic, it will prob give you a better understanding of the fic as well.

--

When he arrived in Chicago the last thing on his mind was going to county but somehow, in spite of his jetlag he was itching to get out of his cold house.

He stood at his bedroom window watching over the silent city; Chicago was always beautiful at night. There was a strange smell in the air and it was what he had expected granted his house hadn't been lived in almost a year. Everything was still the way he left it; only now covered with a thick layer of dust.

There was something almost unnatural about where he was, everything was solid, strong and clean; offering itself only as a contrast to his life on the other side of the world.

Everything here was different.

Chicago was cosmopolitan, vibrant, lively and in many ways your typical American city. For those first few hours he faced a culture shock having forgotten how things go in the land of the free – an austere difference to where he had come from where blood was shed over freedom.

County was his haven; a strange place where he could forget everything and anything and focus on his work. It was his sanctuary and it was merely minutes away from him. All that stood between John Carter and County General Hospital was a five minute car ride and his own fear. Not fear in the journey; but fear in the destination.

If he was to appear at County in the early hours of the morning he'd have to face the night shift and their relentless questions; wonderings and tales of everything he's missed. He wasn't ready for it; at least not until tomorrow when he had to make an appearance.

--

"…and with that in mind; we'd like to, once again, thank Dr Carter for his generous donation – without it none of this would have been possible."

There was a small applause; John Carter smiled and nodded his head at the others around the large conference table.

"Let's have a great launch tomorrow!" Kerry Weaver piped in at the end.

There was a blurry of men in suits shaking hands, nodding at one another before bidding each other farewell. John Carter found himself centre stage throughout all of this; smiling and talking briefly to almost everyone in the room. It was a surreal experience; being back at County. He felt as though he had stepped into a time machine and taken back almost a whole year. Nothing had changed; everything was still the way it was when he had left with, of course, several exceptions.

--

Flashback in Darfur

It was humid, hot and sticky. The air was so humid that a haze formed over anything that lay still long enough. The entire landscape was barren, coated with a layer of sand; dirt and dust; everything seemed to have a brown coating. There were tents all around, filled with doctors, nurses, aid workers and an overwhelming amount of patients. Gregory Pratt finally understood what a heavy patient load looked like.

"Hey! You made it!" A familiar voice chimed.

Greg Pratt turned and faced his old colleague and greeted him with a hug.

"Hey man. So this is Darfur, huh?"

Carter smiled at Greg.

"Yeah, it takes a bit of getting used to. How was your flight? The journey?"

Pratt shook his head and sighed. "It was long…very long, but that doesn't matter since I'm here now"

Carter smiled again.

"Yeah…"Carter said. "…so lets get to work huh?"

Greg scratched the back of his head, looking out onto the scene that unfolded before him. He took a few moments before he answered; the time he needed to absorb where he was and what he was doing.

"Yeah…" He nodded before following his old friend into the frenzy that lay before him.

--

Pratt had been slowly introduced to the way of life in Darfur. His patient load started off small for the first few hours. Soon it crept up and up until he was doctor to some 20 patients. It had been a long, tiring and stressful day; he was physically and emotionally exhausted; yet at the same time he was desperate to do it all over again.

"Hey" He said as he sat down beside his old friend.

"Hey man." Greg replied.

"You look beat" Carter laughed a little.

"That I am!" Greg laughed along with him.

They sat for a while, catching their breath from the day behind them; preparing themselves for the next one. Both men sat staring at the ground; waiting for the other to speak.

"So what's been going on with you? Where's that gorgeous woman of yours?" Greg asked.

Carter smiled. "She's in Paris; with her family right now." Carter looked sad as he finished his statement. Pratt looked at him with a questioning face. Carter shook his head before clearing his throat.

"We're just giving each other some space; trying to work out what we are to each other, you know?...but anyway, what about you? Still dating that girl from Ceasefire?"

Pratt smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Olivia's great."
Carter nodded his head, smiling at his friend.

"So what about County? Susan? Abby? Luka?" Carter asked beady eyed; desperate to hear how everyone was back home.

"Uhh…Susan left. She got offered tenure somewhere else and she's gone." Greg said quietly, remembering how close Carter and Susan once were.

Carter looked a little sad to hear this before he lifted his head and smiled. "That's great for her…What about everyone else?" Carter asked again.

"Everyone's fine; Luka and Abby are a little bit more than fine if you know what I mean" Pratt laughed at his own statement; Carter smiled along with him. It didn't take him too long to turn his smile into something completely different and as it did Pratt realised exactly who he just said that to.

Almost instantly the pressure on Carter's chest increased. Greg's comment caught him off guard; way off guard. A million and one questions raced through his mind as he tried to comprehend the situation. He could feel Pratt's eyes on him so he snapped out of it as best he could.

"They're…they're together?" He stuttered a little.

"Yeah" Pratt said quietly; nodding his head.

Carter laughed nervously as he scratched at the back of his head.

"That's great!" He exclaimed, trying to sound as sincere as he could. "…that's really great" He repeated, much quieter, almost to himself.

They both sat in silence for a while; Greg was allowing him to absorb the fact that Luka and Abby were back together; especially since he was yet to find out the next big thing.

Carter finally broke the silence.
"So…is there anything else I need to know? Anymore shock revelations?"

Pratt found himself wincing when he asked that last question; he didn't think he could tell him the last piece of information – part of him knew Carter wouldn't take it all that well.

Pratt cleared his throat a little as he looked around him. He brought his eyes to Carters and looked straight at them.

"She's pregnant"

--

TBC

NB: What's the verdict? continue? Please, please tell me what you think. Thanks for reading.