"You wrote him a letter?"

Abby answered the front door the next morning to find an incredulous Susan stood on her doorstep. "Hey, Abby. How are you? That's the polite way to start a conversation." Abby commented sarcastically as she let Susan inside.

"Hey, Abby. How are you? Happy now? Good." Susan paused. "You wrote him a letter?"

"Yes. I tried to tell him over the phone but just kept backing out."

"So you wrote him a letter."

"If you say that one more time, I swear…" Abby headed into the living room.

"Ryan asleep?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, so please don't start yelling, ok?"

"I won't. I only came over to see how you were."

"I'm just peachy. I was really hoping for another argument with Carter." Abby walked over to the sofa and sat down. "So, did he call you before or after speaking to me?"

"Before."

"Great. You're still the first one he tells everything to."

"If it's any consolation, he yelled at me."

"Good." Abby smiled slightly.

"So, is he coming back?" Abby shook her head. "Why not?"

"I told him not to."

"Abby…"

"No. It's for the best. I don't know why I told him."

"But…" Susan's pager went off. "Damm, that's the ER. I'd better phone in."

"What time are you meant to be on?"

"Not for another couple of hours. Start at twelve." Susan quickly phoned from her cellphone. "Hey, it's Susan. Someone just page me?…right…ok…yeah, fine…I'll be there soon as I can." Sighing Susan hung up. "I gotta go. They're expected multiple casualties from an MVA. I'll stop by later, ok. After my shift."

"Yeah, ok."

After Susan had left, Abby checked on Ryan. Seeing he was still asleep. She walked to the kitchen and removed a bottle of vodka from the cupboard where she had hidden it when Susan had knocked on the door. She poured herself a shot and knocked it straight back, before pouring another.

Dave stood outside Abby's apartment, shivering in the cold. He buzzed for her again. He had noticed that the light was on and was beginning to worry. She knew I was coming round tonight. She told me to come round. Even insisted I brought ice cream. Come on Abby, answer the door. Taking out his cell phone, he called the apartment first, and when she did not answer, he tried her mobile. He got no answer there either.

He was just about to ring and see if anyone else would let him inside when Abby's neighbour came walking up to the building. I hope she recognises me. If not, then she'll never let me in.

"Erm, excuse me."

The lady turned around and looked at him suspiciously. "Yes?"

"I'm a friend of Abby's, your neighbour. She's not answering the door. I'm getting a little worried."

"Maybe she's out." The woman began to open the door.

"Yeah, but she knew I was coming over tonight."

"So?"

"So she wouldn't go out if she knew I was coming over."

"If you say so."

"Could you just check if she's in? Just knock on her door or something?"

The woman sighed, and then held open the door for him. "Go up yourself."

"Thanks." Dave dashed up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. When he reached the apartment, he began to pound on the door. He could hear Ryan start to cry inside. He was just about to knock again when Abby opened the door.

Dave took a moment, not knowing what to say. Abby looked like she was struggling to stand up, leaning on the door for support.

"It's Dave. My new knight in shining armour." She giggled and started to lose her balance. Dave caught her before she hit the floor. "See. Men always wanting to save me. Poor Abby. She needs a man to fix her."

Dave carried her to the sofa. "How much have you had to drink?"

"I…I no drinking. See perfectly sober." Abby tried to stand up again, but just fell back down.

If this was anyone else in this state, I'd be laughing right now. Dave stared at her for a moment, shaking his head, then walked to the bedroom to see if Ryan was alright. He was thankful to find Ryan was fine, except for needing changing. "You know, kid, it's a good thing I know where everything is in this apartment cause I'd not get any sense out of your mom right now."

After Ryan was changed, he soon drifted back to sleep. Dave placed him back in the cot and then left the room. When he returned to the living room, he found Abby pouring herself another drink. "Oh no. No way, Abby."

He snatched the glass of her and tipped the contents down the sink.

"Hey, what ya do that for?" she protested.

"It's not a good idea to drink anymore." He grabbed the bottle, before Abby could, and emptied that down the drain as well. As he went to throw it in the bin, he noticed another empty bottle of vodka in the bin. "How much have you had?"

He led her back to the couch and made her sit down. He sat beside her. "I'll make some coffee." As he made a move to stand up, Abby placed her hand on his thigh.

"Don't want coffee."

Dave lifted her hand from his leg. "Erm Abby…" What is she doing? Why is she doing this now? If she was sober and knew what she was doing then I wouldn't be complaining. But even I'm not gonna take advantage of a drunken woman. Especially not her.

She began to caress his face. He was about to stop her, when she suddenly leaned in and kissed him. Surprised, he pulled away abruptly. Abby drew away from him. "I'm sorry. Oh god, I'm sorry." She stood up, this time managing to stay on her feet. She made a bolt for the door, opened it and fled into the hallway.

"Abby, wait." Dave ran after her. He faltered in the apartment doorway. Glancing back towards Ryan's room. Cursing, he decided that he'd be ok for a moment and continued into the corridor. Abby was already halfway down the stairs. "Abby!"

He was loath to leave Ryan alone. Cursing, he charged back to the apartment. He glanced desperately around the room. It took him a minute to spot Abby's mobile. Grabbing it, he fumbled through the list of numbers until he reached Susan's. He headed over to the apartment phone, not being sure of how good the signal would be on the mobile. He tried Susan's mobile first and getting no answer, tried her at home. He hung up when the answering machine picked up. He put the phone down and hoping she was at work, phoned the ER. "Hi, is Susan there?…It's important…Can you get her?…Just get her. This can't wait." He waited for a minute, before Susan got to the phone. "Susan, it's Dave. Can you get over to Abby's place?…Now…Just get over here…Abby's been drinking…she just took off…alright…ok."

Dave hung up. Now being able do nothing until Susan arrived, he sat down and waited.

"What happened?" Susan had had a hard time convincing Weaver to let her leave the ER and was now not in the best of moods. "Keep it simple. Explain clearly and quickly."

"I came over. Abby wasn't answering the door so her neighbour let me in. Abby was totally pissed. It looks like she's gone through at least one bottle of vodka and had just started another when I arrived. I took the drink off her. She got upset. And bolted."

"You didn't see where she went?"

Dave shook his head. "I didn't want to leave Ryan on his own. That's why I phoned you. So you can stay with Ryan, and I'll go look for her."

Susan folded her arms. "I'll go look for her. You stay with Ryan."

"But…"

"Do you know where she could have gone?"

"Not exactly."

"I know the bars we used to go to. I have a better chance of finding her. You stay here in case she comes back."

"She was in a bad way."

"I'll find her." In the short time she had known Dave, Susan had never seen him scared before.

When Dave heard the door buzzer go, he figured that it was Susan coming back. He was surprised to see Jing Mei.

"Is there any news?"

Dave stepped aside to let her in. "No."

"Susan told me before she left the ER. I thought Abby would have turned up by now."

"Me too."

The two of them stood in awkward silence for a while.

"I was just about to make some coffee. You want some?" Dave offered.

"Yeah. I'll give you a hand."

Once they had made the coffee, they sat at the kitchen table. "How much had Abby drunk?" Chen asked.

"A lot."

"Do you know why she just ran away?"

Dave was silent for a moment. Looking up, he studied Chen for a while before speaking. "Abby kissed me."

Chen raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"Nothing."

Chen did not look convinced. "What, a woman makes a move for Dave Malucci and he says no?"

"Ok, yeah. I have a reputation and most of it's true. But this is Abby we're talking about. I wouldn't throw away our friendship for a drunken one-night stand. I wouldn't do that to her."

Chen was surprised to see Dave get so angry. She knew that he and Abby had become close lately but not how Dave actually felt about that. "Do you love her, Dave?"

"What?" Why is she asking me that? I won't sleep with a woman and that means I'm in love with her?

"I was just asking."

"No. We're just friends." That's all we'll ever be. She's too hung up on Carter. And that's not likely to change. I think she'll always love that guy. And he threw her away.

"Then why'd you turn her down then?"

"Cause she was drunk."

"I bet there's been times when that hasn't stopped you."

"Ok, yeah. But only when I've been as drunk as them."

"You don't need to get so defensive, Dave."

"I'm not!"

Chen laughed. "Ok, fine but…"

Dave suddenly turned his attention to the door. Susan was stood there.

"What is it?" Dave got up and crossed over to her.

"Luka just called me from work." Susan paused. "There's been an accident."

"Is she alive?" Dave was not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"He didn't give me many details. I'm not even sure what happened."

"Is she alive?" Dave raised his voice now.

"For now. But it sounds pretty bad."