A/N: Thanks to everyone who has given postitive reviews, I really appreciate them. And one short side note here, I did not start out writing this with any intention of breaking up Abby and Luka. That's not what this story is about.. it is not a carby nor will it ever be. I have several chapters already written it takes time however to transpose them from paper to computer as I wrote most of this while I was at boot camp with pen and flashlight.

Chapter 10

Luka and Carter stood outside the ER now. Both men were tired from the long hours that they had put in and you could see the worry and concern that was on their faces with no work from upstairs about their friend.

"She seemed so quiet today." Carter said.

"No more than any other day." Luka said having spent a lot of time with Anna lately.

"What?" Carter asked looking at him.

"Anna, she wasn't overly quiet. She's usually like that. She's been pretty withdrawn especially at work." Luka answered.

"I didn't realize that you two were close." Carter replied.

"I wouldn't say that we are close." Luka responded. He didn't fully know the history between the two doctors but by Carter's reaction you could tell that there had been something there. "We've worked together for awhile and she and Abby have hit it off really well."

"I'm happy that Anna still has friends here." Carter sighed softly.

"She speaks highly of you." Luka chimed in. "She said that when she was first here in 97 or so that you worked well together."

Carter smiled, "yeah we did work well together and those were some good times back then."

He remembered those times with them together. He'd had a small crush upon her back then, but Max had come back into Anna's life and stole her back. She'd not said a whole lot before she'd gone back to Philadelphia and supposed back to her family.

"She doesn't like to talk about Max." Luka said.

"That could be why she could have gotten so quiet when I mentioned his name." Carter felt a pang of guilt. "Was the divorce messy?"

Luka shrugged his shoulders now. "She hasn't said that much to me about it. I've only seen him once the entire time that she's been here. They fought pretty loudly in the bay."

Carter crossed his arms over his chest. "I hate men that walk all over women like that."

Luka nodded, "I know I was worried about her after they fought. He didn't seem too happy and she was very quiet."

"I didn't like him back when he first appeared in Chicago. He doesn't seem to be that great of a guy. But I wanted Anna to be happy. Max at the time seemed to make her happy." Carter could only hope that had really been the case that she had happiness. But with a man like Max one could never be certain about something as simple as being happy.

"I'm sure she's going to be fine." Luka said with an eerie calmness to his voice, almost as if it was the voice of experience speaking. "She's strong and strong willed both things in her favor."

Now Carter wished he could believe those things but the Anna that he saw didn't appear to be either. His focus needed to be on the present, the past could not be changed. His friend was up in the OR having surgery to repair injuries from trying to make a difference in someone's small life. Carter just wanted some kind of word from upstairs that everything was going to be alright. As the time slowly passed Luka went to finish the shift he'd been called in for and to partially cover the last remaining bit of what was Anna's shift.

Carter wanted nothing more than to head upstairs but no news was good news. As the day shift slowly began to filter in to take over Carter began to drag himself. Walking outside again, this time to grab a cup of hot coffee before heading up to the SICU where he knew his friend would be, hopefully recovering in a bed nearly ready to bit his head off or laughing with those blue eyes of hers.

Carter remembered the night that had come down and bailed him out of jail. But the memory that burned him the most, the one that haunted him was how she looked the night Max came to Chicago. Her long hair down on her shoulders blowing in the wind. The look on her face as Max's hand touched her face that made her eyes scream I'm sorry.

None of that could be changed. As far as Carter knew Anna knew nothing of Joshua or Kem that he'd been married and now was once again alone. Time had appeared to have changed both of them. Carter however wanted nothing but his friend back. For he knew neither of their hearts could handle anything more right now. Hell he didn't know what he would do if Anna didn't pull through this. She had to though. Carter really needed to be able to reconnect with her.

She arrived at the SICU, flirted with Kit for a few minutes before he went in to where he was told she could be. Carefully, almost painfully, he placed his hand on the door pushing it open. So that he could cross into the room. There she lay on the bed. She looked as if she was nothing more than a sleeping angel. The sounds coming from the machines let you know of the steady beat of her hears, rise and fall of her chest. That Anna was still among the living. She was pale, there was no red glow or pink tint to her cheeks that they would have had if she'd been up on her feet.

Carter sat down next to her hospital bed. It took him a few minutes before he reached out to take her hand into his. Her body was warm to the touch letting him know that she was still alive and there with them.

"Anna I'm here." His voice nothing more than a soft whisper. That was all that was needed in the small room. He wished her eyes would open. With his other hand he reached up and gently brushed the loose strands of hair from her face. Anna's eyes fluttered from the touch.

"Hello Dr. Carter," a female voice broke the silence of the room.

Carter looked up for a brief moment. "Hey Neela," he answered back when it fully registered who was there with him, "how is she doing?"

Neela gave him a soft yet seasoned smile. No longer an intern she had some medical seasoning under her belt. "We were able to repair some of the damage from the accident. There was a small liver laceration that we stitched up but we were unable to repair the spleen."

Carter nodded as Neela spoke to him. So far none of that seemed all that horrible, nothing that seemed to be life-threatening. She could live without her spleen.

"She'll need to stay her for a couple of days and will probably need some help for a few more at home when she leaves here. Do you know if she has any family we could call for her?"

Carter shook his head no. Sure there was Max, but Carter didn't think that was information he should be sharing right now.

"I'll come back and check on her before my shift ends." Neela said as she sat the chart back down where it belonged.

Carter watched her leave the room and settled back down in the chair and crossed his arms against his chest. His eyes began to flutter closed from the length of the day and the toll that all of this added.

"Carter."

With his eyes closed and him being warm in the quiet room they didn't want to open.

"Carter."

There was that voice again. Soft and friendly one that he had heard before and that he knew as a familiar smell hit is nose. One eye slowly cracked open. He waited the minute it took for his brain to shake the cobwebs free. "Hey Abby," Carter said in that soft sleepy voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how Anna was doing." Abby answered. "Luka told me about the accident." She said down next to him now. "I got you a coffee."

"Thanks Abby." Carter said as he took the hot liquid in the Styrofoam cup from her with a small sleepy smile.

"Neela says she'll be able to go home soon." Abby started to attempt to make some conversation with him, "but that she'll need to have someone stay there with her." Abby knew Anna's family was fairly far away.

Carter looked at Abby then at Anna before his eyes went back again to Abby. "I thought well if she well let me," awkward pauses between his words now, "maybe I could help her out." Why was it so hard to spit that out?

"I'm sure she'd be okay with that. Granted I can't speak for her," Abby said. "That probably would put Luka at a little more ease so he'd stop worrying so damn much."

Carter looked at Abby a little more confused now that she had said that. "Why is Luka so worried about her?" He had to ask even if he wasn't really sure that he wanted to hear the answer. "Did I miss something?"

Abby looked at Carter, "miss something, oh no. Luka and Anna just hit it off really well when Anna came back on staff here about six months ago."

A soft barely audible moan came from the hospital bed causing both of them to stop their conversation and turn their attention back to Anna.

"Hey there," Carter said as he moved to take her hand. "Anna come on, open those eyes of yours," he gave her small words of encouragement.

They both kept their eyes on her waiting for her to wake up. You could see her eyelids flutter, see her fight and desire to want to wake up and be there with them. After a few minutes her eyes opened all the way and Anna managed to keep them open. Carter and Abby exchanged smiles before they both smiled at Anna.

"Welcome back," Abby said softly, "how are you feeling?"

He throat felt horse and scratchy. Her stomach hurt and she was sore all over. "Thirsty," the whisper barely came out of her throat now. "What happened?"

Abby reached over and filled Anna a glass with water. "Drink slow," Abby said.

"You don't remember the accident?" Carter asked.

Anna took a small slow drink from the glass she'd been handed. "I remember being in a car with a little girl but that's about it."

"It tipped the rest of the way over while you were in there." Carter told her. It wouldn't' hurt Anna to know the truth about what had happened.

"Is the little girl okay?" Anna asked you could hear the concern in her voice now as she spoke. Part of the reason she became a pediatrician was her love for children. She had a soft spot for them.

"Yes Anna." Carter replied. "She's in the PICU right now, but you don't have to worry she was holding her own the last time I went and checked on her."

Anna let out a soft sigh and you could see her body relax more into the bed.

"You know you'll be okay too." Carter said.

Anna just rolled her eyes at Carter now, "ah I figured as much. Something inside just screamed not my time to go."

"Some of us are kind of fond of you." Abby said with a soft laugh.

"I'm not sure that is a good thing." Anna's eyes were getting heavy again from the pain meds she was on.

Carter stood up now. "You should get some rest and then soon I can break you out and take you home to sleep in your own comfortable bed."

Anna nodded her response to him. That was about all that she could muster the strength to do. Carter patted her hand before getting ready to leave. But he wanted to keep her in good spirits. "Behave now. I'm going to go and feed the pregnant Abby and then bring you some contra band."

Anna gave him some form of a smile as she drifted back off to sleep again. Carter and Abby both knew that Anna needed the rest so her body could finish healing. They slowly headed out of the SICU room and down the hallway.

"You should head home and get some sleep John. You look like you are about ready to die."

"I wanted to make sure that she had someone here when she woke up." Carter said as he stretched his arms over his head.

"Ah I believe that you have done that." Abby said as she wrapped her arms around her waist holding her belly with a soft smile. "She'll be okay while you get some rest."

"You are probably right." Carter replied with that boyish grin upon his face, a grin that Abby hadn't seen in a very long time.

"I should make sure that there's enough people to cover the board since we are now short another physician."

"I'm sure that they have everything covered." Abby answered. "Even though you are a mighty fine doctor." She paused stopping her walking. She didn't want him to think that she didn't appreciate his skills or volunteering to carry another shift. "Besides you might be needed later in the day. You never know when we are going to need help around this place."

Carter pushed his hand through his hair, running his fingers through his sandy brown locks. "You sometimes are too smart for your own good." He really was tired and it was starting to show. "Although I will get out of here before something else comes up. The chairs upstairs are comfortable but so is my bed."

As they crossed into the ER their place slowed to almost a snail's crawl but the hustle and bustle of the ER continued on. It didn't matter to the outside world that one of their own was lying in a SICU bed and had come flying through those ER doors on a gurney fighting for her life.