Abby's POV

Somehow, we managed to reluctantly pull it together and get back to the ER. We rounded the corner to the ambulance bay, tired and worn. I couldn't believe my eyes!

The ER was empty; all the patients, doctors, nurses, and staff members were shivering outside in the cold. I let go of Carter's hand and ran up to Susan, who was shouting commands into a walkie-talkie. "What happened?" I asked.

Susan turned to look at me. "Abby, good thing you're here. There was a shooting and the police made us evacuate so they could work. Apparently, we're supposed to treat the patients out here!"

"What? How? Is everyone all right?" inquired Carter, who had come to stand behind me and was listening to the news.

"Yeah, nobody was hurt, just a little shook up. As for helping the patients, I don't know what to do, I called you guys because we only had a skeleton crew for the overnight, and I'm sorry, I know you're exhausted, but I didn't know what else to do." I had never seen Susan look so out of it in her life.

"It's okay, we'd be glad to help," I assured her.

"Thanks, can you take the rule out MI and the LOL with hip pain?"

"Of course," Carter replied and took the charts from her outstretched hand. He motioned for me to follow him as we walked across the ambulance bay to treat our first patient.

There's nothing like a good trauma to really get your adrenaline pumping. Carter and I stayed to help out for 3 hours, until all the patients had been transferred to other hospitals or departments, or sent home.

"What a night," Susan sighed. "The police inspector says we can re-open in the morning if everything is safe." She looked so beat, I thought she would fall asleep right then and there.

"Go home Susan," I told her. She willingly obliged and headed towards the el station. I turned to Carter, who was now much more awake than he had been four hours ago. "I need to get something out of my locker. Come with me?"

He nodded and we walked inside to the lounge, then sat down on the couch while I opened my lock and searched through the locker. After sifting through mountains of crap that I needed to clean out, I found my cell phone under an old bag of stale pretzels.

"You know, your life would be a lot easier if you just cleaned that thing out once every five years," Carter told me as he laughed at my disorganized mess. I walked over and gave him a playful smack on the arm.

"That's not funny," I told him. "You know I have issues with cleanliness."

He grinned and pulled me down onto the couch. "You know…" he said. "I'm really not so tired anymore."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and I think the way you search through that locker of yours is pretty damn sexy." Was he kidding? It looked like a war zone. "In fact, everything of yours is pretty damn sexy."

"Are you trying to seduce me?" I asked.

"Is it working?" he started kissing my neck in the one spot he knows I can't resist.

"Carter, we're in the ER," I reminded him as I arched my back and extended my neck to receive his slow, sensual kisses.

"It's deserted, and it's not like we haven't done it in here before?" He continued the kissing, and now I was getting kind of worked up. Besides, his reasoning made a lot of sense. Against my better judgment, I gave in.

I pulled his head up to face me and captured his lips with mine. "You think we can do better than last time?"

"I know we can," he stated. Before I knew it, we were naked, on the couch, in the doctor's lounge in the county ER. My life is insane.

I'm not going to lie. It was amazing sex. Probably some of our best work. Afterwards, we snuggled together on the sofa to rest for a few minutes. I closed my eyes and….

Carter's POV

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHMYGOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" We bolted upright at the sound of the screaming.

Shit! Kerry Weaver was standing in the doorway of the lounge. It only took me a split second to realize what had happened. Abby and I had fallen asleep and it was morning. And another split second later, I noticed that we weren't wearing any clothes. This was not good.

"We were just-" "I'm so sorry, we-" Both Abby and I started to talk at the same time.

"Quiet!" Kerry yelled. "You have ten seconds to get dressed and go home. Ugh, I am so glad that it was me that caught you and not a resident or someone. Do you know the potential liabilities of this? Never mind, just get dressed, get the hell out of here. I'll see you two for a meeting before your shifts this afternoon." She stormed out and slammed the door.

I looked over at Abby, sitting next to me, still with that look of surprise on her face. I couldn't help it. I started to laugh.

"John! It's not funny! We'll get fired," she told me. "This is the single most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. Stop laughing!"

I obeyed her, only because I didn't want her to yell at me later. We got dressed and left the ER. Luckily almost no one was there, so we made our hasty exit without any trouble.

Back in my apartment, I sat down with a mug of coffee as Abby glared at me. We hadn't talked the whole way home, and I was beginning to think she might never speak to me again. "I am so mad at you right now," she said from her perch on the end of the living room armchair.

"Me?" I asked. "You're not going to take any of the blame?"

"Why should I? It was your idea, you made me do it, god you make me do the stupidest things and yet here I am, still with you after all the trouble you got me into." What was her problem? It's not like I forced her to, it takes two people to have sex.

"Look, I'm really sorry," I said. "Let's just try and forget about it."

"Forget about it? I'm not a billionaire like you, Carter. If I lose my job, I'm screwed." It was at that exact moment that I realized we were having our first real couple fight.

"You're not going to lose your job. And even if you do, I can help you out." Trying to reason with her when she's mad is impossible.

" 'Help me out'? You're going to 'help me out'? I'm not one of your charity funds, Carter. I don't need your money."

"Abby, you know that's not what I meant," I said. "I was trying to say that, if you ever do need to, you know, save some money or something, you could always move in with me."

"You want me to move in with you?" her tone softened when she comprehended what I had said.

"Of course," I stated simply. I decided to bare my heart. "I love you, I love spending time with you, waking up next to you."

"Oh," she said quietly. I walked over to where she was standing and put my arms around her. She fit perfectly in my body, her head buried in my chest and my head resting on hers.

"You don't have to, I know it's sudden and we haven't been together long. I'll be happy with whatever you can handle," I said.

"You're not just saying all this stuff to get on my good side again, are you?" she asked.

I looked deep into her eyes. "Would I?" She shook her head no.

"Sorry I flew off the handle," she said.

"Let's talk about it later. For now… we can just… be together."

"I love you too," she said softly. It caught me off guard, but in a good way.

This was probably the craziest day of my life, but I don't think I would change one thing.

Sorry again for the long wait. I think all of my other stories are on an indefinite hiatus. Hope this chapter is good, feedback is greatly appreciated. My exams finish soon, hopefully I can get into writing more this summer. Thanks so much to all of my readers and reviewers. You guys are amazing!