Author's Disclaimer: Some of this is loosely quoted from "Now What" and "Dear Abby." I acknowledge up front that I am not taking credit for the words, or the loose translation of them or the idea, even. I am interweaving my ideas throughout what is actually airing this season....so far! **wink** So, that said, on with my (version of the) show...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
feed me something
we'll go back to the start
take pride of place
understand our reasons
a photograph taken at the time when
confidence won't up and leave
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Awkward. That's what it was. Abby had tried to avoid it, but working in the same hospital, the hide and seek wouldn't last forever.... So, she and Carter were working the same shift today. She spent most of it trying to avoid him. And it didn't matter, anyway; they broke up. It was a done deal, 'I think...' She couldn't get away from the niggling doubt. 'I asked for my key back. That's it. It's over.' Workplace relationships... She now was 0 for 2...
But then they were thrown together for that trauma... Carter's perturbed, "I got your present... Subtle, Abby, subtle..." flung at her between arguments over medical procedure. Okay, admittedly, it wasn't a very nice gesture, leaving a small bag of his stuff on his locker... However, for sentimental reasons, she had kept a lot more of it than she stuffed in that little bag. "Page me if you need me..." he'd said when called out of the trauma. "I won't." she'd muttered. Again. Not very nice. But he was acting like a jerk -made her want to lash out at him...
"Hi." His voice stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks.
"Hi." Answering back, nonchalantly...
Something caught the corner of Abby's attention -looking quickly, she saw Susan 'nudging' her silently to "...TALK to him, for crying out loud..." Knitting her brow, she gave back an almost imperceptible nod, "No!"
Spinning around, she attempted escape, but -too late, Carter had quickly cut her off, "Coffee?" he shorthanded.
"Sure," she answered back.
Two nods and then two ways, parted.
And now, here they were. Walking almost amicably together...
"So, how was it? Africa... I mean." She was trying -really she was.
Carter's face took on the animated quality that she loved so well... recognizable from before... before her family came between them ... "Oh, it was terrible. The healthcare is rudimentary, the conditions... worse. It's savage and ... well, startling. The countryside is dark and rough and ...beautiful. You'd like it, I think, its... such a dichotomy, really..."
Talking to him; listening to him, really, Abby felt almost like old times... He went on to describe Angelique and Charles; Patrique... his problems with the French language barrier. She even almost laughed when he described his comic attempts at communicating in this foreign language. She was growing so comfortable, in fact, she thought, maybe, just maybe -things would be all right. Without even a second thought, and realizing he hadn't even mentioned the person who convinced him to go in the first place; curiosity prompted her to ask, "How is Luka?"
One beat. One beat of stony silence, and then, "Is that what this is all about?" he almost spat. Carter quickened his pace; Abby was forced to race-walk beside him.
"No..." she sputtered. This was coming from left field. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"He's fine!" Spitefully, now, "Actually-" a hard, mean, little chuckle, "-he's better than fine!"
"Carter -what are you..." What was THAT supposed to mean? then, "You know, we don't really talk anymore? Your lips are moving and you seem to be having a conversation, but when you've finished I have no idea what you're saying... what you're thinking....?"
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm saying, Abby... It's the same thing it's been from the start...." his voice almost savage, now.
"You knew, KNEW, I didn't want you to go and you went anyway... What? were you trying to ... to PUNISH me? Carter? Because-"
"Abby, you don't even know what you want... and I can't read your-"
"Did you even think of me while you were there? Did you?"
"Yes!"
"What did you think? What?"
No answer. Just a defiant, guilty look on his face. She knew it. Angrier than she'd been since... since she couldn't remember when, she threw out, "I don't know why you even bothered to come back!" Turning quickly; she stalked toward the hospital entrance.
"Oh, that's great, Abby -just walk away! It's what you do best!" he yelled after her.
Okay, that's it. She felt like leaping at his face, "Okay. You know what YOU do best, Carter? You blame everything on my problems. And you've got problems too, Carter -BIG problems...."
As Carter raged at Abby, Chuny practically ran into her in the bay, with such terrible news. She tried to get her mind around it... and tried to listen to what Carter was saying as well... But all she heard was noise.
"Luka is off saving the world and I'm stuck here trying to convince an AID's patient's HMO to-"
Abby heard, and didn't hear Carter's words... One thought muffled all others in her brain. Rendered her unable to contemplate. Or hear. Or think.
Luka. Dead.
Like a caged animal, her thoughts paced back and forth. "Luka's dead" and "No, he can't be..." alternately repeating over in her head. For the briefest moment, she thought she might be sick. A slow, deep breath and she righted her battered equilibrium.
Carter's face was a mask of twisted, angry pain. "What?....Abby -you're not listening, even now! -you, you...walk away, shut me out-"
Turning to him she repeated mechanically , "Luka's dead."
Abby had read the phrase in books, 'his face fell,' many times. She never bothered to think about how it looked when someone's face fell, but, she saw it demonstrated in front of her, right now. "Carter, he's dead...? How could he be... dead?"
"I shouldn't have left him," barely audible, Carter, determined, turned purposefully, heading back into the hospital. 'Shwoop,' the sound of his almost empty coffee cup landing in the trash bin, echoed the 'swish' of the Emergency bay doors. "...should have stayed..."
Panic rising in Abby's gut, she pushed through behind him, "Carter...? Carter... John! What are you doing...?"
Looking in her direction, his eyes far away, Carter recited absentmindedly, "We have to get him out of there... it could be months- " Grabbing the phone, dialing automatically, "Kisangani-West Africa, please, US embassy..."
Abby looked around the admin area. Shock and grief jockeyed for position on every face. Crossing behind the desk, Abby noticed Susan, her eyes red-rimmed but face under control, and tentatively approached her. "Are we sure -I mean, there's no mistake?"
"Well, they have his badge, Abby, in the pile of personal items from the-" the word stuck in Susan's mouth, "...the, dead. So, it looks pretty grim. Why? Why on earth did he stay there?"
"I don't know; he, uh, he just wanted to help..." Abby's voice trailed off.
Hanging up the phone, Carter bolted from the admin desk, heading for the lounge.
"Suz, I ... I'll be back..." Abby darted around the desk, attempting to head Carter off at the pass. "John? Did you find out anything?" Abby had to jog to match his long-limbed strides into the lounge.
"I got a red-eye flight leaving from O'Hare tonight..." Swiftly Carter grabbed a forgotten gym bag, discarded it as too small, eyed another quickly and dumped the contents on the free bench.
"What are you... what? You're going back?" The panic, again, rising in her, "John, you're - you can't!" Moving to grab his arm, "John, listen to me -he's dead, you can't expect to-"
"Abby -I owe it to him to get his body out of there! I shouldn't have left him in the first place!" Shrugging her hand off his arm, Carter continued his rounds of the hospital supply rooms.
"Doctor? What are you doing?" Kerry materialized in the window of drug lock-up.
"I'll take an inventory, Kerry. I'll pay for everything." Distractedly, Carter continued piling sterile gauze, boxes of syringes, antibiotics into his pilfered bag.
One bag hadn't enough room so Carter raced back to grab the second discarded bag. Boxes of latex gloves, laryngoscope, intubation trays... "Abby -grab that microscope!" he barked at her, in doctor/nurse mode now.
Without thinking, she picked up the heavy piece of equipment and handed it to him, "Can you just slow down for just a minute- John? you... can you just wait-"
His piracy complete, Carter headed once again for the Emergency door. "Abby- I'll call the hospital... when I can... When I get some information to pass..." But he was already rounding the walk.
"Carter! Stop -can't you just wait... Wait! Until it's safer..?" Again, he shrugged Abby's hand off. Stopping, as Carter reached the street, Abby called out, " I can't keep doing this!" The tears, stinging the backs of her eyes, threatened to spill. This time, though, Abby couldn't stop them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't keep doing this!"
For the briefest moment, Carter hesitated. He couldn't miss his plane, though. Had to go. He'd have to deal with Abby some other time. Shaking his head, ever so slightly, he pushed on. 'I can't keep doing it, either, Abby...' he thought, '... I have to find some way to get you out of my head....'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
so loosen your hold
though you might be frightened
release or be caught
if this be the right thing
unable by thought
to look what the tide brings in...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Weeks later*
What a horrible, long, awful day. Abby started her shift with the new Residents. How lovely -docs who, in a few months time, would be treating Abby as if she were their own personal 'scut dog.' And she got to play tour guide for them.
And she was chosen to monitor the Shark Cage all day. One of Weaver's changes. At least the Plexiglas cage prevented the patients from throwing up on you, before you were even able to complete the triage paperwork....
Oh, and let's not forget the new nurses, insulting her in foreign tongues... When, oh, when were Heleh, Lydia and Connie coming back?- Oh, the joy! Oh, the rapture! Oh, the boiled pork blood... or whatever it was. Sure, it smelled good but Ugh! -she couldn't think about it, too long...
At least, though, she didn't have time to think about that letter. Hand-delivered by Gillian -or "Jhillian" as Luka pronounced her name. Something more than friendship going on there, she guessed.... "Hah! Yeah, quite a bit more..." she laughed out loud to no one.... No one. "Alone again... naturally...." the words to the song floated to the edge of her consciousness...
It was nice. Her talk with Luka. One good thing that came out of that damn letter.... She certainly wouldn't be offending anyone, NOW, if she had a friendship with Luka... And she genuinely cared for him. Felt for him. It was almost like they were the same person, sometimes, only in separate bodies.... Like her long-lost twin, or something.... Conjoined twins, now separated, but... able to breathe easier around each other, somehow...
That damn letter. 'And, stupid, STUPID Abby, why'd you throw it away at work?' she pummeled herself. Of course, everyone had to take their turn reading it, right?.... Damn gossip mill. She changed her mind. She hated, HATED, gossip.
"It's not you, it's me," Yeah. Right. Hadn't she said those same words to Richard? And she guessed Carter's TRUE meaning was along the same lines as her true meaning to Richard, too. Carter DID blame her. As surely as she blamed Richard -and, by the way...who wouldn't? the cheating, lying, money-stealing bast- Stop, it, Abby. Just stop. Water under the bridge...
Briefly, the thought of a nice, warm, comforting drink blanketed her overtired mind... but -she was determined. She'd done it before. Stayed sober. For five years, even. She could (would!) do it again.
Ahhhh.... man! She hated being an ER nurse. OB nursing was nice. All those perfect little babies. Sure, it was sad sometimes... But mostly, the patients were happy you were there. Not spitting at you or cursing you... Moot consideration, anyway, as Coburn didn't need her up there, and Abby didn't like the idea of scrounging around the OB departments at Mercy or Northwestern only to be busted back in seniority... and med school.
Wait. Where did that thought come from? What about Med School? She hadn't given Med School more than a passing thought in over a year.
She thought once again of Richard... the money for her tuition... He OWED her that. He did. And she just never bothered to collect. She just let life happen to her lately...
When did she start doing that? Just passively accepting what ... ever. She hadn't been that way when she poured that first shot of tequila down the drain. When she had gotten herself to AA for the first time. When she made the decision to -FINALLY- leave Richard and stop allowing his sneaking around; his crappy treatment of her...
She had been stronger when she quit drinking the first time. "....You don't need me.... You never did... You're stronger than you think you are..." Those words, from the damn letter. Carter's letter... Came back to haunt her.
"No, John... I'm not strong. I thought I could be everything my family needed me to be and I thought I could become everything you wanted me to be.... but I wasn't strong enough for that." Picturing him in her mind, Abby let the words roll out of her heart, uninhibited, for the first time. " I love you, John, but I'm not what you want. I'm not who you thought I was." The tears rolled down her face. She had been allowing herself to cry, lately. Felt kind of good, actually. She reached over to the ashtray and stubbed out her cigarette.
Out of the blue, Abby thought of the little song from Toy Story... "no, it can't be true... I could fly if I wanted to... like a bird in the sky... if I believe I can fly... why, I'll fly......" She loved Randy Newman... ever since "Short People." She should be offended! She was short! She laughed, a little, at the thought...
She could try to go back to Med School. She could. If she believed she could fly.... Hah! Silly, really! Damn kid's movie... And what if - what if she didn't make it? What then, huh?
Oh, man- "I really AM tired..." she said out loud, stifling a yawn... Mind, dulled now. Can't think anymore... Gotta go to bed. "Night, Carter," she said to no one.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's note:
The song lyric is from South's Loosen Your Hold. Great song... made me think of these two. It's about letting go, Abby. Figure out where your head is and your heart will follow. Carter? Well... we've dispatched the Congolese branch of our little leg-breaking group... We'll tear ya down; but we'll build ya back up, don't worry....
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
feed me something
we'll go back to the start
take pride of place
understand our reasons
a photograph taken at the time when
confidence won't up and leave
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Awkward. That's what it was. Abby had tried to avoid it, but working in the same hospital, the hide and seek wouldn't last forever.... So, she and Carter were working the same shift today. She spent most of it trying to avoid him. And it didn't matter, anyway; they broke up. It was a done deal, 'I think...' She couldn't get away from the niggling doubt. 'I asked for my key back. That's it. It's over.' Workplace relationships... She now was 0 for 2...
But then they were thrown together for that trauma... Carter's perturbed, "I got your present... Subtle, Abby, subtle..." flung at her between arguments over medical procedure. Okay, admittedly, it wasn't a very nice gesture, leaving a small bag of his stuff on his locker... However, for sentimental reasons, she had kept a lot more of it than she stuffed in that little bag. "Page me if you need me..." he'd said when called out of the trauma. "I won't." she'd muttered. Again. Not very nice. But he was acting like a jerk -made her want to lash out at him...
"Hi." His voice stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks.
"Hi." Answering back, nonchalantly...
Something caught the corner of Abby's attention -looking quickly, she saw Susan 'nudging' her silently to "...TALK to him, for crying out loud..." Knitting her brow, she gave back an almost imperceptible nod, "No!"
Spinning around, she attempted escape, but -too late, Carter had quickly cut her off, "Coffee?" he shorthanded.
"Sure," she answered back.
Two nods and then two ways, parted.
And now, here they were. Walking almost amicably together...
"So, how was it? Africa... I mean." She was trying -really she was.
Carter's face took on the animated quality that she loved so well... recognizable from before... before her family came between them ... "Oh, it was terrible. The healthcare is rudimentary, the conditions... worse. It's savage and ... well, startling. The countryside is dark and rough and ...beautiful. You'd like it, I think, its... such a dichotomy, really..."
Talking to him; listening to him, really, Abby felt almost like old times... He went on to describe Angelique and Charles; Patrique... his problems with the French language barrier. She even almost laughed when he described his comic attempts at communicating in this foreign language. She was growing so comfortable, in fact, she thought, maybe, just maybe -things would be all right. Without even a second thought, and realizing he hadn't even mentioned the person who convinced him to go in the first place; curiosity prompted her to ask, "How is Luka?"
One beat. One beat of stony silence, and then, "Is that what this is all about?" he almost spat. Carter quickened his pace; Abby was forced to race-walk beside him.
"No..." she sputtered. This was coming from left field. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"He's fine!" Spitefully, now, "Actually-" a hard, mean, little chuckle, "-he's better than fine!"
"Carter -what are you..." What was THAT supposed to mean? then, "You know, we don't really talk anymore? Your lips are moving and you seem to be having a conversation, but when you've finished I have no idea what you're saying... what you're thinking....?"
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm saying, Abby... It's the same thing it's been from the start...." his voice almost savage, now.
"You knew, KNEW, I didn't want you to go and you went anyway... What? were you trying to ... to PUNISH me? Carter? Because-"
"Abby, you don't even know what you want... and I can't read your-"
"Did you even think of me while you were there? Did you?"
"Yes!"
"What did you think? What?"
No answer. Just a defiant, guilty look on his face. She knew it. Angrier than she'd been since... since she couldn't remember when, she threw out, "I don't know why you even bothered to come back!" Turning quickly; she stalked toward the hospital entrance.
"Oh, that's great, Abby -just walk away! It's what you do best!" he yelled after her.
Okay, that's it. She felt like leaping at his face, "Okay. You know what YOU do best, Carter? You blame everything on my problems. And you've got problems too, Carter -BIG problems...."
As Carter raged at Abby, Chuny practically ran into her in the bay, with such terrible news. She tried to get her mind around it... and tried to listen to what Carter was saying as well... But all she heard was noise.
"Luka is off saving the world and I'm stuck here trying to convince an AID's patient's HMO to-"
Abby heard, and didn't hear Carter's words... One thought muffled all others in her brain. Rendered her unable to contemplate. Or hear. Or think.
Luka. Dead.
Like a caged animal, her thoughts paced back and forth. "Luka's dead" and "No, he can't be..." alternately repeating over in her head. For the briefest moment, she thought she might be sick. A slow, deep breath and she righted her battered equilibrium.
Carter's face was a mask of twisted, angry pain. "What?....Abby -you're not listening, even now! -you, you...walk away, shut me out-"
Turning to him she repeated mechanically , "Luka's dead."
Abby had read the phrase in books, 'his face fell,' many times. She never bothered to think about how it looked when someone's face fell, but, she saw it demonstrated in front of her, right now. "Carter, he's dead...? How could he be... dead?"
"I shouldn't have left him," barely audible, Carter, determined, turned purposefully, heading back into the hospital. 'Shwoop,' the sound of his almost empty coffee cup landing in the trash bin, echoed the 'swish' of the Emergency bay doors. "...should have stayed..."
Panic rising in Abby's gut, she pushed through behind him, "Carter...? Carter... John! What are you doing...?"
Looking in her direction, his eyes far away, Carter recited absentmindedly, "We have to get him out of there... it could be months- " Grabbing the phone, dialing automatically, "Kisangani-West Africa, please, US embassy..."
Abby looked around the admin area. Shock and grief jockeyed for position on every face. Crossing behind the desk, Abby noticed Susan, her eyes red-rimmed but face under control, and tentatively approached her. "Are we sure -I mean, there's no mistake?"
"Well, they have his badge, Abby, in the pile of personal items from the-" the word stuck in Susan's mouth, "...the, dead. So, it looks pretty grim. Why? Why on earth did he stay there?"
"I don't know; he, uh, he just wanted to help..." Abby's voice trailed off.
Hanging up the phone, Carter bolted from the admin desk, heading for the lounge.
"Suz, I ... I'll be back..." Abby darted around the desk, attempting to head Carter off at the pass. "John? Did you find out anything?" Abby had to jog to match his long-limbed strides into the lounge.
"I got a red-eye flight leaving from O'Hare tonight..." Swiftly Carter grabbed a forgotten gym bag, discarded it as too small, eyed another quickly and dumped the contents on the free bench.
"What are you... what? You're going back?" The panic, again, rising in her, "John, you're - you can't!" Moving to grab his arm, "John, listen to me -he's dead, you can't expect to-"
"Abby -I owe it to him to get his body out of there! I shouldn't have left him in the first place!" Shrugging her hand off his arm, Carter continued his rounds of the hospital supply rooms.
"Doctor? What are you doing?" Kerry materialized in the window of drug lock-up.
"I'll take an inventory, Kerry. I'll pay for everything." Distractedly, Carter continued piling sterile gauze, boxes of syringes, antibiotics into his pilfered bag.
One bag hadn't enough room so Carter raced back to grab the second discarded bag. Boxes of latex gloves, laryngoscope, intubation trays... "Abby -grab that microscope!" he barked at her, in doctor/nurse mode now.
Without thinking, she picked up the heavy piece of equipment and handed it to him, "Can you just slow down for just a minute- John? you... can you just wait-"
His piracy complete, Carter headed once again for the Emergency door. "Abby- I'll call the hospital... when I can... When I get some information to pass..." But he was already rounding the walk.
"Carter! Stop -can't you just wait... Wait! Until it's safer..?" Again, he shrugged Abby's hand off. Stopping, as Carter reached the street, Abby called out, " I can't keep doing this!" The tears, stinging the backs of her eyes, threatened to spill. This time, though, Abby couldn't stop them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't keep doing this!"
For the briefest moment, Carter hesitated. He couldn't miss his plane, though. Had to go. He'd have to deal with Abby some other time. Shaking his head, ever so slightly, he pushed on. 'I can't keep doing it, either, Abby...' he thought, '... I have to find some way to get you out of my head....'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
so loosen your hold
though you might be frightened
release or be caught
if this be the right thing
unable by thought
to look what the tide brings in...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
*Weeks later*
What a horrible, long, awful day. Abby started her shift with the new Residents. How lovely -docs who, in a few months time, would be treating Abby as if she were their own personal 'scut dog.' And she got to play tour guide for them.
And she was chosen to monitor the Shark Cage all day. One of Weaver's changes. At least the Plexiglas cage prevented the patients from throwing up on you, before you were even able to complete the triage paperwork....
Oh, and let's not forget the new nurses, insulting her in foreign tongues... When, oh, when were Heleh, Lydia and Connie coming back?- Oh, the joy! Oh, the rapture! Oh, the boiled pork blood... or whatever it was. Sure, it smelled good but Ugh! -she couldn't think about it, too long...
At least, though, she didn't have time to think about that letter. Hand-delivered by Gillian -or "Jhillian" as Luka pronounced her name. Something more than friendship going on there, she guessed.... "Hah! Yeah, quite a bit more..." she laughed out loud to no one.... No one. "Alone again... naturally...." the words to the song floated to the edge of her consciousness...
It was nice. Her talk with Luka. One good thing that came out of that damn letter.... She certainly wouldn't be offending anyone, NOW, if she had a friendship with Luka... And she genuinely cared for him. Felt for him. It was almost like they were the same person, sometimes, only in separate bodies.... Like her long-lost twin, or something.... Conjoined twins, now separated, but... able to breathe easier around each other, somehow...
That damn letter. 'And, stupid, STUPID Abby, why'd you throw it away at work?' she pummeled herself. Of course, everyone had to take their turn reading it, right?.... Damn gossip mill. She changed her mind. She hated, HATED, gossip.
"It's not you, it's me," Yeah. Right. Hadn't she said those same words to Richard? And she guessed Carter's TRUE meaning was along the same lines as her true meaning to Richard, too. Carter DID blame her. As surely as she blamed Richard -and, by the way...who wouldn't? the cheating, lying, money-stealing bast- Stop, it, Abby. Just stop. Water under the bridge...
Briefly, the thought of a nice, warm, comforting drink blanketed her overtired mind... but -she was determined. She'd done it before. Stayed sober. For five years, even. She could (would!) do it again.
Ahhhh.... man! She hated being an ER nurse. OB nursing was nice. All those perfect little babies. Sure, it was sad sometimes... But mostly, the patients were happy you were there. Not spitting at you or cursing you... Moot consideration, anyway, as Coburn didn't need her up there, and Abby didn't like the idea of scrounging around the OB departments at Mercy or Northwestern only to be busted back in seniority... and med school.
Wait. Where did that thought come from? What about Med School? She hadn't given Med School more than a passing thought in over a year.
She thought once again of Richard... the money for her tuition... He OWED her that. He did. And she just never bothered to collect. She just let life happen to her lately...
When did she start doing that? Just passively accepting what ... ever. She hadn't been that way when she poured that first shot of tequila down the drain. When she had gotten herself to AA for the first time. When she made the decision to -FINALLY- leave Richard and stop allowing his sneaking around; his crappy treatment of her...
She had been stronger when she quit drinking the first time. "....You don't need me.... You never did... You're stronger than you think you are..." Those words, from the damn letter. Carter's letter... Came back to haunt her.
"No, John... I'm not strong. I thought I could be everything my family needed me to be and I thought I could become everything you wanted me to be.... but I wasn't strong enough for that." Picturing him in her mind, Abby let the words roll out of her heart, uninhibited, for the first time. " I love you, John, but I'm not what you want. I'm not who you thought I was." The tears rolled down her face. She had been allowing herself to cry, lately. Felt kind of good, actually. She reached over to the ashtray and stubbed out her cigarette.
Out of the blue, Abby thought of the little song from Toy Story... "no, it can't be true... I could fly if I wanted to... like a bird in the sky... if I believe I can fly... why, I'll fly......" She loved Randy Newman... ever since "Short People." She should be offended! She was short! She laughed, a little, at the thought...
She could try to go back to Med School. She could. If she believed she could fly.... Hah! Silly, really! Damn kid's movie... And what if - what if she didn't make it? What then, huh?
Oh, man- "I really AM tired..." she said out loud, stifling a yawn... Mind, dulled now. Can't think anymore... Gotta go to bed. "Night, Carter," she said to no one.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's note:
The song lyric is from South's Loosen Your Hold. Great song... made me think of these two. It's about letting go, Abby. Figure out where your head is and your heart will follow. Carter? Well... we've dispatched the Congolese branch of our little leg-breaking group... We'll tear ya down; but we'll build ya back up, don't worry....