Matters Of The Heart
Set in 2017. When Abby and Luka travel back to Chicago for Rachel Green's wedding, a lot of feelings, past and present are put into play. Including those unfinished ones between Carter and Abby. AU
I'm having 15 years of feelings with this fic. Give it a chance guys!
Luka packed just as much as he could into the suitcase just as Abby had instructed. They'd be leaving for Chicago in the morning and he couldn't feel as if a wave of guilt washed over him. He and Abby had made Boston their home for a while now, the prospect of stepping back in time and seeing everyone made him feel uneasy.
"Dad, have you seen my jacket?" Joe asked as he walked passed him. No school meant the apartment was kind of a mess with Abby working long shifts.
"No, sorry, did you finish packing?" He asked his middle child.
"I did. AJ said it was okay." Luka sighed. Bless AJ, with his well-dressed family and just how systematic Carter and Abby were, also it didn't hurt he was the oldest. "The suits are in the closet."
"Good, help me clean up a little will you? We don't want mom to see the place like this." Luka said tiredly. Joe groaned but did as he was told.
"Yes!" Luka heard AJ shout from the end of the hall. "That's awesome. Okay, I'll tell Mom as soon as she gets here."
"Another trip with his grandfather?" Joe asked. Luka smiled.
"Apparently"
Joe rolled his eyes at his older brother. AJ was used to spending summers out in Chicago with Carter and his grandfather, who were the closest to him in the family. Joe envied him a bit sometimes, he was sure he'd be getting a car as soon as he was old enough and maybe even a bigger place than the one they lived in right now, after all, the Carter family was loaded.
"Luka," AJ came out of the room, with ruffled hair and hazel eyes. He was all Carter just as everyone always told Abby, she avoided explaining of course, but AJ would give her out by calling Luka by his name. "Dad wants to talk to you." the teen handed over the phone and Luka smiled.
His relationship with Carter was far from one he'd imagine most had, Alex had told him once that divorced parents and most teenage TV series, or really any at all always portrayed divorces like it was some big battlefront. But Luka had seen war and it didn't look anything like whatever dynamic they had going on for years.
Luka understood just how important Carter was to Abby and vice-versa. He'd been the one with her longer at first. And they both understood just how much pain their addictions had caused them and well, he was the father of her first child.
That was the main reason Luka understood and felt a surge of jealousy towards Carter, but he was to blame really.
He'd been the one who had come back to find him back in Congo, and for that Luka would forever be grateful. Had he done it for Abby? Most likely. But for Luka, that wasn't what was most important, after all, he'd been a bystander to Abby's struggles for years, starting with the fact she had disappeared for months and come back heavily pregnant.
And it had been Luka who had told John he had had a child. His first time betraying her, but the decision was worth it to Luka as he watched the little boy and he thought of Marko and of his own family lost years ago.
If someone had told him he had a child somewhere back then and another chance to raise it he'd jump at the opportunity.
"Here," Luka said as soon as Carter ended the call. "I'll talk to your mother about it."
"Thanks, Luka, you're the best!" AJ smiled as he went back to his room.
The best? Luka didn't think so. To his children maybe, to AJ he was one of his best friends or so he'd tried, he'd made best friends with the child just as he could.
It was the next best thing as he'd already had a father.
"So how's work?" Carter asked as soon as they made it out back of his car. Small talk, between him and Abby mostly these days. They'd see less and less of Carter as he was busier with the Center and picking up shifts at County.
Abby would say he was overcompensating.
"It's good, Luka cut off his work a bit and I'm getting into gear for a tenure," Abby said.
AJ looked back and forth between his parents as Luka made sure they were checked in at the hotel.
"Abby, that's great. We've got to celebrate that. Why didn't you tell me?"
" I don't know, this is not about me," Abby said annoyed. "We´re here for Rachel."
"Well I just made it about you, We don't have to be at the rehearsal for a couple of hours. Lunch?"
"We have to eat when we get there." She said but then she took a moment. "We could do coffee? Ice cream?"
"Great. Sounds like a plan."
So she'd found herself alone with Carter and their son in a coffee shop, Luka had bowed down gracefully and said he wanted to get the boys to the pool and get some sleep.
It was certainly strange for AJ to have some one-on-one time with his parents.
Luka was there most time instead of his dad.
"So this is nice huh?" Carter asked. AJ smiled his mother's smile. "What?"
"It's weird, almost like we're a real family." The boy said wearily.
"Oh come on buddy." Abby began.
"We are a family AJ, we're just not..."
"Normal?" AJ put in. "It's fine, I get it."
His parents stared at each other for a moment. "So did you tell dad about swimming?" AJ's head snapped up.
"Swimming?"
"Unconventional exercise. Acute asthma can do that to you." AJ said.
Abby then felt shivers, if that didn't sound like Carter...Abby smiled a little.
"How's that going? Asthma I mean."
"It's been under control, we have been monitoring him closely," Abby told John. AJ rolled his eyes. "Too doctory?"
"A little yeah," Carter said before AJ could reply.
And so they laughed, together almost like a real family.
Luka often thought of what had become of his life since coming to America and working at County. Between Sam and Abby and the turmoil that had been going to Congo with Carter.
Carter. Most people thought he'd hate the man, he'd resent him in some way as he'd become close to Abby first. Had given her a child first. A child that would have most likely become Luka's if he'd kept quiet.
Or maybe not. Yet Carter seemed better and Luka was far from hating him, call him religious but he'd saved Luka and it was because of that decision that he had had another chance with Abby.
But sometimes, just sometimes he wished he and Abby weren't as close. Far from it and still Luka had heard Abby talk to Neela about Carter and there was no denying she would forever care for him.
Just as he'd cared for Sam. But Abby had actually called Carter her best friend. Not that she had admitted it openly to him.
Yes, she was married to him but Carter still kept a rope around Abby's heart.
It wasn't just because they shared a child together, it was because of that and the fact that that boy was too much like John that Abby couldn't let go, Luka learned long ago.
"Hey." He heard her say softly as she entered the bathroom where she was apparently getting ready. She wore a simple navy dress. "Everything okay?"
Luka smiled. "Yes. Being here, just makes me nostalgic."
"I'll say," Abby said cheekily. "I can't believe it's been almost ten years since we left."
"Do I really have to wear this?" AJ asked. "It's too hot for it."
"As soon as the ceremony is over you can take it off," Carter said arranging his jacket.
"Promise?" AJ asked.
"I promise." Carter smiled. They'd meet the rest of the guests at the wedding. AJ followed his father to his trusted jeep.
They made it just as the other guests had begun to gather. Carter left the keys for the valet and guided his child inside. The church stood tall in the background as they walked.
The first person they spotted was Elizabeth. "I'm seeing double." She said. "Look at you all handsome."
"I could say the same thing about you and Ella." Carter smiled. "How are you Elizabeth?"
"Good, very good. You?" The woman smiled. "Glad to have this young man home, I assume?"
"It's good to be home." AJ agreed. "I'm staying for the entire summer."
"Well that is certainly good news," Elizabeth said. "I might be staying for a while longer myself. Rachel won't be going on her honeymoon right away so Ella wants to spend a little time with her before she goes."
And just like that Ella called for AJ to come to join her as she quickly said their hellos. "Teenagers," Carter said as they watched them walk away.
"That they are, although it is hard to believe so. Especially yours. Now makes me feel old."
"You're not old," Carter said quickly.
"Oh, and you are?"
"Depends on how you look at it." Carter sighed. "How's England?"
"It has its charms, still. Although I do miss a lot of things about Chicago."
"Like?"
"My friends and feeling close to Mark, especially today."
"Yeah, I know," Carter said. "It must be hard on Rachel." Carter had taken the young girl under his wing just as Mark had done for him.
It had come full circle for John and his old mentor.
"She's asked me and her mother to walk her down the aisle, did I tell you that?"
"Really?" Carter smiled. "That seems appropriate."
"Yes, I think she wants to feel close to her father, on her wedding day more so, even if it's through me," Elizabeth said wearily. "And how's the Center working?"
"Sustaining itself, for now, I even got some people doing volunteer work, much like the days when Carol's clinic was running, some old patients come to us for help too, people that were treated at County." Carter beamed proudly.
"Really?" Corday smiled. "Congratulations John."
"Thank you, thank you. Not that I can take the credit for it. There are a lot of hardworking people around."
"Starting with you. It's your project, after all, Carter."
"Yeah, but the work is made great by people working together, I learned that at County."
"After resigning from surgery?" Elizabeth said. "Peter always talks about you and how surgery wasn't your thing."
Carter blinked. "You and Benton talk? About me?"
"We talk about a lot of things, but yes you come up once in a while." Dr. Corday said.
Carter huffed. "Of course."
"And you? Aside from County. How's everything else?"
"Personally? Work doesn't give me a lot of time for much else really. Not that I have the will or anything to date anymore." There was a glint of sadness in his voice as he looked down. "Nothing too formal."
"Is that why you didn't bring a date?" Elizabeth asked.
"Has something to do with it, yes." John put in.
"And Abby..."
Carter looked over at Elizabeth. "What do you mean?"
"Well, she's the mother of your child, and from what I've been gathering over the years. You two care for each other very much."
"We have a child to raise, that is the only thing binding us together," Carter said rather quickly.
"Really? Because I see something else whenever I look at either of you..."
"Mom!" They heard Ella call. "We need you. Rachel is freaking out!"
"Duty calls." Elizabeth sighed. "I'll see you out there?" She touched Carter's arm softly and took her leave.
And Carter was left there to wonder just how much of his mind and heart could take of seeing Abby. Because every time he did, he felt further away from her.
Carter and Corday fluff! And a couple of flashbacks in this chapter. What did you think?