Change of Fate

AUTHOR: Gemma Lambourne
EMAIL: pony_gemma@yahoo.com
CATEGORY: JC/PB/LKn/DM/MG/KW
RATING: PG
SPOILERS: none
ARCHIVE: Please ask me.
DISCLAIMER: The character's don't belong to me, they're copyright of "ER" and Warner Bros. Television.
SUMMARY: What would happen if there was a change of fate and Lucy didn't die?



"She's dead isn't she?" Carter asked Peter looking into his eyes.

Peter could see the pain in Carter's eyes and could hear the pleading tone in his voice to tell him the truth. "No," Peter said shaking his head, "She's not dead, Lucy isn't dead. She's in a coma but she's alive."

Carter's heart sunk, she was alive, he was happy. But she was in a coma and may not awake from it. Carter took a deep long sigh, "I want to go and see her," He said to Peter.

Peter didn't reply he just sat on the stool beside Carter's bed looking at him like he hadn't muttered a word.

"I want to go and see Lucy!" Carter said raising his voice and trying to push himself up in bed but he was too weak. His arm's could not support his weight and he collapsed down in his bed. "Dr. Benton, I want to see her is it that much to ask?" Carter said quietly.

"Yes it is too much to ask, look at yourself Carter. You can't even walk, give it time huh? Then I'll take you to see her," Peter said putting his hand on Carter's shoulder.

"Please? I don't ask for much from you do I?" Carter said giving it one more try.

"I won't answer that one," Peter grinned, "Ok, I'll take you to see her."

Peter lifted Carter out of the bed and sat him in a wheel chair. They left the dark ICU room and Peter wheeled Carter down the quiet and deserted halls of the ICUI ward. They finally reached a room right at the end of the hall. The door had a Do Not Disturb sign on the door and the chart rack had medical records from the day with the name Ms. Lucy Knight on the top.

"Are you sure you want to go in?" Peter asked Carter.

"Yes," Carter said unsurely as he nodded his head.

Peter moved Carter's wheel chair to the side as he pushed open the heavy door to Lucy's room. Peter gulped as he looked in the room, he'd seen patients in this way before but it kind of his home this time. Lucy was a colleague. Peter then looked away from the sight in front of him and grabbed the handles to Carter's wheel chair and wheeled him in and up to the side of Lucy's bed. Carter sat there saying nothing and starting at Lucy. Her eyes were closed and the skin on her face was pale, she didn't look real. Her normally bleached blonde hair was tinted red from the stains of blood and there were hundreds of tubes tubes for breathing, ventilation and the heart monitor's and other machine's.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked Carter who didn't answer, he just nodded his head slowly. As a matter of fact he was unsure about his feelings.

The silence was interupted by the sound of Peter's pager going off, "Carter I've got to go, 911 STAT call to the ER, do you want to stay here?" Peter asked.

"Yeah a nurse could probably take me back to my room later," Carter said meekly smiling at Peter.

Peter left Carter in the room at Lucy's bedside.



IN THE ER...

"What have we got?" Peter asked Malucci who had a mouthful of chocolate cake.

"I dunno Pete, I just got on ask Dr. Greene," Dave said bounding towards the lounge with his jacket hung over his shoulder.

"Thanks for nothing Malucci," Peter muttered under his breath. He's usually argue with Malucci about calling him 'Pete' but due to his bad day his didn't bother to protest about it.

"Ah Peter there you are," Mark said to Peter, "How is Carter? Elizabeth told me that Lucy's in a coma."

"Carter's ok physically but mentally I don't know. He feels awful about Lucy and looks absolutly traumatized," Peter told Mark, "My 911 to the ER?"

"Drug overdose, we were short on ER doctor's so we had to page you down, I hope you don't mind," Mark said to Peter.

"No I don't," Peter said as he felt he needed a break from the horrors of today's events in the OR.



IN LUCY'S ICU ROOM...

"Hello Carter," Elizabeth said opening the room.

"Hi," Carter replied quickly, "What do you think Lucy's chances are?" Carter asked.

"I can't be honestly sure," Elizabeth began, "We're keeping her on a ventilator for a couple of days and then we're taking her off and if she breathes for herself, well, you know."

"Yeah," Carter said rubbing his eyes with his sleave.

"Otherwise the surgery went well," Elizabeth smiled wearily. "You look exhausted do you want me to take you back to your room?" Elizabeth asked Carter. Carter nodded so Elizabeth took Carter back down the halls into his room and aided him back onto his bed.



A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER...

Peter had been helping Carter to get back onto his feet, taken him to a Physiotherapist, helping him to use his wheel chair for himself and helping him to walk with an aid.

"Will someone page Lizzie Corday here now!" Romano boomed loud enough to wake Lucy from her coma let alone see if she could breathe for herself.

"Robert I'm here!" Elizabeth snapped as she walked into Lucy's room.

"Would you like to do the honours?" Romano asked Elizabeth.

"Ok," Elizabeth said walking to the side of Lucy's bed.

"Please breath," Romano said pleadingly as Elizabeth extubated the ventilation tube. Seconds felt like minutes as Romano, Elizabeth and a couple of nurses stood around waiting for Lucy to breath.

The breathed her first breath and the whole room smiled. "Right I want her kept on very good observation and I mean it!" Romano shreiked, "If anything goes wrong I want to be the first and I mean the first to know," Romano said turning round and leaving the room in a quick march.

Carter noticed Romano pass his room, "Dr. Romano!" Carter called out hoping he would hear.

Carter heard Carter call so he turned back and walked into his room, "Yes Doctor."

"Lucy, is she..." Carter said.

"Is she breathing?" Romano asked.

Carter nodded.

"Yes she is," Romano replied.

Carter smiled with relief, "Oh thank God."

"You better be thanking your lucky stars Carter. If she didn't breath and we had to turn her machine's off you'd have her death on your concience and knowing that you weren't supervising your student enough and she died in the surpervision of you in a hospital, by a crazed maniac. Anyway good day," Romano said walking out of the room with a huge grin on his face.

Carter hated that man. He seemed to make every good feeling feel like a bad one. Carter felt good that Lucy was breathing for herself, but then felt bad to the fact of thinking what would have happened if she had died.



HOURS LATER...

Elizabeth was standing in Lucy's room checking her machine's making sure they were all working fine and reading all the meters. Then she heard a noise. She looked down at Lucy who's hands were moving, at the same time Carter appeared in the door way of her room in his wheel chair.

"Carter look," Elizabeth whispered pointing to Lucy.

Carter wheeled himself next to Lucy who opened her eyes slowly but surely. "Hey," Carter whispered.

"What happened?" Lucy asked looking up across at Carter confused.

"We were..." Carter said pausing.

"I - I can remeber that," Lucy said putting her hand at her throat because it was sore, "What happened after?" She asked.

"Dr. Corday," Carter said looking up at Elizabeth hoping that she would explain to Lucy what had happened.

"Myself and Dr. Romano operated on you, it went fine to the end where you stopped breathing and responding to certain methods, you were comatose and we put you o a ventilator. We kept you on it for two days then extubated it earlier today and hoped you would breath for yourself. You did so we just waiting in hope for you to awake."

Carter and Elizabeth stayed with Lucy for hours talking to her. A while later Carter finally began walked on crutches and returned back to work and later begn to walk unaided again. Lucy went to Physiotherapy and finally walked again after months of training. She returned to County and re - took her fourth year in Medical School and graduated and became a doctor in the ER. She's thought about working in Psych but was put off by the trauma in her mind of the night that Law Student Paul Sobriki brutally stabbed her multiply and minutes later stabbed Carter on Valentine's Day. Lucy's mother asked her if she still wanted to stay at County after her attack and her answer's yes. She just avoids Valentine Day shifts and the exam room where her life nearly ended.



LUCY'S MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATION...

"Dr. Lucy Knight," Kerry called out over the crowd of Medical Students waiting for their name to be called.

Lucy stood up and walked up onto the stage, taking the scroll otut of Kerry's hand and shaking her hand afterwards, "Thank you," Lucy said to Kerry with huge grin on her face, "For everything not just this."

"Your Welcome," Kerry smiled.

Lucy turned round seeing her mother sitting in the audience smiling with glee and Dr. Carter, her supervisor while she was on her ER rotations. They didn't always see eye - to - eye but after their accident they grew closer and appreciated each other much more. He'd was the doctor who inspired Lucy to take up Emergency Medicine, even though she wasn't going to admit it to his face. Elizabeth Corday and Robert Romano were also sitting there just to watch Lucy, they'd found out from Kerry roughly when she'd graduate so they can watch the patient and colleague, whose life they'd saved, graduate. Also in the audience various doctor's from County whose shift's hadn't started yet. Lucy smiled at them all, she was pleased that they'd all came. Then she walked down the isles of chairs back to her seat to wait her friends graduate one by one.



Forum: Talk about this story
Fanfiction Home