Coming Home




Chapter 4: The Set Up

The next day at work, Susan decided that it was time to take matters into her own hands, especially if she ever wanted to get a good night's sleep again. When things were a little slow, she made a call from an empty exam room where Kovac was taking a nap.

"Hey Carter, it's Susan," she said to his answering machine. "Listen, if you still need to talk, come to my house again tonight. I'm off at seven. Pick up a pizza or something and we'll talk while we eat. See you then." She hung up the phone.

"I thought you were on until eleven tonight," Susan heard what she thought was a sleeping Kovac say.

"I am," she replied with a smile, "but Abby's still at my house."

**********

Abby looked at the clock on the wall at Susan's. It was 7:15. She thought she'd better think about getting some dinner soon. Just as she pulled out the phone book, there was a knock at the door. She opened the door and almost did a double-take. It was Carter. "Hi…," he was confused, "Umm, Susan invited me to dinner. She said she was off at seven."

"She told me she was off at eleven. Wait. I bet this is a set up. I'm going to kill her…"

"Uh, well, sorry about the mix up." Carter started to walk away.

"Wait, John. Why don't you come in? We should talk anyway." Carter turned around.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Carter walked into Susan's, and Abby shut the door behind him. "Do you want something to drink? Beer? Soda?"

"Soda's fine. Whatever she has." Abby got two sodas from the fridge and put them on the table, along with two napkins and plates. They both sat down. Carter looked at Abby's soda. "Caffeine free? What's that about?" Carter asked.

"Let's just say I'm giving up a few bad habits and trying out the whole health-nut thing."

"Sorry, they were all out of tofu and alfalfa sprout pizza. I had to go with the pepperoni."

"I'll survive." She cracked a smile.

"I saw you in a lab coat yesterday. Are you back in med school?"

"Yeah. I started soon after you left. I thought I could use a change."

"Traded in your nursing scrubs for the baggy doctor ones?"

"Baggy?" Abby was worried that Carter had noticed that her clothes had been about three sizes too big lately.

"When you were a nurse, you could wear your own, but the doctor ones they provide…They never seem to have the size you need. I noticed yours were a little big yesterday."

"Oh, yeah," Abby answered, relieved, "they were all out of my size."

They ate in silence for a while until Abby finally brought up the elephant in the room. "So…I, uh, got your message."

"And?"

"Well, I'm not sure what to say. I still don't know why you came back, or why you even left in the first place."

"Well…" Carter sighed. "I was kind of running away. I knew my inheritance was coming, and I wasn't ready to deal with all of that money. And…I was angry with you."

"With me?"

"Yeah. I needed you, and you were off taking care of your brother."

"John, you know how much my brother means to me-"

"I know. I realize now that you weren't trying to hurt me, but I couldn't see it then. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Yes. But that doesn't mean that things can go back to the way they were before."

"I don't expect them to."

"You really hurt me. It was one of the hardest decisions that I ever had to make. I felt like you were making me choose between you and my brother."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"Swear that you will never put me in a position like that again."

"I swear."

**********

After they had finished eating, Carter and Abby moved to Susan's living room, where they continued to talk. They were both a little more relaxed now that they had gotten some things out in the open, and they were beginning to catch up on the happenings in each other's lives over the past few months. Carter began relating some of his experiences in Africa…

"The first couple of nights I couldn't sleep at all. There was always gunfire and awful screams. I knew that at any moment we might have to evacuate the tent we were in for our own protection and hide with the patients in the woods until it was safe to return. I would just lie there awake at night and thank God that I hadn't been born there. I'd thank God that I didn't have to live in constant fear that I or someone I love could be killed at any moment." He looked at Abby. They both gazed into each other's eyes for a second, and then he continued, "Most of all, I thanked God that I was just visiting and it wasn't my home."

Abby finally spoke. "I worried about you all the time. After what almost happened to Luka, I didn't know if I'd ever see you again." He leaned in to kiss her. It was a soft, slow kiss, but it was one that they had both been longing for. Neither of them wanted it to end, but Abby knew that nothing further could happen between them until she shared the secret with him that she had been keeping to herself for so long.

She gently pulled away from him. "Look, John, before this goes any further, there's something I have to tell you. As she was saying all this, she caught a glimpse of Susan's wall clock.

"Shit!" she said, sounding alarmed.

"What?" Carter asked. He felt a jumble of emotions-happiness, bewilderment, uncertainty, curiosity, apprehension.

Abby got up and started rushing around as she spoke. "It's 9:45! My shift starts in fifteen minutes!"

"Wait," Carter said, still confused, "you can't just tell me you have something important to tell me and then not tell me what the important thing is!"

"I'm sorry," Abby said as she tied her shoes. "I didn't realize how late it was, and it's not the sort of thing that I can yell at you as I run out the door." She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"Well at least let me drive you to the hospital!" Carter followed Abby as she raced outside.



Part 5
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