One Day At A Time




"What am I going to do with you?" Stephanie asked, crossing her arms over her ample chest.

John's eyes widened in delight and surprise, as he motioned her over closer to him...he crooked his index finger, motioning her even closer to him...taking a quick glance at Benton, who was seemingly occupied with checking all the various equipment, and seemed to be paying no attention whatsoever to Carter...John whispered, "A few things do come to mind." His grin widened, and he suddenly felt better than he had in days. Stephanie seemed to have that effect on him.

Stephanie smiled slyly back, and whispered, none too quietly, "it's much too crowded in here for any of that mister."

Peter, raising an eyebrow in Helen's direction, glanced over John and Stephanie's heads only to find Helen shuffling through her "goodie bag" trying hard, too hard, to become invisible.

Stephanie chastely kissed John's cheek, "I've missed you." There she had said it...she had missed him.

"I've missed you too...and...well...I know I should have..." John started to apologize, but Stephanie would have none of that.

"When do you get out of here?" Stephanie asked.

"I feel pretty good, actually..." John started.

"We just got your blood pressure under control Carter, you aren't going anywhere just yet." Peter finished for him.

"But I do feel much better..." John said mostly to himself.

Peter glanced at Helen, then at Stephanie, then back to Helen, who only shrugged her shoulders, and smiled.

Peter busied himself with looking at monitors for a few minutes, then excused himself, quickly saying, "I'll be back later..." then turned and added, on his way out the door, "don't be doing anything to raise your blood pressure." He said this with the seriousness that the situation deserved, given the moony-eyed looks John and Stephanie were giving each other. Peter sighed loudly as he exited the room.

John and Stephanie were talking to each other in hushed tones, while Helen busied herself with the medical word search. She knew John as well as she knew herself at this point, and there was no way in the world she was leaving these two alone. Knowing John, he'd be trying to get up and move around. Peter would give her a thorough tongue lashing for leaving him alone. She knew his looks as well, and the look he gave her before leaving the room all but screamed, "make SURE he doesn't do anything he isn't supposed to Helen, or you'll answer to me." Helen knew that look, and didn't ignore it. She glanced at the monitors as the Dynamap rhythmically inflated and gave out blood pressure and pulse readings, which were a little more than respectable at this point.

"So..." Helen said, "Have you been up walking yet?"

She was greeted with silence...she might have been invisible for all these two knew...she cleared her throat...still invisible...she cleared her throat a little more loudly..."SO...HAVE YOU BEEN UP WALKING YET?" She stated as if she were talking to one of the elderly patient's in the ICU with massive hearing loss.

"I'm sorry Helen, did you say something?" John asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I asked if you had been up walking yet?"

"Not yet, I was getting ready to earlier, but uh...my body apparently had other ideas."

Stephanie leaned over and whispered something else to John, he turned beet red, and grinned like an idiot at Stephanie.

Helen glanced back up at the Dynamap, his pulse rate was jumping up steadily.

"Okay Stephanie, I think it's time to let our patient get some rest...remember, you promised me dinner out tonight." Helen handed the word search to John, "I found the first four, the rest are all yours. There'll be a test later."

Helen took Stephanie by the hand, and leaned over to give John a peck on the cheek. "You feel a little warm Dr. Carter." She commented.

"I feel fine Helen, really."

Helen smiled at him, "I didn't mean in an unhealthy way. Come on Stephanie, I'm hungry."

Stephanie leaned over and gave John a peck on the cheek as well. "I'll be back tomorrow, I have so much to tell you!"

"I'll look forward to it!" John said as he disentangled his IV lines in an attempt to hug Stephanie.

John lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling after Helen and Stephanie left for a good half an hour.

Sleep finally took him, and as he closed his eyes, a grin still on his face, he fell fast asleep. As he drifted off into a deep sleep, he dreamt, he was on a boat, a sailboat out on Lake Michigan, with Stephanie...it was a warm, sunny day, just the two of them. He could even smell the clean air, and feel the spray of the lake water on his face as the boat cut smoothly through the Lake...so calm...so serene...His breathing was deep, regular, his pulse rate, perfectly normal...he could stay in this dream forever, he was so comfortable...

**********************

Lisa heard the steady beep of an IV monitor and headed down the halls toward her patients to see which offending IV was demanding her immediate attention. She had checked her other patient's and last left to attend to was Dr. Carter's. Lisa saw that he was out of fluids, and turned off the alarm while she went to the supply room for another bag. She hoped she didn't wake him, he looked for once, peacefully sleeping. Since she had been taking care of him, she had yet to see him get a good solid rest without interruption. She quietly and quickly changed the IV bags, and tiptoed out of the room, as silently as her squeaky Reeboks allowed on the highly polished floors. Lisa pulled the door partially closed behind her and turned on the small light by the bathroom, just in case he woke up.

"Looks like things are finally looking up for you." Lisa said to herself, as she glanced at John's sleeping form. Then she added, "It's about time." She made her way back to the desk to continue her evening charting. She hoped the rest of the night would pass uneventfully.



Part 17
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