Helping Him
Chapter Seven - Mark
By Joanne
bucklind@hotmail.com

This is my first published fanfic, so please bear with me. I appreciate any feedback you have to offer, at bucklind@hotmail.com
I recognize that this story basically quotes May Day, with some exceptions, but that is not the focus on the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own ER or any of it’s characters. Warner Bros., NBC, Constant C and the writers do. I also recognize that I did not come up with all of the dialogue used in this story, and credit again, goes to the above mentioned sources. My thanks to Megan, for editing!

I walked into the dark apartment like I do every other night when I get home from work. But tonight is not like any other night.

Carter is going to rehab. Carter to rehab. I never would have thought we’d ever have to do this to anyone, let alone Carter.

I looked at the clock. Half past twelve. That means ten-thirty in Seattle. Not too late to call Carol and Doug, though I’d probably wake the girls. But I didn’t think I could hold it in any longer. I dialed the number and luckily Carol picked up.

"Hi, Carol," I said.

"Mark, hi! Is everything all right?"

"Um, I have something I have to tell you," I said nervously.

She wasn’t going to like this. She and Carter had a good friendship, he actually talked to her a little about what happened, and she was not going to accept it very well. Hell, who wants to believe it, let alone accept it.

"What’s the matter?"

"Carter..."

"What happened to Carter?" I heard Doug yell something in the background.

"Carol, we found out he’s taking drugs," I said softly.

"Well, of course he’s taking drugs! He’s in a lot of pain!"

"He’s dependent on them, Carol. He’s taking them to function."

"Right, he’s taking them to function, he’s not taking them to get high!"

"He’s dependent on them. Abby saw him shooting up in the trauma room."

"That bitch!" Carol shouted. I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Abby hadn’t seen him. Where Carter would be a week from now. I wanted to tell that to Carol, that we should be glad Abby saw him. But she never liked Abby that much and she seemed dead set on defending Carter.

"He needs help. Carol, we care about him. It was very hard for us to intervene..."

"You intervened?!"

"We had to. We don’t want to see anything happen to him!"

"Oh, God, Mark. What did he do?"

"He basically denied everything, but he also basically admitted everything in other words. He’s in a lot of pain. We’re afraid for him. We had too."

"So, where is he now?"

"He’s on the plane to Atlanta. There’s a rehab center there for doctors with addictions." Again the chills down my spine.

"Rehab? Mark, it’s not like he’s addicted to heroin!" Her voice was strained. I knew what she was thinking. Carter was fine last week when she left. He was working hard, acting happy. But he wasn’t fine last week, and it had never been in the whole two months we believed he was.

"No, not yet," I said quietly.

"Not yet? You really think he would?"

"I don’t know what to think right now. I really don’t. All I know is that I did the hardest thing in my life today. It’s going to take awhile to sink in."

"Well, can I call him there?"

"I’ll give you a number as soon as I get one." I said. "I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from you."

"Ok. Thanks for calling. Want to talk to Doug?"

"Not now, really. Tell him I’ll call again tomorrow. I should probably go to bed." Not that I’m going to sleep.

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone gently and went into my bedroom.

I wondered where Carter was now, what Peter had said to him to get him to change his mind. I knew it would be Peter to do it. We all love Carter, we all care for him, but their relationship is something else.

I changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and climbed into my bed. I pulled the sheet up over my face and buried my head in the pillow. It was then that I allowed a single tear to slip from my eye.