Carter's Life Changer
By Claire
cartersgirl@handbag.com

Ths is my first fanfic, there is another one on the way shortly. Feedback is welcome 

It was a quiet day in Cook County General, and Dr Carter was on his way to a meeting with Dr Weaver. He was pretty nervous as a meeting with Dr Weaver usually meant trouble.

‘Hi John take a seat’ Dr Weaver said. Carter sat down and said ‘What’s this all about?’ ‘Have you ever heard of the inner city kids intern programme?’ ‘Yeah, sort of’ ‘Well its where a teenager who hasn’t been behaving in school comes to the hospital to get some life experience. There’s one coming here, she is called Faith and she is 14. We would like you to be her teacher.’

Carter nodded and said ‘What behavirol problems does she have?’ ‘She doesn’t have behavirol problems but she tends to be a bit wild at times, she has a ting about drinking alcohol while being at school and she leads a somewhat lively lifestyle. But I have met her and Faith is a very nice girl. Do you mind doing this?’ Carter said ‘Sure I’ll do it. When is Faith coming in?’ ‘In about and hour, I know its short notice but it was a last minute decision.’ ‘Its fine, I’ll meet her in the lounge in an hour.’ Weaver smiled and Carter got up and walked out.

Carter wondered what Faith would be like. He hoped that she wasn’t too crazy but she sounded really interesting.

About an hour later, Carter walked into the lounge and saw Faith sitting on the couch. He walked over to her and said ‘Hi are you Faith?’ She stood up and said ‘Yeah, you’re Dr Carter right?’ Carter nodded and said, ‘Well I’ll give you the tour. This is obviously the lounge,’ they walked out of the door, ‘this is the admin desk, these are all of the curtain areas and exam rooms and these are the trauma rooms’ Faith looked around and said ‘Pretty big place, I’ve seen big things but I won’t go into that’ She turned away and Carter could feel himself going red.

It was lunchtime, so Carter and Faith went down to the cafeteria. As they were eating, Carter said ‘If you don’t mind me asking, why do you get into so much trouble at school?’ ‘I go to clubs, and II usually go straight to school from the club, extremely drunk.’ Carter nodded and said ‘Are you going out tonight, coz if you are don’t come in here if you are drunk.’ ‘I am going out tonight, but I won’t get drunk I promise’

The end of the day arrived, and Carter and Faith were getting on really well. Faith was getting changed to go out and Carter was in the lounge. He saw some guys come from the door and they said ‘Have you seen Faith?’ Carter looked at them and saw 3 twenty- something’s all good looking. Carter said ‘She’s in the toilets getting changed, she’ll be here in a minute.’ A few seconds later Faith came bounding through the door, she looked a lot older than she really was, she was wearing a small top with a pair of kick flares and lots of make up.

Faith looked over at Carter and said ‘Oh john these are my friends Brin, Wes and Murray.’ They all said hello to each other and Faith said to Carter ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning, 7 o’clock’ Carter nodded and watched them all as they walked out. He felt himself get a bit worried about Faith going out, but he told himself she would be fine.

It was 7 am the next morning and Carter was sat at the admin desk waiting for Faith. He saw her running through the doors and she said, ‘Am I late?’ ‘No, how come you haven’t changed out of the clothes you were wearing last night?’ ‘I didn’t have time to go home this morning?’ ‘Where did you sleep last night if you weren’t at home?’ Faith started laughing and said, ‘I can’t remember his name, when I woke up this morning I crept out of his house before he woke up’ Carter was confused for a moment but then he caught on to what she meant. ‘Did you sleep with someone last night?’ Faith nodded and he said, ‘You’re only 14 years old Faith, did you use a condom?’ ‘Of course I did, I’m not stupid John. Look, I’ve got some clothes in my locker so I’ll go and get changed.’ Faith walked away and Carter shook his head, wondering about how old the guy was that Faith slept with.

A few hours later, Carter was in the trauma room while Faith watched. Carter was working on a girl, but he knew she was dead so he said, ‘time of death 17:55’ Faith looked at him, ‘Don’t stop trying to save her, you don’t know that she’s dead keep going she still has a chance!’ Carter walked over and said ‘we tried everything we could Faith, but there’s nothing else that can be done for her.’ Faith looked at him and walked out of the trauma room. Carter realised that Faith probably hadn’t ever seen anyone die before, so he followed her as she walked out in to the parking lot. She was sitting down on a bench and Carter sat down next to her and said ‘Are you ok?’ Faith nodded slowly and said ‘Yeah, it’s just difficult watching somebody die’ ‘I know, but we did everything we could, come on lets go back inside and get something to eat.’ They both got up and walked inside.

As they were eating, Carter said ‘Do you get on well with your parents?’ ‘Not exactly, they abaonded me when I was 8, so now I live with some of my friends.’ ‘Sorry, I didn’t want to upset you’ ‘You didn’t, I’m over it now.’

It was early December, and Carter was thinking about asking Faith if she wanted to stay with him at Christmas. He knew that she was going to be on her own because her friends were going to visit their parents. He saw her sitting down in the lounge and said, ‘Hey Faith are you still going to be on your own at Christmas?’ She nodded and Carter said ‘Do you want to come and stay at my house on Christmas eve and Christmas day, I’m going to be on my own as well so you are more than welcome, I’ve got a spare bedroom that you can sleep in’ Faith thought about it for a second and said ‘Ok then, but only if you are sure that you don’t mind.’ Carter smiled and said ‘It’s no problem, it’ll be nice to have some company.’

On Christmas eve Carter picked up Faith from her house and he drove them back to his house. On the way there he talked about his grandparents and the fact that they had never approved of him being a doctor. Faith said ‘Why don’t you tell them to get bent’ Carter smiled and said ‘I wish I could, but I better not get into anymore arguments with them.’ They got to Carter’s house and they both went inside.

A few hours later they were eating a take away pizza and watching a film. Faith was feeling really tired so she went up to bed. The next morning, Christmas day, Carter went into the spare room where Faith was sleeping and said ‘Hey merry Christmas Faith!’ Faith smiled and said ‘Merry Christmas to you to’ she got up and followed him downstairs.

They exchanged gifts and Faith gave him a medium sized box. He unwrapped it and saw that it was a stethoscope with John Carter, M.D. written on it. He looked at her and said ‘ this is great Faith, how did you afford it?’ Faith looked at him and said, ‘I worked as a prostitute for a few months.’ Carter looked at her opened mouthed and she laughed and said, ‘ I was joking, I just did a couple of shifts at a bar’ Carter laughed, and they started to get dinner ready.

A few days later, it was New Years Eve and Faith was going to a club while Carter had to go to a party at his grandparent’s house. Faith had invited him to come along with her and her friends but he declined knowing that his grandparents would be really annoyed if he didn’t go to their party.

It was 2 months later, and Faith walked into the ER 15 minutes late and said to Carter ‘I’m sorry I’m late’ Carter looked at her and said ‘Are you ok, you don’t look a bit pale, have you had any breakfast?’ ‘No, I couldn’t eat anything I just feel a bit sick.’ Carter started to say something when Faith ran to the toilets with her hand over her mouth as she threw up. Carter waited outside the toilets until she came back out. ‘Are you ok Faith, maybe you should go home.’? ‘I’m ok, I feel a bit better now.’

A few hours later, Carter was looking for Faith. She came out of the toilets after she had been sick again. She walked up the corridor towards him when the room started t spin around and she started to faint. Carter ran over to her and caught her before she hit the floor. Mark and Malluci came down the corridor with a gurney and Carter picked her up and put her on it.

Mark said ‘what happened Carter?’ ‘She was sick a couple of times this morning and she just fainted. Lets get a CBC, Chem. 7 and hang 2 litres of saline.’

A little while later Faith woke up and saw Carter looking down at her; he looked pretty pissed off. ‘Why did I faint’ Carter stared at her for a moment and said ‘You are pregnant’ Fait started laughing and said ‘you are joking right?’ Carter shouted ‘Do I look like I’m joking? How could you let this happen?’ Faith looked completely shocked and she shook her head a couple of times. She burst into tears and although Carter was mad with her, he melted at the sight of her sobbing. He hugged her and said ‘Don’t worry it’s going to be ok, I promise. We need to do an ultrasound to see how far along you are.’ Faith nodded and Carter brought over the machine. He scanned her stomach and an image appeared on the screen. Faith stared at the screen as she saw her baby on the screen. Carter switched on the heartbeat machine and Faith smiled weakly when she heard it.

After the scan was over, Carter said, ‘What do you want to do?’ Faith looked at him and said ‘you probably think I’m mental, but I want to keep it, I can’t have an abortion or give it up after hearing the heartbeat.’ Carter nodded and they both sat in silence for a few minutes. Carter wondered how she was going to look after herself and a baby, when he thought it might be a good idea if she came to stay with him. He knew it was a big decisicion but he got on well with Faith and he wanted her to be ok. He said to her ‘Listen Faith, ‘I want you to stay with me’ ‘For how long?’ ‘ Well, I want to help you look after the baby. I enjoyed having you around at Christmas and I would like it if you would let me help you.’ Faith hugged Carter as she started to cry and said ‘Thank you so much.’

4 months passed and Faith was 6 months pregnant. She was living with Carter, and the 2 if them got on well with each other. Carter had to admit that Faith had been a lot more responsible during her pregnancy that he thought she would be, she stopped going to clubs and she stopped drinking altogether. Weaver had thrown a fit when she had found out that Faith was pregnant, but she had come around eventually.

Carter and Faith were in the lounge when Faith jumped. Carter said ‘What’s wrong?’ Faith smiled and said ‘The baby just kicked’ Carter laughed and put his hand on her bump to feel the baby kicking. Faith was kind if excited about being a mother, but sometimes fear took over. She saw someone give birth in the ER, and after it was all over, it made her realise that she was herself going to be a mother in a few months. She wondered up the roof and sat on her own.

Carter realised that Faith had gone and he went up to the roof to see if she was there. He saw her sitting down holding a scan picture of her baby in her hand and she was crying. Carter sat down next to her and she said ‘what have I done? How can I give this child a good life when I’m only a child myself’ Carter said ‘I’m going to help you’ ‘I know but I can’t rely on you because its not fair on you.’ Carter put his arm around her and said ‘I don’t care if you rely on me forever; I really want to look after you and the baby. I know that you are worried that I’ll abandon you and the baby like your parents did, but I promise you I won’t do that. You are going to be a good mother and I’m going to help you very step of the way.’

Faith looked at him and said ‘thank you so much for this, I know I must of disappointed you when I got pregnant’ ‘I wasn’t disappointed, just worried, I’m always going to be here for you.’ Faith smiled and they both went back down to the ER

3 Months later, Faith was lying in her bed. It was 2:00 am, and the baby was moving around a lot. She was in pain, but she gasped when she realised her water had broken. She got out of bed as quickly as she could but she winced in pain as a contraction hit her. She got dressed and went to Carter’s bedroom and knocked on the door. She heard Carter groan and say ‘Go away Faith’ He had just gotten off a 36-hour shift and all he wanted to do was sleep. Faith walked into his room and said ‘John wake up my waters have broken’ Carter was instantly awake and he said ‘How far apart are the contractions?’ ‘ I don’t know, one just finished a minute ago.’ ‘Ok Faith you need to pack a few things while I get dressed ok’ Faith nodded and she went into her room and packed some things while Carter got dressed.

Faith started walking down the stairs and she cried out in pain when another contraction hit her. Carter came towards her and said ‘Breathe Faith, try to do your Lamaze breathing that you learnt, we need to get you to the hospital your contractions are very close together’

As soon as the contraction finished, they both went out to the car. Faith was scared of the pain and Carter was worried because of how close together her contractions were. Another contraction started halfway to the hospital and Carter said ‘Don’t push Faith, I don’t want you to deliver in the car.’ They got to the hospital and Faith was in the middle of another contraction.

Carter ran inside and said to Weaver ‘Faith is going to deliver any minute, we don’t have time to get her up to O.B’ ‘Ok get her into trauma 1. Chunni get a fetal monitor and a baby warmer.’ Carter was outside trying to get Faith into a wheelchair. ‘It hurts too much John’ ‘I know but we need to get you inside’ Faith got in the wheelchair and Carter ran into the trauma room with her and got her up on the gurney.

Weaver was seeing how dilated she was and she said ‘you were right Carter she is 10 cms. Faith on the next contraction I want you to push down’ Faith nodded as she felt a contraction coming. Carter held onto her hand as she pushed down and he tried to talk her through her Lamaze breathing. ‘Come on Faith just keep pushing a little longer and the baby will be out’ Faith pushed until she heard Weaver say ‘Stop pushing Faith, baby’s crowning.’ Faith lay back down on the bed and smiled when she heard a baby crying. Weaver cut the cord and said ‘It’s a girl’ she passed her to Faith who held her in her arms and kissed the baby on her forehead. Carter looked down at the baby as well and stroked her head.

Kerry took the baby away to clean her up and said ‘What are you going to call her?’ ‘I think I’m going to call her Hannah’ Weaver came back over and put Hannah in Faith’s arms. Carter looked down at Hannah and said ‘Hey there Hannah’ She gurgled and grabbed onto one of his fingers with one of her tiny hands.

They transferred Faith and Hannah to her own room. Faith was asleep and Carter was sitting beside the bed, holding Hannah and rocking her back and forth slowly. Faith woke up and Carter said ‘How are you feeling?’ Faith smiled and said ‘Good, although I didn’t realise how painful the birth was going to be’ Carter gave Hannah to Faith and she kissed the top of Hannah’s forehead and smiled at her. She looked at Carter and said ‘I have to ask you something. Would you like to be Hannah’s godfather? It’s just that, if anything should ever happen to me, I would like to know that she had someone as good as you to look after her.’

Carter thought carefully for a moment before saying ‘Of course I’ll do it, but do you trust me enough to look after Hannah if anything happened to her?’ Faith looked at him and said ‘John, you are a really great friend. You stood by me when you found out I was pregnant when you could have screamed, shouted and never spoke to me again. I wouldn’t blame you if you did, I screwed up big time. Not that I don’t want Hannah, but I know that I wouldn’t of been able to look after her on my own. What I’m saying is, I trust you with my life, and I trust you with Hannah’s.’

Carter smiled at her and said ‘Thank you Faith, it means a lot to me that you trust me.’

The next day Faith and Hannah were discharged from the hospital and Carter drove them back to his house. Hannah was sat in her car seat, gurgling away as usual. Carter thought that Hannah looked a lot like Faith, they both had the same blue eyes and they shared the same smile. He assumed Hannah must look something like her Father, but Faith hadn’t said anything, and he wasn’t sure whether he should ask. As if she had read his mind, Faith said ‘Hannah doesn’t look anything like her father.’ Carter looked at her and said ‘She looks exactly like you’ they got back to Carter’s house and they went inside.

Carter jolted awake as Hannah started crying again. He looked at his clock and sighed when he realised it was only 3:00 am. He heard Faith get up and he could hear her talking to Hannah to get her to go back to sleep.

Carter got up and went into the nursery where Faith and Hannah were. Faith looked very tired and Carter said ‘The next time she wakes up, I’ll get up and put her back to Sleep’ Faith smiled and said ‘Thanks’ Hannah had gone back to sleep and Faith lay her back down in her crib and she went back to her room.

About an hour later Carter woke up again when he heard Hannah crying. Remembering he had told Faith that he would get up, he walked into Hannah’s room. Carter smiled at her and picked her up. He took her downstairs and started heating up her bottle. Carter sat down with her on the couch and fed her, until they both drifted off to sleep.

4 hours later, Faith woke up and stretched, glad that she had a few hours sleep. She got up and went into Hannah’s room, and then went downstairs when she realised that Hannah wasn’t there. Faith walked into the living room and smiled when she saw Carter fast asleep on the couch with Hannah. Faith shook Carter lightly to wake him up, as he had to go to work in an hour. Carter opened his eyes and yawned. Faith smiled and said ‘You need to get up, you have to be in work in an hour.’ Carter passed Hannah to Faith and went upstairs to get ready for work.

Carter was in the hospital, when Weaver said ‘Carter, get any sleep last night?’ ‘4 hours, which is more than usual’ ‘How’s Faith coping?’ ‘She’s ok, but she is very tired.’ Carter yawned and Kerry laughed, then they both went out to see some patients.

3 Months passed and Carter and Faith were walking through Chicago with Hannah who was in a baby harness that Carter was wearing. They were heading to the hospital, and Carter said to Faith ‘Just wait here a second, I just want to go in that shop across the road.’ Faith nodded and Carter started to cross the road. Faith’s eyes opened wide when she saw a car hurtling down the street towards Hannah and Carter. Carter saw it as well, and he froze in fear, bracing himself for the impact. He felt a strong push on his back and he stumbled out of the way. He turned around and saw the car hit Faith.

She flew up into the air and hit the ground with a sickening thud. Carter ran over to her. She was unconscious and barely had a pulse. ‘Faith, Faith open your eyes’ She didn’t respond and Carter pulled out his cell phone and called the ER. He told Jerry what had happened, and to prep a trauma room and get Mark and Kerry in there. He looked around and realised that car was gone. The paramedics arrived and Carter went in the back of the ambulance with Faith.

The paramedics diagnosed a tracheal shift, so they couldn’t intubate her; she had a tension pneumothorax and a lot of internal bleeding along with a fractured skull. They arrived at the hospital and Mark and Kerry were waiting at the doors for them. ‘What happened Carter?’ ‘This car was going really fast, it hit her real hard.’ ‘O.k. go in the lounge.’ ‘No I want to help.’ Kerry nodded and said ‘Well give Hannah to Lydia first.’ Carter passed Hannah to Lydia and he ran down to the trauma room.

Faith was still unconscious and they all knew how serious her injuries were. Mark said ‘She’s tachycardic, pressures dropping’ The machines started beeping, Carter said ‘v-fib, we need the paddles, charge them to 250’ ‘Clear!’ He shocked and Kerry said ‘Still v-fib’ Carter shocked her again and said ‘give her an epi.’

20 Minutes later they were still trying to revive her when Mark said ‘She’s in asytole. It’s over Carter’ ‘No it’s not, charge the paddles again!’ No one moved and Carter said ‘She still has a chance’ Mark shook his head at him and Carter looked down at Faith. He knew she was dead, and he walked out of the trauma room. Mark said ‘Time of death, 14:52’

Carter heard him call it and he punched the wall. Kerry came out and said ‘We did everything we could Carter.’ He walked away from her, and he looked through the lounge window. Lydia was in there playing with Hannah. Carter felt his tears start to fall and he went to the toilets and closed the door. He leaned back against the wall, and he started to cry. He cried for Hannah, who would never remember what her mother looked like. He cried for Faith, who would never see her daughter grow up. But most of all he cried for one of his best friends who had died for him and her daughter, and he would never be able to thank her for it.

Mark came in and Carter turned away. Mark said ‘Are you ok?’ ‘She died for me’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘The car was going to hit me and Hannah but she pushed me out of the way.’ Mark put his hand on Carter’s shoulder and said ‘It’s not your fault Carter’ ‘Yes it is, I should have paid more attention when I was crossing the road.’ ‘You said yourself that the car was going really fast, if it hadn’t of hit you and Hannah or Faith it would of hit someone else.’ ‘It should have been me’ ‘Don’t say that Carter, if it had hit you Hannah would have been killed.’ When Mark said that, it made Carter remember Hannah. Now that Faith was dead he was going to be looking after Hannah, she was now practically his daughter. Carter washed his face and went out to the admin desk. Everyone was quiet and sad; Faith was well liked in the ER. Lydia came up to him and passed Hannah to him. Lydia said ‘She’s lovely isn’t she’ Carter nodded and Carter looked down at Hannah who was gurgling away, unaware of the tragedy that had just happened.

2 months passed and Carter was half asleep in his bed when he heard Hannah crying. He got up and went into her room and picked her up. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:00 am. He rocked her back and forth until she stopped crying, then he put her in her crib again. She started crying again and Carter sighed and said ‘Hannah, I don’t have to be in work until 8:30, we don’t need to get up yet’ She giggled and he said ‘ok, you win’

Carter picked her up and put her into one of her summer dresses and then got himself dressed. Even though he was 2 and half hours early, he decided he should go into work anyway. He put Hannah into her baby harness, put some of her things into a bag and started to walk to work.

The past couple of months had been hard for Carter; he missed Faith all the time but he took comfort in the fact that he saw Faith in Hannah, they looked so much alike. Being a parent was difficult as well, and it had taken Carter a long time to adjust to it. He had kept all of Faith’s things and he had lots of photos of Faith so he could show Hannah them when he was older.

Carter arrived at the hospital and Kerry said ‘Hey Carter, you’re not until 8:30’ ‘I know, but little miss fussy here decided to wake up at 6:00 am so I’d thought I would come in’ Kerry laughed and tickled Hannah under her chin. Hannah giggled and Carter said ‘She is so much like Faith’ Kerry looked at him and said ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘Better, I still have nightmares sometimes’

Carter didn’t want to put Hannah into day-care, so Randi looked after her on the admin desk while Carter was working. Randi came up to him and said ‘ How’s little miss giggles today?’ Hannah giggled again and Carter took the harness off and put it on Randi. ‘Are you sure that you don’t mind doing this Randi?’ ‘No it’s fine me and Hannah always have fun.’ Randi gave him a chart and said ‘Male in exam 2 head lac needs sutures.’ Carter took the chart and started to walk away when Hannah cried out. He heard Randi say ‘its ok Hannah Daddy will be back in a minute.’ Carter stopped for a moment and didn’t know whether he should correct Randi or not; he knew he would never be Hannah’s biological father, but he was the closest thing Hannah had to a father. He decided not to correct Randi, and he walked along to the exam room.

Carter went into the exam room and said to the guy ‘Hi, I’m Dr Carter’ The guy looked at him and said ‘Hey weren’t you Faith’s teacher? That is before she got her whore ass run over.’ Carter clenched his fist and prepared to swing for him, but he stopped himself because he knew that if he hit the guy they would take Hannah away from him. Instead he pulled the guy up from the bed and made him look out the window. He pointed to Hannah and said ‘you see that baby over there? That’s Faith’s baby girl. But now, Hannah is never going to have a mother, and Faith is never going to be able to watch her daughter grow up to be a woman. I suggest you get treated elsewhere because I don’t want to see you again’ the guy grabbed his things and left without saying another word.

Carter went over to the admin desk and Randi said ‘How come that guy left without being treated?’ Carter shrugged and said ‘He decided he wanted to get treated at Mercy hospital.’ Hannah was sleeping and he stroked her hair.

The paramedics came crashing through the door with a gurney. The paramedic gave him the bullet ’15 year old female auto versus pedestrian, suspected tension pnemothorax.’ Carter looked down at the girl and saw Faith looking back up at him. He closed his eyes in disbelief and when he opened them again she was gone. Mark saw Carter hesitate and said ‘Are you ok?’ Carter nodded.

They managed to save the girl and Carter went back to the admin desk. The incident that had just happened had shaken him up and he wanted to make sure that Hannah was ok. A couple of hours later Carter took Hannah into the lounge for her dinner. His mind had been racing all day about the flashback he had in the trauma room, and he was still mad about what the guy had said about Faith. Carter had been having nightmares about what happened to Faith; they weren’t as frequent as they used to be but sometimes he still woke up in bed crying. Sometimes he had nightmares about Hannah dying and every time he woke up from them he would go into her room and make sure that she was ok.

7 months passed and it was the day before Hannah’s first birthday. Carter now felt as if Hannah really was his daughter and he had got her lots of presents. Hannah wasn’t yet able to walk, although she could crawl and pull herself up. Carter was in the hospital lounge with Hannah and Mark and Kerry, when Hannah grabbed onto his leg and pulled herself and said ‘Daddy’ Carter laughed and gave her a huge hug, he couldn’t believe that her first word was daddy. One thought brought him down though; Faith wasn’t here to see it.

As soon as Carter finished his shift, he went down to the cemetery. He found Faith’s grave and sat down next to it. He sat in silence for a few moments and then said ‘its hard for me without you Faith. Hannah is getting bigger every day; she said her first word today, she called me daddy. I was thinking last night about what I was going to say to Hannah when she asked me where her mommy was. It took me a while, but I realised all I need to say is how wonderful you used to be, and how much you loved her. I’ll never let her forget you Faith, I promise you that. Hannah is always going to know how brave you were and the fact that you saved her and me. Carter sighed and stood up. He walked out of the cemetery and went home to his baby girl

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!