Unexpected Overdose
Part Two
By Renee
RA3LuvSug4@aol.com

"Peter! What happened?" Mark shouted as Peter and the paramedics came in through the bay doors.

"What's open, Mark?" Benton shouted.

"Trauma 2."

Once everyone was in the trauma room working on Carter, Benton stood at the door watching every move the doctors made. From his experience, he could tell things were not good. He sighed and walked into the lounge, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Then he sat down on the couch, silently crying to himself. Mark must have had the same idea, because twenty minutes later, he came in, saw Peter sitting there and sat next to him.

"How is he?" Benton asked.

"Well, umm…… He was having seizures and his heart stopped twice. He's intubated and upstairs in the ICU, and still unconscious." Mark said.

"Can I see him?" Asked Peter as he gave a sigh of relief. He was practically out the door when Mark said yes.

Peter wanted to take the elevator, but decided that was too slow. He ran up the stairs, only pausing at the ICU admit desk, asking Shirley where Carter was. He slowly walked into Carter's room. He saw Carter lying there, and it reminded him of Chase. He sat down in a chair and sat there staring at Carter for about 2 minutes. Carter must have sensed he was there and started to stir. Benton was on the verge of falling asleep when felt Carter move.

"Carter? Carter, wake up." Carter's eyelids fluttered, making Peter remember the last time he did that. His eyelids opened. Then they slowly focused onto Peter. He couldn't talk, since he was intubated.

"You want me to extubate you?" Asked Peter. Carter slowly nodded.

"Okay, you know the drill." Said Peter as he pulled the tube out of Carter's throat. Carter gagged, then leaned back in his bed. There was a moment of awkward silence while Peter was contemplating over what to say to Carter.

"Carter, why'd you do it?" Benton said. He was watching as Carter slowly turned his head the other way. It was obvious he didn't want to talk to anyone yet. Peter got up and left. AS he was walking back to the ER, he met Mark Greene.

"Mark, he's not talking to me and I don't think he wants to talk to anyone now. I'm going to Doc Magoo's. Want to come?"

"Sure." Said Mark and they walked outside.

When they were seated and had their coffee, Mark and Peter stared blankly into their mugs. It was Mark who broke the silence.

"Peter, how are you doing?" Peter almost instantaneously responded.

"Me? How am I doing? Why the hell are you asking me that when Carter's up there after just attempting suicide? You should be asking if Carter's all right! Not me!" His temper was at the point at where it got any higher, something would be broken soon and Mark knew he should calm him down.

"I'm sorry, Peter. Sit down before you make a scene." Mark didn't want it to come out sounding that harsh. Peter stared at him.

"How can you say that? You don't even care about Carter!"

"Yes, Peter, I do. Why don't you finish your coffee? Then we'll figure out what to do. I'll call Anna and let her know what happened." Mark suggested, noticing Peter had calmed down.

"Okay." Peter agreed, sipping his coffee.



Anna watched through the window as Carter slept.

"Hi Anna." Dr. Benton said as Anna jumped.

"You surprised me." Anna said, her voice quivering.

"Did Mark tell you what happened?"

"Yea." She said silently. Her expression turned sad once again as she turned back to the window to watch Carter sleep once more. Peter could tell she wanted to be left alone, so he left. She crept in, closing the door silently behind her and walked over to the chair. She sat in it and held Carter's hand. He slowly stirred and opened his eyes. He looked at Anna and saw her head bowed. He could tell that she was crying by the way she was shaking. Gently, he squeezed her hand and she looked up at him, her eyes full of tears.

"Hey, don't cry." Carter said sleepily. Anna's expression turned to serious.

"Why shouldn't I cry? My best friend just attempted suicide!" Anna's tears were now streaming down her face.

"I'm your best friend?" Carter asked slowly.

"Yea, John, you are." Anna replied. She looked over at Carter, who was lost in thought.

"John, why'd you do it?" She asked him. His eyes came back to focus on her.

"I don't know. I felt guilty, I guess. He's upstairs in a coma and I was walking around, healthy. I knew he had a problem and didn't do anything about it" he paused. "Now that I think about it, I don't really know why I did it." He started to silently cry. Anna climbed onto his bed and held him while he cried.