***Two/four days later***

Part 6.

"Hello, Jing-mei." said Carter rounding the desk and searching aimlessly through the chart rack.

"Hello, John. Any interesting cases?" she asked politely, keeping her eyes on the computer screen.

"Nope. I’ll take the weak and dizzy in four. See you around."

"Yeah. See ya," As soon as Carter left admin, Deb’s shoulders sagged and she sighed a lonely sigh.

Haleh approched Deb from behind, a stack of charts in her arms. "What’s wrong, Honey?" she asked.

"Nothing," she said trying to sound upbeat and normal.

"What’s happening between you and Carter has been going on for a long time. You can’t hide it forever. Your breaking his heart, can’t you see that?"

"I’ve got patients to see," said Deb, giving Haleh a big smile. She typed a command into the computer and left the desk with the first chart she could lay her hand on.

Instead of going to the patient, Deb ran to the bathroom, almost falling through the doors in a rush.

She entered one of the stalls, not bothering to lock the door. Sitting down on the tolit, she put her hed in her hands in an effort to stop the room from spinning. ‘He called me Jing-mei.’ she wispered to herself as the room came to a standstill ‘It’s like everything is all my fault!’

Abby came into the bathroom and heard Jing Mei’s whispers from the stall. She noticed the door was slightly open, so she knocked lightly before opening it up.

"Deb, whats wrong?" Abby asked.

"Abby, I’m fine. It’s just that..." Deb dragged on.

"This is what you call fine?" yelled Abby.

"I was just dizzy, that’s all," Deb said as she pushed past Abby toward the sink to wash her face.

"Listen to yourself! You know you’re not alright. Deb you’ve taken so many shifts that you haven’t been home since the date and that was three days ago."

"I’ll be fine, Okay? Work is the one place where I can just forgt about everthing."

"Even John?" asked Abby softly.

"No, not him. But at least I can see him here. But every time..." admitted Deb leaning against the bench and drying her hands on a paper towel.

"What, everytime he-?"

"Everytime he looks at me, Abby. Everytime I see his puppy dog eyes and I melt like... like icecream thats been left out of the freezer to long and its been getting harder ad harder to hide it," said Deb putting her head down. "Today he called me Jing-mei."

"And he never calls you Jing-mei," said Abby getting the picture. "You need to get some rest, you look even worse than the patients."

"Geez thanks."

"No, really. After this shift your coming home with me."

"I can’t," said Deb looking away. "I’ve got to go to my engagement party."

"Oh."

There was silence.

"Ok. Fine. You can come to my place after the party. I’m cancelling all your double shifts this week and next," said Abby bossily.

"Hey-"

"No. The ER can survive without you, the nurses are already getting worried about you- including me!"

"Fine. Only becuse you said I looked worse than the patients..."

"Well you do," butted in Abby.

"Can I go now?" asked Deb guesturing towards the door.

"Yes, you can," said Abby rolling her eyes before following Deb back to work.

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"Don’t you think your being a bit...harsh?" asked Dave following Carter on his way to exam 4.

"About what?" said Carter innocently

"Jing-mei."

"No, not at all. What did I do?"

Dave gave him a look.

"What?"

"You don’t think using her real name instead of your pet name isn’t harsh?"

"It’s not a pet name," said Carter entering exam four. To his surprise, Dave followed him in.

"Then what is it?"

"A name. Nothing else, Dave I got a patient waiting," said Carter, smiling at the very

pale mad sitting infront of him.

"Do you mind?" asked Dave turning to the patient.

"Oh no," said the man sofly and slowly. "You two go on ahead."

"Thank you, Okay, Carter what happened with you and Chen after last night?"

"Nothing," Carter turned his attention back to the patient. "Mr Right, how long have you had these bout’s of dizzyness and weakness." he asked, ignoring Dave for a minuet.

"You can’t keep this to yourself forever you know. I’ll find out sooner or later," Dave said. He walked to the other side of the bed and sat down looking at the patient.

"For a week," said Mr Right, answering Carter’s question.

"You didn’t have sex or anything, did you?" Dave was looking at Mr Right, though his question was directed at Carter.

"Ummmm..."

"Not you Sir. Dave I think you should leave. It is not the time or place to discuss this," Carter said, nodding his head pointedly at the door while snapping on a pair of latex gloves.

"Well, just answer my question."

"Dave-"

"Okay, okay I’m going. But you didn’t say no..."

"Dave!"

"I’m going! Get well soon Mr R." said Dave finally leaving the room.

"Sorry about that," apologized Carter.

"Nah, you guys shouldn’t be looking after an old hag like me. You should be looking for girls and having fun!" said the old man watching Carter’s hand press against his chubby abdomen.

"Don’t worry we do enough of that now a days too, Dave more so," said Carter wiith a smile taking the stethoscope from around his neck and listening to the patients breath sounds.

"So, was Dave right? Did you...you know... with her?" asked Mr Right, a mischevious look on his face. "If you tell me, I won’t tell anyone. Who’s the chick, anyway. Not some cute doc, was it?"

Carter looked up with a raised eyebrow and an amused look on his face."You really shouldn’t have asked."

"Why?" asked Mr Right confused.

"Because, I’m not going to answer," said Carter, giving Mr Right a big smile as he walked out of the room. "I’ll be back soon sir, the nurse will be in soon to get a urine sample."

As soon as Carter walked into the hallway, he sighed and snapped off his gloves. Back to another shift of getting sympathy stares from the nurses.

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Deb smiled a fake but believeable smile at the richly dressed asian woman and then looked for the next guest. Once again, the fake smile and nod of the head. Louie was however looking more anticipated, a happy glow and huge grin on his face, his expensive looking suit shining with all it’s might. Deb was dressed in a simple but formal gown, and her long black hair was swept up in a fancy hair-do that complimented her clothes.

Finally everyone was seated in the huge ballroom that had been decorated with the appropreate equipment. The large windows on the left darkened the shaddows of night that tried to creep in - the gigantic chandlers keeping the room well lit

Laughter and the clinking of crystal glasses could be heard with the light sound of the peak traffic in the back ground that would die away as the motorists find their way home and the night shift picks up.

Deb was at the practice dinner and announcement of her engagement. Her family had been afraid that she would back down at the last moment as so they had arranged the wedding to be just a week after the engagement. The whole wedding had been arranged by her parents and Louie which didn’t matter as she didn’t care how the wedding went anyway. It was all to prove to her parents that she still the perfect little daughter they had made her out to be to their friends and relatives.

"Everybody, I’d like to propose a toast," said Louie’s father standing up. He looked pretty much like Deb’s father but shorter and a lot more chubbier around the waist. As he stood up the huge gold chain that hung from the insides of his jacked clinked against each other as though he was showing off his wealth.

‘I bet those are solid gold’. Thought Deb to herself, ‘Probably wore them everyday.’

"To Louey and Jing-mei. May they have a happy life together!"

"May they have a happy life together!" claimed the chours of the party as they all took a sip form their glasses.

"And I now hand Louie over to you to make a speech as we wait for the food to arrive," as he said this, he sat down and Deb looked beside her to see that Louie had already stood up and, still sporting that silly grin on his face, began to make a toast.

"I am very happy to be engaged to Jing-mei. I know she will be a wonderful wife."

‘Yeah right, snickered Deb containing her smirk.

"I love her,"

‘What ever, jerk’ Deb whispered to herself, another fake smile up at Louie as the crowd ahhh’ed appropriatly at his last line.

"And I intend to make her very happy. I can assure you...."

‘Your not the one I want...."

"That I will take very good care of her. Thank you all for coming tonight and I hope you all enjoy your dinner," said Louie as the crowd clapped and sipped once more out of their glasses.

‘Just keep at it Chen, Maybe one day he’ll step in front of a bus...’ This time, Deb smiled a real smile.

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John didn’t know what he was doing on the streets. Wandering around aimlessly was his first guess. Looking for someone to ease his burden was another. However one way or another he was still stuck on the busy streets in down town Chicago at seven at night.

It had been hell at work. But then again, he couldn’t just lose his job. It was all that semed to make him get up every day. An obligation. Of course, there was Deb. Ahhh..... didn’t he wish.

‘No. No, stop it,’ he whispered to himself violently, tying to get the thoughts that were running thick and fast through his mind. ‘She’s what you can’t have. No use brooding over it.’ he thought to himself.

Suddenly, Carter stopped in front of a huge restaurant. The windows were alight and the curtains pulled back to show a huge volume of people all sitting around tables, listening to a lone speaker standing up, a glass in her hand saying what John thought to be of as a toast...

"Oh, I’m sure that our very lovely Jing Mei has a little something that she wants to add, said Deb’s father, speaking up after the clinking had died down a little.

"No, no-" she began to protest but was out numbered.

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" they chanted, their voices all sounding so robotic to Deb, blending together like a vacuum cleaner that was trying to suck up all the dust particles it could get.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. If she didn’t say anything she would be thought of a person not able to speack up for herself. In Asian culture, that was exceptable. But in hr line of work was considered a worthless quality that would bring her down.

Deb stood up, glass in hand.

Before saying anything to the now silent audence, she paused and looked around. At one of the windows that showed a view of the street, she saw a face, strangly fimillar, staring back up at her....

‘Oh my God.’ whispered Carter to himself. ‘It’s Deb...’ He watched as she got up her courage and began to say something. He saw her smiling openly at the crowd and even thought John could not hear what Deb was saying he knew every word.

Deb saw the face. She knew exactly who it was. But the audence around her demanded her attention- all of her attention.

"I’m sure Louie will make a wonderful husband," she couldn’t help it. Sad to look up at John. His eyes. There they were again, looking up at her with a cold, puppy dog stare.

‘I saw it. "I’m sure Louey will make a great husband." wait I must be mistaken.’ John pressed his face further into the glass, not trusting his judgement first hand.

"We will be very happy and I am greatful to all of you for your support. With my working hours it is extremely hard to plan a wedding." ‘If only I could postpone it. Must be time for me to hang around some flu patients once again.’

‘Wedding.’ The word hit him like a brick to the face. Deb was getting married...

‘I had to say it. I must equal up to Louie’s speech.’ "I love him." once more the crowd aahhhhhed approprately.

John took a step back from the window not quiet believeing what he had just lip read but now that he saw it couldn’t hide from it. She was in love with someone else. Someone else that was not him. He stepped back into the shaddows to wait for the party to end.

"You two make a wonderful couple," said the kindly old lady as she gave Deb a kiss on the cheek and shook hands with Louie.

"Thank you," said Deb, trying to sound grateful.

"I wish you many years of happiness," she said before finally leaving the ballroom.

"That went well," said Louie, looking at Deb.

"Yes, it did. I’m sorry Louie but I’ve got to get going. I have an early shift tomorrow," said Deb, picking up her coat and handbag.

"Oh, ok. Are you going to have a lot of these, um, early shifts?" he asked awkwardly.

"You know, day shift, night shift, thirty-six hour shifts what ever they throw at me," answered Deb nonchelantly.

"Uhuh. Do you want me to give you a lift?" offered Louey.

"No thank you. I brought my car over and I haven’t driven it in a while, it’s been in the shop," said Deb coming up with a quick excuse as she pulled on her coat. Louey immediatly stood up to help her. Deb resisted the urge to push him away but knew it would be a mistake if she did.

"So I’ll see you this Sunday?" reminded Louey.

"Yeah, you’ll see me. I’d better get going," said Deb, suddenly getting nervous as he seemed to be inching closer and closer to her.

"Yeah I’ll see you then," but at the last minute, as she turned to leave, Louie captured her mouth in a passonate kiss. Before Deb knew what was happening, he slipped his tongue in and was rolling it around her mouth...

"Deb, Deb wait up!" yelled Carter, running to catch up to her.

"Oh. John. I thought you’d already left."

"You saw me didn’t you?" Carter didn’t get a response. "You saw me didn’t you? Deb answer me!"

"Yes, I saw you what else am I supposed to say?" demanded Deb, frustrated at the way John was treating her.

"I don’t know," admitted Carter as he followed Deb to her car. "Deb, why didn’t you tell me?"

"I don’t know, Carter, I guess..... I guess I couldn’t," stuttered Deb, digging round her handbag for her keys.

"What do you mean you don’t know?" yelled Carter "How could you not tell me?"

"Look. I just didn’t know what to say," said Deb as she finally dragged her keys out, still looking at each one not being able to look up into his eyes.

"Look at me.... No. Deb will you just look at me?" asked Carter lifting her chin up. But he didn’t have to. Deb whipped her head up and stared coldly into Carter’s eyes.

"There I’m looking. Happy?" she asked angrily, keys positioned ready to open her car door.

"No. That’s not the point..." said John as he moved closer to Deb, stepping between her and her car door.

"Then what is the point Carter, huh?" said Deb, looking even deeper into his eyes, almost daring him to come up with an answer.

"The point is that you didn’t tell me that you were getting married. Deb, we’re friends I thought you knew ages ago that you could tell me anything - especially with something like this. I guess eveyone at works knows and is invited," said Carter, speculated staring back at Jing Mei equal force.

"John..... Carter, I’m not inviting anyone," said Deb tossing her keys back into her purse.

"What do you mean?"

"That’s it. I haven’t told anyone except Abby and don’t you *dare* go blaming her

because I made her promise me that she wouldn’t say a word."

"Woah! so why aren’t you inviting anyone again?" said Carter trying to understand all the facts that he was being bombarded with.

"I’m not organising the wedding, Carter. Mummy, Daddy and Louie..."

"So that’s his name, huh? Louie," said Carter bitterly.

"Carter don’t start on me. What do you want?" demanded Deb.

"Well, a date would be nice."

"This Sunday-"

"Wait a sec, you’ve been engaged for months and you..." yelled Carter angrily, continuing before Deb could explain "How could you not tell me!"

"No. John I was just engaged just a week ago."

"And this dosn’t seem like a rush to you?" said John shaking his head in amazement.

"Look, Carter, I have an early shift tomorrow," said Deb, signaling for him to let her get to her car.

"Fine. Go, go!" said Carter stepping away.

"Look, Carter... John... I’m sorry," said Deb as she got into her car.

Carter just waved her off. Deb rolled up her driver side window and drove off, leaving

John standing in her parking spot.

"Yeah. So am I..." he whispered out loud to nobody in particuar before heading off in the opposite direction.

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