Helping Hands - Part 2
By Lynne Facella
Mulderette@aol.com or Lynne1919@aol.com

SPOILERS: Be still my heart through May Day..
ARCHIVE: Sure, just ask so I know where it is going.

DISCLAIMER: All characters are the property of Warner Brother, NBC, etc. and no profit is being made from this.



After Benton had finished getting ready, he checked them out of the hotel and he and Carter went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Benton ate ravenously while Carter picked at his food, mostly just pushing it around on his plate.

"You really should eat something, Carter," Benton said.

"I'm really not very hungry," Carter replied sullenly. The thought of checking into the rehab center was making him sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe his life had reached this point. It was definitely an all time low.

"Suit yourself," Benton replied shortly. "I'm not going to force you."

"How long do I have to stay in this place anyway?" Carter asked, looking at Benton with anxiety-filled eyes.

"Um...I believe it's a 90 day program."

"Ninety days..." Carter mused. "That's a long time."

"It'll go by fast man, you'll see."

"Yeah...sure." Carter looked down, not wanting Benton to see the utter panic on his face.

Benton sighed. This was really hard. He knew that Carter was scared to death. Hell, part of him still couldn't even believe this had happened. He had known Carter since he was a wet-behind-the-ears medical student. He never would have believed Carter capable of abusing drugs, but then again, he never would have imagined Carter would be stabbed in the back in the ER, almost losing his life. It was just a string of horrible things that had happened. He just hoped that Carter would be able to get things turned around and get his life back.

Benton paid the waitress for their breakfast and then went to inquire about renting a car. After they had gotten that squared away Benton started driving towards the rehab center. "The hotel desk clerk said there is a big department store on the way. We can get you some of the things that you need."

"Yeah, okay." Carter just stared out the window. He imagined this was how prisoners felt when there were going off to serve their sentences.

The department store came into view and Benton pulled into the parking lot. He wondered if Carter had ever shopped in a department store in his life. "Come on," Benton said and Carter reluctantly followed him into the store.

Carter had very little interest in what to get and Benton ended up picking out most of his clothes, just casual things, with Carter just replying as to proper sizes when Benton questioned him. Benton finally got frustrated with Carter's monosyllabic responses. "I know you don't get your clothes in this kind of store, Carter, but don't you want to have some of your own things?"

Carter glared at Benton. "Do you really think I care what I wear at this place? Trust me, I don't."

Benton gathered up some toiletries and they headed towards the checkout lines. "Do you want any books or anything?"

"No."

At the register Benton went to reach for his wallet, but Carter stopped him, pulling out a credit card. "I can pay for my own stuff."

"Okay, fine."

They brought the purchases back out to the car and Benton put the things into the duffel bag he had picked out. "There, you're all set."

"Yahoo!," Carter rolled his eyes sarcastically.

Benton bit back a comment, realizing that Carter was trying to get a rise out of him, and they continued on their way.



All too soon, they pulled up in front of the rehab center. Benton got out of the car, carrying Carter's bag, and Carter followed silently behind him.

Once inside Carter began mechanically filling out forms, barely listening as a Mrs. Thompson started gushing about all the benefits of the program. He knew that Benton was talking about him, but he didn't even try to listen. He felt overwhelmed and just wanted to blank everything out of his mind.

"Carter...Carter!"

"What?" Carter came out of his thoughts and saw Benton staring at him.

"I'm leaving now."

"Al...already?" Carter was suddenly transferred back to the first time he had been left at summer camp. It had been shortly after his brother had died. He had already been so lonely and sad and his parents had just dumped him in camp for the summer. He remembered the feeling of abandonment as he had watched his father walk away without a backwards glance.

"Hey. You're going to be okay." Benton patted his shoulder encouragingly. "You take care of yourself, Carter."

"Thanks Dr. Benton," Carter replied in a subdued tone. It was all he could do not to scream at Benton not to leave him there, to just give him one more chance and he would never take another drug, not ever. He watched as Benton walked away. He turned back at the door to give a final wave and then he was gone.

"Come John," Mrs. Thompson said with a reassuring smile. "Let's get you started."



Benton left the rehab center and headed directly back to the airport. Leaving Carter had affected him more than he wanted to admit. He had just looked so young and lost. He only wished that he had paid more attention to Carter after the stabbing. Once Carter had returned to work Benton had assumed he was okay. He couldn't have been more wrong.

He returned the car rental and went to buy a ticket for the return trip to Chicago. He sighed in frustration when he found out it would be a two hour wait. As long as he would be hanging around the airport, Benton decided to call the hospital.

"Hey Randi," he said as he heard her familiar voice over the phone. "This is Dr. Benton. Is Kerry there?"

Randi put him on hold and a few minutes later Kerry came on the line. "Peter," she said quietly. "How is everything there?"

"Hi Kerry." He assumed she really couldn't talk because there were people around. "Carter is all checked into the rehab center and I'm waiting at the airport for a flight home."

"How is he?"

Benton could hear the very obvious concern in Kerry's voice. "I think he's kind of shell shocked right now, but he seemed okay. He'll be all right." As Benton spoke, he wondered who he was trying to convince more, himself or Kerry.

"All right, Peter. Thank you so much for going with him."

"You're welcome, Kerry. Hey is Cleo around?"

"Hold on a minute, I'll see if I can find her for you."

"Thanks."

Benton waited for what seemed an endless period of time before Cleo finally came on the line. "Peter? How are you? Are you on your way home?"

"Hi Cleo. Yeah I'm at the airport waiting for a flight."

"Okay, great! We can get together this evening."

Benton hesitated. "You know, maybe we should just wait until tomorrow. I didn't get much sleep last night. I think I'm just going to hit the sack when I get in."

"All right. Fine."

Benton heard the coolness in Cleo's voice, but decided to just let it go. He didn't want to get into it with her, not after all that had happened. He just didn't have the energy. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, Peter. Goodbye." Cleo hung up the phone and saw Kerry beckoning her. She walked over to her. "Did you want something, Kerry?"

"Yes Cleo," Kerry replied, her voice low. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but I just wanted to remind you not to mention this to anyone. John is going to have a difficult time when he gets back and I'd like to keep the gossip to a minimum if possible. We told you out of consideration because of Peter leaving like he did, but please don't mention it to anyone. Not even Dr. Romano knows."

Cleo's ears perked up at that interesting tidbit of information. This was being kept from Romano? "I won't say anything, Kerry," Cleo said with the sweetest smile she could muster up. "You have my word."

"Thank you Cleo," Kerry went off leaving Cleo standing there with her mind processing all these recent events. She knew that she was very sick of John Carter. Peter had been understandably concerned when Carter had first been stabbed, but now it seemed that he was interfering in their life together. At least he would be gone for a while. Hopefully it would be out of sight, out of mind as far as Peter was concerned. She had no intention at all of competing with Carter for Peter's attention. If he need arose, she would just have to take care of the problem.



The first days of rehab were Hell for John. He developed severe vomiting and his blood pressure sky rocketed. He had alternating sweats and chills and was basically miserable. Finally on the third day he woke up feeling very weak but considerably better.

"Do you think you'd like to try some breakfast this morning John?" a brightly smiling nurse named Ann asked as she came into his room.

"I'm not sure," he replied hesitantly.

"Why don't you try?" she said as she took his blood pressure. "Even just a little. You need to try and get some of your strength back."

"All right."

A little while later a tray was brought in and John managed to eat and keep down a fair amount. He felt satisfied with himself and then thought about how low his life had sunk when the high point of his day was the ability to keep down food.

After breakfast he dozed off and the next thing he knew he was awakened by another nurse who wanted him to get up and try to start walking. He did this and his back muscles rebelled against the sudden activity after days of lying in bed. "We're going to get you a physical therapy assessment," the nurse said sympathetically as she noted his considerable pain on his chart.

The next couple of days were spent taking part in endless meetings with doctors and therapists to find the best way to manage his pain. They finally decided on a course of physical therapy, along with pain management and relaxation techniques, which would hopefully give him significant benefit. Once this had been decided, John's next step was to attend an indoctrination meeting.

The indoctrination was the part of this process that John was particularly dreading. Meeting with doctors and therapists had pretty much been like being a patient in the hospital. Now he was actually going to have to talk about what had happened to him with total strangers. He was very uncomfortable with this. At 2 p.m. he went to the meeting as assigned in the first floor lounge. Everyone in the room introduced themselves, just reciting names and where they were from. It was explained that they were going to be divided into groups and they would eat with the members of their groups and were expected to spend as
much time as possible with their group members. Once again John felt like he was in summer camp.

John was assigned a group and introductions began. Everyone said a little about themselves and why they were here. Finally it was his turn. The counselor whose name was Brian gave John a look of encouragement.

"My name is John, and I... I'm addicted to drugs." He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks as he blurted this out.

"Do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself, John," Brian asked, just so we can get to know you and your circumstances?"

"Sure," he said softly in almost a whisper but then forced himself to speak up. "My medical student and I were both stabbed in the ER where I work." He heard a couple of sharp intakes of breath but forced himself to go on. "She...she died. I started taking drugs for the pain in my back and then I just seemed to need more and more, just to cope with getting out of bed in the morning."

John gave a sigh of relief as they moved onto the next person. He realized that this was the first time he had admitted that he had a problem. He felt a feeling of hope that he hadn't had for a very long time. For the first time, he felt that maybe this place would indeed be able to help him.



"Hello there," Cleo said, smiling up at Peter who had just come down to the ER for a trauma but the patient, unfortunately, had not made it.

"Hi Cleo," Peter said. "How's it going?"

"Good, Peter. Really good." She gave him a flirty smile.

"Do you have a minute?" he asked. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, cafeteria? I could do with some lunch."

"Yeah, that's fine."

The two walked to the cafeteria. Cleo decided on a salad while Benton just grabbed a cup of coffee and they seated themselves at a quiet table in the corner.

"So Peter, what's up?" Cleo asked curiously, taking a bite of lettuce.

"Well as you know, Carter is getting out of rehab next week."

Cleo shuddered inwardly at just the mention of his name. "And?"

"Well. It seems like he is doing very well."

"That's good," Cleo said, pretending to take an interest.

"Anyhow, he had been staying at his grandmother's house after the stabbing, but now, she had to go to Europe. I guess it was pretty important and even though she would like to be here for Carter, the trip was unavoidable."

"What does this have to do with you?" Cleo asked, afraid that she already knew the answer.

"Carter's going to be staying with me," Peter said, speaking quickly. "His grandmother is happy with the idea and Carter agreed to it also."

"Oh Peter, isn't there anybody else that he can stay with?"

"I'm sure there is," Peter could feel himself becoming annoyed, "but I'm doing it. I want to be there for him. I want to make sure he gets through everything okay this time."

"You know, Peter, he isn't your snot-nosed little medical student anymore. He's a grown man who should be able to stand on his own two feet." She uttered the words before she even had a chance to stop them.

"Wow," Peter gave Cleo an incredulous look. "I didn't know you had it in your to be so cruel. You know what a hard time he's had. This won't affect our relationship. What do you have against him?"

Cleo rightly sensed that she needed to back off. "I'm sorry, Peter. I've just had a bad day. Of course you're right. You need to be there for Carter."

"Thank you. I've gotta get back to work. I'll see you later." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left the table.

Cleo sat at the table shaking her head. Everything had been going so smoothly for them lately. They had been spending lots of time together and now Carter was going to come back and ruin everything. She didn't like this, not one little bit...

End Part 2