Helping Hands - Part 4 - Conclusion
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.



Carter settled back into work very nicely. He was exceedingly careful, aware that eyes were on him, but things were going well. He liked living with Dr. Benton also. If someone had told him back when he was a medical student that he would be sharing an apartment with Benton, he would have told them they were crazy.

"So Carter," Dave Mallucci began, one particularly slow day as they were hanging out at the desk. "When are you going to move out of Benton's apartment and get a place of your own? I mean your back is better now, right? Why are you still staying with him?"

"Why does it matter to you where I live, Dave?" Carter asked, trying not to let his annoyance show.

"Well confidentially speaking," said Dave, lowering his voice. "I can't imagine that living with Benton is any barrel of laughs. You need to live a little my man! Let me show you the town, take a walk on the wild side."

Carter bit his lip to keep from laughing. "I'm just fine right now with my boring little humdrum life, Dave. But if I change my mind, you will be the first one I let know."

Cleo was inconspicuously listening to the conversation from the other end of the desk. She didn't understand why Carter didn't just move out. Peter had mentioned that Carter's grandmother had returned home and yet the two seemed perfectly happy with their present living arrangement. Granted, she and Peter had finally returned to their normal dating life. At least he didn't feel compelled to stay home and baby-sit Carter every night. Still though, he was always talking about him. He had mentioned that Carter got along well with Reese and that comment had just gotten on her last nerve. She watched as Carter and Mallucci walked off in the direction of the lounge, laughing like morons over God knows what.

"Hi Cleo," Peter leaned casually over the desk. "How's it going?"

"Fine, Peter," she said, smiling up at him. "I was thinking I'd make you dinner tonight, eggplant parmigian, just the way you like it."

"Actually...," Peter said slowly, "a patient of mine gave me two excellent tickets to the White Sox game tonight. They're playing the Yankees. It should be a great game."

"Oh Peter...you know I hate baseball," Cleo whined. She never could understand the fun people had watching baseball. As far as she was concerned it was nine innings of utter boredom.

"I know that," Peter said with a smile. "I was thinking I'd ask Carter. He's been working really hard the past couple of weeks. I think it would do him good to get out."

"You had no intention of even asking me to go, did you Peter?" Cleo asked angrily.

Benton gave her a perplexed look. "No...you just admitted yourself that you hate baseball. I knew that, Cleo. Why would I ask you to go do something that I know you hate?"

"You are just impossible. Fine Peter. You take little Carter to the baseball game. Maybe you'll buy him a pennant and a baseball cap. I have work to do," she said as she flounced off.

"Women..." Benton muttered as he went off in search of Carter.



"These are really terrific seats," Carter commented as he took a large bite of his hot dog.

"Those things will kill you, Carter," Benton said with a look of distaste.

"You don't know what you're missing. Hot dogs are a very important part of baseball. Hell, hot dogs are part of being an American."

"Okay Carter, whatever you say," Benton leaned back in his seat with a lazy smile. It was the perfect night for a ball game and Carter really looked like he was having a good time. Benton was glad they had decided to do this.

The crowd roared as the fourth hit in a row by a White Sox batter sent Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens to the showers.

"Clemens you bum!" someone a few rows behind them yelled.

Carter grinned as Benton shook his head. "You don't go to very many ballgames, do you Dr. Benton?"

"No not too many Carter, but you know Reese might be really into baseball someday so it can't hurt to start."

Carter nodded his head. "Well thanks. It's been a while since I've done something like this. This is fun."

"You're welcome, Carter, and you're right...this is fun." The two settled back to watch the rest of the game.



Cleo had finally reached her limit. This morning she had to endure Peter telling her all about what a wonderful time he and Carter had at the baseball game the previous night. Then she had heard Carter telling Mallucci similar tales. She wished Carter had moved in with Mallucci. That would have solved all her problems.

As the day went on, it just got worse. Carter ran a difficult trauma, saving a young mother to the oohs and aahs of all. She really couldn't stand it. She was sick of the way people were bending over backwards for young Dr. Carter. If that was what it took to get preferential treatment around here, she would have become an addict years ago. Cleo decided it was time to put her plan into action.

She went and got two empty syringes and put them in her lab coat pocket. Then when a lot of the staff was busy with a trauma, she took the opportunity to sneak off to the drug cabinet and loaded up one of the syringes with 200 mg of Fentanyl. 'Carter's drug of choice' she thought to herself with a snicker. Now she would just have to wait for her chance.

It came even sooner than she could have dreamed. Kerry was running the trauma for a young man in acute respiratory distress and called for Cleo and Carter to help. Cleo bumped into Carter as they arrived in the trauma room and deftly slipped the Fentanyl loaded syringe into his pocket. 'I should have been a pickpocket' she thought smugly.

The boy was treated successfully and just as they were about to send him upstairs for some more tests Cleo sprang to action. Positioning herself carefully, she and Carter bumped into each other once again, only this time, Cleo jammed the empty syringe into her hip. "Ow Carter, what the Hell? You stuck me!" she wailed.

"What?" Carter asked with a bewildered look.

"You stuck me, Carter," Cleo ripped off her lab coat, effectively wrapping up the empty syringe in her pocket and pointed to her hip which showed a drop of blood.

Carter just stared at her, stunned. "How...how did I do that?"

Kerry cleared the room, yelled for Mallucci to take the boy upstairs and told Haleh to go get Mark.

A few minutes later Mark came rushing into the room to see Carter standing dumbstruck and Cleo looking at him in an accusatory fashion. "What's going on?" he asked, not really sure if he wanted to know.

"He stuck me," Cleo said. I bumped into him and I got stuck by a pin or a needle or something." She pointed at her hip to prove her point.

"I didn't...," Carter protested vehemently. "I didn't have anything to stick her with. I don't know what she's talking about."

"I think it was in his pocket," Cleo said, trying hard to maintain her normal stone-faced expression when she really wanted to laugh with glee. She only wished Peter could be here to see Carter cut down to size.

"John..." Kerry asked gently. "Do you have anything in your pocket?"

"No I don't," Carter put his hand into his pocket and instantly felt the syringe. "I...I..." He pulled it out and started at it with a shocked expression on his face. "Dr. Greene...Dr. Weaver. I don't know how this got there, honest I don't. I didn't do it. I didn't."

"Carter, let me have that," Mark gently pried the syringe out of Carter's fingers.

"John...what's in the syringe?" Kerry asked, her heart breaking at the scared look on his face.

"I don't know," Carter said, becoming defensive. "I don't know how it got there. It isn't mine. You can test me. I'm clean. I haven't touched anything. I haven't."

Mark sighed. "Carter...you might as well tell us what's in the syringe. We're just going to get it tested. You know that."

Carter, now completely pale, stared back at Mark. "I told you I don't know what's in it. It is not mine."

"John..." Kerry spoke softly, wanting to calm him down. "You're upset right now. I want you to go home and get some rest. I'm going to get Peter to take you."

"You don't believe me either," Carter said, giving Kerry a stricken look. "I really didn't do this...I didn't."

"I'll go see if I can find Peter," Mark whispered to Kerry.

A few minutes later Benton came charging into the room. "What happened?" he asked, his eyes quickly taking in Carter's devastated look.

"Carter had a syringe full of God knows what in his pocket and it stuck me," Cleo replied haughtily.

"I didn't," Carter said, looking up at Benton, his voice cracking with tears in his eyes. "It wasn't mine..."

Benton shot a helpless look at Kerry who just shook her head sadly. "Can you take him home Peter?"

"Yeah...I'll take him home." Peter put his arm around Carter's shoulder. "Come on Carter."

"Can't somebody else take him home?" Cleo asked furiously. "Do you really think this...this drug addict is the kind of person you should be hanging around with, Peter? The kind of person you want hanging around your son?"

"Cleo..." Benton said, a warning tone in his voice. "We'll talk about this later."

Kerry was watching Cleo thoughtfully, surprised at the amount of hostility Cleo was showing towards Carter.

"Yes it's always later, isn't it Peter," Cleo said as she watched him lead Carter out of the room.



Carter didn't utter a word the whole way back to Peter's apartment. He felt like his world was falling down around him. He had been trying so hard. He had been going to his NA meetings, seeing a counselor, work had been going well. Now it was all ruined. He knew that no one would believe that the syringe wasn't his. He also knew that he had most likely used up his last chance, that he was going to be fired.

They arrived at Peter's apartment and Carter went inside and numbly sat down on the couch. Benton went over and sat beside him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?" Carter asked. "Nobody's going to believe I didn't do it. They're going to fire me."

"You don't know that Carter."

"Yes I do know that," Carter said, his eyes meeting Peter's. "You know it too."

"I should leave," Carter said, standing up abruptly. "I appreciate all that you've done for me, Dr. Benton, but Dr. Finch is right, I shouldn't be staying here."

"Carter...you're not leaving," Benton said. "Why don't you go in your room and rest for a while."

Carter started to protest, but suddenly felt totally drained. He nodded wearily and wordlessly shuffled off towards his room.



About an hour later the buzzer in Peter's apartment went off. "Yeah, who is it?" he asked through the intercom.

"Peter it's me, Cleo...can I come up?"

Peter sighed. He really wasn't in the mood for Cleo, but he buzzed her in anyhow.

"Hello Peter," Cleo said, as she walked into the apartment and sat on the couch crossing her legs. "I thought we might go out to dinner, get your mind off all this nastiness."

Peter gave Cleo an incredulous look. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"I'm sorry Peter. I didn't realize you were baby-sitting again tonight. My mistake."

"What is it with you, Cleo?" Peter asked, shaking his head. "What the Hell did Carter ever do to you that you could have such little compassion?"

"I don't have to have compassion for drug addicts, Peter. Mark got the contents of that syringe tested. It contained 200 mg of Fentanyl. Carter is a junkie, pure and simple."

"I think you should leave, Cleo," Benton said icily.

"I'm really not the one who should be leaving, Peter. Maybe your little friend would be better off in a six month rehab...or better yet, maybe his rich family can send him off to some spa in Switzerland and he can get his act together."

"You're a real nasty bitch Cleo," Benton shook his head in amazement. "How come I've never seen this side of you before?"

"Peter...Peter...you just need to look at the practical side of things. Carter can go back to his family, get his life together and you and I can be together...just you and me. We don't need Carter."

"Cleo..." Benton began, as the realization finally hit him. "Did you do this?"

"Do what, Peter?" Cleo asked with a chuckle.

"You put that syringe in Carter's pocket, didn't you?"

"I think that might be a little hard to prove, Peter, don't you?" Cleo said with a wink.

Peter shook his head, stunned. "I'll find a way to prove it."

"Nobody's going to believe you, Peter," Cleo said, her eyes flashing. "Don't you realize how weird that sounds, that I took a syringe and put it in his pocket? They will not believe you."

Peter's eyes were filled with disdain as he listened to Cleo. He couldn't believe this woman. "They will believe me Cleo," he said quietly. "I'll make them believe me."

Cleo walked over to Benton with a coy expression on her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Come on Peter...I can do things for you that Carter never could. His family is wealthy. Let them take care of him. He'd really be much better off. He'd be safe and out of our hair."

Peter yanked Cleo's arms off his neck. "Carter isn't in our hair Cleo. He's obviously in yours though. I just never realized it until now."

"What is it with you and him Peter?" Cleo asked loudly. "Are you lovers? Is that it?"

"Get the Hell out of here," Peter was seething, barely able to contain his anger. He could barely control his urge to slap her in the face.

"Fine Peter, frankly I've had it. You just don't appreciate me, I guess you never have. You have fun with your little boy toy, Peter." With that, Cleo stalked out of the apartment, her head held high.

Benton listened to the sound of the door slamming and buried his head in his hands. He just couldn't even comprehend this. Cleo was that crazed that she had actually tried to ruin Carter's career and quite possibly his life? And for what? He couldn't believe she had gone that far.

He suddenly heard a creak and looked up to see Carter standing in the doorway to his room.

"How much of that did you hear?" Benton asked.

Carter came into the living room and sat down on a chair. "I guess most of it," he replied softly.

"I'm sorry, Carter," Benton said. "I don't know what to say. I can't believe she did that to you...I really can't."

"I guess she saw me as some kind of threat to your relationship," Carter said, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah well, if that's the kind of person she is...Thank God I saw it now and not later."

Carter shifted uncomfortably. Even if Cleo wasn't all there, he knew that Benton had cared about her. He felt badly that their relationship was over because of him. "I'm sorry that this happened, Dr. Benton."

"Carter, please," Benton said with a twinge of annoyance. "Don't take this on your shoulders too, okay? Let's face it, Cleo is seriously twisted to have pulled all this crap. You didn't cause it. This was her fault, not yours."

Carter nodded. He still felt pretty bad. Trouble seemed to just radiate around him this past year.

"Carter...go get dressed," Benton demanded in a tone that warranted no argument. "We're going back to the hospital. We're going to get this straightened out today."

"They still might not believe us," Carter said apprehensively.

"They'll believe us, Carter," Benton said, softening his tone. "We'll make them believe us."



Mark and Kerry sat at a table in the lounge, listening intently as Peter relayed his story about Cleo. Carter just sat silently, staring down at the tabletop.

"That sounds a little far-fetched, Peter," Mark said. "I can't believe that she would go that far."

Kerry had been listening very intently. "I don't know, Mark...Cleo did act very oddly after this happened. She was openly hostile to Carter. I thought she seemed a bit off at the time."

Just then, Romano burst into the lounge. "Does somebody want to tell me what's going on? Dr. Finch just faxed in her letter of resignation citing irreconcilable differences with ER staff members. What the Hell is she talking about?"

"I'd say that sort of clinches things, don't you?" Peter asked.

"Yes, I'd say so," Kerry said as she stood up. "Why don't we go up to your office, Robert and I can fill you in." She looked over at Carter who still appeared pretty miserable. "John, I'm sorry that this happened, but it's going to be all right now. Don't worry. Mark, can you join me please?"

"Yeah sure, hang in there Carter," he said, patting his shoulder. "We'll get this all straightened out."

Robert glared at the group and walked out of the lounge with Kerry and Mark right behind him.

"Carter, you okay?" Peter asked,

"Yeah, I guess," Carter said, finally looking up from the table to meet Peter's eyes. "I can't believe she quit...it just seems so senseless. I can't believe that she hated me that much."

"I really wouldn't waste time trying to figure it out, Carter. Cleo obviously had some real deep-seated issues. She needs professional help." Peter hoped that she would get it, though he doubted that she would. "Listen, let's get out of here. I'll buy you dinner. There's a great little vegetarian restaurant that I know of."

Carter made a face. "Vegetarian? Why don't I buy you dinner? I could go for some Italian food."

"Chinese?" Benton offered.

"Deal," Carter said laughing.

Benton clasped Carter's shoulder and the two men walked out of the ER laughing together. Somehow they both knew that everything was going to work out just fine.

End