A Rude Awakening

June, 2000

"I have signed off on Mr. Quaver's chart, he is my last patient today, I am

out of here!" Carter exclaimed, dropping the chart into the pile. He sat

down at the desk and signed out on the computer.

"Bad night?" Jerry asked while he sorted through some papers.

"You wouldn't believe it," Carter answered getting up.

As Carter began to walk to the lounge, Jerry called out, "Hey Carter, a

little bird told me that it was your birthday today."

"You had to remind me, eh?" Carter called back.

"Sorry! Happy birthday anyway," Jerry said, returning to sorting papers.

"Thanks," Carter replied walking into the lounge. It was empty except for

one person. "I'm going to kill you," he said, walking over to his locker.

"I swear, I didn't tell a soul about your birthday," Lucy replied as she

stirred her coffee.

"Then how'd Jerry know?"

"I don't know," she said. She sat down on the couch and motioned for him to

sit down. "Come here."

He shut his locker and sat down on the couch facing her. "Yes?" he asked,

pretending to be annoyed but failing miserably.

She smiled and reached for his hand.

"You look tired," Lucy commented.

"Well, the graveyard shift'll do that to you," he replied dryly. Carter

quickly apologized. "Sorry. I've had a bad night."

She frowned at him and gave him a look that said 'I'm sorry' all over it.

"Well, then you had better get home and get some sleep. I'll be home this

afternoon. Hopefully I can make your day better," Lucy said with a sly grin.

Carter laughed a little bit. "I hope so," he said getting up. He placed a

soft kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you at home, okay?" She just nodded and

smiled at him before he walked out the door.

"Bye everyone, see you tomorrow afternoon," Carter said as he walked by the

admit desk. There were a few scattered 'good-bye's and 'happy birthday's

from people Jerry must have just told. He waved back to them and walked out

of the ER.

As he walked to his car, he thought for a moment about his awful day.

Maggie had to go somewhere on personal business. Since he was the nice guy

he is, he switched shifts with her. It didn't occur to him at the time that he

would be on for twenty hours in a row. She owed him. Big time. However,

as he got into his car, his thoughts drifted off Maggie and on to Lucy. She

said yesterday that she had a surprise for him this afternoon. He wondered

what that would be. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he thought that

he had a general idea of what she had in mind. The other night he had found a

Victoria's Secret's receipt crumbled up by the bathroom wastebasket. He

guessed that would have something to do with it. He finally got home and

parked the car. Carter walked into the house and on the way to the bedroom,

quickly looked in a mirror. *Gosh, Carter, Lucy was right. You do look

like crap.* With that, he promptly stripped down to his boxers and flopped

into bed.

"Hey, you up?" Lucy said to Carter as she walked in the room.

"Yeah. How was your day at work?" Carter asked, sitting up.

"As wonderful as a day at work can be, I suppose. Did you have a good nap?"

"Yeah, I've been asleep since I got home," Carter said, glancing over at the

clock. "Wow, it's after three already?"

Lucy grinned and sat down next to him on the bed. "I guess you did have a

good nap. You know, when I was at work today, someone told me it was

someone's birthday. Do you know who that would be?"

Carter smiled back. "Not a clue."

"Oh really? I heard it was a John T. Carter's birthday," she replied.

"Okay, okay, guilty as charged," Carter said. "Why?"

"Because there's a present in the kitchen with his name on it. I was just

about to go get it -- Carter!" she squealed as he grabbed her waist and

pulled her closer.

"Yes?" he whispered before he softly kissed her lips.

"I'm assuming presents can wait, right?" she whispered back.

"Good assumption," he whispered before kissing her again.

"Oh, shit," she said.

"What?"

"God damnit!"

Carter sat up abruptly in bed. Just a dream. Damn. "Lucy?" he said to

the figure bent down at the foot of the bed.

She popped her head up. "I'm sorry, I tried not to wake you," she said

apologetically.

He smiled at her. "It's okay. I've been asleep since six-thirty this

morning. What happened?" he asked getting up to help her.

She smiled sheepishly. "I was trying to get some clothes out of the drawer

to change into and I pulled it out too far, so the whole drawer fell out.

Now it won't go back in."

"Here, I'll get it," Carter said, reaching for the drawer. After a few

moments, he had successfully put it back in. "Ta-da!"

"Thanks," Lucy replied. "So. What do you want to do? It still is your

birthday you know."

"Lucy, we don't have to do anything for my birthday. I would be perfectly

content if I didn't get out of bed all day," he said, sighing.

"Well, I know that," Lucy replied.

Carter looked at her and saw the twinkle in her eyes. He chuckled for a

moment. He didn't even mean it that way. "Well, then what do you have in

mind?"

"Well, that bed does look enticing. I've been on my feet all day."

"We'll have to change that. But I must warn you, I don't know if you'll be

getting much sleeping done," Carter said, reaching out for her hand to help

her up.

"That's fine with me," Lucy said. "Oh, by the way, your mother called.

Left a number of where she could be reached. Sounded kinda urgent," she

said as she got on the bed.

Carter thought for a moment. How many of his urgent calls had she returned

quickly over the years? He couldn't think of very many. "She can wait

awhile," he said, joining her on the bed. "I can think of more important

things to do."

"Like what?" Lucy asked.

"Spend time with you."

"Here's the number your mom left," Lucy said, handing it to him.

"Okay, I'm going to call her I guess. Lucy, you don't have to make dinner,

we can order take out or something," Carter said, reading the piece of

paper. "She's in Chicago?"

"I know we could order take out, I want to cook something. And yes, I

noticed the number she left was in Chicago," Lucy said, grabbing a pot from

the cupboard.

Carter walked over to the phone in the living room and dialled the number.

When the hotel operator promptly asked where he could direct the call, he

replied, "Room 514, thanks."

After a few rings, a voice said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom," Carter replied.

"Oh, good, you got my message. How are you?"

"Fine. What are you doing in Chicago?"

"I'm here on business. Happy birthday dear."

"Thanks, Mom. Is that why you called?"

She paused for a minute and then said, "No, not the only reason. Listen,

can we get together for lunch or something tomorrow? Or dinner tonight? I

wanted to talk to you about something."

"Well, I have plans for tonight and I'm on tomorrow, but I can meet you for

dinner the next day if you're still around," Carter said. He wasn't on

until the afternoon tomorrow, but he and Lucy had planned on sleeping in

tomorrow. And Lucy was on until seven the day after that.

"Yes, I'll be here until the end of the week. I'll come by your apartment

and pick you up. Does six sound okay?"

"Yep, fine, Mom. So, see you then?"

"That'll be great, dear. Have a nice birthday."

"Thanks, Mom. Talk to you later," he said, hanging up the phone.

"So, what did your mom have to say?" Lucy called from the kitchen.

"She wants to have dinner with me on Wednesday. She said she wants to talk

to me about something," Carter said, walking towards the kitchen. "Is there

anything I can do?"

"No, I want our dinner to be edible, thank you. You just sit there and look

pretty."

"How about I set the table?" Carter asked.

"Well, I suppose you could do that," Lucy said, handing him some plates and

silverware. "So, what do you think your mom wants to talk about?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see."

Katherine Carter paced back and forth while she waited for the valet to

bring around her car. She had prayed that she would never have to be telling her

son this and she hoped he would take it well. Finally, the green Jaguar

pulled up and she handed the young man a five. After hearing a "thank you"

from the valet, she pulled out onto the road and followed her scribbled

directions that her son had given her yesterday on the phone. As she drove,

she pondered the best way to tell him.

She pulled up to the right address and parked the car. After a quick knock

on the door, her son appeared.

"Hi, Mom," Carter said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "So, what's

this all about?" he asked with a puzzling look on his face.

She smiled at him. "We'll talk at the restaurant, okay? Come on."

"Okay. Hey, mom, no chauffeur today?" he joked seeing the car.

"Um, no, your grandparents don't know I'm here. So, I just rented a car and

stayed at a hotel. Your father still thinks I'm in San Francisco on business."

As he climbed in the car, he was even more confused. "Mom, what's going on?"

"We'll talk later. So, how's my son, the doctor, doing? Work treating you

okay?" she asked. She would have always known, even if it wasn't proven.

Always nice and kind. Compassionate. Like Roland when he was younger, but

even more so. In a different way.

"Um, work's great. Tiring, but I like it. How about you? Work okay?"

"Yep, fine, your father's fine. We saw Barbara back in May, she's fine.

Asked about you."

"What did you say?"

"That you were fine, liked work, et cetera."

"Oh. So, San Francisco? What were you doing there?" Carter asked. His

parents' work had never taken them there before.

"Oh, nothing. Just checking a few things out. First I was in New York.

Ran into a friend's daughter. Well, I'll tell you all about it at dinner. So,

do you have a girlfriend yet?" she asked, changing the subject.

Wow, it had never occurred to him to tell his family. Lucy didn't have

any relatives who she really talked to, at least none he knew about.

Only her mom, who knew. "Yeah. Her name's Lucy Knight."

"Hmm, name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, she works at the hospital."

"Oh," Katherine replied. She smiled. "That must be it. Have you been

going out long?"

"A few months," he replied. He didn't know in any instance that 'a few'

meant 'ten' except for here.

"That's nice. I'm happy for you," she said, pulling into the restaurant

parking lot. She had picked a nice, small Italian restaurant. She parked

the car and they walked inside. Carter said he had to go use the restroom

while Katherine got a table. She asked for a table in the corner so they

wouldn't be in the middle of all the people. Just when she was sitting

down, Carter reappeared.

"So," he said, sitting down. "Now will you tell me why I'm here?"

"Let's order first. I'll tell you right after that," she added, seeing the

look on his face.

They looked at the menu and ordered when the waiter came. Katherine could

see that Carter was getting impatient, so she started to explain. "I guess I

should just start at the beginning, huh? John, before you were born your father . . .

your father and I fought a lot. Barbara was just three and getting into

everything and your father always wanted me to go on his business trips

with him. I didn't want to leave your sister with your grandparents all of the

time, so I refused a lot. One night, your father was going to France and

almost ordered me to go with him.

Well, I said no, partially because I didn't want to go and partially because

he ordered me to. So, he left in a huff and said something stupid that he

didn't mean about how our marriage wasn't working or something. I don't

really remember. I got all mad and called up our lawyer at the time. Have

you ever heard your father mention Andy Bradstreet?"

"Yeah, whenever something would go wrong with work, he would say, 'If Andy

were here, he'd fix it, --'"

"'-- too bad he had to leave.' Second nature to him, right? So Andy came

over to the house and we talked about a few things. In the heat of the

moment, I decided that I wanted a divorce. Obviously, it didn't go through.

Anyway, that wasn't the only mistake I made in the heat of the moment."

Carter still couldn't figure this out. "Mom, what are you talking about?"

"I, um, cheated on your father."

Carter looked at her, astonished. Why was she telling this to him? "Mom,

why are you telling me?"

"Well, because it concerns you too."

Carter stared at her for a moment. "Mom? Are you -- are you saying what I

think you're saying?"

"Ah. What I'm saying is -- Roland Carter isn't your father." She gave

herself a second to compose herself before continuing. "Your father never

was good at math, so he never found out," she said with a small laugh.

"You're sure?" Carter asked almost inaudibly.

"Yeah. The doctor said you were conceived on that day, give or take a few.

But your father was gone for a week after that and had just returned from a

five day trip to New York. I'm -- I'm sorry, John."

"Who knows?"

"Just you, me, and Andy."

"Dad doesn't know?"

"No." Katherine never had the heart to tell Roland earlier, and if she told

him now, she knew that in the heat of the moment, he would probably disown

Carter. When he came to his senses, she knew Carter wouldn't hear any of

it. She cleared her throat. "I'd like to keep it that way, if you don't mind.

"If it's okay with you, I'd like to keep it pretty much between us."

Carter didn't answer. The waiter brought their food and they began to eat.

Finally Carter said, "Why are you telling me this?"

Katherine swallowed a bite of her salad. "When I was in New York on

business, I ran into Andy's daughter. She told me that he was in the

hospital out in San Francisco. End stage leukemia. So, I went out to see

him. Finally told him about you. He never knew until a few days ago. He

asked if he could see you. I told him that you didn't know. He said he

understood. So, I came here to try to talk to you. You don't have to go, I

just thought it was worth a shot. You don't have to give me a definite

answer now," she said. Although, she was pretty sure he would. And it

would be negative. She pondered on the thought for a moment before returning to

her dinner.

Carter was also pondering his own thoughts. "I'll think about it, okay Mom?

But no guarantees."

She smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Oh yeah, also I'm telling one person. I'm telling Lucy."

Katherine smiled again. "Okay, on one condition. You let me take you two

out for dinner tomorrow night."

Carter thought for a moment. "Yeah, we're both off tomorrow. But Lucy

will insist on cooking. She's a wonderful cook."

"Okay, if you insist." She smiled at him and returned to her lunch.

"Lucy, you home?" Carter called out as he walked in the door.

"Yep, right here," she called from the kitchen. She walked over to the

door to greet him. "Carter, you're all wet!"

"Yeah, it's raining out," he said, taking off his coat.

"Did you walk home?" Lucy asked, walking to the bathroom to hang his coat

up to dry.

"Yeah, I wanted to think about some stuff."

"Oh," Lucy said, not wanting to pry. "So, how was dinner with your mom?"

she asked, changing the subject.

"You know when I said my birthday was the worst day of my life? I changed

my mind."

"Oh, come on, it couldn't be that bad!" she said. His look convinced her

otherwise. "Go change into some dry clothes. I'll make you a drink and you

can tell me all about it."

Carter changed into boxers and a T-shirt and went back to sit down on the

couch. Lucy handed him a drink. He gave her a questioning look to which

she responded "Dewar's." He nodded in approval and took a sip.

"Oh yeah, you're not on tomorrow are you?"

"No. Why?"

"My mom wanted to take us out. I told her you'd much rather cook us

something here."

"That is correct! Hmm, what should I make?" she asked. Remembering

Carter's bad day, she said, "It's not important, we can figure it out later. So,

tell me about dinner."

"Well, to make a long story short, my mom had an affair with our family

lawyer before I was born and I am a product of that affair. To add to the

chaos of my life, turns out he's living in San Francisco and dying of

leukemia. My mom wants me to visit him. He wants to see me. You're the

only one who knows besides the three of us," he said. Seeing Lucy's face,

he said, "I told you so."

"Wow, and I thought my day was bad. Come here," she said, reaching across

the couch to hug and console him.

"I mean," Carter started to say, "it's so ironic. Everyone calls me Carter

and that's not even who I am."

"Carter. Your mother's still a Carter --"

"-- by marriage --"

"-- nevertheless, still a Carter. Your birth certificate says "John Carter III,"

therefore, that's who you are. "John Carter" is what you've grown to know.

It's the same with your father. You've grown to know and love him, does

that mean he's any less of a dad to you?"

"Don't get me started on my dad. We've always hated each other and now I

have a perfectly valid reason for it."

"Carter, deep down you know you love your father and you know he

loves you too. Sure, you guys fight a lot, but all kids fight with their parents."

Lucy could see that that was true by the look in his eyes and she decided

to change the subject. "So, are you going to go see him?"

"I don't know. I just don't want to not go and regret it for the rest of my

life. I also don't want to go out there and have him resent me."

"Carter, he asked for you. He's not going to resent you. And yes, if you

don't go, you probably will forget it."

"I don't know if I can get work off."

"I'm sure you can. Everyone will understand. If you don't want to tell,

tell them it's a family emergency. You won't be lying."

"I . . . I don't want to go alone," Carter said, looking up at Lucy.

"I'm sure that I can arrange to take some time off too. If that's

what you would like."

"That would be great, thanks," Carter replied, smiling at Lucy. He reached

over and gently pulled her face closer to his. "That's one of the reasons

why I love you, Luce."

"I love you too," she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Carter story rated PG. It's a Carter/Lucy romance, but the story is about a family struggle involving Carter. In the beginning, it wasn't a C/L story, but I've switched it around a bit to make it one. I wrote this soon after the season five finale and way before any spoilers for the sixth season had come out. So no spoilers at all. ;) Thanks to Elizabeth for editing and pointing out all of my stupid mistakes way back when.

"Hey, that smells really good," Carter said, walking into the kitchen.

"It's your favorite," Lucy replied. "Minestrone soup with spaghetti and meat sauce. Can you get the stuff out for the salad? I'm running late and your mom's going to be here soon."

"You're spoiling me," Carter said as he got the salad ingredients out of therefrigerator. He then walked over to get the large bowl next to Lucy.

"That's my intention," she said, pausing in her cooking to lean over andgive Carter a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for making the salad."

"Hey, that's the one thing I can make without totally screwing up," he said, slicing the head of lettuce. He was about halfway done when the doorbell rang.

"Shit!" Lucy whispered under her breath. "Your mom's not supposed to be here for fifteen more minutes!"

"I know. Hold on," he said, running out of the kitchen to get the door.

"Hi! We're raising money for our basketball team so we can go to the state finals. Could you donate any money?"

Carter stared dumbfoundedly at the two teenage girls in basketball uniforms for a moment. "Uh, yeah, sure," he said, frantically searching through his pockets for any money. He found a five dollar bill and gave it to them.

"Thanks so much, sir! Bye!" With that, the two perky girls walked backdown the steps.

Carter shut the door."Don't worry, it wasn't her. Kids who wanted money for ... something or other," Carter said, walking back to the kitchen to finish the salad.

"Good. Because this won't be done for another twenty minutes," Lucy said as she stirred the pot of soup.

After a few minutes, Carter proclaimed, "Salad's done. Do you want me toset the table?"

"Please," Lucy said, smiling at him.Carter got enough for three place settings and walked over to the table.

"Lucy, that was wonderful. I can't thank you enough for cooking for us," Katherine Carter said as her son cleared the plates off the table.

"Thanks for coming, Mrs. Carter. I'm glad that you enjoyed it," Lucy replied, smiling warmly.

"Do you need any help, John?" Katherine called from her seat.

"No, I've got it," Carter replied as he put the dishes in the sink. They could be washed later. He went back to the table and sat down.

"Well, I better be going. It's getting late. Thank you for having me, Lucy," Katherine said as she stood up. "John, will you walk me out to my car? I want to talk to you for a minute."

"Sure."

Lucy and Katherine exchanged 'good-bye's' and 'thank-you's' and then Katherine and Carter walked down to her car.

"So, what's your first day off again?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll get two plane tickets for that day and a room for you. I'll come by the hospital tomorrow to drop them off?"

"That'll be fine."

"Lucy's nice. I like her. How long have you two been going out?"

"Ten months," Carter replied, somewhat embarrassed.

They had quickly told Anspaugh and Mark because it was during Lucy's fourth year of med school. They had no objections, since Lucy was not working under him. Not soon after that the gossip had started to fly around the ER. Carter suspected that Chuni was one of the first to know, she was always so interested in his love life. But it had never come to mind to call his parents.

Katherine laughed at the expression on her son's face. "It's okay, John. Ididn't tell my parents about Roland until we were engaged. I guess it runs in the family," she joked. "Also, I suppose we don't talk much. I should call more."

"It's okay, Mom, I know you do your best," Carter said, not really in the mood to get into a heart-to-heart with her.

Katherine smiled back at her son. "I better let you get inside. See you tomorrow."

Carter waved to his mom as she got in the car. Then he walked up the steps to help Lucy clean up.

"Nurse Hathaway is going to give you some medicine to help your arm feel better, okay?" Carter said to the small boy with what appeared to be abroken arm.

Jerry popped in the room. "Carter, someone's here to see you."

Carter turned around to see him and replied, "Tell her I'll be right there." He turned back around to the boy and his mother. "I'll come back when weget the X-rays back and let you know what's going on, okay?" The mother smiled at Carter with relief. Carter walked out of the room with Carol. "Just give him some children's Tylenol for now, and if he still complains ofpain we'll get him something stronger," Carter said.

"Sure thing. Her?" Carol said.

"Pardon?" Carter asked, looking at Carol questioningly.

"When Jerry told you that someone was here to see you, you said to tell her that you'd be right there. You and Lucy break up?" Carol asked as they walked to the admit desk.

"No! My mom's supposed to be coming over to drop something off, and I was assuming it was her. And I was right," Carter said as he saw his momwaiting by the desk.

He walked over to her. "Hi."

"Hey," Katherine replied. "Here's the stuff for San Francisco. Your plane leaves tonight at five, is that alright?"

"Yep, it's fine. We're both off at two, so it works out great."

"John? Thanks again for doing this. It means a lot to me," Katherine said.

"I know. Listen, I have to get back to work, but I'll call you when we get in, okay?"

"That's fine. I know you're busy. Have a safe trip."

"Thanks, Mom," he replied. He gave her a hug and walked into the lounge. Conni, Chuni, and Mark were in there.

"Hey, Dr. Carter, I hear that you and Lucy have a few days off. A little vacation time for you, eh?" Chuni said when she saw him.

"It's not like that," Carter said, walking to his locker and putting the papers and tickets in.

"Oh really? Why else would you be taking a four whole days off?" Conni said.

"Listen, I don't want to talk about it, okay? It's a whole bunch of family bullshit and it's driving me crazy!" Carter retorted back somewhat loudly.

Conni, Chuni, and Mark exchanged a look and the two nurses left. "Hey, Carter, you okay?" Mark asked.

"Yes, I'm okay!" Carter said. He paused for a moment when he noticed he wasstill yelling. "Sorry."

"Hey, it's okay. If you ever want to talk or anything ..."

"That would be nice, but I can't. I'm not supposed to talk to anyone about it. And even if I could, it's so crazy you probably wouldn't believe me!" Carter said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, families usually are crazy," Mark replied.

All of the sudden, Carol ran in. "Trauma, GSW to the chest, drive-by shooting. ETA five minutes."

"I'll take this one," Mark said, running out of the room after Carol.

Carter just sat down on the couch to try to make some sense out of his insane life.

"I think my ears have finally stopped popping," Carter said to Lucy. They were on the plane to San Francisco and had finally reached the altitude they would be flying at. The flight attendants were starting to come around with drinks. Carter let Lucy sit next to the window. "Interesting magazine?"he asked.

"Not really," she said, looking up. "The person before me left it in the seat pouch." She shut it and put it back in the pocket. The flight attendant finally got to them. Lucy saw her look Carter up and down before asking him if he wanted anything to drink. She suddenly felt very possessive of him.

"Hon, you want anything?" Carter asked her.

He winked at her. So, he had noticed too. "Just a Sprite, thanks." When the flight attendant was out of their hearingrange, Lucy said, "You're too sweet." Carter just smiled at her. She added, "You look tired."

"A little bit. I was at work at six, you got to sleep in and come at ten."

"Try and get some sleep."

"I think I will." He reached for her hand before settling down and shuttinghis eyes.

Lucy decided that she could use some sleep too and closed her eyes to try to sleep.

"This room is so nice," Lucy said. They had just got in and were in their hotel room.

"Yeah, well, it helps to be a Carter. Even if I'm not legit."

Lucy turned around to see a goofy grin on his face. At least he was joking about it now.

"Let's see, it's only seven thirty here and we haven't eaten dinner. Do you want to go somewhere or order room service in here?"

"Carter, it doesn't matter to me. Either will be fine. You know it doesn't make a difference."

"Let's go out then. I don't know if we're going to get to go out too much this week. There looked like there were a few restaurants on this street, so we'll just go check it all out. I just want to call my mom and then the hospital to see when visiting hours are and then we'll go."

"Okay, I'm just going to go to the bathroom and freshen up a bit. Be right out," Lucy said.

Carter watched her go into the bathroom and sighed. He sat down and pulled out the phone book to find out the number for the hospital. It could be a long week. He was glad Lucy was with him.

"So, what time are visiting hours?" Lucy asked. There were three restaurants on the street, not including the ones at the hotel. They had picked the Chinese one and were sitting in a small booth in the back of the restaurant.

"Ten to four. I guess I'll go over there sometime tomorrow. I hate to leave you though," Carter said.

"Oh no you don't, don't try and use me as an excuse not to go. I don't mind being alone for a while. I could use some time to chill anyway. I haven't just laid in bed and watched TV and done nothing for a long time."

"Okay, okay, I'll go tomorrow. It's just... I mean, it's still kind of a shock to me. I don't know. It's like I've lived my whole life a lie."

"Carter ..."

"I know, my life is not a lie, but it feels that way. I'm sorry, it's just ..."

"You're still in that state of denial?"

"Yeah. Something like that. I mean, what am I going to say to him? He's dying right?"

"Carter, I'm sure you'll figure out something."

"Yeah, I guess. I always do."

Carter rolled over and looked at the clock. Ten o'clock. That meant twelveat home. He had slept late. Of course, traveling was easy for him,because at home he had such crazy work schedules, he never had any sense of time anyway. He quietly got out of bed, trying not to disturb Lucy. She neededto sleep. He knew he had to go to the hospital now, or he'd keep puttingit off. So he got dressed and left a note for Lucy saying where he was. He quietly left the room and took the elevator downstairs. He hailed a cab andtold the driver where to go. No turning back now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carter walked down the corridor and over to the elevators. When one opened, Carter walked in and pushed the button for the sixth floor. His mother had told him Andy would be in room 634. He asked the nurse at the nurses' station just in front of the elevator where he would find it and followed her directions to the room. He stood outside of the door for a few moments, trying to collect his thoughts. Luckily, he saw the rooms on this floor were single person ones, so he wouldn't have to worry about any roommates. Carter looked at his watch again. Ten forty-five. Maybe he would be asleep. Only one way to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Carter walked into the room slowly. He peeked around the corner at the bed in the middle of the room. The middle aged man was sitting up in the bed and watching a sports program on the TV. He then noticed that he had company, and said, "John?"

Carter then stepped out from behind the corner. "Hi," he said.

"John Carter. Your mother told me you might come in today. I talked to her on the phone yesterday ... you look so much like your mother. I haven't seen you in a long time, since you were little."

"Yeah ... it's been a long time."

There was silence for a few moments. Andy broke the silence by saying, "C'mere, sit down," motioning to the chair by his bed.

Carter did as he was told. "I've been told that this is our little secret," Andy said.

"Yeah, I guess so. I told my girlfriend. She came out here with me."

"Oh, you've got a girlfriend? Is she pretty?"

Carter smiled. "Well, I think so. Do you want to see a picture?" When Andy nodded, Carter reached into his pocket to remove his wallet. He pulled a recent photo of Lucy and him out from it.

Andy whistled. "You've got yourself one pretty lady, there, John. You're pretty lucky."

"She's back at the hotel, asleep."

Andy handed the photo back to John and asked, "Is she a doc too?"

"Yes. We work in the same hospital."

"Do you fight a lot?"

Carter smiled again. "Surprisingly, no. We learned to separate work from our relationship a long time ago."

"Oh? That's good. What part of the hospital do you work in again?"

Carter suspected he knew some of the answers to the questions, he was just trying to make conversation. He didn't mind, though. "Down in the emergency room. We don't get paid much, but it's fun and fulfilling."

"That's good. A lot of people don't like what they do. My daughter's a doctor. Well, almost. She's in her last year of medical school now. Pediatrics. She's in New York. Supposed to come down in three days."

"That's good. Is that her?" Carter asked, pointing to a young woman in a photo that was in a frame on the nightstand.

"Yep. I'm really proud of her. So, tell me more about yourself, John Carter."

Carter talked about his work and Lucy for a bit. By the time he was done, it was close to twelve and Andy was looking tired. "I better let you get some rest," he said.

"That'll be fine. Will you come back tomorrow?"

"Of course," Carter said. "I'll bring Lucy too, if that's alright."

"That would be great. I'll see you tomorrow, then. Nice seeing you again, John."

"Same here," Carter said before leaving. He didn't want to address the man, because he didn't know what to call him. Andy? Mr. Bradstreet? Most certainly not Dad. Carter left the hospital and hailed a cab back to the hotel.

When he got back to the room, he found Lucy up, watching TV. "Hey," he said.

"Hi!" Lucy called out. "How did it go?"

"Surprisingly well. We kind of talked about neutral topics, work, his daughter, you."

"I'm a neutral topic?" Lucy said, smiling.

"What I mean is we didn't really talk about the whole father-son issue. Don't worry, you're anything from neutral," Carter said, hopping up on the bed next to her. "I promised that I'd go back tomorrow with you."

"I'd be honored to join you. Are you hungry? I didn't have anything for breakfast. I just woke up about forty minutes ago."

"Me either. Let's just go out and find something. I could go for a good club sandwich right now."

"Ooh, you're making me hungry just thinking about it. Okay, give me just a few minutes to get dressed and we'll be out of here." Lucy jumped off of the bed and walked to the bathroom. Carter sure was glad she was there with him.

"He really is a nice guy," Carter said before putting a bite of steak in his mouth. It was later that night and they had ordered room service for dinner. After coming back from lunch, window shopping around town, and various other things, the two were too tired to get dressed and go out again. So, they had just put on the complementary robes and ordered in.

"I can't wait to meet him tomorrow. Let me have a bite," Lucy said, handing Carter her fork. "I sure hope they wash these things," she commented about the robes.

"They do, don't worry. Here," Carter said, handing her fork back to her.

Lucy ate the bite off of the fork. "Mmm. Want to try mine?"

"What's in it again?"

"Pasta, shrimp, artichokes, tomatoes, and this green stuff -- I think it's broccoli, but I'm not sure. It has a really good cheese sauce on it too."

Carter handed her his fork and tried some of it. "That is good," he commented.

"Isn't it? Hey, let's do something fun tomorrow after we see Andy. What's around here?"

"I don't know. They'd tell you on that information channel on the TV."

"I watched it this morning. They only showed what was in the hotel. There's that bridge, though."

"The Golden Gate Bridge? Fun, but now how I want to spend tomorrow."

"Hmm," Lucy mused while she took another bite of her dinner. "Tomorrow's Tuesday...they gave us a local paper this morning. Let me go get it."

She walked over to the bed and grabbed a newspaper. "Well. Boring, boring, boring -- hey, there's something about a zoo." Lucy turned to face Carter, her eyes wide. "Carter, let's go to the zoo!"

Carter looked over at her. "You really want to go to the zoo?"

"Yes! Come on, I haven't been to the zoo since I was like twelve or something. It'll be fun!" Lucy persuaded.

"If you want," Carter said. "Anything to make you happy."

"You know what would really make me happy is another bite of your steak..."

"Do I look okay?" Lucy asked as they rode the elevator to Andy's room.

"You look fine," Carter replied. "Why?"

"Well, I'll only see this guy once or twice. The least I can do is look good," Lucy reasoned.

They stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall. Carter grabbed Lucy's hand before walking in. "Hey," Carter said as they walked in the room.

"Well, hi there. Ooh, is this your girl? Lucy, right?" Andy replied as he lay in his bed.

"Yep. Andy Bradstreet, meet Lucy Knight," Carter said.

"Hi," Lucy said as she went over to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy. I heard quite a bit about you yesterday."

"Same here."

Suddenly, a doctor walked in. "Andy, you have more visitors."

"Yep. This here's John Carter and his friend, Lucy Knight. You met John's mother last week."

"That's right, I did. Dr. Faith Powel, nice to meet you," the doctor said, shaking both of our hands. "It's nice to see that you have some company. I'm going to have to ask them to leave for a bit while I examine you, though."

"You all just got here and now they're making you go. Don't go very far, you two," Andy said.

"We won't. We'll come right back when they let us," Carter said.

Carter and Lucy walked outside. "Not how I imagined he'd look, but I can see the resemblance a bit. You have his nose -- I'm sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I John?" Lucy said when she saw the look on Carter's face.

"A bit," Carter said dryly.

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful. I had better behave myself, or you won't come with me to the zoo," Lucy joked, changing the subject quickly.

"It'll be fun," Carter said.

"Oh, that's the last straw!" Lucy said in mock-shock. "I can't let you go around mocking me like that," she said, laughing a bit as she playfully hit him in the shoulder.

"Ow," Carter complained.

"Oh, come on, I barely touched you. Where's that big, strong man I know?" Lucy said, smiling.

"I don't know," Carter said, turning the conversation serious. "If you didn't come, I wouldn't be strong enough to be here. It means a lot to me, you wasting your vacation time on this."

Lucy put her arms around Carter's neck. "I'm not *wasting* my time one bit. I'm with you, aren't I? And we're going to the zoo later," she said as she smiled.

"You are too much," Carter replied.

"Better than not enough."

Dr. Powel came out of the room abruptly, breaking up their time alone. "You all can go back in now. Would you like to know about his condition a bit more?" she asked.

"That would be great. We're both doctors, though, so you don't have to sugar-coat it. Just tell us the facts," Carter said.

"Well, the cancer does seem to be spreading rapidly. We're going to put him on oxygen. His body doesn't seem to be getting enough and the last thing we need him having is a stroke. If you have any questions, just have the nurses page me or whoever else is on-call."

"Sure thing. Thanks so much, doctor," Carter replied before he and Lucy walked back in the room.

"You two were ganging up on me," Carter complained. Their visit was over and they were at the zoo. They were standing in front of the lions exhibit.

"Yes, but it's so easy!" Lucy teased. Andy had asked them what they were going to do after their visit. When Lucy said that they were going to the zoo, Andy said that Lucy had Carter wrapped around her little finger. Lucy readily agreed.

"Do you really have me wrapped around your little finger?" Carter asked as they walked to the next exhibit.

"Yes, and I like it that way," Lucy said, grinning. "Oh, come on," Lucy said when she saw him pouting. "It's the same way for me. I spoil you to death. You know I'll do anything for you."

"Yeah. You are here."

"Yep. Are you going back tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I don't know if I'll go Thursday before we leave, though. I at least want one day of our vacation set aside so we can sleep in."

"I'd say we've been doing that already! If I recall correctly, we both slept until ten-thirty California time," Lucy said, pausing for a moment to look at the tigers.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just don't want to get too attached to him, you know?"

"Especially in his condition."

"Also, I don't know if I *want* to learn more about him. A week ago, I would have never recognized the name without some help. I never knew about this whole mess."

"I suppose. You're a good man, Carter."

"Thanks, Luce," Carter said.

"Okay, enough being serious for one day! Let's go see the rest of the animals," Lucy said, pulling him along. Carter just chuckled and followed.

"Mmmph. Good morning, Luce," Carter said as he rolled over.

"Good morning," Lucy said sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Eleven-thirty. Boy, we slept late."

Lucy inched closer to Carter. "Yeah, but if I remember, we didn't get to bed until late."

"Oh yeah," Carter said, smiling. "Do you want to go with me to see Andy this morning?"

"Sure. But let's stay in bed a bit longer. Then, we'll get ready and grab a bite to eat on the way over there. It's not like he's going anywhere."

"Mmm. I like that idea."

"Good lunch, huh?" Carter said as they walked to the hospital.

"Yeah. Just think, tomorrow we have to leave and go back to work. I'm on tomorrow night."

"Me too. Arrgh, I wish we had longer," Carter replied as they walked into the hospital. They took the elevator up and began to walk to the room. When they got there, they walked in.

"Hey, Andy," Lucy said as they walked inside the room. "How are -- where'd he go?"

The both stared at the empty bed for a moment before running down to the nurses' station.

"Excuse me, where has Andy Bradstreet been moved to?" Carter asked one of the nurses.

"The leukemia guy? He was moved up to ICU. Do you want me to page Dr. Powel?"

"Please."

After a few moments, the nurse came back. "She'll meet you up in ICU. It's on the fifth floor."

"Thanks," Carter said. The two took the elevator down one floor and saw Dr. Powel outside the doors. "Dr. Powel," he said.

"Drs. Carter and Knight. Come, walk with me," she said, motioning down a hallway. "He had a rough night. He had a stroke early last night around six. After that, we got him stable, but he had another one about three in the morning. He's on life support now. We're not getting any brainwaves from him. He's going to stay on life support until his daughter gets here tomorrow. Then she'll make the decision. You can go see him, but don't stay too long."

"Thanks so much, Dr. Powel," Carter said before she nodded and walked off. He then sighed and leaned up against the wall.

"Wow. Doesn't look good, huh?" Lucy said, quietly.

"No. Come on, let's go see him," Carter replied motioning to the door.

*Ring, ring.*

"Hey, Mom.... Yes, I went by today.... I’ve got some bad news.... No, he's not dead, just on life support. He had two strokes last night.... Yeah, I went twice. Lucy came with me once.... Yeah, his daughter is coming down tomorrow, I think. Okay, I'll let you go. I just thought you'd like to know.... Talk to you later, Mom."

Carter placed the phone in the receiver. "Hey, Luce?" he called from the chair at the desk.

She turned around from her seat on the bed. "Yes?"

"You don't mind sticking around here for an hour or two, do you? There's an errand I have to run."

"No problem," Lucy said, not wanting to pry. "Go do what you have to do."

Carter returned in a better mood. He was actually a bit happy, for some reason Lucy couldn't place. The two ordered room service again and were sitting at the small table eating.

"Long day, right John?" Lucy said.

He nodded. "Yeah. I knew it would happen, I just hoped it wouldn't be when I was here."

Lucy took a bite of her grilled chicken before saying, "What were you doing this afternoon?"

Carter smiled. "I'll tell you after dinner."

Lucy smiled back. "Carter, what is that grin on your face? You're up to something and when I find out what..."

"My lips are sealed," Carter teased.

"Meanie. What time do you get on tomorrow?"

"Ten. When are you on?"

"The same. Okay, you still have that stupid grin on your face. The suspense is killing me."

"I'm not telling unless you behave during our dinner," Carter taunted.

Lucy sighed. The two finished dinner in silence and afterwards, Lucy pulled Carter over to the bed. "After dinner. Spill. What were you up to?"

Carter sat down next to her. "Well, I got to thinking. The whole Andy thing reminded me how life is too short to miss out on good things. So, I went and bought you a present."

"You did? That is so sweet, John."

He went over to his suitcase and got out a small, velvet box. "Here," he said, handing it to her.

She accepted the box with a puzzling look on her face. She opened the box and gasped, "Oh, John."

"I know this has been a bad day and it shouldn’t be the day to ask, but, Lucy, will you marry me?"

Lucy looked up. "Yes! Of course! You sure do pick odd days to do things, Carter," she said, laughing. She reached over and hugged him. "You’ve made me the happiest person alive."

Carter smiled and leaned over to kiss her. As he got closer to her, he could hear her whispering his name. "Carter, Carter. John?"

Carter sat upright in bed. Lucy jumped back. "Sorry!" she exclaimed. "Were you having a bad dream?"

Dream? It was all a dream. "Yeah, but it ended happily," he said, shaking his head to rid it from his thoughts. "What time is it?"

"Five. You’ve been asleep for a while, I would imagine."

"Yeah, since early this morning."

Lucy looked over at Carter, concerned. "Are you sure you’re okay? You look a bit out of it."

"Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry," Carter reassured her.

"Oh, that reminds me. Your mom called earlier. You must have been asleep."

"My mom called?" Carter asked, a bit too quickly.

"Yeah, I have her message saved on the machine. But you can return it later. Right now, I can only think of one thing we should be doing, Birthday Boy."

"Okay, let me just see what the message said," Carter said, getting up.

"Carter, I’m sure it wasn’t urgent. She can wait."

"One sec, Luce," Carter said running out to the kitchen. Lucy followed him at a much slower page. Something was definitely up with him.

Carter pushed the play button on the answering machine. "Hi, Carter, it’s your mom. We’re out of town, but I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Your father does to. Anyway, no reason to call us back. Just wanted to let you know we’re thinking of you. Happy birthday!"

"That’s it?" Carter asked to no one in particular.

"Carter, are you sure you’re okay?" Lucy asked, standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

Carter looked up and smiled at Lucy. "Yeah, I’m fine. I just had a really weird dream, that’s all."

"Want to share?" Lucy asked.

"Later," Carter said, coming back to her. "Last I heard, it was my birthday."

"My Carter’s back," Lucy said, smiling. "Now, get in here. Part of your present’s in here."

"Just one second. Luce, marry me," he said, grasping her hands.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Marry me. I don’t have a ring or anything, but I’ll fix that later. Just say you’ll marry me."

Lucy’s jaw dropped. "Of course! Of course I’ll marry you. I though this was *your* birthday, though."

"It is. And I got what I wanted," Carter said grabbing her at the waist.

She kissed him passionately and grabbed his hand, leading him into the room. "Come on. Now we have two things to celebrate."

Carter smiled, happy to be back in real life. His real life as John Carter.

The End