A Vacation to Remember and Then Some
Lucy figured that if she had spent her vacation with Carter she could at least spend one night with her mom. So reluctantly, Carter dropped her off at her mothers house and kissed her good night.
"I had a great time tonight John"
"Me too Luce, I'll see you tomorrow our plane leaves at 9:45 ok? I'll probably be here at 9:00"
"Ok, G'night" she got out of the car and walked to the door. She looked back and smiled at him before walking in. Seeing her smile that way made him feel like the luckiest man on earth. He drove off smiling.
--------------------Barbera Knight's home------------------
Lucy walked in quietly as to not wake her mom. She didn't have to though, her mom was up.
"Oh you're home?" Lucy's mom got up and hugged her daughter.
"Yea, look mom I'm sorry I didn't see too much of you this week I should've spent more time with you"
"No, no its fine, I mean I missed you but I've never seen you so happy. We don't need to spend time with each other 24/7 just time to talk. So grab a cup of coffee and lets sit in front of the fire in our p.j.'s and talk"
"OK, I'll be down in a few minutes"
"WAIT!"
"What?"
"I want a picture you look amazing, we'll have a beautiful picture of you to show your friends" she smiled getting the camera
"Ok, but quick, I wana catch up!"
"Ok, ok ,ok ready" Lucy took a pose.
"And......" flash! "Ok now go change" she laughed and Lucy ran as fast as she could up the stairs. When Lucy came down she looked 10 times comfier than before. Lucy grabbed the coffee and sat down. What she needed to stay awake now, was a good cup of black strong coffee.
"So......Where shall we start?"
"I have no idea" Lucy laughed
"Well tell me everything about this John person I want to know everything!"
"OK.........." Lucy told her mother everything she could remember about him. His tall lean figure, his gorgeous brown eyes and hair, the tone of his voice, everything! By the time the two women had finished it was nearly 4:00 am and neither had slept at all.
"Ok. So what time does your flight leave?"
"Um, John will be here @ 9:00 tonight to pick me up"
"Ok, well lets sleep for a few hours then we'll see what we want to do"
"Sounds good. Good morning mom"
"Good morning Lu get some sleep!"
"You too ma"
The two women fell asleep comfortably in their beds. Lucy though wouldn't have such a peaceful rest. She had noticed that her dreams were turning to nightmares and that all she could dream of was that one valentines...........
Somewhere in the hospital, Lucy found herself walking, though everyone stared at her on her way down the halls. She couldn't figure out why or where she was going. The hall seemed endless. As she walked farther she passed the curtain rooms. 7, 6, 5,4, and the pain in her body started to increase by every number. She soon found herself on the floor crawling until she saw curtain 3. She felt too weak to move but pressed on as much as it hurt. When she entered the room a flash of dark red appeared before her and she found herself laying on the floor unable to move afterwards the flash. When she looked down at herself covered in some dark liquid she found it to be blood! suddenly Paul Sobriki's face waved in front of her she tried to scream but couldn't she saw him rip at her skin with the dagger until he was distracted by another being. The dark figure was John. Suddenly Paul went for John and he looked at Lucy as if the knife hadn't touched him. He looked sad, and h!
e repeated over and over, "You failed me Lucy How could you?" and he dropped to the floor.
Lucy awoke with a yelp. Tears were already on her cheeks and a cold sweat covered her body. Not realizing the noise she made in her sleep her mother ran into Lucy's room.
"Lucy! what's wrong?" she ran in robe on with a worried expression.
"Mom, I-I- saw it." she found herself unable to make whole sentences. Her mother had a puzzled look on her face mixed with deep concern. "The-the knife I saw it I-I felt it mom it hurt!" she started to sob into her mothers shoulder as she sat on Lucy's bed. "Ssshhh honey its ok you're safe here with me" She thought of a way to make her daughter feel better. "You want to talk to John?"
"He's probably sleeping" she started to wipe her face.
"I'm sure he'd want to help you"
"I don't know I'd feel like an idiot, he's probably gotten over it by now. I don't know why I've been having these dreams"
"Fine I'll call him" Without hearing Lucy's protest she got up and went to the phone. Johns number was on Caller ID. Barbra didn't know how to help Lucy through that so she decided the best she could do was find someone who could. John Carter.
"Hello?" answered a voice that didn't sound too much like Carter's
"Um, yes is John Carter there?"
"Yea hold on one second" In the background she heard the man call for him. "Hey Johnny! phones for ya"
"Hello?"
"John Carter? this is Lucy's mother something happened"
"What?!" he sounded alert and nervous
"Oh nothing too serious, she doesn't want me to tell you she had a dream about well...um" she didn't know how to say it without bringing back painful memories of both of them. She finding her daughter in a hospital bed like that or him being stabbed as well as Lucy.
"Valentines?" he thought of the right word to say.
"Yes, um she woke up rather hysterical I was hoping you could talk to her over the phone and calm her down"
"Sure um do you want me to come over there?"
"You better ask Lucy about that hold on"
"Ok" a million things ran through his head on how to calm her. He'd seen this before but a long time ago. Not now. he head Barbra encouraging her daughter to talk. "well go on, he's listening" he heard in the background.
"Lucy?"
"Yea?" she sounded like she had been crying though a little relaxed. still sniffling.
"What happened?" she paused wondering if to tell him or no.
"I saw it again. I saw him and the knife, John" she tensed up again ready to cry.
"Lucy, you're ok now, he wont hurt you anymore ok?"
"I know but I felt it you know? This time I felt every slash or shot of pain" she began to cry now.
"Do you want me to come see you?" He was more than willing to see her.
"Yea" She gave in to letting someone help her. Best it be him. Someone who knew what it felt like. Lucy's mom stood in the doorway smiling. Knowing her daughter would be ok and that she had someone like him to help her. "Ok, I'll see you soon Luce, I love you"
"I love you too" she finally felt confident and happy saying those words. It took no more than 10 minutes for him to get over there. He didn't care that he got a speeding warning he just wanted to see her and help her.
"Come on in" Barbra let John in the door and pointed to the direction of Lucy's room. "She's calmed down a little, but she's still crying" Barbra hated seeing her daughter like this.
"Ok" was all he could find to say. He walked to Lucy's room and knocked on the door. "Luce, its me" he opened the door not waiting for a response. She was under her blankets shaking from what he could tell. He cautiously walked to her bedside and knelt down. "Luce, I'm here" he stroked her cheek and she moved closer to him. He could tell she had been crying for a while now.
"It hurt so much" she said. "I'm sorry John"
"Why?" he didn't know what she had to be sorry for.
"If you didn't have to find me, you would have been ok" she blamed herself for him being hurt and he blamed himself for not paying attention to her.
"No, no, no Lucy I should've listened to you, you were right. Hey, look at me" she looked into his eyes still crying apologetically. "I would've gone through that a thousand times if you wouldn't have to feel it. It was my fault I didn't get a consult for him. Don't ever think for one second it was your fault" he started to tear now. "I'M sorry" she cried into his shoulder. "Thank you"...........
For a long time they sat there he just letting her cry, she just letting her feelings fall. Finally she stopped, she looked up at him and smiled. He was relieved to see her smile again. "Well, um I'm going to go and let you catch up with your mom for a while, then I'm going to pick you up later ok?"
She nodded. He kissed her and left. A few minutes later Lucy was back to her perky self again and her mother couldn't have been more happy.
"So whadda ya say we go run up my credit card bill on clothes and shoes and crap past my limit?"
"Mm sounds like fun!" she laughed. It was 2:00 in the afternoon so the two had a while together before Lucy came back to get ready. She couldn't remember the last time she was so happy. Until she remembered being with Carter the night before. Though it was a different happy, she realized he made her feel like she was on top of the world. She loved that.
"Wow, ok one more store please????"
"Ok, ok mom one more and its your turn to pick"
"Kiehls!"
"What?" Lucy had never heard of this place before.
"Kiehls! its this great place they've got like all these face masks and stuff and its oh my god so cool we have to go!"
"let me think, face products my mom offering to buy.......Only if you make me!" she joked. When they came out they had run up such a high bill Lucy figured she was stocked up on facial products for life! Time flew though and it was 8:15 so Lucy needed to get home fast. Barbra separated the shopping items into a pile for Lucy and one for her. She realized though that she only needed to separate double pairs of everything so it went pretty quick. Lucy was packed in a few minutes realizing that she had left some of her things at Tommy's house. She figured he'd remember.
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And that he did. He found one of her shirts and an outfit she had worn the day before. So he packed his things and placed hers in a separate compartment of his duffle and was saying goodbye to Tommy by 8:45.
"Thanks man, I'll talk to you later k?"
"Yea Johnny have a good flight good luck with the saving lives gig!" Carter waved and got into the cab.
When he got to Barbra's house Lucy and her mom were waiting outside talking and laughing. When they saw Carter get out of the cab they got up and hugged for a minute.
"Call me when you get in ok?"
"Yea, I'll see you soon! I love you"
"Me too hun, now you remember don't let that man go!" she laughed Lucy glanced at Carter.
"Mom! I'll try"
"Ready to go Luce?" Carter chimed in. He hadn't heard the last comment but he thought it had something to do with him considering Lucy glanced at him after it.
"Yea, lets go"
"It was nice meeting you Dr. Carter"
"John. It was nice meeting you too"
"Have a safe flight you too!" The two of them got into the cab and were on there way back to Chicago. Now what to do about their friends. How could they tell everyone that they were dating again without getting the expected 'told ya so' comments that the nurses and Jerry would give them? Besides, the nurses would make up gossip to go along with it. Then again when he thought about it, it didn't seem like such a big deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Airport/plane~~~~~~~~~~~~
While waiting at the gate, Lucy got out her laptop computer and started to write up some charts. Or so she had told Carter. Lucy now kept a diary and on her password protected computer too. Writing would take too long and wasting paper on something where her most private thoughts could be exposed? no thank you. So everyday for the past 3 months Lucy had been typing an entry every day in her 'diary'. Though this time she had a slight problem getting into her computer. She forgot the password. After several tries she finally managed to type in the secret letters.
<<<<<<............So now what to do about John I don't know, sometimes I get that feeling you know? 'Can't eat can't sleep reach for the stars homerun winning the world series kinda stuff' [ It takes two] but other times, I don't know its like he's the last person I want to see on earth! I don't know what to do. He knows everything about me. He knows things about me that *I* don't even know about me! I love him. But, do I just love him or am I IN LOVE with him? I don't know. I wonder what he thinks about me. I can't believe I fell for my teacher. Isn't there some law against a relationship with your teacher somewhere? Christ I hope not. :o) All I know is, is that he makes me happy. And now I've got that world series feeling. Come to think of it I've had it for a while. Sure I've eaten but, I just sometimes can't sleep without thinking of him. It's like seeing him in my mind puts me to sleep. Someday I hope to look back on this entry and laugh.
Always,
~Lucy~ >>>>>>>>>
She saw John coming and she quickly closed out of the entry and saved. She also decided that since she had almost lost access to her computer, that she wouldn't leave the password on anymore. No one looked in it anyway. She folded up the small machine and put it away.
"Ok, we've got a good half hour for a delay so why don't we grab a bite?"
"Sure, that sounds good"
They took their carry on luggage (both of which were laptop bags) and walked away. Lucy's seemed a little heavier. Probably the books her mother had given her to read on the flight. John noticed no change in the weight of his bag. They sat down at the closest fast food stand they could find. Compared to the hospital, McDonalds was gourmet food. Lucy, deciding she wasn't extremely hungry got a salad shaker and water. Carter on the other hand, was hearing sounds from his stomach he didn't know they could make. He ordered a double cheese burger and a coke. The fries came with it. {I know the cheese burger isn't Kosher Noah but if you can tape ER on Saturdays you'll live! ;o) for all of you know that Noah is half Jewish a cheese burger is mixing milk with meat so it isn't kosher!}
"Boy Tommy didn't feed you did he?" Lucy was amazed he could eat that. Then again there were times she had eaten that same thing too and other times more.
"Nah, I've just been busy besides the man can't cook for his life. And neither can I so I pretty much lived off of microwave popcorn for the day except we burned the first bag!"
"How do you burn microwave popcorn?" she laughed.
"He set it for 50 minutes instead of 5. I smelled it burning after 8!" he laughed.
"Boy, you're never cooking me dinner!" They managed to eat and talk and walk back to the gate at the same time.
'Flight 4863 to Chicago O hare airport is now boarding 1st class passengers. Please have your tickets ready' the computed voice called out.
"Ok, that's us Luce lets go" they picked up their bags and got on.
On the plane Carter took out his computer and turned it on. Though that wasn't his puppy background. He knew only Lucy could have such taste in 'cute' animals. Still he assumed she had changed his background or maybe Tommy was playing a joke. He pressed into his charts folder. Though he double clicked into Lucy's 'document' folder. He saw the date, today, and a letter was written into the file. It didn't start with dear anything. It just started. He read on while Lucy was in the bathroom and soon came across the part of the entry written in the gate. He read with one eye the other checking for Lucy. He got caught up in the file when he heard someone walk by again. Just another passenger he thought. Just then someone cut his reading off.
"See anything interesting John?" he looked up when he recognized Lucy's voice. 'Busted!' he thought. H sat there apologizing with his eyes. "Its ok, it shouldn't be too humiliating. Um, but I kind of need to actually work on charts so can I have that back?" she smiled and sat down. She took out 3 charts.
"Sorry I didn't mean to go through your personal stuff I must've mixed up your bag with mine"
"I can see, I didn't do any of your blood work" she held up his blood test results. "May I?"
"Yea, go on" he forgot he had been tested for STD's and the results were there.
"Um, you haven't looked at these have you?" she sounded concerned.
"No, I figured everything was normal why?" now he was worried. Lucy skimmed one or two pages a concerned expression on her face.
"John your T-cell count is low" The main symptom of HIV and or AIDS.
"What? that's impossible!" he grabbed the chart. Sure enough his count was 18,003 per cubic centimeter "Oh man, this can't be good"
"Um, it could be from the flu or something you were just out for a long time remember? It might not be that" she was right. His count could be low from the flu. But it shouldn't bring it down THAT much.
"What if it isn't the flu?" She knew what he implied there.
"I should get my work done early, I'll do it when we get back tomorrow ok?"
"Yea" He sat there thinking. "I'll go on the cocktail when we get back too" what if he had put Lucy's life in danger. AGAIN? "I'm sorry Luce" He looked at her hoping she would forgive him. 'What'd you think you moron? she could have HIV because of you!' he yelled at himself. She was just thinking. She looked at him with a sad expression. "It's ok, I'll be right back ok?"
"Yea are you ok?"
"I'm fine don't worry about me" she kissed him. "Don't worry everything is gonna be ok" she sounded so confident when she left for the bathroom but she locked the door and immediately broke down. He felt small tears go down his face. When she didn't come out of the bathroom for a few minutes he decided to check on her. He wiped his face and got up. He knocked. "Luce, its me. Are you ok?" she got up unlocked the door and he saw her tear stricken face. Red lines traced her tears. "John, what if I gave you something?"
"What do you mean Lucy?" he was surprised by that.
"I mean what if the first time we were together I gave you something?"
"I'm sure you didn't besides you've been fine" Her tears started to build up again. She couldn't lie to him.
"Lucy? what aren't you telling me?" he was concerned.
"My cold hasn't gone away for 2 months now" prolonged colds and ailments. An advanced sign of HIV or STD's..................
