DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine. I am making no money from them in no way. They belong to NBC, Warner Brothers, Constant C., Micheal Crichten ect. ARCHIVES: Sure! Just e-mail me first, telling were it's at.
A Few Steps Forward
Part 3
~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday, September 21, 8:00 AM
Sitting together in an empty exam room, Carter and Lucy sit side by side on a gurney. For the first time all day, it was starting to get slow and they knew exactly why Mark Greene had demanded that catch up on chart reviews. The Emergency Room staff are not what you call secretive people, not to mention it being so obvious.
"So, do think that half hour will be long enough for them to set up for our surprise engagement party?" Carter asks Lucy amusingly.
Standing up from her resting place and stood so she was in front of him, she places her arms around his neck, leaning against his legs, "Something tells me that it just might take a little bit longer..." Dr. Lucy Knight states in a enticing voice, leaning in close. Meeting her half way, John kisses her only to pull away as soon as the kiss was deep and passionate.
"Do you realize where we are?" Dr. John Carter asks, trying to hold back his laughter.
"Uh, County General Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America...."
"No. I mean, the room." he raises his eyebrows trying to hint to her.
Glaring at him for a few seconds, she soon catches on and she herself starts smiling. "A lot of old memories in here, huh?" states Lucy, referring to exam six.
Moving in close, John slouches, meeting Lucy's lips with his half way. Slipping his arms under her hair, Carter deepens their kiss.
Unknowing to them, setting up their 'surprise' party didn't take as long as they thought it would. Carter and Lucy were both oblivious to Abby and Chunni approaching the exam room until it were to late.
Barging into the exam room, nurses Abby and Chunni both froze in their spots, leaving a moment of silence before bursting into laughter. For them to get caught the first time was funny, but for them to be foolish to let it happen twice was beyond hilarious!
Standing in the centre of the room surrounded, by the counters, Carter and Lucy removed their hands form the back of one anthers necks and stepped apart, but only so there was barely two inches between them. As Carter moved his glare to the floor, Lucy went red and started blushing, turning to her two companions laughing at the door.
"Which should we go over first? How to lock a door, or the reasons why you two shouldn't be left behind a locked door?" Jokes Abby.
Covering her mouth, trying to contain her laughter, Chunni turns her back to them, speaking before walking away, pulling Abby Lockhart with her, "We need you at admin.!"
As they moved farther away from each other, the couple continued to hear their laughter growing louder, despite their distance.
~~~~~~~~~~Administration Desk
Approaching the crowd of co-workers huddling, they all listened to Abby and Chunni describe the scene they had just witnessed, comparing it to the previous year.
Turning around attentively at the sound of approaching footsteps and voices, Lydia gives her friends a look that implies them to shut up and pay attention. Turning to the couple, the majority turn their heads and start giggling.
"Carter, Lucy." remarks Lydia Garbarsky. "Uh, surprise..."
"I'm shocked." states Dr. Carter sarcastically, "I never knew. Had no idea at all." he comments, now trying to sound convincing.
"Want some cake?" asks Dr. Chen from the back. "Because it looks really good!"
~~~~~~~~~~Half hour later
Plopped down on the counters of the admit. desk, no one had really left. Although a few trauma's had come in and a few doctors and nurses had gone to asses the patient, but they all returned and continued to eat there cake. It wasn't really a 'party'. They hadn't made a big deal out of that kinda think since February. There was no loud music and especially no sharp knifes. For two reasons, one it brought back horrible and terrifying memories and two, everyone was afraid of what Carter and Lucy's reactions would be.
As Dr. Greene and Weaver comeback from a minor trauma, along with Nurses Hellah and Lily, they all find themselves starting to talk about weddings.
"So, have you guys set a date yet?" asks Connie as she picks at her piece of cake with her fork, ripping off a corner and sticking it into her mouth.
"No, we are still deciding which season we want it in. After we narrow it down a bit, to inside or outside and all that, the planning will go a little quicker."
"Not to mention getting my family off of our backs!"
"Oh, yeah. And John's parents are stuck on the idea that we should fallow in on the family tradition. I would have to wear his mothers dress, which was also his grandmothers at one point in time, and have this huge wedding. Although, when I say huge, I mean, inviting everyone that has ever taught you, anyone that your parents or relatives have met, not to mention a five tier cake!"
"Gee, why don't you just do what Al and I did? Simple and all of the people I wanted to come, came...." states Lydia as she pats Lucy's knee while walking by.
"How did you and Al get married?" asks Dr. Lucy Knight.
"Lydia! I don't think that getting married in chairs is to the standards for the majority of the population."
Chunni chuckles as she trots by, "Remind me never to marry into your family, Carter."
Not really knowing what came over her, Lucy had a sudden wave of nausea. Starting in her stomach, she felt this nasty taste rise to her mouth and felt like she was going to gag. Putting her arm right around her stomach, she slid off of the desk until her feet reached the ground. Struggling to stand up straight, she leans forward and squeezes her palm shut, trying to hold it in and not hurl infront of her friends. Excusing herself, Lucy walked until she thought she was out of sight and dashed to the ladies room.
Pushing open the door with all of her body weight, Lucy stumbled ahead and rushed to a stall, shoving that door to the wall, the strike causing a thunder to erupt in the room, echoing slightly.
After throwing up over and over again into the toilet, Lucy leaned her back to the wall and breathed deeply, catching her breath back as the sweat that once ran across her forehead was swept away by her palm.
Seconds later, there was a knock at the stall door as it swung open. Her accomplice squatted down beside her and carried a worried look.
"You looked so pale as you stormed off. Is everything okay?"
"I feel fine beside the fact that I was a little nauseous. I'm sure it is nothing. Probrely just my nerves getting to me. All this wedding talk and everything... I'm sure that is it... I just got a little excited."
"Well, Carter is outside the door. Are you feeling okay enough to come out, or do you want me to get him to come in here with you?"
Sighing happily, Lucy, thrusts her body up with her hands. "I'm fine. You don't have to send in John so he can come to my rescue. I'll just wash my face and be out in a minute."
"Okay." she gets up to stand beside the sink with Lucy, "Are you sure it is just excitement?" Abby hints.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy who is followed by Abby steps out of the bathroom. Immediately, Lucy is confronted by Carter. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine John. Just getting myself worked up over all this wedding talk. Kinda like a kid at Christmas."
"But you threw up?" Carter asks, showing his concern in his voice as Lucy tried to make nothing of it.
"Stop making a big deal about it. It's not. People get sick sometimes."
"Lucy..." stopping before he is able to start his sentence by his beeper, Carter removes it from his waist. "Oh, damn't, I forgot! Look Luce, I have to go take care of something, but we will talk later, right?"
"Sure." Watching John stride over to the stairs and make his way up to his destination until he is out of sight, Lucy sighs. Turning to Abby, she forces a grin.
"Ready?"
"If you are." the two women head down the hallway and enter an exam room together.
~~~~~~~~~~
Riding on an elevator down to the Emergency Room, looking to talk to John, Lucy didn't know whether to be thrilled or not. Holding a white envelope in her right palm, she kept allowing her eyes to wander to it. It was obvious that the paper had not been unravelled yet as the only sign of usage was the crumpled sides, caused from her clenched fist. With desperate eyes, Lucy pondered over whether to open it now or wait until she was with Carter.
She was pulled back into reality when a bell rang and the doors opened, signifying that she had arrived at her floor. Releasing her grasp on the rail towards the back of the lift, she stepped forward, onto solid ground.
Heading towards admittance, with no detours, Lucy asked the clerk where Dr. Carter was immediately, before even reaching the counter.
"Last I heard, he was up on the roof with Dr. Chen."
"Thanks Frank."
"That was almost an hour ago though!" Frank yells after her as she jogs to the elevators, not once loosening her grasp on folded paper in her hand.
Shuffling into the machine with another doctor and his patient in a wheel chair, Lucy forced a smile for them, trying not to let her overwhelming anxiety show. Throughout her ride to the roof, various people got on and off, non of them pushing for conversation.
Finally, five minutes later, after stopping at one floor after the next, Dr. Lucy Knight arrived on the top floor. In the isolated, stuffy room, there was no windows and only two choices for a destination, back to the elevator or the heavy metal door on the opposite side of the room. The walls where made of brick and the air had a stale scent, causing Lucy's mouth to dry. Going for the steal door, she opened it with a soft touch, careful not to scare anyone on the other side with her sudden appearance. Allowing it to fall lightly back into its frame, she stuffed the envelope into her back pocket and crossed her arms across her chest, blocking the heavy wind of the altitude from her upper body.
Gazing from left to right, it took a few seconds before she spotted John, but she also noticed he wasn't alone. Unable to see his companion, for they were hidden behind one of the many corners of the roof, most likely hiding their body from the wind chill, she trotted closer. Now, although was still near the door, Lucy could hear the two voices and decided to listen in on their conversation and pop in when the time was right. It didn't take her long to identify the second voice as Jing Mei Chen's, the person Frank claimed he had accompanied up here in the first place.
"When and how am I going to tell them about this John? How do I tell everyone about 'us'?" asks Dr. Chen in a teary voice, sending the message to Lucy that she was talking about her and John.
"Well, first, I think you have to decide if it is love you feel. I know that probrely sounds crazy since the answer is pretty obvious, but think about that. You also have to think about how this will affect being a doctor. Career wise."
Lucy shudders with disgust, allowing her face to turn from stressful to disgusted, and feeling betrayed. 'How could he do this to her?', she thinks.
"Do you think everyone will hate me for this. Some will be totally against it and may never want to talk to me again! What am I supposed to do about that?"
Feeling she has heard enough, Lucy allows her tears to fall as she steps backwards, reaching for the door, she leaves as silently as she came.
Falling into a fit of tears in the shelter between the roof and elevator Lucy only had the same thoughts go through her mind, over and over again, 'How could he do this to me? He said he loved me? He asked me to marry him?'. The same things, penetrating her mind until she had no more tears to cry and a wet shirt all down the front. Taking a few more minutes to pull herself together, she rubbed her eyes, hoping they were dry and waited for the redness to subside. Making her way to the main level, the first out of two stops she made was to Kerry's office. Her walls were stacked roof high with boxes full of books, texts, files, old lab jackets and ID badge's. In the back of the room, right infront of the bare window was placed a desk which Dr. Kerry Weaver was placed behind.
"Can I help you Dr. Knight?" she asks, looking up from her book, staring at Lucy from behind her glasses.
"Uh, yes actually. May I please have the rest of my shift off?" Lucy catches her bosses attention with her proposition causing Kerry to look up from the papers in her hands and removed her spectacles, "I know it is a lot to ask, but I don't know if I am under the right state to be working right now. That most likely isn't the best thing to say since I can't tell you why, but I really need this favor! I never ask for anything and I have always wanted to be treated like everyone else, not be given any special treatment, because of the accident, but right now, I will use anything if it will get me the rest of the day off! I can't work when....."
"I get your point Doctor!" exclaims Kerry, stopping Lucy from babbling on and on. "If you can find someone to cover for you, I will allow you to leave."
Putting on a forced grin, Lucy steps towards the exit, cupping her hands in front of her, "Thank you Dr. Weaver!"
Leaving the room, she has no problem convincing Dr. Dave to come in early. With the bribing of a free meal (and dessert), he just comes running. It was cheap, but he was a close friend and he was just doing it for another friend, knowing something was wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~ 7:00 PM Later That Night
Sitting on her sofa in her living room, Lucy pressed the rewind and play button over and over again on her answering machine. His voice. It sounded so innocent. He was doing a good job of hiding this little affair of his. He was a good actor. He sure had her fooled. Ever since one o'clock that afternoon, when he found out she had gone home early, he had called every fifteen minutes or so, asking what was wrong, if she was okay, was it something he did, ect.
'How stupid was he? Did he think I would never find out? That he could live behind this lie forever?' Lucy asks herself the questions that she couldn't answer. If she was going to know that whole story, she was going to have to call him back sometime. But did she really want to know what he had been doing with another women?
Rewinding the tape once more, his concerned voice filled the air, making her sick that she loved this man and he had made a fool out of her. "Hey Luce. It's me. I know you are home. Why won't you pick up? Look, if you are mad at me for running out on you this morning when you were sick, I'm sorry. Is that why you left early? Call me. Please. I'm at home.... Bye." the message ended and a different one came on, him asking if it was something else he did or something that happened during the days events.
Crawling underneath her colorful afghan, Lucy pulled her legs closer to her chest and buried her forehead into her knees. She had changed into her pyjamas and was comfortable physically. Emotionally was the total opposite.
Hearing a loud knock on the door Lucy almost jumped straight out of her seat.
"Lucy! Lucy, I know you're home! Can you please tell me what is wrong?! I want to help! Please Lucy! I'm worried about you." John allows his voice to soften on his last line, showing his sympathy.
After waiting for a response for a few minutes and not getting one, he decides to give her more time, "Look, I'm gonna go get something to eat and come back later. Please. Please! At least think about talking to someone." Stepping back, Carter walks away from her apartment and walks to the elevators.
~~~~~~~~~~
Staring at the wall infront of her, Lucy barely blinks, not really anticipating the moment he came back. If she didn't let him in, he might just leave again, then she wouldn't have to have that awkward conversation. Although, he deserved it. He deserves the discomfort and humility of knowing that he had just thrown away their relationship.
It was a little over an hour later that he showed back up, banging on her door and yelling questions, getting no answers in return. 'He's never gonna give up, is he?' thought Lucy to herself, knowing that she couldn't wait forever to talk to him. Just as she was about to get up, she heard a key turn in the door. How could she forget something like that. Of course he had a key, he had nearly been living at her place since May, when she gave it to him. She probrely only forgot since he never used it, she was always there to open the door for them.
As Carter appeared around the corner of the foyer, Lucy remained in her same position, only moving to take in breathes. "You didn't answer the door, so I just let myself in...."
With her back turned to him, he was unable to see her face, or the pain in her eyes. He couldn't see her sadden as she heard his voice. The tears come down her cheeks as he made himself sound so trustful, like he hadn't done anything wrong. If only she could show him how it felt.
"Are you okay?" he stepped closer to her, moving up to her back. Caving in on her, to close for her liking. As his hand brushed her shoulder, she jumped. Noticing her reaction, he backed away, so his back was to the kitchen and he could see her right side. Pacing back and fourth across the carpet, he did not dare look her in the face, knowing that if she wasn't going let him comfort her, it was something he did to make her so depressed.
"I heard you on the roof today." she wipes a tear from under her eye and sniffles.
"With Deb?" Carter asks, as he stops walking back and forth and stares at her.
"Yeah." Lucy sighs, barely above a whisper.
"Did she tell you? I thought she wasn't gonna say anything to anyone."
"She didn't tell me anything! I heard you guys talking up there! I know that you have been seeing Chen!" blurts out Lucy, annoyed by Carter pretending he didn't know what they were talking about.
"What?!?!" Carter yelled, making Lucy jump, not really expecting him to react this way, but more like, take a minute for silence, then start to defend himself, "You what?!? You think I've been having some kind of affair with Deb?!? That I've been sleeping around on you?!?!" screams John, loud enough to wake the neighbours all the way down the hall.
"I know what I heard and I heard her say 'us'. What others would think of her after she told them. You two were the only ones up there!" Lucy exasperates back, starting to have doubts, that maybe she could be wrong about this whole thing.
"Deb was not talking about her and me! She was talking about her and her son!..." Taking in a deep breath, avoiding eye contact, he turns so he is facing the kitchen, looking up at the ceiling. "She's pregnant Lucy." his voice softens, yet still full of anger, "and she doesn't know if she wants to keep it yet. I was the first person she has told..."
Leaning her head against the back of the couch, Lucy's eyes dry of tears, believing every word he says, but not believing what she just did. She knew that John was not capable of doing such a thing, but for some reason, her mind told her to go with what she heard. How could she be so stupid.
Dropping her feet down on the floor and pushing her blanket to the side, Lucy thrusted herself up with the help of the arm on the chair. Walking silently over to Carter, she puts her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry John." whispers Lucy, not removing her eyes from her feet.
Lashing out, Carter flings his hands up in the air, "Do you expect me to accept this apology of yours?! To just take you back at the drop of a pin?! I don't think so." his voice falls slightly by each word.
"I was just going by my instinct. I heard... I was scared of what I heard... I didn't want to believe it...."
"But you did! You did believe it Lucy! If you expect me to forgive you, your wrong! I can't believe you actually think I could do a thing like that to you! For every time I have said I loved you. For every time I sent you flowers or stayed the night. I asked you to marry me! But it is never enough is it? I will never be able to live up to your expectations. You will never be able to trust me. Well, I guess, I can't trust you either." Walking around Lucy, Carter heads to the door and slams it behind him, causing the floor to shake along with the pictures on the walls.
Trotting slowly over to her resting place on the couch, Lucy plops back down into her same position as before, doing the exact same thing, but for different reasons. She was not crying for John lying, but for her thinking that he could.
~~~~~~~~~~Friday, September 22, 8:00 AM
The next day, Lucy returned to work, but only because she had too. The last thing she had wanted to do was confront John. Things had turned around rather quickly, with her mad at him one minute, and the next, he refused to talk to her.
Surprisingly, no one noticed, or at least confronted her on the fact that she had missed half her shift yesterday, hadn't come in with John attached to her hip this morning like usual, neither talking to him, or even acknowledging each other.
When they had both showed up at the admit desk at the same time, Lucy stared at him for a few minutes before trying to speak. When she did, Carter walked past her, brushing shoulders along the way and headed into the lounge. Her instinct would of told her that she should go after him. Now was her chance, he was in the isolation of the empty doctors lounge, and she could possibly get a few words in. Looking around the room at her friends and colleagues, she decided against it, not wanting anyone to have any proof that they had had a fight. If everyone else noticed, talked about it, started rumours or gave her those stares that are just saying 'I know', it would just make it more realistic. Make it seem less like a nightmare and make her face the fact that it actually happened.
A few seconds after he entered the room, Dr. Carter exited back out, this time with a mug full of coffee in one hand and his chart in the other. Picking up her chart, Lucy ignored him this time, and went to her patient, like he wasn't even there.
~~~~~~~~~~Friday, September 29, 9:00 PM (one week later)
Lucy was just about to head to the front desk to sign discharge orders for her patient and sign out for lunch when she dropped one of her pictures from her lab jacket pocket onto the floor. As it curved back and forth while falling to the floor, like a feather, it turned and landed just outside the door of an exam room. When she bent down to pick it up she heard Carter and Chen chatting with one and other. She knew that it wasn't the best idea to listen in on their conversation again remembering what happened last time, but she just couldn't help herself, it had became habit.
"Well, will you talk to her? Please? I mean, she thinks that we are having some kind of illicit affair behind her back." begs Carter to his close friend from medical school.
"Are you serious? What gave her that idea?"
"Apparently, she overheard you and I talking last week on the roof and misinterpreted the talk of you and your child as you and me." states Carter, showing no emotions of him being happy. No smiling or laughing. He wasn't glowing like he usually does. He was different without her. "I am being told by my instincts to be mad at her for what she did and believed, but I just can't stay mad at her." Carter states softly, looking at the floor. "I love her to much. I just have to forgive her, I just need her to understand fully, that nothing is going on between us.""Yeah, well, not only would it be totally weird and unusual for us to be together, but how would you find the time? If you aren't at work, you are with Lucy all the time. You are living together now, right?"
Not moving even one of the two hundred muscles it takes to smile, he leans his head to the side looking at her. "No Deb, we are not living together. We just... her place is nicer then mine."
"Sure, I bet that is the only reason you stay there, for the wallpaper." Jokes Jing Mei, trying to get him to laugh, unsucceedingly.
Getting annoyed by her continuous cheerfulness, Carter goes back to the conversation he started, "So, will you talk to her?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Today?"
"Today."
Signing a breath of relief that everything might be okay, Carter gives her a hug "Thanks Deb. I owe you."
"You can be my lamoze coach."
"I'm touched Deb. I really am... Have you decided... you know... yet?"
Getting tearful eyes, Dr. Chen, forced her tears back, trying to be strong. "I can't keep this kid. I'm not ready to be a mother..."
Standing outside the door, hearing their whole conversation, Lucy smiles widely, for the first time since the last morning. He still wanted them to be together. Even after what she had put him through.
Feeling that she had eavesdropped enough for a while, Lucy walked off and into another empty exam room. Placed in the front pocket of her white jacket right underneath her picture of her and Carter, Lucy had the envelope which she had kept un-opened all week. Taking in a deep breath of air, she ripped open the top with her well manicured nails, careful not to rip the folded paper on the inside. Unravelling the piece of looseleaf, Lucy examined the results...
~~~~~~~~~~Friday, September 29, 9:10 AM
Ten minutes later, while in the cafeteria eating her lunch, Lucy is paged by the Emergency Department. Throwing away what she didn't eat into the trash, Lucy walked to the newly renovated desk and asked Randi Fronczac who had beeped her. Looking up from her magazine for only a second, the clerk snapped her gum and responded by saying that it was Dr. Chen, wanting her to meet her on the roof ASAP.
On the ride up, Lucy smiled , knowing, hoping that everything would be okay, that she could still fix what she had ruined with John. She didn't know what she would do without him. 'Probrely fall into a deep depression.' thought Lucy, realising how lonely she was until she met John. All of her past boyfriends were just one fling after another. No one that really stuck out. John, if she ever lost him, would be someone she could never stop missing.
Stepping onto the warm cement of the roof, Lucy could feel the burning sun against her face. Shielding her eyes from its sharp glare, she studied the premises for Jing Mei. On the opposing side to hers, Lucy heard Debora call her over.
Plopping her body down beside the other women, Lucy looked at her as she started talking, "Now, to be completely honest, I did not volunteer to come up here, John asked me. He told me and I don't want to take sides or agree or lecture either of you, I just wanted to say that John loves you as much or more then you love him... I know that he told you what we were talking about up here the other day and I wanted you to know, nothing has ever happened and never will happen between us."
"I know..."
"Now Lucy, although we don't have anything in common, I hope that we can become friends. I have always been John's, but I am hoping I can be yours also too."
"I would like, that, but, you are wrong about one thing."
"And what is that?"
"We do have something in common."
"Besides being doctors?" jokes Jing Mei.
Lucy nods her head and pulls out the now, slightly crumpled sheet from her pocket and hands it to Deborah to see. As her mouth falls slightly, Lucy just smiles and shrugs her shoulder, "We're both pregnant."
~~~~~~~~~~Friday, September 29, 11:00 AM
Luckily, Lucy's shift was nearly over, so as soon as the clock struck the hour, she and Jing Mei Chen left the hospital together and went out to lunch. Jing Mei shared stories about Carter when he was a medical student and Lucy told her about the times that Deb missed.The two pregnant women were sitting in a restaurant, drinking sundaes and laughing hysterically as Chen tells her tale, "So I turn around, and the klutz that I am, stick the paddles forward while they are charged and as they run into his chest, I jumped and pushed the buttons!" her face turns dark red, "His eyes nearly pop out of their sockets and he goes flying backwards!" he allows her giggling fit to fade as she slouches back in her seat.
"I'm guessing you heard about the time that I kicked him in the chest and he went flying through the door?"
"Yeah! But only because Chunni has to remind us ever week of what you guys did afterwards!" Dr. Chen sends her a suggestive grin, close to laughing again.
"I know what you mean, and we weren't! We were.... talking. He was a resident and I was a student. We follow the rules." Lucy tries to make her new friend believe her.
"Yeah. Sure. When did you guys start dating? April, May? And when did you graduate?"
"That is different. We.... uh.... had an excuse."
"Really? Like what?... No! Let me guess. You had both been horny for the past year and a half?" Jokes Jing Mei, causing Lucy to start laughing again.
"No, we had just needed someone to lean on and the person that I wanted to was him, vise versa."
Jing Mei nods her head, noting their conversation getting serious and allowed her face to get more pensive. She understood what Lucy meant, referring to the stabbing. "Lucy?" Chen says, barely above a whisper.
"Yeah."
"I don't mean to sound forward or anything.... I mean, you don't have to answer... but, have you ever wandered what would happen if one of you didn't make it.... February?"
"I haven't really had to put much thought into it. If he were to have died on the table that night, I would of died too."
Hearing those words, Jing Mei suddenly understands the great connection that they had. They cared so greatly for each other and had finally realised it. They were living out a dream.For the rest of their meal, no one spoke afraid to say something wrong and ruin the moment they had just created. They both remained silent until they had to fight over who was going to pay the bill.
Walking down the street a few minutes later, Jing Mei stopped at a food cart and bought the two of them an ice cream, "So are you going to talk to John today?"
"Does he want to talk to me?" Lucy fiddled with her fingers, noticing the diamond ring that still sat on her left hand.
"He does. In case you haven't noticed, ever since you two had your fight, he has been moping around like his dog died. I'm just starting to wonder what he was like before you."
"Well, if he never met me, then he had nothing to miss." Lucy confesses, lowering her self-esteem every time Deb tries to lift it up.
"He was missing a lot because he hadn't met you yet."
Lucy smiles and hales a taxi to the side of the road, "Thanks Jing Mei." stepping inside the cab, she is driven away without saying another word.
~~~~~~~~~~Friday, September 29, 2:00 PM
Knocking lightly with her knuckles on the heavy door, Lucy waits silently for it to be answered. After a second or two, the door is propelled open by Carter. Standing, staring at her for a few minutes, he does not say a thing, he just moves aside, allowing her space to enter.
Passing him, she walks two feet infront of Carter before she turns on her heals and smiles at him as he closes the front door.
"What are so happy about?" he had a small smile on his face, not really wanting to show that he was happy in any way, but unable to contain himself. Just her presence made him beam.
Moving forward quickly, she kisses him slowly for a few seconds before backing off to a short distance, "Nothing. Just something I found out today."
Standing just a few inches away from her, he asks her if it has anything to do with him.
"You might say that it has a lot to do with you." Lucy implies, grinning wildly back at him.
"So are we okay now?"
"Yeah, I think we are okay." She hugs him tightly around the chest as she was just the right height for him to place his jaw on top of her head, both standing comfortably without slouching.
"Is this what you meant when you said that we weren't compatible?" he laughs. "I mean by having nonsense disagreements."
"I think 'Uncompatible' was just an excuse for us not to be together while I was a medical student."
"Yeah, and the whole thing about me not being in touch with my feelings was just an excuse to, right?"
"Nope. That, I was and still am completely serious about."
"Really? You think?"
"Not one bit." Lucy jokes with him.
"Even if I tell you I love you, which I believe is a feeling, you still wouldn't believe I was in touch with my feelings.
"You might have to convince me."
~~~~~~~~~~
It was around four o'clock in the afternoon when John and Lucy got the call that they weren't exactly anticipating. When the phone rang they both expected it to be either County or Deb, wanting to know how things went, but as it turned out, it was neither.
Out of the blue and really unexpectedly, Carter and Lucy were both approached with the suggestion of meeting Roland, Lillian, Millicent, Jonathan Senior, John's sister Barbera and Lucy's mother Barbera for a weekend at John's grandparents beach house at a lake, a few hours drive out of Chicago.
Deciding they needed time to think about it, Lucy and John told them that they would call back in am hour or two.
"So, do you want to go?" Carter asks.
"Well...Your parents haven't met my mom yet and it would be nice to get away for a few days..."
"So you want to go."
"There is a difference between have to and want to. They have to meet sometime."
"Fine then. I'll call and say that we are going." he makes no move for the phone or leaving his seat.
"John, when you say beach house, what do you mean?"
"Picture an average sized city home and times it by three, then take it and place it beside a lake."
"So, in other words, it is very much 'Your family'."
"You might say that."
Leaning in close to John, Lucy nuzzled her head onto his shoulder and looked up into his eyes. Struggling for the right words over a matter of minutes, Lucy looks up at him once more, dragging her eyes off the ground to meet his, "Do you want to start a family of your own?"
"As in have kids and all that?" John asks, looking at his fiance.
"Yeah. Do you want kids?"
"When we are both ready to have and raise a child, sure."
"Well," Lucy starts to play with her ring once again, "I'm giving you your eight month warning."
Speechless, John turns to her, not knowing what to say or feel.
"I'm not expecting you to jump into song or anything, take your time and think about it." Still not moving a lip, John just looks forward as Lucy continues to talk. "I just found out myself and at first I didn't know what to think. Whether to be happy, or sad, or grateful, or worried, or distraught or psyched. My mind was just upside down with this mixture of emotions, rotating over and over again. But eventually I came to the conclusion where I was telling myself that the only thing I could really feel was joy because I was having your child and my child. I was having our child."
Turning his head towards hers, he smiles and stands up, pulling her with him. Picking her off her feet, lifting her up into the air by hugging her, laughing, smiling and kissing her at the same time, sharing his joy with her.
~~~~~~~~~~Wednesday, October 4, 6:30 AM
Yesterday had been her first OB visit and it had all been good news. Carter and came with her and they got an ultrasound, some pre-natal vitamins and found out that she was nearly at two months.
Popping a pill into her mouth, Lucy used a glass of water to help work its way down. Clapping the cap back on the bottle, Lucy exited her bathroom and into her room were John lay sleeping on the bed. Taking a moment to look at him and watch him sleep, she smiled at how peaceful he looked as the early morning light shone in through the window, silhouetting onto his face. Not wanting to move, but instead stay and watch him rest, Lucy knew that she had no choice. He had the day off and if she didn't leave quickly, she was going to be late for work. Dr. Weaver had not been in the mood for putting up with slackers, especially lately.
Exiting the room, picking her jacket up from its place of the sofa and slipping into her shoes by the door, Lucy left her apartment and headed to the El station. Finding an empty seat, Lucy sat through the all the stops along the way patiently, going over the past few days. Her life had changed dramatically in only a small time, but it seemed it was for the best. Not only did she find out that she was carrying the child of the man she loved, but he wanted it just as much as her.
So much for 'When things are bad, they can always get worse'. For Lucy, whenever something happened it made everything else look hopeless, things just got better and brighter. If all her and John's obstacles were this hard to over come and made things better then they were before, they relationship and love for one another was going to last forever, shining radiantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
