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. lizzyknightlight@hotmail.com

A Few Steps Forward Part 6

~~~~~~~~~~January 2001

Examining herself in the full length mirror of her closet door, Lucy pulled her black, spaghetti strap, formal dress up under her belly, then took a said view, trying to make her stomach look smaller.

"What are you doing?" Carter asked, frightening Lucy by his sudden appearance. With half his body seen sticking out from the side of the bedroom door, she smiled at him.

"Am I fat?" she questioned, going back to straightening her back and feeling her round belly.

"No," he moved his whole body into the room , revealing his tuxedo and moved over to Lucy, "Your not fat, your pregnant."

She rolled her eyes and got impatient with him, "I know that, but do I look fat or pregnant?!"

"You look fine! Can we go now? I told Gamma that we would be there by seven." grabbing her purse, Lucy followed Carter out of the room to get her coat.

~~~~~~~~~~

Exiting the luxurious limousine into the brisk winter air, Lucy pulled her thin jacket around her as Carter huddled her to her chest and guided her inside. Once inside the museum and rid of their jackets, they followed the flow of people into the main room, meeting John Carter Senior at the entrance.

"Lucy, John. Glad to see you made it. I wasn't so sure you would come."

"We cleared our schedule for this so Gamma better be happy we showed."

"I'm sure she is. How have things been? Haven't seen you since Christmas and I need to be updated. How is my first great-grandchild?" he asked Lucy, as he grinned widely at her.

"Everything is fine. Just three more months to go." Beaming, she wrapping her arm around her stomach, using her other hand to tuck some lose hair behind her ear as she smiled back at him.

"Oh, and I bet our Johnny is excited," the elderly man exclaimed, turning to his grandson.

"Yeah, I'm psyched. Can't wait to get this life into this world so we can screw it up." John said seriously, but cooled his attitude when Lucy elbowed him in the stomach, "Ow!" he yelped, giggling at her strength.

"Wimp! I didn't even touch you!" The couple joined everyone else in the room.

"No you didn't! That will leave a mark!"

Lucy laughed, "On what, your ego?"

"Ha ha, very funny. I was just saying how you hit hard for a girl. "

"Is that a sexist comment? Because women are always portrayed as the weaker sex."

"It's only because you are."

Elbowing him in the stomach again, Lucy nudged him toward the dance floor as he started whined again.

~~~~~~~~~~Later that night

"John!" enthused Millicent Carter, walking up behind and giving him a soft hug, doing the same to Lucy, "I am so happy the two of you came! What do you think of it so far Lucy? Your first Carter family fund raiser?"

"It's great," she stated with a slight trace of enthusiasm, "I'm gonna go get something to drink. Excuse me." She walked off towards a bar serving beverages.

John spoke for her, "She doesn't like the part about having to dress up. If she had it her way, she would be sitting at home infront of the television in flannel pyjamas with her feet up."

"So it was a bad idea to drag her out today?"

"No, being lazy at home is what she wants to do, not what she needs to do. Since her doctor influenced her to take it easy, she only gets out to do her part time shifts. She needed to get out and do some socialising. She is just being stubborn about someone telling her what to do."

"You made her come then?"

"You didn't think she came at her own will, did you?" chuckled John.

"I guess not... John, that woman over there is waving at you."

Turning around, Carter looked were she was nodding, "Damn," he stated under his breath.

"What is it?" Millicent asked.

"Nothing. I'll be right back." Walking over to the woman, Carter put up a fake grin, "Roxanne... What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came with my boyfriend."

Not having anything to say, Carter just nodded.

Roxanne, tilted her head to the side flirtatiously, "Well, what are you doing here?"

"Read the brochure. My family puts it on and they asked my fiancé and I to come."

"Fiancé?! Your engaged?"

"Yeah, I think that you might remember Lucy."

"Lucy! As in medical student Lucy?"

"Yup!"

"As in 'Pain in the ass' Lucy? 'I can't stand another minute with that girl' Lucy?!"

He nodded, "Yup, that's the one!"

"You and her weren't... Were you...Never mind. I don't want to know."

"Don't want to know what? If I was with Lucy while I was still going out with you?" Carter suggested, "Well, I wasn't. I am not that kinda guy, and wouldn't even go that far over you."

Staring at him oddly, Roxanne tried to change to subject to something easier to flirt over.

~~~~~~~~~~

Striding her way over to a bar filled with a variety of drinks, Lucy moved as close to the counter as she could and asked for a bartender for a ginger ale. While she waited for him to return, she turned around so her back was against the counter. As she did so, a man came up beside her and ordered two alcoholic drinks.

"Well, well, well. This has to be the last person I'd be expecting to see tonight, and especially like this!" came the voice of the one and only, Dale Edson, motioning to her stomach.

"Oh, my god!" she exasperated, dropping her head into her left hand, later brushing a few strands of hair away from her eyes.

"Nice to see you to Lucy!" Dale laughed, "So, how's lesbian life?" he asked sarcastically. Holding back tears, Dale couldn't stop laughing.

"You know, if you would just accept it when we broke up, I wouldn't of had to make that story up." Lucy sighed, blushing.

"And I wouldn't of believed you if you weren't such a good liar."

"Oh, whenever I was with you, I was nearly convinced that I was gay, which made it a lot easier to say it!" laughed Lucy.

"Why did you break up with me anyway?"

"Huh, do you want a list?!" Turning to get her soft drink from the man plaid in his black and white uniform, she looked back at Dale as he continued to talk to her.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he asked, walking with her, as she spotted the person she was looking for towards the back of the room.

"I am here with my family."

"Really? And this family includes..."

"They aren't necessarily my family. But soon they will be. I'm engaged. His grandparents put on the fund raiser."

"So he's loaded?" Dale interpreted

"You tell me. Your the one that's known him for five years."

Dale thought about it for a minute, "I don't know what your talking about."

"Carter. John Carter," Lucy stopped to look at him.

"Really, so you lowered your standers since we broke up?" Dale teased.

"And your endless egotism has increased!" she joked back, yet taking their conversation more seriously then Dale.

"Were you always such a smart ass?!" he asked.

"Yes, but you were to worried about whether you would getting lucky or not to think about my attitude!" Lucy was completely serious now.

"What do you have against me, Lucy?!" he yelped.

"Well, I am engaged to the founder of the 'I hate Dale Edson' fan club. I would think that was enough, but I'll continue. The few dates that we did go on were all some cheap trick to try to get me in your bed! And the only two accomplishments you have made in your life is becoming a pathetic surgeon and putting all of your spare time into conniving women!"

"Have you always been like this or are you only a bitch when you are around me!!" His outburst and cursing caught the attention of the majority of the people in the room, Carter included.

Clutching her right hand into a fist, Lucy's face turned from angry to angrier and a nice shade of red. Trying to hold back her temper, the VERY pregnant woman couldn't allow him to push her around. Pulling back her arm at the elbow, her first was driven forward at full force. Curving her knuckles forward as they collided with Dale's high cheek bone, Lucy had to wobble a bit before catching her balance and landing on two feet. Bringing her hand to her side, she took a quick glance at Dale, now sitting on the floor, "No one, calls me, a bitch!" Lucy said, taking breaks between every couple words. As she shook her hand to relieve the pain, she felt someone else's hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see John standing behind her. Behind him was everyone in the room with their eyes on her. She knew that it was serious when the music stopped.

Carter was trying to look disappointed but she could tell he was trying deeply to contain his laughter, "Nice right hook," he giggled, "I don't think I've ever seen a pregnant women punch out a guy before," he whispered in her ear.

"This isn't funny! I could sue your ass!" screamed Dale, pulling himself up off his feet, Roxanne coming up beside him to help him up.

Turning her head to him for a minute, Lucy said what she had to say and then turned her attention back to John, "See if I care! I can blame it on a hormone imbalance! You'll spend way more money on a lawyer then you will ever get out of me!"

Keeping his voice down, Carter whispered in her ear, seeing a bouncer and his grandparents coming their way, "You know, maybe you were right, it would of been better to stay at home. What would you say if I decided to take you up on that offer now?" he asked, desperate to get out of there before having to defend Lucy to his family.

"Why? I don't know if I'm finished with him yet!" Lucy shrieked, trying to turn around towards Dale Edson, but Carter caught her arm and kept her facing him.

"How about you cool off the physical attitude for a bit. Please. For me."

"He called me a bitch," she started to calm down and used a quieter voice.

"Lucy, I heard it all, along with everyone else in the room."

Seeing his relatives falling in quicker, he tried to back out when his grandfather yelped towards him, Lucy, Dale and Roxanne, "What is going on here?!" he noticing the swelling in Dale's eye.

"She punched me!" barked Dale, pointing at Lucy.

John Carter senior turned to Lucy, "He called me a bitch!"

The elderly man sighed and shook his head, "How did this all get started?"

"It probrely won't be a good idea to get into," suggested Carter.

"Look, since you can't solve this like adults, how about us five talk in private..."

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Hell, I might take a swing at him," John took Lucy's arm and interlocked it with his, "How about Lucy and I go, I'll call you later and we'll deal with this then. Dale, I'd put some ice on that eye." Giggling, they ducked out of there before they were lectured by John's grandfather any further. Quickly, John and Lucy picked up their jackets from the front and skipped the limo, taking the El instead. Laughing all the way onto the platform, Lucy leaned on Carter for support, so she could take some strain off of her sore feet and also to hold herself up from collapsing after giggling so much. Since it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, the cart carried only three other passengers, making it easier to find two empty seats. Chuckling with her, Carter took a seat down beside her, placing his right hand on her belly, "I still can't believe you took a swing at Dale Edson! Just the thought of you being six months pregnant and punc!

hing someone is a bit to much to take, let alone it being at my grandparents favourite fund of the year!"

"Oh, but they so hate me now! I will never be able to look any of your family in the eyes again."

"Tell them it's a pregnancy thing. And if they still don't forgive you, all you need is a fatal stab wound to put a different spin on things. In my case, that is all it took for my relatives to at least talk to me."

After chuckling together for awhile, their laughter eventually died down and Lucy's mind started wandering around the subject of her fiancés bloodline.

"I don't mean to change the subject, but, we have been engaged for awhile now, we're gonna have a kid in a few months and we are going to get married soon, and I still haven't met your cousin Chase. Everyone talks about him, but I want to see him."

Taking a a minute to think about it, Carter removes his hand from her stomach and sets his arm on the back of the chair, "This is out of the blue. Why do you want to meet my brain damaged cousin?"

Lucy starts naming of excuses to go, "Because he's family. You talk about him all the time. He has obviously had an impact on your life. You were close to him before his overdose. His photography work is hanging in our hallway. He is brought up whenever we talk about a subject or a patient somehow reminding you of him..."

"Fine!" Carter cuts her off, "I get it. I'll call the home and find out when visiting hours are."

Satisfied that she would finally get to put a face to the name and that she got her way, Lucy grinned and with her right hand took Carter's arm from behind the plastic chair, snuck it behind her and placed it at her side.

"Happy?"

Not answering vocally, she looked forward through the window and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~The next day

Wobbling through the hallways, Lucy popped her head in nearly every room, looking for Carter. Feeling like a blimp, she kept on rubbing her belly, hoping the touch would remind that she was getting a kid out of it. The swollen ankles and bulged stomach had a good purpose. As she glided her hand towards her lower back, she stopped by Curtain area three where she spotted her friend tidying up, "Abby, have you seen John?"

"No, but I haven't really seen anyone for the past hour. I've been to busy cleaning up after everyone else's patients. I don't know why, but it seems Weaver has this grudge on me today," the brunette nurse squatted down to pick up a few scraps from under the gurney.

"Oh, she is just tired of having to do it herself when the nurses slack off."

Abby cleared her throat and glared up at Lucy.

"Sorry," she whispered, "Forgot," Lucy referred to Abby now being a nurse again.

Dr. Lucy Knight backed out of the room, "I have to go find John. See ya later, have fun," she teased as turned and walked away.

Approaching admit, she walked behind the desk and asked Randi if she could page Dr. Carter.

"You mean that Dr. Carter?" she pointed down the hall as Carter flipped the top sheet of a chart in his hand up, looked over it for a moment, then replaced it so he could hand it to the desk clerk. Seeing Lucy, he smiled at her.

"Hey Luce."

"Hey I was looking for you."

"What about? Am I in trouble?" he joked.

"I just wanted to apologise for last night. I think I got a little out of hand."

"Ya, well, maybe, but I still think that you have a good swing. Dale will be black and blue!"

Glaring at him, Lucy sighed, "I'm trying to be serious. It was wrong and I am going to call tonight and apologise to your grandparents to because you shouldn't have to defend me."

"I know, but they are my relatives and..."

"But I'm the one that punched him."

Getting the odd glimpse from Randi throughout their conversation, she finally speaks up, sounding interested, "You punched someone? Who?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Hey Randi, I'm kind of busy. Why don't you take your gossip somewhere else, to someone else." insisted Lucy, annoyed.

"I'm just trying to picture it, that's all," added Randi as she carried a pile of folders to be organised into the rows of other files at the admittance desk.

"Anyway," she turned back to Carter, "I'll take care of it."

"You sure?" he turned to walk away.

"Yeah."

"Fine, do you want me to drive you home during my dinner break?"

"Thanks, but I think I will just take a cab. No need rushing to get back in time."

"Okay, see ya."

Waving at him, Lucy looked up as the swinging doors to the emergency room swung open. No other then Dale Edson strided in. With purple blotches around the outside of his eye and cheek bone a nice shade of blue, outlined in yellow, he automatically glared at the young doctor. Lucy smiled and waved at him, walking off, hearing Randi laugh behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~2:00 AM

Turning the key in the hole, Carter slowly turned the handle, trying to be as quiet as possible. Pushing it open, he tiptoed inside, carrying the shoes he had taken off in the hallway, not wanting to wakeup Lucy to the sound of his heavy footsteps. Dropping his keys by the phone, he tucked his work runners under a shoe rack, his jacket on the back of a dining room chair and his bag on the table. Striding soundlessly towards his and Lucy's bedroom, he turned off a few lights on the way. Finding the door open a crack, he could see a bedside lamp on and Lucy laying on her side, curled on in a ball on top of the quilt. Opening the door just enough to move his body through, he closed it behind him. Moving towards Lucy, he lifted her lower body up, tugged the blanket up from under her and manoeuvred it so it was on top of her. Undressing to his boxers, he climbed into bed and leaned across Lucy to turn off the lamp.

"I called Millicent."

"Your awake," observed John.

Lucy ignored him, "She's really angry. I apologised over and over, but she kept on saying how I ruined her evening," a tear slipped down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly.

"Oh, Lucy." he sympathised, hugging her from behind, pulling her back towards him, "She gets like this sometimes. I'll talk to her though. I'll try explaining..."

"She doesn't think I have an appropriate excuse! Everyone in your family hates me!" she started to cry harder and soon she started sniffling.

"Give her time."

"She's right though. I don't fit in."

"She said that?" he questioned, shocked the women he called Gamma could be so cruel.

"I know that what I did was wrong and that no excuse is acceptable, but in the end, it's simple: the Carter's are upper class and the Knight's are not," she grabbed a tissue from the Kleenex box on her bedside table, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.

"Don't say that." Carter brushed her hair away from her face, nudging her head to face his, "You made a mistake. No ones perfect. To me, you are close enough. If they can't see what I see, it's their loss."

"God, whatever I say, you don't understand. Whatever I tell you, you tell me it's no big deal, but it is! I mean, I'm starting to question if you even know me! If we know each other at all," her last sentence was barely above a whisper and her voice said it with shame."

"Don't say that Lucy because you know it isn't true. I'm only trying to make you understand that it doesn't matter what my family thinks of you. All you need to know is that I love you. If my grandparents want to dislike you, or not talk to you for a few months, that is their decision, but it is not going to change what I think of you. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to stop worrying about what others think of you. They don't matter," Carter kissed her lightly on the back of her head, "Anyway, in-laws aren't supposed to get along. Think, have you ever seen a movie were the women gets along with her husbands parents? Grandparents must count in the equation too, right?"

Turning around to face him, Lucy started laughed. Reaching out her arms, she hugged him, and kissed him, "I'm sorry I'm being such a large pain in the ass, John."

Hugging her back, she tucked her head into his shoulder, "I love you," John sighed into her ear.

"I love you to," she mumbled back tiredly.

~Tuesday, July 10 2001

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