Disclaimer: I'm not making money off of this, so everyone at Warner Bros. and their whole menagerie of people over there can just leave me alone. :) Thanks to Aly for editing.

One Summer Night

Lucy strolled around the fairly large deli shop while they got her order ready. She grabbed a carton of milk and two loaves of bread, one rye and one white. Lucy was glad she had finally moved out of the dorms. It gave her a new sense of freedom she had never had before.

"Number 63?" the man behind the counter said.

"Right here," Lucy replied. She took her lunchmeat from him and went over to the refrigerator case. She grabbed one of those prepackaged salads from the case. She knew things were usually higher in fat when they were prepackaged, but she didn't really care, it looked good. She grabbed a bottle of ranch dressing, since she didn't like the thousand island that came with it. Lucy quickly counted her items, realizing she could still get that issue of Cosmo and have under ten items. She stepped in the check-out lane and paid for her things. Luckily, the deli was just one block over from her new apartment, so she didn't have to walk far to get home.

She wasn't quite sure why she had moved out. Maybe it was because her roommate's boyfriend had begun to live with them and he was just too annoying for words. Maybe it was because she had some time to spare. Maybe it was because her mom had sent her a check for a *quite* large sum of money and said 'Here-go buy a car or something important'. Her mom said it was an early Christmas present. Christmas was six months away, but she didn't really care. Anyway, she always used the El and felt no need for a car, so she went apartment hunting. Bernard had helped her pick out the apartment and the furniture to go in it. He had taken her to some warehouse auction his dad had told him about and she was able to get some wonderful deals. She got a couch, a small table with three chairs, a huge, overstuffed arm chair, and a beautiful, cherry-wood bed and dresser set for under a hundred and fifty bucks. The couch was pretty loved, but, hey, what could you expect for fifteen bucks?

Bernard got her the most thoughtful gift though-a toaster oven and a bottle of cinnamon sugar. Lucy's favorite food in the whole world was cinnamon toast and Lucy didn't think Bernard could be so thoughtful. That's what she intended to have for dinner-cinnamon toast.

She walked in the door and put the cold food away in the refrigerator. Lucy plugged in the toaster over and got out two pieces of bread. She got the butter out of the fridge-she noticed earlier that all she had to eat was cinnamon and butter, so that's why she went out. She proceeded to make her toast. She put it in the oven and got her magazine out of the bag. It was the last thing in there, so she threw the bag out and put the magazine on the table so she could read while she ate. Lucy poured herself a glass of milk to have with her toast. She began thinking to herself, as much as she loved the hospital, she was glad she got this break before her fourth year of medical school started. Lucy had signed up for the ER sub-I, and got it, and she couldn't wait to get back in the swing of things. However, sometimes it's nice for a break. The one thing that Lucy did miss about going to the hospital every day was seeing Carter. Sure, they had their differences, but she had begun to take a liking to him. Well, she had for a long time. Especially since her psychiatric rotation, when she wasn't seeing him every day. She knew she had a crush on him. She also knew it was impossible for them to be together since she was a student and he wasn't. In addition, she would be a student for almost another year. Eckk.

*Ding!*

Ooh, the toast was done. Lucy got out a paper plate to put her three pieces on. She brought the plate and her milk over to the table. Well. Her first meal in her new home.

She was just about finished with one piece of toast and the article on what men look for most in women when she heard a knock on the door. *Now, who could that be?* Lucy thought to herself. *The only people who know I'm here are Bernard and a few other people over at the dorms.*

She walked over to the door and looked out the peephole. *Am I crazy, or is that John Carter standing outside my door?*

Lucy opened the door and yes, to answer her suspicions, it was Carter. "Carter?"

"Uh, hi," he said, looking sheepish and embarrassed.

"How did you find out where I was?" Lucy demanded.

"I, um, walked over to your dorm and Bernard told me."

*Bernard. Of course, Carter just happens to run into the only person who knows I have a crush on him.* "Oh?" I said. *Why is he here?*

"I, um . . . hum . . ."

"Would you like to come in, Carter?"

"Yeah, that would be nice," he said, relieved he didn't have to ask her.

She let him in. *Why did I come here?* Carter asked himself.

"So, what's up?" Lucy asked. She didn't want to ask outright why he was there.

"I've just had a really bad day and kinda needed someone to talk to . . . I don't have many friends, and you're the first person to come to mind . . ."

Lucy pulled out a chair at the table she had been sitting at. "Here. Sit down. Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich and then you can tell me what's on your mind."

Carter smiled at her. This is why he had come, Lucy was always so nice to him. "That would actually be great."

Lucy walked over to the fridge again. "Turkey, ham, or roast beef?"

"Um, any is fine."

"Okay, how about turkey then? Rye bread or white?"

"Rye."

Lucy quickly made the sandwich and grabbed little packets of mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup she had got free at the deli.

"Here ya go."

"Thanks . . . a lot."

"No problem. So, what's on your mind?"

Carter sighed. "Oh, everything. I had a bad day at work, then went over to my grandparents' house and got in a fight with my grandfather and dad and then I went home and got in a fight with Kerry."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "Sounds like a bad day. What happened at work?"

Carter paused to take a bite of his sandwich before speaking. "It was just a long, stressful day. Too many patients for me to handle. By the time I went to my grandparents' I was already burnt out. And then we all got in a fight over Chase."

"Who's Chase?" Lucy asked, taking another bite of her toast.

"My cousin. About a year and a half ago, he was debilitated because of a drug overdose. I was the only one in my family to know about his addiction and didn't tell anyone. A friend and I tried to get him off them, and it seemed like all was going well until he came into the ER OD'd. Anyway, it appears he's taken a turn for the worst and that just got Grandfather in the mood to pick a fight with me," he said, pausing to take another bite of turkey.

Lucy knew how hard it was to get off drugs. It had been hard enough to get off Ritalin, and it sounded like Carter's cousin was in deeper than Lucy was. But Lucy was proud of herself for finally getting off it.

"So then," Carter said, breaking her concentration, "I went home and Kerry and I got into a stupid fight-meaningless, over nothing really. Over who washed the dishes or something like that. I had to get out of there and couldn't think of anywhere else to come. I don't have many friends in Chicago," he said.

Lucy suddenly felt sorry for him. She didn't have tons of friends, but she had a few, like Bernard, she could go to in times like these. She could think of about four or five off the top of her head. Lucy suspected that he considered Kerry a friend, but since he had gotten in a fight with her, she didn't really count tonight. "Well, Carter, you know you're always welcome here," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," he replied. "I'm sorry to just show up here like this."

"No! I'm glad. I had nothing worthwhile to do tonight anyway."

"I see," Carter said, pointing to the article I had been reading.

"Shut up," I replied. "My TV isn't hooked up yet."

"Sure," Carter said, smiling.

"So, what's the ER like without me?"

"Boring. You're not missing anything," he said, still smiling.

That smile drove Lucy crazy. Absolutely crazy. She smiled back at him.

"Nice place you've got here," Carter said.

That prompted Lucy to give him the nickel tour. It didn't take long, since the only thing he hadn't seen was the bathroom and Lucy's bedroom. They threw away their plates and cups and sat down on the couch.

"You know, if you want, you can stay here tonight," Lucy said. She quickly added, "The couch is pretty nice," so he wouldn't think she was implying something. Although she wished that she could.

"Nah, I don't want to impose, or anything, I can always go back to my place," Carter replied. *Please say you insist or something, please,* Carter thought to himself.

"Of course not. I insist," Lucy said. She looked over at the clock. Nine forty-nine PM. "Are you on early tomorrow?"

"Nope. I'm off tomorrow."

"Good. After a day like today, you need a day off!"

"I know," Carter said. *Wow,* he thought, *Lucy even looks good in the simplest pair of jeans and a tee-shirt.* Lucy turned to look at him and he quickly turned his glance, hoping she wouldn't notice that he was staring at her. Lucy smiled a little and he knew he had been caught. The two laughed.

"We're you just staring at me, Carter?" Lucy had learned that it was always best to take the direct approach with Carter.

"Uh," Carter stammered. But he really didn't need to answer, Lucy knew the answer from the shade of pink his face had turned.

"Well, then, I'll take that as a compliment," Lucy said to him. She scooted over closer to him. "You know," she whispered, "*technically* I suppose I'm not a student now, since I'm on break."

"So, *technically* we can do this?" Carter turned to face Lucy and they both leaned in towards each other for a kiss.

After a few minutes of passionate kissing, Lucy whispered, "You're definitely staying, right?"

"Very definitely," Carter whispered back.

Lucy woke up the next morning to a knock on the door. She sat up and saw Carter sleeping next to her, and smiled. Another knock. She grabbed her bathrobe and ran towards the door. On her way there, she glanced at the clock. Ten twenty-two. She opened the door to see Bernard and a few of her other friends standing there. Oh no. What was she going to do?

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

"Hey, Lucy! C'mon, get dressed, we're all taking you out to IHOP for breakfast to celebrate your new apartment!" Bernard said, walking in with the rest of her friends.

"Oh, guys, not today, I was going to sleep in today . . ." Lucy said. Realizing that they weren't really listening she casually walked over to the door to her bedroom. She looked in, saw Carter still fast asleep, and shut the door.

"Oh, Lucy, not today, we want to take you out!" Bernard said, mimicking her.

Lucy scanned the small crowd of students in her room. It was the normal group of guys she hung out with when she had the time, plus her old roommate, Jane. Lucy sighed. They had all come in now. How was she going to get them to leave? All she wanted to do is jump back under the warm sheets of her bed. Where Carter was, she might add.

"So, Lucy, give us the tour!" Jane said.

"There's not much to see. You can see everything from where you're standing," Lucy replied, trying to conjure up a way to get them out.

"How about your bedroom? To dirty for us to see already?" Bernard said.

"Uh, yeah. Don't go in there," Lucy said, praying they'd listen.

"Oh, c'mon Lucy, it can't be that bad," Bernard said, walking over to the door.

"Don't go in there!" Lucy said exasperated. But it was too late. Bernard had already opened the door.

There was a chorus of 'ooh's' as they saw the brown head of hair in Lucy's bed. Luckily, Carter was lying face down.

"So, up a little late partying last night?" Bernard joked.

Lucy quickly ran over and shut the door. "Okay, you all have five seconds to get out before I physically kick you out," she said, opening the front door.

They all walked out. "So, Lucy, who is it?" Bernard asked.

"None of your business. Take me out to IHOP tomorrow," she replied, slamming the door and locking it. Lucy sighed once more. She sure was glad that they hadn't seen that Carter was, well, Carter. She walked back into her room to find Carter awake.

"Good morning," she said, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

"Morning. Where were you?" Carter asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"We had some, uh, unexpected visitors I had to get out of here, fast."

"Ut-oh," Carter said, his face worried.

"Don't worry, we're okay. I'm just happy your head was buried in a pillow when Bernard and the crew walked in."

"That was a close one."

"Yep. Also, I suggest we don't go out for breakfast."

"Yeah, we don't want to run into them. I'd much rather stay in anyway," Carter said, a devilish grin on his face.

"Oh, really?" Lucy said, in mock-surprise. "Why would that be?"

"If you come over to my side of the bed, I could explain a little bit better."

"Oh, really . . ."

Lucy and Carter got out of bed a little bit later than expected, and found it closer to lunch time than breakfast. Since Carter had no culinary talent whatsoever, Lucy made the sandwiches again. She was getting lunch ready when she said, "So, when are we going to have the awkward talk?"

"The talk about what last night meant? Oh, do we really have to?" Carter whined, sitting down at the table.

"Well . . . I just wanted to know what we're going to do about it," Lucy said, setting lunch down on the table.

"Oh. Well," Carter said, running a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm willing to try and make some sort of relationship out of this if you are."

Lucy's face brightened. "Good," she said, smiling. "I couldn't have put it better myself."

When they were through, Lucy said, "I'd better call Bernard and apologize. Don't worry," she said, reacting to Carter's face, "I won't do anything stupid."

She picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Bernard? Yeah, it's Lucy. Yeah, I'm sorry about this morning. No, I'm not sorry enough to tell you who it was!" Lucy exclaimed. Carter gave her an amused look. She swatted his foot with one of the napkins she picked up off the table. "Carter? As in *John* Carter? What are you, crazy?"

"Hey, you don't have to get so into it, a simple 'no' would have sufficed," Carter whispered.

"Yeah, well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Yeah, sure, IHOP tomorrow, ten thirty. Yeah, calling first is a good idea. Uh-huh. Okay. Bye," Lucy said, hanging up the phone. "So," she said, sitting down next to Carter on the couch. "What should we do on your day off?"

"Hmm, I don't know . . ." Lucy said sensually. All of the sudden, they head a loud beep.

"Damn. That's my beeper. Now where is it?" Carter said. He only remembered throwing it down last night in the heat of the moment. He finally saw some of it sticking out from under the chair. He grabbed it and read the numbers. Not the hospital. The numbers looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "Can I use your phone a sec?"

"Sure. Who is it?"

"Not sure," Carter said, punching in the numbers on the phone. "Hi, Mom? Why are you calling? *No,* I won't come over for dinner tonight. I don't care if Barb will be there, if she wants to see me that bad, she knows where to find me. Mom, please-" Carter said, before his mother cut him off again. He rolled his eyes at Lucy. "Who will be there? Grandfather too? Then I will definitely not come. Why? Because they both hate me, if you need to refresh your memory. Yes, they do, they don't approve in anything I-" Carter sighed. Mom could always talk him into anything. "No, Mom, I broke up with her. About two months ago. Fine, *fine,* I will try to find someone to go with me. Tell Barb she owes me. See you at six."

Carter let out a huge sigh. "Arrgh! I hate my family!" he exclaimed.

"Why would that be?" Lucy asked inquisitively.

"I have to go over there for dinner and--hey, Lucy . . ."

Lucy laughed. "I'll be there at six?"

Carter rushed over to Lucy and gave her a kiss. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I *really* owe you."

"Oh, I'm sure they're not that bad," Lucy said. From the look on Carter's face, she could see he felt otherwise.

"My mom really wants me to go, but she said to bring someone so I could get out early. I can always make us some excuse that I have to take you home."

"Why can't you just tell them you're on early tomorrow?"

"I've been on early so many times, I think that they think that's the only time I work. Even though I am on early tomorrow, it wouldn't fly as an excuse for them."

Lucy's look suddenly turned to one of mock-saddness. "Oh, you really *are* on early tomorrow? Well, that's bad."

"Yeah, five AM. Why is that bad?" Carter asked, pretending to be naive.

"That just means that we can't do what we did last night, staying up late and all."

"Well, that *is* bad," Carter said, sitting back down next to her on the couch.

"Well, what are we going to do until we have to leave? It's only one, we have a few hours to kill."

"I'm sure we can find something to do," Carter teased.

"Oh, I'm positive we can."

It was four thirty and Carter had just left. He wanted to catch Kerry before she left for work so he could apologize. Carter was going to come back to her place at five thirty, so she had an hour to get ready. Her had instructed her to wear something nice, but not too fancy. They had decided to tell his family that she was a friend who worked at the hospital. There would be no mention of Lucy as his former med. student or, of course, of their pending relationship. They already had Bernard somewhat suspicious, they didn't need Carter's family.

Lucy assumed that they weren't as bad as Carter said that they were. He was just still mad over last night. According to Carter, the only ones there would be his parents, grandparents, and his sister, Barbara. She had heard Carol speak about his grandmother, she contributed money to the clinic. She also knew that they were very rich and something had happened for Carter not to be associated with it anymore. That's why he had taken the RA job. Lucy wasn't sure what had happened there.

Lucy had finally found the skirt she had been looking for. It was long and a deep purple with navy blue and black flowers swirling around it. Nice, but not too fancy. She looked up at the clock and saw she only had forty-five minutes until Carter got there. She put the skirt on her bed and hopped in the shower, wondering what surprises the night would bring.

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

Lucy heard a knock on the door just as she pulled on her shoes. "Coming," she called, grabbing her purse on the way to the door. "Hey," she said, opening the door and finding Carter on the other side.

"Hi," he said. "You look great, Luce."

She blushed a little and said, "You don't look half bad yourself."

"Thanks for coming, Luce, I really owe you," Carter said as Lucy shut and locked the door.

"It's okay, John, really. I'm sure it'll all be fine."

"Yeah, well, prepare to be bored with lots of senseless talk. It almost puts me to sleep," Carter said, opening the car door for Lucy.

"I'm sure I'll manage," Lucy said, sitting down in the seat. At least she hoped so.

She lived through dinner, at least. When they got to Carter's grandparents' house, which was the biggest house she had been in besides the White House on her elementary class trip to DC, Carter introduced Lucy to everyone. As a 'friend', of course. She met his mother and sister, Barbara, and they both seemed nice enough. Carter's grandmother was fairly nice too. Carter's grandfather was quite intimidating though. He never smiled. Actually, rarely smiled would be more like it. In addition, when he did smile, Lucy could tell it was one of those 'fake smiles'. Carter's father was quite like that also. Not as intimidating, though. Now it was after dinner and they were sitting in *some* room, Lucy wasn't quite sure what it was called, having drinks. Carter's grandfather had gone somewhere after dinner; Lucy didn't know where he was now. They were talking about some stocks or something, as Carter said, "senseless talk". Lucy turned to Carter, who was standing up and leaning on a table. It looked like he had been looking in her direction for a while. He made eye contact with her and blushed a little bit since he had been caught watching her. He rolled his eyes. Lucy had to try very hard to contain her laughter. Carter could see that, and grinned. Lucy smiled back.

"So, what do you think I should do, John?" Carter's father asked.

Carter's head twirled around to face his father, breaking eye contact with Lucy. "Uh, well," he said, trying to think of an answer quick. It didn't help that he had been staring at Lucy throughout the whole conversation.

"Oh, Dad, why do you want Carter's opinion on how you deal with your stocks?" Barbara said, trying to throw Carter a line.

Carter mentally sighed with relief. "Yeah, Dad, I don't know much about them. Do whatever you think is best."

Lucy saw Barbara raise her eyes and grin at Carter. Lucy suspected that she saw their little nonverbal conversation. She noticed that Barbara was the only person she had met today who could *really* smile. All of the other Carters, with the exception of John, of course, had mastered that 'fake smile'. *Actually,* Lucy thought, *Carter's mother showed a genuine smile when we walked in.* Lucy stopped herself for a second. She knew things had gotten boring when she started having "senseless talks" -- with herself! Lucy looked at her watch and noticed that it was already nine-thirty. Getting late. She had somewhat blocked out the boring conversation, only beginning to listen again when she heard Carter's raised voice.

"How come every time I come over here, we have to fight?" Carter said, directing that comment to his father. Lucy didn't know what had made them fight, but she hated to see Carter so upset.

"Because you never listen to anything I say!" Carter's father screamed back.

"That's because I know how to run my own life, Dad," he said. He stood up from leaning against the table.

"Uh, John? I hate to interrupt, but I need to be going home soon," Lucy said, standing up also. Carter's eyes looked grateful for her having the courage to stand up and do that.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Bye everyone," Carter said, grabbing his coat and walking out.

Lucy quickly said good-bye and thank you to his family and ran off after him.

"Carter? John, wait up!" Lucy said when she got out. John was pretty far ahead of her, almost to the car.

He stopped in his tracks and waited for her to catch up with him. "I'm sorry. It's just that sometimes they make me so . . . furious."

"That's okay, I'm the same way with my family." They continued to walk to the car when they heard a voice coming from the direction of the house.

"John? John?"

They turned around and saw Barbara running out to catch up with them. "What? I'm not going back in there."

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to either. Can you give me a ride to my hotel?"

"You don't mind, do you?" Carter quickly whispered to Lucy. She shook her head and called out, "Sure, come on."

"Thank you so much John. I don't think I could stand any more time in there. Well, I'll just consider it even, since it was because of you that I came," Barbara said as she walked to the car.

"What? Mom told me that I had to come because you wanted to see me," Carter said.

"Well, Mom said just the opposite to me!" she replied. The three of them laughed.

"Looks like you guys were tricked," Lucy said.

They had finally reached the car. Lucy and Barbara had a quick argument over who sat in the front seat (each insisted that the other should) and in the end, Carter told Lucy to get in the front seat. There was no more mention of the fight that had just happened.

The three chatted a little bit on the ride to the hotel. It was past Lucy's house, but Carter wanted to be able to talk with Lucy. They finally got there and Carter got out to walk his sister to the door. Lucy said good night, nice to meet you, and so forth to Barbara and she responded with the same. Lucy saw Carter walk through the doors to the hotel and quite quickly walk back out. He got back in the car.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I just didn't want to make her stay there."

"No problem at all. She's pretty nice too," Lucy replied.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't get to see her much, though. She asked me if you were my girlfriend when I walked her in."

"You said no, didn't you?" Lucy asked, worried.

"Yeah, I did. But she knew I was lying. She said something like 'Well, fine, lie to me if you want, but don't forget that I know when you're lying and I know when I'm right.'" Carter saw Lucy's worried face and continued. "Luce, I don't think she'll be much of a threat. I hadn't seen her for almost two years before tonight. For goodness' sake, she lives in France. Don't worry, okay?"

They rode in silence back to Lucy's apartment. When they arrived, Lucy asked, "Do you want to come up?"

"I better not. I need a good night's sleep, I'm on early tomorrow," Carter said, seeing a fairly disappointed look on Lucy's face. Seeing that, he got out of the car so he could at least walk Lucy to the door. "Luce? Thanks a lot for coming and breaking that fight up and everything."

"No problem," she said, smiling a little. "Hey, you weren't kidding when you told me your family was odd."

"Yeah, I know. I better get going," he said, placing a light kiss on Lucy's lips. "I'll call you after my shift tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded and watched him get into the car and drive off. She walked in the house to make herself a cup of coffee.

Lucy walked in the door from breakfast. It was fine, she dodged any questions about who the person was that they had all seen the day before. She put her purse down and went to her answering machine to see if there were any messages. Yep, one. She played it.

"Hey. It's me. Hope breakfast went okay. Uh, anyway, I'm at work and I left my beeper at your place. Call me when you get back and we can work something out. Bye."

Carter sounded awkward, but she was pretty sure it was because Jerry or someone was around when he had made the call. After all, he hadn't said her name. She looked around and saw Carter's beeper on the counter. Right next to hers. She should make sure not to mix them up. She picked up the phone and dialed the all-too-familiar number to the ER.

"ER?" a voice on the other end said. Lucy quickly recognized the voice on the other end as Jerry. Great. She hadn't though of this.

"Uh, yes," she said, in *very* fake-sounding European accent that she hadn't used since the sixth grade, when she used to ridicule her French teacher. "Is John Carter there?"

Jerry paused for a moment, as if to try and figure out who it was. "No, he's not," he finally replied. "He's on his lunch break right now. Can I give him a message?"

"Uh, no thank you, I'll just try again later." Lucy quickly hung up the phone. Oh great, what was she going to do now? By the time Lucy got to the ER, Carter would most certainly be back from lunch, and even if he wasn't, Lucy didn't know where he was. And she knew all too well how important Carter's beeper was when he was on in the ER. He could get in very big trouble for not having it. She sat down to think for a moment. She couldn't just walk into the ER, they would question why she was there. And they would get even more suspicious if she had Carter's beeper. She thought for a minute more and finally came up with a brilliant plan. She grabbed out the phone book and got to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Carter walked back from the cafeteria after he had eaten, hoping, praying that he hadn't been paged. How could he be so stupid as to leave his beeper at Lucy's? Oh well, too late to question that now. He had tried Lucy three times that morning, twice no answer and once a busy signal. He should call again once he made sure that he wasn't needed. He walked up to the admit desk and saw Jerry talking to a woman. *No, wait,* Carter thought as he looked more closely. *He is talking to my sister. What the heck is she doing here?*

"Hey Carter!" Jerry called out to him.

"Hey," he said. "Barb, what are you doing here?" he asked, addressing his sister.

"You left your beeper over last night at dinner," she said, hoping you'd get the hint. She handed it over to him and with it handed him an envelope. He gave her a questioning look, to which she responded, "I don't know, it's just a letter for you."

"Thanks," he said, somewhat amazed and somewhat confused.

"Is there a place where I can get a cup of coffee before I go?" Barbara asked.

"You can get a cup out of the lounge if you want," Jerry said, smiling.

Carter noticed that he had been smiling the whole time. *Is it me, or is Jerry interested in my sister?* Carter thought to himself.

Just as he suspected, when she left to get a cup of coffee, Jerry said, "Hey, can I ask you something about your sister?"

"Sure Jer," he said, examining the envelope.

"Is your sister married? Or involved with someone?"

Carter looked up to see Jerry's hopeful face. "Jerry, she lives in France." Since that wasn't a good enough answer, he replied, "No, she'd divorced."

"Twice," Barbara added as she walked up to the two men. "Talking about me? Oh, that's sweet. Well, I have to run. I've got a plane to catch. Nice meeting you, Jerry. Take care, John," she said, giving the latter a hug.

"Bye. Thanks, Barb," Carter said as she walked out the door. Carter walked into the lounge so he could see what was in the envelope. Luckily, he was the only one in there. He sat down on the couch and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper. A letter. He unfolded it so he could read it.

"John-

I called but you were at lunch. Therefore, I took matters into my own hands. I called your sister's hotel so she could bring you your beeper. See, I told you she's nice. Breakfast went fine. I avoided all questions about us. I miss you. You're off at four, right? If you get a chance, stop on by. I'll be here. Maybe we can do something tonight. Like what we were doing a few nights ago. Order in for dinner though, I'm sick of the deli. Although, I hope that the rest of the night will turn out the same if you know what I mean. Well, hope to talk to you soon.

Love ya,

L.K."

Carter smiled. He knew Lucy would come up with something. All of the sudden, Carol ran in.

"Trauma coming in, ETA two minutes," she said, forcing a yellow smock at him. He grabbed it, put the letter back in its envelope and put it in his locker on top of some articles. Then he ran out, knowing there was work to be done.

Lucy changed the channel on the TV. The daytime soap operas sure were annoying. She finally settled on CNN and listened to some people talk about the day on Wall Street. *Well, it's just like Carter's,* Lucy thought. All of the sudden, the telephone rang. Lucy picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hi."

Carter. "Did you get your stuff?"

"Yep. Thanks. Good idea too."

"Where are you?"

"Admit desk."

"People around?"

"Yeah," Carter said, laughing a little bit. "Just wanted to let you know I got the stuff."

"Are you going to come by later?"

"If you don't mind."

"Nope, I was hoping you would. We can do something for dinner."

"Yeah, take-out or something. Listen, I have to go. See you around four thirty?"

"See you then."

Carter hung up the phone. "Carter, do you have those articles still? Dr. Greene wants them," Jerry asked.

"Yeah, but I can't get them now. I have to go discharge Miss Evans in exam three. You know where my locker is, you get them," Carter said, walking to exam three.

"Hey, are the labs back on Mr. Nickerson?" Carter asked Lily.

"Nope, not yet."

"Okay, then, I'm off to get coffee." Carter walked into the lounge. He saw Jerry and Malik standing by his locker, reading a piece of paper. "Did you ever get those articles, Jerry?"

Jerry jumped a little bit. "Uh, yeah, that's why I came in."

Carter looked closer at the piece of paper in Jerry's hands. It was a letter. His letter. "Jerry, when I asked you to get the articles, that didn't mean snooping through my stuff!" Carter said.

"Sorry, Dr. C, but it fell out and I didn't know what it was!"

"Yeah, and we had to find out what it was," Malik added.

Carter walked over and grabbed the letter from Jerry. He grabbed the articles out of his locker and shoved them in his hands. "There."

Jerry and Malik started to leave, sheepish because they had been caught. But then Jerry turned around and said, "So, who is L.K.?"

"None of your business, Jerry. Get back to work."

"So, what was it signed again?" Chuni asked. It was slow in the ER, Carter and Conni were with the only patient, Mark was up at a meeting with Dr. Anspaugh, something about the new ER chief. That left Jerry, Malik, Carol, Maggie, Randi, and Chuni to sit around and gossip about Carter's letter. There was nothing else to do. Actually, Randi was reading a magazine and Carol and Maggie were reading various sections of the newspaper.

"L.K. Any suggestions?"

"Lucy Knight," Randi said, without looking up from her reading. When she realized that the only sound in the room was her snapping her gum, she looked up. Everyone was staring at her. "What? L.K. Lucy Knight. I'm not as stupid as you all think."

"Yeah, I just don't know why I didn't think of that," Jerry said.

All of the sudden, Carter walked up with Conni and put a chart in a pile. "Will someone wipe Ms. Cook's name off the board?" he asked. He stopped and looked around. Everyone except for Randi, who had gone back to reading her magazine, was staring at him. "What, do I have something on my face or something?" he asked.

"They want to know if the L.K. in your letter is Lucy Knight," Randi replied, snapping her gum.

"Oh, really? The letter Jerry and Malik weren't supposed to read?" Carter replied. *Okay, John, play this cool. Don't let them suspect anything.*

"Yeah, is it?" Chuni said.

"What if I told you that L.K. was someone none of you know?"

"Oh, come on Carter," Malik said.

"You guys can think all you want. Make up rumors, I don't care. But now's the time to do it, when Lucy's not here. You guys don't bother me anymore but I wouldn't want her to get all upset over a rumor that wasn't true," Carter said, accentuating the last few words. Everyone tuned back to what they were doing before, looking embarrassed. "Don't forget, all the sub-Is start up next Friday. And it doesn't matter who it is, it's not any of your business anyway." With that, he walked to the computer and logged out. "Have a nice night, all."

"So, what did you tell them?" Lucy asked as they lay in bed that night.

"I said something like, 'You guys don't bother me anymore but I wouldn't want her to get all upset over a rumor that wasn't true.'"

Lucy started to laugh. "And they really dropped the subject?"

"Yep. We don't have to worry about them for a while, I hope."

"Well, that doesn't matter. I'm not thinking about them."

"Oh? Who are you thinking about?" Carter asked with a coy smile.

"You."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep. The thought of you sitting over there on that side of the bed without any clothes on is too irresistible for me," she said, crawling over to cuddle up with him.

"Well, I can understand that," Carter said.

Lucy grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. In defense, he began to tickle her.

"Hey!" she said, dropping the pillow to tickle him also. She didn't notice that the covers had fallen off her until she noticed that Carter was staring. She quickly pulled them back up and scooted back over to the other side of the bed.

"Oh, c'mon, Luce, it's not like it's something I haven't seen," Carter said teasingly.

"Yeah, I know," Lucy said. "If you come back over here though, maybe I can refresh your memory."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

Lucy lay awake that night. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because the most handsome man alive was sleeping next to her. But Lucy knew that that wasn't the reason why. Although it was true, that wasn't the reason why she wasn't asleep. She was worried about when she went back to work in the ER in a week and a half. They would have to be careful, since the whole ER was practically suspicious. Oh well, they would figure something out. They always did.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lucy took a deep breath before walking into the ER. "Hey, guys," she said as she walked up to the admit desk.

"Hey Lucy! Welcome back!" Jerry said.

"Yeah, we were beginning to miss ya," Chuni said.

"Good morning Lucy. Long time, no see," Carter said, not looking up from a chart he was examining.

"Good morning to all of you too. I'm just going to put my stuff away. Dr. Greene said I was working with you again, Carter?"

"Yep. Hurry up though, there's an incoming trauma. Some guy fell down a whole flight of stairs and the EMTs should be pulling up any second now."

"'Kay, be right there."

"Lily, are Ms. Jacobs' labs back yet?" Carter asked about the woman who had fallen down the flight of stairs.

"Nope. She's still up having his CAT scan done anyway."

"Okay, thanks."

All of the sudden, the phone rang. Randi picked up the phone. "ER. Yeah, hold on." She turned around and looked at Carter. "Phone for ya."

"Yeah? Oh, hi. Yep, fine, you? Good. Well, little miss jet-setter, I'd imagine. Yeah, I've got it hold on one sec." Carter pulled out his wallet and looked on a small piece of paper. "689-1464. Yeah. Miss you too. Okay. Love ya, bye," Carter said, hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Lucy asked. She could already tell from the conversation that it was his sister.

"Oh, just a friend."

"A friend or a *friend*?" Jerry asked.

"Jerry, I haven't the slightest idea what you mean," Carter said, smiling sweetly.

"He wants to know if it was L.K.," Randi said.

"Oh, maybe," Carter said. This would definitely throw them off, since Lucy was in the room. He couldn't believe that they were still hooked on that.

"Who's L.K.?" Lucy asked.

"Last week, Carter got a love letter and it was signed 'L.K.'" Jerry said.

"Carter got a love letter? This Carter? You gotta be kidding me," Lucy said.

"No, Malik and I read it. See what you've been missing?" Jerry said.

They were all so busy talking about 'L.K.' that no one had noticed Kerry, who was sitting at the last computer.

"As fascinating as all of this 'L.K.' business is, can we all get back to work?" she said.

"Dr. Carter, Ms. Jacobs is back from her CAT scan and here are her labs," Lily said.

"Okay then. Lucy, let's get back to work."

She sat in the lounge wondering why it had happened. Lucy wasn't quite sure how it had happened. Nevertheless, she and Carter had managed to get into another fight. Although this time it was different. They were more than just work colleagues now.

*** "How could you do that, Lucy?" Carter said, his voice raised.

"I don't know!" she yelped back.

"Oh, fighting already?" Jerry commented.

Carter grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her into the lounge. Luckily, they were the only ones in there. "What were you thinking?" he screamed.

"I told you, I don't know! I already said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, well you gave Mrs. Goldstein quite a scare when you mixed her file up with Mrs. Goldberg's! She couldn't figure out how we concluded that she needed immediate surgery for her ruptured appendix when she came in with a head cold!"

"I apologized to both of you, what more you want from me?" Lucy screamed back.

In the midst of their fighting, Carol walked in. She saw them and quickly said, "Oh, sorry!" and ran out.

Carter stepped closer to Lucy. "See, this is why I didn't want us to get involved! When we fight, we're just going to bring it home with us!"

"Well, we don't fight that often," Lucy said back.

"Lucy, it's your first day back and we're already fighting!" Carter said, exasperated. "I gotta get some fresh air." ***

Now Lucy sat, trying to figure out what had just happened. What was she going to do? *Well, sitting here crying isn't going to help much,* she thought, wiping the tears from her eyes and getting up to walk out. She did so and scanned the ER for Carter. *Still getting fresh air, I assume,* she thought.

"Hey, Lucy, where's Carter?" Jerry called out.

"I don't know and I don't care," Lucy shot back. Seeing the urgent look on his face, she said, "Outside, I guess. Why?"

"Will you go get him and tell him his mom's on the phone?"

"Sure, me of all people," Lucy mumbled as she walked out the door. She saw him leaning up against the wall of the building. "Your mom's on the phone," she called out to him. Seeing that, he stood up and began to walk in, she also went back in. She wanted to avoid him as much as possible right now. When she got in, she walked up to the admit desk and sat down. There were only a few patients and none of them needed her help right now.

Carter came in and picked up the phone. "Hi Mom," he said, with an irritated look on his face. That look soon turned to worry. "Are you alright? That's all, a broken wrist, you're sure? Yeah. Okay, I'll be right there."

"Everything okay?" Kerry asked.

"Uh, my mom was in a car accident and needs someone to take her home. My dad's out of town and . . ."

"Get out of here, Carter," Kerry said. "Hope everything's okay."

"Yeah . . . yeah, thanks. Talk to you all later," he said, running out the door.

With Carter gone, Lucy stuck around with Maggie Doyle for the rest of the day. *For the best, I suppose,* Lucy thought. She was sitting and stitching up Ms. Jacobs head. "So, how'd this happen again?" Lucy asked.

"I fell down the stairs."

"Oh, right. Well, we're all a little bit clumsy."

"Yeah," the man replied with a sad look on his face.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah . . . it's just that . . . oh, never mind."

"No, what?"

"Well, when I fell down the steps I was chasing after my husband. We had gotten in a fight and he had stormed out. I was just wondering where he was."

"Oh," Lucy said. That made her think of Carter.

"You fancied that doctor who you were with earlier, didn't you?"

Lucy could feel her cheeks getting pink. "No. What made you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Body language and such. Ya know," she said. "You shouldn't let him get away from you. Get him when you've got the chance."

Lucy pretended to ignore the comment, although it did make her think. She would go over to Carter's when her shift was over. Get him while she had the chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucy walked up to the house. She wasn't sure if he would be there or not, but she sure hoped he would. Lucy had taken the El back to her place, freshened up, and taken the El to Carter's house. Just in case he wasn't, and Kerry was, Lucy had grabbed a sweater he had left at her apartment. She could always say he left it at the ER. She walked up the steps and rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" she hear Kerry say from inside. "Lucy?" Kerry said, as she opened the door.

"Uh, hi, is Carter here?" Lucy asked.

"No, he's still with his mother, I assume. Can I tell him something for you?" she asked.

"That's alright. Will you just give this to him?" Lucy asked, handing her the sweater.

Kerry could see disappointment and sadness in her eyes. "Lucy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, not looking at her.

"Lucy, don't worry about that fight you had with Carter today. He's been fighting with everyone lately. I think he's too stressed out. He's been in a fight with me, you, his parents, his grandparents, I heard even his new girlfriend . . ."

"Girlfriend?" Lucy squeaked out. Had Carter told her about them?

Kerry could see Lucy tense up at the word. "Yeah, he said something about a girlfriend, not sure who though." With those words, she could see Lucy start to relax. *Hmm," Kerry thought to herself. *Could Lucy really be L.K.?*

"Well, I better be going," Lucy said, starting down the steps.

"Lucy?" Kerry said.

Lucy turned back around. "Yes, Dr. Weaver?"

Kerry smiled. "I think Carter is at his grandparents' place," she said, with a twinkle in her eyes.

Lucy smiled for a moment, but then realized that she had just given herself away. Kerry laughed at the sight. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Now, you better run along. Tell Carter hello for me."

Lucy ran up the steps again to give Kerry a hug, which surprised her. "Thank you so much, Dr. Weaver!"

And with that she ran back to the El. She had a John Carter to find.

"John, please stay for dinner," his mother said.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do," he said, taking advantage of the fact that his grandfather and father were both away on business.

The two of them sat in the study while they waited for Carter's grandmother to come home from her bridge game.

"Dear, is something bothering you?"

"No, what makes you think that?"

"It just seems that something is wrong."

Carter sighed. "I just got into a fight with my med student, Lucy, today."

"Is that the same Lucy you brought over?"

Whoops. "Yeah."

"You like her, don't you?"

"Mom!"

"Well, I can tell you do. She's a sweet girl. John, it's not like I'm going to tell anyone."

There was a moment of silence. "You're going out with her, aren't you?"

"What did Barb tell you?"

"Nothing. She didn't say anything about you. I was just assuming. So, what's really troubling you is that you got in a fight with your girlfriend."

Sometimes Carter hated how his mother knew him so well. "Yeah, that's it."

He saw his mom smile. "Well, that's all I wanted to know."

"Yeah, this is it," Lucy told the taxi cab driver. The El didn't run close enough to Carter's grandparents' house, so she hailed a cab there. "You can stop here." She didn't want to have the taxi drive all the way up the driveway. She shoved some money in the driver's hand and hopped out. She walked up the driveway, which was a pretty far walk, and finally reached the door. She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

Quickly, someone came to the door. The butler. Lucy forgot his name. "Yes?"

"Uh, is Carter here? John Carter?"

"Miss Knight, correct? One moment please," he said, disappearing for a moment.

Lucy stood in the doorway, not quite sure of what to do. She then saw Carter walk out of a door. "Hi," she said.

"Hi."

"Um, I'm sure this is a bad time and everything but-"

"Can we go somewhere to talk? Your place or something?" Carter asked.

Lucy smiled a little bit. "Yeah. That'd be good."

Lucy unlocked the door and threw her keys on the kitchen counter. She flipped on the radio as Carter walked over to the couch and sat down. She followed him.

"I'm sorry," the both said at the same time. They laughed.

"Me first," Lucy said. "I'm sorry I mixed up the two patients' files. I can understand why you got mad. I'll be more careful from now on with that."

Carter smiled. "Well, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have blown up at you. It's just that I'm so stressed out lately . . ."

"Well, we can work on that later. Now, I know you got a nice gourmet meal, but I haven't eaten dinner, so I'm going to make myself a sandwich."

They sat and talked while Lucy ate her sandwich. When Lucy went to wash the dish she used, she felt Carter grab her from behind. "Dance with me?" he asked.

Lucy turned around. It would be Carter, of all people, who could get her to dance to a song on the radio in her kitchen. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened to the words of the song.

- You turn around

Then you ask me behind tears of doubt

Just what do I see in you.

Please don't cry

I know sometimes it seems we barely get by

But you don't see how much you do

To get me through.

When the world is cold

And I need a friend to hold

You give me love, you give me love

And when my hope is gone

And I feel I can't go on

You pick me up

You give me love, you give me love

I apologize

If I never told you what you are in my eyes

Oh baby, let me tell you now

Every day

Looks sweeter knowing you'll be there in every way

Now how can you say that's not enough

'Cause when the world is cold

And I need a friend to hold

You give me love, you give me love

And when my hope is gone

And it feels I can't go on

You pick me up

You give me love, you give me

Everything my heart desires

Morning sun and midnight fires

Someone there to share my dreams

With you I have everything

When the world is cold

And I need a friend to hold

You give me love, you give me love

And when my hope is gone

and I feel I can't go on

You pick me up

You give me love

Yeah, when my world is cold

And I need a friend to hold me

You give me love, you give me love

And when my hope is gone

And I feel I can't go on

You pick me up

You give me love . . . -

"So, what are we going to do if we get in another fight at work?" Lucy asked Carter that night as they lay in bed.

"We'll have to try not to. But, let's just take it one day at a time."

"Yeah, one day at a time." That's what they'd have to do. Take it one day at a time.

End.