The Vacation Starts Now
THAT NIGHT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lucy's apartment~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey honey here's an idea, come on out here and visit me, you need a vacation"
"I know mom but I really don't have time"
"Just tell the hospital you need time off"
"How am I going to fly out there? despite all the hours I put in there I don't make that much"
"I know I'll pay for it I have those flyer miles that I've had for years"
"Mom,"
"Shush, just tell me when you're coming and I'll be there to pick you up"
"Thanks mom. This'll be great some time off in Florida I definately need this" she laughed.
"Good night Lucy I have to sleep now"
"Good night mom"
'YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO FLORIDA, I'M GOING TO FLORIDA!' she really needed this. besides she would get to see her mom for the first time since her mother saw her in the hospital.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Next day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"John take some time off you need it seriously"
"Kerry I don't need it I'm fine"
"You practically fell asleep during the trauma! that isn't fine!" he had to admit he was a little sleep deprived.
"see you're too tired to argue with me like you usually do" she was right again. He didn't feel like thinking up some excuse not to take time off. "you have those flyer miles go to Hawaii or something California or Florida or some sunny place like that"
"Fine Kerry I'll take one week"
"Good you start tomorrow"
"TOMORROW? that's too early"
"Tomorrow John you finish today and I'll see you one week from tomorrow at 10:30"
"Fine Kerry" he walked off to the lounge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lounge~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why do you look so happy Carter?" Lucy asked sarcastically
"Oh now you're talking to me?" he was excited about that. He wanted so much for her to talk to him again. He couldn't stand it when she was giving him the silent treatment.
"Yea why not?" She pretended like she hadn't given him the silent treatment all yesterday.
"Forget it."
"Well what's the problem?"
"I have to take a week off"
"And you're complaining because?"
"Because, I like what I do and I don't need the time off"
"Well just my luck I tried to get time off and I can't"
"Why?"
"Because I was going to see my mom in Florida and Dave decided to tell Kerry he doesn't feel like coming in again for a few days so Kerry said she'd be one doctor short so I can't take off the time"
"Oh, I'm sorry"
"So am I. Any other time I would be able to go to Dave and tell him I need the time off but now he won't even talk to me so I'm at a small disadvantage."
"I'll make you a deal"
"What?"
"I'll convince Dave to trade time off with you if you'll fly down to Florida with me"
"Why?"
"Hey, come on its one flight and I figured we could talk on the way down."
"I don't know Carter"
"Fine you don't need your vacation anyway right?"
"Fine! just you have to convince Dave to come in for the next week"
"Done"
"Thanks Carter"
"Your welcome Lucy" he smiled at her. She soooo loved that smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Admit Desk~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you'll trade time off with Lucy right?"
"Yea, yea, yea sure Carter. You need to get laid anyway"
"WHAT?"
"Yea, you need it. When was the last time you were with someone?" he hadn't slept with Roxanne for weeks even when they were together. He didn't answer.
"See. Who knows maybe you and Lucy WILL hookup"
"Lucy doesn't go sleeping around Dave"
"I know she's a nice girl. She doesn't do that but she has with you so maybe history repeats itself. You owe me man"
"I know thanks Dave"
"Sure thing. Tell Lucy I say hi"
"Sure thing" 'yes!' was all he could say to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lounge~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy was getting ready to leave when Carter came in smiling.
"well?" she asked anxiously.
"We leave tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning"
"Oh my gosh thank you so much!" she ran and hugged Carter and kissed him on the cheek. He was shocked by that.
"Really its nothing"
"No really thank you so much."
"You're welcome"
"Um, I'm off now and I have to go pack but I'll see you tomorrow at the airport?"
"Na, I'll come pick you up at 6:00"
"Thanks I'll see you then" maybe she would reconsider Deb's words: pain is a warning that something's wrong. 'hhhmmm, maybe she's right'..........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lucy's apartment~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy was so happy she was going that she would have done anything at that moment for Carter. Well considering what he wanted, maybe almost anything. She was packing her last things just some clothes and stuff when her doorbell rang. She went to it and surprisingly found Carter there.
"Hi"
"Hey Luce um can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Yea sure come on in. Excuse the mess I'm just packing and unpacking at the same time" she had recently moved into her apartment from the old one. Where Carter lived. The same building 2 doors away. It was a little weird for her so she found another place. This one she liked a lot more. It actually had hot water all the time and the heat cost was lower.
"It's fine my place isn't much better"
"Um, you can come in here I just need to finish packing" she walked to her bedroom. He looked at her a little funny. "Relax John, I wont bite I just need to pack" she laughed and he followed her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Lucy's room~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what's up?"
"Oh, um I'm sorry for you know what I said on the roof that made you so uncomfortable. I shouldn't have said that" she was folding shirts and trying to think of an answer at the same time. It wasn't doing 2 things at once that was hard it was finding the right thing to say.
"No don't apologize, I should"
"Why?"
"Because you were right and what I said made no sense to me after I thought about it"
"What didn't make sense?"
"That it hurt too much. I mean it did hurt a lot but, Deb told me something that just made it seem so stupid"
"What'd she say ?" he wanted to know what Deb had said that made Lucy take back her words.
"Pain is a warning that something's wrong"
"And how does that effect what you said?"
"John if it hurt for us to breakup than maybe we shouldn't have" she wasn't packing now just standing there looking at him. He couldn't believe her words. He loved hearing them of course but he couldn't believe that that day she had rejected him as a friend and now she was saying that they should still be dating.
"What are you saying Luce?" she paused.
"I'm saying I made a mistake and........" she thought about what she wanted to say. "What?"
"I think you should stay" there she had said it. She wanted him to stay the night with her. Now she had to find an explanation if he asked for it. He didn't. He walked over to Lucy and just stared at her. He was too happy to question his little miracle. 'note to self: thank Deb for talking to Lucy' without thinking anymore about what was happening Lucy kissed him. She didn't know where it would lead but she knew one possibility and she wasn't so sure he wanted that. She shouldn't have thought that. He definately wanted that. Lucy couldn't believe how much more comfortable she was. She had enjoyed being with Dave but it didn't feel like it should have. She felt comfortable with John and comfortable with letting him see her like that. She didn't feel embarressed about her scars with Carter. He knew what she had gone through that put them there. Every touch was a different feeling for her. She finally felt at ease for the first time in a long time.
**********************************
He couldn't believe what was going on. First Lucy wouldn't talk to him now she couldn't let go of him. What was going on? He couldn't understand why he had waited so long to do this. He felt comfortable with her. To him this wasn't just sex it was meaningful and he didn't have to put effort into it like with Roxanne. She made it cheap and meaningless. With Lucy it seemed like a beautiful thing. He didn't want to let go of her. Physically or emotionally. He had let her slip out of his life once. He sure as hell wouldn't let it happen again.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They both laid there in the dark. She was enfolded in his arms and hoped he would never let go. She was happy that they were gong on the flight together tomorrow. she looked at the clock. It read 3:40. Or it was today. They had to be up in 2 hours. She would have to finish packing . Just then thinking of packing she realized he didn't have his things there. Knowing he was awake she mentioned it to him.
"Ok, I'll go get it in a few minutes" she turned around to face him while he held her.
"Can you believe we did this?"
"No, but I'm glad we did"
"Me too" she kissed he chin. That was as far as she could reach on him without moving up. She was too tired to move. They would have to get sleep for at least a half hour. "Lets go get your stuff now. We have to be up soon anyway. besides I need to shower" she sat up and yawned. she tasted morning breath. 'Yuck' she thought to herself.
"Need some company?" he asked jokingly as he pulled her back down and kissed her neck.
"If you want to I'd like that" she didn't refuse that. he looked at the clock. "Maybe next time, I'll go get my stuff now and we can have breakfast together"
"Ok" she got up and went to the shower. When she fumbled for the light it stung her eyes when she switched them on. she squinted but adjusted quickly. She was used to that skill from the ER and getting 15 minute naps. When she got out of the shower and had brushed her teeth Carter walked in the door.
"Hey" he sounded raspy from not talking a lot. That or he was coming down with something like a head cold.
"Hi. what's in the bag?" she pointed to a brown bag he held in his right arm.
"Breakfast. Your favorite chocolate bagels and cream cheese"
"Mmm thanks" she walked over to him in her towel still wet from the shower. She took the bag and kissed him. She loved how he knew everything about her. "Wow is it really that cold out there?" she asked after she felt his freezing face.
"Yea you should dry your hair or it'll turn to ice"
"Now there's a great image a frozen blond" she laughed.
an hour later they were running a half hour early so they decided to go to the hospital and finish some paper work. Lucy lived within walking distance so by car they wouldn't have to wear seatbelts. that would give them a good 25 minutes for work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey John and Lucy what are you guys doing here?"
"Together?" Jerry added.
"We figured we'd do some paper work before we left or maybe take some with us on the flight"
"Together?" Jerry asked again.
"Yes Jerry we're on the same flight to Florida"
"Together?" he asked again.
"No we're not going to Florida together, Lucy's mom is there and I have friends down there too."
"Oh" he finally changed his vocabulary.
"Hey guys" Dave called. Lucy looked uncomfortable. "Uh, Carter can I talk to Lucy for a sec.?"
"Yea sure, Lucy I'll be in the lounge"
"Ok," she sounded uncomfortable too
"Thanks Carter" now he turned to Lucy "Um, Lucy I don't want to have tension between us or anything so I was hoping you know that even though we're not going out maybe we could be friends?" she was relieved to he wanted to talk about that. "Yea I'd like that". Just then Carter came out of the lounge. "Uh, ready to go? we may hit some traffic on the way so we better get going now"
"Yea, um, I'll see you later Dave ok?"
"Yea sure thing Lucy bye Carter! have a good time"
"We will bye man" Carter called as he and Lucy walked out the ER doors to his car.
"Thanks for getting me out of there, I thought I would die talking to him"
"Why ?"
"I don't know he asked if we could be friends and I was fine with that but I just felt uncomfortable for some reason." He put his arm around her shoulder.
"Boy you need this vacation huh?" she jokingly elbowed him in the chest.
"Not funny" she lied over her laughs "Yea I do"
"It'll be fun"
"yea" she leaned her head on his shoulder and they walked to his car..........
