Here With Her
Carter slid his arms into the sleeves of his coat and anxiously searched for the keys. His rushed eyes scanned the apartment for them, until he saw them on the coffee table. He sighed and ran to them, snatching them from the surface and heading out the door.
The hallway was instantly frigid. His feet were sore from yesterday, the constant shuffling from here to there. Abby was still in the hospital, and Carter had to work. He would visit her as soon as he got there, and whenever he got another chance. She should be able to come home today or tomorrow, and Carter was as excited as anything. He had only gotten to see her when Weaver saw him standing along outside a trauma or exam room, silently staring ahead. She had naturally felt sorry for him and sent him up there, usually taking his workload.
He would rush up the stairs as fast as he could. As a doctor, he was forced to set a good example for the rest of the patients and visitors. However, when one person would ask where he was going so fast and he explained the circumstances, they would always smile at his care and praise him for it.
He had made his way to the hospital entrance quickly, probably because of his Abby thoughts. Carter would have labeled any other person telling him about their relationship like this "pathetic". It seemed like mushy, disgusting liar love. Now he thanked God every night for what he had. It was almost surreal.
There was a man on crutches approaching the building. "They kicked me out!"
Carter went to the gentleman and asked why they had supposedly kicked him out.
"Said I was 'good to go.'" Upon saying this, he held up his fingers to form quotation marks in the air.
"Let me see your ankle." Carter stooped down to lift his pant leg to inspect his ankle. The man smacked one of the crutches against his back.
"Ow!" Carter cried slightly falling over. "What are you doing?" He rubbed his back in pain.
"What are you doing?" the man accused. "You touched my leg! You tried to take off my pants!"
"I was looking at your ankle, sir," he said, still squinting with hurt. "I was going to see if I could help you further."
"No you weren't," he said. "You wanted to rape me!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted into the crisp morning air. "Rapist! Rapist!"
Carter took a hold of his hands. "Would you please be quiet, sir? I am not trying to rape you!"
"What's going on, Carter?" Weaver suddenly said, appearing at the door.
"This man is trying to rape me," the man said.
"I was trying to get a look at his ankle."
"Sid," Weaver said, "You are fine. Your ankle will heal. Come back tomorrow, and I'll check up on you myself. Clock in, Carter."
Carter nodded, satisfied.
"My name isn't Sid."
"Yes, it is, sir."
The doors glided open and noisily slid back together behind him. Thankfully, again, the ER seemed unexpectedly bare. There were few people sitting in the chairs, and respectively almost more people at the desk than in the chairs at all.
He walked to the lounge and removed his coat as quickly as possible. With Weaver attending to this Sid character, that could possibly buy him some time to visit Abby without Weaver even noticing. He put his lab coat on and hung his stethoscope around his neck. He ran a finger down the back of his hair and pushed the door shut.
He ran from the room to the pair of elevators, isolated from the rest of the room. He tapped the button, let the doors slide open, and walked inside. It carried all to slowly, until finally he arrived on the correct floor. He knew what room she was in, so he wasted no time at a desk. He was there in seconds and opened the door to see her reading a magazine, propped up against a few pillows.
"Hey," he said. He walked over to the bed, and sat on the chair he had pulled up so many times. He scooted it closer to her as she responded with a "hey" cheerfully. He kissed her head as she looked on to the magazine in her hand.
"I'm so bored, I can't wait to get out." She folded the magazine from cover to cover, but kept her page marked with her finger. "I'm out today, right?"
"Romano says one more day."
She sighed, settling the magazine on her lap again. "Are you serious?" He nodded in response. "Twenty-four hours a day in this bed except when you have to go to the bathroom and walk around the hallways sucks."
"Wanna go for a walk with me?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yes! Let's go for a walk." She started out of the bed.
"Not now," he laughed. "I have to get back down there to work. I sneaked out on Weaver."
"Daredevil you."
"You bet," he said. He kissed her lips promptly and tucked the blankets around her waist. He rubbed her arm. "Be good. Take care of the baby."
"Okay."
"I'll be back later."
"When?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Probably around noon or something." He approached the door. "Love you."
"Love you."
He closed the door and hit it slightly, twice, to let her know that he was still there before he walked away. It was a funny thing he had done, just to pat the door before he left. He knew she had heard it, and it was nice just to have that cute thing between them.
