Here With Her
"John."
He turned over in the bed to see her face, propped up on her hand against the pillow, with a smile.
"Hi," he said. He glanced at the clock over her shoulder, reached up to kiss her nose, then turned around again while saying, "You are aware that its almost midnight, right?"
She giggled and pulled his arm to make him to turn around to see her again. She smiled and nodded. "Yep." She ran her fingers through his hair gently, as he lay back on his pillow and enjoyed her hand's presence.
"Okay," he said dreamily, eyes closed. "Then good night."
She giggled again. "Wait," she said sweetly. With his eyes still shut, he felt her press a small, but tempting kiss on his lips. He kissed her back, smiled, and attempted to fall asleep again. Her fingers were still combing his hair lovingly.
"Come on," she whined. "Let's talk."
"About what?" he asked, with a hint of a chuckle. "I have a shift in - "
"Ten hours," she laughed. "We can talk for a while."
"Okay, okay," he gave in. He took her wrist from his head and kissed it tenderly before laying it back down on the pillow. "Shoot."
"Huh?"
"Shoot," he said. "Tell me what's on your mind."
She smiled. "A baby. A wedding."
"Hey," he said sarcastically. "On my mind, too. Nice to have this talk with you. 'Night."
"You're boring," she said, moving closer to him and curling up to his chest. He gratefully wrapped his arms around her. His eyes were still closed.
He kissed the back of her head, which was close to his face anyway. He hugged her tightly and buried his face in her hair.
"When should we do it?" she asked, her face lying on his arm. She strengthened her grip as well on his embrace as she spoke.
"When do you think?"
"Well," she said, "either before or after the baby's born."
"When would there be another time?" he asked with a laugh, then sarcastically added, "*During* the birth?"
She laughed quietly. "I mean, do you think it would be better to do it before or after the baby's born?"
He shrugged and sighed. "Before."
"Really?" she asked, speaking in a different tone. "Because if it were after, the baby would be there. The baby would get to be part of it. He'd be a part of our family, you know?"
"Well," he said, "this way, we get to do it as soon as possible." He smiled at the next part. "The baby's already part of our family, Abby."
She turned toward his face. "What?"
He finally opened his eyes and looked into hers. "The baby. She's already part of the family."
She smiled, one of the happiest grins they'd ever shared. Seeing this, Carter's face was a mirror to hers and she hugged him yet again.
"I love you," she said.
He kissed the top of her head. "Love you. I wanna marry you."
"Hmm," she said, happily. "Let's do it, then."
"I thought we already established the fact that we were going to."
She giggled. "I meant, let's do it soon. Before the baby arrives."
He smiled, and realized how happy he was again. She had an amazing affect on him. "What, you mean like tomorrow?"
"No," she said.
"So," he said with a chuckle, "no romantic ER wedding for us?"
"God, no," she said with an identical laugh. "Please, God, no."
He laughed and drove a finger gingerly up and down her arm. He wrapped one of his legs around hers at the bottom of the bed and sneaked one more kiss to the top of her head.
"Let's do it on Saturday," he said.
She shifted, and said, "Why Saturday?"
"Because its supposed to be nice out?" he said funnily. "And we both have the day off."
"I don't," she said. "I took Sunday off instead."
"No, you didn't," he said. "Chuny got the schedules passed out today when you weren't there. You're off on Saturday." He nodded and added, cockily, "As am I."
"Ha," she said. "Didn't know that. Thanks for telling me now though."
"Well," he said, "its Chuny's fault."
She nodded. "Okay."
He put his arms around her shoulders, took her hands, and held them higher to look at them. For no reason, really. "What should we name her?"
"You mean him?"
"What should we name the baby?" He smiled.
She shrugged against his chest. "I don't have any ideas so far. We're so far behind."
"We have five months," he said, reasonably. "I think its going to be a girl. Let's start with girls' names."
She sighed. "I'm too tired."
"Oh, really?" he asked. "Sorry to interrupt your sleep, then. 'Night, again." He kissed her cheek and settled against the pillow.
A few silent minutes and she spoke again.
"I think its a boy," she said. "And we're far enough to find out. Do you want to know?"
"Do you?"
She shook her head. "Not really."
"Then we can wait." He grinned at the thought of having a baby in his arms to hold. "We're having a baby."
"Yeah," she said. "I didn't think it would ever be this great."
[Part 24]