Finally. If I see one more screaming little kid or drunken teenager looking to pick a fight with anything that moves, I swear... That thought was abruptly cut short by a young boy emerging out of the ER and hurtling past Carter on a skateboard right into the path of an incoming ambulance about to park in the bay.

"Hey, hey" Carter reached out and stuck an arm out just in time to keep the boy form crashing into a gurney "We have enough patients in here already without you adding to them." He bent down to check on the boy. "You OK?"

The young child, perhaps about seven or eight, nodded sheepishly and tugged at the sleeve of his sweater nervously.

"Frank!" Carter yelled into the building. He didn't hear him. John rolled his eyes and sighed. "FRANK!" The guy sitting behind the desk put down his magazine and took another bite of his doughnut and ambled out of the building to see where his services were required. "Take care of this little guy for me, I'm off home".

He walked away from the two standing by the sliding doors and just about heard the boy shouting something back about him being big for his age but to be truthful, Carter was to exhausted from his shift and concentrating too hard on just getting home, to listen to what the boy had to say or to care very much that he didn't hear.

He rounded the corner onto a busy street and hailed a taxi. He tiredly got in and slumped into the back seat and spent most of the ride home desperately trying not to fall asleep. He got back to his apartment and fumbled for his keys in his jacket pocket. He fell through the door and flicked on the light switch. "Damn it!" he cursed out loud. Power cut. This was all he needed. Carter had to be back at 7 in the morning for his next shift, but before he had much time to complain that the power was out, he collapsed onto his sofa and fell asleep.

* * *

Help! Jing-Mei Chen felt like screaming. She was standing at the admin desk, arms full of clipboards, desperately trying to calm an irate father whose daughter was in with alcohol poisoning. Being yelled at was all part of the job though and after all the years of working at County, she should have got used to it, but why patients felt the need to kick up a fuss when they knew full well that it wouldn't do any good was beyond her. The man finally got tired of screaming at her and went to find someone else to take his frustrations out on.

"Someone like to give me a hand with these patients?" She called out to no one in particular.

"No can do" Called Abby as she headed out into the parking lot "We've got a trauma coming in."

Abby turned back to face Chen briefly before continuing down the hallway

"He got off about ten minutes ago."

Then gave a sigh and flung a clip board at Luka who was emerging out of the crowd of people who were gathered by the admin desk. Luka looked like he was about to protest but decided against it when he saw the look on Chen's face. She ignored him and went off to treat more of Chicago's accident prone population.

Only 4 more hours to go.

* * *

Carter had woken up at two in the morning and dragged himself off the sofa and now lay on his bed in the dark, unable to sleep. The power was still out but he really didn't care. He was exhausted, but not only from the increased work load that had been the result of a flood in the ER of another Chicago hospital, he was mentally exhausted from having to keep his facade of being OK and it completely drained him of all his energy.

It was nearing that day. No one had said anything about it which bothered him slightly. As much as he did not want to be reminded of that dreadful moment two years ago that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he couldn't help feeling bitter that no one remembered.

Carter gave a sigh and shook his head, quickly dismissing that thought. Of course people remember. It's not something you forget in a hurry. Everyone fought long and hard to save his life, for which he would be eternally grateful but in his mind they could have done better. He knew that thought was selfish and he hated himself for thinking it, but he couldn't help how he felt. He missed her.

Valentine's day. For every one else who had not been there on that tragic evening when he lost a friend and nearly lost his life, valentine's day was a time of the year for soppy love letters and Chocolates and flowers for the one you love. For Carter and everyone else at County General's ER, the cards and light-hearted jokes didn't seem to be appropriate anymore.

He felt a warm tear trickle down his cheek and he drifted of into a sleep that was neither peaceful nor deep but he had got to the point where keeping his eyes open would only remind him of one fact: He was here and she wasn't.