Peter Benton settled into the chair by the bed and watched the unconscious figure who lay there. The steady beeping of the heart monitor reassured him somewhat, but he knew he wouldn't feel any optimism at all until the young man opened his eyes. Please open your eyes, he said under his breath. You have to live. You have to be all right. Peter's mind kept calling up memories of their time together. Four short years in which they had worked side by side. Four years in which they should have come to know each other much better than they did. Four short years which should have ended with John Carter as a surgeon, and not in Emergency Medicine. Peter knew it was his fault that Carter had switched residencies. He had been too wrapped up in his own guilt over the death of Dennis Gant to pay much attention to Carter and what he was going through. Then had come his surgery; Carter had done a fine job on the appendectomy, he barely had a scar. Carter had always been an artist when it came to stitches. Then Carla had given birth to Reese early, and he had to focus on all of that. He deserted his student, and his student had left him behind. Peter easily remembered how he had hounded Carter during his first ER/Surgical rotation. A surgeon didn't get caught up in his patient's life and problems. A surgeon saw the immediate problem, solved it, and then moved on. Carter tenaciously hung on, taking all the bull-shit Peter had shoved at him. It didn't take Peter long though, to see that he was mistaken about Carter. Carter was an excellent doctor and was coming along nicely as a surgeon.
Emergency Medicine had a wonderful asset now that they had Carter down there. Peter hoped Weaver was smart enough to see that. He knew for sure that Mark Greene appreciated Carter. Greene had always been there to encourage Carter, to give him the little pats on the back that all humans needed from time to time. Greene was there to be the teacher that Peter should have been. The teacher that Peter never was. Gant was dead because of that lack, and Carter had run to another specialty. All because Peter Benton couldn't find it within himself to praise others, or encourage them. Sure, he had it rough in medical school, always having to prove himself to be good enough. Hell, he was still having to do that with Romano, but there had been people along the way who encouraged him - Hicks and Morgernstern had always been there for him. Even Vucelich had told him he was a good surgeon. So had Abby Keaton, even though she didn't think he had what it took to be a good pediatric surgeon. A good surgeon, most definitely, just not a good pediatric surgeon. His own mother had called it a "gift of healing from God" and had urged him not to waste his talent.
Well, he was praying right now that his talent had been good enough to save John Carter's life. The surgery had been long and full of tension. This wasn't some stranger on the table before him, this was his former student. The man who had told him how grateful he had been to learn from him. The man that Peter Benton still couldn't bring himself to refer to as "Doctor Carter", just "Carter". Peter smiled as he remembered how "Doctor Carter" had taken control of the situation when the ER had the chemical contamination and Weaver was out of it. He had taught Carter to remain calm in a crisis. Damn but he had been proud of him, and how he handled things and thought fast on his feet. He had never told him that though, and he was sure that Weaver hadn't spared any praise for him either. Then, there was the calm way Carter had handled the woman Peter had hit with Corday's car. Carter, no, Doctor Carter had missed nothing. He had remained calm and detached while Peter over-reacted to the entire incident. Peter looked up as a shadow fell across the bed .
Elizabeth Corday smiled down at him, "Has he come out from the anesthesia?"
Peter shook his head, "Not yet."
"He will, Peter."
"He has to." Peter rubbed a hand over his tired eyes.
"You should go get some rest. You and Doctor Anspaugh spent a lot of time in surgery with him."
Peter shook his head. "I'm fine. I'll rest once he wakes up."
"Doctor Anspaugh is telling everyone what a wonderful job you did in surgery."
"He did wonderfully himself."
Anspaugh had been as tense as Peter, before they began he had told Peter that there was no way they could let this young man die. Too many young people have died, he said. Peter knew he was thinking of his own son, who had been buried not that long ago. Anspaugh continued to tell him what a good doctor Carter was turning out to be, and how much he was needed in the ER. When they had lost him on the table, both men had worked frantically to get a heart rhythm. Thankfully, they got one in good time, and were able to finish the rest of the surgery without further incident.
"Romano will be thrilled to hear what you've done in his absence." Elizabeth remarked, not even bothering to keep the scorn and sarcasm out of her voice.
"I don't have the energy to worry about Romano right now, Elizabeth."
"Peter? I think he's coming around."
Peter stood and looked down at Carter. His eyelids were fluttering and his fingers were twitching, "Come on, Carter, look at me. Open up your eyes and look at me."
Peter waited anxiously as Carter's eyes slowly opened, then tried to focus on him. "Elizabeth, help me out here with this tube." Together, they removed the tube from Carter's throat.
"Better?" Peter asked him.
"Yes." Carter's voice was soft and raspy. Elizabeth put a straw to his mouth and allowed him to take one sip of water. "How?" he croaked.
"You're fine, Carter," Benton reassured him. "I'll give you more details on your surgery later, but you're going to be fine."
Elizabeth smiled reassuringly and stepped back, giving the two men some privacy.
Carter slowly shook his head, "Not me." He paused, "Little girl. How is the....little girl?"
"She's fine. There's not a bruise or a scratch on her."
Carter smiled and nodded. "Good." Then he gave up trying to stay awake.
Peter looked around for Elizabeth and saw her talking to one of the nurses. They would now be moving Carter to ICU, allowing Peter to get some rest, but not until he had gone downstairs to make his report to the ER staff. Peter headed for the Recovery Room door and Elizabeth intercepted him. "Worried about the child, was he?"
"Yeah. But, that's what I would expect from John Carter. I'm going downstairs to let everyone know how the surgery went, then I'll crash."
"I'll stay with him until he's settled in the ICU."
Peter nodded, "Thank you. Did they ever get in touch with his family?"
"No. Carol Hathaway told me that she thought his grandparents had either gone out of town or out of the country."
Peter sighed, "I see. Well, I'll see you later, Elizabeth."
"Take care, Peter." She watched him leave, then went to check on John Carter again.
Anna Del Amico was pacing nervously, not paying attention to anyone or anything in the ER except the clock. It had been nearly an hour since the call had come down to tell them that John was out of surgery. Doctor Anspaugh had come down and told them that the surgery had gone well and that John should be all right. He told them that Peter Benton was with John in Recovery. So, why hadn't Benton called them or come down yet? John had to be awake by now. He just had to be. Everything had been so confused for her these past few months. She had rebuffed John's romantic advances, opting instead for friendship. She had told herself then that she was only being fair to John, since she wasn't quite over Max yet. Then Max had shown up and Anna had come to realize that she was well over him. John Carter was the man who held her heart, but before she could tell him that, he had found out from Max that she had also been a drug addict. This morning, he had angrily confronted her, demanding to know the truth about her addiction. Hell, she had never expected Max to show up in Chicago and she certainly couldn't understand why he would tell John about her addiction! Max had assumed John already knew, since Anna had told him about Chase. She had tried to explain to John that she had almost told him the truth when they were helping Chase go through withdrawal, but she chickened out of it because she didn't want him to think badly of her. The look on his face when she told him that was so sad and hurt.
"I could never think badly of you, Anna. I thought you knew that. I just don't understand how you could lie to me after the way you reacted when you found out my family was rich."
"You're right," she had responded. "I'm sorry, John, I really am."
"I…I can't talk about this right now, Anna. I told Chase I'd be by today and I don't want to be late. I took the El in and I have to go home to get my car," he rambled.
"We'll talk later, right?" she pleaded, searching his face for a sign of understanding or even anger, but instead finding nothing but coldness in those deep brown eyes.
"Right." John had then turned from her and they both saw Max in the doorway of the lounge. John pushed silently past Max. Max had taken one look at Anna's tear stained face and his own face hardened in anger. He had turned and gone after John. She still didn't know what they had argued about on the El platform, all she knew was that John had become a hero and nearly died in the process. Why hadn't he driven to work yesterday? Anna jumped as she felt a hand grasp her upper arm.
"Carol!"
"Anna, are you okay?"
Anna shook her head, "I wish Benton would call."
"Why don't you go on upstairs?"
"I don't know if John would want me there, Carol."
"Of course he wants you there! Carter loves you, Anna!"
Anna shook her head, "That might have been true before this morning, but things happened that might have changed all that."
"Anna, do you love John Carter?"
"Yes," Anna whispered, then more loudly, "Yes, I do love him."
"Then go to him."
"I just can't leave the ER. I'm still on duty."
"Mark will understand, Anna."
"Weaver won't."
"You might just be surprised at what I will understand," Kerry said as she approached the two women. "Doctor Del Amico, your attention is not on your work. It hasn't been since they brought Carter in here. Go on up and check on him We would all like a full report."
"I don't know."
"Consider it an order, Doctor Del Amico. There is a patient in Recovery who needs to be checked on by you. Take care of it!" Anna managed a half smile and a thank you before she hurried to the elevators.
"That was nice of you, Doctor Weaver."
"Believe it or not, Carol, I am a nice person. I'm as worried as the rest of you about Carter and his condition."
"I'm sorry if we often misjudge you."
"I'm used to it." Something outside the door caught Weaver's attention. "I think more reporters have arrived. Randi, if these are reporters, tell them to go straight to Doctor Anspaugh's office for an official statement. We don't have time to deal with them."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Carol, I need you to help me with a patient in Exam Two."
"I'm right behind you." The two women made their escape before the reporters entered the building.
Max Rosher paced the floor of Anspaugh's office. He should have gone back to his hotel hours ago, but for some reason, he didn't want to leave until he knew for sure that Carter was going to live and be all right. The events of the morning still had him shaken in more ways than one. The minute he had seen Anna's face, he knew that Carter had hurt her badly. The man might have denied being jealous about Anna, but Max was sure of one thing, Anna had feelings for John Carter. He had gotten so angry with the intern that he left the building and followed him to the El platform. They had argued about Anna: about her lying to John regarding her own addiction, about John having feelings for Anna and being jealous of Max. Carter had just gotten through telling him how he was no good for Anna, despite what Carter felt for her, and before Max could answer, a woman's scream caught their attention. Her young daughter was down on the track. Carter never hesitated. He threw down his backpack and sprinted to the edge of the platform, then jumped down to get the little girl before she injured herself. Max had followed and waited for Carter to pass the girl up to him. A collective gasp from the crowd told him that something bad was happening and he looked down the line to see the train headed their way. He shouted at Carter to hurry and Carter rushed the girl, grabbing her securely and hurrying back to where the platform began. Max closed his eyes as he remembered the look in Carter's eyes as he realized that he and the train would reach the same point at the same time. He yelled at Max to catch the little girl, then threw her up in the air. Max grabbed the near hysterical child and then watched helplessly as the train rammed into Carter, tossing his body into the air. He landed with a sickening thud and Max passed the little girl into the eager and shaking hands of her anxious mother. Screaming for someone to call for help, he jumped down to the track and to Carter's body. Thankfully, the train had been going slow, and Carter wasn't dead. But his body didn't look good either. His left arm was twisted under his body and definitely broken. Max carefully checked him over, silently assessing the injuries. He found broken bones in his left leg and thigh, and a lot of blood on his left side. Carter also had a nasty cut and contusion on his head. Max had been shocked to discover that Carter wasn't unconscious. Carter had looked him straight in the eyes, told him to never let Anna down again, and passed out. After the verbal attacks they had traded moments earlier, Max was surprised to hear those words from Carter, and he realized then that Carter thought he was going to die. Well, he was damned if he would allow that to happen! He applied pressure where he could to stem the bleeding and he helped the paramedics when they arrived. Their exam showed Carter to be in even worse shape than his brief exam had revealed. From his left hip to the middle of his left rib-cage, Carter's body was torn open. They had treated him for shock and rolled the gurney to the ER, where Carter's friends and colleagues were anxiously awaiting him. Anspaugh himself was in the ER to attend to the young man. They worked on him feverishly, then passed him off to the surgical team. After what Max had witnessed on the El platform, he could easily understand why they would care so much about Carter.
The door opened and Anspaugh stepped in, firmly shutting the door behind him. "I thought you had left already."
Max shook his head. "I wanted to wait until Doctor Carter was out of recovery."
"Doctor Rosher, when I last saw him, his vital signs were good."
"I'm sure they were, sir, but I just want to see him for myself, then I'll leave."
"There were some more reporters outside. They wanted to talk to the heroes of the day, but I told them you had left already."
Max snorted, "There were no heroes out there today, sir. There was only one hero, and he's in recovery right now."
"You also saved that child, Doctor Rosher, don't be so hard on yourself."
Anspaugh eased himself into his chair.
"I'm only being honest, Doctor Anspaugh. When the mother screamed, John Carter never hesitated. He did what he had to do. All I did was watch and hold out my arms to catch the child."
Anspaugh pursed his lips and blew out some air, not sure where to take this conversation. He decided to change the subject. "So, have you considered our offer? We would be delighted if you remained here at County to be our Pedes Attending in the ER."
Max nodded. "I've given it a lot of thought. Quite a lot of thought." He stood. "If you'll excuse me, I want to go see how Doctor Carter's doing."
Max left, and Anspaugh leaned back in his chair, tired to the bone. Too tired to even think. He called his secretary and directed her to take messages, then lowered his head to his desk for a quick nap.
Anna slowly pushed open the door to the Recovery Room, then quickly scanned the beds, looking for John.
A British voice grabbed her attention. "Anna? You just missed John."
Anna saw that Elizabeth was over at the nurses station and she joined her there, "Missed him? He's all right, isn't he?"
"Didn't you talk to Peter? He left here a few minutes ago to let everyone in the ER know how John was doing."
Anna shook her head, "I never saw him. We must have just missed each other. Where is he now?"
"Still in the ER I imagine."
"Not Peter. John."
Elizabeth felt her face flush with embarrassment as she realized that Anna didn't care where Peter Benton was at this moment. "Sorry 'bout that. John's been taken to ICU. I'm on my way down there now. Care to join me? Or, do I even need to ask that question?"
Anna wearily smiled, "You really don't need to ask. I have to see him, Elizabeth."
"Let's go then."
They left recovery and headed for ICU, "So, what were the extent of his injuries?", Anna asked.
"Well, he lost his left kidney, but even though the right kidney suffered damage, they were able to save it. They had to remove his spleen, and he had a lot of internal bleeding. His left arm is broken in two places, his left leg was broken just above the ankle, and then midway between the ankle and the knee. The left thigh was broken. I'm amazed that his left hip wasn't broken, but he lucked out there. He has a hairline fracture of the skull and numerous fractured ribs. I'm afraid he's got a long recovery ahead of him."
"As long as he's alive, that's all that matters to me."
"Oh, really?" Elizabeth teased.
"Yes, really! Are his grandparents here?"
"No. Apparently they're out of town or something to that effect. No one knows how to get in touch with them, or his parents."
"I might know how to find them." Anna remembered that John was going to see Chase, certainly the Kenner Institute would have a phone number for John's grandparents. Anna told that to Elizabeth.
"I'll call over there and see what I can find out."
"I just realized that Chase must be worried out of his mind about John. He has no idea what's happened. John was on his way to see him this morning when..." Anna's voice choked off as she saw John through the window. His skin was as white as the thin sheets that barely covered him. As a doctor, she had seen plenty of IV's and tubes, but it shocked her to see John hooked up to so many. It also shocked her to see Max standing at John's bedside. This was partially his fault. Why was he in there? He had no right to bother John. She angrily tapped on the glass, gesturing at Max to come outside. As Max exited the area, Elizabeth went in, even though she was concerned over how angry and upset Anna appeared.
"What in the Hell do you think you're doing in there with him?" Anna demanded.
"I wanted to see for myself that he was doing okay. The same as you, apparently."
"I don't want to see you anywhere near him again, Max, do you understand that? You and I are the reasons he's in there right now!"
"No, Anna. The reason he's in there right now is that he's a caring and brave human being. He didn't have to jump down on that track to save that little girl. Hell, if the child would have gone down a few more feet, she would have fallen into safety netting and the paramedics and firefighters could have rescued her."
"Provided the El driver saw her."
"Enough people on the platform knew she was there. The driver would not have hit her. Anna, John did what he had to do. He had a split-second to make a decision and in that time he decided to save the child. Do you know what his last words to me were?"
"Go to Hell?" she ventured, still angry.
Max smiled, "No. He told me to never let you down, Anna. Well, I won't let you down."
Anna was so flabbergasted by his audacity that she was speechless. That didn't stop Max though.
"I've decided to leave Chicago, Anna." He reached over and gently pushed her chin up, closing her mouth, then softly kissing her cheek. "I can see that you love him, and he certainly loves you. When he felt he was dying, he was noble enough to give his blessing to his romantic rival. Kinda corny, isn't it? But, then again, sometimes, Carter is just that kind of guy. He belongs to another age, Anna. He's a true hero and gentleman, who is somewhat out of place in this modern world. Be patient with him as he deals with your past. Be honest with him in everything from now on, including how you feel about him. Now, more than ever, he needs to know that you love him. And above all else, Anna, never let him down."
"I won't."
"Good-bye, Anna Del Amico. I have always loved you and I still will."
With a brief kiss on her lips, Max let her go. Max looked into the ICU, "Anna, go to him."
Anna walked through the ICU doors and to John's side, never looking back.