The water trickled over her bare skin in a slow rush as she daydreamed of yesterday. The night had been much too long and had allowed her to feverishly repeat the same dream over and over. And here she was, a mere 8 hour later, daydreaming the same dream. The dream that held the kiss; their kiss; the unsaid words they had shared on the rooftop; and finally her will for it to happen again; the kiss.

She was rudely jolted out of her sweet dream as the water turned icy cold. "Damnit," she yelled at the uncertain neighbor above her that had flushed the toilet. One of the many joys of sharing a water heater; oh how she loved her low rent apartment; that was sarcasm by the way. Abby quickly rinsed the shampoo out of her hair as she held her breath trying to erase the freezing cold temperatures. She turned the water off and jumped out of the shower grabbing for a nearby towel.

Knock, knock, knock... An instantaneous rapping at the door made her swear yet again in this early morning. Knock, knock, knock... "Keep your pants on," she yelled as she wrapped the towel around her body. "Not even a chance to dry off..." she muttered as she made her way to the door stepping over things in the process. She jerked the door open and prepared to face her landlord. "Look I..."

She stopped short when she saw Carter standing in front of her with a sheepish smile on his face. "I can come back..." he started as he tried to keep his eyes focused on hers instead of the wet, clingy towel that was covering her body. It was all he could do to keep his calm as he waited for a reply. His hands suddenly became shaky and started sweating. What was a guy to do?

"No...no...," she stammered as she motioned Carter inside. Abby was suddenly aware, too aware, of her state of dress, or rather undress. "I'll just go get dressed," she said rather hastily as she made off towards her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"Okay," Carter replied as he began to nervously walk around her living room. It was sparsely decorated, not very many pictures, very few personal items... He stopped at the one picture that sat by the phone and picked it up. It was one of her and Maggie. He smiled sorrowfully as he remembered the troubles the two had. He put it back and continued pacing the room, trying not to think of her; of her and the towel; of her wet in the towel... "That's enough John," he muttered as he ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"Did you say something?" Abby yelled from the other room when she thought she heard him say something.
"No...no nothing at all," Carter yelled back wringing his hands. "I'm fine..."

"Oh okay," she yelled back as she finished getting dressed. "Just make yourself at home..." Abby ran over to the mirror and quickly combed her hair. "Why am I acting like this?" she muttered as she stared at herself in the mirror. "You are acting like a schoolgirl Abby," she chided herself. "Cut it out!" She picked up the blow dryer and turned it on. Her hair blew wildly as her mind raced with thoughts. What was he doing here? How could she have let him see her in a towel? She must have looked awful; hideous actually. Had he changed his mind? Did she still have too much baggage? Too much history? She relived the kiss; she recalled every word she had told him on the rooftop. "I want it to happen again..." God, what if he had changed his mind. He couldn't...he wouldn't...would he?

Carter sat on the couch wringing his hands subconsciously as he waited for her to emerge. Had he made a mistake coming here? He knew that she was scheduled back at work at the same time he was that morning; he had thought it would be nice to walk to work together; so here he was. "I've got to move or do something," he muttered as he stood and walked into the kitchen. He got a glass of water and quickly gulped it all down. Boy, was he nervous suddenly. Susan had never made him this nervous...

"Okay," Abby said quietly as she walked out of her bedroom. She stopped and leaned against the doorframe leading into the kitchen and smiled as she watched Carter. He was oblivious to her presence. She took in his handsome, boyish, good looks slowly, trying to store everyone in her mind. She ran her eyes the length of his body, noticing for the first time his build; not too big, but not too small either; just right, she thought smiling. She thought about what it would be like to taste his lips upon her own once again and drifted off into a short daydream...yet again.

Carter sat the glass in the kitchen sink and turned around to head back into the living room. It was then that he noticed her standing there...why hadn't she said anything? "Abby..." he said tentatively. "Abby..."

He had just been about ready to kiss her; his face was inches from hers; Abby...; she heard her name; why was he not kissing her? Abby... She slowly came out of her daydream and turned slightly red when she realized what she had been doing; when she realized that John had caught her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly as she looked into his eyes. Even though he was on the other side of the kitchen, what seemed like miles away from her, she felt that he was right next to her at the same time. "So what are you doing?" she said in an attempt to break the silence.

John smiled and cocked his head slightly to the left when he realized that Abby had been daydreaming. "Nothing much," he said as he walked over to her and stopped inches from her. "I thought we could walk to work together..." he said questioningly. "Only if you want too..." He definitely didn't want to push her.

"Yeah, yes...that would be great," she answered nonchalantly.

"Okay then," John said as they stood there in the doorframe staring at one another. It seemed like they had been standing there for an eternity when the telephone rang.

"I should get that..." she murmured as she stood there staring up at him. She made no effort to move though. The phone rang again...and yet again

"You should get that," John said breathlessly as he took a step towards her.

Her pulse was racing as the distance closed between them. He felt his hands grow cold and clammy at her nearness. He could smell the faint perfume she wore. She could see into the depths of his soul.

The answering machine cut on. "You've reached Abby. I can't get to the phone right now so leave me a message." Beep..beep..beep..

They were oblivious to the world as he took her hands in his, softly rubbing his thumbs across the tops of them. They tingled at the feel of skin against skin. Words were unspoken as lips grew closer to each other; as hearts tried to pull each other inside.

"Abby..." the voice on the answering machine began...Luka's voice. "Abby, are you there? Abby?"

Abby froze at the sound of Luka's voice on the machine; and so did John. "I'll be right back," she said quickly dashing to the phone. She picked it up and cradled the receiver to her ear. "Hello."

John listened to the conversation intently, but not letting Abby see that it bothered him. He walked impatiently around the living room trying to keep his emotions in check. They were friends now; she had said that.

"I'm fine Luka," Abby said quietly into the phone. A few moments of silence..."Yeah I just came home and went straight to bed. How are you doing?" A few minutes of silence..."Well that's good. I can't believe we actually had a lockdown; scary..."

John was inwardly going insane as she talked so casually with Luka. She was so casual with her ex, but so jumpy with him, her best friend. What was the deal. He couldn't take another moment of listening to the conversation. Looking at his watch, he interrupted loudly enough for Luka to hear. "Abby, we need to go...we're going to be late for work," he said as casually as possible. He secretly hoped Luka had known it was him.

"Oh okay," she said looking up at John with a confused look on her face. She wondered why he had said that; they had almost an hour before they had to be in. "Yes...it's Carter," she said into the phone. "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye..."

John smiled innocently as she hung up the phone. "Luka?" he asked.

"Yeah, he was checking to make sure I was okay...You know after the events of last night and all. I'm lucky to have such great friends," she murmured as she slid into her coat.

"Yes...you are," John replied as he walked over and helped her into her coat. "I hope today goes by quietly," he said trying to lighten the mood a bit. "I think we had enough excitement yesterday to last a year."

"No kidding," Abby replied as she grabbed her purse and opened the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

They left her apartment and were soon on the El headed towards County. Neither said a word as the train lurched and screeched several times throughout the trip. It wasn't until the lurching became so bad that Abby started to fall and John swept her up into his arms amidst all the onlookers that they spoke. "Thanks," she murmured looking into his eyes yet again.

"Your welcome," he murmured as he leaned in closer towards her. "Anytime," he murmured grinning. Their lips were grazing; skin was screaming to be touched; bodies ached...

It was then that the train derailed causing people to scream and be thrown across the car. Carter yelled; Abby screamed; both clutched for one another, yet neither knew of the other....