Forever and a Day

Part I

Rated: PG-13

Weaver walked into the lounge feeling relieved that her shift was finally over. She went to her locker and pulled off her lab coat and hung it up inside before pulling on her coat, it was rather cold outside and she wasn’t looking forward to waiting for the L in the dark by herself. She pulled on her hat and then her gloves before turning to leave for the night. Carter came through the door looking like he was ready to leave too, she smiled at him and then blushed slightly, she had feelings for him but she couldn’t even begin to convince herself that he would be interested.

“I think today might have been a record setting day.” Carter said to her as he put his stuff in his locker and grabbed his coat.

“Why do you say that?” Weaver replied looking for any excuse to stay and talk with him for just a little while longer.

“Three different kids puked on me…do you know how many times I had to change?” Carter laughed slightly and shut his locker. He put his watch back on before pulling on his coat, and then he turned to look at her, “Hey you look pretty worn out too, how about we go out for drinks? My treat of course.” There was no way she was going to turn down the chance to be with him, and so she nodded and they both headed out of the hospital together. She was more then happy to see that he drove which meant that she wouldn’t have to wait in the cold for a train that would most likely be late, and that also meant she would have a ride home. He drove her to a place that she hadn’t been before and it didn’t look like it was in the best part of town. The bar was called Lillian’s, it was a small privately owned pub over looking the river, and considering the neighborhood it was actually a decent place.

They sat in a booth, the place was nearly empty but Carter said he liked it there, he hated to go to a busy bar after work because it most certainly didn’t help him relax. She had to agree with him on that, it was better to go to a nice quiet place where you could sit and have a beer and talk with some one about your day.

“So did anyone puke on you today?” Carter asked after the waitress had delivered their drinks and a rather flirtatious smile to Carter. It was a bit unsettling to her because the woman was young and blond with the figure of a playboy bunny and she suddenly felt a little stupid for having a crush on him in the first place. He didn’t even seem to notice that the woman was smiling at him from across the room but she figured he was just being polite, that he wasn’t going to flirt with some one when he was with his boss.

“No…thank god.” She took a sip of her beer and relaxed more in her seat all of a sudden feeling like she could go for a cigarette, which was something she had quit years ago. She figured that it was because she was feeling nervous and excited all at the same time, she hardly ever got to spend time with Carter like this any more. “Although some one threw a stool sample at me.”

“Oh…that’s just wrong.”

“Well I ducked and it hit Luka.” She laughed and took another drink, “Needless to say he wasn’t very happy about that.”

“I though monkeys were the only species that did that.” Carter replied before taking two large gulps of his beer. Weaver smiled and nodded slightly sometimes she wondered if the monkeys were more civilized then most of the people who came into the ER.

“Never underestimate the patients at county general Carter.”

“I hear that!” he raised his bottle of beer in a toast with a grin on his face and she chimed her bottle with his with an equally big smile on her face.

They both ended up having two beers before heading out of the bar to take a nice walk on the edge of the river. It was dark and the stars were lit up in the sky, Weaver wished she could express her true feelings to Carter but she didn’t want to be rejected by him either. She sighed as the turned the corner, which would ultimately lead them back to his car, and leave her alone for the night once more. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her back and she fell, she was only down for a few moments and when she opened her eyes she saw that Carter was down too. She was a bit dazed but aware enough to notice a man with a gun demanding her purse, she shook her head slightly not fully able to process the information with the injury he caused. He aimed the gun directly at her head and put his finger on the trigger, she braced herself for injury when Carter moved in front of her rather quickly. The gun when off hitting him in the shoulder, and consequently the man took Weaver’s purse anyway and got the hell out of there.

“JOHN!” Kerry cried out as his body collapsed on her, he wasn’t moving and his breathing was shallow. She carefully moved him onto ground on his back when she noticed that the bullet had pierced his shoulder right above his heart. The guy who stole her purse was her last concern at this point as she took off her scarf and placed it over Carter’s wound where she applied pressure. She started screaming for help because she didn’t want to leave him and she was lucky that a passing couple heard the gun shot and had already called an ambulance on a cell phone when they saw that Carter was down. “Carter…can you here me?” She was worried that the bullet had penetrated his heart and if that was true they only have a few minutes to take care of it. His eyes opened slowly and he looked up at her for a moment before groaning in pain and trying to sit up. She didn’t want him to move because that would increase the possibility of the bullet moving to another part of his body.

“Are you okay?” Were the first words out of his mouth, other then the throbbing pain in between her shoulder blades she was fine, well physically she was fine. Her heart was racing and she felt a little sick to her stomach and she knew they weren’t quite out of hot water yet.

“Yes I’m fine…you didn’t have to do that for me John.” She held his head in her lap and she was stroking his hair softly as she heard the sirens sound in the distance, it seemed like they were taking forever and a day to get to them.

“Of course I did…I love you…” He whispered before drifting off into a state of unconsciousness, leaving Weaver to decide if he meant that or he was just delirious from the pain the bullet was causing. She continued to apply pressure to the wound, dimly aware of the crowd that was now forming around them, she took a deep breath before closing her eyes, then she did the only other thing she could do…she prayed.

Weaver waited very impatiently in the lounge for news on Carter, she didn’t want to go into the trauma room to see him and she didn’t want to wait out with other people, or where they staff could see her going to pieces over this. Her stomach was churning and she began to wish that she would have had something to eat with those two beers she had sucked down at the bar. She sat on the couch and rocked back and fourth slightly in an attempt to comfort herself but it wasn’t working very well. She heard the door open and she looked over to see who it was, hoping that they would have some news on Carter. It was Susan, she and Luka had first received Carter when he came in, but she had a slight smile on her face and that indicated to Weaver that it was good news.

“He’ll be fine, the bullet didn’t penetrate his heart or anything else for that matter.” Susan said as she took a seat next to Weaver, “We have him in a private room upstairs, but he’s on quite a bit of pain medication. Do you want to see him?”

“Yes, I want to see him.” Kerry stood up feeling greatly relieved that he was going to be okay, and now that she knew he was going to be okay she went back to what he said to her after getting hit. Did he really love her? She knew she was going to have to wait to confront him on it because right now he wouldn’t be his normal self. Susan walked her to Carter’s room and let her go in so she could be alone with Carter for a while, while she was waiting for him to get out of surgery to remove the bullet she had given her statement to the police. She was glad she did that earlier because that would mean that there wouldn’t be anything to interrupt her time with Carter. She pulled up a chair and sat down right next to the bed, he groaned and turned his head slowly but he didn’t open his eyes.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s Kerry…” She said softly before gently putting her hand over his, he took in a deep breath through his nose and then let it out through his mouth, “How are you feeling?”

“Why do doctors always ask that after some one gets terribly injured?” He laughed a little, “Of course I feel like hell!” He laughed more and Weaver attributed it to the pain killers he was on, even though he was right.

“Carter, thank you for doing that…you probably saved my life.”

“Did you get your purse back?” He muttered his eyes slowly opened to look at her but they were glossy and far away, she thought that it was a lot better then his eyes being filled with pain. “That guy who attacked us was a prick.”

“No I didn’t get my purse back but that’s not important right now.” She reached up and started to stroke his hair like she did when he was laying on her lap by the river. “What’s important right now, is that you are okay and you get better.”

“I did it because I love you…and I will love you…always…and I’ll be there…forever and a day…” He said taking long pauses between certain phrases and she smiled before realize that he was basically using lines in a Bon Jovi song. She then sighed now she was convinced that he was just saying that because of the medication. He closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep as she continued to hold his hand while she stroked his hair with her other one. She felt tears prick at her eyes and soon they started to fall freely, she cried as softly as possible trying very hard not to wake him up again. The tears came for a number of reasons, she was happy that he was going to be okay and at the same time she had to face the fact that he didn’t really love her, he was just out of it. Her heart was breaking as she sat there and watched him sleep, and she wished that things could be different.

End Part One