"Don't forget. Okay," Austin whispered into Carrie's ear.
"I won't," she told him. Their night together had been wonderful on all accounts, though she still felt unsure about where they were going as a couple. Or maybe it was just an unsureness of herself.
"You'll pick me up at 12:30 for a romantic lunch at an indisclosed location, where you will wine and dine me like I've never been wined and dined before. Am I close," she asked him.
"You're right on target," he said, giving her a good-bye kiss before she exited his car.
Hitching her briefcase in one hand, she entered the hospital for another day of work. She had had meetings lined up for the whole morning, including one with Mike on the latest of the suit against him. Standing in the empty elevator, she thought over the mess her best friend was currently in. Though she knew there was no misconduct on Mike's part, the hospital board, staff, and public thought differently. And as the head of PR for University Hospital, it was her job to try and control all the slander that was currently being dished out by nosy nurses and the likes. Mike had worked hard to get where he was and she would not let him go down for some insane charge a disgruntled employee had made.
When the elevator doors opened, Carrie stepped out onto the already busy hospital floor. She would have to try again to get Mike to move their offices to an Administrative floor, though she already knew her efforts would be futile. More than anything else, Mike loved helping people and would probably feel lost without a patient or two to check up on.
Passing the Nurses Station, she received a few curious looks from those present, a couple of them whipsering words to each other.
She gave a perfunctory smile as she walked by, not knowing what the fuss was about. She came to work everyday; nothing was new.
Reaching her office, she unlocked her door, walked in and set her briefcase down atop of her desk. Picking up her phone, she dialed Mike's extension, but after almost a minute with no answer, she hung up. Glancing at her desk clock to see it was a little after eight, she decided to go over and see if he had fallen asleep on his couch, something he seemed to do more and more lately.
"Mike, are you in there," she asked as she knocked the second time. Trying the doorknob, she was confused to find it locked. Mike was always in early, liking to get most of his paperwork done so he could have more time to spend with his patients.
Turning, Carrie made her way back to the nurse's station. "Do you know where Dr. Horton is," she asked the first nurse she saw.
The woman, Janice, only gave her a confused look. "Um...he's on the eigth floor," she answered in an unsure tone, a darkness coming over her face.
Carrie quickly ran through the twelve-floor structure's list to remember what floor that was. "That's surgery, right," she asked the nurse, who nodded yes in answer, still giving her a wierd look. "I just didn't know he had any surgical patients," she tried to explain to the nurse. "Do you think you could page him for me," she asked. The nurse was about to answer when the elevator doors opened, her father stepping out. "Nevermind," she told Janice. "I'll page him later. Thanks." She walked off to meet her father, greeting him with a hug.
"If I had known you'd be visiting today, I would rolled out the red carpet, " she joked with him, stepping out of her father's unusually slack arms. "Is something wrong dad," she asked him, seeing the disturbed look on his face.
"You should come with me Carrie," he said in a grave tone, ushering her towards the elevator he had just come out from.
"Where are we going," she asked him as he practically dragged her inside the waiting car. "Marlena," she said, catching sight of the woman who had been a mother to her for so long. "What are you doing here," she asked as the doors closed. She watched as her father pressed the button for the eighth floor. "Why are we going to the surgery unit," she asked her father, getting nervous with each passing second. "Is it Sami? Did something happen to Sami," she asked her father, then turned a questioning look on Marlena.
No one answered.
"It is Sami, isn't it," she said, now worried out of her mind. She hated the things Sami had done to her in the past, the things she still continued to do, but she loved her sister and the thought of anything happening to her...
"Carrie, it's not Sami," Marlena interrupted into her thoughts.
"B-b-but, you're here...and dad," she said, turning towards him. It was at that point that the elevator doors opened onto the eigth floor Surgical unit. Not even waiting for them, Carrie stepped out into the waiting room, looking for her half-brother Eric, Will, and Lucas...people all connected in some way to Sami.
What greeted her was totally unexpected.
A sleeping Abby laid curled up on a bench, her mother watching vigiliantly over her. Laura and Alice Horton were sitting close to each other, the younger woman holding onto to the older as they spoke quietly. A sitting Maggie watched her husband pace back and forth, his grim face showing the same anxiety that was now washing over Carrie.
"M-Mike," she whispered, looking around the room for him, but already knowing he wouldn't be found. It was at that moment that her world stopped, the air left her body, and evrything became dark.