“John, what happened over there?” Abby asked, innocently.

“Abby, honey, you don’t want to know. It was awful, almost indescribable. So much poverty, so much disease, preventable disease at that.” Getting almost choked up, “I’m sorry Abby, I can’t talk about this right now.”

“It’s ok, don’t.” She looked at him understandingly.

They finished their dinner in silence and headed to the dance hall. They ball roomed danced for hours and looked deep into each other’s eyes. They tangoed and waltzed and even a little swing dancing. John had never seen Abby having so much fun in a long time.

After dancing, the limo drove them back to Abby’s apartment. They walked upstairs, hand in hand and went inside.

“John, I had a great time. Thank you so much.” She smiled, widely and looked him right in the eyes. “Now, I have something for you.”

“Really?” He looked slyly intrigued.

“Yes, follow me.” They walked into the bedroom and made love for hours. It was wonderful to her to feel his body close to hers, to hear his heart beat. It made her alive again.

After a few hours, they just lay in bed holding each other, “John, I don’t know how I could live without you. While you were gone I felt so alone. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Abby, you were all I thought about while I was there, the thoughts of you kept me alive, safe, and confident that I would see you again.” At that, he looked deep into her eyes and gave her a deep, passionate kiss.

The next morning, they woke up rather late and lay in bed with each other and looked outside. They watched the birds and the clouds and saw how beautiful it was. Luckily, they were both off today.

“Morning beautiful” John said as he gave her a kiss on her eyes. “ You hungry?”

“Hmm” Abby assured him “but I don’t want to get up”

“You don’t have to, I’ll make breakfast.”

“Aww Carter, just lay here with me. We’ll get up in a minute.” She smiled a pitiful smiled.

“Man Abby don’t give me that look, you know I can’t resist it.” He smiled back as he lie back down. They held each other for some time, made love again, and fell back to sleep.

They woke up an hour later and Carter got up and made breakfast. Abby sleepily walked into the kitchen,

“Yum, what smells good?”

“It’s the Carter breakfast of champions. Scrambled eggs, toast, and special pancakes.”

“Special pancakes huh? What’s so special about them?” She asked sarcastically.

“They are heart shaped” He smiled, almost childlike.

“Well aren’t you the romantic”

They sat down to eat and Abby was amazed at how good the eggs and pancakes were. The best she had eaten in a long time.

“So what do you want to do today?” John asked her.

“Hmm I don’t know, I’ve got some errands to run and you are welcome to join me if you’d like.” She offered.

“Sure, sounds like fun.”

“You don’t even know what I’m doing,” She giggled.

“It’s ok, as long as I get to spend the day with you, I don’t care what it is.”

“Great cause I was going to get my nails done and go shopping.” She smiled.

“Man what have I gotten myself into” Carter jokingly rolled his eyes.

“Carter I’m just kidding, no really I have to call Maggie and find out how Eric is doing, then I have to get some groceries and, I think that’s about all I can think of right now. I’m going to go take a shower” She leaned down and kissed him. “You want to join me?” She smiled slyly.

Carter jumped up from the table and ran to the restroom. “Of course I will.”

After their day of running around and doing errands, they finally returned to the apartment, tired and hungry.

“Carter, what’s for dinner?” Abby asked with a smile as she fell onto the couch.

“Umm, Chinese? I’ll order it”

“Sounds good” Abby responded then looked at the answering machine.

2 messages, Abby hit play to listen the messages as John ordered the food.

“ Abby, it’s your mom. Call me back whenever you get this message..BEEP..”

What could be up? I talked to her this morning. She sounded ok. I hope she’s not having another episode.

She fast forwarded and listened to the second message

“Hey Abby, it’s Eric. Call me back. I have to tell you something”

Wow, one from Eric too. What next?

“Ok, food will be here in about 20 minutes…is everything alright sweetie?” John asked as he made his way back into the living room “Was that your mom on the machine?”

“Yes, and Eric. It’s weird that they would both be calling. I should call and find out what’s going on.”

She dialed the phone and John set the table for dinner.

“Maggie, it’s Abby, if your home, please pick up the phone. Ok, I guess you’re not home, call me back. You sounded like you needed to talk.”

Next, she dialed Eric’s number.

“Eric, hey, your home. It’s been awhile where have you been, you’ve had us worried.” She asked him, eagerly. “Have you talked to Maggie? She called and sounded like she had something to tell me. No, Ok. So I’m glad you are safe. I’m just about to grab dinner. I’ll call you later. If you talk to Maggie tell her to call me back. Thanks love you too. Bye”

She hung up the phone and looked at Carter. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, Eric is back home. I was so worried about him. I’m glad he’s safe. He was just calling to tell me he was back. He doesn’t know where Maggie went either. He hasn’t talked to her. Now, I’m going to worry about her. Why do I always have to worry about someone? Isn’t time someone worried about me?” She looked down, turned around and headed for the couch.

“I worry about you honey. I always worry about you. I couldn’t live without you and the thought of you being so upset worries me.” John followed her and sat down on the couch next to and began to stroke her hand. Abby looked up at him, with tired eyes, and gave a half smile. She pulled him close and they held each other. They stayed that way until the food arrived.

“Wow, I’m starving” Abby stated with a smile when the food arrived.

“Me too! I could eat a horse!”

“John, your always hungry!” Abby giggled as they sat down at the table and ate their food.

“Do you work tomorrow Abby? I don’t go in until Wednesday.”

“Yeah I’m on at 6” Abby groaned, hating that shift.

“Great!” Carter exclaimed.

Abby awoke at the sound of the alarm and covered her head.

Five more minutes, please, just five more minutes

She rolled over and held Carter for the next few minutes and before she knew it she was dreaming again. She awoke and she looked at the clock. She jumped out of bed quickly.

“Abby, are you ok?” John asked groggily.

“Yeah, I’m late, I over slept!!” She called the hospital and told them she would be late. It was already 6 and she still had to shower.

Abby rushed to get ready, gave John a kiss and went to work. “Bye baby, I’ll see you soon” She whispered in his ears.

Carter awoke a few hours later to an empty bed. He felt lonely, but remembered Abby was at work.

I think I’m going to surprise her today; again, I love surprising her.

He got up and got ready for a day on the town. Today was the day; today he was going to ask the woman he loved to spend the rest of her life with him.

Carter arrived at County just in time to see Abby walking into the lounge to get her stuff. He met her outside with flowers and took her to dinner.

“Carter, what’s this all about?” She asked happily as she gave him a kiss.

“Nothing, I just had something I wanted to ask you, something I wanted to discuss with you.” He said, almost serious enough to scare her.

“What’s wrong John, did Maggie call? Eric?” She sounded worried.

“No honey, it’s not that. We’ll talk, during dinner.”

They headed out to eat and had a nice casual dinner.

“So what’s going on John? You have me worried, yet, curious as well.” Abby stated.

It took John some time to gather the courage to discuss with her the things he needed to get off his chest.

“Abby,” He said as he grabbed her hand and started caressing it. “I know we have never really admitted it to each other, but we each know how the other feels, or at least, I know how I feel. I feel that I don’t know how I could live without you in my life. You are my eyes, my mind, my body and my soul”

Abby let go of Carter’s hand and looked at him with soulful eyes “John I…”

“Don’t, don’t say anything, and let me finish first.” Abby nodded in agreement and let him finish. “Abby, I’ve loved you since the day we met. It hurt so bad knowing I couldn’t have you. When you were with Luka, I was happy for you, but on the inside, I was hurting. We have been through so much. It feels like a lifetime of tribulations that have been faced by us. It feels like we have been together our whole lives, that we were meant to be together.” He paused, waiting for some facial reaction.

Abby’s eyes started to glisten as a single tear ran down her cheek. Carter wiped it away with his finger and kissed it away.

“Honey, don’t cry, please, you’ll make this even more difficult.” He smiled at her and looked at her with his deep soulful eyes. “I’m not asking for marriage, but I’m asking for a big step, for both of us. I know right now, I stay with you, at your apartment, but I have another proposal to make to you. I want you to live with me, in the mansion. When I’m there alone, it’s so, well lonely. I want that to be your home. It’s my home now, Gamma left it to me and I want to share it with you. Please, tell me you’ll accept. I want to be with you always. Abby, I, I love you so much.”

Abby breathed in sharply, in shock. She didn’t know what to say. “John, I, I don’t know what to say. You know money doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“ I know, that’s why I’m asking you. Cause I know you aren’t with me for my money, you are with me for me and the money is just another part of who I am, and I want to share my life with you. I’m not talking about getting married, not right now, but I would like you to sleep in my bed, call my house yours, and vice versa.”

“John, I need some time to think about this, I miss you when you aren’t there as well, but I need some time.” She grabbed his hand again and looked him in the eyes. “John, I’ve never told anyone this, not even Luka, you know, I’m not even sure I told Richard more than on our wedding day, but, I love you. You keep me alive. You make me feel special. Give me some time and I’ll have an answer for you.” She smiled at him lovingly, with the smile that he couldn’t resist.

“Check please” He asked the waiter as he smiled at her slyly. They left the restaurant and headed back to Abby’s apartment.