By Alyssa
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, the lovely people at NBC do. Both parts of the Title are the names of Beatles Songs. Parts of their lyrics
will be in the story. You really have to know the tune of them to get the full
effect. This is a continuation of ‘The Weak Link’ series.
“Who’s this man again?” Gamma asked as she and Carter sat around the kitchen
table.
“Dave Malucci, Gamma. I told you, he works with me.”
“Right...” She said, her forehead furrowing in thought. Then the wrinkles erased
as it came to her. “Isn’t he the one you’ve been talking about lately?”
“Yes.” Carter answered, already knowing where this was going.
“Was he the one who tried to kill himself?” gamma asked, a semi-concerned look
on her face. Carter nodded.
“Yes Gamma, but he’s all right now. He just needs a place to stay.” Gamma nodded
to say she understood.
“OK. So he’s coming at noon? Well, I’m dying to meet him.” With that she poured
the rest of her drink into the sink and went to quickly check in on the guest room.
~~~
Come together, right now, over me
Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly...
~~~
“Gamma, I think he’s here!” Carter called up as he saw a beat up old car coming
up the driveway. *I didn’t know Dave had a car.* Carter thought. Just as Dave was stepping out of the passenger seat Gamma appeared in the door frame next to
Carter. Dave slung a back pack around one shoulder and went to the trunk to retrieve his bike, which was sticking haphazardly out the back. Carter saw Dave
struggling with the rope that held the bike in so he stepped forward.
“Let me help you.” He said, walking forward.
After only a little effort they managed to get the bike out of the car. Dave
closed the trunk and yelled “Thanks Cliff.” then softly to Carter, “Time to meet
Gamma?” Carter smiled only slightly and walked with Dave as he pushed his bike
towards the house.
Gamma immediately noted Dave’s appearance. He had bags under his eyes, and the
look of someone who had recently lost a lot of weight. His eyes were dull and had a distracted look about them. A false smile was plastered on his face and he
stood slightly slumped over. Despite all this she could tell he was a very good looking man, and right then she set herself on a mission to bring him back to
health.
When they were close enough Carter made the introductions.
“Gamma, Dave. Dave, Gamma.” He said.
“Nice to meet you.” Dave said, extending a slightly shaking hand.
“Nice to meet you too.” Gamma said, grabbing Dave’s hand in a firm handshake.
“Um. Why don’t you leave your bike here and I’ll show you to the guest room.”
Carter said, trying to avoid any awkward silence.
Dave followed Carter around the house. He tried not to look at anything, just
being in this house made him nervous. One room in this house was probably worth more than his family would make their whole lives. Dave was glad when they
finally reached their destination. The room was plain, but nice. It had a queen size bed with think, billowing comforters. There was a night table and a dresser
in the corner. A generous closet stood completely empty, and, best of all, there
was an adjoining bathroom. Dave dropped his back pack on the floor and sat on the bed, facing Carter. Carter quickly thought of something to say.
“So where’s all you stuff.” Carter asked.
“Most of it is still at Cliff’s. I’m going to pick some more stuff up later.”
Dave answered. Carter nodded. He wanted to say more, but he really couldn’t think of anything.
“I’m sorry, but I’m working today. I’m probably going to leave early though.
That’s one nice thing about first coming back to work, Kerry is actually very supportive.” Dave nodded and waved him off. Carter lingered for another second
then stepped out of the room.
Dave sat on the bed for a while, looking around his room. Then he decided he
needed to get out. He tried to sneak back to the front door but Carter’s Gamma
caught him. “Do you want some lunch? I could cook something up real quick.” She
asked him. Dave shook his head.
“No thanks. I think I’m going to go for a ride.” With that he left quickly,
grabbed his bike, and set off.
~~~
He say” I know you, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together right now over me
~~~
After a seeing a few patients Carter saw Kerry limping up towards him. *Oh,
No.* he thought *More rules and regulations.* He tried to turn away, but Kerry’s
voice pierced through the air.
“Carter.” She called loudly. Carter turned to face her, hiding his reluctance.
“Yes?” He asked.
“I heard Dave was living with you.” She said as she finally caught up with him.
Carter nodded, good this wasn’t about him.
“He has sleeping pills he is supposed to take every night.” Kerry continued.
Carter nodded, even though he didn’t really know where she was going with this.
“I want you to make sure he takes them.” She finished. *Oh,* Carter thought,
*She wants me to be her little law enforcer.*
“Sure thing.” He finally settled on saying.
Kerry nodded. “OK, you can return to your patients.” With this she walked off.
Carter continued on his way to Exam 2, thinking all the way that he didn’t want
the job.
~~~
GET BACK! GET BACK!
GET BACK TO WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED.
~~~
Dave rode his bike to a small grocery store and poked around it a bit, but he
wasn’t hungry and he didn’t have much money anyway. Then he headed towards the
water. He got off his bike to sit on a bench. As he stared into the rippling water he remembered a time, many years ago, when he had done almost he same
exact thing. It was a long time ago, and it had been for a very different reason.
~~~
Jing Mei stared at the admitting board. She was trying to remember what case
she had decided to take just minutes ago, but her mind had wandered. Thanks to the new clear board she saw Carter walking by and quickly got up. “Carter!” She
called. Hopping off the chair where she had been resting her legs she ran up to
him. He turned and smiled at her.
“Jing Mei, what is it?” He asked, emphasizing her name.
“I heard Dave moved in with you.” Jing Mei said, not noticing the slight flickering of Carter’s smile.
“Yes he did.” He said in a more serious tone.
“Is he all right?” She asked.
“I don’t know, he just moved in today, and I had to come almost directly to work.” He answered, a little annoyed. Jing Mei nodded, not noticing Carter’s
annoyance.
“Keep me posted will ya?” She asked. Carter nodded and walked off.
When he turned his back on her his face blushed red. He didn’t know why he was
so jealous of Dave. It wasn’t like he had a thing for Jing Mei, or did he? He shook it off, of course he didn’t. Maybe he just wanted some attention. Then
something occurred to him, he wondered if other people were jealous of him after
he and Lucy were attacked. Hey, maybe Dave was jealous. Once again he shook his
thoughts off, he didn’t want to dwell on it now.
~~~
He say “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-looking ‘cause he’s so hard to see
Come together right now over me
~~~
Dave had the great timing of arriving back at the Carter Residence just as
Carter was getting home. Carter was reaching into his car to pull out his coat and he saw Dave coming up the drive.
“Been out all day Dave?” Carter asked, even though he really didn’t care.
“Yeah, how was your day?” Dave responded, not caring either.
“You know, the usual.” Carter said. Dave nodded, even though in the ER there was
never a ‘usual’ day. They walked together in silence. When they got to the door
Dave stepped back so Carter could enter first.
Carter was about to turn towards the kitchen when he saw Dave heading in the
direction of the guest room. “Going to bed already?” Carter asked.
“Yeah,” Dave answered without turning, “I’m kind of tired.”
Carter had turned and had started towards the kitchen again when he remembered what Kerry had told him to do.
Carter sprinted to catch up with Dave, then continued to walk with him. “Kerry talked to me today.” he said, trying to ease into the subject.
“Oh yeah?” Dave asked, a little suspicion in his voice.
“She said that you were taking some pills to help you sleep, and that I should
make sure you don’t forget to take them.” Carter voiced. Dave knew what this
meant, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they got to the room
Dave went straight for his bag. He pulled out a small pill bottle and proceeded to the bathroom. Carter reluctantly followed him.
Dave poured two pills into his palm, popped them into his mouth, then filled
his hand with water. Taking a deep slurp he felt the pills go down, and he could
almost feel the bad dreams creeping in. To turned to Carter, a look on his
facing asking ‘what should I do now?’. Dave finally settled on opening his mouth. saying ‘ahhh’ and moving his tongue around. Carter smiled.
“Good night, Dave.” Carter said and he walked out.
Dave stayed in the bathroom a while, watching Carter walk out of his room, then
he headed to the bed. Dave slipped out of his clothes and went under the covers in his boxers. Staring at the ceiling he noticed that it was textured with
glitter all around. The last thing he thought of was that his grandma’s house had had the same thing.
~~~
... He was standing in front of Carter’s house, but it wasn’t Carter’s house.
It was his grandma’s house, it just looked like Carter’s house. His first thought was that there must be people in the house. In this secluded area the
nearest phone was too far to run. He knew he had to get the people out. He ran through the burning door frame and was immediately attacked by waves of smoke.
His eyes stung and his throat ached. He ran quickly from room to room, finding all of them empty. He ran up the stairs, flames licking his feet. They were up
there, he knew, he could feel them.
He reached the top of the stairs and turned quickly. He stopped to find himself
standing right in front of Mr. Mason. Dave was about to run when Mr. Mason turned into a copy of Dave. Dave stood there, perplexed, then his copy lashed
out. He didn’t know what had happened until it was already done. He held his hands out in front of him. Blood trickled from his wrists to the floor, only to
sizzle and burn in the flames. He could hear the people screaming now, but he
couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t breath, and he felt his body growing weaker.
He fell, unwillingly, to the floor. He lie on his back, staring at the ceiling. The glitter glowed orange and red from the reflection of the fire. He lied there
for only a couple of seconds before the flames totally engulfed his vision...
Then his eyes opened and he could see the ceiling again. He lie there panting,
trying to convince himself it was all just a dream. It had to be a dream. Someone told him once that dreams were the answers to questions you didn’t yet
know how to ask. If that was true, he wondered what his dream had meant.
~~~
I love comments, criticism and Ideas. Help Wanted!