Lost and Found

This story is part 2 in a series. Previous stories:
1. Streets of Philadelphia

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine nor do I intend to profit from their use. I'm just borrowing them for a while :). This story is rated PG and is the second in a series. This story is set in November of S5, but I've changed some stuff: see the previous story for all that info. There may be other inconsistancies, but if so just ignore them. I really need feedback, if you have any send it to erfanbev@yahoo.com. As always, I'd like to send out a big thank you out to the the best editor ever, Elizabeth Bradshaw.

previously in this series...
Carter followed Broder's gaze across the room. He saw that Broder was checking out a young, blonde doctor. Her back was turned to them, but Carter recognized her right away. "Anna!" He ran over towards her.

"I didn't realize you were lonely."
"I wasn't." She looked deep into his eyes. "I had a great friend. I may not have been surounded by familiar faces, but I was complete." Tears began to form in her eyes. "And now I am again."
She put her arms around his neck. And then he pulled her close. And then their lips met...

"I just got off the phone with Don anspaugh. I got a job in the Pedes ER! I'm coming back to Chicago!"

He looked at the piece of paper he was holding, the paper with Susan's phone number on it. He then looked out the window again and saw Carter and Anna. Smiling, he picked up the phone and began to dial.

Mark Greene fiddled impatiently with the office supplies on the desk in the lounge. Why didn't she answer? The phone had rung for what felt like the thousanth time and no answer.

"Is this the right number?" he wondered. He heard the sound of someone picking up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Susan? This is Mark..."

The snow continued to fall steadily outside the ER. The ambulance bay was empty except for the shadows of two figures kissing in a snowdrift.

"Carter?"

"Hmmm?" he continued kissing her.

"You know, I think it would be good if I were on time on my first day. Something tells me Weaver wouldn't be too happy to find us out here."

"You're probably right. So wait, are we gonna tell them about us?" Anna smiled. "So there's definitely an us?"

"Of course. I love you Anna"

"I love you too."

They started to kiss again, but then Anna pulled away. "You know, we really should get in there."

"Probably. Do they even know you're back?"

"Nope. Only Anspaugh. I told him I wanted to suprise everyone."

"Oh they'll be suprised all right. Just when they thought they were finally rid of you..." She playfully punched him in the stomach.

"You'd better watch it Carter!" They kissed one more time and walked into the ER.

"Wow Mark, this is a suprise! I haven't heard from you in ages...so what's new?"

"A Lot, actually"

"Yeah, we have a lot of catching up to do. Actually, I'm on in 20 minutes, can I call you later?"

"Yeah, you have my number."

"Okay, bye!"

Carol was at the desk sorting through some supplies when she heard Carter's voice.

"Hey, we're back!"

"Hey Carter!" Carol didnıt turn around. She suddenly thought about what he said.

"We?" She spun around to see Carter and Anna walking towards the desk.

"Anna! Oh my god what are you doing here?"

"I'm back!"

"I can see that! Looks like we have a lot to talk about. You wanna go to the Lounge?"

"Sure" Carol and Anna headed for the lounge. Once they entered the room, Carol poured coffee while Anna took off her coat. Out of habit, Anna headed towards her old locker.

"I see someone already took my locker."

"Yeah, Lucy Knight. She's Carter's incompetent med student. I'm sure we'll find you another one though. So why exactly did you come back?"

"Well, Max and I had broken up and I realized I wasn't happy in Philly anymore. Then I saw Carter at the convention and I realized how much I missed Chicago."

"Speaking of Carter, well, he took it really hard when you left. I know there was a lot of tension between you two. I just hope you guys can resolve things."

"Don't worry, I think things are pretty much resolved."

Carol looked disppointed. "Well I just wish you would give him a chance. He's a great guy."

"I know that. Carol, I said things were resolved. I didn't say we definetly weren't getting together."

Carol turned to face Anna.

"Are you saying...what I think you're saying? You and Carter, are you...?"

Anna just smiled.

"Finally!" Carol gave Anna a huge hug.

"So what have you been up too?"

Susan shifted the phone to the left side of her head as she walked around her apartment.

"Well, I suppose by now you've heard about the attack."

Susan sat down, looking very concerned. "What attack? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It happened over a year ago. I was ambushed in the men's room in the ER."

"Do you know who did it?"

"I thought I did for a while, but it turns out I was wrong. I donıt think I'll ever know."

"This is so awful. Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"We weren"t exactly talking to each other. What was I supposed to do, call you out of nowhere and say, Hey Susan, how are you? I was just attacked?"

"No, but that reminds me. Why didn't you keep in touch with me?"

"It didn't seem like you wanted me too."

"Why, because when you told me how you felt I didn't hop off that train and go back without a second thought? Are you still obsessing over that?"

"Well I..."

"You know what Mark? I have a lot going on in my life right now and as much as I want to be your friend, I can't take your re-hashing the past! If you want to stay friends you have to accept that I have a new life."

"Of course I accept that...look Susan this has been a really awful two years."

"Mark, Iım sorry but Iıve got a lot going on right now. I'm worried if I keep talking I'm gonna say something I'll regret."

"Are you OK?"

"No. But I really gotta go."

"I'm sorry."

"Donıt be. What's going on with me isnıt your fault. I just need some time, OK?"

"Sounds fair enough."

"Talk to you later. Bye."

Mark put down the phone with a bewildered look on his face. "What was that about?"

"So Anna, tell me exactly what happened. And don't skimp on the details."

Anna and Carol were in the lounge eating lunch. "Well as you know, John had that conference. He and some other doctor were observing the hospital where I was working. We ran into each other, we decided to grab a bite, and, ya know, it just happened."

"So let me get this straight. Carter shows up, you two get together and you just decide to come back?"

Anna shifted in her chair. "I didn't really have anything in Chicago, and I didn't wanna lose him again."

Carol smiled as Anna continued. "But at the same time, I'm really nervous. I've never done anything like this before. If this gets screwed up...I don't know if I can take that again after-"

Carter came into the room, trying to look serious. "Dr. Del Amico, I brought the apartment listings you were looking for." He noticed that Anna and Carol were in hysterics.

"Whatıs so funny?"

"It's OK Carter, she knows."

"Oh, well then here you go."

Carol began gathering her things and got up. "Well if you'll excuse me, I've been on since 4 AM and I'm gonna go get some sleep. Are you ok?."

"Yeah, I'm great. Thanks Carol. Bye."

Carol walked out of the lounge past a very frustrated Mark. "Whoa, Mark, you OK?"

"Don't want to talk about it. Have you seen that new resident that's supposed to start today?" He knew it was Anna, but he wasn't sure if Carol knew.

"Yeah, she's in the lounge." Carol didnıt say it was Anna because she wasn't sure if Mark knew.

"Thanks."

Mark walked into the lounge to find Anna and Carter kissing. He had decided not to let them know he saw them in the ambulance bay. They didn't notice him come in. Mark grinned.

"So you must be our mysterious new resident. I see you and Dr. Carter have gotten acquainted."

Anna giggled. "Nice to see you again Mark."

"Welcome back. I hate to disturb you two but we have a double trauma coming in."

"We'll be right there."

A few hours later, everyone was gathered around the reception desk. Mark was doing charts, Randi was painting her nails and Anna and Carter were looking at apartment listings.

Carter pointed at the paper. "How 'bout that one?"

"Nah, too far away."

"C'mon. There has to be something good here."

"This one sounds good. Near the hospital, one bedroom, reasonable rent." Anna looked at the clock. "Too late to call though. I'll call them first thing in the morning." She looked at Carter. "Guess I'll have to crash at your place tonight."

Carter smiled. "I think I can deal with that."

Mark looked up from his charts. "Hey Carter, can we talk?"

They went into Trauma One. Mark closed the door. "So Carter, what exactly happened?"

"Well I saw Anna in Philadelphia--"

"Not that. I know that story. I'm sorry, but I can't help but think this is a little, well, crazy."

Carter laughed. "It probably is."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Does she love you?"

"She said so, but I'm not sure."

"Why aren't you sure?"

"You know how much she loved Max, I mean, she left because of him. And from what I understand, the only reason she broke up with him was because of his drug problems. It makes me wonder, if he didn't have the drug problem, would she be with him? Would she care about me at all? What do you think?"

"I think you two need to talk."

It had been a long day, so Mark went straight home and crashed on the couch. He was deep in sleep when the phone rang. He woke up, looked around with a confused look on his face and picked up the phone with one hand while fumbling for his glasses with the other.

"Hello?"

"Mark I'm so so sorry."

"Susan? Hey."

"I was acting like such an idiot the other day on the phone. I hope you'll forgive me."

"Of course I will. Are you okay?"

"I guess I'll be fine, but these past few months have been hell."

"What happened?"

Susan sighed. "About 7 months ago I got an attending job in the ER in Phoenix. You know what itıs like, I suddenly had to be an administrator and I didnıt really know what I was doing. I had to pull longer shifts, I wasnıt spending much time with Susie or Chloe or Joe anymore. I had no idea Chloe and Joe were fighting until Chloe called saying she and Joe broke up."

"Wow."

"I know. Anyway, Chloe started getting really depressed, slipping back into her old habits. Luckily I caught on to this and I started going over to her place more often to watch Susie. One day I went over there after work and..." She paused.

"And what?"

"She was gone."

"Susie?"

"No, Chloe. She had disappeared entirely. All her stuff was gone. No note, nothing. Three months later she still hadnıt come back. So I finally decided to try to adopt Susie again. I was able to this time. And it's been really hard to balance it all you know? Even harder than when she was a baby. Thatıs why I was so moody. Iım really sorry about that."

"That's okay. You have a right to be stressed."

"Yeah, well those assholes at the hospital wouldn't even let me adjust my schedule so I could take care of her. It got to the point where I just had to say, to hell with you, and walk out."

Mark heard a knock at the door. "Hey Sus can you hold for a sec?"

"Sure."

He walked to the door and looked through the peephole. He was shocked.

Mark flung open the door.

"Susan?"

She was standing there with a cell phone, little Susie in tow.

"Surprise!"

"I'm so glad I'm back," said Anna as she turned in the bed to face Carter.

"Me too," he said as he kissed the top of her head. She slid down and rested her head on his chest.

He sat up. "Can we talk?"

"Sure."

"Are you over Max?"

"WHAT?!"

"Well, are you?"

"Of course I'm over Max. I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but that's because of his-"

"Drug problem? It's more than that, I told you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." She turned so that she was facing directly at him. "I love you. Now come on, let's get some sleep."

She laid down and turned towards him. She really did love him, more than she had ever loved Max. She had been so lost when she was in Philadelphia, and she was certain that his finding her was the best thing that had ever happened to her.