These characters are not mine and I don't make money off of them. If you have feedback (which I hope you do) send it to erfanbev@yahoo.com. As always, thanks Liz, you're the best! This story is number 5 in a series. Previous Stories:
1. Streets of Philadelphia
2. Lost and Found
3. A New Day
4. Feels Like Home

Previously in this series...
******************************************
“What about, you know-”
“The kiss? What about it? Didn’t you think it was serious, because I know I did.”
“You did?”
“Of course I did. Didn’t you?”
“Yes, but I thought I put you in an uncomfortable position.”
“The only uncomfortable thing about it was when it happened, that I was getting on a train.” She leaned closer to him. “I wanted that kiss to happen, I hope you know that.”
“I did too. I just wish it didn’t have to be the end.”
“Who said it has to be the end?”
She leaned in and kissed him, softly at first, then growing more passionate. He returned her passion as the candles burned down.
******************************************
He ran back to the bedroom and fumbled through the drawer. After finding what he was looking for, he returned to the living room. Anna was still laughing, then stopped when she saw how serious he looked.
“What?” she asked, confused by his appearance.
“Anna?” Carter asked as he got down on his knees and pulled out the box.
“Will you marry me?”
Tears of happiness began to form in her eyes.
“Yes.”
******************************************
Here's Piecing Things Together!

Lucy Knight walked to the admit desk and over to the large patient chart on the wall, where Carol Hathaway was writing up a new patient.
“Hey Nurse Hathaway. Do you need help with any patients?”
“Hmmm.” Carol surveyed the board but was distracted by a small dot of light that was wiggling around on the board. “Well there’s Ms. McGowan in curtain three and there’s...ugh! what IS that thing?” she said, annoyed by the light. She spun around, only to find the source of the distraction-the reflection of a diamond ring on the finger of Anna Del Amico. Carol walked over to Anna.
“Anna?” Carol looked at Anna, then back at her hand. “Is that..? Oh wow! So you and Carter are...?”
“Engaged? Yep. That was his big Valentine’s surprise,” said Anna. Carol ran over and hugged Anna. “Congratulations!”
“Congratulations Dr. Del Amico,” said Lucy, who remained over at the board. She smiled, but on the inside she wanted to cry. She had always loved Carter, and even after Anna came to the hospital Lucy clung to the hope that Carter would feel the same way towards her. Now reality was setting in-she would never have him.
“So,” said Carol, “I heard you were going out of town today.”
“Yeah. We’re going to Philly to see my parents. We leave in a few hours.”
“Hope it goes well. Is he nervous?”
“He’s not nervous about meeting my parents, it’s meeting all the Del Amico boys that scares him.”
“How many are there?”
“Seven.”
“Wow, what a family.”
The phone began to ring. When no one picked up, everyone turned and stared at Randi, who was busy putting on makeup.
“Fine,” muttered Carol, “I’ll get it.”
“Hello? Oh, hi Jen. Yeah he’s in the lounge. I’ll transfer you.” Carol hit a button on the phone and hung it up.
“I wonder what she wants.”
******************************************
Mark picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Jen.”
“How are you?”
“Good. Listen, we really need to talk. It’s about Rachel. Can I meet you for lunch?”
“Sure. Doc’s OK?”
“That’s fine. See you then.”
******************************************
Carter and Anna were sitting at the airport gate, waiting for their flight. Carter trried to focus on the magazine he was reading, but was visibly nervous.
“John?”
He didn’t respond. Finally, Ann pulled down the corner of the magazine. “Hello?”
“Sorry.”
“You seem really nervous. Is everything OK?”
“Yeah, I’m just hoping your family doesn’t hate me.”
“They won’t hate you. I love you, so they will too.”
“I hope you’re right. Can you run through the lineup one more time? I can’t keep all your brothers straight.”
“Sure. George Jr. is the oldest, he’s 24. Hank is 22, Peter is 20, Marcus is 19, Matt is 17, and Daniel and David are 14.”
“Any I have to worry about?”
“No, they’ll all love you, now relax.”
******************************************
Carol was lying on an exam table while Dr. Coburn performed the sonogram. Doug stood next to her, squinting at the scene, looking for anything.
“Well. Everything looks great here. Would you like to know the sex?”
Carol and Doug looked at each other. It wasn’t something they had talked about before.
“Sure,” they said in unison.
“Congratulations. In six months you two will be the proud parents of twin boys.”
Doug and Carol were stunned. “Twins?”
******************************************
Susan walked down the hall of the ER. When she saw Mark in Trauma 1, sitting on the stretcher, a concerned look formed on her face and she walked in.
“Mark are you OK?”
“I don’t know. Jen called, she has to meet me later. It’s something to do wirh Rachel, but that’s all she would say. I think something’s wrong.”
“I’m sure everything’s fine.”
“Anyway, I think I’ll probably have to cancel tonight. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s Ok, really.”
“Yeah, but it was our first date.”
She kissed him lightly. “Hey, we’ve waited over five years for this. I think we can wait a couple more nights. Rachel is more important right now.”
“Thanks for understanding. You’re really amazing.”
Susan began to walk out of the room, then turned around in the doorway.
“So are you.”
******************************************
“Wow, here we are. Good old Philly Memorial,” said Anna as she and Carter walked through the doors of her old ER. She turned towards him. “You don’t mind our stopping here, do you?”
“Not at all. Look over there” He pointed towards the waiting area.
“I don’t see anything.”
“That’s where I found you. Right over there.”
Anna gasped. “You’re right.” They walked over there, hand in hand. She turned to kiss him.
“Thank you for finding me.”
Over in one of the curtain areas, a nurse was administering n IV to a patient. “Here you go, Mr. Rosher. The doctor will see you in just a minute to sew up that laceration on your forehead.”
“Thanks.”
Max was bored. The last thing he wanted to do was wait around in some hospital. He then saw something so horrible, he had to rub his eyes to make sure it was real. There was Anna. And she wasn’t alone. She was with that creep John Carter, and it was clear they were together. He watched them leave the ER. He was furious, and he knew that as soon as he was released he would find Anna, and get his revenge.
******************************************
Doc Magoo’s seemed unusually busy that day, and Mark had to scan the crowd to find Jen sitting t one of the booths. He went to join her.
“So,” he said as he took off his coat. “What’s going on?”
“Well,” said Jen, “This is very sudden.”
“What?”
“You know that Craig has been moving up in his firm a lot lately. He was just appointed to head up a new program there.”
“That’s great. Except for the fact that it means we have to move to London.”
“And you’re taking Rach away? Well that’s just great Jen,” said Mark, clearly angry.
“Let me finish. You know that when we got divorced, one of the agreements was that Rachel remain in the area. There’s also the fact that she’s settled here, and moving to a new country would be very traumatic for her.”
“What are you saying?”
“Rachel wants to move in with you. Permanently.”
“That would be great! I’d have to get a bigger place eventually, but I would love to have her move in with me.”
“Good. She’ll be happy to hear that.”
******************************************
Carter and Anna stood outside the door of her parents’ townhouse.
“Well,” said Carter, “Here goes.”
Anna squeezed his hand. “Everything will be fine.”
Anna rang the doorbell, and a young man opened it. “Anna! Great to see you! and you must be John.” They shook hands.
“I’m Hank, one of Anna’s brothers.”
They went inside, where the rest of the Del Amico clan was waiting. They were all very friendly. They entered a large room with a huge, long table and sat down around it. Carter found himself seated between Anna and her father. Anna’s father interrupted the conversation and stood up.
“I’d like to propose a toast to Anna and John. And John, welcome to the family.”
******************************************
“So,” said Susan to Mark as she took a drink out of the fridge in the lounge. “What’s new with Jen?”
“You’re not going to believe this. Jen and Craig are moving to London.”
“And they’re gonna take Rachel? Mark, you can’t let them get away with that!”
“I’m not. Rachel’s going to live with me permanently. She’s moving in tonight.”
“That’s great!”
“It is. Jen didn’t seem too happy about it though.”
“What makes you think that?”
“While you were gone, I went through a rough period. I was pretty messed up, and Jen didn’t want me seeing Rach.”
“Well it’s obvious you have your life back on track now. Jen should see that.”
“I hope so. I’m still nervous though. Rachel’s bound to feel pretty shaken up.”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you think she’d react well if she knew about you? About us?”
“She’ll be shocked no matter what, but I think it’d be best if you let her know in the beginning.”
“Maybe you two should spend time together. You should probably get to know each other.”
“Are you ready for me to do that?”
“I’m ready.”
******************************************
“Look at this!” Exclaimed Carter as he looked through cassettes in Ann’s old room, “The Bangles? Debbie Gibson?” he laughed.
“You can see nothing has changed here, huh?”
“I’ll say.” He opened her closet door to find it filled with brightly colored eighties clothes. “You didn’t actually *wear* these, did you?”
“Ok ok, enough making fun of me. There’s something we need to talk about.”
“What’s that?”
“Remember that phone call I made at the airport? I was calling Carol.”
“What about?”
“She took some blood before we left, and I was calling her about it.”
Carter looked concerned. “You aren’t sick, are you?”
“No, not at all.”
“So everything’s ok.”
“Well, there was something. But it should clear up in about nine months.”
“Oh my god!”
“Yep.”
“We’re gonna have a baby?!” Carter leaped up.
“Shh.” Anna pointed toward downstairs. “I’m not ready to tell them just yet. They’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
He pulled her close to him. “This is soo wonderful.”
She kissed him. “See, every time you come to Philly, something big happens.”
He grinned. “I love this city.”
******************************************
Rachel looked at the floor silently as she dragged a pink duffel bag behind her. Mark walked out of the kitchen.
“You need some help Rach?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
He put the bag on the sofa. “OK, sit down. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Rach hopped onto the couch. “Why did mom just dump me here?”
“She thought it would be better if you had time to get settled before she left.”
“Is mom mad?”
“No. Why would she be?”
“I don’t know.”
‘Anyway, I promise we’ll go out this weekend and look for a bigger place. But I think we should both get some sleep.”
“Rachel began to walk away, then turned around, as she began to cry.”
“Why did she do this? It’s like she hates me now.”
Rachel ran into Mark’s arms. “She was like, ‘Well, Craig and I are moving millions of miles away, and oh, by the way we’re not taking you.’ She’s been so mean lately, like she doesn’t even like me.”
“Oh Rach.” Mark didn’t know what else to say, so he hugged her tighter.
“Daddy?” said Rachel as she looked up at Mark.”
“Yes?”
“I’m really glad I’m moving in with you.”
“Me too. I know this is hard for you, but everything’s going to be OK, I promise. We’ve just got a lot of pieces we have to put together. Everything will be great.”
Rachel smiled, and pulled on the strap of her bag, pulling it off the couch.
“Goodnight dad.”
“Goodnight.”

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