Susan stood behind the rescue crew with her hand over her mouth, shaking her head. Abby had been in there too long. Even if she was alive or even conscious, who knows how long this thing could hold. It had already collapsed three times, no one knew when gravity would just bring even more of the already completely destroyed building to the ground.

Despite what her common sense was telling her, she couldn't help feeling that it was her fault. she could have stopped her going in. She was supposed to be supervising her. although at the back of her mind, she had realised in the very short space of time that she had known the nurse that she could be very stubborn and she would've gone in to save that child regardless.

The atmosphere around was quite a bit calmer now. The machinery was still as noisy as ever and the fire crew were still yelling at each other over the din, but most of the patients that had been here before had either been shipped off to hospital or had gone home.

She was back feeling the way she had before, desperately worried for her friend. For a moment, when that paramedic went in, she felt as if it would all be OK, but when the structure collapsed again and he had to be dragged out to go to hospital, she couldn't have felt any worse.

She couldn't, but she knew that Carter could when he found out.

* * *

"Dr. Carter?" Gallant ran into the ICU, frantically calling the doctor's name. Instead of being greeted with the face of the man he was looking for, he was met with the surprised, confused gazes of several nurses and family members.

Michael gave a frustrated sigh and looked up and down the hallway to see if he had just missed him. No such luck. He was no where to be seen.

The med. student glanced at his watch. 6:05 PM. Carter's shift wasn't over yet. Where could he be? He headed back to the elevator to the ground floor, deciding that maybe he had gone back down stairs without him noticing.

"Oi Gallant!" Frank called as he raced past the admit desk after returning to the ER.

"Um... Not now", he replied half-heartedly. He had more important things on his mind.

"Hey all!" Luka greeted as he walked through the double doors. "Reporting for shift!"

"You seen Carter?" Gallant asked him.

Luka looked confused. He tried to read the younger mans expression, but Gallant was too busy glancing up and down the street to look at the doctor.

"Uh, yeah. He told me he was going to the dry cleaners to pick up his suite."

"Oh god, I've got to go and find him."

"Why, what's happened?"

But he didn't have time to answer Luka, all he could think about was telling Carter about Abby before he found out from somewhere else.

* * *

"Abby? Abby wake up." Katie was very scared now. She didn't know what had just happened but the woman that was trying to help her was not moving. She could hear people outside but she couldn't see anyone moving the stuff off them.

She crawled over to the nurse who was lying unconscious a little way away from her and started to cry and scream when she saw what was wrong. There was blood. Lots of blood. She couldn't quite see where it was coming from but she knew it had to be very bad.

She sat up and tried to find a way to get out. She wanted her Daddy and she didn't want to be trapped in here anymore. And Abby might die. Her arm hurt lots and she was coughing because of all the dust but she had to get out 'cause the building was shaking more and it looked as if it was about to fall down again.

She tried to move a piece of wood out of the way to find a way out but it was quite heavy. Lots of dust was falling from the ceiling and it was very, very noisy. She eventually moved it out the way and saw a bit of light coming through. Katie carried on moving stuff out of the way. Some of it was quite heavy and her arm hurt even more now but even though she didn't know quite what was going on, she knew that Abby might die if she didn't get help soon.

* * *

Susan was beyond upset now. She was just staring into space, her eyes unable to focus. It was all her fault. How could she possibly face Carter ever again if anything happened to Abby? She was racked with guilt.

She was sitting by her self on a pile of bricks, quite a way back from the rescue operation that was still going on well into the night, but close enough to know that they had not got Abby or the little girl out safely and she was beginning to doubt if they ever would.

She could hear the fire crew shouting and could hear the clattering of rubble as the got closer and closer to what she believe would be two dead bodies.

She was not the sort of person to give up hope. When she had lost her sister an niece in New York, she had believed, right up until that moment when she knew that they both were safe, that everything was going to be fine.

That was different though. She didn't know where to start looking for them so she could help by looking for them. But she knew exactly where Abby was and she felt so utterly helpless right now because she couldn't do anything to help save her friend.

* * *

"At last", he whispered to himself through short, laboured breaths, as he raced up to the glass door of the dinner across the street from the hospital. He had been to the dry cleaners and the shop was closed. He had ran all over trying to find the doctor. He had even called the hospital to see if he had returned but no such luck. Now he found him, having a cup of coffee in a window booth with Lily, who he had heard someone say earlier, was on the night shift.

He was laughing and joking, completely oblivious to the bombshell that was about to hit him, knowing that his true love and dearest friend was lying unconscious under a building.

"Dr. Carter!" he yelled as he burst through the door, "something's happened!"

The whole cafe turned to face him and he walked over to the booth where his colleagues who were staring at him in shock.

* * *

Carter stared wide eyed at the med. student who was standing by their table. There was something in his tone of voice and the panicked look in his eyes that told him what was coming.

"It's Abby isn't it?" His voice was timid and filled with anxiety and worry.

It had to be Abby. He could not think of any other reason why this man would go to such lengths to find him. Carter could tell by how worn out he looked that he had been running around after him for a long time.

The sympathetic nod that was given as a reply confirmed his worst fears.

Carter felt numb. He could not concentrate on anything but Abby. People may have been trying to talk to him, but he could not distinguish actual voices from the frantic, incoherent thoughts that were racing through his mind, desperate for some sort of order to be brought to them.

But Carter couldn't think straight. He just sat there, staring ahead, trying to comprehend what he was being told.

How could this happen? He didn't quite know exactly what was going on but it didn't matter to him how she was in danger, just that she was in danger. How could anyone do this to me? he thought, just when I had finally figured out what I knew all along, that she was the one for me?

He wanted tears to fall, to let people know how he was really feeling but I guess that in his mind, he still didn't believe what he was hearing.

He stood up and picked up his coat, allowing himself to be lead out of the door by Michael and Lily, towards the hospital. He thought of his late night talk with Abby at her apartment, he remembered the feelings they had that they had left unsaid, and then thought of Lucy, and how she had made him feel when she had focused his thoughts and made him see his relationship with Abby clearly for the first time.

His brain suddenly clicked into fighting mode. He headed towards the hospital, quickly turning all his pain and anger into determination. He could feel his body surge with adrenaline and he let all emotions fly away as he concentrated his mind on the task ahead.

He was determined to help Abby, to tell her how he felt. He was not going to let her go without one hell of a fight. His mind was focused on that one task and no one, nothing could deter him from expressing true love to the only woman on this earth that could make him happy.

Not even death.