Couple Three...John Carter and Abby Lockhart from ER
On paper, Abby Lockhart has so many issues; she makes Meredith Grey look like the happy go lucky girl with a perfect childhood. And John Carter is no McDreamy. Yet, the two of them are so heartbreakingly PERFECT for each other that it caused a shockwave across televisions everywhere. To have these two characters NOT end up together was the greatest offense that any TV producer (who shall) could have made.
You first feel their chemistry in the opening of season 7. Abby had turned Carter in for using drugs, and Carter upon returning from rehab see’s Abby at an AA meeting. Later that night, at the diner next to the hospital, Abby confesses to being sober for five years, and upon a bit of begging from Carter agrees to be his sponsor. This is a start of a beautiful friendship.
The two of them have a standard of coffee and pie, joke around at the hospital, and always, always, care for each other. Even while dating other people, it is obvious that Carter has feelings for Abby. From attending a Charity Event for him, to the two of them driving her bipolar mother back to Chicago from Oklahoma, their friendship seems unbreakable.
The two of them had a habit of drinking coffee near the river, and on a particularly bad day, Carter told Abby that he didn’t just want to be her friend. He had feelings for her, and he wanted her. Abby, who at the time was dating a Croatian by the name of Luka, was stunned. Abby breaks up with Luka, yet she and Carter never get together.
During this time, Abby begins drinking again. When a man beats her up because she helped his wife leave him, it is Luka, not Carter who comes to her rescue. She starts living with Luka until she can find a new place to live. Carter becomes very jealous, even though he is casually dating another Doctor named Susan.
This dynamic leads to (in my opinion) one of the best episodes in ER history. Due to some shenanigans in the ER, Carter, Luka, Abby, Susan and a very sweet intern named Gallant are sent to a daylong sexual harassment workshop. However, the teacher doesn’t show up and the five spend the day talking about family, Hamlet and loss of virginities. Carter and Luka literally become involved in a duel, and everyone see’s that it is over Abby. At the end of the episode, Susan tells Carter to tell Abby that he loves her and can’t live a moment without her. (Susan rocks btw.)
A few weeks later, Mark Greene, the head attending, dies in Hawaii (that episode made me cry, btw). Abby and Carter are at a bar, and Abby flirts with Carter, and there is a moment where Abby touches Carter’s head and the two of them look at each other and it is totally apparent that they are meant to be together. Carter sobers Abby up and she goes to an AA meeting for him.
Some form of smallpox then shows up at the ER and Abby and Carter try to save the children. They are quarantined and Abby asks Carter to tell her that they are going to be okay. Carter responds by kissing her, and the heavens opened and two seasons of tension was released and we were happy.
And it was destroyed within two more seasons. I won’t talk about their decline, only to say that it was poorly done.
On fanfiction read C. Midori and Kyriana. They are both wonderful.
Anyone else have any recs? Please!!!