Dreams That You Dare To Dream
Part 5A
By Cathy Roberts
glroberts@bigfoot.com

"Dreams That You Dare To Dream" is a PG rated, round robin story begun by Scott J. Welles scottjwelles@yahoo.com and
Michelle Hiley er@hiley.demon.co.uk. Someday soon, all the stories will be in an archive in the "E.R." section on Michelle's
excellent site, http://www.hiley.demon.co.uk/index.htm

The story is set during Season 5, as per Scotty and Michelle, "Roughly December 1998. Carter has recovered from the
dislocation of his shoulder, but Amanda Lee's psycho nature hasn't yet been revealed. The whole Ricky Abbott affair hasn't occurred yet. Elizabeth has broken up with Peter Benton, but not yet begun her flirtation with Mark Greene. Carol and Doug are currently engaged, but she is not pregnant at this point." Those of you who have been following the story know the basic premise. For those just now tuning in, Kerry, Elizabeth, Carter, Carol and Doug were accidentally transported to another universe by a novice wizard. The wizard did find a way to get them back to their own world, but it involves them traveling via a vortex, to other worlds, each one bringing them closer to home. They can only travel every 24 hours, at midnight and must be together in order to enter the vortex.

"ER" and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your own pleasure. However this story may not be used, distributed or archived without the permission of the author.

Many thanks go to Scotty and Michelle for the idea and editing assistance. Thanks also go to Clotho, who wrote the chapter
before this, for letting me know in advance what happened in her chapter. And, as always, a big thanks to Melissa, my eternal editor.



In the heart of the emergency room at County General, Susan Lewis leaned up against a wall and looked over at Peter Benton.
"Tell me that it's just my imagination, Peter."

Peter shook his head. "It's not. He looks enough like Carter that's for sure. Reminds me a bit more of Barbara though." Peter had gone through med school with Bobby Carter and the two had become good friends. He had met all of Carter's family and it was his opinion that the man they had just sent for a CAT scan and x-rays was a member of the Carter family. But not anyone Peter had ever met. "A cousin maybe?"

Susan shook her head. "No. Everyone was at the wedding and I don't remember him."

"You guys didn't exactly have a small wedding, Susan. How can you remember everyone who was there?"

"Well, there's one way to find out." Susan looked around and finally spotted Lucy Knight. "Lucy, would you do me a favor? Please find Doctor Carter and ask him to come here."

"Sure, Doctor Lewis." Lucy hurried off.

"If this guy is a cousin, then Bobby will know him," Susan said.

Peter nodded. "I'm going to x-ray to keep an eye on our patient."

"Thanks."

As Susan waited for Bobby to join her, she couldn't keep her mind off of her patient. He was around 28 and otherwise healthy
except for his badly bruised ribs, cuts, abrasions, contusions and a nasty head injury. There had been no ID on his body; not too surprising considering how he had been injured. According to the cops, he was a street runner, so there wouldn't even be any point in getting his fingerprints -- nothing would be on file. And yet there was so much about him that reminded her of Bobby and her sister-in-law, Barbara Carter. John Doe's hair was a bit darker than Bobby's, but his eyes were the same dark brown. And they had the same nose and overall facial features. This man could be Bobby's brother. Which is why Susan had told the police to run his prints anyway.

Susan's thoughts were broken when her handsome husband kissed her. "You called for me?"

"Yeah. A trauma came in. A street runner who fell from the roof of an abandoned warehouse down by the river. The cops
fished him out of the river and brought him here. He's unconscious, but by some miracle not seriously injured. He's getting a CAT scan and x-rays now. There wasn't any ID on him."

"You got a surgical consult anyway, right?"

"Yeah. Peter's with him now. They should be back soon."

"Okay. So, what do you need me for?"

"Well, Bobby, he looks like a Carter. More like Barbara than you, but definitely like a Carter." Susan watched her husband's
face carefully, not sure what to expect from him as he digested that news.

Bobby finally shrugged. "Maybe he's a cousin or something. I do come from a big family, Susie."

"I know. But, I don't recognize him. You said that all of your family was at our wedding."

"They were. It's probably just a coincidence."

"Or not. Bobby, what if he's John?" Susan finally voiced the thought that had been plaguing her from the very second she
got a good look at the patient. John Carter, Bobby's younger brother, had disappeared when he was ten years old, but the family never knew if he had run away or been abducted. All they knew was that they never saw John again.

Bobby shook his head. "Don't even go there, Susan. My brother has been dead for eighteen years."

"He's been missing for that long, Bobby. They never found his body, so you don't know that he's dead."

"If John was alive, then he would have found his way home long before now. You may think your patient looks like a Carter,
but I can assure you that he isn't."

Susan was about to reply when she saw Peter coming back with their still unconscious patient. Bobby looked over as Peter
directed Malik to put the man in Curtain Three. From where he stood, Bobby had to admit to himself that the unknown man did look like a member of the Carter family. But, that was just wishful thinking on his part. He had spent years hoping and praying that his little

brother would come home. But, he never had. Everyone in the family had finally come to accept that John was dead. Everyone but their mother. She still believed that he was alive somewhere, although when pressed, she couldn't come up with a believable argument as to why John hadn't come home if he was alive.

"You have a patient to get back to and I have charts to finish. I'll catch you later." Bobby gave his wife a quick kiss, then
headed for the lounge. With a sigh, Susan went into Curtain Three.

Kerry wearily sank onto the bed. This wasn't the best hotel they had ever stayed at, but right now she really didn't care.
They had finally eluded the police and now had to concentrate on finding Carter. She closed her eyes to rest for but a moment,
but the memories of earlier came flooding back. Tears threatened to overwhelm her as she remembered how they had stepped out of the vortex and onto a roof, only to have the cover of darkness ripped away when a searchlight from a helicopter was trained on them. Carter had been in the process of putting her down and she supposed that the combination of the wind gusts from the helicopter's blades, the brightness of the light and the shock of it all put him off balance. The next thing Kerry knew, Carter was crying out for help as he fell backwards, off the roof. They all grabbed for him, but she and Doug were the only ones who caught him. Unfortunately for Carter, Kerry had grabbed his left arm and he screamed in pain as his recently healed shoulder was strained. Doug screamed at Kerry to let go of Carter and she did, thinking that Doug had him. But, as she dropped Carter's hand, they could hear a ripping sound and then Carter was gone. And Doug was standing there with a portion of Carter's pants in his hand. If it wasn't for the fact that Carter had fallen into the river below, it could have been comical. Under the glare of the searchlight, the four of them looked at each other, wondering just what to do now to help
Carter.  But before anyone could do anything else, the police were on a loudspeaker, ordering them to remain where they were. So, the four of them ran. Thanks to the light from the helicopter, they were able to find the stairs that took them off the
roof. Once on the ground floor, they saw they were in a warehouse. There were other people in there, living in boxes apparently. People who were dirty and ragged, reaching out to them for help. And then the police were coming through the doors. As the foursome raced toward an open window, they could hear the sounds of people crying out in pain and the awful sounds of people being hit by blunt objects.

They made it out of the warehouse without being apprehended. But, the police pursuit raged on. Everywhere they looked, police were in the process of arresting people, hitting them with billy clubs and stun guns if anyone put up a fight. They ducked into alleys, climbed fences, hid in the shadows. Anything they could do to keep from being caught in the police round up.  It was near six when Doug went into a seedy hotel and rented a room for the day. The women had stayed outside, out of eyesight. The police were looking for three women and a man, not a man alone. Once Doug had the key, they sneaked up to the room. And now they had to find a way to find Carter. Assuming that he had been pulled out of the river and wasn't dead. If he was dead, then they were trapped on this world.

Doug and Carol flopped down on the bed across from Kerry while Elizabeth sat in the only chair. Doug reached into his bag
and pulled out the material from Carter's pants. By fortune or chance, that section of material included the pocket that held
Carter's wallet.

"Obviously a police state of some sort," Elizabeth observed.

"Yeah. A bunch of big bullies picking on the homeless," Doug said.

"I thought you had Carter. Why did you tell me to let go of him if you didn't have him?" Kerry sharply asked. At least she
thought she had asked the question. It wasn't until she noticed the shocked looks on their faces that she realized she had been yelling.

"I thought I had him, Kerry," Doug's voice was strained with emotion, but he managed to speak calmly. He knew that she was upset and that yelling back would only make matters worse. "God knows I wouldn't have told you to let him go if I would have known that he would fall. And not just because we can't get home without him. I like Carter too much for that to be my only reason for trying to save his life."

"Sorry.  I'm just...tired."

"I think the physical activity was too much for you," Elizabeth said. There had been times when they had to help Kerry along.  And for once in her life, Kerry was accepting of that help. "I think you could use a long soak in a hot tub of water. How about if I run a bath for you?"

"Do you think this place has hot water?" Carol asked.

"Only one way to find out." Elizabeth went into the bathroom and they soon heard the sound of running water.

"We have to find John," Kerry said. She refused to think that he had drowned. The police had seen him fall, surely they had
rescued him. She did remember seeing police boats in the water while they were fleeing.

"Doug and I can call around to the hospitals while you soak. You need to get the aches out of your muscles, Kerry."

Kerry finally nodded, giving in to her aches and pains. She was leaning heavily on her crutch as she went into the bathroom.

Elizabeth came right out, grabbed Kerry's bag, and then went back in. A few minutes later she came out again, shutting the
door behind her. By then, Doug had found the local telephone book and a notepad.

"How about if I go out to get us something to eat while you two ring up the hospitals? I can also get a newspaper."

"Good idea. We need to know what kind of a world we've landed in, and there might be something in the paper about last night. Shame this room didn't come with a television," Doug said.

"Be careful, Elizabeth," Carol said.

"I will. I'll be back as soon as I can." Elizabeth grabbed her bag and headed out. She knew the others wouldn't go anywhere without her, so she didn't worry that she would need the room key. She pulled the door shut behind her, then leaned against it,
totally drained. She could still see Carter's face as he fell, the terror in his eyes as he realized that no one had him. Shaking her
head, she forced herself to forget about that. Doug and Carol would find out that Carter was in a local hospital and they could go there and get him, then get on to the next world. She didn't want to stay here any longer than was absolutely necessary.



It didn't take Elizabeth long to find a neighborhood market and she quickly bought food, drink and a paper. Everyone in the
small shop was talking about the raid and how Chicago's Mayor, Roland Carter, was making good on his vow to get the street runners off the street and make Chicago safe for all its citizens. "Unless you're homeless," Elizabeth thought, remembering the faces of the people in the warehouse. They had been scared and tired faces. Faces that held eyes with no hope. Just like Carter's eyes as he fell. "Stop that," she admonished herself. "You have to believe that he's all right." She paid for her purchases, then returned to the hotel.

Doug let her in since Carol was on the telephone. Kerry was sitting on the other bed, her skin still flushed from her bath and
her hair damp. As Elizabeth laid out breakfast on the small table, she could hear Carol asking questions of someone, inquiring who was on staff.

Carol scribbled quickly on the notepad, thanked the operator and hung up the receiver.

"Well?" Elizabeth prompted.

"A John Doe was fished out of the river by the police and taken to County General for treatment. The operator at County
wouldn't give me any information on his condition, but I think we can safely assume that it's Carter." Carol took the juice that Doug passed her way. "On a positive note, County's in the same place. There are no doctors by the name of Kerry Weaver or Elizabeth Corday there. No nurse by the name of Carol Hathaway, either. There is a pedes attending named Doug Ross, but he won't be on until noon. The other attendings are Susan Lewis, Robert Carter and Karen Stone. Stone won't be on until noon, but the other two are on now. The Chief of the ER is Mark Greene, the Chief of Staff is David Morgenstern."

"All right, so Doug's the only one who can't go there," Kerry said.

"Okay, so you all go to the ER and find out how he's doing. In the meantime, I'll get us some better rooms, then meet you outside the hospital. And I think I'll pick up a first aid kit or two. We don't know what condition Carter's in, so we should be prepared to have to nurse him for a bit until we can jump to the next world."

"Just stay out of sight, Doug. We don't want them thinking that you're showing up early."  Kerry warned.

He grinned at her. "I'll keep out of sight. Just find out about Carter." His grin faded. "See if you can get him out of there."

"There was some news I picked up at the market," Elizabeth said as they were gathering their things to leave. "Roland Carter
is the Mayor of Chicago. Isn't that Carter's father?"

Kerry nodded. "Yes. I remember Carter mentioning once that his grandparents had wanted their children to go into politics, but that his father and uncle refused. Being children of the 60's, they weren't into becoming part of the establishment. Carter laughed about it, saying it had always amazed him that they could say that and yet become millionaires in the corporate world."  Kerry wondered if she would ever again get a chance to hear John tell stories about his dysfunctional family. She prayed that she would.

"Well, we're off now." Carol gave Doug a quick hug and kiss, then the women left. Doug grabbed the phone book to look for a hotel closer to the hospital. There was no sense in making Carter travel any further than necessary.



John could feel a pounding in his head and wondered if he had a hangover. Then he remembered the horrible sensation of
falling into darkness and he jumped as he opened his eyes. He blinked hard against the light in the room. A familiar voice caught his attention and he turned his head to the right to see a pretty blonde standing there, looking anxious. Beside her was a large black man, who looked more bored than anxious.

"Hello," the blonde cheerily greeted him. "Do you know where you are? Do you know your name?" Her words seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't place them...or her for that matter. Which was a shame, considering how cute she was.

"Lucy, give him time to answer your first question," the man said.

"Sorry."

The man took over the questioning then. "I'm Doctor Benton. Can you tell me your name?"

John slowly nodded, his name was one thing he was sure about. "John."

"John, you fell from the roof of a building. You were lucky though, and your injuries aren't serious. You have a concussion and
a few badly bruised ribs and a lot of other bruises as well. Your CAT scan and x-rays didn't reveal any other damage, but you
still might be at risk for internal bleeding or a more serious head injury. We're going to keep you here for about twelve hours for
observation."

"I can't stay here," John said as he struggled to sit up. Lucy quickly came to his aid, fluffing the pillows behind him and making
sure he was comfortable.

"You'll be spending the twelve hours here in the emergency room, not in the hospital itself. We do need to ask you a few more
questions. Do you know what day of the week it is?"

John shook his head.

"Okay. What about month? Do you know what month it is?"

"November?" John guessed.

"Do you know where you are? What city?"

John thought about that for a minute, then shook his head.

"Okay. How about a last name? You do have one, don't you?"

Again, John found himself shaking his head. How he could be so sure that his name was John and not know his last name. He
did have one, didn't he?

"Lucy, I want you to page neurology. Even though the CAT scan came back negative, I think someone from upstairs should
take a look at him."

"Okay, but from what I've heard, it's not unusual for street runners to have only one name."

"Ms. Knight, do you think it's possible for you to obey me without making any unwarranted comments?"

Lucy blushed. "Yes, Doctor Benton. I'm sorry." She rushed out of the room.

"Sorry about that," Benton said to John.

John shrugged. "It's okay. What's a street runner?"

Benton was kept from answering by the loud voices they could all hear just outside the room.

"Excuse me," Benton said as he headed out the door. John could see another pretty blonde woman, but the door closed before he could check her out. Well, maybe there would be time to get a better look at her later. He eased back against his pillows, wondering if it was a bad thing that he didn't know the answers to their questions. A small voice in the back of his mind was telling him it was, but another part of him was assuring him that it wasn't anything to worry about. That he should take advantage of this time to get a good rest. It had been so long since he had had the opportunity to get a really good rest.



Peter stepped out into the hallway and found himself in the middle of a Carter family argument.  Susan and Bobby were arguing
with each other while Millicent Carter, Bobby's grandmother, stood to the side and watched.

"What is going on out here? You are disturbing the patients," Peter said.

"Sorry. I just now found out that Susan called Gamma about your John Doe and her fantasy that he's my brother."

"It's not a fantasy, Bobby. If you would just go in there and take a good look at him then you would have to admit that he could be John."

"You never knew John," he yelled back, immediately regretting the fact that he had yelled at his wife.

"Peter, is he awake?" Millicent asked in the shocked silence.

"Yes, he's awake. He doesn't know where he is, or what day of the week it is. He doesn't know if he has a last name. His
first name is John, though."

Millicent nodded. "May I see him?"

"Susan? He's your patient," Peter said.

Susan nodded. "I think we all should see him."

Bobby blew out his breath in exasperation. "Fine. If having Gamma look at him and tell you that he can't be John is what it
will take to convince you that you're wrong, then so be it. I swear, you get so emotional when you're pregnant."

"Don't even start with me, Bobby. This has nothing to do with me being pregnant. I hated it every time you talked that way
with Bethany, and I'm not going to put up with it this time." Susan ended the conversation by pushing open the door and walking into the exam room.

"You really must be more considerate of Susan's feelings, Robert. She is in a highly emotional state right now," Millicent said as
she followed Susan into the room.

"What are you looking at?" Bobby snapped at Peter, who could only grin back.

"Nothing. We had better get in there."



As Bobby stepped into the room, he could see that the man on the bed was checking Susan out. Even seven months into her
pregnancy, Susan was a sexy woman and Bobby felt jealous that another man would be looking at her that way. There was a way to put an end to this nonsense. Their cousin Chase had given John a nickname back when John was five years old. This guy wouldn't respond to that name because he obviously would have never heard it.

"Scooter," Bobby said, keeping his voice at the same volume as the others in the room.  Much to his surprise, the patient's
head turned in his direction, the eyes questioning.

John knew that name. He wasn't sure how or why he knew it, but he did. And he knew a few other names as well. Names of
children who had called him that name. Chase. Barbara. Doug. Bobby. He felt sad as he remembered that name, and he said it out loud, hoping that doing so would make him remember why that name had so much meaning for him. "Bobby."

Millicent turned to Susan. "John's fingerprints are still on file at the police station. I want this man fingerprinted. I'm not calling Roland and Laura until I have that proof. I don't think my son will take his recognizing his nickname and then calling Bobby by name to be definite proof that he's John Carter. It's enough for me though."

"I've already had that done," Susan informed her.

"Good. I'll call David Garcia. He's a good friend of Roland's and he'll make sure we get the results quickly and quietly.
There's no need for the press to get hold of this yet. They'll certainly have a field day with this news won't they?"

"I'll call," Peter volunteered. "Garcia is a police inspector, right?"

Millicent nodded then gave Peter a direct phone number for the man. Peter thanked her, then left the room to do as Millicent
asked.

"I'm sure that Dad can find a way to use it to his advantage," Bobby said.

"I know you don't approve of what Roland has done, but he truly is making Chicago a better place to live, Robert. For you,
your children, and your patients."

John watched the two interact, feeling a connection to the woman, but not the man. Although the man was apparently named
Bobby. But, he didn't recognize him. He turned his attention back to the knockout blonde, smiling as he assessed her physical
attributes once more. "And you are?"

"Susan Lewis. Your doctor. I'm also Bobby's wife, but I don't use my married name professionally. It would get too confusing around here for there to be two Doctor Carters."

"I see.  So, when are you due?"

"I've got two more months to go. This is our second child. We already have a three-year-old daughter, Bethany. She's just
like her Daddy and a real handful."

"Bethany is more like you, Susie. Stubborn." Bobby smiled at his wife as he said that. Bethany was their pride and joy and they spent many happy minutes arguing about where she obtained her stubborn streak.

"And you are?" John looked up at the older woman, hoping that a name would help him place her.

"Millicent Carter. I'm Robert's..."

"Gamma," John finished for her.

Millicent smiled broadly as she heard him say the mangled version of "grandma" that all her grandchildren used when they were
younger. Still did. "That's right. Don't worry, John. Everything will be just fine. I'll make sure of that."

For some strange reason, John felt certain that Millicent Carter had the power to do just that.