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

See Part 5A for "Thanks you"'s and disclaimers.



The three women paused outside the main doors of County General to go over their plan one more time. "Okay," Kerry began, "Carol, you go in through the ER doors while Elizabeth and I go in through here. You will be faking a complaint in order to be seen, and try your best to see if you can find Carter."

"Got it." Carol took off down the sidewalk.

"Elizabeth, you and I will have to play it by ear. We've got our badges, so we'll appear to be hospital employees. Let's just
hope that the people in the ER don't keep up to date on the names of the entire hospital staff."

"Right." They headed into the hospital. As Elizabeth headed for the elevators, Kerry went to the information desk to see if
Carter had been moved to a room. There was no one with his name as a patient, so Kerry thanked the receptionist and followed Elizabeth, hoping that Carter was all right.

"May I help you?"

Carol looked into the face of a woman she didn't know. She didn't know if that was bad or good. On one hand, she had been
looking forward to seeing Jerry or Randi. Then again, running into people she really knew and finding out they were nothing like the people she knew was disconcerting.

"Yes, I..."

"Oh, my God! Carol!" Carol suddenly found herself being enthusiastically hugged by Chuny. "Everyone, Carol's come to visit."

"Yes," Carol agreed, not knowing what else to say. She didn't work here, at least that's what hospital personnel had reported.
So why were all these people crowding around her?

"Girl, it's been ages. How are the kids? And Tag? You look great," Chuny said.

"Everything's fine. I just happened to find myself in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by for a visit."

"Listen to you. You come all the way to Chicago from San Francisco and act that you were just out taking a walk," Susan Lewis said as she gave Carol a hug.

"Look at you," Carol couldn't keep from saying. Susan was very much pregnant and looked happy.

Susan put her hand on her protruding tummy. "The next Carter heir will be making his appearance in a few more months. I
think Bobby's just as excited about this baby as he was about Bethany. He denies that it's because we know this will be a boy, but I think every man secretly wants at least one son. So, are you and Tag working on having girls, yet?"

Carol tried to smile. "We're working on it. But, then again, the trying is half the fun, right?"

"You got that right," Chuny agreed.

As Carol tried to concentrate on the conversation going on around her in the hopes of picking up more clues, she saw Elizabeth
and Kerry step out of the elevators. Hopefully, they would have better luck than she was having. She wasn't sure which was
worse -- the fact she had married Tag after all, or the fact that according to everyone around her, she was happily married to
Tag.



"Well, here goes nothing," Elizabeth said as she walked away from Kerry. Kerry had managed to log onto a computer upstairs
and found out that Peter Benton had paged neurology for a consult for a patient named "John Doe". The two of them agreed that it was most likely Carter. So, Elizabeth was now going to do her best to pretend to be a neurosurgeon. She saw Peter Benton on the telephone and headed toward him, hoping that she could pull off being a new staff member.

"Excuse me," she said as Peter hung up the phone, "I was paged to come down here."

"From neuro?" Peter asked, then continued as she nodded. "Yeah, we paged upstairs. You're new here?"

"Yes, I just started yesterday. The name is Elizabeth Corday. What do you have for me?"

"Peter Benton. Come with me. We have a twenty-eight year old male who received a blow to the head and seems to be
suffering from amnesia. Not total amnesia. He can remember his first name, and some things from his past, but not his last name or where he is." Peter came to a stop in front of the door to Curtain Three. "He's in here. His name is John."

Elizabeth followed Peter into the room and saw that the patient was indeed Carter. She hoped that she would be able to pull
off a neurological exam in front of this Peter Benton.

"Hello," John greeted her with a broad smile, his eyes quickly scanning her body. "Nice to meet you. You're not pregnant and married to my brother, are you?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no," she replied.

"Good."

"I'm Doctor Elizabeth Corday and I need to ask you a few questions."

"Another doctor," he sighed.

"I'm afraid so." Elizabeth turned to Peter. "I'd like to talk with him privately, please."

"Of course. Mrs. Carter? I can take you to the lounge to wait," Peter offered.

Millicent nodded. "Thank you. Robert, Susan, I think she wants the two of you to leave as well."

"He's my patient," Susan said. "I should stay."

"I'd prefer to speak with John alone," Elizabeth firmly said. The two women stared at each other for a minute or two, then Susan followed the others out of the room.

"John? Do you remember what happened?"

"No. I woke up and here I was. They said I fell from a roof or something like that."

"I see. Do you remember who you were with when you fell?"

"I just told you that I don't remember falling, so how could I remember who I was with?"

"Sometimes, hearing a question worded a different way can spark a memory. Doctor Benton said that you can't remember your last name."

"Right. Mrs. Carter and Doctor Lewis are convinced that I'm some relative of theirs, but Doctor Carter doesn't seem to agree with them."

"Do you know how old you are?"

"Old enough to know what to do to make a woman like you happy," he replied with a knowing smile.  He couldn't remember where he was, or his last name, but he knew it had been a long time since he had last been with a woman.

Elizabeth felt herself blushing. While she was used to making ribald comments, she wasn't quite used to hearing them, especially from Carter. "Let's stick with the subject, shall we?

"Which was?"

"Your lack of memory. I'm going to arrange for you to have an MRI to eliminate the possibility of any serious damage to your
brain."

"They already did a C.A.T. scan. It was negative."

"They told you that?" Elizabeth knew that in their world, technicians didn't reveal the results to a patient. But, she had no idea about the protocol followed in this world. If they didn't, then that meant that Carter had seen the scan and knew how to read it, which was a good sign.

"No, they didn't say anything to me. But, I saw my brain up there on the monitor. It was nice and normal." He grinned up at her again. "Not at all like me. I'm normal, but definitely not nice."

Elizabeth nodded. "I'll be right back." She left the room, glad to see that Peter wasn't waiting for her in the hallway. She needed to let Kerry know what was going on with Carter. And then find a way to get Carol away from the admit desk long enough for them to discuss just what they were going to do about Carter.



Doug hastily locked the door after admitting the women. "Well?" He didn't see Carter with them, so he knew that something
was very wrong.

"Carter took a bad blow to the head and he has amnesia. I don't know how much is caused physically and how much might bepsychological," Elizabeth told him. She had discussed that with Carol and Kerry, theorizing that the strain of being caught
in the parallel worlds might have been too much for Carter and when his mind saw an opportunity to forget it all, it took it.
Kerry downplayed that theory, but Carol seemed to feel it had merit.

"Is that his most serious injury? It was a long way from that roof to the water." Doug said.

"He has minor injuries. The C.A.T. scan came back negative. Kerry and I both managed to get around the hospital and emergency room fairly well. I had to pretend to be the neurological consult that Susan Lewis and Peter Benton had called."

"And you? How'd you do?" Doug asked Carol.

Carol rolled her eyes. "Don't ask. Just don't ask. While it's true that no one by name currently works there, I once worked there."

"She's happily married with children," Elizabeth added, ignoring the sharp look Carol sent her way.

"Married, huh?  To?"

"Tag. The wedding took place here. I never thought I would get away from them. And Susan Lewis is married as well. To
Carter's brother, Bobby Carter."

"The one who died as a child in our world. I remember Carter talking about him. Bobby's death is the main reason Carter
went into medicine," Doug said.

Kerry nodded. She and Carter had spent many evenings talking John's family life. Or, rather, his lack of family life. He never did say he felt abandoned by his family. Quite the opposite, in fact. According to John, it was only natural that his parents would spend so much time traveling. But, his words never quite managed to hide the hurt in his eyes or obscure the catch in his voice when he spoke of how happy they had all been when he was young and Bobby was not yet ill.

"We need to figure out a way to get Carter out of there," Carol said. She didn't want the conversation getting back to the
fact that her double was married to John Taglieri and apparently happy. She couldn't help but wonder who Doug's double was with, and if he was just as happy. Did their doubles even have a history in this world? Did she really want to know?

"Carol's right. And I think I might know of a way to get him out of there," Kerry said.



Not long after Kerry, Elizabeth and Carol had left the hospital, the real consult from neurology showed up to examine Carter.

This set off a flurry of activity as security discovered that no one by the name of Elizabeth Corday worked at County General
in any capacity. Not long after that was revealed, the fingerprint results came back, confirming that their John Doe was indeed John Carter, the missing heir. Millicent quickly sprang into action, not willing to take the chance that the mysterious Corday had not been there to abduct John. She had John immediately removed to her estate, quieting Bobby and Susan's objections by pointing out that they lived with her, so there would be doctors around to watch over him. It was also arranged for Roland and Laura to meet them at the mansion. Once they were reunited with their son, Roland was prepared to hold a press conference, letting the city know that his raids on the street runners had resulted in a successful ending for their family at least.



Carol and Elizabeth waited in the alley beside Doc Magoos as Kerry and Doug headed into the hospital. The plan was simple
enough: Doug, posing as himself, would be there early because he wanted to check on some labs for a patient from the day
before. While there earlier, Kerry had already confirmed that the computer system was identical to the one they used daily, so Doug would have no trouble logging onto the system. Once in though, he would check on Carter's status. Elizabeth had remembered overhearing Benton mention that Carter would stay in the ER for twelve hours, so the odds were good that he was still in Curtain Three. While Doug was checking on Carter's medical condition, Kerry would be checking to see if anyone else was in Curtain Three. She would keep an eye on him until Doug was done at the desk. Once that happened, Doug would join her in Curtain Three. While Kerry made sure the coast was clear, Doug would get Carter out of there: either by convincing him to accompany him or forcibly removing him from the room.  If luck was on their side, then they could go straight into an elevator. If not, then they could go down the back hallway and out a different entrance.

Kerry was trying to peer through the blinds of the door, when Doug approached her. "Follow me," he said as he walked away.

Kerry followed him into an empty room. "The blinds are drawn in Curtain Three, so I can't see if Carter's still in there.

How is he?"

"He's not here, Kerry. While I was logging in, I overheard Chuny and Randi talking about all the excitement caused by the
discovery that their "John Doe" was really the son of the mayor and that someone named "Elizabeth Corday" had shown up to examine him, but turned out to be an impostor. Carter's been removed from the hospital, and the police are looking for Elizabeth. It appears that they caught her on the security cameras, so they know exactly what she looks like."

"Damn. Where did they take Carter?"

"They didn't say. We have to get back to the hotel before Elizabeth is seen."

"Right. You go first. I'll be out in ten minutes."

Doug nodded, then left. Kerry lingered in the room, thinking about Carter and this new turn of events. All of them had been thrown when they found themselves ripped out of their own world. As they moved closer to home, each had found ways to cope with the situation. Elizabeth adopted the stereotypical British attitude of keeping a stiff upper lip -- and enjoying herself along the way. Doug simply barged through, determined to fight his way home if necessary. Carol drew upon her inner strength, secure as long as she had Doug by her side. As for Kerry herself, well, she had always fought to fit in, so being in a strange environment didn't faze her all that much. Different world, same fight.  But, Carter...well, he was different. Even though his parents weren't around Chicago all that much, Chicago was his home, not this Chicago or the other Chicagos they had been through. But, their Chicago. As long as he was there, he knew he belonged.  If not to someone, then to something. And now that had been taken from him. He hadn't said much about it, but Kerry could see it in his eyes. He was lost. And finding out that some of his "parallel world" counterparts were scum had not been easy for him. Kerry remembered the way his eyes glistened with unshed tears as he told her how John Carter and his cousin Chase had turned Anna Del Amico onto drugs, then abandoned her, leaving her to sell her own body on the streets for drug money. It had bothered him, he admitted. Not just seeing Anna that way, but knowing that "he" had stooped so low. Kerry told him that the actions and morals of his counterparts weren't a reflection on his own life. While he seemed to agree with that in relation to her counterparts, or the counterparts of the others, he didn't quite seem to believe it as far as his own were concerned. To him, John Truman Carter, no matter where he lived, should be held to a higher standard. And when the counterpart failed to attain that standard, then Carter failed as well.  And now he was injured, with amnesia. And Kerry wondered if he really wanted to remember his real life. Especially if the family here was more attentive and loving than his real family.

Then there was the matter of keeping Elizabeth safe. Kerry knew that it was going to be difficult to keep Elizabeth in the hotel
room. She was stubborn about things like that. But, with Roland Carter being the mayor of Chicago, then the police were going to be even more vigilant about looking for her in light of her interaction with Carter.

Kerry checked her watch, seeing that it was time for her to meet the others. She slipped out of the room and down the hallway, trying to think of a way to find Carter and continue on their way home. Still, as she left, she couldn't help but think about what her counterpart was doing and what her life was like. Of course, there was a chance that Kerry Weaver didn't exist in this world. Just because everyone else had a counterpart here didn't mean she did. So far, Elizabeth didn't. As far as they knew.  And Kerry couldn't help but wonder if the reason there wasn't a Kerry Weaver here was because in this place, her parents kept her. That was her secret. Being adopted. It wasn't a stigma, so she didn't know why she never shared it with anyone. But, she hadn't. There had been times when she was tempted to tell Carter, but she always held back. She didn't want to see pity in his eyes when she told him that apparently her disability was too much for her mother to handle, so she gave her away. If that was even true. That was the worst part, really.  Not knowing why she was given up. But, she did know that the Weavers loved her dearly, and she was grateful for that. Their love was true and deep and they never regretted adopting her. It could have been much worse. She could have ended up in a family where children were used as ornamentation, only being sought out when the parents felt guilty because too much time had passed between phone calls or visits. Pushed aside to make her own way in the world, as long as that way happened to coincide with what her parents wanted. A family like the Carter family.



John lay in the bed, propped up on pillows so soft he felt as if he were leaning against a bundle of cotton. The sheets were
fine linen, tightly woven and also soft. The room...well, he was afraid to even try to get up for fear that he would trip and break something. Those were antiques on the tables. And the walls were adorned with real artwork, not reproductions. This was definitely the lap of luxury. And for some reason, familiar to him. They kept telling him that this had been his room when he was a child, but he didn't remember it quite that way. He remembered standing in the doorway and looking in, his eyes locked on the boy who lay in the bed, as pale as the white sheets that surrounded him. He remembered medical equipment in the room as well. I.V. stands and other paraphernalia. He remembered being afraid that the boy in the room was dying. The boy opening his eyes and looking straight at him, straight into his soul and seeing that fear. The boy opening his mouth and, his voice raspy and faint, telling him to go away, that he didn't need or want his pity. John remembered strong hands on his shoulders, pulling him from the doorway. A firm male voice telling him that this wasn't a good time to visit Bobby, that he should go outside and play with his cousins for a little while. John remembered feeling sad that he was being made to leave his brother.

"Hey, are you feeling all right?"

John looked up quickly. He had been so caught up in that memory that he never noticed it when Bobby came into the room.
He nodded. "Yeah. I was just remembering this room, that's all. Are you sure it was my room? I seem to remember seeing you in here."

"Well, the last time I saw you, I was in here. But, we shouldn't talk about that right now. Mom and Dad are here. They're still
downstairs, getting filled in. They'll be up soon. Mom's already crying, so be prepared. You know how Dad hates to see her
cry."

John found himself nodding in agreement. Anytime their mother began to cry, their dad would be anxious to please her. Give her anything she wanted if she would just stop crying. And God help the children if they had been the ones to make her cry.

"Tomorrow you'll be able to get up and walk around. It's a big estate, so you'll have to take it easy and not try to see the
entire place in one day."

"I'll try to remember that." There was something bothering John, another memory, this one of the yard. He didn't get much of
a chance to look around when he was brought into the house, but he noticed that something was missing. "There used to be a
huge tree out front, right?"

Bobby slowly nodded. "Yeah. There used to be an oak out there. We had a tree house in it. Grandfather hated it, but Gamma made him let us keep it there."

"The tree died?"

"It was cut down. Right after you disappeared. Do you remember what happened, John? Did you run away, or did someone take you?" Bobby looked as if he really wanted, no, needed to know that answer.

"I don't know. I've tried to think about that, but nothing's coming to me. Susan said it was a good sign that I was remembering little things and that soon the big things will come back to me."

"That's what Doctor Grayson said," Bobby said. Grayson had been the neurologist who had finally shown up in the ER to examine John. Like his Gamma, Bobby was afraid of what that Corday woman had been doing there. Why was she pretending to be a doctor and what interest did she have in John?

John was about to say something else when they both heard voices coming from the hallway. There was a slight knock on the door. Bobby looked at John and raised his eyebrows questioningly.  "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," John replied.

"Come on in," Bobby called out. The door opened and a couple walked in. The man was an interesting blend of Bobby and
their grandfather. The woman was beautiful. There were no other words to describe her. Dark hair and eyes. Skin so pale it reminded him of porcelain, just like Kerry's did. He frowned at that thought. Who was Kerry? The question quickly faded though as John locked eyes with the woman and knew that she was his mother. Meaning that the man was his father. Roland and Laura Carter. God, how he loved them. Wanted nothing more than to please them and have them be proud of him. He was near tears at the ache in his heart as he thought of how much he missed seeing them. Laura slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, being careful to not hurt John as she reached out and hugged him.

"Thank you, God," she said. Then she held him at arms' length, looking him over. "You've grown up. You're a man now. I never gave up hoping that you would come home, John. I knew you weren't dead." She shook her head and sniffled. "I just knew it." She hugged him again, holding him so tight that he thought she was going to fracture one or more of his ribs. But, he didn't complain. It had been so long since she had hugged him this way. The hug at Christmas had been brief and impersonal.  He shook his head, trying to chase away that thought. He had been gone for years. There had been no hug at Christmas.

Roland came to a stop beside his wife and he placed his hand on John's shoulder. His eyes were glistening with unshed tears
as well. "Welcome home, son. It's good to have you back. I know that you can't remember everything, but the doctors say that your memory will return in time. Then we can sit down and talk about where you've been all this time. And we'll find the people who took you away and make them pay for keeping you from us. I promise you that." He squeezed John's shoulder, then stooped over to give him a hug. Roland's hug was a little less intense than his mother's had been, but for some reason it made John want to cry. His father just wasn't a hugging kind of guy.

Since he couldn't remember where he'd been, John simply nodded. "It's good to be home," he said. "I missed you. All of you."

Laura smiled at him, then tenderly brushed his hair back from his forehead. "We've missed you, too. Barbara is already
on her way home from Paris. She canceled all her appointments because she didn't want to be separated from you for one
more minute than absolutely necessary. Luckily, she's good at her job, so her clients will forgive her for canceling."

"What does she do?"

"She's a lawyer, specializing in environmental law. Barbara was one of the driving forces behind the laws that were passed
last year in South America declaring the Amazon rain forest off limits to developers of any kind. She's got quite a reputation.
We're quite proud of our little girl," Roland said with a grin.

"A lawyer? Barbie is a lawyer?" John couldn't believe that.

The sister he remembered detested the idea of following in their father's footsteps and going into law. She wanted to do everything, and all at once, if possible. As a result, she wasn't good at any one thing, but she sure had a good time trying her hand at various careers. No, he chided himself. That's not right. You don't know her. You must be thinking about someone else.

Bobby saw the worry cross John's face and he decided that the family reunion needed to come to an end. "I think that John needs to rest now. He's had quite a day so far."

"If I promise to not talk, can I stay?" his mother asked him.

Bobby didn't have the heart to look into her shining eyes and tell her no. He had not seen her eyes dancing like that in years.
Not since he was a child. It would do her good to stay with John. "If you promise to let him sleep, then you can stay."

Roland harrumphed. "Listen to that. Our son the doctor giving his own mother orders." But the grin on Roland's face made it
plain that he was proud of Bobby's accomplishments. "And will I be allowed to stay as well?  I promise to be quiet."

"I thought you wanted to hold a press conference," Bobby tersely replied.

"The press can wait. Staying here with John can't."

"I don't mind if they stay, Bobby," John said. It was nice to have them by his side for a change.

Bobby nodded. "Okay. But, only if you promise to take a nap."

"I promise," John answered, his grin wide. He settled back against the pillows and closed his eyes. It felt good to listen to his parents quietly talk with each other. It felt very good.