JJoyce
I don't want to go to a shelter. I want to go home!
Abby[after Brian beat her and broke her cheekbone] What if you have a kid with him?! Is this what you want for your children? You want him to beat them the way he did you?!
JJoyce
He wouldn't do that-
Abby
Oh, wake up, Joyce! This is it! This is your chance to get away! Right now. It doesn't matter how 'wonderful' he can be sometimes! If you go back now, you are telling him it's okay to do this to you, and it is NOT okay! [pause, more gently] It's not okay.
Abby
You look tired.
Abby
Oh really, what's her name?
Abby
It's a joke, Luka.
No, seriously, if you need a place...
Abby
Thank you.
You can stay as long as you need, and you only have to sleep with me on the weekends.
Abby
Excuse me?
It's a joke, Abby. It's a joke.
Reality television: it's one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Abby
Have you ever watched it?
Abby
Then shut up.
I just think that TV is a vast wasteland.
Abby
Oh I'm sorry I meant to watch 'La Boheme' on PBS last night but I had to go the symphony.
I watch television, just not that dehumanizing crap. Seriously, what's next? Televised executions? Bear Baiting? Torture Channel?
[Luka and Carter have found some fencing equipment and are dueling each other]
Abby
Do you think they're trying to impress us?
If they are, it's not working. [Luka and Carter clash, and Carter thrusts his foil-point against Luka's chest, winning the first bout] Ouch! Doesn't that hurt?
Abby
They really are a pair of freaks.
They really are. [laughs] And to think, you slept with both of them!
Abby
Ah, I- never slept with Carter. He tell you that?
[surprised] I thought you had!
Abby
No- that was a rumor that Carter started.
[stares at Carter] Oh, God! That is low! [Luka wins the next bout]
Abby
I thought so.
I haven't slept with Carter either.
Abby
How long have you guys been going out?
Abby
Well, that definitely violates the second date rule.
Abby
My friend has this theory that you should sleep with the guy by the second date because if the sex isn't good, you shouldn't waste your time with someone you don't have any chemistry with.
[nods thoughtfully] Hmm. Well, I don't know if Carter and I have any chemistry or not. There have been some almost spark moments.
Abby
I think it's either there, or it's not. You can't force it- believe me, I've tried.
I think part of the problem with Carter and me is you. He denies it, but it's not really convincing. What did you two have?
Abby
[shrugs] Timing.
Abby
Chaos theory?
Yeah, a virus mutates in the Congo. We evacuate an ER in Chicago. Romano gets his arm cut off.
Abby
You lost me.
Seemingly random events, all part of a larger equation.
Abby
I'm hot.
You know, a butterfly flaps its wings in China, and creates a tornado halfway around the world.
Abby
Are you hot?
I'm just saying that there's an inherent unpredictability about everything-- evolution, life. Love, relationships.
Abby
So what am I? The butterfly or tornado?
No, you're chaos in general.
Abby
Oh, thanks.
No, I'm just saying, you're chaos to me. The unknown. I'm chaos to you.
Abby
You are hardly chaos, Carter.
I'm just saying there's a risk in anything that you do, right? But don't you want to stack the odds in your favor? I mean, I'm drawn to you. It's kind of that simple. I've been drawn to you for two years, but chaos always seems to rule, and I don't want it to rule. I want to know where it's taking me. You know what I mean?
Abby
Nope.
The tornado. Definitely the tornado.
[As Abby is removing a dead goldfish from the tank in the waiting room]
Abby
Time of death, 7:36 a.m.
Abby
Yep. Third time this week. Every afternoon I restock the little pond here, and every morning it's like the Exxon Valdez came through.
You can get somebody else to do this for you.
Abby
Well, I'm committed.
[Abby drops the fish into Carter's coffee cup]
E.R. · 1,278 quotes
