Curtis Ames was dead. The SWAT officers told them that much when they returned from the roof of the old rowhouse. Luka knew as much... he'd felt the gun aimed right at his chest.. and watched with a sick combination of relief and horror as Ames shifted the gun away from him, and onto himself. When he'd pulled the trigger, twice- once his shaking hand had missed- the second shot hit his own head dead on. He'd left with the officers, shaken, with a broken right hand and a few cuts to his face, but other than that unharmed. He walked out of the building, searching the crowd for Abby, when she had come running to him. His left arm encircled her, and he held her for a long moment.
When he looked down at her, he saw that tears were falling from her eyes, and he reached to brush a few of them away with his left hand. "Are you alright?" Abby nodded and embraced him tightly. "Yes… Yes I'm fine, now. Are you alright? What happened to your hand?" Luka looked down at his right hand, which was feeling a little numb in some spots, and quite painful in others, and bleeding from some cuts. "Curtis crushed it in some carpentry clamp… I think I need an x-ray." Abby nodded. "Okay…" She walked with him over to the paramedics to get a ride over to County.
Three hours later, Luka and Abby walked out the doors of the entrance of the ER into the ambulance bay and made their way across the lot to the El platform. The El was coming in just about five minutes, so they decided to just get that home, which would only take them fifteen minutes total. Luka's hand had a few broken bones in it, and after various x-rays and consultations it was decided the best course of action was a cast for four weeks, and then reevaluate for any surgery or additional treatment that may be needed. Between the wearing off adrenaline rush, the slowdown of the whole ordeal's end, and the pain killers Pratt prescribed for him, Luka was so exhausted he felt like a walking zombie.
Once they got in the door, Abby took Joe from Ellen. He was sleepy, but still awake enough to grin and wave his arms a little in response to seeing them again. But after that initial excitement, he almost immediately started to fuss. Abby cuddled him and whispered little shushes to him to try to calm him down, but she knew it had been a stressful and late night for him too. "Thank you very much for watching him, Ellen." Luka said as he turned to their neighbor to walk her to the door. "I hope he wasn't too much trouble for you with everything going on…" As he reached into his pocket to look for some money. "No.. he was fine, Dr. Kovac; I'm just glad everything turned out alright and that you weren't hurt more seriously… no, no don't worry about it I was happy to help." She then walked out the door. Luka looked to Abby, who gave a little shrug and a smile. "I'd better get him to bed…" she said as she walked with her 9-month-old son to the bedroom and placed him down in his yellow crib.
Next thing she knew, she heard footsteps, and the door creak open a little more. She turned and saw him standing there watching them. Joe was asleep, and so she slipped across the room to move closer to him, and smiled as he wrapped his left arm around her again and brought her close to himself. "Oh my God Luka…. What a night…" She spoke barely above a whisper, to keep from waking Joe. "Mhmmm.." he nodded, and kissed the top of her head. "He could have killed you…"
"He didn't…."
"But it was still scary."
"I know."
There was a pause.. a long silence between them as they held one another… and slowly wandered their way back to their own bed. The night was long and dark and cold and silent. But none of it mattered. They had one another. He was still here. Abby slipped her arm around him as she lay next to him in the bed, and buried her face against his side. "Luka…"
"Hmm?" He was almost asleep… she could tell by the way he sounded, the way he moved sometimes when he answered her.
"I don't ever want to lose you…"
"You won't. No matter what, I'll always be here with you, and Joe. Don't ever forget that. And don't you go away."
"I won't…" Abby fell into silence for a moment, trailing her fingertips over his chest and staring in the the black space around them.
"Luka..?"
"Hmm?" He sighed a little. He wanted to go to sleep and she couldn't blame him. But she had to tell him… "I love you."
"I love you too.."
"Luka…"
"Shhhhhhh", he shushed her gently and leaned toward her to kiss the top of her head. "I love you… and I'm not going anywhere… I'm right here, whenever you want me." Abby kissed him.. and the rest was history.