Title: Goodbye To You
Author: Maria/maria@glistence.net Summary: AU, Luka/Abby, Susan/Carter. What would happen if Luka's family was still alive? Would Luka and Abby still find themselves brought together? Would it still be just as tragic?
Disclaimer: ER and all its characters are not mine. They belong to NBC, WB, and other people. I want Luka, so if possible please ship in FedEx box to Maria, West Virginia, USA.
A/N: The title of the story comes from the Michelle Branch song also titled, Goodbye to You. It is very befitting of what this story will end up like.
A/N 2: Okay. Please, if you do not like the fact that there is no Carby in this story, then don't read it and then tell me, "oh, this should be a carby!" If you don't like it, don't read it. If you don't like it for a constructive reason, please leave me a message. Thank you.
Abby had been working for what seemed like a century. She was tired and cranky and desperately wanted to go home. She was one step inside the lounge door, ready to leave when Kerry had stopped her and asked her to give the new doctor a tour. She couldn't do much other than nod and comply.
"Hey Jerry," she rubbed her face as she approached the admit desk.
"I thought you were off already," Jerry frowned at still seeing Abby.
She shrugged, "Kerry's making me give the new doctor the grand tour." She paused, and sighed, "So they are finally replacing Dr. Greene.."
Jerry nodded, "Yeah. It's still hard to believe he's gone." He reached for a file and handed it towards Abby, "Kerry said that the person giving the tour should give him this too. He's sitting in admit."
Abby took it from him, "Thanks Jerry." She made her way to the admit area, glancing down at the name on the file to make sure she would get it right.
"Dr. Kovac?"
He was younger, taller, and much more handsome than what she expected. He was the sort of man that any woman would eventually notice. She sure did right away. She shook her head slightly, and stuck out her hand to shake his, "Hi. I'm Abby Lockhart. I'm a nurse here, and I'm going to show you around."
"Hi Abby," he smiled back at her, his voice warm and full. She liked the way he said her name, like he was singing it. He didn't spit it out with a hard a, A-bby. It was more like Ah-bby. "You can just call me Luka."
"Okay, Doctor Luka," she replied, returning his smile and handing him his file, "I'm supposed to give this to you also."
"Ah, forms," he said with false excitement, "You know, people could get so much done in the times they spend filling out forms. "
Abby raised her eyebrows, "Well, welcome to County. Forms outnumber traumas here and that's saying a lot."
As if on cue, the sirens of an ambulance could be heard getting louder as the approached the hospital. Abby gave Luka a knowing look, "See what I mean?"
"I do," Luka smiled down at her, and paid close attention as Abby explained triage and the admit desk.
Carter dashed in, heading for the trauma, and nearly collided with Abby.
"Sorry," he said apologetically, whipping his stethoscope from around his neck and continuing on.
"Who's that?" Luka asked as Abby lead him over to the curtain areas.
"Dr. Carter, the chief resident," Abby explained. She and Carter were friends, having met at her AA meeting, but they weren't the closest pair in the world. He definitely wasn't her best friend.
Luka made mental note of the name, and continued following Abby as she showed him around the ER. He seemed completely engrossed in everything she had to say, no matter how trivial, and Abby couldn't think of how long it'd been since someone acted that way around her.
He was just being nice, that's all. At least that's what she told herself.
They ended the tour back at admit, and Luka thanked Abby for her tour.
"You don't have to thank me," she smiled at him, "Honestly. I was just doing my job."
"Well, it was very nice of you, even if it was just your job."
She shifted her weight back and forth, "Well.thank you."
"No, thank you," he smiled at her and waved his forms, "Well, I better go get started on these before I have to come in tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Abby."
There it was again. Ahh-bby. He had a voice that could melt the Grinch's heart.
"Bye!" Abby snapped back to reality and called out to him as he started towards the exit.
"Who was that?" Susan slinked up to Abby after Luka had gone through the ambulance bay doors.
"The new doctor."
"Very nice looking. Does he have a name?"
"Luka Kovac," Abby stated and looked at Susan with curiosity, "I think he's married."
"How do you know?"
"Every nice man is married."
"Did you see a ring?" Susan asked, picking up a chart and glancing at it with disgust. Not another suture on a scrotum. Where was Carter when you needed him? And what were men doing to themselves these days? Wait.she didn't want to ask.
"No," Abby shook her head, "But then again, I wasn't looking. I'm not nosy."
Susan's head shot up, "Are you implying something?"
Abby shook her head and then smiled, "Please.Susan. You are going to tell me that a nice looking doctor who also happens to be nice wouldn't be married?"
"I could find out," Susan raised an eyebrow, "Seeing as how you are the one curious on this."
"Me?! You were the one that asked."
"Please.nice doctor who also happens to be nice? Abby.you liked him. Admit it."
Abby turned a slight shade of red and mumbled under her breath, "Maybe..I do.I"
"That's a yes," Susan grinned.
--
Luka looked at his locker with disgust. He'd been fiddling with it for the past ten minutes with no avail. He was about to give up and put his things in a box.
"You have to bang on that one."
He looked around and found the source of the voice. A blonde woman stood behind him, a cup of coffee in her hand, looking at him amused.
"I'm Susan Lewis," she offered him her hand for a handshake, "And you have to bang it."
"Bang it?"
"The locker," she laughed, "It's famous for causing trouble around here."
Luka gave the locker a good whap and it opened without any trouble, "Thanks for the advice. I'm-"
"Luka Kovac," she grinned again and offered an explanation for her knowledge, "Word gets around fast here."
"Thanks for that advice too," he smiled and shoved his coat into his locker.
She shook her head, "It's nothing, really. Just the basics for survival around here. That and make sure to put a good five packs of sugar in this coffee or go to the Starbucks. You die otherwise."
Luka looked at her in bemusement and placed his stethoscope around his neck, not saying anything.
"I'm usually not this perky, but I just pulled a night shift," Susan explained, hoping Luka didn't think she was too crazy.
"You get perky when you are tired?"
Susan nodded, her brown eyes opening wide, "I'm one of those annoying people. And I'm probably annoying you right now, so I'll go, and leave you with a cup of coffee to get you through your first hectic day at County."
She went and poured him a cup of coffee and gave it to him along with the five packets of sugar she had talked about. As he took the sugar packets, she noticed the shining wedding band. She smiled at him and wished him luck on the rest of his day, and he left the lounge.
Poor Abby, Susan thought. All of the good ones seemed to slip away from her for some reason or another. This one just so happened to have the worse thing of all.
--
Luka flicked off his gloves, his first trauma at County finished. The young woman was going off to surgery, which was definitely better than being dead, he supposed.
"Good call on the Hepatitis C," Carter said from beside him, "John Carter by the way."
"Luka Kovac," Luka smiled having issued his seventh introduction of the day.
John nodded and began his trek out of the truma room, motioning Luka to follow him, "So where are you from? Or did you just transfer from another hospital in Chicago."
"Croatia, originally. But my family and I moved to New York, but I was looking for a better job, and my wife's sister moved with her family out here, so it seemed logical to come here."
Carter raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was some family devotion. It was likely his family would never do that sort of thing for one another.
--
Luka opened the front door to his house, taking in the smell of the cooking. He wandered towards the kitchen and found Danijela hunched over the stove, in the middle of preparing some delicious concoction.
"Halo dragi," he said, kissing her softly on the cheek. She turned to face him, her brown curly hair flowing down her shoulders. That was what he had first noticed about her.
"Kako je tvoj dan?" She asked, her eyes twinkling. She hoped it worked for Luka at this hospital. She liked being close to her sister, and it was nice to get away from New York.
"Je oti?ao kvalitetno."
She beamed, "Drajo mi je. Da li vi imati hlepnja??"
Before he could answer her, the door to the backyard swung open, and Marko burst in. The young boy had stopped his game of soccer to follow his nose towards his mother's cooking.
"It smells good!" he exclaimed, reaching towards the garlic bread Danijela had set out on the counter. His mother reacted quickly, and took the bread away from in front of him.
"Those are for dinner," she spoke in a voice more heavily accented than Luka's, "Go wash your hands and then you can eat. But say hello to your father first."
Marko wandered over to Luka and gave him a quick hug, "Hey dad. How was work?"
"Good," Luka ruffled his hair and took the soccer ball from him, "Maybe after dinner I can kick around with you for awhile."
Marko's eyes brightened, "That'd be great!"
Luka smiled as he dashed off to wash his hands, and turned back towards his wife, "I think the job here will really work out. The people are nice, and it seems to be a good job."
"Well I'm glad," Danijela smiled at him as she scooped out the spaghetti onto a plate, "The kids seem to like it here too, even Jasna."
Luka nodded at that comment, sighing inwardly. It had been a struggle with Jasna. She really hadn't wanted to move and leave her friends. She had been extremely resentful for he first few days of their move, but Luka had hoped that once she started school, things would get better. They seemed to be.
For that, he was glad.
--
"He's married."
Abby took the phone away from her ear and looked at it befuddled. What sort of greeting was that?
"Hello to you too, Susan," she replied, placing the phone back up to her ear, "Now who's married?"
"Kovac. He's married."
"It's Ko-vach," Abby unconsciously fixed Susan's pronunciation, "And why would it matter to me if he is married? I'm glad he's married."
There was a pause on the other end of the line, "You're telling me that you aren't even in the least bit disappointed?"
Abby shrugged, "No. I don't even know him, so why should I be? Anyway, I have a feeling you are way more disappointed by this than I was supposed to be."
Susan gasped on the other end of the line, "I am not."
"You're telling me you don't find him attractive?"
"Quit turning this around to be about me," Susan said in exasperation, "And anyway, I wouldn't get involved within the hospital again. Not after learning my lesson with Dix and Carter."
Abby sighed, "If you call you and Carter learning your lesson. The two of you are exactly the same as you were when you were going out, except now you don't have the pressures of the label on you."
"I'd reply to that right now, but I have another call. Hold on a second."
Abby leaned back into her couch. Susan, god love her. She was a good friend, but sometimes she just got way too hyper about making Abby's life perfect.
"I gotta go," Susan said, getting back on the line.
"Did Carter just call you?"
There was a long pause on the other side, "No.he.did.not."
"You can't lie, Susan," Abby laughed, "Go, have fun with Carter. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Ha, ha," Susan replied, "Have a good night, Abby."
"No, YOU have a good night," Abby teased, and hung up the phone.
--
"Hi," Luka's friendly voice greeted Abby as she walked into the lounge, "Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you too," she smiled in reply and walked over to her locker. She took off her coat and shoved it inside.
"How was your first day?" she asked, watching him as he put on his lab coat.
"It went well," he nodded, "No real hectic scenes. Not too many forms."
She laughed at his little joke, "Well, then it was a good day. Take it as a gift."
"Working here can't be that bad," he said as they stepped out of the lounge and began their walk towards the admit area.
She shook her head, "It really isn't.I just.."
She sighed, not knowing what to admit to him. He seemed nice enough, and it wasn't like what she was going to say was going to dig deep or anything. "I was.I used to be med student here.I don't mind being a nurse, but it'd always been my dream to be a doctor I guess I'm a bit bitter."
"So why didn't you finish?"
Abby didn't reply anything, she was actually sort of embarrassed for having had said that. What did he care? Luckily for her, Jerry interrupted them at that moment to tell them at a multiple MVA was coming in.
"See what I mean?" she said to Luka, and went to get them gowns.
--
Author: Maria/maria@glistence.net Summary: AU, Luka/Abby, Susan/Carter. What would happen if Luka's family was still alive? Would Luka and Abby still find themselves brought together? Would it still be just as tragic?
Disclaimer: ER and all its characters are not mine. They belong to NBC, WB, and other people. I want Luka, so if possible please ship in FedEx box to Maria, West Virginia, USA.
A/N: The title of the story comes from the Michelle Branch song also titled, Goodbye to You. It is very befitting of what this story will end up like.
A/N 2: Okay. Please, if you do not like the fact that there is no Carby in this story, then don't read it and then tell me, "oh, this should be a carby!" If you don't like it, don't read it. If you don't like it for a constructive reason, please leave me a message. Thank you.
Abby had been working for what seemed like a century. She was tired and cranky and desperately wanted to go home. She was one step inside the lounge door, ready to leave when Kerry had stopped her and asked her to give the new doctor a tour. She couldn't do much other than nod and comply.
"Hey Jerry," she rubbed her face as she approached the admit desk.
"I thought you were off already," Jerry frowned at still seeing Abby.
She shrugged, "Kerry's making me give the new doctor the grand tour." She paused, and sighed, "So they are finally replacing Dr. Greene.."
Jerry nodded, "Yeah. It's still hard to believe he's gone." He reached for a file and handed it towards Abby, "Kerry said that the person giving the tour should give him this too. He's sitting in admit."
Abby took it from him, "Thanks Jerry." She made her way to the admit area, glancing down at the name on the file to make sure she would get it right.
"Dr. Kovac?"
He was younger, taller, and much more handsome than what she expected. He was the sort of man that any woman would eventually notice. She sure did right away. She shook her head slightly, and stuck out her hand to shake his, "Hi. I'm Abby Lockhart. I'm a nurse here, and I'm going to show you around."
"Hi Abby," he smiled back at her, his voice warm and full. She liked the way he said her name, like he was singing it. He didn't spit it out with a hard a, A-bby. It was more like Ah-bby. "You can just call me Luka."
"Okay, Doctor Luka," she replied, returning his smile and handing him his file, "I'm supposed to give this to you also."
"Ah, forms," he said with false excitement, "You know, people could get so much done in the times they spend filling out forms. "
Abby raised her eyebrows, "Well, welcome to County. Forms outnumber traumas here and that's saying a lot."
As if on cue, the sirens of an ambulance could be heard getting louder as the approached the hospital. Abby gave Luka a knowing look, "See what I mean?"
"I do," Luka smiled down at her, and paid close attention as Abby explained triage and the admit desk.
Carter dashed in, heading for the trauma, and nearly collided with Abby.
"Sorry," he said apologetically, whipping his stethoscope from around his neck and continuing on.
"Who's that?" Luka asked as Abby lead him over to the curtain areas.
"Dr. Carter, the chief resident," Abby explained. She and Carter were friends, having met at her AA meeting, but they weren't the closest pair in the world. He definitely wasn't her best friend.
Luka made mental note of the name, and continued following Abby as she showed him around the ER. He seemed completely engrossed in everything she had to say, no matter how trivial, and Abby couldn't think of how long it'd been since someone acted that way around her.
He was just being nice, that's all. At least that's what she told herself.
They ended the tour back at admit, and Luka thanked Abby for her tour.
"You don't have to thank me," she smiled at him, "Honestly. I was just doing my job."
"Well, it was very nice of you, even if it was just your job."
She shifted her weight back and forth, "Well.thank you."
"No, thank you," he smiled at her and waved his forms, "Well, I better go get started on these before I have to come in tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Abby."
There it was again. Ahh-bby. He had a voice that could melt the Grinch's heart.
"Bye!" Abby snapped back to reality and called out to him as he started towards the exit.
"Who was that?" Susan slinked up to Abby after Luka had gone through the ambulance bay doors.
"The new doctor."
"Very nice looking. Does he have a name?"
"Luka Kovac," Abby stated and looked at Susan with curiosity, "I think he's married."
"How do you know?"
"Every nice man is married."
"Did you see a ring?" Susan asked, picking up a chart and glancing at it with disgust. Not another suture on a scrotum. Where was Carter when you needed him? And what were men doing to themselves these days? Wait.she didn't want to ask.
"No," Abby shook her head, "But then again, I wasn't looking. I'm not nosy."
Susan's head shot up, "Are you implying something?"
Abby shook her head and then smiled, "Please.Susan. You are going to tell me that a nice looking doctor who also happens to be nice wouldn't be married?"
"I could find out," Susan raised an eyebrow, "Seeing as how you are the one curious on this."
"Me?! You were the one that asked."
"Please.nice doctor who also happens to be nice? Abby.you liked him. Admit it."
Abby turned a slight shade of red and mumbled under her breath, "Maybe..I do.I"
"That's a yes," Susan grinned.
--
Luka looked at his locker with disgust. He'd been fiddling with it for the past ten minutes with no avail. He was about to give up and put his things in a box.
"You have to bang on that one."
He looked around and found the source of the voice. A blonde woman stood behind him, a cup of coffee in her hand, looking at him amused.
"I'm Susan Lewis," she offered him her hand for a handshake, "And you have to bang it."
"Bang it?"
"The locker," she laughed, "It's famous for causing trouble around here."
Luka gave the locker a good whap and it opened without any trouble, "Thanks for the advice. I'm-"
"Luka Kovac," she grinned again and offered an explanation for her knowledge, "Word gets around fast here."
"Thanks for that advice too," he smiled and shoved his coat into his locker.
She shook her head, "It's nothing, really. Just the basics for survival around here. That and make sure to put a good five packs of sugar in this coffee or go to the Starbucks. You die otherwise."
Luka looked at her in bemusement and placed his stethoscope around his neck, not saying anything.
"I'm usually not this perky, but I just pulled a night shift," Susan explained, hoping Luka didn't think she was too crazy.
"You get perky when you are tired?"
Susan nodded, her brown eyes opening wide, "I'm one of those annoying people. And I'm probably annoying you right now, so I'll go, and leave you with a cup of coffee to get you through your first hectic day at County."
She went and poured him a cup of coffee and gave it to him along with the five packets of sugar she had talked about. As he took the sugar packets, she noticed the shining wedding band. She smiled at him and wished him luck on the rest of his day, and he left the lounge.
Poor Abby, Susan thought. All of the good ones seemed to slip away from her for some reason or another. This one just so happened to have the worse thing of all.
--
Luka flicked off his gloves, his first trauma at County finished. The young woman was going off to surgery, which was definitely better than being dead, he supposed.
"Good call on the Hepatitis C," Carter said from beside him, "John Carter by the way."
"Luka Kovac," Luka smiled having issued his seventh introduction of the day.
John nodded and began his trek out of the truma room, motioning Luka to follow him, "So where are you from? Or did you just transfer from another hospital in Chicago."
"Croatia, originally. But my family and I moved to New York, but I was looking for a better job, and my wife's sister moved with her family out here, so it seemed logical to come here."
Carter raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was some family devotion. It was likely his family would never do that sort of thing for one another.
--
Luka opened the front door to his house, taking in the smell of the cooking. He wandered towards the kitchen and found Danijela hunched over the stove, in the middle of preparing some delicious concoction.
"Halo dragi," he said, kissing her softly on the cheek. She turned to face him, her brown curly hair flowing down her shoulders. That was what he had first noticed about her.
"Kako je tvoj dan?" She asked, her eyes twinkling. She hoped it worked for Luka at this hospital. She liked being close to her sister, and it was nice to get away from New York.
"Je oti?ao kvalitetno."
She beamed, "Drajo mi je. Da li vi imati hlepnja??"
Before he could answer her, the door to the backyard swung open, and Marko burst in. The young boy had stopped his game of soccer to follow his nose towards his mother's cooking.
"It smells good!" he exclaimed, reaching towards the garlic bread Danijela had set out on the counter. His mother reacted quickly, and took the bread away from in front of him.
"Those are for dinner," she spoke in a voice more heavily accented than Luka's, "Go wash your hands and then you can eat. But say hello to your father first."
Marko wandered over to Luka and gave him a quick hug, "Hey dad. How was work?"
"Good," Luka ruffled his hair and took the soccer ball from him, "Maybe after dinner I can kick around with you for awhile."
Marko's eyes brightened, "That'd be great!"
Luka smiled as he dashed off to wash his hands, and turned back towards his wife, "I think the job here will really work out. The people are nice, and it seems to be a good job."
"Well I'm glad," Danijela smiled at him as she scooped out the spaghetti onto a plate, "The kids seem to like it here too, even Jasna."
Luka nodded at that comment, sighing inwardly. It had been a struggle with Jasna. She really hadn't wanted to move and leave her friends. She had been extremely resentful for he first few days of their move, but Luka had hoped that once she started school, things would get better. They seemed to be.
For that, he was glad.
--
"He's married."
Abby took the phone away from her ear and looked at it befuddled. What sort of greeting was that?
"Hello to you too, Susan," she replied, placing the phone back up to her ear, "Now who's married?"
"Kovac. He's married."
"It's Ko-vach," Abby unconsciously fixed Susan's pronunciation, "And why would it matter to me if he is married? I'm glad he's married."
There was a pause on the other end of the line, "You're telling me that you aren't even in the least bit disappointed?"
Abby shrugged, "No. I don't even know him, so why should I be? Anyway, I have a feeling you are way more disappointed by this than I was supposed to be."
Susan gasped on the other end of the line, "I am not."
"You're telling me you don't find him attractive?"
"Quit turning this around to be about me," Susan said in exasperation, "And anyway, I wouldn't get involved within the hospital again. Not after learning my lesson with Dix and Carter."
Abby sighed, "If you call you and Carter learning your lesson. The two of you are exactly the same as you were when you were going out, except now you don't have the pressures of the label on you."
"I'd reply to that right now, but I have another call. Hold on a second."
Abby leaned back into her couch. Susan, god love her. She was a good friend, but sometimes she just got way too hyper about making Abby's life perfect.
"I gotta go," Susan said, getting back on the line.
"Did Carter just call you?"
There was a long pause on the other side, "No.he.did.not."
"You can't lie, Susan," Abby laughed, "Go, have fun with Carter. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Ha, ha," Susan replied, "Have a good night, Abby."
"No, YOU have a good night," Abby teased, and hung up the phone.
--
"Hi," Luka's friendly voice greeted Abby as she walked into the lounge, "Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you too," she smiled in reply and walked over to her locker. She took off her coat and shoved it inside.
"How was your first day?" she asked, watching him as he put on his lab coat.
"It went well," he nodded, "No real hectic scenes. Not too many forms."
She laughed at his little joke, "Well, then it was a good day. Take it as a gift."
"Working here can't be that bad," he said as they stepped out of the lounge and began their walk towards the admit area.
She shook her head, "It really isn't.I just.."
She sighed, not knowing what to admit to him. He seemed nice enough, and it wasn't like what she was going to say was going to dig deep or anything. "I was.I used to be med student here.I don't mind being a nurse, but it'd always been my dream to be a doctor I guess I'm a bit bitter."
"So why didn't you finish?"
Abby didn't reply anything, she was actually sort of embarrassed for having had said that. What did he care? Luckily for her, Jerry interrupted them at that moment to tell them at a multiple MVA was coming in.
"See what I mean?" she said to Luka, and went to get them gowns.
--