What happens when Luka Kovac steps into the shoes of George Bailey? A joint two-part Christmas story I was inspired to write with my friend, Californiagirl, who will soon bring you the exciting conclusion of . . .

It's a Wonderful Life

Basic story and some dialogue borrowed from Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. Characters all property of ER.

It was a bitterly cold Christmas Eve Night. He had reluctantly agreed to meet Curtis Ames in the park. Thought he could talk sense into him. Make him see that hurting Luka's family wouldn't solve anything. Instead, they had come to blows and Ames swore he wouldn't rest until Luka lost everything. Holding up one of Joe's many spare frogs, he let out an eerie cackle. Tossed the frog into a snow bank as he walked away. Luka didn't know what else to do. He'd gone to the police. They wouldn't take him seriously. He tried reasoning with Ames. That was a lost cause. Protecting Abby and Joe himself was hit and miss. He couldn't watch them every second of the day, and what kind of life was that for them anyway? He could kill Ames . . . and he would if it came to that. Spend the rest of his life in prison . . . away from them. Death would be kinder.

Maybe they would be better off without him. A few months back . . . that was a very real possibility. The intubation had saved his life. The life he had wanted so badly to spend with Abby and their baby. But now his life was endangering theirs. What if Sam had . . . failed. What if he had just suffocated . . . that night. He wouldn't be with them, but at least they'd be safe. He dropped his head into his hands and stared at the snow covered ground for a long moment. With a clenched jaw, he looked to the sky. Then brimming with anger and disgust, he let loose.

"Why did you let me live? Why if you're just going to take it all away again! You should have just let me die. I wish you had."

At that moment a furious gust of wind swirled around him. He hadn't realized how cold he'd become. He wore no gloves, and his fingers throbbed. As the wind died down, he got to his feet, started making his way out of the park. The sound of a familiar voice startled him. Stopped him in his tracks. He quickly turned, saw a figure moving back and forth on a creaking swing.

"Sorry . . . what was that?" Luka asked cautiously.

A foot skidded through the snow, bringing the swing to a sudden halt. The figure slowly got up.

"I said . . . You should be careful what you wish for."

Luka squinted as the figure moved toward him. He wore green scrubs. Sneakers. No coat. As the face came out of the shadows, Luka gasped.

The face grinned, then chuckled. "The whole gasping thing still gets me."

Luka tried in vain to make sense of what he was seeing . . . and hearing. "Ma . . . Mark?" His face contorted. "Mark Greene?"

"It's the hair isn't it? Yeah . . . I'm told I have much to learn before I get anywhere close to earning my wings." Mark announced, indignantly. But as an incentive . . . they let me have my hair back for this project. If I succeed . . . it stays."

"Your . . . wings?" Luka closed his eyes tightly, shook his head. Was he dreaming? Maybe he was hypothermic . . . passed out in the snow.

"Yep. What? Don't they have guardian angels in Croatia?"

"Yo . . . you're supposed to be my guardian angel?" Luka let out a rueful laugh. Looked Mark up and down, shaking his head. "Well you look about like the kind of angel I'd get."

Mark shrugged. "Could be worse. You could've gotten Romano."

Luka let out a boisterous laugh. "Oh . . . right. Romano's an angel too . . . This gets better all the time."

Mark shook his head emphatically. "Oh no . . . it's true! Apparently there was a big brouhaha when word got out that he was nailed by a helicopter . . . twice. I thought it was rather comical myself . . . but one of the higher-ups took pity on the poor bastard. Decided to give him a chance to earn his wings."

Nuts as all this was . . . Luka had to ask. "And how's that working out?"

"Not bad actually. His projects generally just want him to go away, stop annoying them. So . . . they cave pretty quickly. He got his hair back months ago. That's when I knew . . . I had to step it up. So, here I am."

Luka rubbed his temples. "You do whatever you need to do, Angel Greene. I'm going home. I just . . . need to see my family. Sleep off whatever . . . this is."

"They aren't there." Mark told him matter-of-factly.

"Who isn't . . . where?"

"Abby . . . and the baby. They're not at your old apartment."

"I just left them there an hour ago. They were both sleeping."

Mark clasped his hands behind his back, started slowly circling Luka. "No actually . . . you didn't. You died . . . seven months ago . . . alone . . . on the floor in the suture room."

Luka looked him in the eye. Scoffed.

"It's true. You got your wish. No more Curtis Ames. No threat to Abby and Joe."

Somewhat amused, Luka walked a few feet away reaching into a pile of snow. Started rooting around.

Mark shook his head. "It's not there either."

"What?"

"One of Joe's multiple frogs."

Luka kept digging through the snow, almost frantic. He glanced at his hands and suddenly realized . . . they weren't cold anymore. Didn't hurt. He slowly got to his feet. Stared anxiously at Mark.

"I told you. Be careful what you wish for."

Luka shook his head, started backing away from Mark before taking off down the park pathway. He needed to see them for himself. Prove that this was all just a bad dream. Running all the way home, he took the stairs to the apartment two at a time. He couldn't find his keys! Where were his keys? There were voices coming from inside . . .

''Abby! Abby it's me! I must have forgotten my keys."

Silence.

"Abby?"

The door came open . . . a strange woman walked out, followed by a couple he'd never seen before.

"Who are you? Where's Abby?"

They just kept talking . . . as if they didn't hear him. The man was speaking now . . .

"Seems perfect but . . . we've been thinking about starting a family. Not sure if it's big enough."

Luka's head was spinning.

Now the wife was saying something . . .

"You heard what she said honey. The previous tenants were expecting a baby. They must have thought there was enough room."

Previous tenants? Were expecting a baby? Luka couldn't believe what he was hearing. The three of them started down the stairs, continuing their conversation.

He started to panic, yelling after them. "Hey . . . wait. Do you know where Abby is? My son? Wait! Listen to me!"

He stopped when he heard a voice from behind him. "Sinking in yet?" He slowly turned to find Mark Greene leaning against his apartment door. Luka stepped forward, seething.

"Where are they?"

Mark gave him a blank stare, and shrugged.

"Tell me where they are!"

"You'll have to figure that out on your own." Mark answered, resolutely as he watched Luka throw his hands in the air and storm down the steps. He sighed. This was going to be tougher than he thought. But . . . he would do it. He ran a hand through his golden locks. He had to.