Abby walked out of the ER ambulance bay with Chuny and Inez. They were laughing and talking about their day as they headed toward the EL platform when she noticed him out of the corner of her eye. Abby stopped in her tracks and started to call that they would wait for him when the familiar figure in the dark coat turned in the other direction. She watched him retreat down the sidewalk and then turned back to her friends. They were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her.

"Uh…I think I'm going to get something for dinner from Ike's after all," Abby said. Chuny's smile widened as she nodded in the direction of Luka's retreating figure.

"Sure, Abby," she drawled. Abby chuckled and threw her hand back as they laughed at her. She grinned and hurried off after Luka.

He was striding along the street with a vengeance. She was double stepping as she tried to keep up with him. He passed Ike's. Passed several other places she knew he liked to frequent. . Weird. Where was he going? It was almost as if he really didn't have a destination. He was just walking off some frustration maybe? She couldn't blame him. Maybe she should just leave him alone after all. She stopped for a minute and adjusted her bag on her shoulder and thought for a second. She had to almost run to catch up with him again.

His pace slowed somewhat as he reached the entrance to Grant Park. She was sorely out of breath and had to stop. The park was busy with families and runners. It was a typical late summer evening. She looked up and panicked when she realized she couldn't see him. Ah…there he was. He had taken his jacket off and was rolling up the sleeves to his blue shirt. He hooked the jacket on one finger over her shoulder and kept walking. She watched as he meandered past baseball fields and the playgrounds. He stopped to watch the activity in the sandbox area and then found his way to one of the benches that overlooked Lake Michigan. She watched as he sat down and stared out at the water for a minute and then buried his face in his hands as he rested his elbows on his knees.

Abby watched him sadly for a moment and debated what to do. It seemed like such a private moment and she didn't feel right infringing on it. Obviously the events of the day had really affected him. Events of the day? Events of the past several days. But today had been the worst. She took a deep breath and carried her aching feet forward toward the bench.

"Hey…" she said softly when she was standing next to him. Luka looked up with a start and smiled when he saw her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Abby eased herself onto the bench beside him and lifted her foot to her knee. She debating taking her shoe off but then realized that if her foot swelled she might not get it back on again. She loosened the leather laces instead. Luka watched her set her foot down and then lift the other one to her knee. He grinned and loosened the laces for her.

"You didn't follow me all the way here from the hospital, did you?" he asked.

"Of course not," she insisted. "I always walk…what? ….twenty blocks after a 12 hour shift." Luka chuckled again and relaxed against the back of the park bench. He gazed out at the water and then glanced over at her. His smile widened and he reached over to pick up one of her hands in his. Their eyes met and he shook his head. They sat in silence for a moment and then she sighed.

"I'm sorry about Blair, Luka," she said quietly. The smile on his face faded and he shrugged.

"Maybe she is better off," he said. "Too much had happened. She'd lost too much." Abby nodded slowly and they gazed out at the white capped waves together. They were lost in thought of the coma patient that had been dumped in the ER, reawakened and then lost to a coma again.

"I took her up to the roof," he said finally. "We talked. She asked me if I missed Croatia." Abby frowned slightly and then looked at him.

"What did you tell her?" she asked.

"That I had family there and I miss them," he said without taking his eyes off the water. "But I like Chicago. There are more opportunities for me here. I think…." His hand grasped her fingers a little more snugly. She studied his profile.

"Oh, guess what," she said brightly. "Lou came back." Luka turned to her with a frown.

"Who?" Abby scowled playfully.

"Lou….." she said again. "The rollerblader that came in with our BRACA lady? I think he's pretty serious about her. In spite of everything. That's nice…." Her voice trailed off and Luka sighed as he gazed at her. The sun was beginning to go down and the air was chilling.

"Want to get some dinner at the Navy Pier?" He tipped his head toward the huge complex in the distance. "My treat." Abby glanced forlornly toward the pier and then back to Luka.

"Can we take a cab?" she asked. Luka laughed and stood up.

"Abby," he chided her and pulled her to her feet. "It's only a couple of blocks."

"A cab, Luka," she said firmly. "See that nice yellow one over there? The third one in the line at the curb? It has our name on it. He is waiting for us." Luka laughed and continued to hold her hand as they headed up the sidewalk to the taxi cab stand. He shook his head and chuckled as she stepped gingerly beside him.

"Next time tell me you want to come with me and we'll take a cab," he said.

"Uh huh…." she muttered. "Yellow cab? Third in line? Has my name on it all right…." Luka laughed again and his arm snaked across her shoulders in support.

Red…she could see the red cloth upholstery in the back seat. Sydney squinted her eye and peered through the hole that had been cut in the car's trunk. It was scary in here. Dark…..even with the holes that had been drilled here and there to let in air and sunshine. The fumes from the car's exhaust stunk and there were spots on the trunk floor that were hot in spite of the thin foam mattress that covered the floor. She had stopped crying after the first time he had put her in there. No one would hear her anyway. She had a bottle of water….and a flashlight….and Coogy. Sydney's arms tightened around the stuffed dog. She had taken him with her when she'd gone to the bathroom at the campground. Her Mom had gone into town for groceries and her Dad had been busy building a campfire. The bath house was only a few lots away from their campsite. They thought she was old enough to go on her own. SHE thought she was old enough. And it happened so fast. She was locked in the trunk for two days. She had screamed and cried that time. No one came for her. She could feel the car moving. Could hear the traffic. In the end she had stopped crying and fallen asleep. She had no idea where they were. She had soiled herself by the time he had opened the trunk again. He had taken her to a motel room and given her clean clothes and let her take a bath. He'd given her some food. He had given her everything she needed and nothing that she had wanted. She wanted to go home. She wanted her own bed. She wanted her Mom and her Dad. Instead she was locked in the car trunk again. He usually put her there when they would be traveling through smaller towns. Or when he had to be at work at some temporary job. Once she had banged on the trunk's hood hoping someone would hear her. No one did. He parked the car too far away from anything. Besides, he told her no one was looking for her anyway. But if that was true, why did he put her in the trunk? Sydney closed her eyes and squeezed the stuffed animal in her arms. She would sleep. She would dream about being where she wanted to be. In her own bed. At home. With her Mom and Dad.