Okay, warning. Some of this is AU still, as in the baby stuff. However, now that ER is back on I'm using some of those plot lines…Neela/Ray, Sam and so on. That means there will be spoilers for episodes…

Abby Lockhart was bored. She had watched all the TV channels, had listened to music. She had cleaned up the kitchen, she had gone for a very short walk, and she had even resorted to sorting through old storage boxes at her old apartment. Now she was back home, that was what she considered Luka's apartment now, and she was going crazy. Just then the phone rang, "hello?"

"Abby, can I crash at your place for a couple of day?" Neela's distinct voice came through the line.

"Neela, what's wrong?"

"Oh it's just it feels weird living with Ray now that I'm married." She paused, "I haven't had time to look around much, but I think I should move out anyway."

Abby didn't say anything, Neela's point made sense, but her friend sounded distressed.

"Sure you know where the spare key is right?"

"Yeah thanks Abby," Neela hung up and Abby sighed. Just then the door opened and Luka walked in.

Abby rushed over giving him a kiss before looking at him expectantly, "did you bring food?"

Luka smothered his grin and merely enjoyed how his pregnant girlfriend glowed with excitement.

"Yeah, Chinese," he leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.

A few moments later Abby was no longer starving and focused on her breathtaking boyfriend, "So, how was work?"

"Alright," he didn't elaborate.

"You okay?" she stood and Luka stood with her quickly taking her plate from her.

"Sit," he turned away to wash it and put it in the dishwasher.

"Luka," she was the only one who could pronounce his name correctly, "what is it?"

"Just a long day, massive car accident." He didn't want to go on.

"You should have called me," she exclaimed.

"I don't want you near that hospital until our baby is born," he walked over to her and knelt beside her.

"What did you do?" Abby studied him.

"I told Kerry I didn't want you to work," he said softly.

"LUKA!" Abby felt a shot of anger and betrayal, "that's not your decision!"

"You're not going to make it, and it's best for the baby," Luka watched her trying to remember how much she hated doing this she was told to do. He hadn't wanted it to come out this way, but it had been almost a week since her hospitalization and she was due to work a six hour shift on Monday.

"Damn it Luka," she stood in a huff.

"Abby please, it's just until the baby is born." He tried to stay calm.

"Luka, I don't need you micromanaging me, it's my choice you took away!"

"It's not just you ABBY!" He glared at her.

She was surprised at his anger, "I'm sorry?"
"It's my child also Abby, mine, and no matter what pain it may cause you not to work for a few months, I can't lose this baby and I can't lose you. You are stubborn, but so am I."

He watched her raised eyebrows lower, "I don't want you to work."

Luka felt her eyes boring into him, and he turned, "I need a shower." He did too; he needed to wash away the last twelve hours; the dying child, the pregnant mother who lost her baby, and the father who cried like a child when he was told his family was destroyed.

Luka was a man who could take a lot, but since the scare with the baby he realized that Abby and his child had given him his life back. He wasn't going to sacrifice that just to keep Abby from throwing a fit. She could hate him, but he knew that would slowly fade and he would still have his family.

He let the warm water flow over him feeling the memories of his first family assault him, images of blood, crying, the smell of ash. He stayed in for almost twenty minutes before getting out, wrapping a towel around his waist and heading back to the bedroom.

As he was drying his hair with a separate towel he sensed her coming up behind him and she gently wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Something happened today," it wasn't a question.

"I watched a father crumble as he found out his daughter died and his unborn child didn't survive," he didn't turn nor did he return her embrace.

"Life is going to throw the most awful unfair turns at people Luka; we both know that, you more than I." She waited for him to speak.
"Abby, I have to know I did everything to keep you and this baby safe." He held her arms close to him as he continued, "letting you work there isn't doing that. If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to live with that."

"You feel like you didn't protect them don't you," she whispered.

"Yes," he didn't explain.

"Come to bed," she murmured.

"In a minute," he responded.

He felt her gently leading him to the bed. She took a dry towel and ran it over his shoulders and head.

He closed his eyes and felt her hands begin to massage his shoulders with sweet smelling oil and he inhaled.

"Again," she whispered and he obeyed her sweet gentle voice.

Abby had never imagined giving comfort to a boyfriend, hell she hadn't ever done this with Richard. She almost laughed; it had been months since she'd seen that jackass.

She then dried her hands and stood in front of him slowly working her hands through his still damp black hair. "You have a few gray hairs, "she noted quietly.

"I'm an old man," he sounded sleepy.

He rested his head against her stomach where he could feel his child move and placed his hands on the back of her legs. They stood in the quiet until she felt him nodding off, "bed."

They fell asleep together peacefully. Luka's mind quieted by the knowledge that his baby was safe and the feel of his arms, they couldn't be any fuller, as they enclosed Abby in a haven where he could protect her.

Abby listened as his breathing evened. She knew his ghosts wouldn't ever leave and a few months off to give him peace of mind she could do. She would do anything for him and although she relished that thought, it scared her. For Abby, admitting that she loved someone that much was something she'd never done before. That was how she knew this was real. With that thought she slowly drifted off feeling her baby settle to sleep and Luka's breathe against her hair.