"Life's Little Surprises"
By Adrienne
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters
Author's Note: I'd love to hear from you be it praise, criticism or even a challenge!
"Hi, how was your day?" Luka asked when Abby walked into the apartment.
"Good," she said quietly.
"Is something wrong?" he asked with concern.
"We need to talk."
"Okay." They went and sat down on the couch.
"Luka…we never really…I mean…where do you see our relationship going?"
Luka was slightly taken aback and took a moment to answer. "I know that I love you and I want to be with you…and I hope to spend our lives together."
Abby smiled. "…Did you see yourself having a family again?"
"Children?" he asked, and Abby nodded. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about my children and mourn for them…and I know that I can never replace them…but, yes, I do want to have kids again…is that what you wanted to talk about, Abby?"
"I'm pregnant," she blurted out. Luka looked at her, stunned, but then smiled and kissed her.
"You're not upset? I was so afraid that you would be," Abby said.
"Not upset, thrilled. When did you find out?"
"Today. Carter did the test and a sonogram. I'm almost twelve weeks." She pulled the picture out of her purse and showed him, and he laughed and kissed her again.
"You've made me the happiest man in the world, Abby," he whispered. "I'll be right back." Luka walked into the bedroom, found what he was looking for in the bottom of his drawer, and went back to Abby.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you for a long time," he began, "and right now seems like the perfect moment." He brought a small box out from behind his back, and opened it to display a ring. "Abby Lockhart, will you marry me?"
"Yes," she said instantly. He slipped the ring on her finger and they kissed. It was the happiest moment of both their lives. They had overcome deaths, failed marriages, addiction and so many other things to finally find joy in each other's arms.
Luka and Abby were married two weeks later at city hall, as neither of them wanted a fancy service. Carter and Jing-mei Chen were the witnesses. That night after making love, they laid awake in bed, Luka's hand on his wife's now slightly bulging stomach and talked of the future. Baby names and all the things they would need to get, how they would raise their child, and how happy they were.
The months went by quickly and the April due date grew nearer. They finished the baby's room and Luka spent hours feeling his child move in Abby's ever-growing belly. He doted on her continuously. At the hospital he made sure that she didn't work too hard and took breaks. At home he was always concerned that she didn't sleep enough or had too little to eat.
One night in the middle of March, Abby awoke to painful contractions.
"Luka, wake up," she said, shaking his shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked, sleepily.
"I think I just went into labor." Two minutes later they were out the door and on the way to the hospital. However, just when they reached the parking lot the contractions stopped, and they realized it was just a false alarm.
Two weeks later, Abby walked into work completely exhausted. Since the first false alarm there had been two more, the third being the previous night.
"You look beat," Carter said.
"Another false alarm last night," Abby replied.
"How are you feeling?"
"Very pregnant," she replied grumpily. "I was thinking of performing a c-section on myself."
Carter laughed. "It won't be much longer now, Abby."
"Easy for you to say. You haven't gained thirty pounds, your ankles aren't swelling up like balloons, and there's not a baby playing soccer with your bladder."
"All right, all right, you win," Carter said with another laugh.
Later that day several major traumas came into the ER from a car accident.
"Forty-one year old male, unconscious, pulse is 63 and BP is 73/ 100," Doris said.
"Thanks, we'll take it from here," Kerry told her, as she, Elizabeth and Carter wheeled the man into a trauma room. Abby walked in as fast as she could.
"You sure you can handle this, Abby?"
"I'm fine," she reassured him, but as she was putting an IV in the patient, a contraction started.
"Are you all right, Abby?" Elizabeth asked.
"Contraction," Abby gasped. "Probably just another false alarm."
"Carter," Elizabeth said, "why don't you take Abby and hook her up to a fetal monitor?"
"Dr. Corday, really, I'm fine."
"With all these false alarms, it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Come on, Abby," Carter said, and led her into an exam room. He hooked her up to a fetal monitor. Pulse is 120, strong heartbeat, and baby is in position," he told her.
"Another contraction," Abby said with a wince and grasped Carter's hand.
"Want me to get Luka?" he asked after a third contraction.
"Yeah."
Luka walked into the room less than a minute later. "Are you all right?"
"Three contractions, nine minutes apart."
"Do you think it's another false alarm?"
"I don't know. I don't think so. The contractions are much stronger this time."
Luka smiled and kissed her. "Are you scared?" he asked as he took Abby's hand.
"A little," Abby admitted. She had witnessed hundreds of births and helped women through their pregnancies for years, but this was completely different. This would be her son or daughter.
"Should we go up to OB now?"
"Maybe wait for another contraction, just to be sure," Abby said, and then felt a sudden burst of fluid travel down her leg. "I think my water just broke."
"Yeah. Fluid's clear. Do you want to get wheeled up in a stretcher or wheelchair?"
"Luka, I can walk. It's still nine minutes between every contraction."
"Not a chance," he told her with a smile and another kiss.
Six hours of labor later, Luka could barely feel his hand from Abby squeezing it so hard.
"Okay Abby," said Dr. Coburn, "you are dilated ten centimeters and full effaced, so on the next contraction we're going to push."
"Okay."
"You ready?" Luka asked.
"Yeah," Abby told him.
"I love you."
"I love you too," she replied and they kissed.
"Okay Abby, get ready to push," Dr. Coburn said. "1…2…3…4…5…6… 7…8…9…10! Okay, okay, you can rest now, you did great."
After three more pushes Abby collapsed and was crying. "I can't do this."
"You can do this Abby," Luka told her. He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek.
"The baby's crowning now, just one more push, Abby, one more. Ready?" Coburn asked.
"Okay," she said through her tears. Abby readjusted her trip on Luka's hand.
"Ready? 1…2…3…4…5…6—okay, okay, you can stop, the baby's out. It's a girl! Congratulations!"
A baby's cry filled the room and Luka cut the umbilical cord. Dr. Coburn placed the baby in Abby's arms. Abby was still crying, but now with tears of joy.
"She's beautiful," Luka said, as he wrapped his arm around Abby and looked on at his newborn daughter.
"Yes, she is. She has your nose," Abby said with a laugh. They looked at each other, smiled and kissed.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
"Do you have a name picked out?" Dr. Coburn asked.
"Julia Colleen," Abby told her.
Throughout the day various coworkers stopped by, including Carter, who was the godfather. He made a surprise announcement: that he and Jing-mei Chen were seeing each other. Elizabeth and Kerry stopped by with flowers, as did Chuny, Lily, Yosh, Haleh and Lydia. At the end of the day, when they were alone again, Luka and Abby fell asleep in each other's arms, in a state of bliss.
Abby and Luka brought baby Julia home the next day. They finally got her to sleep and Abby stood in front of the crib, watching her daughter sleep. Luka came up from behind Abby and wrapped his arms around her. They rocked back and forth, surrounded by joy, mesmerized by this perfect, beautiful baby they had created.
Who knew what would happen in the future, but at that moment it didn't matter to either of them, because they had each other—they had a family.