Title: Once & Always
Part: 1/?
Author: Adeline (gossy16@yahoo.com)
Category: AU - LKo/AL
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nope, nope, nope. Ain't alt. universe fer nothin'
Summary: FUTURE FIC. Luka and Abby never dated. They've sort of been on
parallel tracks all their lives, and meet again away from County several
years later.
Archive: Soon to be at my site, FanFiction.Net, and ERTVOnline. Ask
permission to put up anywhere else.
Disclaimer: The ER characters aren't mine. The story is mine. And it seems I
can write somehow, but it turns out I can't count: FIVE characters are mine,
not 4. Oh well.
The Prologue to this story can be found: in this list's archives, in
alt.tv.er.creative's archives;
here: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=344197 ;
and there: http://ertvonline.fanfiction.com/adeline/always.htm ;
and yonder there: http://www.geocities.com/gossy16/OandAp.htm
To Mely: We'll break you. 'Nuff said. ;P
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Once & Always," Part One, by Adeline (gossy16@yahoo.com)
"Daddy! Daddy! I want a ride too!" A six-year-old boy was tugging at his
father's hand as they were walking the busy New York City streets.
"Evan," Luka sighed, looking down to his son. "You are a big boy, now."
"So?" The boy pressed, "Timmy's big too!"
"So you too heavy for Daddy!" The younger brother chimed in.
"No fair." Evan sulked.
"Nope." Luka confirmed.
"No fair! No fair! No fair! No fair!" The boy started to make a scene.
Luka stopped walking and sighed again. "Okay, you win. But no more than
five minutes, alright?"
"YEAH!" Evan beamed.
Luka crouched down to let his youngest hop off. "Fun's over, Tim."
Frowning, the child slid off Luka's back and grabbed his hand tightly
immediately, as his brother gleefully climbed up their dad's shoulders.
"Ughhh!" Luka stood up and winced in pretend-pain as if this was the
heaviest weight one had ever had to lift.
They walked a few blocks, and all of a sudden Evan pointed to the sky
and kicked his feet in excitement, screaming, "Daddy! Is it the Emperor
State Building??"
"*Empire* State Building, yes." Luka corrected. "And if you calm down,
Daddy will buy you an ice-cream." He said as he tightened his grip around
the child's ankle, afraid that he might fall.
"Wooowwww!" The boy stared up in amazement, shielding his eyes from the
sun with his little hand.
"I wanna see too!!" Tim demanded excitedly, jumping up & down. "I wanna
see the skycrapper!"
Luka chuckled, "Skyscraper. You know... these things are very
overrated." He crouched down again.
Evan reluctantly jumped off his Daddy's back and swatted his little
brother on the arm.
"Hey! None of that!" Luka scolded, "No more shoulder-rides for you."
Before Tim was settled in his 'favoritest place in the whoooole world,'
another little boy stumbled upon them. He was taller than Evan by an inch or
three, and looked disoriented. Luka thought for a moment that some of his
traits were remotely familiar, but he couldn't place his face.
"Are you lost?"
The boy nodded wordlessly, perhaps scared.
"Have you lost your Mommy?"
The boy nodded again, with a sad glint in his eyes.
"Do you know for how long?"
This time, he shook his head. It seemed as though he was about to cry,
but thought of himself as too big a boy to let it show.
"Daddy, are we going to find his mommy?" Tim asked out of curiosity.
Luka smiled. "Yeah."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Abby was frantic. It was just seconds after four minutes now, since she
had realized he had gotten away. Four minutes of going crazy, asking every
passerby in her reach if they had seen a thin dark-haired boy with hazel
eyes, about four feet tall, praying that someone would answer positively.
And some did, but they were very vague. 'He went this way.' Like that was of
great help!
She knew she shouldn't have taken him with her! God, how could she be so
careless! A second of inattention had been enough, and now she was begging
the Heavens that she would find him soon. Michael would be raving mad if she
lost their son, especially so soon before their daughter's birthday. She had
taken him to help her pick a good present, how ironic. 'Hey Jane, you know
how sometimes your brother and you don't always get on well? Well for your
birthday I lost him in the city!' Gosh! How could she have done this?
She'd thought it could have been a good idea to show him where his dad
worked afterwards, since he had always wanted to see. Well, turns out it had
been an extremely bad idea! And with streets *this* crowded, her eyes only
wouldn't suffice to locate him. She did become aware though, that the
sidewalks were kept amazingly clean considering the amount of shoes they
were walked by.
Eleven minutes, and still no precise indication. Well, now that she was
here, she had two options. She could either alert the police, or tell
Michael. And as much an ordeal as it sure would be, the latter option seemed
the more reasonable at the time. Ugh!
As she neared her ex-husband's office, Abby scanned the moving crowds
time & time & time again, just in case. It *would* be a shame to miss him
while she was just explaining things to his father. But she had no luck, and
her distress grew more with each beat of her heart and every step she took.
What if he'd been kidnapped? Or hit by a car?
Just as she pushed the door to Michael's building and looked back one
ultimate time, as if on cue, her boy entered her field of sight. He was
riding somebody's shoulders on the opposite sidewalk, clutching a chocolate
ice-cream, a painfully sad expression plastered across his face.
"Adam!" Abby cried. "Adam! Adam!!"
But the sound of traffic in genral and roaring cars in particular
wouldn't let her calls make it across the street. Without a second thought,
and fearless for her life, she ran blindly to the other sidewalk, under the
grunting and honking of automobilists disturbed in their course.
She chased after the stranger, and called her son's name again. "Adam!"
Luka turned around, rightly presuming the screams he was hearing were
the boy's mother's. With only a happy smile, he took him off his back and
gave him to the crying lady. The boy just wrapped himself in his mother's
arms.
"Oh, Adam! Oh, thank God! You're alive!"
Evan cheered. "Yay! Daddy, you rock!"
At this, Luka laughed softly and Abby looked up, wiping tears of relief
away with one hand. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you so much!"
Luka smiled again. "It was no problem."
That voice. She'd heard it before, that deep, low, warm voice. It
reminded her of... Chicago?
"We promised him we'd find his mommy."
Yup, Cook County General, Chicago, eight years ago. Wow. Talk about
unexpected.
"Dr. Kovac?"
"Um, yes..." Luka was confused. "And you must be..."
Abby was slightly embarrassed "Ab--
"Nurse Lockhart!!" Luka exclaimed. "Of course! Nurse Lockhart from
Chicago!" Wow. She'd worked in the ER a while ago and left suddenly after
two years. Or was it three? The rumor at the time was that she'd been dating
Carter for a short time and ran when that was through.
Abby smiled. "Yes, that would be me. But call me Abby."
"Oh, and I'm Luka." He smiled back.
"So..." Abby shifted uncomfortably on her feet. What exactly was she
supposed to say? She hadn't seen Dr. Kov-- Luka, in about eight years. And
even then, they hadn't each other that well. "What are you doing in New York
City?"
"I could ask you the same..." Luka hinted. The situation seemed quite
comical to him, although he couldn't detect why.
"Well, I live here." Abby answered. "What about you?"
"So do we, actually." Luka smiled.
Abby was pleasantly surprised. "Really? Are you a doctor here?"
"Uh, yeah, at Bellevue. Temporarily."
"Oh." Abby seemed to ponder over this, but wasn't sure she should ask
any more questions. She didn't want to intimidate him. But, temporarily?
Luka noticed this and sighed. "It's a... quite a long story."
Tim suddenly interrupted the emtpy silence that followed. "Who is she,
Daddy?"
Abby and Luka both chuckled, and he lowered himself to the boy's level
to wipe some ice cream off his cheek. "She's an old friend of Daddy's." Tim
eyed her suspiciously and Luka ruffled his hair as he stood back up and
smiled apologetically at Abby.
"Well," she grinned, "since my old friend's in town for awhile, why
doesn't he give me his number so we can keep in touch?"
Luka shifted, and smiled nervously. "Um, sure, why not?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To be continued...
~Adeline.
Part: 1/?
Author: Adeline (gossy16@yahoo.com)
Category: AU - LKo/AL
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nope, nope, nope. Ain't alt. universe fer nothin'
Summary: FUTURE FIC. Luka and Abby never dated. They've sort of been on
parallel tracks all their lives, and meet again away from County several
years later.
Archive: Soon to be at my site, FanFiction.Net, and ERTVOnline. Ask
permission to put up anywhere else.
Disclaimer: The ER characters aren't mine. The story is mine. And it seems I
can write somehow, but it turns out I can't count: FIVE characters are mine,
not 4. Oh well.
The Prologue to this story can be found: in this list's archives, in
alt.tv.er.creative's archives;
here: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=344197 ;
and there: http://ertvonline.fanfiction.com/adeline/always.htm ;
and yonder there: http://www.geocities.com/gossy16/OandAp.htm
To Mely: We'll break you. 'Nuff said. ;P
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Once & Always," Part One, by Adeline (gossy16@yahoo.com)
"Daddy! Daddy! I want a ride too!" A six-year-old boy was tugging at his
father's hand as they were walking the busy New York City streets.
"Evan," Luka sighed, looking down to his son. "You are a big boy, now."
"So?" The boy pressed, "Timmy's big too!"
"So you too heavy for Daddy!" The younger brother chimed in.
"No fair." Evan sulked.
"Nope." Luka confirmed.
"No fair! No fair! No fair! No fair!" The boy started to make a scene.
Luka stopped walking and sighed again. "Okay, you win. But no more than
five minutes, alright?"
"YEAH!" Evan beamed.
Luka crouched down to let his youngest hop off. "Fun's over, Tim."
Frowning, the child slid off Luka's back and grabbed his hand tightly
immediately, as his brother gleefully climbed up their dad's shoulders.
"Ughhh!" Luka stood up and winced in pretend-pain as if this was the
heaviest weight one had ever had to lift.
They walked a few blocks, and all of a sudden Evan pointed to the sky
and kicked his feet in excitement, screaming, "Daddy! Is it the Emperor
State Building??"
"*Empire* State Building, yes." Luka corrected. "And if you calm down,
Daddy will buy you an ice-cream." He said as he tightened his grip around
the child's ankle, afraid that he might fall.
"Wooowwww!" The boy stared up in amazement, shielding his eyes from the
sun with his little hand.
"I wanna see too!!" Tim demanded excitedly, jumping up & down. "I wanna
see the skycrapper!"
Luka chuckled, "Skyscraper. You know... these things are very
overrated." He crouched down again.
Evan reluctantly jumped off his Daddy's back and swatted his little
brother on the arm.
"Hey! None of that!" Luka scolded, "No more shoulder-rides for you."
Before Tim was settled in his 'favoritest place in the whoooole world,'
another little boy stumbled upon them. He was taller than Evan by an inch or
three, and looked disoriented. Luka thought for a moment that some of his
traits were remotely familiar, but he couldn't place his face.
"Are you lost?"
The boy nodded wordlessly, perhaps scared.
"Have you lost your Mommy?"
The boy nodded again, with a sad glint in his eyes.
"Do you know for how long?"
This time, he shook his head. It seemed as though he was about to cry,
but thought of himself as too big a boy to let it show.
"Daddy, are we going to find his mommy?" Tim asked out of curiosity.
Luka smiled. "Yeah."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Abby was frantic. It was just seconds after four minutes now, since she
had realized he had gotten away. Four minutes of going crazy, asking every
passerby in her reach if they had seen a thin dark-haired boy with hazel
eyes, about four feet tall, praying that someone would answer positively.
And some did, but they were very vague. 'He went this way.' Like that was of
great help!
She knew she shouldn't have taken him with her! God, how could she be so
careless! A second of inattention had been enough, and now she was begging
the Heavens that she would find him soon. Michael would be raving mad if she
lost their son, especially so soon before their daughter's birthday. She had
taken him to help her pick a good present, how ironic. 'Hey Jane, you know
how sometimes your brother and you don't always get on well? Well for your
birthday I lost him in the city!' Gosh! How could she have done this?
She'd thought it could have been a good idea to show him where his dad
worked afterwards, since he had always wanted to see. Well, turns out it had
been an extremely bad idea! And with streets *this* crowded, her eyes only
wouldn't suffice to locate him. She did become aware though, that the
sidewalks were kept amazingly clean considering the amount of shoes they
were walked by.
Eleven minutes, and still no precise indication. Well, now that she was
here, she had two options. She could either alert the police, or tell
Michael. And as much an ordeal as it sure would be, the latter option seemed
the more reasonable at the time. Ugh!
As she neared her ex-husband's office, Abby scanned the moving crowds
time & time & time again, just in case. It *would* be a shame to miss him
while she was just explaining things to his father. But she had no luck, and
her distress grew more with each beat of her heart and every step she took.
What if he'd been kidnapped? Or hit by a car?
Just as she pushed the door to Michael's building and looked back one
ultimate time, as if on cue, her boy entered her field of sight. He was
riding somebody's shoulders on the opposite sidewalk, clutching a chocolate
ice-cream, a painfully sad expression plastered across his face.
"Adam!" Abby cried. "Adam! Adam!!"
But the sound of traffic in genral and roaring cars in particular
wouldn't let her calls make it across the street. Without a second thought,
and fearless for her life, she ran blindly to the other sidewalk, under the
grunting and honking of automobilists disturbed in their course.
She chased after the stranger, and called her son's name again. "Adam!"
Luka turned around, rightly presuming the screams he was hearing were
the boy's mother's. With only a happy smile, he took him off his back and
gave him to the crying lady. The boy just wrapped himself in his mother's
arms.
"Oh, Adam! Oh, thank God! You're alive!"
Evan cheered. "Yay! Daddy, you rock!"
At this, Luka laughed softly and Abby looked up, wiping tears of relief
away with one hand. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you so much!"
Luka smiled again. "It was no problem."
That voice. She'd heard it before, that deep, low, warm voice. It
reminded her of... Chicago?
"We promised him we'd find his mommy."
Yup, Cook County General, Chicago, eight years ago. Wow. Talk about
unexpected.
"Dr. Kovac?"
"Um, yes..." Luka was confused. "And you must be..."
Abby was slightly embarrassed "Ab--
"Nurse Lockhart!!" Luka exclaimed. "Of course! Nurse Lockhart from
Chicago!" Wow. She'd worked in the ER a while ago and left suddenly after
two years. Or was it three? The rumor at the time was that she'd been dating
Carter for a short time and ran when that was through.
Abby smiled. "Yes, that would be me. But call me Abby."
"Oh, and I'm Luka." He smiled back.
"So..." Abby shifted uncomfortably on her feet. What exactly was she
supposed to say? She hadn't seen Dr. Kov-- Luka, in about eight years. And
even then, they hadn't each other that well. "What are you doing in New York
City?"
"I could ask you the same..." Luka hinted. The situation seemed quite
comical to him, although he couldn't detect why.
"Well, I live here." Abby answered. "What about you?"
"So do we, actually." Luka smiled.
Abby was pleasantly surprised. "Really? Are you a doctor here?"
"Uh, yeah, at Bellevue. Temporarily."
"Oh." Abby seemed to ponder over this, but wasn't sure she should ask
any more questions. She didn't want to intimidate him. But, temporarily?
Luka noticed this and sighed. "It's a... quite a long story."
Tim suddenly interrupted the emtpy silence that followed. "Who is she,
Daddy?"
Abby and Luka both chuckled, and he lowered himself to the boy's level
to wipe some ice cream off his cheek. "She's an old friend of Daddy's." Tim
eyed her suspiciously and Luka ruffled his hair as he stood back up and
smiled apologetically at Abby.
"Well," she grinned, "since my old friend's in town for awhile, why
doesn't he give me his number so we can keep in touch?"
Luka shifted, and smiled nervously. "Um, sure, why not?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To be continued...
~Adeline.