"Hiding in the Shadows of the Moon"
-Part 1-
Hell. It was the only word to describe this unbearable heat. Hell. It was like being in the desert for days and weeks, without a drop of water, without a raft of wind, without the ability to think cool thoughts. Yup, hell was definitely on the forecast for Chicago on that August day. Hell was also an adjective she could use to describe many of the things governing her life at the moment.
"Come on, Dominic. Look ahead," she said quickly as she almost ran down the street, carrying her gigantic purse and a huge bag in her arms, and dragging her son down the sidewalk.
And of course, as fate would have it, just as soon as she got to the crosswalk, the light went red.
"Shit," she mumbled, immediately looking down to see if her son had heard her, but he was distractedly looking up at a bird who was flying atop their heads.
"Dominic," she called him out as she shook his hand along with his little arm, trying to get his attention. He looked up at her briefly, and then his eye immediately searched for the long gone bird.
Abby let out a sigh, and as the light went green, she bent down to pick up her son and carry him in her arms, ready to run for it.
Weaver was going to kill her. No, killing her was too sweet of a punishment. Weaver was going to snap her toes off, one by one, and then have her sew them back on without an anesthetic. The sad part was that she was probably not exaggerating either. Whatever had possessed her to agree to work in the ER? And every time she tried to go back to OB, something would happen and she'd have to postpone the transfer. It was like falling on a bottomless pit.
There was an ambulance parked in the bay, but the paramedics were only sitting on the rig, drinking Coke and fanning themselves with two patient charts. 'Lucky bastards,' she thought as she made her way into the emergency room. Thank God the air conditioner was working. She leaned on the side of the lounge for a moment to catch her breath, clearing away the beads of sweat off the side of her son's face.
"Abby, Weaver's looking for you."
Of course.
She let out a sigh, putting her son down and taking his hand immediately. "Where is she?" she asked Frank, who was staring blank at the computer screen.
"I'm not your personal hound, she's somewhere around here," Frank made a frantic motion with his hand and shook his head.
Abby rolled her eyes, looking around. "Come on, honey," she said as she walked into the lounge. Good, empty. She made her way to her locker, releasing her son's hand but not taking her eyes off him. He was looking at all the posters around the room, most with advisements not to smoke and stay healthy, some teaching women how to do a self breast exam and others warning about the dangers of drinking.
"Hey, are you hungry?" Abby asked Dominic, who looked up at her, but then all of a sudden he looked away immediately when the door opened.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Chen said when she saw Abby dressing up. She smiled, and walked over to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Who's this?"
Abby could tell that was going to be the question of the day.
"Uh, he's my son."
"Aww, I didn't know you had a son," Chen said as she walked over, kneeling in front of the boy, who took a step back and wrapped his arm around Abby's leg. "Hey, what's your name, cutie?"
"Dominic," Abby replied.
"Hi, Dominic," Chen cooed. Dominic didn't look at Chen but just past her uncomfortably, and then up at Abby, who gave him a quick smile.
All of a sudden she felt like a rat being hunted by a snake, and like the rattle of a tail, she heard Weaver's crutch getting near. Amazingly enough, the door opened and in walked her predator.
"Abby, can I talk to you?"
"Sure," Abby sighed.
"Dr. Chen, can you excuse us?" Weaver asked.
Jing Mei stood up, with a slight smile. "Yeah."
As Kerry walked over and when the table was no longer in the way, she realized there was a small boy standing next to Abby, looking at her crutch. "Oh, who's this?"
Abby put her left hand on top of Dominic's brown hair and took his hand with her other. "This, he's my son." Why did that seem like such a hard thing to say today?
"Oh, I didn't know you had a son," Kerry smiled, trying to bend to eye contact with the boy. "Hi."
"Did you wanna talk to me?" Abby interrupted.
"Yeah. Dr. Chen, mind finding this little guy a lollipop?" Kerry asked as she looked through some papers she was holding in her hands.
"That's okay, he can stay," Abby said, playing with her son's hand, massaging its palm in circles.
"Alright," Kerry replied. "Dr. Chen?"
"Bye, Dominic," Chen smiled and walked out.
Abby bent down in front of Dominic, taking his face in her hands. "Hey, mommy's gonna be over there for a couple of seconds okay?"
She picked him up and grabbed a toy truck from his bag, walked over and sat him on the couch. Dominic picked up the toy and began to play with it immediately, spinning its wheels over and over.
Abby walked over towards the door, letting Weaver walk out, but staying under the frame so she could keep an eye on her son. "Kerry, I'm sorry."
"Three days in a row, Abby," Kerry scolded.
"I know, I just... my babysitter's sick..."
"We have an excellent daycare center upstairs," Kerry said.
"I know," Abby replied, letting her head drop.
"Well use it, it's free," Kerry added. Abby didn't say anything, so Kerry continued. "You didn't tell me you had a son."
Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't want to use him as an excuse."
"Well, he is," Kerry said. She stared at Abby for a couple more seconds, and then turned to walk down the hall. "On time tomorrow."
"Yeah," Abby said. When Weaver walked away, she let her body rest against the door frame, closing her eyes for a moment and feeling as if she was about to fall asleep standing right there. And to think she'd have to pull a 12 hour shift. Letting out another sigh, she turned around to check on her son, but found that he wasn't alone. There was Luka, kneeling in front of Dominic and tying his shoe. She walked over, hearing the doctor talking as if to himself.
"You don't want to fall down," Luka said, smiling up at Dominic, who kept running the truck up and down his thigh. "Do you like trucks?"
"He doesn't talk," Abby said nervously, sitting down next to Dominic.
Luka looked up at her. "Oh," he said almost apologetically. Then he smiled and patted Dominic's read sneaker. "Is he a patient's son?"
"Um," Abby began with a tired smile as she rubbed her eye. "No, he's... he's mine."
"Really?" Luka said in surprise, a smile spread across his face. "I didn't know you had a son."
"I've been hearing that a lot today." She crossed her arms as she looked around, as if the entire hospital was in the lounge with them.
"Usually people always talk about their kids and put pictures on their lockers," he said, looking towards the lockers to add a visual effect.
She just shook her head, not having a response to that. He was probably waiting for an explanation, or writing down in his head all the questions she knew everyone was formulating by now. But she just shrugged her shoulders and watched as Dominic grabbed the penlight off Luka's lab coat pocket.
"Dominic, give that back!" Abby scolded him.
"It's ok," Luka chuckled. He took the penlight and flashed it at Dominic's face a couple of times. "Do you like that?"
Abby felt relief when instead of going on a crying spree, Dominic just smiled, and finally took the penlight away from Luka.
"How old is he?" Luka said between their tug-of-war game.
"Just turned five. I think he likes you," Abby said and watched Luka smile. She put her arm around Dominic's shoulders, trying to get his attention. "Hey, honey, this is my friend Luka. Can you say hi?" Dominic looked up at Luka briefly, acknowledging his presence, and then continued to play with the penlight.
Luka just chuckled. He wondered why Dominic wasn't in school, and how come no one knew Abby was even married. It was almost impossible in a place that fed on gossip. They weren't exactly best friends, but they had had casual conversations. But it seemed like a touchy subject, so he decided no to meddle. If Abby didn't tell anyone she was married and had a five year old boy, then he figured she didn't want anyone, including him, to know.
"Cute kid," Dave said as he walked into the lounge with a back pack hanging from his right shoulder. Before going to his locker, he just walked over. "Yours?" he asked Abby.
She nodded. Finally someone smart enough to deduce that.
"You don't have blue eyes," Dave added.
Maybe not.
Abby closed her eyes and shook her head. "His father does."
"Oh, right," Dave nodded and smiled. "Hey champ, put it there," he added, putting his open hand in front of Dominic for him to slap, but Dominic squirmed away from him a little.
"Hey, I got a candy," Dave offered, digging inside his pocket and showing Dominic a Jolly Rancher.
"No, Dave, he hasn't eaten yet," Abby protested, pushing the candy away.
"Ah, you're one of those freaky moms," Dave said. Instead of putting his back pack on his locker, he just threw it on a corner and walked out of the lounge.
"Are you just coming in?" Abby asked Luka, ignoring Dave.
"Yes, but I'm not on for a couple of minutes," Luka replied. "Want me to take him to daycare?
"No, that's ok," Abby said, finishing with a small yawn.
"Abby," Frank croaked, peeking his head through the door. "There's a guy out here looking for you, I think it's your husband."
Abby looked over and let out a sigh. Luka stood up and she did the same. "Ok, Dominic, daddy's here. Give that back, honey," she said as she took the penlight away from his hands and gave it back to Luka. Picking him up, she walked over and grabbed the bag from the floor and put the toy truck back inside.
"Bye, Dominic. Nice to meet you," Luka smiled as he walked towards his locker to get ready for work, putting the penlight back in his pocket.
"Say bye to Luka," Abby said. Dominic only looked at Luka briefly, and then rested his head on Abby's shoulder.
She opened the side door to avoid the crowd gathered by the front desk and looked around. Richard was waiting outside and she walked over, being hit by the heat of the city immediately. He was already looking at her with his infamous judgmental look.
Abby quickly rolled her eyes. "Would it kill you to take your son to Anderson's every once in a while?"
"Still going to that jack?" Richard spat.
"That 'jack' happens to be a great doctor," Abby replied.
"Yeah, which you've been now seeing for three..." he suddenly gave up and just shook his head. "Look... I don't wanna get into this right now."
"Don't worry, Richard. I already have the speech memorized," Abby said as she handed him the bag.
All of a sudden Richard's demeanor changed and he energetically shook Dominic and took him away from Abby's arms. "Hey, tiger! How's it going!?"
Dominic protested for a second with a grunt, until Abby reached inside his bag and gave him back the truck toy. "The appointment is at one, and he hasn't eaten yet but don't give him any junk food, I don't want him to grow up on that stuff."
"What else am I gonna give him?" Richard replied.
"I don't know, Richard, something healthy?! I mean, one of your fifty girlfriends has took cook," Abby snapped at him. "Speaking of which, can you please just take it easy around him? I don't want him to walk into your room in the middle of the night to find you with one of your... friends."
"I don't do that around him," Richard protested.
"Good, keep it that way," Abby said. Ignoring Richard's eye roll, she cleared Dominic's hair off his forehead and gave him a kiss. "Bye, honey. I'll see you in two days, okay?"
Still playing with his truck, Dominic just put his one free arm around Abby's neck until Richard pulled him away.
"Come on, tiger! Let's go get some ice cream!" he added.
"Richard," Abby protested.
"Relax, Abby. A little ice cream after lunch is not gonna to kill him," he said and without another word, he walked away.
Abby kept looking even after they were gone, all of a sudden remembering that she was in the ER and needed to start getting busy before she'd end up working on a hot dog stand.
The rest of the day she spent answering the same questions: how old is he? How come you never said you had a son? How come you never said you were married? How come you don't wear your wedding ring at work? How come you don't have any pictures of him on your locker? How come you didn't tell me? Didn't you trust me? Didn't you trust me? Didn't you trust me?
All of a sudden she opened her eyes and she was at home, so tired she couldn't even remember how she got there in the first place. She kept the lights off, and as she made her way into her room, she realized the night light on Dominic's room was still on. She walked over and sat on his bed, smelling the baby shampoo on his pillow, his toys resting on the side of his night table. She picked up one of his stuffed bears and ripped the loose threads hanging from its ears. The room was mostly decorated with Dominic's drawings and paintings, some easily identified as dogs or cats or birds, others didn't make much sense. She still kept the abstracts. Her room was also filled with his things, most of his drawings on frames hanging on the walls, the rest his pictures on her night table and armoire.
As she turned off the night lamp, she let her body rest on the small bed, her feet almost dangling out on the end. Well, at least the cat was out of the bag now. Sometimes she wondered who lived in silence the most, her son or her.
~*~
She had found out a long time ago that even when Dominic was off with Richard, she still couldn't rest. And how could she? What would Richard be doing with him? What would he feed him? Where would he take him? Which one of his girlfriends would be trying to play with her son? It was the only known sure way to get a headache. She had already called his house three times that day, asking what Dominic was up to. The first time, Richard seemed okay with it. The second time, he sounded a little irritated. The third time he hung up on her. How could she help it, though? The guy was the most irresponsible person she had ever met.
Well, that wasn't true. She knew that. Richard was responsible, maybe even more so than her. But she still wished Richard would visit instead of taking Dominic to his house once a month. Those turned out to be the longest weekends in time.
She then realized she had been stocking the trauma room for a long time and she hadn't really done anything yet. Shaking her head, she decided to concentrate, let her mind just relax and see if this worry would disappear. As she picked up three boxes of gloves and put them on the drawer, she heard as the doors open, but used to the fact there was no privacy in the ER, she ignored it.
"Have you seen Morris' chart?"
Abby turned around, but she didn't see anyone. She didn't move, wondering if she was now beginning to hallucinate too.
All of a sudden she jumped back with a gasp when Luka reappeared from under the gurney.
"Did I scare you?" he chuckled.
"No," Abby smiled. "I was wondering if this place was hunted." She reached for the chart resting on the counter near her and showed it to him.
"Ah, thank you," Luka said as he walked over and took the chart from her hands, but instead of walking away, he just rested his body against the counter.
"How's Dominic?" he asked, scanning through he pages of the chart, sometimes just reading, sometimes just writing things down.
"Huh?" Abby asked for a moment and then shook her head when she realized what he was asking. "Oh. Good, he's with his dad."
Luka looked her way for a moment and then back at the chart. "I didn't know you were married."
"I'm not," Abby replied. He didn't say anything, so she looked his way and added. "We're divorced."
"Oh," Luka said. "Sorry."
"It's ok," Abby replied.
Luka was quiet for a moment, and then all of a sudden worked up the courage to look up, letting the chart rest between his body and his folded arms. "Listen, I know a really good speech therapist right here in the city..."
Abby shook her head immediately. "No, it's ok. I, I've got it."
"Sorry, I just thought," he stopped, with his tail between his legs.
"No, don't worry about it." She returned to her job, but then after a silence, she turned towards Luka again. "Dominic's... he's autistic," she nodded. It was probably only the third time she had said that out loud, first to Richard, then to the babysitter, and now to Luka. Yet she somehow knew that no matter how many times she said it, these feelings would forever come with it; sadness, guilt, anger, and as inhumane as it sounded, even a little shame.
Luka looked at her for a moment, not sure how to react, and then just nodded. "I'm sorry," he finally said, knowing that was probably the last thing she wanted to hear at the moment. Or at any moment. As a doctor he could hide bad news and make them seem like good news, but somehow when it was someone you knew... the words never seemed to come out the way he wanted them to. Three apologies in one conversation, that had to go on the Foot in Your Mouth hall of fame.
"It's ok," Abby smiled. "It's mild, and, um, we've been seeing this doctor for three years, he thinks that if we don't give up Dominic will... get better," she said almost with a mirthless chuckle, avoiding eye contact. "Maybe start communicating too."
Luka smiled. "I think he can communicate now, just not with words."
"He mainly just points at things," Abby sighed and then smiled. "It's like no matter how many birthdays he has, he'll always be nine months old."
"Don't say that," Luka said. "I think he understands everything we say, and he'll probably be able to communicate well, just give it some time."
"Yeah," Abby said, putting another box of gloves on the cabinet. "I just get a little desperate sometimes."
"I understand," Luka said.
Abby didn't say anything else. A trauma came in and Luka took over, and when she finished stocking the room, she walked out to call Richard again. This time he didn't even pick up the phone.
~*~
Saturday nights usually come and go in a flash. As soon as you realize it's Friday, all of a sudden it's Monday and another work week begins. But weekends never really go by quickly unless you don't want them too. If you do, then chances are they'll seem like an eternity.
The saddest part was that she couldn't even recognize half the shows on television. She was sick of watching the news. The Saturday night movies were all romantic comedies she hated. Oh my God, Saturday Night Live is still on? All of a sudden the phone rang, and she ran towards it so quickly, she almost slipped and fell on the kitchen floor.
"Hello?" she said quickly, hoping to hear it was Richard, and dreading it could be bad news.
"Abby, it's Maggie."
Great.
Abby rolled her eyes, taking the phone to the living room and sitting back down on the couch. "Hey, mom."
"Haven't talked to you in a while, how are things? How's Dominic?" Maggie asked without taking a breath of air.
Abby raised her eyebrows. She could smell Maggie's episodes from a thousand miles away. "He's ok. He's with Richard."
"I've been meaning to go up there to pay a visit, but there just isn't enough time for anything anymore. Did you know your brother is getting married? Well, he comes home the other night, with this blonde girl who must be half his age, and tells me they're getting married next month. Next month, can you believe that? I mean, why don't they just elope to Vegas and send me a postcard with Elvis and a Trojan warrior on the background. They don't even have a church, Abby!"
Abby only sat back and let her mother talk as she kept cruising through the channels. She had learned long ago that it was better to keep Maggie on the phone, because if she didn't release all the energy talking with her, then she'd just go out and do God knows what. Most of the time Abby didn't even listen to what Maggie kept saying. But she could recognize when Maggie was about to ask a question. That she replied to. The calls went on for hours, until all of a sudden Maggie would realize there was something she needed to do and would just hang up.
"So, tell me, are you finally dating again?" Maggie asked.
Ah, finally the question. Abby decided to leave While You Were Sleeping on and pay attention to her mother for at least a couple of minutes. "No, mom. I told you I'm not doing that."
"Oh, nonsense, Abby. You're a beautiful, smart, young woman. You have to go out there and find yourself a man!"
Abby just rolled her eyes. "Mom, I have a son who needs my attention..."
"Your son is fine, Abby!" Maggie interrupted her. "You have a babysitter, you can leave him with Richard. A date won't kill you, and it won't kill Dominic."
Of course, nothing could kill Dominic. Nothing could bring him to life either. That was the problem.
"Oh, honey, I have to go. I'm painting the apartment and I need to get some brushes."
Some brushes... at eleven o'clock at night. "Ok," Abby sighed.
"I love you, give my grandson a big hug for me."
"Ye--" Abby started, but then all of a sudden, Maggie hung up on her.
Letting out a sigh, she just turned off the television and decided to go to bed. Dominic would be coming home tomorrow, so she wanted the night to go by quickly. As she rested her head on the pillow and looked straight up at the darkened ceiling, she couldn't help but letting out a sigh of annoyance. Maggie, what the hell did she know? Sometimes she'd stay in bed for weeks. And sometimes she dated so much that Abby wondered if there were really enough men in the state of Florida. If she was going to accept any advice on dating, it certainly wouldn't be from a woman who couldn't hold on to a relationship if the safety of the world depended on it. Besides, she really didn't need a man in her life to feel good. Just because her bed was empty didn't mean her heart was too, right? Hell, who needs sex? She could get a vibrator who wouldn't judge her, talk back, and when it was slowing down, all she had to do was go to the pharmacy and get some batteries.
But no, it was in everyone's train of thought that Abby needed to start dating again, distract herself. Distract herself from what? Her son? What kind of mother would think like that? She already felt guilty enough for working and having to leave him with a babysitter. Yeah, of course she wished things were different. Like every single woman out there, she had once dreamed about marrying a prince charming, one who wouldn't leave, fight, or cheat on her. Sometimes she wished she had a shoulder to cry on, someone to lean on, someone to talk to about Dominic. But you can't have everything. Fairy tales are for five year old girls. By the time she found a guy like that, Dominic would probably be thirty years old. She rolled to the side, staring at the empty side of her bed.
Dating. She couldn't even remember how to spell the word.
~*~
Sundays, quiet, reserved, nothing like any other day of the week. Amazingly enough, kids were already pretending to be sick to avoid that first day of school. One came in with a "sore throat" another one with the "stomach flu" and one little boy even claimed he had ovarian cancer. It made Abby laugh, the things kids came up with. This was what the beginning of a school year was to her. When other mothers were fighting at the department stores for the latest Toy Story lunch box, she was at work, only aware of the beginning of a school year because of the parade of children coming in each day, claming to have brain tumors and heart attacks.
"Abby," Chen called out as she walked over to the main desk with a huge smile on her face. "My nephew's birthday is this weekend, he's Dominic's age. So I was wondering if you wanted to bring him over?"
"Oh," Abby said, half in wonderment, half in dread.
"I mean, it's not going to be a big deal, just some cake, a couple of kids, a clown..." Jing Mei continued as if she was retelling the story of how she found the cure for cancer.
"Um," Abby began as she played with the chart she was holding. "You know, we were gonna go visit his grandmother this weekend, she hasn't seen him in a while. I'm sorry."
"Oh, ok," Chen said with a small hint of disappointment. "Well, you know, if you ever need a play date..."
"Thanks, I-I- I'll let you know," Abby smiled genuinely.
"I'll save you some cake," Jing Mei added, picking up a new chart and walking towards the waiting area.
"Thank you," Abby said, watching her go. Suddenly she remembered why she hadn't told anyone about Dominic. It was only a matter of days now before they all found out he was autistic and would start suggesting great doctors and therapists.
"You look tired," Luka said as he walked over and erased a name off the board.
Abby instinctively rubbed her eyes, but then shook her head. "It's the trend."
"The trend?" Luka asked.
Abby smiled, "You know, the look. If you work in a hospital, you have to look tired, it's the law."
"Ah," Luka nodded his head. "Like washing your hands?"
"Yeah," Abby replied, wondering if he knew she was making a joke.
"Abby, phone call," Frank said, letting the phone hang from his hand.
Abby walked over, hoping it wasn't Maggie again. "Hello? Yeah... It's Sunday." She listened for a moment, and then closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, his father was supposed to take him... yeah, ok. Thanks for letting me know." She hung up with a little too much energy, making yet another mental note: kill Richard.
As if by magic, her ex-husband walked through the ER doors. Of course. She always told him to drop Dominic at her apartment, but he always found a way to either have her drive to his house, or leave his son with the babysitter.
Abby gave him a look, and he immediately let his head drop back.
"What?" he asked, annoyed, as he held his son's hand.
Abby walked towards the lounge, motioning for him to go in with her. Thank God the lounge was empty, because she was waiting for him inside, her arms crossed in front of her, her foot tapping on the floor.
"I just got a phone call from Dr. Anderson?"
Richard rolled his eyes, but didn't have time to explain.
"What the hell were you thinking, Richard?" she continued.
"It was Friday, Abby, and you have your son going to the doctor's?"
"This is important for him!" Abby yelled.
"Well, I think it's a little important for him that we have a little faith and treat him like a normal kid," Richard replied.
"Open your eyes, Richard! Does he look normal to you?"
Richard let go of Dominic's hand and followed Abby as she walked towards her locker to look for God knows what, probably a gun. "Hey, it's not my fault he's like that. Don't try to pin this on me!"
"I'm not pinning this on anyone, Richard. I'm just asking you to be a little responsible when it comes to your son!" Abby snapped back at him.
"Let's not start figuring out who's more responsible, Abby! You weren't exactly responsible when you were pregnant..."
As his parents continued to blame each other, Dominic looked around the room, channeling them out. Without even being seen, he pushed the door and walked out of the lounge. On one side was the desk, and that mean man with the crazy eyebrows yelling at the phone. On the other side was the street. The doors parted before him and he walked outside, looking up at the sky. There were people smoking, talking, and some paramedics cleaning their rig. No one noticed him as he walked towards the street, playing with the metal button of his overalls.
"Why do you always have to go back to that?" Abby continued to argue.
"Why do you always have to be so uptight?" Richard replied.
"Probably because I was married to you for four years," Abby said sarcastically. All of a sudden the anger was vanished from her face and she looked around the room, her eyes squinted. "Where's Dominic?"
Richard turned around, seeing the room empty. "He was just here."
"Dominic?" Abby called out, looking under the couch and inside the cabinets, but all were empty. "Oh, shit!" she grunted in anger, hitting Richard on his upper arm. She rushed out of the lounge, Richard in tow. "Luka, have you seen Dominic?"
Noticing the urge in her voice, Luka stood up straight. "No."
Richard put his hand on Abby's arm to prevent her from panicking. "Don't worry, he couldn't have gone far."
"Dominic!" Abby called out, not even knowing where to begin the search.
"Dominic!" Richard repeated, heading down the halls and into the rooms as Abby kept calling her son out.
"Did you see him walk out?" Luka asked.
"No, I, I didn't even notice," Abby replied, her hands were beginning to shake, but she tried to keep her calm. "Dominic!" she called out again, this time heading towards the elevators, praying the boy wasn't in the roof or somewhere even more dangerous. Oh, God, what if someone took him?
"What's going on?" Dave asked as he approached the desk.
"Have you seen Abby's son?" Luka asked. Before Dave could reply, Luka heard as the ER doors opened and he looked towards the entrance. Letting the chart rest on the counter, he rushed outside, knowing kids would rather go out and play than stay inside a hospital.
"No," Dave said a little too late. "What's his name?" he asked Frank, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"Have you seen a small boy, brown hair, blue eyes, I think he's wearing some overalls?" Luka asked one of the paramedics outside.
"No," one of them said. "You lost a kid?"
"Yeah," Luka said and patted the paramedics arm as a thank you. Hoping his instincts were wrong, he ran all the way out to the street, looking in both directions. There wasn't much traffic, but the few the cars on the street were going faster than usual. But that didn't bother him much, he figured if there had been an accident, there would be a crowd of people meddling.
"Dominic!" he called out, knowing that the boy wouldn't reply, but hoping he would at least walk over to where Luka was. He crossed the street and walked into Doc Magoos, but the waitress hadn't seen a young boy either. As he rushed outside, and having no lead at all, he decided to just go left.
He asked a few people on the sidewalk if they had seen a young boy, but the reply was inevitable, it was summer and there were little boys everywhere. About a block away, he came face to face with a tall building with a huge fountain in front. Luka let out a sigh of relief when he recognized Dominic's hair cut. He approached him from behind, watching as Dominic stared at the pigeons which bathed themselves in the water.
"Dominic?"
Dominic turned around for a second, watching Luka standing there, and continued to watch the birds.
"Do you remember me?" Luka asked as he knelt next to him. "Look," he said, reaching inside his pocket and showing Dominic his penlight.
Dominic took it and turned it on, flashing it at the pigeons.
"Come on, your parents are looking for you," Luka said as he picked Dominic up, hesitant that the boy might think he was a stranger, but Dominic was entertaining himself with Luka's penlight.
When he made it to the bay, Abby was rushing out of the hospital, and when she saw them she ran towards Luka, taking Dominic in her arms.
"Oh, thank God," she said as she filled her son's face with kisses. "Don't ever do that again, do you hear me?" Abby scolded him between hugs. "You scared mommy half to death!"
"Oh, God," Richard said in relief as he walked outside rushing over and taking Dominic away from Abby. "Hey, where'd you go, buddy?"
"He was in front of the bank, looking at the pigeons," Luka explained, resting his hands on his hips.
Abby let out a sigh. "He likes birds."
"Thanks, man," Richard said, extending his hand to Luka, who shook it with a smile.
"Thank you," Abby added, giving Luka an appreciative smile. He smiled back.
"Did you find him?" Kerry asked as she walked out for a moment, but standing close enough to feel the air conditioner on her back.
"Yeah," Luka said as he walked towards her.
"Good," Kerry said and walked back into the hospital. "Back to work, everyone!"
Luka stood there for a couple more seconds, looking back and watching as Abby took Dominic from Richard's arms and hugged him tight, almost strangling him. He smiled, and with one last glance, turned around and headed back to the ER.
To be continued...