"A good listener is not only popular everywhere,

but after awhile he gets to know something."

~ Wilson Mizner

He's…Back…

"What are the pictures of?" Romano asked, pulling the ER staff's attention away from the pack of pictures in Luka's hands.

Luka looked up, smiled and looked back down, going to the next picture in his hands as he replied, "Picture's from Mariana's play."

"Oh!" Romano exclaimed as he walked around the counter to look. "What play was it?"

The staff peered at the picture of Mariana sitting on a bench by a table in a pink poodle skirt, a white shirt, her hair up in a pony tail, a group of girls crowded around her. On the other side of the picture stood Jackson, the male lead, standing up, looking around the group of boys scattered around the area.

"Grease," was Luka's response.

"Was she Sandy?" Romano asked and Luka nodded as the double doors slid open. The staff looked up to see Dave walking in, a look of disbelief.

"Rain! Rain pouring down in sheets in the middle of May!" he walked up the admit desk and he smiled widely. "I'm….back!"

The staff smiled and looked back at the pictures as Luka turned to the next one, one of Mariana while she was singing "Hopelessly Devoted to You."

Dave looked around the ER. "Woh! Look at what the rain has done! Not only is this place empty, but you guys are all too busy looking at pictures to pick on me!"

He walked around the counter and peered over the other doctors' and nurses' shoulders to look at the picture.

"Who is that?" Dave asked as he gazed at the picture.

"Mariana," Carter replied.

"Who's Mariana?" Dave asked.

"Luka's daughter," Jing-mei replied.

"Okay, when I left a couple months ago, Luka didn't have a teenage daughter," Dave said, confused.

"I adopted Ana and her twin, Alexandria," Luka informed him.

"Oh. Okay," Dave replied as Luka moved to the next picture. "Are there any pictures of Alexandria in here?"

Luka shook his head. "No. These pictures were taken by a professional photographer who went to the play. Alexandria wasn't in the play, she painted the sets."

Dave nodded his head, "Okay. Mariana's very pretty. Alexandria must be too."

Luka nodded his head, "Yes. They both are very beautiful. But, Dave, they're only sixteen. Seventeen soon. Mariana has a steady boyfriend, her soul mate apparently, and Alexandria sort of has a boyfriend too. Don't try anything."

"She sort of has a boyfriend?" Carter asked.

"Yeah, on-again off-again boyfriend," Luka replied. "At the moment, they're on again."

After they had flipped through the stack of the pictures everyone stepped away from Luka and let him stand up. As the staff crowded around Dave asking him how things had gone with his father Carter pulled Luka off to the side. Leaning close to Luka he whispered, "How's Alexandria doing? With the baby and everything?"

"Well, it's almost two months now. She has her first appointment in a month. But, it's still hard for her. She's not showing yet. But, she's starting to have morning sickness," Luka whispered sadly.

Carter looked down at the ground, nodding his head, "Well, at least she has you, Abby and Ana for support."

Luka nodded, "She has you too."

"What?" Carter asked. "All I've done is talk to her."

"No. You've listened to her, and been there for her. And she needs that kind of person there for her right now," Luka told him.

"It really made that much of a difference?" Carter asked.

"Yeah, it has," Luka replied. "She really likes you too."

Carter smiled, "Wow. I really like her too; she's a great kid who doesn't deserve what happened to her. Let her know I'll be there for her whenever she needs me."

Luka smiled, "I'll tell her."

"Luka, sweetie, I'm going to go pick up Alexandria now. We're going to Dairy Queen," Abby called out.

"Okay!" he said turning around and smiling at her. "See ya later."

"Yep," she said as she walked out the door.

Luka turned back around to Carter when he heard Romano say, "Hi Mariana!"

Luka turned back around and smiled as he watched his daughter approach, smiling as she walked up to Romano and gave the surprised doctor a hug. But an even more surprised Malucci gaped as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders too.

As Mariana stepped back Dave whispered to Jing-mei, "Did he just give her a hug?"

Jing-mei smiled and nodded as Mariana walked past. "Hi. I've never seen you here before."

"I'm M-Malucci," he stammered. "Dave Malucci."

Mariana smiled at him, "Hi Dave. I'm Mariana Kovac. Where's my….there you are Daddio!"

She walked over to Luka who smiled at her, "Hi Ana. What do you need?"

"I'm going over to Mitchell's and after Abby and Al are done Abby's gonna drop Al off at Michael's. Then they're gonna call us and we're gonna go pick them up and go bowling," she hurriedly told him all in one breath.

Luka smiled, "Okay. I'll see you two when you get home then."

Mariana smiled, "Yep. See ya later."

As she walked out of the door she called out over shoulder, "Nice meeting you Dave! See ya later Romano!"

The doors whizzed shut behind her and Dave watched her jump into the waiting Mercury Cougar outside the door, before it sped off.

"Wow," was all he said.

Jing-mei smiled at him, "You have a crush, don't you Malucci?"

At her words Malucci blushed and Luka quickly jumped into the overprotective father mode, "Malucci, she's only sixteen, she has a steady boyfriend, and all she needs is a little fun right now. Don't even think about it!"

Malucci shook his head and walked to the lounge, blushing furiously. After he had gone Carter said, "I think that's the first time we've seen him speechless!"

Abby stopped in front of the school building. Looking towards the door where students were streaming out, finding their rides, their cars or their buses. She smiled when she saw Alexandria stop outside and look around. Waving at her, she quickly looked down at the seat next to her and began throwing the stuff on the seat into the back.

The seat was finally clean when Alexandria arrived. Opening the door she shoved her backpack in and then sat down, slamming the door shut. Pulling her seat belt she buckled herself up and then looked at Abby, smiling slightly.

"How was school today?" Abby asked her.

"Okay, I guess," was Alexandria's response.

"How are you?" Abby asked.

Alexandria sighed wearily. "I don't know."

Abby smiled sadly and started the car. "I'm sure some ice cream will cheer you up."

Dave walked to his locker. Opening it up, he looked inside, smiling. He put his bag on one of the hooks. He would have to bring a picture to decorate the door, now that the staff had heard about the secret he had kept from them. His child.

Smiling, he shut the door and then turned around as Luka walked in. His smile grew as he remembered his coworkers beautiful daughter. What was the other one like?

Dave was shocked when he found himself thinking about the sixteen year old teen. What was wrong with him? Dave Malucci had never had a crush on anyone so much younger than him before. In fact the last crush he ever remembered having was on Jing-mei, a crush that he now realized would never go anywhere. But now, he had a crush on a sixteen year old girl.

What was the world coming to?

And why wouldn't that rain stop pouring down from the dismal, gray sky?

Alexandria lifted the spoon up to her mouth. Parting her lips slightly she ate the small corner of the chocolate brownie. She looked up at Abby who was eating her blizzard and smiled.

"So, what should we talk about?" Alexandria asked, not knowing which aspect of the topic that filled her head endlessly each day to begin with.

"Well, first of all, how are you doing?" Abby asked.

"It's starting to get harder now. Getting up every morning to throw up," Alexandria replied.

Abby nodded, "You have an appointment in a month, right?"

Alexandria nodded, "Yeah. Ana and I are going."

Abby smiled. "Then, we need to start preparing. Get things like a crib, toys, a high chair, a changing table, a bassinet."

"Wow! That's a lot," Alexandria said.

Abby nodded, "Yes. Luka and I will pay for it all. We also need to get cloths, diapers."

Alexandria nodded when a thought struck her. "Where are we going to put the baby?"

"Well, we'll…we'll just…" Abby tried to think of a place in the apartment where the baby could go. Definitely not with her and Luka. And although having the baby by Alexandria would be nice, they couldn't do that to Mariana. "We'll…we'll just talk to Luka about that."

The sound of balls striking pins pierced the air as Mitchell grabbed his ball and walked up to the dotted line closest to the booth. Holding the ball up in the correct bowling position he took three steps, bent slightly to the side as he brought his arm back, and then threw it down the lane.

The ball sped down the wooden lane, hitting the front three pins. The impact sent all the pins flying violently before falling and being pushed out of sight. Mitchell smiled as he walked back, sitting at his place by Mariana, his arm around her, picking up a French fry with his other hand and looking at the computer monitor as it flashed the X marking a strike with Mitchell's name above it.

"How can you be so good at bowling?" Mariana asked.

"Well, one of us has to be. And it's obvious it should be me so that I can teach you," Mitchell smiled at his girlfriend.

Mariana smiled and looked off to her other side where she saw Michael getting up, grabbing his ball. Mariana studied her sister, realizing she wasn't having fun. Leaning over she whispered, "You okay?"

Alexandria nodded, unconvincingly.

"What's wrong?" Mariana asked.

"He's going to hate me when he finds out about the baby," Alexandria whispered.

"You should tell him, before he finds out any other way," Mariana told her.

Alexandria shook her head, "No. I-I can't."

Michael walked back towards them and Mariana and Alexandria quickly smiled.

"Nine pins down! Still good, but not good enough to beat my strike!" Mitchell yelled, caught up in the normal rivalry between the two best friends.

Neither of the boys noticed the girls' serious expressions.

"Mitchell and Mariana, you two will be riding together," their gym teacher shouted. The couple smiled at each other. It wasn't every day that their teacher paired them up together.

"Michael and Alexandria, you two will be riding together," their teacher shouted.

After she had finished dividing the class up into pairs they each raced over to where the canoes were lined up. Quickly grabbing a life jacket for herself and Mitchell, Mariana ran over to where he was standing by a canoe.

Throwing the life jackets into the metal boat she grabbed one end as he grabbed the other. Gritting her teeth she picked up the heavy metal canoe and quickly walked with Mitchell out of the building towards the lake right by their school.

When they finally reached the lake-shore Mariana gladly rested the canoe down on the ground. "I hope that we do not have to carry those back in."

Mitchell grinned as he grabbed his life jacket after she had grabbed hers. They both snapped their life jackets on and he said, "Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!"

Mariana laughed and replied, "Easy for you to say Mr. I-Lift-Weights-Daily!"

"You should join me Ana," he replied. "I'll spot you if you do!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," was her response.

He smiled as he pushed the boat, putting the end in the water as other students came around them. Michael and Alexandria put their boat next to Mitchell's and Mariana's.

"Have fun canoeing," Alexandria grunted, hoping Ana wouldn't mention the talk they had had the night before discussing a topic of conversation should Alexandria be placed with Michael.

"Out on the lake where Michael has no place to run to is the perfect opportunity to explain things to him Al!"

"Have fun talking," Ana emphasized that last word. Winking she turned away from Alexandria's glare to Mitchell's smiling face. Interrupting him as he chatted with Michael she said, "Sweetie, hold the boat. I'm getting in."

"Okay, baby," he replied, standing with his legs around the end the of the boat, holding it still as Mariana stepped in, walking down the middle of line and taking her seat at the front.

Grabbing a paddle she turned around and said, "I'm ready to go sweetie."

Mitchell turned around and, getting the okay from their teacher, pushed off and jumped in the boat.

It was a peaceful feeling out on the water. The first peaceful feeling they'd had in weeks as they glided through the water. The light sound of water lapping up against the boat, the oars slicing the water filled their ears. A nice change from the rain pattering against buildings, hail falling heavily to the ground, lightning and thunder sounding at random moments. Those are the sounds they had been hearing before this nice weather break.

They arrived at the island the class was meeting at without having said a word, the kind of ride they liked to have on occasion.

They played around and the small island with their class for awhile. After Mitchell began to grow bored he pulled Mariana aside and said, "You know how Ms. Klauser hates it when people even suggest going out four in a boat?"

Mariana nodded, smiling slightly.

"Let's grab Michael and Alexandria and head back to the school!"

Mariana giggled, "I was hoping you'd suggest that! You get Michael, I'll get Al."

Running towards their friend and sister they grabbed the startled couple from behind. As they ran back towards the boat, they both informed the two of their plans. Michael started laughing immediately and jumped in the canoe, walking towards the back.

Shouting loudly he told Mitchell, "The girls can sit in the middle!"

Michael's shout caught their teachers attention who looked up and said, "All four of you are not going out in the same boat! You know what I have to say about that!"

Alexandria agreed. "Yeah, we shouldn't go out."

But she barely had time to finish that sentence before her sister pushed her into the canoe, pushing towards Michael where Mariana placed her hands on her sister's shoulders and pushed her down so that she was seated, leaning back against the bar in the middle of the canoe, facing Michael. Alexandria smiled tensely as her sister sat down, her back against the other side of the bar facing Mitchell's back. He had just pushed off and they were gliding away from the island, laughing, as their teacher and classmates ran towards the show, shrieking in fear.

Alexandria leaned closer to Mariana so that she could whisper in her ear, "Why'd you have to bring me out here?"

"Relax Al," Mariana replied. "You need to have a little fun right now."

Alexandria whispered back, "Fun is all right, but it has to be safe. You only have your own life to worry about Ana. I have two: mine and my babies!"

Michael's face froze in shock as he heard Alexandria's whisper that was only meant for her sister.