I don't own ER. John Wells does. Stephanie, the original character, is mine. You know all the rest. Pls review! Oh, yeah, I do hate Carter. Deal with it.

Luka Kovac finished wiping his last patient's name off the board. Mrs. Bindleschmidt, ninety years old, hadn't given up her fight for life easily, and Luka as always had tried everything in his power to save her. He was a good doctor, even if some, like Carter, wouldn't admit it. Carter was such an ass to everyone. Luka didn't know why people put up with it. He sighed heavily.

"Oh, sorry!"

Luka looked up to find out who'd spoken. He was astonished by the pretty girl in front of him, but covered it quickly. She'd bumped him as she'd passed by, and he could swear his skin tingled.

"Who are you?", he asked in a husky voice.

"I'm Stephanie Andrews. This is my first day", she said. Stephanie had long, dark hair pulled into a neat ponytail, and wore a powder-blue cashmere sweater set under her freshly-ironed labcoat. She eyed Luka appreciatively from underneath her thick lashes. Boy, this guy was something. "Would you like to get some lunch later?" she found herself asking him.

"Sure." He couldn't stop looking at her. Something about her just grabbed him. Maybe it was her sweet voice. He felt a connection immediately.

"Hey, if you two are done flirting, we've got work to do." John Carter sniped at them. Luka rolled his eyes, and Stephanie giggled.

Carter frowned at her, and hissed, "Don't you have someplace to be? Something to do? I'll fail you if you're not careful."

"She's with me", Luka said in a threatening whisper. He'd always hated Carter's snivelling manner, and he didn't like how he treated med students. He wouldn't let him get away with it with someone this special.

Scared, Carter backed down, and slinked away. Stephanie let out a sigh of relief. "Is he always that awful?"

"Yeah", Luka said, "and worse. But let's not talk about him. He's not worth it. Where would you like to go for lunch?"