Author's comment: First of all, thank you so much for reviewing, and please keep doing it! It means a lot!
VjeraNadaLjubav – Feel free to archive this story on your site, just send me a link when it's done! I've read several of your stories, and I like them a lot, by the way (am a lazy reviewer myself – have to get better at it!) Am also going to consider the beta-reading offer!

Just for the records: this story will certainly not be anything else than lusan – definitely not luby! Used to be a fan of that pairing, but have changed my mind a bit. Sorry all lubies… It was nice in season 7, but I think it's kind of impossible now. I'm not a carby fan, and won't write that kind of stories, but I don't hate them (as I used to – I admit…)

This is probably not the best chapter I've written, not very long but it's one of those that has to be written…

CHAPTER TWO : A RUDE AWAKENING

The sound of Abby's running steps towards the elevator faded away, and they were alone again.

Susan turned all her attention back to Luka who still showed no signs of waking up. The wall clock said 3:28,
and she groaned. Anyone who came in could assume whatever he or she pleased – she didn't care. So she buried her face in his chest, still holding his hand. Soon the so annoying monitor sound started to sound very far away.

***

A gentle pat on her shoulder forced her back to the uncomfortable chair. The familiar hospital smell was sticking in her nose and she decided to ignore whoever there was behind her. She pressed her eyes together and desperately tried to catch up with the sleep that seemed to fade away more and more. But the monitor sound became louder again and she heard Kerry's voice.
"Susan," she said and stroke her hand over the younger doctor's hair.
"What?" Susan muttered and slowly turned around on the chair.
She tried to focus her tired eyes on her boss, but it was hard. If she felt this sleep hung over, then what would Luka feel like when he finally woke up?
"Go home. Get some sleep. Someone else can take over here."
"Like who?" Susan asked, ignoring everything but the last part of what Kerry had said.
"Abby, maybe"
"Can't. She's keeping herself busy fighting with Carter"
Kerry sighed.
"I'm sure someone would be glad to do it. Maybe…-" She stopped to think. If not Abby, then who? Chen? No. One of the other nurses? No, no. Carter? Definetly not.
"There you see," Susan sighed as if she had read Kerry's thoughts. "There's no one. Unless you want a med student to sit here."
"That's an idea."
"No, it's not! Look, Abby gave me the name of Luka's brother in Croatia. I'm going to try and track him down, maybe he's able to get here."
"Good."
Kerry took another chair from the corner and sat down next to Susan.
"Go and make a few calls, have a cup of coffee. I'll stay here for a while."
"Are you sure? Don't you have to be down there?" Susan asked, nodding towards the ER below them.
"If they call for me I'll get someone else here."
Susan gave her a searching look before nodding.
"Thank you."

As she crossed the ER on her way out to get some air she got totally bombed with questions by the rest of the staff. Was Luka OK? Had he woken up or was he still unconscious? Had she been up at the ICU all night? She answered all the questions ten times each- yes, he was somewhat OK, yes he was still unconscious but would wake up sooner or later, yes she had spent the night up there, and finally, no Pratt – not of that reason. When she finally sat down at the counter at Doc Magoo's with her desired cup of coffee she let out a deep sigh of exhaustion. She took a few sips of the warm beverage and felt how her brain slowly started to catch up with the world.

Zagreb, Croatia

He groaned when he heard the phone. Who the hell was calling in the middle of the night? He could feel his wife move next to him, and not wanting to wake her up any more than the ringing already had he carefully rose up and rushed out in the hall to pick up the phone.

"What?" he asked impolitely in Croatian.
The line wasn't very good because of all the noise in the background in the other end. Thinking he hadn't made himself clear to the person in the other end he repeated his question, if possible even less politely.
"Dubravko Kovac?" he heard a woman's voice. With that pronouncing, certainly not a local.
"Yes," he said in a more normal voice, frowning. Who was this?
The woman took a deep breath, before she started talking.
"My name is Susan Lewis and I'm a doctor at County General in Chicago…-"
"Jesus," he thought and quickly dragged his free hand through his hair, staring at the wall in front of him where his mother had posted a note with his brother's address. He would never have remembered the long name of the hospital if he hadn't been staring right at it – Cook County General, Chicago, Illinois, USA - all in Luka's barely readable handwriting that, according to Natalia, was very similar to his own.
"Chicago?" he interrupted her. "County General?"
"Yes," the woman said.
He tried to place her name. Susan Lewis? Somewhere deep inside his memory a bell rang. Was it her? No, her last name hadn't been Lewis. Something on "L" but longer, and with "heart" or similar in the end.
"Has something happened?" he heard himself ask, still trying to place the woman's name.
She sighed again.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. Mr. Kovac, your brother…-"
What she said drowned in the sound of his parents' bedroom door being opened and his mother's loud voice asking what was going on, apparently not realizing that it still was in the middle of the night and that she would wake up not only her daughter in-law but also her grandchildren if she didn't calm down. She came up to him, still asking a hundred questions at the same time. Who had the nerve to call at this hour? Why had they? Why was he speaking English? Was it someone from America? Was it Luka, but why wasn't he speaking Croatian to his brother?
When he refused to answer she patted his arm to get his attention. He took a few steps backwards and held up his hand and gave her a hard look as to show her she should be quiet.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Lewis, could you take that again?" he sighed, thinking that his two-year old daughters were easier to have a conversation with than his mother.
Him neglecting to answer her didn't sit well with his mother who even louder demanded him to tell her what was going on. He had to put his hand against his free ear to be able to concentrate on what he was told.
"Luka is here at the intensive care unit."
"What?!"
"He came in last night with a serious Valium overdose. He had been mixing pills with alcohol and…-"
"But he would never do that," Dubravko interrupted Susan "Luka is a doctor, he knows that it's dangerous. There must be some kind of mistake." He heard that he sounded close to desperate, but he couldn't help it. His heart beat fast and his throat felt dry. This was a mistake - this had to be a mistake! How many times hadn't he heard Luka warn people of mixing pills with alcohol? He would never do it himself. Never.
"I know this can be hard to understand, believe me Mr. Kovac – I…-"
"No! You don't understand! Luka is a doctor and he would never…- He knows it's dangerous and I know him – he would never… - he doesn't even drink that much! He used to smoke, but he doesn't do that anymore, hasn't for years! And he doesn't use any pills, from where would he…-" He was talking fast and without thinking of anything else than that this was a mistake, Luka would never do something like this and whoever this doctor thought she was, calling this time of the day – she was wrong.
"Mr. Kovac…-"
"Dubravko"
"Dubravko, I have known Luka for over a year, and I have never seen him like this. He has been depressed and lonely for a long time, everybody here have noticed it but we have not been able to help him…-"
Once again he felt the need to interrupt her.
"But you are supposed to be doctors," he yelled "weren't you supposed to know how to help him?!"
"We tried. But we didn't know just how far he was going to carry it."
Dubravko gasped. Jesus… He closed his eyes.
"He… he tried to… kill himself, didn't he…?" The words came to him, everything was crystal clear, but he couldn't get them out.
"Yes… I'm sorry Dubravko, but yes, Luka did try to kill himself."
"But he didn't succeed…?"
"No. No, he didn't. We got him here in time, and he pulled through even though it seemed bad for a while. He is breathing on his own and his vitals are normal – that means his heart beat and other life necessary functions are good, or at least fully working."
"Is he awake? Did he tell you to call me? Can I talk to him?"
"No. He is still unconscious, and we don't know when he'll wake up."
"But he will, won't he?"
"Yes."
She took a deep breath.
"Dubravko, I don't know what your situation is right now, but if you or anyone else in your family has any possibility at all to come here, I think it would mean a lot. I fully understand if it's not an option, but…-"
"I will be there. I'll take the next possible flight." He said it, and then he started to think about if it was possible. Hell – possible or not, he was going. Luka needed him, more than ever. If he only wasn't so damn stubborn, and would ask for help before things had to take turns like these…
"Good," she said.

She explained what he should do and whom to ask for when he arrived, and then she left him alone to take care of his now almost hysterically yelling mother. The only English she knew was "thank you" and "goodbye", but even though she was a lot, none of those things were stupid and judging from the tone in his voice she had understood that something bad had happened.

***

Susan put down the phone with a small sigh. It was never pleasant to give families news like these, and especially not over the phone with thousands of miles between them.
She walked up to the ICU room door and was surprised, despite knowing better than to be, to see Gallant and not Kerry on the chair. He had pulled it slightly backward and was not so close to the bed as to the window.
He saw her questioning look.
"A trauma came in, Dr. Weaver was called down," he said explaining and closed the 500 pages book he had been reading.
She nodded.
"OK. I can take over now."
He rose up from the chair and met her as she walked inside the room.
"I guess there has been no changes," she said as she sat down and pulled the chair slightly forward, starting to search for Luka's hand still turned to Gallant who shook his head.
"He moved a little once, but nothing else. But that's a good sign, right?"
She nodded, smiling.
"Yes, it is. And thank you so much for doing this – it must have been a bit weird for you."
"No problem"
"You're here to serve, right?" she laughed.
He laughed and lifted his hand in a salute.
"Yes m'am." He started to walk down the corridor, but she called him back.
"Gallant!"
He looked inside again.
"How are things with Abby and Carter?" She had been a bit worried all day considering the yells coming out from the lounge last night, but the smile on Gallant's face relieved her.
"All over each other. They kissed and made up first thing in the morning."
"Good," she smiled. "It would have been a bit weird here otherwise, don't you think?"
He nodded with a smile, and as he left again she squeezed Luka's hand.
"I called your brother," she said softly to him. "Dubravko is coming. He was very worried about you when I told him what happened."
As usual he showed no signs of understanding or even listening, but she still thought he did. Deciding not to make him feel guiltier than she thought he already felt she ended the story of her phone call to Croatia; Dubravko would fill him in on that when he got there. Instead she just sat there, quietly stroking his hair away from his closed eyes as the wall clock ticked away another afternoon.