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June 5th

Sam twisted and turned on her side of the bed, trying to reach a comfortable position in the stifling heat of her room. She reluctantly kicked the sheets off her slender legs and laid still on her back, staring up at the ceiling. It was so hot in her bedroom. How could Luka sleep through this? If the heat hadn't woken him up, then her constant rolling over from back to stomach to side should have by now.

Rolling onto her right side, she watched him as he slept momentarily, the rise and fall of his chest illuminated by the faint glow of the streetlight diagonal from her apartment. He looked so peaceful, yet mysterious, and deep down somewhere, Sam still felt like she didn't really know who he was—like she had only chipped away one tiny piece of Luka Kovac.

Now she was wide awake and the digital alarm clock on Luka's side read one fifteen. Not able to sleep any longer, Sam climbed out of bed and loosened her tee shirt and cotton shorts from her sweat slicked body.

Her apartment looked so different without her and Alex's clutter scattered around everywhere. Each room was virtually empty. Minor belongings such as clothes, some things of Alex's, and some pots and pans had been moved to Luka's, but other major things had been boxed up and placed in a corner of the living room, where only the couch and coffee table remained. Sam had her cable canceled the Saturday before Memorial Day, so Alex had been watching most of his shows and playing his video games at Luka's. Besides packing things up, Sam had been trying to move furniture that Luka already had into storage. The kitchen only had a refrigerator and microwave—neither of which Sam would be taking with her. The bathroom just had toilet paper and a spare bottle of shampoo and conditioner, along with soap and toothbrushes now. The bedrooms just held beds and dressers—both of which would be moved today.

Maybe that's why Sam was unable to sleep and feeling so restless. Today was June fifth. Moving day, the day she and Luka were hearing the baby's heartbeat for the first time with Coburn, and five days until Luka was set to leave for France, where a connector flight would take him to the Congo.

They still hadn't talked about Sam accompanying him to Africa, even though her passport had arrived a few days ago. Last minute, Carter had made a decision to stay in Chicago, which meant that Luka would be traveling alone unless Carter decided otherwise or she ended up going. Sam couldn't believe that they still hadn't talked about the Congo. Sighing, she walked out of the bedroom and turned on the lamp in the living room before continuing into the bathroom. She started running cold water in the sink and splashed some onto her face to try to cool off some.

Glancing out the window, she had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be warm. The weather forecast last night had said anywhere from the upper seventies to mid eighties with high humidity. Perfect. Sam was instantly glad that she wasn't the movers, who were coming to the apartment at eight.

She shut off the water and glanced at herself in the mirror. Sam didn't think she looked any different then when she was pregnant with Alex—at least not right now. She was almost three months pregnant, and the only real difference was that she had put on a few pounds. Her clothes were still fitting pretty normally, although she knew in a few weeks that would all change.

Slowly, Sam lifted up her tee shirt just enough to see her stomach in the dim light of the bathroom. She ran her fingers over her bellybutton, almost as if she expected a change to appear by just touching it. It still looked the same, although it was a little bit fuller now. Alex hadn't really brought up the topic about the baby again since they had talked about it a few weeks earlier, except to ask if the baby would have its own room at Luka's.

"Hey."

Sam jumped and turned to find Luka leaned against the doorframe, watching her. "Hey." She dropped her shirt and yawned. "What are you doing up?"

"What are you?" he laughed softly. "Are you showing?"

She shrugged. "I think I just look bloated."

"Better than nothing, right?" Luka walked over and lifted her shirt up a little bit so he could take a look. "Doctor's orders."

Sam smiled. "I can definitely see you using that excuse to your advantage." She watched him rub his thumbs gently over her stomach in small patterns before looking up at her with a grin on his face.

"I'm going to miss this. Us. Alex."

She nodded and backed away from Luka slowly, picking up the toothpaste and shampoo bottles and putting them in the brown box marked 'Bathroom' by the door. "Three weeks. You know, my passport is still sitting in a drawer and we haven't talked about this anymore."

"I know." He had resumed his position in the doorway.

"Look, if you just want me to stay here, then tell me so. I'll…be here when you get back. And I understand where you're coming from about my safety and everything, I guess."

"Yeah."

"Well at least I have a passport now. In case we plan any spur of the moment trips to London or Paris or something," she smiled, wrapping her arms around Luka's waist.

Luka kissed the top of Sam's head. "What about Croatia?"

"You mean that?" She glanced up at him as they started walking side by side down the hall towards the empty living room.

He nodded. "Eventually. Yeah."

Sam crossed her arms across her chest as Luka sat down on the couch. There was no television to watch and virtually nothing to do except go back to sleep or sit around and watch each other. A few minutes passed, and Sam even saw Luka close his eyes briefly and thought he had fallen back asleep. She crossed over to the window and looked out the shades onto the street below.

"I don't want you to go."

Luka opened his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. "I know."

"I know that you'll still go, but I don't want you to."

"Who's going to take care of Alex?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I could ask my mom, Claudia—"

"Don't come with me. Stay here. Alex needs you. I need something to look forward to when I come back," he smiled. "I know you don't want to hear that."

"No, I told you I'd understand. It's okay. You've been there a few times before, you're more experienced…"

"I really do want you to come with me though," Luka spoke up. "But I don't want you to."

Sam glanced at the clock and laughed. "Okay, it's barely two in the morning and we're arguing about this."

"We're not arguing, we're just not really getting anywhere." He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach. He whispered something in her ear, but Sam couldn't make it out. He kept doing this for a few minutes, and then finally stopped, planting a gentle kiss on her temple.

"I am supposed to ask what you just said?"

He grinned and shook his head. "You can, but I won't tell you."

Sam rested her head against his chest. "Why not?"

"I'll tell you when I get back."

She nodded, knowing that whatever he head said in Croatian to her was worth waiting the three weeks to find out. "Five days are going to go by fast."

"I know." Luka yawned and took her hand. "What time is our appointment tomorrow?"

"Four."

"You think the movers will be gone by then?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I think so."

"Good." Without warning, Luka suddenly lifted Sam into his arms and started carrying her back towards her bedroom, remembering to turn off the light in the living room as he did so.

"What are you doing?" she giggled. "I'll break your back or something."

"You forget that I weigh twice as much as you do," he laughed. "And I just won't do this after your six months pregnant because then you just might break something."

"Excuse me!" Sam protested as Luka carefully dropped her onto the bed and crawled on next to her. "When I'm in labor you better have on full body armor."

"You wish," Luka muttered, burying his face in the pillow. He grinned at the reaction on her face and tackled her with a kiss. "I take it back."

"Good." She snuggled up against him and when Luka tried to adjust the sheets over them, Sam kicked them down again. "Don't. I was so hot before."

"It's not hot in here."

"It is to me."

He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body closer to his. "Night."

"Night," she yawned, placing half of her head on his pillow. Luka opened his eyes and groaned.

"Can't you get your own pillow?"

"I could, but that would mean I'd have to sit up and reach over the bed to get it off the floor," Sam told him. "So we can share."

"You win."

"Mom, I'm going to Mikey's!"

Alex ran through Luka's apartment, finally finding his mother and Luka standing outside the front door in the hall. "Mom, I said I'm going to Mikey's! When are you and Luka leaving?"

Sam looked away from Luka for a second. "In a few minutes. Just be back by eight, okay? And call if you decide to stay overnight."

"Yeah, Mikey and Jake and Todd might be coming over too."

"Okay. So just call. Get your stuff together and we'll drop you off before we go to the hospital." Sam turned back to Luka and he grinned at her, a sparkle in his eye.

Alex crossed his arms over his chest. "That's so gross. Can I take the El?"

Sam shook her head. "Not by yourself."

"Then why can't we all take the El together?" he complained.

"Well I was just going to drive in, Alex. Come on, we'll give you a ride there," Luka added.

"So I can see you two make kissy faces at each other in the car? Great," he muttered sarcastically, running back down the hall towards his new room.

"I'm sorry," Sam apologized.

Luka shrugged. "Don't worry about it. He's probably just having a hard time adjusting." He walked back into his apartment and closed the front door after Sam. "You ready to go? It's almost three thirty."

"Yeah. Let me just go and see what's up with him," she sighed.

"Sure."

Luka glanced around the apartment. The movers had gotten to Sam's around eight, had everything loaded up and ready to go by nine thirty, and had unpacked everything at his place around noon. Since then, Sam had managed to put sheets and a comforter on Alex's bed and start unpacking some of his things. Alex ended up hooking up his television and PS2 by himself and had been pretty much occupied until Mikey had called him around two. How Mikey had gotten Luka's number so fast, Sam didn't exactly know, but it seemed to amuse Luka, so it was all right with her.

His apartment was looking a lot more cluttered than he was used to, mostly because the boxes in his living room were taking up so much space. But he figured that he and Sam would have everything unpacked before he left for the Congo on Thursday.

Sam wasn't going to go with him. She had pretty much come to that conclusion on her own, and was okay with being alone in his apartment with Alex for the three weeks that he would be gone. Still, Luka wished there was a way he could take her with him, but knew that it probably wouldn't be the best thing. She needed to be there for Alex, and he'd be home on July third. Everything would work out.

Standing there in the living room, he heard Sam and Alex's voices coming from Alex's room. Luka thought about how much he would be celebrating this year and how everything would be different from years past. Sam would be turning twenty-six on July seventeenth, and he still had to figure out what he wanted to do to make that night special for her. He wanted to take her out to dinner, but didn't know what else to do besides that. Then Alex's tenth birthday was August eighteenth, and he knew Sam was already starting to think about what to plan. Then it would pretty much be fall before they all knew it, and October brought his own thirty-seventh birthday. Three years to forty. Luka didn't know where all the years had gone. Then right after Thanksgiving, the baby would be born. Christmas would follow about two weeks later if Sam didn't give birth early or later than her due date.

Luka wondered if he could manage to fit a proposal in there somewhere.

"Okay, okay Mom."

Luka broke out of his thoughts and took his keys out of his pocket. "Ready to go?"

"We are now," Sam laughed. She mouthed another 'Sorry' to him, but instead Luka just wrapped his free arm around her waist and held the door open for Alex, who took off down the hall in front of them.

Sam drummed her fingers impatiently against the exam table, glancing up at the clock. "I really don't know why I'm this nervous."

Luka leaned over and grabbed her hand gently to try and get her to stop tapping the table. "Because before now, you being pregnant was more of an idea, and when we actually see it on that screen, it's real. Not that it wasn't real to begin with, but you know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah. I just wish she'd get in here," Sam replied, referring to Dr. Coburn.

"She probably had something last minute. An induction, maybe."

The exam door opened, and Dr. Coburn walked in with a smile. "Sorry for the wait, I had to set up for an induction. How are we doing, Sam? Luka?"

Luka grinned at Sam and shot her an 'I told you so' look. "I'm okay."

"How's the morning sickness, Sam?" Coburn quickly washed her hands and put on a pair of fresh gloves.

"Not that bad. Bearable, I guess. It's only pretty bad late in the afternoon."

"That's not unusual. Are you able to keep anything down?"

"Some small meals, yeah," Sam answered. "It's a pain in the ass though, I wish it would stop."

"I know the feeling. So let's get you set up here."

Minutes later, Sam and Luka were looking at their baby on the ultrasound screen for the very first time and listening to its heartbeat.

"Looks good, you two. Really good. Strong heartbeat and you're progressing right into your third month, Sam," Coburn noted as she turned the ultrasound wand to get a better angle of the baby. "The morning sickness should pretty much be gone by early July, and you should be starting to gain some more weight. We can schedule you for the ultrasound to find out the sex anywhere after seventeen weeks, although it's up to you. Any other last minute questions before I print out these pictures?"

Sam shook her head and glanced over at Luka, who was sitting in the chair, eyes still stuck on the screen. "No, I think we're okay. Right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we're good. Everything looks good, Sam."

"Yes it does," Coburn agreed. "Let me just clean this gel off your stomach and you can get dressed. You can set up your appointment at the front desk for next month."

Coburn left the room shortly after, and as Sam pulled her tee shirt over her head, she turned to Luka. "So…"

"Yeah," Luka smiled. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly. "Looks good."

She nodded and smiled. "How do you feel about it?"

"Good. I don't know. I can't really describe it," he answered her.

"That's how I'm feeling. I guess it still hasn't really set in yet."

"Yeah. I guess it hasn't," Sam smiled back. "I have to run down to the ER before we leave to get my schedule for the week, so if you don't mind or anything, we could do that and maybe take advantage of the fact that Alex is at a friends?"

"Yeah, that's fine. You have everything?"

"Just have to make another appointment and get the ultrasound pictures at the front desk," she pointed out.

"Hey, Sam!"

Sam spun around and came face to face with Jing-Mei near the admit desk. "Yea?"

"Do you know if the lab work came back for exam one?" She tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear as she said this, looking exasperated.

"Oh, I'm not on today. Sorry."

"Thanks anyway!" She walked off in the opposite direction and Luka leaned up against the counter as Sam quickly checked her schedule.

"So how are the two proud parents to be doing today?" Jerry asked with a debonair smile. "Got the ultrasound pictures, I see." Luka glanced down at the pictures in his hand and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Mind if I take a look?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

"Sam, I don't need your pollinated crap lying around here." Frank lifted a heavy bouquet of mixed flowers onto the counter, complete with a clear vase. "The ER is not a goddamn florist."

"Who are these from?" Sam pocketed her schedule and leaned over to smell the flowers, and then checked the white card on the front of the vase. It only had her name on it. She lifted it out of the envelope and scanned it quickly.

Sam,

Sorry about reading your test results. I only told Jerry and I guess he got excited too and it got spread around that way. I hope you enjoy the flowers, and congratulations to you and Luka. Are we okay now?

Morris

"That's so sweet," Sam laughed. She was interrupted by the sound of Frank sneezing loudly and obnoxiously.

"Great. Now take 'em out of my sight!"

Luka leaned over her shoulder and read the card. "Pretty thoughtful."

"He's still an ass," Jerry laughed, handing Luka back the pictures. "Looks like the lima bean is growing pretty well there, Sam."

"Ugh, you sound like Morris. Do you know where he is anyway?" Sam lifted the heavy vase in an attempt to carry them, but Luka quickly took them from her instead. "I haven't seen him lately."

"No heavy lifting," he smirked, brushing a piece of hair out of her face.

"That's because he's been trying to avoid you. He left at seven this morning. Won't be back on until tomorrow night. Keep going!" Frank sneezed again and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Got your schedule?"

"Yeah. See you guys on Monday."

"Hey, Kovac, you're going back to the Congo, right?"

Luka nodded and saw Sam look at the ground out of the corner of his eye. "Thursday."

"Working anymore before then?" Frank handed Jerry a stack of charts to file.

"No. My last day was yesterday," Luka answered. "So I won't see any of you until July."

"Good luck," Jerry added cheerfully. "See you Monday, Sam."

"Thanks," Luka answered before he and Sam headed out of the ambulance bay. "Frank doesn't usually talk to me."

"Frank doesn't talk to anyone. Only to insult them or bitch at them," she pointed out. "Are they heavy?"

"What, the flowers? Not really. I can't believe he bought you flowers."

"I guess he really did feel bad then. He's only been avoiding me for the past month."

Luka nodded before unlocking his SUV. "Do you like roses?"

"I think every girl likes roses. Why, are you taking a leaf out of Morris' book, or something?" Sam joked as she got in the passenger seat. Luka placed the flowers by her feet before climbing into the driver's side.

"I'm not taking any tips from Morris."

"True. You're better off," Sam smiled, leaning forward to make sure that the flowers weren't about to tip over.

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