To answer a few reviews:

Emzgurl: I'm glad you're enjoying this! I agree, I'm sort of glad I decided against having Sam go to the Congo with Luka. I think everything worked out better this way instead. Thanks for reviewing!

NaomiP: I chose not to have Susan breastfeed her baby, that's all. =] A few people that I know have just been unable to breastfeed their babies, or have decided against it. I'm not really sure why I had Susan follow this pattern, but Sam will breastfeed her and Luka's baby, in case you were wondering. Thanks for the review!

Also to tars, dupton, julie and jj, your reviews have been greatly appreciated! Thanks! And to everyone else that have reviewed in earlier chapters, your support has been great. =]

--Mari

July 17, 2004

"Hey, Luka, when do we get to find out what the baby is?"

Luka turned off the electric burner on his stove and shoveled the rest of the pancakes he had just finished making onto the plate. "Well, your mom has an ultrasound at the end of the month to make sure everything with the baby looks okay, so maybe then."

"Cool. So, can I wake up mom now?"

"No, let her wake up on her own. She had a hard time sleeping last night, and she has a shift from ten to four."

"But you're home today?"

Luka nodded and set the stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. "Yes."

Today was Sam's twenty-sixth birthday, and Luka and Alex had spent much of the beginning of the week trying to figure out what to do to make it as special for her as they could. Since Sam had to work a shift, they all couldn't spend the day with her as originally planned, but last minute, Luka had decided on something that Alex had agreed to.

He had decided to paint the baby's room, which was right across the hall from his and Sam's bedroom. He and Sam had settled on just painting the room a neutral white, and placing a gender specific border around the walls when and if they ended up finding out the baby's sex. Sam had also added that they could also add decals to the walls if they got around to it, but with Luka busy working shifts, and Sam trying to cope with Alex running around from friend to friend's houses, neither had time to sit down and really think about the future of the room. So the night before, Luka had stopped at a local hardware store once he got off of work and picked up two gallons of white paint, can opener, paint stirrer and brushes. He had also picked up a gallon of finish, but realized that it was going to take a few hours to paint the whole room anyway and that the damn finish could wait until he got around to it, be it even weeks from now. No one would realize the difference.

Other than painting the room, Luka had gotten Sam a rocking chair, the first thing he had ever bought for the baby's room and for her. Even before Sam and Alex had moved in with him, the room had remained empty and just had been used to keep his laptop and desk. They hadn't even gotten a crib or any other specific furniture for it, but in a way, Luka was proud of that. Now the room would be painted, have a closet, and a rocking chair. Not too bad of a start.

Sam shuffled into the kitchen and smiled, running her fingers through her curly hair. "Smells really good in here. Who cooked?"

"Luka did," Alex told her. He ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Happy birthday, Mom."

"Whoa, did we have a mood change since last night?" Sam smirked, hugging him back. "Thanks kiddo."

Luka walked over and kissed her, handing her a glass of orange juice. "Happy birthday. I figured I'd make you something to eat. Did you get any more sleep?"

She nodded and sat down at the table, helping herself to two pancakes and a sausage link. " Thank you. Kind of. I had really bad heartburn last night."

"Guess we shouldn't eat Mexican food for awhile," Alex laughed. "That sucks. I like tacos."

"You can eat it," Luka explained to him, sitting down next to Sam. "But your mom can't because it upsets her stomach."

"Oh. Okay."

Sam sipped her orange juice and reached over the table to ruffle Alex's hair. "Your hair is getting really long. Want to get it cut?"

He shrugged. "Maybe a little. I like it long. It's cool."

"Okay," she laughed. "So what are you guys up to today?"

"I think Jake is coming over later and then Luka said he might take us to the skate park."

Luka nodded and smiled, swallowing his bite of the pancakes. "If it doesn't storm."

"The weather report says we're supposed to have some pretty rough storms roll through here tonight," Sam added.

"You must have been hungry," Luka smirked. A whole pancake and a half had been eaten already on her plate.

"Guess we're going to have to start buying more food around here," she laughed with a smile.

"So does that mean like, tornadoes are gonna hit? Awesome!" Alex got up out of his chair and ran over to the kitchen window, staring up at the partly cloudy sky.

"Hopefully not." She stood up from the table and brought her dish over to the sink to run it under the water before loading it in the dishwasher. "I better start getting ready for work. Thank you both for breakfast. It was so sweet of you guys." Sam kissed the top of Alex's head, but Luka stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist before she could leave the kitchen. He planted a long, drawn out kiss on her lips that left Sam slightly flushed and Alex staring at the both of them like they were poisonous.

"I saw tongue!" He shouted. "Gross!"

4:45 PM

Sam dropped Luka's keys onto the coffee table and yawned, stretching her arms over her head as she walked down the hall. "Anybody home?"

"In here."

It had been an incredibly uncooperative day at work all around. Pratt was working through the remainder of a hangover and was irritable. Chen's father wasn't doing too well, and she had taken the day off to be with him. Abby and Carter had been at each other's throats for the past few days. In a trauma, Abby had gotten so pissed off at Carter than she had flung her gloves at his apron and stormed off, only to get in a screaming match with him in the ambulance bay when he had gone after her. Sam didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't about to ask either. When she had gotten her things out of her locker, a teary Abby was sitting in the lounge and a pensive Carter was leaning up against the sink. Both were attempting to carry on a civilized conversation, which apparently had Abby going through tissues.

She adjusted the clip in her hair and yawned, pausing outside the baby's room. Luka was inside, and he was pulling masking tape off certain parts of the wall, paintbrush in hand.

"Hey," he greeted her. "How was work?"

Sam smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "You painted?"

Luka grinned and got down off the chair. He rested his hands on his hips and looked the room over from floor to ceiling. "Do you like it?"

"It looks great. " She rested her head against his shoulder and he gripped her waist loosely with his right hand. "You didn't have to spend your day off doing this."

"I wanted to."

Sam glanced at a large object in the corner. It was covered with a white sheet and had a medium sized red bow on it, too small for such a large present. "What's that?"

"I don't know. I just found it here when I walked in this morning. Why don't you go take a look for yourself?" he teased her.

She humored him with a quick smile and carefully lifted the sheet off. Underneath was a mahogany glider rocking chair, one of the newer brands to come out in recent years. Sam remembered that Susan had a similar one in Isabella's room and had been telling her the night they had visited about how comfortable it was during late night feedings. "Oh, wow."

"So, what do you think?"

"I love it." Sam sat down in it and gently rocked back and forth. "It's comfortable."

"I guess you can say that it'll be definitely put to use then," he smirked. "But I'm glad you like it. Susan helped me pick it out."

Sam stood up and kissed Luka, wiping a paint smear off his cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, you never answered me. How was work?"

"It was okay. Carter and Abby were fighting."

"Again?"

"Yeah. Don't know what about though."

Luka walked out into the hall and towards the living room with Sam. "Alex and Jake went to the movies with Jake's mom."

"What did they go see?"

He shrugged. "Not really sure. When I dropped them off they couldn't decide."

"That's so typical of Alex," Sam laughed. She sat down on the couch and took off her sneakers before propping her feet up on the coffee table. "How much longer do you think they'll let me do traumas?"

"Well…we can't exactly have a whale in the way while we try to prep the chest—"

She whacked him in the arm lightly and smiled, reaching her hand down to massage her ankles. "That's a great thing to say to the birthday girl."

Luka smirked and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, birthday girl. I'll watch what I say next time." He lifted one foot off the table and placed it in his lap. "But to answer your question, maybe six months, possibly seven. Depending on how you feel and what you feel capable of handling. I'd say though by six months Kerry would start drawing the line and kick you out to at least the more minor traumas. Then by seven months you'll probably be stuck with the exam rooms and curtain areas." He began rubbing her foot carefully in between his hands.

"Sounds like a lot to look forward to." Sam glanced at the clock and back to Luka. "Do you remember that night we were coming home from Susan's and you were talking about getting a house somewhere?"

He nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Were you serious about that?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't serious. But you said it was a step you didn't think we should be taking right now, so I didn't want to bring it up again," he answered honestly.

"It's not a step we shouldn't be taking. I guess I panicked when you brought it up because it's another big step for us, another commitment. And we've made some pretty big commitments to each other lately, like getting our relationship back on track, this baby, Alex and I moving in with you…a house is pretty big. It's not like either one of us can just move out if things go to shit between us. And yeah, I freaked when you started talking to me about that."

"So…where are we going with this?" Luka questioned, slightly amused.

"I don't know. Okay, this might sound pretty stupid, but I mean…a house? When I was growing up, yeah, you could always live with someone at an apartment, but living with someone in a house…I kind of figured those people were married or something. Like I can't really picture myself living in a house with you, Alex, and the baby without being married…to you."

Then, things got silent. Luka didn't say anything in response, and neither did Sam, so she carefully took the hint and lifted her feet off of his lap. She got up off the couch and walked into their bedroom. Luka sighed and stood up, following.

"Sam…" He stepped into the bedroom and watched her put away their various laundry in the dresser drawers and closet.

"It was stupid of me to say that. I'm sorry." She slammed a drawer shut and opened the closet door again.

"No, it wasn't. I'm stupid for not answering you."

"Forget it."

Luka gently grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her away from the laundry basket. "I'm committing, Sam. Every day that I walk in that door and hug Alex, and kiss you, I'm committing to us, to this, what we're going to become. I don't need some damn official piece of paper telling me that."

"You're scared to get married again, aren't you?" she said softly. He looked down at the carpet and she sat down on the bed, resting her hands in her lap. "I've been scared of being alone every day for ten years and I don't want to be anymore. And then I found you, and I wasn't."

"You want to know the truth, Sam?" He picked up a pair of socks and tossed it into the top drawer. "Maybe I am scared of getting married again. Just like you're afraid of taking a chance to be with me. You think that I'll turn into someone like Steve, and I'm afraid that I'll wake up one morning and you, and Alex, and the baby won't be there anymore due to God knows what. Then I'll be alone again, probably for the rest of my life. I've been alone for fourteen years. I've made some bad choices in my life, but I've also made good ones. And if us committing to each other makes us less afraid—makes everything real, makes me love you more, makes you love me more, then I'll take that chance. Then marry me, Sam. I'm not saying right now. We'll wait until after the baby is born. Whatever you want. We'll get married, because you know what? I want everyone to know that you're my wife, that baby is our child, and Alex is our son."

Sam stared at him, her frown turning into a smile. "God, I can't believe you just said that to me."

He laughed and shrugged. "What do you have to say to that?"

"Yes."

"I was pretty sure I threw a proposal in there somewhere," he smirked. "What can I say, I have a flair for the dramatics."

"It beats the traditional one any day," she laughed, kissing him quickly. "Did you let Alex in on this? Because I swear this morning he was humming the 'Wedding March' under his breath and giving me weird looks before I left for work, after breakfast."

"Nope."

She shrugged. "Okay, I have laundry to finish."

"Want something to eat?"

"What do we have?"

Luka tossed another pair of socks at Sam, which she intercepted perfectly. "I can throw some steaks on the grill."

"What a manly dinner," she laughed.

"What, you don't like steak?"

Just a little bit of a note about what Luka was telling Sam: My cousin is a nurse in the ER, and when she was pregnant this past year, they kept her out of major traumas towards the middle of her sixth month and completely out of them by her seventh. I'm pretty positive this is accurate, give or take.