A/N: Sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated. I'm trying to balance several other fics, as well as working part time and setting aside time for friends. Best part of the summer is that I still have a lot of free time on my hands, so I promise I will get another update of this story up much sooner. I know it's somewhat short, but it's an important plot filler. I'm also not sure how many more chapters this story will span, but I can assure you it'll be enough to keep everyone happy. If all goes well, you can expect to see a potential sequel to this when it's wrapped up, because I have some ideas floating in my head.

Also, I realize that Alex's birthday is not in the summer and that there was an episode based around it in Season 10. However, I missed a handful of episodes in the middle of this season and must have stupidly missed that one. For the sake of continuity, I'm keeping his birthday in the summer.

Anyway, with that said, enjoy!

Mari

August 17, 2004

Sam tapped her foot impatiently against the carpeted floor of the Obstetrics waiting room. It was now five to two in the afternoon, and she had been sitting in a chair with her legs crossed for the last fifteen minutes. If she had to drink any more water without using the bathroom, Sam was sure that she wouldn't be able to make it to the exam room, let alone to the hallway.

She checked her watch one more time to make sure that she hadn't mixed up her appointment time. Luka was late, and Sam was sure she had told him more than once to meet her upstairs at 1:45. It had started storming the minute she had left their apartment, and even though Luka was right downstairs in the ER, she hoped that something hadn't happened to him.

Coburn had scheduled Sam in today for her routine ultrasound. At five and a half months pregnant, maybe Sam's patience was starting to wear thin, but Luka had known about this appointment since the beginning of August. He had even been the one to set it up in the first place. Now he was late, and she had no idea what was keeping him. Yes, he could be stuck in a trauma, but that was somewhat unlikely, since his shift supposedly had ended at one thirty. Still, Sam knew how understaffed the ER could get and figured that was probably what had happened.

"Sam?"

Sam pulled herself out of her seat and quickly crossed into the hall, following the nurse into an exam room. She hoped he had a good excuse.

"Mom, can Mikey and Jake spend the night tonight?" Alex started playing with the radio, settling it on the local rock station. A somewhat new song came blasting out of the speakers and Sam turned it down automatically.

"No." She signaled onto a side street, whipping Luka's Lincoln Aviator around the corner like a pro. It was still pouring buckets out, so she had to squint somewhat to see.

"What? Mom, it's my birthday tomorrow!"

"Yes Alex, I know it's your birthday tomorrow, but my answer's still no. Tomorrow night."

"Mikey can't stay over tomorrow night! He's gotta go to his grandma's!" Alex pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "And neither can Jake."

Sam quickly pulled into the apartment parking deck and sighed. "Fine." She dug her cell phone out of her bag once she had parked and handed it to him. "Call them both now and tell them they can come over around six. That'll give me enough time to put the frosting on your cake and order a pizza. But I mean it, Alex. No staying up past midnight because I want to be able to get some sleep tonight. Grandma's flying in tomorrow morning."

"Cool!" He started dialing away as Sam led him onto street level and up the stairs of the apartment building. By the time they had reached Luka's apartment door, Mikey and Jake were both set to come over. "Thanks Mom."

"Sure," she smiled, hugging him lightly. "Sorry I was so pissy before. I know it means a lot to you because it's your birthday and all."

"It's okay," he shrugged. "Are you pissed at Luka because he didn't show up at the doctor's?"

Sam shrugged. "Kind of. It's not a big deal. Forget it."

"I think it's cool that I'm the first one to know that I'm getting a little sister, Mom. So don't feel too shitty."

"Crappy, Alex. Watch your language please," she corrected with a groan. "I don't want to get phone calls from your fifth grade teacher in September because you don't have any manners." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But thanks."

"What are you gonna name her?"

"Who knows," Sam smiled again. "I'm sure Luka and I will figure something out by December."

Just then, the apartment door opened and Luka walked in with a frown on his face. "Sam, I am so sorry."

"Alex, can you do me a favor and order that pizza for you, Mikey, and Jake? Half cheese, half whatever else you guys want, okay?" Sam asked. "Thanks buddy."

Taking the hint, Alex nodded and scrambled off to his room with the phone. Sam waited until the door was shut and shrugged at Luka.

"By the time I had gotten upstairs, they said you left. I got tied up in the damn ER—"

"Look, I really don't want to hear any excuses, okay? You missed probably the most important appointment of my whole damn pregnancy and you knew about this, Luka! You knew about it for three fucking weeks ahead of time! That's bullshit that you couldn't get away. I even talked to Kerry this morning! She told me that she had no problem letting you get off early and go up there to meet me. Even Carter said he would cover for you. You stayed down there anyway."

He looked away, but nodded his head slightly. "Is everything all right with you and the baby?"

"Everything's fine. She's fine, I'm fine," she replied crossly.

"She?" Sam saw the expression on Luka's face light up instantly and a grin break out across his face. "Sam, you just said she."

"Did she stutter?" Alex mumbled sarcastically as he passed from the hall and into the kitchen. "The pizza place said fifteen minutes, Mom."

"Okay," Sam answered him. "And Alex, that wasn't very nice. Apologize. Now."

"Sorry, Luka." He disappeared back into his room not long after, but the grin still remained on Luka's face.

"A girl? We're having a girl."

"Yes," Sam nodded. "We're having a girl." She walked over to her purse and dug out the printed ultrasound pictures. "Here. I had them print another copy because I thought you might want to hang it in your locker at work. I mean…you don't have to, but I didn't know."

"No, these are great." He continued grinning as he glanced at the few pictures. But his face fell soon after. "I'm sorry I missed it. I'll talk to Coburn and set up another appointment for us, all of us. Alex too."

Sam smiled slightly and rested her hand on Luka's arm. "You don't have to do that."

"No, I want to," Luka stated firmly. "I'll talk to Coburn about if first thing." He leaned in and kissed her forehead gently. "I'm so sorry, Sam. I love you, you know that, right? I know how much this meant to you."

"I know. I love you too," she promised him. "Things have been crazy around here lately, with my mom coming in again, Alex's birthday, and work."

"I know. Why don't you try to get some days off this week? Then maybe you and I could do some planning for this baby of ours and maybe…that wedding?"

"I thought we both agreed to having a small wedding with an even smaller reception?"

He nodded. "We did, but I just thought that maybe I could get you to change your mind."

She smiled. "Okay, I admit it, a big wedding of my dreams would be nice, but not unless I can fit in a damn wedding dress without looking like something straight out of a nightmare. And then even that gets complicated and will take a lot of planning, unless we hire one of those wedding planner types. If we go through with it, the baby's only going to be a few months old and if we decide on a honeymoon, then who's going to watch Alex and the baby when we're gone? And if your father and brother fly in from Croatia like you want them to, I'm sure they're going to stay longer than just for our wedding."

"That's true, you do have some good points," Luka agreed. "I just want to give you a nice wedding. I don't want you to think back on it as being a Las Vegas wedding. I'd really like to marry you before this baby is born. We could get a priest and hold a small reception, just like you want. We could hold it sometime next month."

"But what about your family?"

"I could fly them here."

Sam sighed. "Luka, they don't even know you're seeing me, let alone that we're about to get married or that I'm pregnant. We should really wait until after the baby is born. I think it would just be easier on everyone."

"You're right." He kissed the top of her head with a sparkle in his eye. "But is it wrong of me to now want to wait anymore?"

"No, it's not," she smiled. "We just sort of did everything backwards." She walked over to the couch and sat down on it, resting her feet on the small end. "So what was going on in the ER today that had you so tied up?"

He sighed and lifted her feet up on onto his lap so he could sit down. "We had a bad MVA come in. Just a mother and her little daughter. She couldn't have been more than three or four years old. Apparently the brakes on a truck failed and spun them into a concrete divider on the parkway. The mother was a mess—massive internal bleeding, a punctured lung, the works."

"Did she pull through?"

Luka nodded. "Barely. She spent five hours up in the OR trying to repair the damage and is probably going to be in the ICU for the next week or two. But her daughter was a trooper. She broke her arm and to make a long story short, after I set it I ended up keeping an eye on her until her father got to the hospital."

"That was sweet of you," Sam laughed. "I'm glad that you helped her out."

He cleared his throat and looked away. "She looked just like Jasna, Sam."

Sam lightly rested her hand in his and squeezed it, not sure of the right thing to say.

"I felt like I had to stay, to comfort her." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry I missed it, Sam. I knew how important this was to you, to us."

"It's okay. I shouldn't have yelled at you when you walked in. I'm sorry."

"You know," he said, kissing her neck mischievously. "Making up is the best part of arguing."

"Did you guys stop arg—ew," Alex said softly, noticing what his mother and Luka were doing. "Can you please do that somewhere else?"

Sam smiled at him and pulled away, standing up from the couch. "You know, one day, you're going to find someone special to do that with. And check your blood sugar before you eat, please."

"Hah, yeah right. And then I'll have to suffer through a lame ass sex speech too."

"No, I'll save that for Luka."

Luka chuckled and grinned, ruffling Alex's hair as he followed Sam into the kitchen. "Thanks a lot."

"Anytime," Sam smiled, grabbing the paper plates out of the cabinet. "Mikey and Jake are spending the night."

"Any chance we'll be able to get some alone time?"

"They're usually pretty occupied when they eat, and then they'll run off to Alex's room to set up the Playstation, so if I grab you and shove you into the broom closet spontaneously, no hard feelings, right?" she joked.

"None at all."

Next chapter is Alex's tenth birthday, complete with Sam's mother and a surprise visitor. I'm sure you can all guess who that surprise visitor is, heh. Review please!