"Luka, x-rays are back for Mr McGowan in two," Sam shouted as she rushed past admit, and deposited a large bundle of clipboards in the rack.

"Sam, you're guy in four was looking for you, something about a date...?" Abby winked slyly at Sam who simply turned and raised an amused eyebrow to the ceiling.

"Oh yeah... cause I go for the liver spots," she laughed as she quickly glanced to Luka, who was looking at her with his tongue sticking out between his teeth, resting on his bottom lip.

She knew what that look meant.

She heard Abby laugh as she continued walking down the corridor towards the elevator that would take her upstairs to surgery, where one of the children who had been involved in the MVC had been taken and was now asking for her.

She waited for the elevator to arrive and when she stepped into it, it was empty. She glanced at her watch: 14.10. She grinned and giggled slightly to herself. In less than three hours she would be off, in less than four hours she would be almost ready for her first date with Luka Kovac and in less than five hours, she would be on her first official date with Luka Kovac.

She knew she shouldn't be excited because she really shouldn't be going on any kind of date with Luka Kovac, considering that they were both already in long term relationships. But she couldn't help it; she was infatuated by the man, by the way he made her feel whenever she was near him. She shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled up at the corner of the elevator.

Steve hadn't even questioned her whereabouts the day before, when she wandered in from the night shift eight hours after her shift ended. He had simply pulled her to him and told her that he wanted her right there and right then. She had complied and maybe even enjoyed herself a little but she didn't experience the all over tingling when Steve touched her that she did whenever Luka breathed on her.

She giggled again but caught herself and stepped out of the elevator when the car arrived at the desired floor.

Four hours and forty eight minutes to go.

Luka bobbed his knee slightly as he sat on a swinging chair in admit and stared at the clock.

Four hours and thirty minutes and he would be on his first date with Sam. He grinned at the thought.

"You know staring at the clock won't make it go any faster," he turned towards the voice and smiled, standing up. "What, you got a hot date tonight or something?"

He gripped his hips with his hands to stop himself reaching out and touching her. She smiled up at him with her mouth wide and her tongue tucked into her cheek and he raised his eyebrow at her, trying to conceal his grin.

"I don't know about a date, but I know that there's going to be something hot there," he said playfully and Sam swatted his arm and he flinched away chuckling slightly.

"Hey, Sam, you got a phone call," Jerry called from the opposite side of admit and Sam sent Luka one last playful glare before walking away and picking up the receiver from it's resting place on the worktop.

"Sam Tagger-"

"Hey beautiful," Steve's voice sounded on the other end and Sam frowned slightly and leaned her hip against the edge one of the chairs.

"Steve," she said and looked up to Luka who had his back turned to her and was reading one of his charts.

"Just called to tell you that I'm on my way up to Elgin, my dad's in hospital again," he said and Sam realised that the sounds in the background were moving traffic.

"What?" She exclaimed louder than she meant to and several of the ER staff and some patients turned their heads towards her. She turned away from Luka's surprised eyes and tucked the receiver against her shoulder. "When? Why didn't you call me?"

"Last night, my mom called just after you left this morning, I didn't want to bother you at work," he said as his reception began to break up and Sam frowned.

"You should have called me," she said, slightly annoyed. "I would have come with you." She knew she probably wouldn't have.

"And put me through yet another one of your fights with my mother?" His tone was amused and Sam automatically reached up to her jaw and she ran her finger along the place where the bruise had once been. She shook her head and laughed breathily.

She saw a white-coated arm reach past her into the chart rack and she turned to see Luka's face and she smiled slightly at him. He placed a hand on her shoulder and moved away, taking a fresh bundle of charts. The ER was in overflow at that moment.

"How long will you be away for?" She asked as she watched Luka walk off down the corridor, with two med students following on his tail.

"I'm not sure, about two weeks - maybe three. Look I gotta go just now, reception is really bad. I'll call you when I get there."

Sam nodded and said her goodbyes then hung up, her eyes still on the spot where she had last seen Luka.

"He's too young for you, Sam," she heard Abby say from beside her and she turned to her with an amused frown on her face.

"What?"

"Oh come on! I saw you checking out the new med student. Have to admit, he's kinda cute," Abby said with a laugh.

"I did not!" Sam exclaimed loudly, her pitch rising a few octaves and Abby laughed only harder.

"You talking about her checking out the new med student?" Susan said as she took up residence on the other side of Sam's body.

Sam gawked at them both and shook her head while she laughed.

"I was not checking out the new med student, I wasn't." She couldn't help but laugh.

"Who was on the phone?" Abby asked as she indicated the device with her pen and looked to Sam.

"Oh, uh... Steve. He's gone home - uh up to Elgin for a couple weeks - his dad's in hospital again."

She looked down slightly and felt Abby's hand on her back.

"Sorry. Why didn't you go up with him?"

Sam laughed again.

"His mother and I don't exactly get along. Remember the bruise?" She pointed to where it had been. "Threw a shoe at me because I said that the movie she was watching wasn't that great."

Susan and Abby raised their eyebrows and pursed their lips.

"Ouch..." Susan said and looked sympathetically at her.

"Yeah, especially when her preferred brand of footwear is Timberland boots," she shook her head.

"Speaking of footwear..." Abby said conspiratorially and Sam and Susan subconsciously leaned closer to her to hear her lowered voice. "I was thinking that, since we all somehow managed to get the weekend off, we could go shopping, get some lunch..?"

Sam and Susan nodded.

"And that new Johnny Depp movie is out this weekend - Finding Neverland, we could go and catch that."

"Hell yeah," Abby said with a sigh and a grin on her face.

"Now that is hot and check-out-worthy," Sam said and laughed along with Susan and Abby.

"What's check-out worthy?" Pratt asked as he walked up to admit and looked at the three cooing ladies who were in a Johnny Depp inspired dream world.

"Johnny Depp's ass..."

"Johnny Depp's eyes..."

"Johnny Depp's... Johnny Depp."

They all cracked up at Sam's last comment and Pratt simply raised his eyebrow and shook his head.

"And here was me thinking you were after the new med student, Sam," Pratt said sarcastically and Sam stared at him with her mouth and eyes wide.

"Oh my God! Did someone put a post-it somewhere that said I was checking out the new med student?"

"Ha! So you admit it?" Abby said as she slammed her pen down and pointed at Sam.

"No!" She laughed again and Susan's eyes slowly widened.

"You did! You were! Oh my God!"

Sam grabbed a few charts and walked out of admit, shaking her head.

"I wasn't!"

She disappeared around the corner and Susan and Abby shared a look with one another and Susan ran over to the stationary drawer.

Sam walked up to admit and propped her hip against the edge of the worktop next to Luka who was smiling down at her.

"Hey," she smiled and reached behind him to pull out another chart.

"So I see you have the hots for one of the med students."

Sam pulled her hand back and folded her arms, trapping her clipboard against her chest and raised her eyebrow to Luka who was trying not to grin. It was when she saw his eyes surreptitiously drop to his fingers that she saw the white post it attached to his right index finger.

"I am going to kill them!" She screeched as she reached out and pulled the post it from his finger. "Where the hell did you get that from?" She asked as she placed one hand on her hip and looked around her.

"Which one? I saw at least twenty and I just came over here from trauma one," he said with laughter in his voice and Sam gawked at him. He held his hands up and laughed at the expression that was forming on her face.

"I am so going to kick their asses!"

Luka laughed at her again as she made to walk out of admit.

"I don't think that you are," he said as he gripped onto her wrist and pulled her around to face him, bringing her body closer to his. "They left an hour ago," he said and tugged her towards the lounge. "And we are leaving now, our shift ended forty seconds ago."

Sam laughed but shook her head.

"I still have to sign my patients over to Haleh," she told him as she began walking backwards, away from him.

"Already taken care of," he urged her back towards him with a smile.

"Why, Doctor Kovac, you seem to be in a hurry to get us out of here."

He raised his eyebrow towards her and cocked his jaw.

"I wonder why," he leered and Sam smiled invitingly.

"Well, in that case, we'd best get moving."

At 19.58 pm Sam heard a knock on her door and she smiled as she wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled her long, black coat over her shoulders.

She opened the door and saw Luka standing, his own long black coat dropping just below his knees and smattered with the remnants of the snow storm outside. They stared at each other for a second, then he looked down and bit his lip, smiling gently.

"Ready to go?" He asked as he stepped into her apartment and looked around.

She nodded and grabbed her bag off of the bookcase and looped her arm through Luka's.

"Let's go," she said and he smiled as she locked her apartment and wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders.

Here where the world starts spinning round
take a ride and you'll feel what you've never found
Here when the stars start fading out
you hear the angels laughing without a sound

He watched her as she fiddled with the rim of her wine glass before she picked it up and placed it to her lips, taking a drink from it. He took her in again, enjoying the way that her sky blue top dipped into a deep 'V' and tied at the side. He had been pleasantly surprised when he removed her jacket and saw that she was wearing a knee-length, black floaty skirt with strappy sandals. Her poor toes looked chilled, but she looked great. Her hair was straight, making it seem longer and a few strands hung over her bosom and he felt jealous of their gentle touch on her skin.

"You look amazing," he whispered and he kicked himself for speaking so openly.

She looked up at him with a gentle smile and he saw a blush touch her cheeks.

He felt her eyes travel over his form and he smiled under her gaze. He had opted for a black turtle neck sweater that fitted his form well and a pair of plain black slacks - he could tell from the way that she stuttered when she tried to speak to him that she had appreciated the way he had dressed.

The restaurant they were in was on the east side of the city and they were situated at one of the wall booths at a table with a single tea-light candle flickering between them, the only other light being the romantically dim lighting from the overhead bulb two tables away from them. The music was gentle but he didn't recognise the artist, but he didn't really mind. She was pushing her fork around a plate of Bolognaise and he laughed as he remembered her face when she had asked for conchigli instead of spaghetti.

"I don't want a tomato mouth..."

"What?" She asked him and he shook his head at her.

"Nothing," he sighed as he put his glass of coke down and looked at her again. "We still need to talk about..." he motioned between them with his two index fingers and saw her nod. "I know that we are in relationships." She tried to interrupt but he shook his head and she quieted again. "I know that. But I also know what it's like to be with you... and I don't think I can live without that anymore."

She stared at him in silence for a long time and Luka began to think that he had spoken again in Croatian and was about to say her name when she ducked her head and took a deep breath.

"I know. God, I know... and believe me I've tried..." He smiled at her faltering words and reached out to capture her hand in his. He watched as his necklace sat delicately on her breast bone and he resisted the urge to reach out to it. "But... Abby's my friend and... I have Steve... and... I need to know if... I don't know..."

"Sam," he urged her to look up to him and only when his eyes met hers did he continue. "I need you, I want you and not just for the sex. I enjoy your company. I can talk to you and I like to think that you can talk to me. And I... I don't know... I think that I could... I need you in my life."

Silence ensconced them once again and Sam dipped her head again to hide the sorrowed smile that graced her features.

"We can't tell anyone about this," she said after the waitress picked up their plates and took them away. "There are reasons why Steve and I are still together. Abby loves you and she's my friend and... I don't want to hurt her."

It was Luka's turn to look down.

"I don't think I'll be able to not reach out and touch you every time I see you at the hospital. I don't think I'll be able to hide the fact that I'm falling for you, even more than I already have." His breath hitched slightly in his throat and he looked back up at her, with such pain in his eyes that it knocked the breath out of Sam.

"We have to Luka... imagine how difficult it would be at work. Everyone would hate us: Susan is one of Abby's closest friends; so is John. And they're our friends. We're the bad people in all of this, Luka, whose side do you think they would take?"

He looked down and gulped from his coke as he felt a lump form in his throat.

"I know that you're right. I just don't want you to be." He looked up at her again. "I don't agree with you saying that we are the bad people in this whole thing. We're not; we're trying to be happy. And yes, I am content with Abby - I thought I was happy, until I met you and you showed me what happiness meant again. Since you came into my life, I've changed. John told me how much I'd changed. He says that I 'walk taller, hold my head higher, smile genuinely for the first time since he met me.'" He made quotation marks as he spoke John Carter's words and stared directly into Sam's eyes. "Because of you."

"John knows?" Sam asked suddenly, scared that John had somehow figured it out - or that Luka had told him.

He shook his head, and Sam sighed in relief.

"He suspected, at New Years. But he told me that at Christmas."

Sam nodded but didn't say anything.

The waitress came back and asked if they wanted to see the dessert menu, but Luka shook his head and asked for the bill.

"I'm not asking you to pretend," she whispered as she looked back up to him and flexed her fingers against his palm. "I'm just asking you not to display openly to the whole of the ER that we're doing this." She motioned with her free hand between them and saw a smile begin to form on his face.

"So what is allowed?" He asked as he tugged her hand further across the table, causing her body to jerk forward and supply him with a clear view of her cleavage.

"You're a crude, you know that?" She laughed when she saw where his eyes had settled and swatted his hand gently and waited for the waitress to move away from their table after placing the bill there. "No kissing," he pulled a face, contorting his eyebrows. "No touching my ass - or my assets." He grinned at that one. "No holding hands, no hugging, no... that's it. Everything else is allowed." She smiled up at him.

"So I'm allowed to stare at you - and your assets - as you go about your daily routine?"

Sam laughed and nodded her head as she pulled him out of his seat after she put down enough cash to cover the bill.

Hey Kid... Your time has come to change
Though I need you more than I've needed anyone in any way tonight
Hey Kid... I know it won't be long
The Captain's calling...come to see you back where we belong

Sam opened her eyes when she felt the car pull to a halt and she looked out of the passenger window.

"I thought you were taking me home?" She asked as she turned to him and found him watching her.

She smiled self-consciously. It would take a lot of getting used to - seeing him looking at her with such unadulterated passion in his eyes.

"I did."

He stepped out of his car and she followed, walking around to the entrance to his apartment.

She followed him up the stairs to his apartment in silence and waited until he opened the door and then stepped in to his home. He stopped in the centre of the lounge and she stopped behind him, his body turning towards her as she stepped closer to him.

Slowly reaching his hand up to her face, he stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. He traced his hand across the soft skin and tilted her head up to meet his and lowered his head to hers. When his lips were but a scant millimeter from hers he whispered:

"I want you to stay; I can't sleep without you with me... stay with me tonight?" His breath brushed her lips and his eyes were closing of their own accord.

He waited until he felt her head nod against his hand, then used his thumb to motion her lips closer to his and kissed her gently - as though for the first time - on the lips, pulling back after a few seconds, then repeating the motion. He felt her hands on his coat, pushing it from his shoulders and he let it drop from his shoulders before pushing hers off in one swift move, before kissing her again, then pulling back and lifting her sky blue top over her head, wrapping his arms around her back, fully encompassing her tiny form and guiding her to his sofa, as her hand combed through his hair, pulling him further into her.

"Stay with me forever," he murmured in Croatian against her lips and knew, somehow, that she had been able to understand him.

I won't go
I won't sleep
I can't breathe
And I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me