Chapter Twenty Two

Luka leaned against the counter at admit, resting his head in his hands. His head was thumping, his body felt sore. After having been called in because one of the attendings on the night shift was unable to work, Luka had drunk all the coffee he could get his hands on in an attempt to sober up. It had worked,
but he was paying for it.

Things had been quiet enough on the night shift so far, he was able to hand most of the patients who came in to the residents. It worked fine for him, he was able to just observe and make sure they were doing everything right. Meanwhile, he could stand at admit and drink coffee.

Staring into space, and contemplating everything that had been going wrong in his life in the past few months, he saw two familiar faces walking into the ER. Alex was coming in with Sam, they both looked tired and Luka immediately worried about what had happened to them. He watched as the two went over to Jerry and asked which doctor was free. Jerry told them to wait in the exam room and someone would be in right away.

Luka's heart started racing the minute he saw Jerry turn around and come up to him. He was the only doctor free; he had the others busy with patients. He couldn't say no, he had no good reason to. He was a doctor, it was his job and just because she used to be his girlfriend and was carrying his child wasn't a good enough reason to leave her waiting for another doctor to come along. Besides, part of him needed to see them, see that they were okay.

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Sam sat down on a chair in the exam room, Alex stood beside her, his tiny hand gripping hers. She wasn't happy about being there; it had been Alex's idea. He was worried about her and about his sister so he had talked her into going to the ER to get herself checked out.

"You doing any better buddy?" She asked Alex, more to have something to say then anything else. There was no way he was okay, not after what he had witnessed.

"It's not me Dad hurt." Alex shrugged.

Sam cringed at his comment; he was being so open and honest about it. It was unnerving.

"Are you okay mom?" Alex asked Sam, looking up at her.

"I'll live," she answered.

"What about the baby? Will she be okay?" The fear was starting to come into his voice again.

"Your sister is fine, I know she is. She hasn't stopped kicking since we arrived here, she's fine." Sam's
voice sounded reassuring as she smiled weakly at her son.

Alex just nodded, his worries calmed for now. He did grip her hand tighter though, every now and then the image of what he had witnessed would pass through his mind and he's hold onto Sam's hand, gripping it and gaining comfort from knowing that she was okay now. Comfort from the fact that she was with him and not being hurt anymore.

Sam held onto his hand, reassuringly rubbing her thumb over it. He was trying to be strong, whether for her or because he didn't want to seem weak she didn't know, but either way she was worried about him. There was no way she would be able to afford therapy on her salary, but she'd do whatever was needed to help him get over this.

Both of them raised their heads towards the door as Luka walked in. They stared at him as he pulled a chair over to sit in front of them, a chart in his hand. Sam's breath caught in her throat, of all the doctors Jerry had to send him? She was so shocked she didn't know what to say. Alex just gave her hand a small squeeze, as he looked from his mother to Luka.

"Sam, what did you want to see a doctor for?" Luka asked, although now that he was right in front of her he could tell that she had been beaten up or something. Alex didn't look too good either; he hadn't said a word and was standing as close to his mother as was possible. On top of that he was as white as a sheet.

"I had a bad fall, I'm fine really but Alex wanted someone to check just in case, and I did cut my lip pretty bad." Sam replied trying her best to sound sincere.

"That's not true, and you know it." Alex butted in before Luka could say anything.

"Alex!"

"Well it's not!" Alex couldn't understand why his mother would lie, why she would want to let his dad get away with what he did.

"I'm confused here, who is telling the truth?" Luka looked from Sam to Alex. He knew Sam was lying, he could tell.

"Alex why don't you out to Jerry and stay with him while I give your mom a check up?" Luka suggested since he wasn't getting an answer to his question.

"Mom?" Alex looked up at his mom to see if it would be okay.

"Go, I'll be fine." She reassured him.

Alex walked out of the room slowly; checking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure his mom was okay.

"What happened Sam?" Luka asked the minute Alex was out of the room.

"I had a bad fall, I told you. That's all," Sam replied.

"Alex doesn't seem to think so."

Sam didn't answer, couldn't answer. She knew he was right, she didn't fall, but admitting to your ex-boyfriend that since they left, your life had gone on a huge downward spiral was not something she felt like doing at that moment in time. So she stared at the floor instead, taking in every scratch and bump there was on the surface. It was better than looking at him, she couldn't do that without crying, she was sure of that much.

Luka watched Sam as she surveyed the floor. He didn't like this; he didn't like any of it. His whole reason behind leaving was that she would be better off without him, that their child would be better without him. But looking at her now the opposite seemed to be true, of course, he reasoned with himself, she had been through a particularly bad patch that's why she was here and he couldn't judge whether he had made the right decision from this moment alone.

"Sam," he paused unsure what to say, unsure whether he should keep at her until she told the truth or just leave it. "If you get up on the bed I can check you over, see what's wrong." He lost his courage at the last minute.

Sam got up onto the bed without saying a word; it was hard enough concentrating on anything else but him without having to talk. She lifted her head briefly and her eyes locked with his. Luka was stunned by the broken look that Sam eyes. She had always been so independent, so sure of herself, and now, now it was like looking into an empty void.

"Sam, tell me what happened, tell me the truth. I'm a doctor, I can tell that you didn't fall, you're not fooling me."

"Steve came back," she whispered, so softly that Luka almost didn't hear.

"He hit you?" Luka asked, the realisation sinking in. Steve had done this; Steve had taken his hand and thrown it against her delicate flesh. The anger bubbled up inside him and he had to force it back down. Now was not the time to get angry, now was not the time.

Sam didn't answer, she didn't have to, and Luka knew the truth. He set to work on her lip, cleaning the wound and fixing it up. He couldn't help but notice the marks on her neck, marks where Steve had obviously bit her. They weren't noticeable until you were right next to her, but they were there.

When he was finished he let his hand trail slowly down her arm, until it rested on her wrist. Noticing her wince slightly at his touch, he turned her wrist over. There was a purple bruise forming there from where someone had obviously held her forcibly. Looking at her other wrist he noticed it was the same.

Someone, more than likely Steve, had held her wrists, held them against her will. But, Luka thought to himself, he couldn't have been hitting her if he was holding his wrists in his hands. What else would he be doing that for?

Luka looked up at Sam, he didn't have to ask, the answer was written in her eyes, in her mannerisms. It explained everything, why she looked so broken, so different from the Sam he had once known.

Tears started flowing down Sam's face, Luka knew, she could tell from the way he was looking at her, the horror in his eyes said it all.

"Sam?" Luka choked back the tears that were burning his eyes. Here in front of him was the woman he still loved more than anything else in his life, and some other guy had just done one of the worst things a man could do to her. It was like he had been hit in the chest, the breath knocked out of him as he thought of how it might have happened.

"I tried to stop him, I really did, he was stronger than me in the end. I tried to stop him Luka, I just couldn't."

"I know, I know," He replied softly taking her into his arms as she shook with the sobs.

After a few moments she calmed down and detached herself from Luka's arms.

"Sorry," She muttered accepting the tissue Luka handed her and wiping her eyes.

"Hey, you don't have to be sorry," He answered wiping another tear from her cheek with his thumb, his hand lingering on her shoulder.

Sam lifted her head, and her eyes connected with Luka's. Somehow, looking into his eyes, having him this close, she felt safer than she had in a long time; she felt that everything would be alright. She had to look away then, everything was not alright. Sure he may be here now, but the minute she left the hospital he'd be gone again and she'd be on her own.

Luka sensed her uneasiness and withdrew his hand from her shoulder; he didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was. She had been through enough for one night.

"Does Alex know? He knew that you didn't fall but does he know exactly what happened?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "He came into my room, he could hear me screaming, and he saw it all. He saw everything." She looked down at the ground ashamed. The last thing she needed was to see Luka's expression, she was sure he thought she was the worst mother in the world. What kind of a mother lets their son witness such a thing?

"It's not your fault Sam, don't blame yourself. It's not your fault."

The tears started cascading down Sam's cheeks again after hearing Luka's words. She felt so safe with him. He seemed to know just the right thing to say.

"It's not your fault," Luka whispered once more kissing her tenderly on the forehead before leaving the
room saying he'd be back in a minute.

Luka barely heard Jerry call after him as he walked out of the building, the tears filling up his eyes, the pain and anger building up inside him. In the ambulance bay he let everything out on the trash container. Walking up to it, he kicked it, punched it, yelled at it.

The tears were falling freely now, his hand bruised from punching the metal. He kept going regardless, he kept hitting and kicking, screaming out everything he felt inside. He would have kept on going if a pair of hands hadn't pulled him back. Turning around he saw Susan and Carter behind him, Carter's hands on his arm holding him back.

"It's Sam, isn't it?" Susan said breaking the silence, "She left a note at the house saying she was coming here and we got here as fast as we could. What happened? Is it the baby?"

Carter and Susan watched Luka and waited for him to answer, they were both breathless, both worried about what Luka was going to say.

"He raped her; the son of a bitch raped her."

TBC