Sam heard a muffled voice calling for her from the other room, and it roused her from her deep sleep. Lifting her heavy head form the pillow and rolling over onto her back, she peered out of the hole in the wall where her door would normally be closed but she realized that she had been too tired to even care to close it. She heard the parody of her name again, her eyes shooting open.

"Mom!"

Alex's tiny frame was suddenly circled in the doorway as he lethargically leaned against it, much like Luka always had. She had to do a double take, realizing just how many things Alex had picked up from Luka, including facial expressions, stances, and even the tones of his voice. She was taking Alex away from the only man who'd been there for him the way that a father should have been.

Rousing her voice, it was tired and barely audible.

"Hey, buddy. When'd you get home?"

"What's for lunch?" Alex took the liberty of advancing into her bedroom, and ignoring her question, crawling onto her bed and sitting beside her.

"Lunch? What time is it?" Sam furrowed her eyebrows and rubbed her eyes, glancing passed Alex and having a peek at the digital clock. The numbers shouted loud that it was, in fact, lunch time and it made her inwardly groan. "What do you want for lunch?"

"I don't know," Alex shrugged, peering around her bedroom and noting that there were a few things out of place. He hadn't smelled what his mother smelled on the pillows and sheets, but then again, that was definitely for the best. "What do you want?"

"I want to sleep," she practically pleaded and groaned rolling over and burying her head in her pillow. She inhaled deep, her lungs and nostrils filled with that smell as her body shook, leaving her to come up with a way to forget of him and their few previous hours together. "I'm so tired."

That was when she noticed she was still in her scrubs, and she was still in her shoes. She had been too tired to do anything besides crawl onto her bed and sleep. But she had gone to sleep dreading and despising Miami.

"I thought that you got off last night and didn't have to work again until tonight."

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep," she sheepishly smiled, rolling onto her back again. She hoped that her son didn't catch the look on her face, and she stared up at the ceiling before sitting up straight. She could picture the look on her son's face. "There was a big accident last night and they called me in."

"Oh," Alex shrugged before jumping off of the bed and rushing towards the kitchen.

"What sounds good?" Sam climbed out of bed and followed his lead into the kitchen, her tired body dragging. A chill swept through her, and she wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. She narrowed her eyes in her son's direction awaiting his answer as patiently as she could. "Any ideas?"

"Anything you want, Mom," and suddenly, Alex didn't seem right. He seemed troubled, like he'd had the anguish of a lifetime building up within him to fight the world with. Her son was having pangs of jealousy, and it hurt her to recognize that. "It doesn't matter."

She didn't like that she didn't know what to do with him, or how to handle him and his extra sensitive feelings. She knew her son enough to know that he'd never admit to the sensitivity, but she was no longer sure of where his anger was pointed towards. Was it her? Was it Steve? Was it Luka?

"Alex…What's the matter?" She wanted to sit down beside him and draw it out of him like she'd been able to do years ago, but no longer did she feel like she deserved the right. She loved him more than anything and she was sure of that, but she wasn't sure that he knew it anymore.

He could be mad at her. He could even be mad at Steve. But under no circumstances did he have a right to be mad at Luka.

Luka had done nothing but be the father he never had, and maybe that was where the biggest problem was. Luka had done anything but totally disappear from Alex's life. She'd practically begged him to disappear from hers, but he was always welcome into Alex's. And now she was taking that away.

"Nothing," he sighed, feeling his mother's gentle fingertips graze through his hair. He looked up at her, his eyes seeming to pierce through hers and making her wonder when he'd gotten so old. "Can we go out for lunch?"

"Sure."

She gave her son a lingering look as she turned on her heel to make a move to her room. She'd forced him to grow up so fast. She'd forced him to be the man in her life. How was she to deal with knowing that she'd done that to him?

She was the one that had made him wise beyond his years.

"Just let me get changed," she offered him a smile, cutting through the living room. The blinking of the red numbers from the answering machine caught her eye, and she reached out to listen to her messages. She stopped, fidgeting with the material of the blanket along the back of the couch.

"Sam, this is Kerry. I'm sorry to call but we need you to come in. We're short a few hands with this big accident."

Proof for Alex that she'd actually gone into work.

"Sam, this is Kerry again," a sigh, "sorry to call, again, but Luka said he'd talked to you earlier about leaving for Miami. It seems that I just can't let you go without a fight, and I totally agree with him. Give me a call so we can get this all straightened out."

Her eyes shot to Alex.

"You talked to Luka?" Her son's voice was questioning and pleading, had to be a trait from Luka and not his father, as he looked at her with slightly widened eyes.

"It wasn't anything," she shook her head, almost as though she was reassuring her son. She almost felt that she had an obligation to do that, let him know that she wasn't go behind his back and conversing with Luka. Suddenly, she realized that she didn't need to do that for Luka. Alex had no reason to act that way towards Luka. She shrugged. "I just told Luka that we're moving to Miami."

Alex looked away quickly, almost as though he realized that meant it was etched in stone. He almost believed that all of Chicago could know and it wouldn't mean a thing. He thought that telling Luka meant that they were really leaving.

"Look, Alex, it's more than that. Luka's done nothing but be there for you the way that you've always wanted your father to be there for you-."

"I don't care about my father. He lied to me," Alex looked at his mother in disgust at the mention of his father. Luka was his friend; Luka, he cared about; Luka he loved. "Luka never lied to me."

"I have to go in and talk to Dr. Weaver," she sighed, turning and crossing her arms across her chest to lean her hip against the couch. She furrowed her eyebrows, wishing that if anything more Luka would still be there for Alex, mainly. "Why don't you eat some cereal or something so you can go with me?"