The waves beneath the boat made it sway indignantly in the wind, masterful and tearing through the relatively clear skies. The breeze and waves met in a gentle calming, the winds just enough to ruffle his hair. He stood comfortably with his hand pressed into his hipbone and with his other hand leaning against the guard railing wrapped around the distance of the boat.

It was just the kind of peaceful day that he needed after all of the trouble he had put himself through the day before.

He looked out over the water, the murky brown highlighting the coming of fall as the crisp air made its own indications of the season.

He was startled when the boat suddenly violently rocked in sync with a powerful sound of Cujo jumping to his feet and revealing a bark full of warning. Luka turned sharply on his heel at Cujo, his eyes slowly following the direction of Cujo's, his growl drowning out the sound of the bells from boats next to his. His gaze was sharp as he pursed his lips, and he stepped forward hard to silence Cujo as a small smile spread across his face at the sight before him.

He snapped his fingers at Cujo, the growl trailing off but the warning stance still tall; the hairs on the dog's back seemed to stand on their edge.

"You have a boat," a familiar voice burst through the look that Luka was still giving his dog.

"Yeah," he nodded firmly to accompany his simple word, the smile on his face widening.

"And a dog."

Luka simply nodded, looking down at Cujo as the dog's entire stance softened and looked up at his master. Luka smiled at his dog, reaching down and patting Cujo on the head with the realization that the dog was quite a large creature. He glanced back at the stranger, looping his fingers around Cujo's collar and stepped towards the door to the cabin.

"Let me put him in here," his voice was heavy with an accent as he'd been silent for a few good hours, "he can get protective of his boat."

He stepped towards the door and pushed it open, ushering Cujo through. He shut the door, Cujo's nose inches from the screen as he whined deep into the back of his throat, and he turned to face the visitor to find himself looking upward even more from being at the bottom of the stairs. He stepped up and took a seat along the side of the boat, reeling in the fishing poles with knowledge that he'd never been interested in the first place.

"And you have a wife," John Truman Carter III stepped into the boat, his friend pausing in his actions to look over at him, suddenly sheepish.

Luka nodded slightly as he laid his fishing pole down on the floor of the boat, and stood to move across the vehicle to get the pole on the other side. He saw John out of the corner of his eye eying his wedding ring from the front of the boat, his eyes diligently studying the golden band wrapped around the finger on his left hand. He sighed quietly into the back of his throat, standing upright to find his face met with the rush of the wind.

"What are you doing here, John? Does anyone know you're here?"

"I wanted to see you first," John shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets as he easily balanced on the rocking boat. He looked at Luka hard, noted the troubles on the man's face, and he sighed as he looked passed him and across the waters. "Well, I talked to Sam at the hospital…She said if you weren't at the apartment then you'd probably be here."

"Oh," Luka looked down at the ground, lifting his hand and twisting his wedding ring around his finger. The band glimmered off of the white paneling on the boat, his eyes drifting to the door at Cujo's whine in the moment of silence. "She makes fun of it, but I can tell she loves it."

"The boat or the dog?" John's eyebrows furrowed, a slight grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"The dog's her baby, and I accept that," Luka smiled politely as he glanced haphazardly at Cujo over his shoulder. His eyes drifted back to John, staring over the murky waters. "The boat is mine, and she accepts that."

"You love it, Luka. You love everything about it. You love the dog. You love the boat. You love days like this. You even love the petty little fights you two have," John smirked, almost knowingly even though a certain something rested deep in his eyes.

Luka shrugged and sat on the cushions beside the cabin door, wishing that he hadn't left his last beer on the railing earlier when the boat had began rocking roughly from side to side. He narrowed his eyes at John, the sun's rays suddenly being directly behind his friend and blinding him, and watched with much difficulty as John moved down the stairs towards him. He sat beside him, lifting his ankle to his knee.

"I guess she said yes," John glanced over at his friend, suddenly finding himself blinded by the sun as well.

"And a little over a year and a half later I'm remembering that I never called you," he bit his bottom lip as he fought back a laugh, finding humor in the situation. He continued playing with the band on his left hand, finding pride in it despite the way everything between them had been until it all panned out to be the way that they'd both desired it. "I feel like a jerk. I forgot to invite you and Kem."

"Don't worry about it," John smiled and waved his hand in Luka's direction, "we had other things on our mind."

A pause between friends, memories taking control of the moment.

"You never seemed like the type of guy to have a dog."

"I'm no good with fish," he laughed into the back of his throat, shaking his head tenderly as he glanced at Cujo again. He felt guilty keeping the dog cooped up in the cabin, and he decided that it would ultimately be better for his health if he let the dog back out into the sun. "Alex wanted a dog."

He stood, putting all of his weight on the foot in front as he pulled the door back and let the dog out. Cujo snaked through the gap in the door, cutting around the door as he rushed towards Luka. Just as Luka sat back down on the cushions, he found himself bombarded with the rather large Golden Retriever, blonde hairs flowing around him in the wind.

"You have a wife, Luka…You have a daughter, a stepson, and you have a dog," John sighed in surprise, soaking up all of the information he'd gathered that day.

"And I'm pretty sure that she and I procreated life last night," he sighed, dragging his hand through his hair as he revealed the only thing that had been on his mind as he looked across the water of the Illinois River. He hadn't quite figured out if it was a good thing that they had. He knew that she wanted it, he could see it her eyes, but he wasn't quite sure anymore that he could do it. "A baby, John."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You aren't married to woman for over a year and not figure out the whole…cycle thing," his fingers fidgeted in the air, his voice unsure of the wording and he pulled his hand back to press it against his knee.

"You didn't..." John's voice trailed off, but his question was loud and clear.

"We'd barely been in the same room for longer than 5 minutes for 2 weeks; the thought was the furthest thing from my mind," he bit his bottom lip as he scratched the skin of his knee showing because of where his shorts ended, and he gently shook his head. He didn't know why he was so confused about it; he'd wanted to have a baby with her for almost 4 years. "We don't have the room."

"It sounds great, Luka, I don't see what the big deal is," John shook his head. John could tell that Luka wanted to be happy, or maybe even that he was a bit happy about it, but the part that he didn't understand was the troubles that Luka had allowed to be induced in his mind. "I know you; you'll make room."

"Yeah, I don't know."

"Does Sam know that she might be pregnant?" John leaned forward, scratching his temple as he was genuinely unsure of how the conversation had gotten to where it was. He'd expected Luka to ask about Kem and the conversation to be awkward from there, but he'd found that they were still good enough friends to be comfortable enough with each other to talk about things like they'd been there all along. "…because it's definitely something to talk about."

"I don't think that she's even stopped to think about it at all. It might be in the back of her mind," he shook his head as he stood up and walked to the deck of the boat, leaning lazily against the rail, "but she was so busy this morning trying to get Alex ready for school while trying to get ready for work. I don't think that she's thought about her actually being pregnant as much has she's thought of how much she wants to have a baby. We haven't talked about it in a long time."

"You think she wants a baby?"

John pursed his lips together tightly, remembering that the last time Luka had talked to him about it Luka had told him that Sam had said that she never wanted to have any more kids. Luka was scared that they'd go on the way that they had been before, him wanting things that were never possible. And now, it seemed like Luka was the one that didn't want anymore children.

"She's craving the entire idea of having a baby. I see the way she looks at babies, children – the way she treats the dog even," he sighed, twisted his grasp on the rail, clenching his body tighter as he felt Cujo nudge against him. His eyes drifted downward to the dog, his eyes resting from staring at the sun ridden sky, and he sighed gently. "It's so fucking ridiculous. I'm jealous of the fucking dog."

John stared at Luka hard, his body flinching at the vulgarity in Luka's voice – a kind of anger he'd never heard from the man. Luka normally had a strong voice, but today – today he had the voice of a jealous lover – and John had never wanted to hear that from Luka. Luka looked from the dog and up at John, the man almost as tall as he was, offering him the only sheer suggestion of a smile that he could muster.

"Maybe she isn't pregnant, Luka. Just wait it out. Chances are that she isn't."

"Maybe," he sighed, his voice carrying softly from his lips with the most defeated tone he'd ever made.

"I have to go. I just came by to check up on you," he shoved his hands into his pockets and gave Luka a tender smile. He nodded slowly, walking up the steps and into the center of the deck.

"I think that I did it on purpose," Luka sighed, his eyes casting back over the waters, "anything to get her damn attention off of the fucking dog."