Title: If Not Now… Chapter 2
Author: Adrienne
Spoilers: "If Not Now," "Split Decision"
Summary: What happens after Abby tells Luka that she's pregnant.
Luka awoke early on Christmas morning, and gazed at Abby sleeping peacefully next to him for what seemed like hours. He touched her naked stomach softly, not wanting to wake her and told himself for the millionth time since the night before that he was the luckiest man in the world for finding love twice in his life. Luka brought his hand up to Abby's face, moving a lock of hair off of her cheek. His heart swelled everytime he looked at her, she was so beautiful. He rested his hand again on her belly, trying to imagine what she would look like in a few months when she started showing. He couldn't wait, he felt like his life was beginning again.
Luka got out of bed and decided to make Abby breakfast. He smiled to himself, excited even for the morning sickness, swollen ankles, aching back and midnight runs to the nearest takeout place. He wanted to be there for her every minute of everyday, helping her through it all. He looked through Abby's refrigerator and it only took him a second to realize she didn't have any food in the house. Luka snuck back to the bedroom and quietly got dressed and headed for the nearest market.
At the grocery store he roamed the aisles, picking up things for breakfast and other random food items that he knew Abby liked. He also stocked up on ice cream, anticipating her first midnight cravings. As he went to the checkout he walked past some flower arrangements and decided to pick up some roses for her.
When he arrived back at Abby's apartment he quietly unpacked the groceries and went upstairs to see if Abby was still sleeping. She was right where he left her in bed, and Luka pulled the covers up slightly, covering her shoulders, to make sure that she was warm enough. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "Volim te," before making his way back downstairs to start breakfast.
Luka was humming to himself as he was cooking and putting the flowers in Abby's favorite vase on the kitchen table, contemplating when the best time was to call his father and tell him about the baby. He knew his father would be thrilled, even though he would be a little uncomfortable that he and Abby were not married before starting a family, and even less enthusiastic when he found out that they'd only been dating again for three weeks. During the year that he and Abby had been dating, Luka had gone home to Croatia to Christmas and had told his father all about Abby. His father, Laurentis, had been so happy that his son was dating again and asked all about Abby. Luka decided that he would fly his father to Chicago as soon as the baby was born so that he could meet his new grandson or granddaughter.
That's when Luka realized that he and Abby had never spent a Christmas together. He felt a pang in his chest at this thought, and knew that he needed to make this day as special as possible for her, to make up for all the years he hadn't been there for her at the holidays. He knew that the holidays were always hard on Abby, not only because she usually spent them by herself, without her family there, but also because her father had left just before Christmas when she was seven years old. From now on he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make her happy.
Once Luka had set the table and finished making breakfast, he went to wake Abby. She was still sleeping and he laid on the bed next to her and kissed her gently. She moaned and opened her eyes slightly and it took her a moment to register what was going on. "Luka?" she said softly.
"Merry Christmas," he told her.
"Christmas…right…" she said sleepily. "What time is it?"
"Time to get up and come have breakfast with me."
"Mmm…too early."
"Come on, I made eggs, bacon, and pancakes."
"What about coffee?" she implored.
"You can't drink coffee, remember?"
"Shit," she muttered. "No coffee. No reason to get up this early then."
Luka laughed at her. "Are you going to get up or do I have to carry you to the kitchen?"
Abby sighed and opened her eyes again. "I'm up." Luka handed her a bathrobe and they made their way to the kitchen. She saw the roses on the table.
"Roses?" she asked.
"Merry Christmas."
"Thank you," she told him and reached up to kiss him.
They sat down at the table and Luka started eating right away but Abby just looked at the food. "What is it?" he asked.
"I'm just not hungry," she told him, yawning.
"Come on, you've got to eat something, keep your strength up."
"I know, I know. I just…Oh God," she said and got up and ran into the bathroom. Luka followed after her, and heard her puking into the toilet. He opened the door.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm great," she said sarcastically. Luka smiled. "What are you smiling at?" she asked.
"You, getting sick."
Abby gave him a weird look. "Enjoying this, are you?"
"Yes. No--I mean… I don't like that you're not feeling well, but I love that you're having morning sickness."
"Okay, that's just bizarre," she told him before she threw up again.
A few minutes later her stomach was settled and they were back at the table. Abby drank some tea and just watched Luka eat. "How can you eat right away in the morning?"
"Well, I've been up for a while. Come on, eat something, you'll feel better."
"I don't know…"
"Eggs are supposed to be good for nausea, I promise you'll feel better if you eat something."
"Fine," Abby said, giving in, and she started picking at her food.
"So what do you want to do today?"
"I don't know. I should probably call Maggie at some point, I promised her I would."
"Yeah, I should call my dad, I haven't spoken with him in a while. I should also stop by my place to pick up some clothes or something." Abby raised her eyebrows.
"What?" Luka asked.
"Nothing."
"Would you rather stay at my place?"
"No, no…I just… I don't know. I was thinking, what are we going to do when the baby's born? I mean, are we going to go back and forth between our apartments, or keep it at just one of our apartments?"
"Oh," Luka said, thinking. "I hadn't really thought of that. I guess it would make sense to keep the baby at just one apartment. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Abby asked, hoping he would suggest it first.
"Unless we moved in together," he finally said.
"Yeah, that would make sense," Abby agreed.
"Good…so whose apartment should we move into?"
"Well…yours, I guess. You have more space, an extra bedroom, then the baby could have its own room."
"Yeah…is that what you want to do?"
"Yeah, I mean…"
"What?"
"Well, your apartment is just kind of…"
"Kind of what?"
"Messy," she said, laughing. "And not very homey."
"Well, we could change that, redecorate. Make it our place, instead of mine. I mean, my style is kind of…"
"Messy?"
"I was going to say barren, but yes, messy," Luka said, laughing.
"Okay, well, when should we do this? When the baby's born, or sooner?"
"Well, if we do it, say, in the next month, then we could start getting the baby's room ready right away, instead of waiting until the last minute….If that's what you want, I mean."
Abby smiled. "Yeah, that would be good."
Later in the day Luka and Abby sat on the couch watching a parade on TV when the phone rang. Luka got up answer it.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello?" the voice at the other end said. "Luka, is that you? It's Maggie."
"Oh, hi Maggie. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too. I didn't realize that you were going to be at Abby's for Christmas. Is she there?"
"Yeah, hang on a second," Luka said. He covered the receiver with your hand. "It's your Mom," he told Abby and handed her the phone.
"Mom? Hi, Merry Christmas."
"Hi honey, I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I just wanted to call and say 'hi.' How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm just fine, Maggie. How are you?"
"I'm doing great. I'm having Christmas dinner over at Gina's with her family tonight, I'm just cooking up a few dishes to take over there. I didn't know that you and Luka were going to be spending Christmas together. What, do you have a bunch of people from the ER there?"
"No, it's just us," Abby said, tensing up, as she did whenever she talked with Maggie about something personal.
"Oh," was all Maggie said, obviously expecting some sort of explanation.
"Yeah, about that. We need to talk."
"Okay, I'm listening."
"Well, Luka and I are back together…"
"Ohhh! That's so wonderful! I always thought you two were great together, he's so handsome and--" Abby held the phone away from her ear as Maggie went on very loudly about how terrific she thought Luka was.
"Maggie! Maggie!" Abby said, trying to get her mother to be quiet so she could tell her the big news.
"Yes, sweetie? Oh, I'm sorry for going on like that, I'm just so happy for you!"
"Thanks, Mom."
"So is that what you wanted to talk about?"
"No, actually…well, that was just a part of it."
"Oh? What else could be more wonderful?"
"Well, I think you'll be just as happy about this, Maggie." Abby took a deep breath before she spoke the next sentence. "We're going to have a baby. I'm pregnant."
Abby held the phone away from her ear once more as Maggie started screaming out of excitement. Luka looked at the scene and laughed, Abby just rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, Abby! You have just made me the happiest woman in the world! I'm going to be a grandmother! Oh, I can't wait to tell all of my friends, they are going to be so jealous!"
"That's great, Maggie."
"So when's your due date? When am I going to get to meet my little grandbaby?"
"I'm not sure yet, I just got the test results back yesterday, but sometime in late July or early August."
"A summer baby! I have to start making clothes now! Do you think it's going to be a boy or a girl?"
"Ah, I don't know yet, Mom."
"Oh, it doesn't matter, anyway. I'll just make neutral colored clothes to be safe. Abby, I'm so happy for you. You deserve this, to have a family and to be happy. I couldn't ask for anything more for you. Congratulations."
"Thank you, Mom. Really," Abby said, happy that her mother was so happy for her.
"I've got to go now, honey, I think my casserole is starting to burn, but I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
"And don't do too much. You make sure Luka is taking good care of you or else I'm going to come down to Chicago and take care of you myself."
"I will Mom."
"Bye, honey. I love you, and congratulations."
"Thanks."
"Oh, this is just the best Christmas present ever!" Maggie exclaimed before hanging up the phone.
Abby put the phone down and chuckled to herself. "I take it she was happy," Luka said.
"That would be an understatement to say the least. She said you'd better take good care of me or she's coming down here to do it herself."
Luka had a panicked look on his face. "Well, then I'd better treat you like a queen."
Abby laughed. "You'd better."
Luka and Abby spent the rest of the day cuddled up on the couch, talking and laughing, watching holiday programs and deciding what to do for dinner. Luka cooked for them while Abby napped and after dinner they cleaned up the kitchen together. Abby settled back down on the couch and began reading a book.
"I think I'm going to call my father," he told her.
"Won't it be like six in the morning in Croatia?"
"Yeah, but he always gets up early to paint," Luka said as he dialed the number. "Papa?" he said when his father picked up the phone. "It's Luka," he said in Croatian.
"Luka, I was wondering when I was going to hear from you."
"Yeah, sorry I didn't call yesterday, I figured you'd be with the neighbors all day. Merry Christmas."
"Oh, no, it's okay. Merry Christmas, son."
"How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, just painting the sunset, it looks beautiful. How are you?"
"I'm good."
"How was your Christmas, what did you do?"
"It was great, I spent the day with Abby."
"Abby? You mean the Abby you dated a few years ago?"
"Yes, we're back together now."
"Really? How long now?"
"Just a little while. I have something to tell you, Papa."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Abby and I are going to have a baby," he said, looking over at Abby and smiling.
"A baby?"
"Yes, we just found out yesterday."
"A baby? Luka, I'm so happy for you. So are you two getting married?" he asked. Luka sighed, knowing that was coming.
"No…No, we're not." Not yet at least, Luka thought to himself.
"Oh," was all that his father said.
"Papa?"
"Well, Luka, you know how I feel about these things."
"I know. But are you happy?"
"Yes, I am happy for you, Luka. And for Abby. I'm glad that you're happy again, that you've moved on."
"Thank you."
"Can I talk to her?"
"Abby?"
"Yes."
"Sure, just a minute," Luka said. "Abby?"
"Yeah?" Abby said, looking up from her book.
"He wants to talk to you."
"Really?" she asked, taking the phone from him. "Hello?"
"Hello Abby, this is Luka's father, Laurentis," he said in slightly broken English.
"Hi, Merry Christmas."
"Thank you, same to you."
"Thanks."
"I just wanted to talk to you and to say "Congratulations." Luka told me the good news."
"Thank you. We're very excited."
"Well, that's all. Hopefully I will be meeting you and the baby very soon."
"I hope so too. Bye," Abby said and handed the phone back to Luka, who began talking with his father in Croatian again.
"I was thinking that maybe you could come to Chicago when the baby is born and stay for a while," Luka said.
"I would like that very much."
"Good, I'm glad."
"I'll talk to you soon. I love you."
"I love you, too. Bye," Luka said and hung the phone up.
"What did he say?" Abby asked.
"Oh, you know. Congratulations."
"That's it?"
"He asked when we're getting married," Luka told her.
"Ah… And what did you say?" Abby asked, a little uncomfortable about the subject.
"I told him that we're not getting married… Yet."
"Luka…"
"What? Look, Abby, all I'm saying is that it is a possibility… Don't you think so?"
Abby paused. "Yes, it is. Just not now, I'm not ready for that, Luka. Everything that's been happening has been hard to handle as it is."
"I know. For me too."
"Let's just wait and see then, okay?" she told him.
"Okay."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."