Luka felt as if he were swimming through mud. Every muscle in his body ached with exertion. His eyelids were so heavy that he couldn't open them. He fell back into the swirling mist of dreams and floated. Danijela, Jasna and Marko ran just a head of him in the park in Vokovar...laughing and calling for him to come. He looked up at the sun sparkling through the bare trees...and then heard the whistle and boom as a a missle hit the apartment building behind him. "Nooooooo!"he cried and began to run. "He's my soul mate..." Carol's face loomed large in front of him. "I have to find out if he still loves me...my soul mate...my soul mate..." her voice echoed. The Bishop's whispered words of absolution...the African sun beating down on his head while he waited for the bullet that never came...reciting the Lord's Prayer from his childhood... and then Abby. "Not pretty enough," he heard himself saying to her, "...nothing special...I can't make you happy!" The hurt in her eyes tore into his heart and then he relaxed as the hurt changed to a sparkle. "...I passed my Boards after all...I am officially DR. Lockhart... BUG up my ASS, Luka, if you are going to insult me at least get the words right!..." Again came Carol's voice "...my soul mate..."

"I'm pregnant..." she said and his heart began to sing again. "Papa! Papi! Catch me, Papi!" Jasna cried happily from high in a swing, her long curly hair flying around her. He felt a tug on his leg and looked down into the dark eyes of his little son. Luka picked him up and tossed him into the air as Marko squealed with delight. Danijela laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek as she took Marko from him.

"Go now, Luka," she said. "You are going to be late!" The mist swirled and he felt heavy again. "We always seem to find our way back to each another..." he heard himself saying. "I'm pregnant..." she said. Gillian screamed as a car bore down on their's and then...silence.

Luka's eyes flew open with a start. He didn't move but slowly took in his hospital room surroundings with his eyes. The room was bathed in soft light from a bedside lamp and he could see lights from the city through the window. It was night. He lifted his head slowly and saw the white cast that encased his right leg from toe to hip. He lifted his hand and saw the small cuts from broken glass on his arms. His head ached so he pressed it carefully back into the hospital bed pillow. He turned his head slowly and his eyes rested on the sleeping form sitting in a chair pulled close to the bed. Abby's head rested on her folded arms at his side. She still wore her familiar County Hospital scrubs and her face was turned away from him. He smiled slightly. She was snoring. He picked up a strand of her silky fine hair and rubbed it carefully between his fingers. He hesitated a moment and then laid his hand gently on her head. She turned to look at him and smiled.

"Hi..." she said softly and took his hand in her's. 'How are you feeling?"

"Sore..." he whispered. "Very sore."

"Yeah...well, you can kiss your plans for a career in major league baseball good bye," she said. "And say hello to a life time of metal detectors singing at the airport. They put four screws into your knee cap." She kissed his hand.

"A patella fracture?" he asked. She nodded.

" You have a concussion but no sign of any hematoma at this point. There is a very colorful shiner developing. Your spleen, kidneys and liver all checked out okay," Abby went on slowly. "And we owe Frank for a plane ticket." Luka chuckled. He drew her closer and kissed her. Abby slipped her arm around his neck gently and blinked back the tears in her eyes as she held him close. Luka drew back and looked into her eyes. His own filled with tears. Abby nodded and kissed him again. Sometimes words were not enough. She pulled away and lifted an envelope from the bedside table.

"Gillian left you a note," she said as she gave it to him. "If it's like the one she wrote to me, it says that she is sorry and that she is going back to Africa as soon as she can. Something about wanting to spend the rest of her life doing something she loves?" Abby sat back down in her chair.

"What?" she said wryly. "You didn't make it any...fun... while you were staying with her?" Luka closed his eyes and crumbled the note. It fell to the floor. He reached for Abby's hand and squeezed it tightly. Her eyes widened.

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "Guess what happened on the plane coming?" She took his hand and spread it across her stomach under her scrubs. She moved his fingers to the side a bit and then smiled.

"Did you feel it?" she asked. He opened his eyes and smiled softly at her. He couldn't feel it...not yet. But he would soon.

"Sleep with me?" he asked.

"They are bringing me a cot," she said. "I'll be right beside you." Luka shook his head.

"Sleep with me...here," he said. He held out his arm and Abby eased carefully on the hospital bed beside him. Luka snuggled her close and drifted off to sleep again. And it wasn't long before she joined him there.