Luka grinned as he reached down to turn off the blaring alarm clock on the table next to her bed. He leaned over close to her.
"Abby," Luka whispered in her ear. "Time to get up. You slept through your alarm." Abby sat straight up suddenly and they bumped heads.
"Oww..." Luka groaned as he fell onto the coverlet holding his forehead.
"Are you okay?" she asked holding her own.
"I didn't know you were awake," he said as he sat up. Abby climbed out of bed.
"I wasn't but you said I was late...hold on... I'll get you something." She pulled a robe on over her pajamas and hurried out of the bedroom. She came back with a bag of peas from the freezer.
"Peas? Ow!" he yelped as she pressed the bag to his forehead.
"Oh, come on...don't be such a baby," she laughed. "Let me see."
She tipped his head up and grimaced when she saw the knot forming on his forehead. She pressed the bag of frozen peas to it again and Luka grinned when he realized that he was sitting eye level to her breasts and rounding belly. His hands crept around her waist to the small of her back and leaned his head forward to lay his ear against her stomach. He closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the gentle rollings of his child moving. He drank in the soft scent of the lotion he'd helped her rub into her skin the night before. He'd forgotten. He'd just plain forgotten this sweetness. Marko had been a kicker from the beginning. Danijela had always complained that he was destined to be a soccer star. It was so unexpected because Jasna had been different...not quite as strong...very small and feminine even before she was born. But this...having lost them, this was so, so sweet.
"Uh, Luka...I need to go," she said. His hands tightened gently.
"No...stay," he sighed, not lifting his head. "The boss is telling you it's all right to be late today."
"Well, Pratt won't appreciate that. He has been on duty all night," Abby complained. "Come on...let me go. I need to take a shower." Luka's eyes suddenly opened wide. He drew back and looked up at her.
"Shower?" he said with a lecherous grin. Abby laughed and tossed the bag of frozen peas onto the bed as she turned toward the bathroom. Luka jumped up and ripped his tee shirt over his head as he raced her to the bathroom door.
They rode the El into work together. Luka headed up early for an administrative staff meeting and Abby signed in at the ER admit desk. Pratt was grilling the incoming interns from the board. She listened to the rapid exchanges and then took one of the clipboards he was handing around.
'They are all yours, Abby-girl," Pratt said as he yawned. 'Morris is with a patient and I am out...of...here. Have a good one, people." Chuny glanced at the chart Abby held in her hand.
"Ah...bounce back stomach flu," Chuny said. "It's the third one since I came on. Looks like it's going to be a long day." Abby rolled her eyes and headed off to a curtained area with an intern close behind her.
The staff meeting was longer than he expected and Luka was tired of haggling over reports and schedules. He checked the board at the admittance desk and spoke to Jerry. Then he'd locked himself in his small office down in the ER to go over the paperwork that had been handed to him at the meeting. Insurance regulations. How he hated that stuff. So many of the ER patients were nonpaying anyway. He sighed and tossed it aside.
Luka pulled his wallet from his back pocket and leaned back in his chair. He reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a slightly tattered but carefully preserved photo. His eyes softened and a slight smile formed on his lips. He caressed the photo with his thumb. Danijela and Jasna at a 4th birthday party. It was the only picture that he had of them. He'd had a larger copy made from this print for a frame but it wasn't as clear...as in focus as this little one was. That was funny. They were such a huge part of his past...what brought him to this place in his life...and the only physical reminder he had was this little square of photo paper. He had nothing of Marko...just the images that he could bring forth from his memories whenever he wanted to. He wondered - sometimes - if the things he remembered had really happened or if he just made them up because he wanted those memories to be there. He slipped the picture back into it's hiding place and flipped through the photo insert until he found her picture. Luka smiled fondly. He'd taken the photo just last week. It was warmer so they'd gone for a walk at the top of the Navy Pier after an early dinner. The wind had been blowing and her top was hugging her belly. She had been trying to get him to try the ferris wheel with her so there was a sly grin on her face. She didn't like him snapping pictures of her so he'd been lucky to have caught such a good one.
Abby. She had been his rescuer more times than he could count. She had always been there to catch him...except for the awful days when he'd actually given up looking for a new life and had used many women to ease his sadness. She'd been with Carter then and the inexplicable pain of that had eaten away at him. Gabrielle and Sam hadn't touched that part of him that he'd thought had died with his family. But Abby had found it again. They'd had problems but somehow seemed to muddle through them every time. There was no more running away for either of them. He laughed with Abby. Deep, soul shaking laughs. And he loved the banter they could engage in. And there was so much to learn about her. Just when he thought he knew everything he'd find out something new. She'd been so angry when he'd sent in her medical school paperwork but he had been right to do it. He'd given her much needed self confidence and her dream. She was giving him a child...a chance to be a father again. It was his own dream. But even when he thought she'd decided not to carry it, he had still wanted her in his life. She was his life. His heart began to swell in his chest and he sighed. There was a tap on his door and Chuny stuck her head in.
"Luka, Morris said to tell you there is a multiple trauma coming in," she said. "Preschool bus on a field trip. Could be kind of ugly." He nodded and stood up. He shoved his wallet back into his pocket and strode out into the corridor. They were waiting when the ambulances pulled up. Luka followed Ray with a gurney carrying the injured driver. He stood back and watched Ray run the trauma snapping orders to the nurse and intern with him, ready to step in if he was needed. Morris was in the next trauma room with an injured teacher who kept insisting that she was fine...in spite of the blood pouring down her face from a scalp lac. Haleh appeared with gauze sponges to staunch the blood. He glanced out the door and saw Abby, Dori and Chuny headed toward the trauma room on the other side. They were each carrying two preschoolers. Luka saw them set the six youngsters on the bed and watched as Abby did a quick check of their shoulders and necks. She went from one to the other with an otoscope quickly checking eyes and ears as Dori slipped new covers on. He could hear them crying.
"Okay, Ray?" Luka asked.
"Got it," Ray said confidently. Luka moved toward Trauma 3 and Abby waved a hand to stop him.
"They're fine," she said. "The paramedics said they were all buckled into their seats. Doesn't even appear to be any whiplash. We're just waiting for parents to arrive. The school was calling them as they were being loaded in the ambulances."
"We are lucky," he said over the crying. "The other injuries look pretty minor as well." The wails from some of the children grew louder and he went to a nearby telephone. He spoke to the volunteer office and requested an available candy striper to the ER to help. He watched as Abby put her stethoscope into the ears of one little boy and pressed the diaphragm to his Elmo shirt. He looked up at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. Chuny and Dori busied themselves comforting and playing with the others, trying to calm them. Abby grinned and moved the diaphragm to her own heart. She reached over to caress the cheek of a solemn little girl who was watching. Abby bent over and whispered something in the little girl's ear and she giggled. Luka grinned slightly. Abby didn't feel like she worked well with smaller children but they adored her. She was very good at making them comfortable. Abby picked Elmo up and he instinctively locked his legs around her waist. She carried him out of the trauma room still playing with her stethoscope. She stopped in front of Luka and he chucked the little boy under the chin and grinned.
"Ben!" someone called from the direction of the admit desk.
"Mommy!" cried the child in Abby's arms. Luka looked up as a couple hurried toward them. The well dressed woman took her son from Abby and hugged him tight. His father brushed the back of the child's head and sighed in relief.
"He's fine," Abby assured them as she untangled her stethoscope from the boy's neck. "They all are fortunately."
"Oh my god...Abby," the boy's father said as they turned their attention away from the little boy to her when she spoke. Abby looked at him in disbelief.
"Richard..." she breathed. His eyes traveled to the name that was embroidered over the pocket of her coat, '"A. Lockhart, M.D."
"You did it," he said quietly. "You finished med school." He frowned slightly when his eyes traveled to her stomach. Abby pulled the jacket closed and folded her arms across her chest.
"Yes," she said flatly. Her ex-husband nodded.
"Good," he said. "Good for you. You look...great." He put his arm around his wife and they headed back to the admit desk to officially claim their son.
"That was Richard?" Luka asked. "Haven't seen him in a while." Abby nodded as she watched them. Richard glanced back again, smiled sadly and waved.
"He is kind of...smaller," Luka said quietly. Abby looked up at him quizzically. Luka shrugged. She burst out laughing and Luka grinned. He kissed her forehead and pushed her back into the room with the other children.