Disclaimer: I still don't own ER, but if I'm really good, then maybe someday… (Stares into to space daydreaming)

Authors Note: Luka is 25 years old in my story for reasons in my story. No one knows about the death of Luka's family, not even Kerry.

Chapter 8: "Remember?"

Everyone said goodbye and then Kerry went back inside Luka's room. She pulled the chair closer to Luka's bed and held his hand in both of hers, stroking his face and hair.

The next morning

Kerry had sat up the whole night, making sure not to fall asleep, as Luka's condition was still very critical, even though he had woken up, not wanting to be asleep if anything happened. She still had his hand in her own and was unconsciously tracing the visible bones in his hands. It was only now, when he did not have a long sleeved shirt, or a scrub top and shirt on, that his arms were visible. She turned his arm over slightly so that she was able to see underside of his forearm; she had to stop the cry that escaped her throat when she saw the various track-marks, from were he had been injecting himself. She wiped away the tears that had escaped her eyes, gave Luka's hand a squeeze of support for him; even if he couldn't feel it, and of comfort to herself, knowing that she would do everything she could to help him make a full recovery.

A few hours later

Kerry was standing by the window of Luka's room, drinking a cup of coffee which one of the nurses' had brought her when Halah came into the room.

"Dr Weaver, Dr Greene told me to tell you that there will be a meeting down in the lounge in half an hour" Halah said from the door, before she walked over to Luka's bed and kissed him on the forehead and lifted his hand, brushing his hair out of his eyes, even though it was not bothering him.

"Poor kid, his had it rough, I can only pray he'll make it through this" Halah said with tears in her eyes. Kerry put her empty styrofoam cup in the bin before going over to the bed,

"Halah, I know this is a lot to ask, but, would you mind staying with Luka while I'm at the meeting, it's just with him not woken up yet, if he wakes up he could be confused and it would be best if he wasn't alone?" while Kerry was saying this Halah had already pulled a chair over and was sitting, holding his hand and stroking his hair again, "No, it's no problem at all, my shift doesn't start for another two hours anyway" Kerry thanked her before leaving the room to freshen up before the meeting.

In the Lounge (Greene, Benton, Carter and Abby are sitting around the table)

"We can start the meeting once Weaver arrives, she's probably on her way right now" as soon as the words had left Mark's mouth, Kerry walked through the door,

"Sorry for keeping up waiting so long, Halah was just taking over from me" Kerry said while pulling out her chair and sitting down beside Mark and Benton.

"Okay, so lets get started" Abby said, wanting to get this over and done with.

One hour later

"Okay, so we have come to the decision, once Luka is out of the hospital he can go to the Atlanta Rehab centre, and then if everything goes well there he can come back to work" Greene said with an optimistic look on his face, everything should work out, except for the fact that Luka may object to going to Atlanta, and if it came to that he would deal with it then. Everyone got up and was ready to leave when Abby remembered something,

"Wait, who's going up to sit with Luka now?" Abby was going to panic when Kerry quickly reminded her that Halah was up with him now, "But what about when Halah has to go to her shift?" Abby was starting to get panicked because neither she nor Carter could go up because they were still in the middle of their shifts, "I'll go up and sit with him, my shift ends now anyway" Greene said while placing his hand on Abby's arm to calm her down, when Greene' s pager started beeping,

"He's awake" He said and all of them started for the elevator.

Inside Luka's Room

Halah was sitting on the chair hold Luka's hand and stroking his hair, when his eyelids began to flicker, "Honey, are you waking up?" Halah said as she got out of her chair and stood at the head of the bed, gently squeezing his hand. Luka's eyes flicked again before he drowsily opened them, Halah had already rang the bell to get a nurse and when she came running into the room she told her to page Dr Greene immediately.

"Where am I?" Luka rasped out and coughed slightly, his throat still sore from being intubated. Just then Greene, Benton, Kerry, Carter and Abby came into the room. Benton, Kerry and Greene went to the head of the bed while Carter and Abby stayed more to the bottom so as not to crowd around him. "He asked me where he was" Halah told Greene,

"Hey Luka, you don't know where you are?" Greene asked, trying to give him time to think before he answered; after a few moments Luka just shook his head that he didn't.

"You're in the hospital; do you remember why you're in the hospital?" Greene asked, using a tone that you would use for a confused and frightened child, hoping that telling him he was in the hospital would help him to remember.

"Chest hurts" Luka said and Greene gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze,

"You got shot; remember you pushed Carter out of the way?" Greene hoped that Luka would remember something, even a small detail, because if not, his condition could be a lot more serious than what they had first anticipated. Luka blinked a few times, seemingly fighting to stay awake, "Yeah…is he…he okay?" Luka asked trying to get the sentence out, but he throat too sore.

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks to you" Carter said as he walked closer to the end of the bed and gave Luka's hand a small squeeze before putting his arm back around Abby's waist.

"Now Luka, I'm going to need to do a nureo exam" Greene said as he got out he penlight, he shone it into Luka's eyes, his response much improved from down in the trauma room, but still a bit sluggish, "Good, now I need you to follow my finger with your eyes" he motioned his finger from left to right and then up and down, the response still slightly slow, but that could be down to the fact that he had been unconscious a considerable amount of time, and that he was on morphine, but he still needed to check to be safe.

"Now we need to check that bandage" Benton said as he pulled on his latex gloves; he lifted up the dressing and when he touched a tender spot Luka took a sharp breath, "Sorry about that, but, everything seems to be fine, no infection, but we still have to keep an eye on it" Benton said as he applied a new dressing, careful not to cause too much pain.

"Well it looks like you're fighting to stay awake so we'll let you get some rest now," Kerry spoke for the first time since entering the room, and pulled the blanket up slightly, and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before walking over to the door.

Halah then walked over and gave him a kiss on the forehead also and walked over to the door and stood beside Kerry. Abby walked over to the head of the bed and gave Luka a gentle hug, careful not to irritate the wound and kissed him on the check before whispering in his ear, "I am so glad you are okay", she then went and stood beside Kerry and Halah, fighting to keep the tears from coming but was unable to when Halah put her arm around her.

Carter walked to the head of the bed and gave Luka a squeeze on the shoulder before laughing and saying, "Don't think I'm gonna kiss you too", Luka tried to laugh but was too tired and smiled before yawning. Benton patted him on the shoulder and everyone left the room for the exception of Greene who stayed and kept watch over Luka to make sure he was okay; he took Luka's hand in his own, as that seemed to be what you did when you were staying with a sick friend in hospital, right? Mark thought with a silent giggle.

Midnight

Mark had been light sleep/nap for about 2 hours, when he felt Luka's hand shaking in his. He went to the top of the bed and placed his hand on Luka's forehead and felt a cold sweat.

"Shit he has a fever!" Greene said while paging Benton.

Please R&R