Abby opened the apartment door and tossed her bag onto the chair next to the door. She picked up the mail that was lying on the coffee table and glanced through it.

"Luka?" she called. She looked around the apartment and smiled slightly. He had the table set for a candle light dinner for two. She wandered through the rooms looking for him and noticed the nursery door open a crack.

"Hey," she called softly and opened the door wider. He was sitting in the rocking chair.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Luka looked up at her and sighed. She tipped her head to kiss his forehead and he pulled her gently into his lap.

"I was trying to think about what we should do with all of this," he said. "Should we pack it up? Should we return things to the stores? Should we give it away? Should we keep it?" He kissed her cheek. "Are you ready to think about that yet?" Abby looked at him for a moment and then shook her head slowly.

"Not really," she said. She looked around at the boxes that were unopened, the unassembled crib, the paraphernalia that was already put together, the clothes folded on top of the dresser and the boxes of disposable diapers that were stacked in the corner of the room.

"Someone could be using these things, Abby," Luka said quietly. "We could ask at the hospital about a family that might need it."

"Who's to say we won't use it?" she replied. "I mean, someday." Luka's arms tightened around her.

"You would want to adopt?" Abby shrugged.

"I don't know yet," she said. " Maybe."

"Or we could look into finding a surrogate," he said. "We could use your eggs and..."

"Would that be an important thing to you?" she interrupted him. "Having it be biologically ours?" Luka hesitated a moment and then slowly shook his head.

"'Maybe not," he said. "We both know there are lots of kids out there that need parents."

"And if we were to have a child we wouldn't be able to just take off to help with the L'Alliance for a while. Are you ready to give that up?"

"You're right," he sighed. "There is a lot to think about."

"How was your day?" he asked. Abby looped her arms around his neck.

"You left me alone in the ER with all those knowing stares and snickering laughs this afternoon," she scolded him.

"They were doing it all day?" he frowned.

"Word spreads fast in the ER," she sighed. "Everyone knows about our little...um...escapade?"

"I'm sorry. I had a meeting," he apologized. "I have our dinner ready though. I promise I will make it up to you."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Kovac," she smiled as she leaned in to kiss him. Abby leaned back and searched his face. She snuggled against his chest again and was silent for a long moment.

"He would have been six months old yesterday," she said finally.

"I know."

"What do you think he would have been like?" Luka sighed and rested his chin on the top of her head and tightened his hold on her.

"Probably still tiny..."

"With your black hair..."

"And your brown eyes." Abby looked up at him.

"No...hazel," she said. "A mix of both of us."

"Do you really think so?" She nodded.

"Easy going."

"Sweet." Luka felt her sharp intake of breath and she melted a little closer to him.

"Is it always going to be like this?" she choked. "Wondering what he would have been like?" Luka blinked back tears and held her closer.

"I wish I could say that it gets better," he said quietly. "Sometimes, even now, I have moments when I think, wow, Marko would be 18 and finishing school...or Jasna would be 20 and probably have a boy friend that I don't like." He kissed the top of her head.

"It's always in the back of your mind," he said. "But other things happen and it doesn't hurt so much as it does now. It's just...there." They sat still in the rocker, holding one another, lost in their silent thoughts for a long moment.

"Care to join me for dinner, Mrs. Kovac?" Luka said softly. Abby looked up at him and smiled. She wiped away the tears from his face and kissed him. His thumb wiped the teardrops from her cheeks and he kissed her. She stood up and waited while he pulled himself out of the rocker and stretched his limbs a bit. They walked hand in hand out of the nursery and shut the door.

They sat close to one another at the table and ate by candle light, feedingeach otherand talking about their day. They cleaned up together and worked companionably as they washed and dried the dishes, ignoring the dishwasher for once. He was in bed before she was and lay there in the sheets and pillows and comforter watching her as she straightened the bedroom and put their dirty clothes in the hamper. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and he shifted himself a little so he could watch her in the bathroom mirror. Lord, she was beautiful...way beyond just pretty. The silky hair that spilled over her shoulders...the lines around her eyes...the curves...all compounded with his memories of her. He looked at her now and he saw her in Croatia with his family...in Darfur working along side him...in the ER struggling to pull together all of her resources to diagnose a complicated case. He saw the woman she was when he first met her and the woman that she was now. And he knew that he loved her more than he ever thought possible again.

She came out of the bathroom and frowned a bit when she saw him watching her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. Luka shook his head and pulled back the comforter and sheet so she could slip in next to him. She sighed and snuggled back against him as he drew the covers around her. They lay quietly spooned together in the warm bed. Luka's hand slowly caressed her soft shoulder and Abby turned so she was on her back and could look at him. Their eyes met and she smiled as she raised her hand and drew her fingers through his dark hair and rested her palm gently in the crook of his neck. He bent his face to her's and their lips met in long, lingering kiss. Luka buried his face in the silky flowery smelling hair that spilled across the pillow and then pressed a line of soft, caressing kisses from her deliciously soft ear lobe to her neck and finally her shoulder. Abby shivered and then drew him closer to her as she splayed her fingers across his bare chest and over his shoulders.

"I love you , Luka," she whispered against his ear. " I love you." He smiled and drew back to study her face.

"Not as much as I love you," he whispered back. "Not nearly as much as I love you." Abby smiled broadly as her heart began to sing and drew him back to her.