"Hey..." Luka's face brightened as Abby walked in the ambulance bay doors and smiled at him. "How was your day?"
"Successful," she said, frowning as she pondered his question for a second. "I got her out of the apartment." Luka nodded and watched her as she went through the stack of envelopes he handed to her.
"Thanks for switching my schedule so I could spend the day with Neela," she sighed.
"No problem," he said. "I am going to miss you tonight though." Abby grinned.
"You know what they say..." she said as she pulled away and headed for the call room, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
"Not possible..." he said as he shook his head. Abby chuckled and waved. Frank shook his head.
"You two are like a romance novel come to life," he growled and shivered. "I can feel the heat from here. Is the honeymoon ever going to be over?" Luka laughed.
'I hope not, Frank," he said as he patted the older man on the back. "I sincerely hope not." He snickered and headed to his office.
One nice thing about working the night shift is that it tended to be quiet. Abby was settled on the lounge couch catching up on some of the more recent medical journals when Inez burst through the door.
"Trauma coming in, Dr. Lockhart," she said. "Three crits from a multiple auto collision. ETA is three minutes." Abby tossed the magazine to the table and stood up. She followed Inez to the ambulance bay on a run and drew on the gown that was handed to her. Kerry was waiting in the ambulance bay along with several new interns. Dr. Munson raised his hand in greeting and smiled.
"You're back!" he said.
"You too," Abby nodded. Two ambulances pulled up and the doors burst open.
"Four year old with head and neck trauma," a paramedic shouted as a gurney was lifted out of the rig. "Unrestrained back seat passenger. His name's Bradley." Kerry nodded toward Munson.
"Trauma One, Dr. Munson," she said. "Stabilize him, get a CT and x-ray to rule out a skull or neck fracture immediately." Munson nodded and pushed the gurney into the ER.
"Forty two year old male. One exposed fractures of the left tibia and a dislocated elbow. Possible head injury. Unresponsive to painful stimuli."
"I'll take this one," Kerry said as she pushed the gurney inside with a paramedic's help. "Abby, you take that one." Abby nodded as the back doors were opened and a gurney was lifted out.
"Thirty seven year old female. Twenty five weeks pregnant. Unrestrained front seat passenger. Impact trauma to the belly. She's bleeding and leaking amniotic fluid." Abby's heart stopped as she surveyed her patient and helped push the gurney into Trauma 4. Her head began to pound as she and Inez went into action. She looked around for someone to help but everyone was busy. Inez inserted an IV and hooked up a saline bag as Abby did a quick assessment with her stethescope and otoscope.
"She has blood in her ear canal," she said. Inez nodded and hooked up a heart monitor and put a blood pressure clip on her finger.
"Blood pressure is 170 over 65." she said. Abby frowned and shook her head as she listened for a fetal heart beat. She felt the abdomen tighten.
"She's having contractions. Page OB and NICU," Abby said. "We need a warming bed down here immediately. We need help." Inez nodded and quickly checked the IV she had just inserted. Abby pulled back the sheet that covered her patient and groaned. Deep, red blood covered the gurney.
"Get someone from OB down here stat!" she ordered. ""We've got a possible abruption." Inez nodded and hurried to the phone. Abby took a deep breath and forced down the nausea that building in her throat. She drew a vial of blood from the woman's arm and handed it to the nurse that flew in the door.
'Get some type specific blood in here stat," she said. The nurse nodded and took off for the lab with the vial.
Later, Luka stood at the door of NICU and watched Abby. She had pulled a chair close to the incubator and was leaning forward as she used a finger to carefully caress the baby's tiny hand inside. His heart nearly broke as he remembered seeing her in the exact same position so many other times with their son. Luka pushed open the door and nodded at the nurse behind the counter. She smiled at him and glanced back at Abby. Instinctively he went to the sink and washed his hands, dried them and then put on a new sterile gown from the cupboard. He walked slowly toward Abby and then crouched down next to her. He glanced at the baby in the incubator and then back at her.
"Hi," she said as she looked at him. "What are you doing here?" She looked back at the baby and smiled a little.
"Kerry paged me," he said. "She thought you might want a ride home." Abby glanced up at the clock.
"I'm still on for another two hours," she said.
"I can wait for you," he said. Abby sighed and pressed her head against the glass of the incubator.
"His mother died in surgery," she said. "They couldn't save her."
Luka nodded.
"I know."
"His father is in an ortho bed with a broken leg and elbow."
"I know that too." Abby looked at him.
"His grandparents are on their way in from Detroit." She smiled slightly as she looked at the baby.
"He's sweet."
"Yeah..." Luka said softly. He reached over and slipped his hand to the back of her neck.
"Are you okay?" Abby nodded.
"I just didn't want him to be alone right now," she said. "I thought I would sit with him for a few minutes before going back down."
"I know," Luka said. Abby looked around the quiet and darkened NICU.
"It's the first time I've been up here since..." Luka's hand tightened slightly on the back of her neck.
"I know," he said quietly. "Me too." She looked at him and sighed. They both had tears in their eyes. Abby smiled slightly and drew her hand reluctantly from the incubator.
"I guess I'd better get back to work," she said. Luka shook his head.
"You don't have to," he said quietly. "We can stay for a bit longer." She nodded and looked back at the intubated baby in the incubator.
"You saved his life, Abby," Luka said softly. 'You delivered him and intubated him." She nodded and slipped her hand back in to touch a tiny foot.
"I hope he makes it," she said softly. Luka leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned to study the baby with her. They sat quietly with their heads pressed together.