Abby came awake slowly and frowned as her eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light and she took in her surroundings. It wasn't immediately familiar. She wasn't in her own bed. She shifted carefully in the warm covers and glanced down at the man's hand that rested on the curve of her waist on top of them. She closed her eyes then and swallowed. She was at Luka's. She was in his bed at the hotel. Suddenly it all came flooding back. Their first date. Teasing over the foosball table at the bar. The walk through the chill night air at the Navy Pier. The mugger. Luka losing his carefully contained anger as the teenager waved the stick at her and tried to take her purse. Standing terrified together at the door of the trauma room as Carter and Dr. Corday struggled in a futile attempt to save the kid's life. Talking to the police. Worrying about where Luka was all during the next day. Confronting him in the ambulance bay and begging him to talk to her. Standing in front of him in his room last night and telling him he didn't need to talk. His sad and tortured eyes searching her's. His weary head resting against her chest as she ran her fingers through his hair. His fingers on her face...on her neck...gently caressing. His lips on her's. Her jacket sliding from her shoulders. Two lost and lonely souls merging together. But that was last night.
Abby carefully eased herself from under the covers and his hand. She found her slacks, sweater and jacket and slipped them back on. She found her way to the door and glanced back to see him sprawled on the bed, sleeping deeply. She pressed her lips together in a slight smile and closed the door behind her. She took a cab from the hotel to her apartment and showered and changed before going into work. She was busy all day in the triage 'cage' and didn't see him when he came in for his afternoon shift. Honestly she was glad about that. She had never done anything like she had the night before. It was too soon. Not too mention too weird considering what they had gone through the day before. He had killed a man. Protecting her. Actually... killed... a man. The thought was a bit frightening.
She didn't see him until she heading to get her things from her locker after she signed out at the end of her shift. He was working on a patient and waved her into the treatment room.
"Where did you go this morning?" he asked as he was jotting notes on the patient's clipboard. Abby eyed the sleeping drunk on the gurney warily and then shrugged.
"I had to go home and change...brush my teeth...you know," she said as her voice trailed off. Luka flashed her a half cocked smile.
"I'll buy you a toothbrush so you don't have to hurry away next time," he said. Abby blushed and put her hands on her hips.
"You seem pretty confidant that there will be a...next time," she said. Luka's eyes narrowed and he suppressed a grin. He signed the chart with a fluorish and set it on the end of the bed.
"You don't want there to be?" he asked as he folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her. "A...next time...I mean." Abby's cheeks reddened. She didn't know whether to be angry or embarrassed. She looked up at him and caught the twinkle in his eye and had a hard time not returning the smile. He snickered and shrugged.
"I'll buy my own toothbrush," she said as she turned away. "I'm pretty particular about the kind and the color anyway. Have a good night." Luka reached out and caught her hand.
"Thank you..." he said. "Won't be as much fun as last night however." Abby blushed and shook her head as she pulled her hand from his and headed toward the call room. She glanced back to see him watching her with a huge smile on his face. She laughed and shook her head as she waved.
And so that's the way it was. They came together at work, spent time together, slept together and did it all again. It was...comfortable. They never talked. Not about things that mattered anyway. He knew she didn't drink but he never asked why. She'd heard that he'd lost his family but she never asked how. Instead they just enjoyed the time they were together. She learned that Luka was a brooder. She never questioned his moods. He never questioned her's. Not like Carter. They talked. He knew about the drinking. When Maggie showed up Carter had been there to listen when she wanted to talk. She'd been horrified. Maggie had been off her meds, rapidly cycling through that manic period that had forever terrorized her and chewing up Abby's life along the way. She carmed everyone at work with bagels and coffee. She'd had a manic meltdown in the middle of a designer store. She'd had a melt down at the hospital. Screamed about being put in restraints. Disappeared from the hospital before a bed could be found for her. Like she had done many times before. Carter and Luka were both there...and in the end it was Luka that she'd gone home with. Luka had held her and then while he slept she'd gone into the bathroom to cry in private. He'd never known.
Sometimes she wished he would care enough to stake a claim on her. It was a conundrum actually. She wanted to be independent. She'd fought hard for that. And yet she wanted it to bother him when she chose not to be around him. She wanted him to care about it. Like the night Carter asked her to attend a Carter Family Fund raising function with him. Luka told her to go. Told her to have fun. And she did actually.
Carter had shown up in a tuxedo. He hadn't told her it was a formal affair. She didn't own a dress like that. He'd offered to buy her one. Then she dug deep in the recesses of her closet and found the dress she'd worn for her sister in law's wedding. It wasn't really the right color or style for her but it worked. They had even danced. Dinosaurs and dancing. She'd told him that she felt like she was back at her high school spring formal. He had laughed with her. And then Richard had appeared.
"Well, hello, Abby," he said. 'What are you doing here?" She studied the tux he was wearing. It was one that she had helped him select for a physician's banquet two years ago. She shook her head as he stared pointedly at Carter.
"John Carter..." she said. "This is... Richard." Carter was polite and nodded.
"And what are you doing here?" she asked. She almost blushed under his careful scrutiny.
"I'm here with Alexis," he said looking around and nodding. "She's getting our drinks." Abby glanced at the blonde he had indicated coming toward them.
"Ah...and is she old enough to drink?" Carter shifted uncomfortably next to her when she spoke. Richard shook his head and chuckled slightly.
"Shall we go in to dinner?" Carter asked as he offered his arm. Abby nodded.
"And where have I seen that dress before?" Richard smirked.
"You haven't," Abby said quickly.
"Oh...I think I have," he sighed thoughtfully. "Didn't you wear that in my sister's wedding?" Abby sighed flatly and smiled slightly.
"Always the gentleman, aren't you, Richard?" Carter had pulled her away before she had a chance to say anything else. And then had been so patient when she insisted on cruising the parking lot in their limo looking for Richard's car. When they found it, he became her reluctant ally as she let the air out of one of the tires. She'd slipped and bumped her head against Richard's car which set off the alarm. Carter had picked her up and practically thrown her into the limo. They had laughed and then stopped to look at one another, breathing hard as the limo sped away. It had been fun.
She hadn't really told Luka about it. He never asked. They never really talked. Not about things that mattered. But she knew that something unusual was happening with one of his patients...a Catholic Bishop with lupus. Luka didn't talk to her about him. But she knew. The night the Bishop died, something was different. He was more...at peace somehow. She'd been in OB with Dr. Greene and Dr. Corday. Luka had been working at the site of a train crash. He'd come to check on Corday...kind of dazed. She found him later... outside in the cold, looking up into the snowy branches of a tree. Looking for a forest. And the Bishop with lupus had died. They slept together that night. Snuggled close and exhausted. He'd wrapped his arms around her in his sleep and held her like he was never going to let her go. And the next morning it was back to the same as it was before. They saw each other at work. They spent time together. They slept together. And then did it all over again.