"Hey pal, what's up with you? You look fine to me?"

Turning towards the voice of the scruffy old man sitting next to him, Steve glared at the rumpled state of him. His upper was reddish brown with dried in blood, his nose at an odd angle. His jacket was spattered with the same reddish brown of his face, torn in places and his jeans were mucky at the knee, from where he must have fallen into a ditch when he had been hit. His spirally hair was sticking up at odd angles, his green eyes red and bloodshot.

Grunting, Steve tilted his head in the direction of admit.

"I'm a friend of one of the nurses."

The man next to him snorted and shook his head.

"She your bird?"

Steve smiled slightly, sadistically and nodded his head as his eyes found the petite form of Sam Taggert bobbing through the throes of white lab coats at the desk.

"Something like that."

--

"How's Luka?"

Sam raised her eyes and Abby pursed her lips at the cold stare she received from Sam's normally warm eyes.

"He's in Croatia."

Abby glanced down to the chart in front of her uncomfortably and cleared her throat before glancing back up, tapping her pen against the edge of the metal. She had just started and she knew that Sam was at the end of her shift, being held back by one of Pratt's patient's.

"I know, he told me."

"He did, did he?" Sam bit and Abby frowned, confused.

"Yeah, yesterday, before he left."

Sam snapped her head and scoffed, her eyes fiery, her mouth opening and closing as she fought against the onslaught of curses that flooded into brain. Instead, she bit onto her bottom lip and thrust her tongue into her cheek as she jerked her head away from Abby's stare.

"Well, can you tell him next time he calls you to call me?" Sam snapped and slammed her chart onto the worktop, walking towards the nurses' station.

Abby stood, frozen for a moment before raising her eyebrows and secretly feeling pleased that Luka had confided in her when he hadn't with Sam.

- -

Sam leaned heavily against the edge of the nurses' station and tried unsuccessfully to control her breathing.

How dare he.

Sam realised how Abby must have felt for months when Sam and Luka had been conducting their affair. She trusted Luka impeccably but when she thought about it, so had Abby.

Sighing, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and drew in a deep breath before grabbing her coat and walking out of the ER leaving instructions for Haleh about Pratt's patient. Needing comfort, she knew where she was going as she stalked to her car and kick-started the engine, and gunned out of the car park.

She didn't notice the familiar hooded character standing just out of the edge of the ambulance bay.

TBC