Moving Day Pt 1 Injured/10 Hurt Comfort

Author: JD
Fandom: ER
Rating: PG
Character: Luka Kovac
Words: 325
Summary: Luka tries to comes to terms with life after Vukovar
Warnings: Deals with potentially sensitive subject matter related to the War of Independence.
Notes: This ficlet explores more of Luka's time in the displaced person's camp following his escape from Vukovar. I have previously touched on this time in my longer fics Ghosts, Time Heals all Wounds, and For One Life which I co wrote with M. Blais. All three can be found posted previously here.

He'd been in the camp for more than two weeks, his leg was healing, the infection around the bullet entry and exit points beginning to clear, as was his pneumonia. If only there were medicines that could heal the rest of his wounds so easily. The nurses had begun forcing him to leave the tent, forcing him to get the exercise and fresh air he needed but didn't want. Today was different, today he was being moved away from the watchful eye of the doctors and nurses, his cot was needed for someone in far worse shape.

"Luka, it's time." He heard the woman's voice as he lay on his cot, pretending to sleep, his back to the room. "I know you're awake." It was a means of escape he'd used far too often since his arrival, and while it had worked in those beginning days, the nurses had soon seen through it.

"Do you need help getting up?" Her voice remained close and even without looking he knew she was close enough to move in to assist him if he would allow her to do so.

"I can do it." His tone was cold, he hadn't wanted to be in this place and now he was being moved to somewhere else he had no wish to be. Reaching for the crutches that lay propped at the foot of the cot he forced himself to his feet. When he was sure he had his balance he began the slow walk to the tent's opening.

The camp was never quiet and now that he was being moved out of the medical tent and into one of those designated for single males Luka knew he would find it more difficult to adjust to life within it. At least among the injured he couldn't deny the reason he was there. He didn't think of himself as a single male, and he wondered if in fact he ever would.