"Abby...I'm here, what's wrong?" As he slid his key in the lock Luka was surprised to find the door already unlocked, and as he pushed the door open he froze in his tracks.
"What are you doing here?" He was surprised that he could speak at all as he saw Curtis Ames standing there in the apartment, worse though was absorbing the rest of the scene before him. Abby was sitting on the couch, her face red from crying, as she stared at the man who now held her son, their screaming son. She must have fought him, one eye was swollen almost closed and her lip was split.
"Put him down." Luka started to move toward the man only to stop as Ames gripped Joe's arm even more tightly, prompting an acceleration in the intensity of his screams. "He's just a baby, what kind of a man are you?"
"Please, don't hurt him." Abby added her plea's to Luka's. As much as she wanted to stop him, she was afraid to move, not so much for what might happen to her but for what he still could do to Joe.
"Please...let me have him." The infant's cries were becoming choked sobs as he looked from one parent to the other, clearing not understanding why neither were coming to his aid.
"Ames...it's me you want...let my son go. Whatever you want, I don't care, just put him down." Luka hated that he was having to plead with the man, but he knew too he would do anything to save the child's life, even to the point of sacrificing his own.
"You want me to put him down?" Ames dangled Joe by one arm, taunting each parent in turn as the baby's screams renewed their intensity.
It was too much for him to watch, shooting Abby a glance before he moved into action Luka charged toward Ames, ready to fight for his son's life.
"You shouldn't have done that." In the next moment Ames defiantly released Joe and pulled the gun he had in his pocket, knowing that neither parent could reach the child before he hit the floor.
Luka's scream of horror woke him from the nightmare and left him gasping for air, and it took him several moments to realize that none of what he'd been seeing was real.
"Luka, are you all right?" Abby sat up beside him, rubbing his back, only to realize that his t-shirt was soaked with sweat. "What was it?"
"Joe, Ineed to make sure he's safe." Even as he voiced the concern Luka found himself unable to move.
"I'll go, Luka." Abby was already climbing off the bed as she spoke, understanding the need for urgency. When she returned with Joe in her arms she wasn't surprised to find that Luka remained exactly as she'd left him.
"Here he is Luka, see, he's safe, he's safe." Sitting next to him, she carefully placed the infant in his arms.
"Safe....he's safe." Luka repeated the words quietly before leaning his head against Joe's.
"Yeah, he's safe, it was only a dream, Luka." She offered the reassurance quietly, while wondering if he even heard it. Would this nightmare never end?
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