ER/Luka Kovac 049 Cold/100 Situations

Title: Home Sick
Character/Pairing: Luka Kovac/Abby Lockhart
Prompt: 049 Cold
Word Count:
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: None to speak of.
Summary: Even doctors get sick.
Disclaimer:Neither Goran Visnjic's image nor the character of Luka Kovac of ER belong to me. No copy-write infringement is intended by their use, they are being borrowed here strictly for entertainment purposes.

The coughing had started during the night and by morning it had been joined by a rising fever, even if Luka wasn't ready to admit it. As the phone rang he rolled over in bed and fumbled for it, knocking it off the cradle before he actually took hold of it.

"Luka, are you there?" He could hear Abby's voice even before he lifted the receiver to his ear.

"Yeah..." He released a harsh cough as he tried to clear his throat enough to answer.

"I'm here." His voice remained quiet despite his efforts.

"You sound terrible, have you been up long?" Abby's concern began to move into her voice as she questioned him.

"Not up yet, but, I need to, I'm supposed to work." A rough cough followed his reply as he answered her.

"I don't think that's a good idea, not with the way you sound. Miriam is there with Joe, there's cough syrup in the medicine cabinet, take something and try and go back to sleep." Abby found herself smiling as she imagined his response to her directions.

"It's just a cold, Abby." Luka found himself protesting despite how he felt.

"It's just a cold now, but, what if it gets worse and you give it to Joe? Think about it, Luka, I don't really want to take care of a sick baby if I don't have to, do you?" Abby swallowed her own fear as she thought about the possibility of Joe getting sick, his first fragile months in the hospital still too fresh in her mind.

"Do you want to be responsible for giving your cold to him and risk having it turn into pneumonia?"

"All right, you've made your point." Luka was forced to stop in mid-sentence as the harsh coughing once again forced stole his voice.

"Tell them I'll be in for my shift tomorrow." His words were little more then a whisper as he found them again.

"I'll tell them we'll see how you feel by tomorrow, but they may need to cover that one as well. In the meantime, take something and go back to bed, I'll bring some soup home with me for dinner."

"I will, see you when you get home. His voice was going and with each series of coughs, he found another layer stripped away. Replacing the receiver in the cradle he dropped his feet to the floor, all he wanted now was to take something to ease the cough and to go back to sleep. As he got to his feet, and found himself wracked by yet another barrage of coughing he wondered if even that was going to be possible.