I own nothing.

Chapter 1

Julia didn't know where she was at first. She could feel herself moving, but she didn't know where she was going. She could remember what happened in flashes until suddenly the natural light of the sun hit her as she was unloaded then more lights as she was moved somewhere else. She had no idea where she was, but she didn't care as she just focused on keeping her eyes open as she fought to remain conscious. It wasn't until someone tried to speak to her that she dared to focus on anything else.

"Miss…can you hear me? My names Dr. Weaver. Can you tell me your name and where you are?" called a woman with red hair looking down at her. Julia tried to focus on the woman as she spoke but found she couldn't. She was doing good just to keep her eyes open. She didn't respond to anything asked, instead, just looked at the woman, the halls she was moving through bringing an unpleasant familiarity. She knew this place, she just couldn't name it off the top of her head. She just wanted to see a familiar face and to live. She had things to do or at least she was sure this wasn't the way she wanted to die.

"I don't want to die yet" thought Julia in that moment blinking as the familiar face she asked for suddenly appeared. Carol Hathaway was there, her eyes were worried, and concerned. Julia latched onto her, feeling something inside her calm as she realized where she was. County General, Robert's hospital; Julia wouldn't die here because somehow, she knew Robert wouldn't let her even after everything that had passed between them.

"Julie?" Carol called her name, but Julia couldn't respond as she felt dozens of hands touching her.

"She a friend of yours, Carol?" whispered Dr. Weaver then beginning to work on the woman's wounds. She had been brutally stabbed and was bleeding from almost everyone. She knew if they didn't stop the bleeding soon that she would bleed to death.

"Yeah, Julia Romano, she's Dr. Romano's ex-wife" whispered Carol trying to stabilize her friend.

"Robert" whispered Julia her head turning as if to look for him.

"Somebody get Romano down here, don't tell him why, just get him here until we can find another family member" called Dr. Weaver trying to find the source of all the blood as Julia struggled to stabilize. Her eyes were open, her mouth was open too, but she was bleeding out.

Many of them were surprised she was even still conscious as they worked on her. Other patients might have passed out by now, but this woman stayed wide awake as if willing herself to do so. They could see a strength in her and they hoped it was enough to keep her alive as they worked on her. If it wasn't, she would bleed to death. Before, where she'd been numb, slowly, the feeling came back, and Julia could feel every new hole in her body.

"Robert" Julia said his name as his voice filled the room then the room less hollow as he stormed in to fill it.

"I heard you needed me down here, Weaver, what's so life altering that you can't fix it yourself?" snapped Robert standing there with his hands on his hips. He didn't see her until she was pointed out to him. His eyes looked at her wounds as a doctor would without any emotion ignoring her face until he absolutely had to.

"Female, early 30s, stabbed. I'm told you used to be married to her" called Dr. Weaver as Robert came closer.

Julie. He couldn't believe it when he saw her lying on that table. Her face was turned straight up to the ceiling, he could see her eyes were glassy and unfocused, and seeing her lying there, Robert could swear his heart stopped. She was the last person he ever expected to see dying on a gurney in his hospital. He didn't realize it as he made his way to her. She didn't look at him at first, her eyes still not seeing anything, and he wondered if she even knew what was happening. He didn't want her to feel any pain even as he wanted her to look at him, giving him that smirk that she'd hid from anyone else, but him.

"How'd this happened? Who did this?" whispered Robert standing close to her head as she lay on the gurney leaning over her to peer into her face.

"No idea, the EMT's didn't say, and neither has she. She hasn't responded to anything other then to say your name. She was brought in and we haven't had time to find out anything" said Carol finding a stab wound that was deeper then the others in her shoulder. There was a piece of what looked to be a pen in the room and when Robert saw it, he closed his eyes. Absentmindedly, his hand came to move her hair out of her face as he watched them work on her. He knew something must have happened at her office, maybe one of her clients, he couldn't be sure. He only watched them, his eyes intent as he made sure they gave her the best care the more blood that stained the gurney only working to scare him all the more until suddenly his own name found his ears. He looked down at her. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Robert…don't let me die. Please, don't let me die" said Julia on a breath her voice strained. Her eyes were moving then, but she couldn't find him still. She'd heard his voice, she was sure she'd heard his voice, but she couldn't find him until suddenly she did. Robert was above her, a frown on his face he looked down into her eyes, and Julia felt something settle inside her again at the sight of him. Robert heard her then and he wanted to assure her that she wasn't going to die, but the words wouldn't come. He couldn't promise something like that even as he kept telling himself that she wouldn't die here. After all, he could like to himself, but not her.

Her eyes wouldn't focus on anything.

"She's going to need surgery…all these stab wounds, it wouldn't surprise me if a few arteries were nicked" said Dr. Weaver noticing as her BP started to drop.

"I'm here, Jules, don't think about that now. Think about something else" whispered Robert in that moment ignoring Weaver as she shouted directions his eyes focused on the woman who he had once called his wife as her eyes finally found him, and when they did Carrie Weaver saw a look on the surgeons face that she'd never seen before. He actually looked scared. Like he cared and she couldn't help thinking that it made him look human. This woman meant something to him even if she was his ex-wife.

"Jules, you're gonna be fine. Do you hear me, I'm gonna make sure of it" said Robert his eyes intent on her then as he let his hand touch her face?

"Robert…Robert. Please, Robert, make it stop" whispered Julia then her eyes finally meeting his. His dark eyes held concern for her as he looked right back at her. She could feel his hand as he moved it from her face to her hair stroking the tendrils as she gave a sudden shiver of pain. He stayed there with her as the others worked around them. He stayed at the head of the gurney where her head was looking down into her eyes. The way he looked at her, with such love and concern in his eyes, it reminded Julia of when they were first married. When he had loved her, so much, and as another shiver of pain went through her, she decided that if she did die, she would remember him that way.

"Robert" whispered Julia then remembering a time when she was the love of his life, the only thing he gave a damn about. Her eyes stayed locked with his until suddenly they couldn't anymore. Julia could feel herself falling. She could hear Robert calling her name before that too faded away and she was just in a wave of blackness that grabbed her, filling her lungs silencing any scream she could have made.

"We're losing her!" exclaimed Dr. Weaver suddenly pushing Robert aside. He watched them work to bring her back. When everything else failed, Robert felt his heart stop until they brought out the paddles, and stepping back, he watched them shock her with no result. He thought about their time together then of their nights dancing in their living room over glasses of red wine. Of nights when he would distract her from her work and when kissing her was his favorite thing to do. He knew things had gone bad between them, mostly because of him, he recognized that, but he didn't want this. He didn't want to have to bury her, not without telling her all the things he'd stored away to tell her when he worked up the guts.

By the third attempt, when she wasn't back, Robert felt his own heart stop, not beating again until it could beat alongside hers.

"Robert" whispered Julia as she regained consciousness not seeing him as they worked to stabilize her and when that was done only then did, he appears again looking from her injuries to her face. They didn't say anything as he merely looked at her with that same look she remembered in his eyes. Silence surrounded them. It wasn't broken until Dr. Weaver appeared then her eyes on Robert as she called his name.

"Could I see you outside a moment?" called Dr. Weaver not accepting a no as she turned then walking out of the room. Robert knew he had no choice, but to follow. He didn't want to though as he looked at Julia still not wanting to leave her alone. Carrie appeared in the doorway then not saying a word as she silently commanded her follow. When he did, Robert didn't look at her still, but instead at Julia as she lay in there on a gurney covered in her own blood. Carrie stood in his way then though, her face serious as she immediately put him on the defensive with just her stance. She was preparing herself for a fight, he could already see that, and he primed himself. Whatever fight she had ready, she wasn't going to win.

He could already hear her argument before she made it. That he shouldn't be the surgeon working on her because of their relationship. That his emotional state was compromised. Robert honestly didn't care about any argument she made because none of them would be good enough. No other surgeon was good enough to work on her as far as he was concerned.

"You can't operate on someone who used to be your wife" said Carrie her voice far kinder then it would have been on any other day. He knew she was hedging around him because that woman in there was his ex-wife. He didn't let her as he moved forward with his usual bulldozer approach to things. From the look in Carrie's eyes, he knew she was expecting it of him anyway.

"No one is touching her. I will work on her. I'm the best this hospital has, and she will have the best" snapped Robert his voice carrying into the room where Julia lay. Any anxieties she seemed to have went away then as she heard him screaming just outside the door. He was the only one she wanted working on her. No matter how he was, he had always been the most brilliant surgeon in this world, and she only wanted his brilliants hands to work on her in that moment. She would argue for that herself if she had to, but as she listened to Robert, she knew she didn't have to. He always got his way.

"You can't work on her, she's your ex-wife" repeated Carrie her voice rising even as she knew she was fighting a lost cause. Robert was passionate about his work and she knew with someone he cared for, he wouldn't allow them under anyone else's blade. She could see that he cared for this woman now even though she carried the manicure of his ex-wife. Once upon a time, she could see that he had loved her once, and she suspected that he still did as he fought her now. She was just about to tell him that she didn't think working on her was a good idea when he interrupted her seeming to read her mind.

"It's a good thing what you think doesn't matter" said Robert turning his head as Carol peaked her head through the door.

"She's asking for you" whispered Carol addressing him alone her eyes refusing to meet Carrie Weavers. Because the truth was, she agreed with Robert, he was the best man to work on her, but she didn't voice that opinion. She simply left them then to go back into the room where her friend lay still asking for Robert. She stayed holding Julia's hand until Robert returned to her side. Carrie wouldn't let him go though. As the others left the room, leaving Carol alone with their patient, Carrie was still arguing with him until finally he'd had enough. He was pissed off now and he rounded on her not needing to say anything more as he stared her down making it quite clear he didn't want to hear another word about it.

"Do you want me to call her family for you?" said Carrie finally. Her question stopped him short and turning his head, he stared at her as she lay with Carol at her side. She couldn't die. For better or for worse, she was all he had, and he was all she had. Even after the divorce, she was still the only family he had, and he the only family she had. She was his emergency contact. No, she couldn't die; he wouldn't let her.

"I'm the only family she's got" whispered Robert then halting as the words left his mouth. It was the truth. He was the only family she had, so if she did die, it would be him who buried her. He prayed it wouldn't come to that as he entered the room once more. When he returned, Carol left too, leaving him alone to be with her. He could see they were preparing to move her and as he leaned over her, he could hear her saying his name.

"Julie, what happened?" whispered Robert moving her hair out of her face.

"I don't remember…I was in my office then a man came…that's all I remember. Just…just tell me what's happening. What's going to happen now?" gasped Julia her throat dry as she spoke her breathing coming in hard spurts. He knew she'd lost a lot of blood and as they moved her, he walked beside the gurney.

"Don't worry about that. I'm gonna fix you up and when you wake up you won't be able to tell anything's happened" whispered Robert petting her hair as he walked into the elevator with her.

"I'm glad you're working on me. You're the best" whispered Julia managing what could be called a smile as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, only the best for you" quipped Robert.

"Good, I was going to request the best anyway. And you are the most brilliant surgeon in this world and the next" whispered Julia feeling as he took her hand for just a moment, squeezing it.

"I'm gonna scrub up, I'll see you soon" whispered Robert letting go of her hand only to have her grab it again.

"Robert don't let me die" whispered Julia her eyes heavy as she fell unconscious. No one saw Robert kiss her forehead before leaving her.