This takes place a few weeks after 'All in the Family'. This is my first foray into Fanfic so be gentle with me – I am open to any helpful suggestions.
I Do not own Robert Romano, Elizabeth Corday or any other characters from E.R. Nor do I own E.R. If I did, Rocket would NOT be dead, but hey, let's not go there!!!!
Chapter One: The Bad Run
Three weeks after Lucy's death and things seemed to be getting progressively worse. Yet another patient had died on his O.R table. Dr Robert Romano had never had such a 'bad run' in his whole, impressive career. That made his failures five. Five lives' that he should have been able to save – After all, he was 'Rocket' Romano, the best surgeon to walk these County walls. He was the Chief of Surgery. Failure was not something he associated himself with. He left that to others, and they did it very competently!
People were beginning to talk, make callous jokes, 'He'd run out of Rocket fuel', colleagues would duck when they saw him approaching – 'Oh, hide, here comes the grim reaper!' He'd chew them out if he heard them directly. The worse part was, he knew he would do the same if it were some other chump.
He threw off his gown and gloves into the waste bin and stormed through the OR doors. Wearing the fiercest glare he could muster, he dared anyone to make a smart-ass comment. Not surprisingly no one did.
"Brenda cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day and then you can go too," he snapped at his assistant, "and don't even think about putting any calls through."
Once inside the inner sanctum of his office he collapsed onto the couch and let out a loud sigh.
After several minutes of just staring into space he heard Brenda calling out,
"Bye then Dr Romano, I'll be off now. Your schedule is now clear and I'll see you tomorrow."
He remained still for a few minutes before bringing his hands up to his head and rubbing his cheeks. Why had Lucy had to die? She was one of the few people he had respect for in this place. She would have made an excellent doctor. Life really was a bitch. So pointless and futile, the fact that some psycho could just walk in and do that to another human being, especially someone like Lucy, who really was just a kid, well you had to wonder what was the point?
He got up and reached for the bottle of scotch he kept in his desk and poured himself a generous three fingers worth. Turning out the light and closing the blinds, he knocked the phone off the hook. As the liquid burned the back of his throat, he sank back down onto the couch, closed his eyes – and saw her face.
A face almost identical to Lucy - a face that he had loved with all his heart and soul, his very being.
It had been years since he had cried tears over her, but now they came thick and fast. A desperate sob from the pit of his stomach escaped through his mouth. The tears became uncontrollable and his shoulders began to shake. An inner voice told him to get a grip, but the unleashed emotions he had kept in check for so long refused to dissipate.
A deafening pounding filled his head and Robert's hands went instinctively to his ears. Raw emotion took control of his whole body as the sobs came faster. Still fighting to take back control Robert tried to stand but instead fell to his knees, dropping the glass of scotch and spilling it's contents.
Then from out of nowhere two arms enveloped him.
"Robert!" yelled Elizabeth.
"Robert what's wrong, what's happened?"
I Do not own Robert Romano, Elizabeth Corday or any other characters from E.R. Nor do I own E.R. If I did, Rocket would NOT be dead, but hey, let's not go there!!!!
Chapter One: The Bad Run
Three weeks after Lucy's death and things seemed to be getting progressively worse. Yet another patient had died on his O.R table. Dr Robert Romano had never had such a 'bad run' in his whole, impressive career. That made his failures five. Five lives' that he should have been able to save – After all, he was 'Rocket' Romano, the best surgeon to walk these County walls. He was the Chief of Surgery. Failure was not something he associated himself with. He left that to others, and they did it very competently!
People were beginning to talk, make callous jokes, 'He'd run out of Rocket fuel', colleagues would duck when they saw him approaching – 'Oh, hide, here comes the grim reaper!' He'd chew them out if he heard them directly. The worse part was, he knew he would do the same if it were some other chump.
He threw off his gown and gloves into the waste bin and stormed through the OR doors. Wearing the fiercest glare he could muster, he dared anyone to make a smart-ass comment. Not surprisingly no one did.
"Brenda cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day and then you can go too," he snapped at his assistant, "and don't even think about putting any calls through."
Once inside the inner sanctum of his office he collapsed onto the couch and let out a loud sigh.
After several minutes of just staring into space he heard Brenda calling out,
"Bye then Dr Romano, I'll be off now. Your schedule is now clear and I'll see you tomorrow."
He remained still for a few minutes before bringing his hands up to his head and rubbing his cheeks. Why had Lucy had to die? She was one of the few people he had respect for in this place. She would have made an excellent doctor. Life really was a bitch. So pointless and futile, the fact that some psycho could just walk in and do that to another human being, especially someone like Lucy, who really was just a kid, well you had to wonder what was the point?
He got up and reached for the bottle of scotch he kept in his desk and poured himself a generous three fingers worth. Turning out the light and closing the blinds, he knocked the phone off the hook. As the liquid burned the back of his throat, he sank back down onto the couch, closed his eyes – and saw her face.
A face almost identical to Lucy - a face that he had loved with all his heart and soul, his very being.
It had been years since he had cried tears over her, but now they came thick and fast. A desperate sob from the pit of his stomach escaped through his mouth. The tears became uncontrollable and his shoulders began to shake. An inner voice told him to get a grip, but the unleashed emotions he had kept in check for so long refused to dissipate.
A deafening pounding filled his head and Robert's hands went instinctively to his ears. Raw emotion took control of his whole body as the sobs came faster. Still fighting to take back control Robert tried to stand but instead fell to his knees, dropping the glass of scotch and spilling it's contents.
Then from out of nowhere two arms enveloped him.
"Robert!" yelled Elizabeth.
"Robert what's wrong, what's happened?"
