48 Hours

By Ginny (vkinneman@aol.com)

Sequel to Reaching for the Brass Ring. The rest of the series can be found on my website www.gkinneman.com under the Really Miscellaneous Stories section.

The series went alternate universe with the last story. Although I did borrow a storyline from "Freefall" have no fear, it wasn't the one where the helicopter falls on our beloved Romano.

Disclaimer-Robert, Elizabeth and Ella do not belong to me. However, the character of Dorothy does, please don't borrow her without permission.

Feedback is always appreciated.

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Elizabeth rolled over in bed and reached for Robert. Her hand came up empty and her eyes popped open. She scanned the room and noticed the light was on in the walk in closet. "Robert," she called as she glanced at the clock. It was early, a little after 5:30.

"Lizzie, it's early, what are you doing up?" Robert called back as he walked out of the closet and sat down on the ottoman.

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied as she sat up.

"I gave up on trying to sleep," he sighed. "Thought I'd run before I head to work."

Elizabeth nodded as she looked out the window. "Robert, you do realize it's drizzling out, right?"

"Yeah, I see it. I don't care," he muttered.

Elizabeth crawled to the end of the bed and motioned towards Robert's feet. He lifted them up and she tied his running shoes for him.

"Go back to sleep," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Be careful Robert," she said as he left the room. She wasn't thrilled about him running in the rain and less thrilled about him running in the rain before the sun came up. But she wasn't going to argue with him.

It was the beginning of Robert's last week at County. After returning from the Jersey Shore in September he had sat down with Donald and gave notice of his intentions. All Donald asked for was two weeks but Robert offered to stay until a suitable replacement was found. That process had taken longer than either of them had ever imagined. Two weeks had turned into nearly 2 months. But Robert had hung in there, doing his best to just get through the days. Thanks to some intervention by Abby, Robert and Carter had come to an uneasy truce. Elizabeth and Abby had all but given up on their men becoming friends but were happy they could at least be in the same room without killing each other, most of the time.

Robert had taken a teaching position at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine. He was set to start after the New Year. Much to Elizabeth's surprise he was really looking forward to it. He was also really looking forward to have 6 weeks off with no work obligations.

Elizabeth peeked in to check on Ella and found her still sound asleep so she crawled back in bed and promptly fell back to sleep.

Robert had been running fairly regularly since returning home from Ocean City. He'd become comfortable with his new center of gravity and his strength and stamina were improving. The only time he really felt the least bit uneasy was on mornings like this, when the streets were wet. The fact that it was still pretty dark out only added to his uneasy feeling.

As Robert circled the pond in the park to start the trip back towards home his right foot hit a patch of wet leaves and slid out from under him. His right knee skidded along the wet pavement until he eventually stopped a few feet later. It took a few minutes to ascertain that he wasn't seriously hurt, just a little shaken up and muddy. With his teeth he pulled his right sleeve over his hand and used it to wipe the blood and mud off his knee, cursing his decision to wear shorts instead of long pants even though the temperature was hovering in the mid 50's. Walking the rest of the way around the pond he wondered if this mishap was just a foreshadowing to his last week. He took his time on the way home, jogging slowly and watching where he was going.

He was hoping Elizabeth would still be asleep and he could just hop in the shower to get cleaned up and warmed up. But as usually happened to him in situations like that it was not to be. As he rounded the corner he saw Gretel in the yard and he knew Elizabeth was awake.

"Robert, is that you?" she called as he came in the door that lead out to the deck.

"It's either me or Gretel's learned some new skills," he called back as he toed off his shoes and kicked them aside.

"Very funny. What would you like for..." Elizabeth started to ask, stopping short when she looked up to see Robert standing by the refrigerator, wet, muddy and bleeding. "Robert," she cried as she motioned for him to take a seat on the stool.

"I'm fine. I just slipped on some leaves. Don't panic," he pleaded.

Elizabeth looked at him warily as she wet a paper towel. She sat on the other stool and pulled his right leg up. Robert let out a little hiss as she tried to gently clean away the remaining dirt and blood. "Are you sure you're ok?" she asked as she motioned towards his left side.

"I'm sure. I fell on my right side," Robert replied as he kissed her cheek and stood up to go upstairs to shower. He peeked in on Ella and found her still asleep. He pulled the quilt up over her and kissed her forehead. Gretel followed him into his room and settled down by the window.

Ella was awake and knocking on the bathroom door the second after Robert stepped out of the shower. "Potty," she yelled. Robert threw on his robe and lowered the toilet lid while Ella pushed down her Pull-Up. Elizabeth found the two of them a few minutes later. Robert was trimming his beard and Ella was trying to wind the toilet paper back on the roll. "So, this is where the party is?" she asked with a grin.

"Looks that way," muttered Robert. He finished getting dressed while Elizabeth took Ella downstairs to feed her.

Twenty minutes later Robert stood in the middle of the kitchen, fidgeting, while Elizabeth fixed his tie and helped him into his coat. "Hold still Robert," Elizabeth chided gently.

"Sorry. What time are you on today?" he asked as he reached for his cup of coffee.

"I am on call this afternoon. Hopefully I won't have to come in."

"Yeah, that'll happen," teased Robert. "So I guess I'll see you by lunchtime," smirked Robert as he kissed Elizabeth and Ella goodbye. He heard Dorothy honk from the driveway and headed out the front door.

TBC