It's rated PG, but actually I think it's all G material. I'm just rather being safe than sorry……
~~~~
Part I: Elizabeth"Excuse me," Elizabeth addressed a nurse. "Can you tell me where I might find Dr. Robert Romano?"
The young woman looked confused.
"Dr. Romano?"
"Yes"
"I don't think we have any doctor of that name attending…..."
"I know. I'm looking for a patient called Robert Romano." Elizabeth explained, looking around for a more familiar face to show her to the right direction.
The nurse was quite hopelessly looking around as well. Apparently she didn't have a clue of where to find this Dr. Romano.
"I should probably check from the computer records……." She finally said.
"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary. I will ask Dr. Weaver."
Elizabeth had just noticed Kerry exiting a room further across the hall, and as soon as she had dismissed the nurse, she called Kerry's name to get her attention. At the sound of her voice, Dr. Weaver immediately turned around. She was seemingly surprised to find Elizabeth standing there.
"Elizabeth!" she greeted, starting to limp towards her. "I didn't know you had returned."
Elizabeth forced a smile. Seeing Weaver hadn't been on the top of her list of things she had found herself missing back in London.
"I arrived two weeks ago." She replied politely.
Weaver paused.
"Then you must already have heard……"
"Yes." Elizabeth replied curtly. "I made some calls last week to learn if I could still have my old job back…...I talked with Dr. Anspaugh and he informed me of the……accident." Elizabeth was finding it hard to talk about what had happened.. She was still shocked by the news she had so recently received.
Kerry nodded.
"Well, I am glad you decided to return. The lack of surgeons at the moment……"
"Yes." Elizabeth interrupted impatiently. "I didn't come here today to discuss work. Can you tell me how he is doing at the moment?"
"I was just visiting him, but I had to leave him sleeping."
"Oh"
Elizabeth peeked over Kerry's shoulder to look towards the room Weaver had just exited.
"So……is he over there?" she inquired. "I was just asking a nurse, but she seemed to be quite clueless. Hadn't even heard of Dr. Robert Romano."
Kerry followed Elizabeth's gaze and nodded.
"Yes, he is there. We thought it might be better to give him a private room."
Elizabeth nodded in full agreement, then continued questioning: "And……how is his arm?"
"It was reattached, but only time will tell……"
"…...If it will ever be functional again?" Elizabeth finished the sentence. "If he will ever be able to operate again."
"Exactly."
For a while the two stood in silence. Elizabeth had never felt so sorry for Robert as she was feeling now, knowing that he might never again be able to do the thing he loved the most: operating. It would be awkward to go to see him, to look him in the eye and see him so vulnerable.
Elizabeth's thoughts were interrupted by Kerry:
"Are you going to visit him?", she asked, when there seemed to be no end to the silence.
Elizabeth looked down at the bouquet of flowers she was carrying, and the back up to Weaver. There seemed to be no way of denying the intention, even though Elizabeth was beginning to have second thoughts, so she nodded.
"That's good" Weaver said. "You know…he hasn't had many visitors."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. She didn't know much of Robert's family, but it seemed odd that nobody was visiting him. Surely he had to have someone in his life who would care enough to pay a visit after such a close encounter with death. Or did he? Robert had never really talked about anyone in particular…
But that was something Elizabeth did not feel like discussing with Kerry. She decided to change the subject instead:
"So, you said Robert is sleeping now?"
Weaver replied in affirmative.
"Maybe I shouldn't go to disturb him at all then……" Elizabeth suggested, happy to find an excuse to delay the visit that would probably just be awkward.
"I wouldn't worry about disturbing him. He has a very strong medication so maybe he won't even wake up right now" Kerry replied. "But you could try later today. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."
"I think I'll just go in now and leave the flowers." Elizabeth said after some deliberation. "There's so many other things I must yet see to today……"
"Right" Kerry nodded. "You're probably busy with moving back and everything."
"Yeah..….There's a lot of things to arrange"
There was a short pause, then Kerry continued: "Well, it was nice to see you again. I'm happy that you decided to return."
"Thank you." Elizabeth replied, keeping up the polite conversation. "I'm happy to be back."
With that, the two parted and Kerry started limping away, while Elizabeth slowly walked towards Romano's room. At the door she came to a halt, turned around to see Kerry limping around a corner, and then finally opened the door.
~~~~
The room was full of light as Elizabeth entered. The sun was shining through the window, but the vast amount of light didn't seem to have any effect on the figure that lay still on the bed. Elizabeth's eyes shifted from Romano's face that looked uncommonly pale to his left arm that was being held in a cast. This was the first time Elizabeth had ever seen him so helpless and vulnerable. It was hard to even recognize the Robert Romano she knew and had come to respect as her colleague.
Elizabeth quietly moved across the room and took a seat beside Romano's bed. She placed the flowers she had brought on the table that was beside the bed and then slowly leaned closer to Robert, reaching out her hand as she did so. Her fingertips gently touched his forehead and then ran across the bald head.
This action caused Romano to stir, and Elizabeth quickly withdrew her hand, but to her relief he did not open his eyes. After that Elizabeth no longer dared to touch Robert in the fear of waking him up. Instead, she only sat motionless by the bed, hundreds of emotions running through her head as she did so. Pity, compassion and sadness were the most dominant feelings, yet she also felt happiness for the fact that it was only Romano's hand, not his head that had been chopped off. Returning to the County without Robert being there would have been something she would have had problems dealing with, even if it at first was hard for her to admit.
Finally Elizabeth stood up to leave. For a moment she considered leaving a note with the flowers so that Robert would know she had visited, but in the end she decided against it. She had no idea what she should write to him anyway. So, with one last look at Romano, Elizabeth quietly departed, hoping that next time she would see him in better shape again.
Once outside, Elizabeth, still deep in her thoughts, ran into the same nurse she had been talking to earlier.
The nurse smiled a bit apologetically.
"I hope you did find Dr. Romano, Mrs..…"
"Corday." Elizabeth introduced herself. "Dr. Elizabeth Corday. And yes, I found him."
"Good. You see, there was a little confusion……." The nurse explained. "I only met Dr. Romano for the first time this morning and he insisted that I should call him Rocket, so when you were asking for a Robert Romano……"
Elizabeth smiled. It was somehow comforting to know that despite everything Robert was still the same.
"I understand." She only said.
"Shall I tell Dr. Romano that you visited once he wakes up?"
"No" Elizabeth replied. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again eventually."
"What if he asks about the flowers?"
"Tell him they are from a friend." Elizabeth replied and smiled as she turned to leave.
~~~~
Part II: RobertHe could hear a blurry voice coming from a distance.
"Robert, how are you doing?"
Romano opened his eyes to see Kerry Weaver standing beside his bed. He sighed and closed his again.
"Robert?"
"What? I was doing fine until you showed up" , he grunted. Romano had never been too excited about Kerry's visits, but this time was even worse, because she had interrupted a particularly juicy dream which had involved a beautiful woman with curly red hair.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you've at least been feeling better..."
"Yeah, sure you are."
There was a silence. Weaver seemed to be at loss as to how to carry on the conversation and Romano just couldn't care less about the whole situation.
Finally Kerry sighed and turned to leave. "Fine, Robert. I won't disturb you anymore."
Romano didn't reply. He had closed his eyes again, determined to ignore Weaver and get back to the nice little fantasy world he had been in before the interruption.
Kerry left and he soon drifted back to sleep, and much to his delight the dream seemed to continue, only this time it was getting even better. The woman with read hair he had been dreaming of earlier now also had a familiar face; It was Elizabeth and she was smiling at him. She was leaning closer, her lips only inches from his. It was almost too good to be true…...And it was. Suddenly the image disappeared Romano was awake again. Someone was touching his forehead. He stirred.
It was a soft, gentle touch. Almost as if..….But no, it had to be Kerry. Why couldn't that woman just leave him alone? Romano resolved not to open his eyes. Maybe that way Kerry would just leave and he could then pretend it was Elizabeth and continue his sleep.
The action was an immediate success. The hand was quickly removed and Robert could congratulate himself; Weaver had obviously taken the hint.
He fell back to sleep, and after some hours spent in the perfect place that was his dream world, Romano woke up again. His medication was wearing off and the arm was hurting. He was back in reality again and it was striking him hard. Robert inhaled resignedly. Then suddenly he was aware of a new scent in the room.
He turned his head and saw that someone had brought him flowers. It was a small and simple bouquet and there was no note, but something about it sent a warm feeling across his body. Somehow it reminded him of someone he had just dreamt of, and for a little moment the real world didn't seem quite so cold and bitter anymore.
The End