A/N: This story is the companion piece to The Secret Santa, the story I posted at Christmas. I decided to keep going with the idea of a Robert/Susan pairing and have a general plot for a story. This is the second part, and I will continue to post chapters under this story instead of keeping each one separate. Happy Valentine's Day and happy reading!
-Foodie
Robert had enjoyed getting to know Susan better since she'd spent Christmas with him. They'd started eating lunch at Doc Magoo's together a few times a week since then. He'd learned a lot about her, and had quickly come to see her as a good friend, something he didn't have a lot of. She was tentatively dating John Carter, had a penchant for film noire movies, and loved bread-and-butter pickles on the cheeseburgers she always got at Doc Magoo's. And even though she was a bleeding-hearted liberal, he still enjoyed debating politics with her. She never seemed to get upset with him, no matter how outlandish he got.
He enjoyed having somebody in his life he could honestly consider a friend. He wasn't competing with Susan, and she had a laidback approach towards life he found very refreshing. It helped temper his fiery attitude. He was always worked up over something: drama between coworkers, politics, people asking him for things. It all left him enraged, generally. Susan always seemed to help him forget his troubles, and put his life into perspective. She always had a way of calming him down again. She was consoling and indulgent in listening to his many complaints, before laughing them off. But the way she did it never upset him. In fact, it always made him smile.
They were currently sitting in a booth at Doc Magoo's for dinner on the last Thursday in January, waiting for their food to arrive. "The idiot actually tried to make the excuse that he didn't know the proper procedure because he was only a med student. I just don't see how kids these days can be so lazy and use excuses like 'I'm still learning' to get away with it!"
Susan grinned and shook her head. "Robert! They're just students!" she chided him while playfully hitting him on the arm. "You have to cut them a little slack. I would imagine there was a time when you didn't know everything either."
Robert rolled his eyes and took a bite of the Rueben that had arrived in the middle of his rant. He chewed for a minute before swallowing. "I was a model med student. I spent hours studying, reading text books, and any spare moments were spent volunteering to help with my professors or in the lab working on procedures. You don't get to be as brilliant as I am by not working for it."
Susan dipped a French fry in ketchup and smiled again. "That doesn't surprise me in the least," she replied before popping the fry in her mouth. "You're a classic workaholic. Balance in life is definitely not your forte."
Robert didn't take offense at Susan's words. She was always candid, which he found wonderfully refreshing. "Who needs balance when you have glory?" He grinned as she took a large bite of her cheeseburger and ended up with mustard on her nose. That was another thing he liked about her: she had a healthy appetite and wasn't afraid to show it in front of him. Normally he'd have teased a woman mercilessly for it, knowing she'd be self-conscious about it, but Susan wasn't most women. She was special. She was his friend.
Susan's smile turned to a concerned frown. "If you don't have balance in your life, you'll have a heart attack some day and then what good will you be? There's no glory when people are working on you to save your life. Believe me, I've helped heart attack patients. They're completely helpless. Nothing at all glorious about it."
Robert smiled and set down his sandwich. "Why Susan, I didn't know you cared so much."
"Well I do," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You need to take the time to have some fun with life too. I mean, what do you do when you go on vacation?"
"I don't usually go on vacation."
"Exactly! You should. And you should go somewhere warm and sunny and beautiful and do absolutely nothing for at least a week. It's healthy."
Robert thought about that for a minute. He loved the idea of going to far-off places for vacation, but didn't want to go alone. These were the rare moments he wished he was married, or at least had a girlfriend. Somebody to go on vacation with. He took another bite of his sandwich before responding. "Vacations are for the weak," he declared emphatically, ending the conversation.
"Don't you do anything for fun outside of work? Besides hanging out with Gretel?"
"In the winter I like to join in with the Polar Bear club," he said and when he saw her look of confusion, he went into more detail. "It's a group of people who get together when it's cold out and go swimming outdoors. Like in lakes." He laughed to see the look of horror on Susan's face. "Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it. It's a lot of fun. Challenging. Invigorating."
Susan smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I can think of a lot more activities that are nice and warm, are indoors, and are just as invigorating," she replied with a wink. "I'd much rather partake in those, thank you very much."
"Oh really? Well, I will agree those are terribly fun and invigorating as well," Robert said flirtatiously. "In fact, I try to engage in those after a plunge, just to warm up again."
They continued in this vein for the rest of their meal. Both Robert and Susan had decided at the start of their friendship that it was perfectly natural and acceptable for their friendship to have a constant flirtatious tone to it. They flirted shamelessly with one another and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. People observing them often wondered if they were dating.
Robert liked the flirtatious nature of their friendship, finding it what he'd always hoped for with Elizabeth, but had never gotten from her. It was too late for her now anyway, what with her being married to Mark Green now. He knew how Susan felt about him too, and actually felt it was something that acted as an unspoken bond between them. At first he wondered if it was a case of "if you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with," as the song went, but had quickly realized that was not the case. He enjoyed being Susan's friend on its own merits and she had the aforementioned scenario with John Carter. Robert knew that wasn't going to last long, but was curious to see who would be the one to call it off first, or if it would be mutually decided.
He would be lying to himself if he wasn't he hadn't contemplated a romantic relationship with Susan. He'd thought about it right after Christmas when she'd showed him such selfless kindness. He always contemplated a romantic relationship with any woman who showed him kindness, since those occurrences were so few and far between. Susan was a lot of fun to be around and he'd wager to bet that she'd make a wonderful lover, but he knew she wasn't in the market for anything too lasting at the moment. He adored her, but she was a bit flighty for his tastes. If he was ever going to get involved with a woman, he wanted it to be serious, long-term. He didn't see Susan as the marrying type, which he supposed didn't really matter, though, because he didn't see himself as the marrying type either.
(SCENE)
February was proving to be a brutally cold month in Chicago. Robert made sure to tease Susan at every possible opportunity for bundling up every time they went outside. "You look like a sumo wrestler," he cackled as she tried to walk outside to the roach coach with him for coffee.
"I can't help it! I was in the desert for too long!" she cried, defending herself.
"You'd never make it in the Polar Bear club," Robert declared, holding out a cup of coffee to her. "Here, drink, you'll warm up."
Susan drank the scalding hot coffee without complaint as they walked back inside the hospital. "Much better," she sighed when they were standing at the admit desk.
"Glad to hear it," Robert replied while opening up a package of M&M's and pouring some into her outstretched hand. "Be careful not to eat too many green ones," he joked, referring to the myth about the color green having an effect on a person's libido.
"Aw, but the green ones are my favorite," Susan replied before popping two green candies in her mouth and winking at him.
Dr. Carter walked over just then and looked at them while they ate and laughed. "What's so funny?" he asked casually before glancing at Robert suspiciously.
Robert looked at Susan momentarily before responding, "Oh nothing, just getting her ready for you."
Susan shrieked and hit Robert on the arm. "I can't believe you just said that! That is terrible!"
"Oh you love it, don't deny it," Robert said before handing her the rest of the green M&M's and walking away. The last thing he saw out of the corner of his eye was Dr. Carter scowling at Susan as she tried to wave off whatever he was saying. Robert wondered again how long things would last between those two.
(SCENE)
It was Valentine's Day and Robert was driving to an all-day medical conference he had no real interest in attending, but he had no choice as Chief of Staff, but to go. It was not his idea of a wonderful Valentine's Day, though it wasn't as if he had anybody to celebrate the day with anyway. At least an all-day conference was an acceptable excuse for not having a Valentine or plans to celebrate.
As he finished parking his car and got out to make his way into the hotel where the conference was taking place, he was startled to hear a familiar, excited voice call his name. "Robert! I'm so glad I won't be the only one here!" He turned and saw Susan running up to him. When she was close enough, she entwined her arm through his and squeezed it in greeting. "I was sure I'd be the only one here today, but now we can both represent County!"
"How did you get roped into this?" Robert asked, grinning at the prospect of a much more interesting day now that Susan was there.
"Weaver wanted someone from the ER to attend, but then conveniently decided she was too important to the department to go herself. So she appointed me instead. Apparently I'm expendable." Susan rolled her eyes and squeezed Robert's arm again. "This might actually be a tolerable day with you here."
Robert couldn't remember any other time in his life when somebody had expressed joy over his presence. It made his heart swell with happiness, though he did his best not to show it. "It will be nice to have a familiar face nearby," he finally admitted.
When they made it to the conference hall, he helped her take off all the layers of outerwear she had put on to stay warm outside. He hung his coat next to hers before they walked around to look for a good place to sit. They chose a table near the back so that nobody would be too likely to call on them to speak. Several other people from nearby hospitals joined them and they all began to talk before the conference began.
"Well, well, if it isn't 'Rocket' Romano in the flesh," a dark-haired man said from the end of their table. "I never thought I'd get the honor of sitting at your table." Robert watched as the tall man stood up and walked over to him. "I'm Eddie Dorset, from Northwestern," he introduced himself, holding his hand out and flashing him a large, toothy grin.
"Oh, 'Fast Eddie'," Robert replied, shaking the man's hand. "Your reputation precedes you." He looked at the taller, handsome man and thought about the brashness and ego "Fast Eddie" was known for. Dorset looked incredibly smug and Robert instantly disliked him. And when Dorset introduced himself to Susan and flirted shamelessly with her, he liked him even less.
Susan appeared to enjoy Dorset's attention, and Robert was thankful when the conference began and Dorset took his seat at the far end of the table, away from them. He was even more thankful when the conference proved to be interesting and managed to keep his attention.
When they stopped for a lunch break, Robert quickly led Susan to the hotel restaurant to make sure Dorset stayed away from them. He insisted on treating Susan to lunch. "I was just going to grab a hotdog," she commented while perusing the menu. "What are you going to get?"
Robert closed his menu. "The steak sandwich here is excellent," he declared. "Definitely that."
Susan closed her menu and set it on top of his. "Then that's what I'll get too," she replied.
While waiting for their food, they discussed the fact that it was Valentine's Day. "Are you and Carter doing anything special tonight?" Robert asked casually.
"He works tonight, so I'll probably just go home and take a bubble bath or something," Susan replied.
Robert grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. "You in a bubble bath, huh? I like the sound of that…"
Susan laughed for a minute before taking a sip of water. "How about you? Do you have a hot date tonight?"
"Only if you count hanging out with Gretel as a hot date," Robert said honestly. Normally he'd never admit to anything like that, but there was something about Susan that made it easy for him to open himself up to her. "Who knows, maybe I'll come over and join you in that bubble bath."
Susan laughed again. "I'm trying to envision you surrounded in bubbles. I can't quite see it…"
"So you're picturing me naked…" Robert joked as the server arrived with their food. "I seem to have that affect on the ladies. You're not alone." Susan continued to laugh as the server looked incredulously at him before hurrying away from their table. "Another satisfied customer," he commented before picking up his sandwich.
"Oh, you're right, this sandwich is divine," Susan said after tasting hers. "You have wonderful taste in food."
They spent the rest of the meal chatting amiably about nothing in particular. They enjoyed every minute of it.
When they returned to the conference, Robert thought about what he wanted to do that evening. He wasn't really the bubble bath type, but knew that it would be pathetic of him not to do anything at all.
He was still thinking about it when the conference ended and Dorset tried to make eye contact with Susan. "Are you busy tonight?" he heard Dorset ask her.
Robert walked over to Susan and frowned at Dorset. "Actually, I was going to take Susan out for a night on the town," he heard himself blurt out. "She's my Valentine."
Susan turned from Dorset and looked at Robert with wide eyes. She was clearly caught off-guard, and he wondered how she would react. After a couple seconds, she smiled and turned back to Dorset. "Apparently I have a date," she replied. "Sorry, maybe some other time." She turned and smiled at Robert before linking arms with him as she had earlier this morning. "So, where are you taking me tonight?" she asked as they began to walk over to the coat-check station.
"Wherever you want," he replied as they put on their coats and walked outside to the parking garage. "Did you drive?"
"No, I took the El."
"Perfect, we'll take my car then." After they were in the car and Robert had pulled out of the parking garage, he glanced at her. "So? Where do you want to go on our date?"
Susan was quiet for a moment before turning to look at him. "If this is a proper date, then you choose where we go. I mean, since you'll be paying, right?"
"Of course," he replied, trying to think of where to take her. After a minute, he switched on his blinker and turned left at the end of the block. "All right, we'll have to see if there's any way to get in, but I'm going to try…I'm sure it's been booked for months, but maybe there's been a cancellation."
"Where are we going?"
"Tru."
"Oh Robert! There's no way we'll get in there! I've always wanted to go there. It'll cost a fortune though."
"Don't worry, it's my treat." Robert drove in silence for a moment before speaking again. "When I take a woman on a date, I pay for everything, and I don't care about the cost. Call me old-fashioned, but that's who I am."
Susan smiled and blushed slightly before looking out the window. "You'd better be careful, Robert, or you might make me fall in love with you," she murmured.
It was Robert's turn to flush. His last-minute, silly Valentine date with Susan suddenly felt more like a real date now. What would happen with their friendship if they started to make it more than just a friendship? It would probably never work out between them, and then he'd lose her as a friend. But he wasn't sure he wanted to be lonely anymore. If she was interested in more, didn't he owe it to himself and to her to go for it?
As they arrived at the restaurant, he abandoned those thoughts and focused on finding a parking spot. "I'll run inside and see if there are any openings. You stay here. I'll run out and get you if we get in," he instructed as he parked the car.
He left Susan in the car while he ran into the restaurant. Unfortunately they were booked all night and any cancellations had already been filled. He returned to the car a few minutes later feeling defeated. "Well, I guess it wasn't meant to be tonight," he announced sadly as he turned on the car.
"Oh, that's too bad," Susan replied, reaching over to pat his arm sympathetically. "Well, what's plan B?"
"Everything's booked, I'm sure," Robert said, feeling upset that he wasn't going to be able to dazzled Susan after he'd promised her an amazing evening.
"Well, we could always do pizza and beer. It's a good standby."
"That's hardly impressive…"
"I don't mind, really," Susan said, turning to look at him with a smile on her face. "Let's pick up the food and take it back to your place. We could watch a movie or something."
Robert grumbled for a moment before sighing. "All right," he agreed grudgingly. "Just don't be upset if this is the worst Valentine's Day ever."
"Until twenty minutes ago, I had no plans at all. Anything we do will be an improvement."
Robert drove to a pizza parlor near his house and they ordered a large pepperoni and sausage and a twelve-pack of beer to take to his home.
When they got to his house, they brought the provisions into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table, eating the pizza right out of the box. Within minutes they were laughing and talking about the day. They again discussed what they'd be doing if they weren't spending the evening together. "I'd have been here, with Gretel, probably eating take-out," Robert confessed. "Not too different from this, only the company is much more interesting and pretty to look at…"
Susan smiled and looked down at her hands for a moment. "Well, I'd probably be at home, watching whatever's on Lifetime and eating a carton of ice cream," she replied a minute later before opening another can of beer and taking a drink. "This is a much better alternative. And the company is much more interesting and pretty to look at…" She smiled again and looked at Robert.
Robert took a large sip of his beer, and tried not to let himself jump to any conclusions. She was probably just being polite. "It's too bad Carter has to work or you would be spending the night with him instead of me," he finally said, and after a few seconds, he realized what he'd just implied and looked over to see Susan looking at him with wide eyes. "Well, you know what I mean…" He drank the rest of his beer to keep himself from saying anything else he might regret.
Susan started to laugh nervously and set her pizza crust down. "I don't think I can eat another bite," she declared before standing up and turning to look down at him. "I thought we were going to watch a movie…"
Robert picked up his beer and another slice of pizza and led her into the living room. They looked through his DVD library and settled on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. "I love these movies," he commented as they got settled on the couch.
"Me too, Indy is so sexy," Susan replied in agreement. She placed a blanket on her lap and sipped her beer as the movie started. Robert sat next to her and grabbed part of the blanket to cover his lap too. As the movie played, Susan moved closer and closer to him until she was pressed against his side. She wrapped her arm around his and rested her head on his shoulder.
Robert leaned forward to set his beer down on the coffee table, and missed the first time, but managed to catch it before it fell on the carpeted floor. He tried harder the second time and made contact with the table before letting go of the can. "Stay," he commanded before sitting back up again. Susan giggled before doing the same thing with her can. When she was once again sitting against him, pressing her body as close to his as she could, Robert came to a conclusion. "I think we're buzzed."
Susan giggled again and nodded her head. "We did drink almost all of the beer after all…" she replied in agreement. "But don't worry, I have excellent control of myself." She went back to snuggling with him and watching the movie.
Robert's mind was growing a little fuzzy, but he wasn't sure how he felt about this. Did Susan think he was some snuggly friend she could cuddle with when her boyfriend wasn't available? Or was she getting close to him because she honestly wanted to be closer to him? He wasn't interested in being a surrogate lover.
He kept his thoughts to himself, though, and remained where he was, allowing Susan to cuddle with him. When the movie reached the scene with Elsa and Indy making out in the hotel, Susan leaned over and bit Robert's earlobe, mimicking what was happening on the screen. He jerked away, startled, and looked over to see her grinning at him. She was giggling again. All good sense abandoned him at that moment, and he lunged at her. They were soon embroiled on the couch much the way the two characters in the movie were at that moment.
Susan was a good kisser, he decided. A great kisser, really. And she was clearly willing to do more than just kiss, if the way she was using her hands was any indication. She had managed to take his shirt off, somehow, just as Robert had finished unbuttoning her blouse and slipped his hands around her back to undo her bra. His vision became a little unfocused just then, and he pulled away from her to take a deep breath. Susan sat up and ran her hands through the hair on his chest, causing him to shiver at her touch. "What's the matter? Why'd you stop?" she asked, leaning over and pressing her lips to his.
Robert wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close, returning the kiss for a minute before pulling away again. "What are we doing?" he asked, trying to catch his breath. He frowned slightly and his look turned accusatory. "I'm not him."
"What do you mean? Who?" Susan asked, looking confused before leaning over to kiss his neck.
"Whoever you're thinking about right now," Robert said as she gave him what was sure to be an impressive hickey. "Carter maybe? Green…"
Susan stopped at that name and pulled away from him. She looked him in the eyes and opened her mouth to speak before closing it again. "And I'm not Corday," she finally retorted accusingly before sitting up and trying to button her blouse again. She didn't have much luck with the buttons and abandoned her task. "Don't tell me you don't still pine away for her…"
Robert took a deep breath and sat up. He folded his arms and looked at the floor for a minute, trying to compose himself. Finally, he unfolded his arms and stood up, swaying for a moment as he did. He grabbed the DVD remote and turned off the movie. "I don't think we should discuss this tonight," he said firmly. "We've both had too much to drink, clearly. We aren't thinking straight and should go to bed and sleep this off before we say or do anything we'll really regret. Maybe we'll both forget about this by morning."
Susan looked around, confused. "You want me to sleep with you?" she asked.
"I have a spare room. You can sleep there," Robert offered. "Neither of us is sober enough to drive tonight."
Susan nodded her head and took his hand when he held it out to help her to her feet. She didn't let go as they started walking to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Neither was too steady on their feet and they kept bumping into one another on the way up.
After the third time Susan bumped into him, Robert stopped walking and grabbed her other hand. Without thinking, he pushed her against the wall and pressed his lips to hers. Soon they were once again tearing at each other's clothes. "What are we doing?" Susan gasped as Robert let his hands wander. She reached her hands up and ran her fingertips over his scalp, causing him to moan loudly and pull away from the hollow of her neck that he'd been kissing.
"About to make a huge mistake, probably," he replied before leaning in to kiss her again. Slowly, they began to make their way up the stairs again and made it to the top before stopping to kiss for a few minutes. They slowly made their way down the hall, stopping to kiss every few paces.
Finally, they made it to the spare room. Robert opened the door and ushered Susan inside, following behind her and closing the door behind him. They stared in silence at the queen-size bed looming in front of them. "I should go and let you get some sleep," Robert said, looking at Susan, and then back at the bed.
"Yeah, I should probably get some sleep," Susan said, glancing over at Robert. She sat down on the end of the bed and looked up at him. "Well, aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?" she asked coyly.
Robert didn't need any more invitation, and quickly pounced on her. He pressed her down onto the bed and kissed her as she'd requested. After he'd successfully undone Susan's bra, he kissed her again. "We really should stop," he murmured in her ear.
"We probably will regret it if we go any further," Susan replied as she pulled the belt out of the loopholes of his jeans.
"Ok, I'm going to stop now," Robert said as he threw Susan's bra on the floor and began trying to unbutton her pants, though with little success as his hand-eye coordination wasn't at its best at the moment.
"Ok, I will too," she said before reaching out wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She pulled him down to kiss him again.
"Good, just as long as we're agreed that we aren't going to go any further tonight."
They continued to kiss one another and rid each other of their remaining clothes. They took a few moments to get under the bed sheets before throwing themselves into one another's arms again.
Robert couldn't believe what was happening. He knew it was wrong, but his body had been starved for attention and affection for so long it didn't care. As he allowed his body to override his most of his brain, he let a small part of it dwell on thoughts about their earlier exchange. Was he just substituting Susan for Elizabeth? This is what he'd always wanted to have with Elizabeth, but she'd never been interested. Far from it, really. Did he have feelings for Susan as well? Did it matter if she really was imagining Mark Green in his place? There was a physical resemblance between himself and the other man, after all. His mind couldn't come up with any answers, though. Everything was fuzzy at the moment.
The only conclusion he could come to, was that he'd hate himself if these were the circumstances in which he slept with Susan for the first time. But just before he had to make that last-minute decision of whether or not to go through with it, Susan gave him an out by falling asleep in the middle of kissing him. Apparently the beer was stronger than her desires.
Robert breathed a sigh of relief and turned Susan onto her side to sleep off the effects of the alcohol. He wrapped the bed sheets tightly around her, grabbed his clothes, and slipped out the door as quickly as he could.
Gretel was sitting outside in the hall and looked curiously at her disheveled master. "What are you looking at?" Robert said, glancing down for a moment before covering himself up. He didn't know why he suddenly felt self-conscious in front of his dog who had seen him naked before, but he did.
As he walked down the hall to his room, the realization of how far he'd gotten with Susan and what they'd almost done, hit him. He had probably just thrown away the one friendship that actually meant something to him. Susan would probably never want to see him again after this. And what would it be like in the morning when they got up together and had to face each other? He still had to drive her to work too.
As Robert started the shower in the master bathroom, he realized that this was why he preferred casual sex with women he didn't work with. Take a pretty woman out for drinks and dinner, or off for a weekend getaway somewhere, slake his lust, and then be done with it. He hated entanglements of any kind, and romantic ones were the worst. It was shallow of him, and made the act of lovemaking hollow and meaningless, but there were far less awkward moments involved as well. Why did life and love have to be so complicated?
It took a very long, very cold shower before Robert was able to fall asleep that night.
Reference: "Love the One You're With", song written by Stephen Stills, performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.