It would be another two days before Connor would finally concede to leaving the hospital. He'd spent the nights sleeping on the couch in the doctor's lounge, not game enough to leave his new mentor. He knew he would be well taken care of by the other staff rostered on to work, but he just couldn't convince himself that nothing was going to go wrong.

It had been Downey who threw him out of the place, in the end.

"Go home, Rhodes," Downey was insisting. "You got a girl?"

Connor faltered, not quite knowing how to respond.

"Or a guy, that's a thing too."

Connor looked out into the ward, very aware that Sarah had just accompanied a new patient upstairs. Still looking out the door, Connor said, "Yeah, I've got a girl."

Downey followed his gaze, his eyes quickly landing on the resident working out in the nurses' station. He nodded, noticing that Connor's eyes had not left her. "The one with the curls," he said. "I know her. She's checked in on me once or twice."

That got Connor's attention. "She did?"

Downey smiled. "Probably looking for you, though."

Connor let out a long breath. He coudln't quite place why, but he was comfortable that Downey knew - happy, even. It suddenly occurred to him that he really should be panicking, but he wasn't.

Downey had picked up on the change in his demeanour. He knew there was something up, but he couldn't quite place it. "She's a resident down in the ED, yeah?"

"Uh ... no," Connor finally admitted. Quietly, he added, "Fourth-year med student."

Downey's eyebrows shot up. "I wouldn't have picked you as being one to break the rules, Rhodes."

Connor's mouth opened and closed, but he didn't seem to be able to form words.

He was shocked by Downey chuckling. "Don't panic, man," he said. "I'm not gonna dob you in. It's not like she's your med student."

Connor was half way out the door, a small smile on his face, when Downey added, "Just do us all a favour - don't get her pregnant before she graduates. That's a whole headache none of us want to have to deal with."

He'd said it loud enough to gain Sarah's attention. She looked up, confusion and mild panic written all over her face.

With a smile and a nod, Connor walked past her calmly. "Sarah."

He didn't leave time for her to respond, he just kept on walking.

When she arrived back at his apartment barely an hour later, she wasn't quite sure what she would find. To her great surprise, however, it was exactly the opposite of what she was expecting to see.

He was in the kitchen, now wearing his most comfortable pyjama pants and an old UAG t-shirt. He was happily singing along to the musical theatre tunes that were playing in the background. The smell wafting from the pot on the stove was delectable, enough to make Sarah's mouth water.

In all honestly, she'd never seen him this happy.

"That smells delicious," she groaned, dumping her backpack on the floor beside the door. He made his way over to her quickly, helping her out of her jacket and then taking her in his arms to dance all over the apartment.

He was still singing along when he finally released her and returned to preparing their meal. She didn't know what had him in such a good mood, but she welcomed it. It had been a lonely few days for both of them.

She reappeared a few minutes later, delighted to find him serving ratatouille and two large glasses of wine opposite the TV.

She had down beside him on the couch, and placed a brief kiss on his cheek. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Downey," he grinned.

"Downey?"

"He sent me home to spend the night with my girl," Connor said, now turning on the TV.

"O-kay," Sarah said very slowly. The end of the conversation she had heard up in the ward earlier was suddenly making sense. "And doesn't have a problem with this?"

Connor shrugged. "He doesn't, no."

"... As long as you don't get me pregnant?"

Connor grinned. "Not before you graduate, anyway."

That stopped her. She tried not to show it, but she knew he could tell there was something up. She stared at the TV long and hard, not hearing or seeing whatever it was they were watching. Her thoughts were racing around in circles - did he mean what she thought he meant?

About an hour later, when the food had long been consumed, she finally spoke.

"You've thought about it, then?"

He knew exactly what she was talking about without having to ask her. He had sat back and enjoyed the hour of that comedy show she liked, waiting patiently while she was engrossed in her own thoughts. He was very aware of what he had said, but he wasn't panicking. They'd been together for nearly a year now; the conversation was bound to come up eventually.

He turned off the TV and sat up a little straighter, draping his arm along the top of the couch behind her, before he answered. "Yes, I have."

"You want children."

"Yes."

She looked over to him now, an expression that he couldn't quite read adorning her face. "With me?"

And there it was. He recognised that emotion now - it was terror. Whether she was terrified of him wanting a future with her or that he wouldn't want one, he didn't know. But he was about to find out.

"One day," he replied quietly, tracing her cheek with his thumb now. "If you wanted to, yes."

"Oh," she breathed.

He surveyed her for a moment, then asked, "Have you -"

"- No," she cut over him, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Quietly, but her voice stronger than it was, she confessed, "I've never really thought of kids as a possibility."

He reached forward and wiped away her tear. "You haven't?"

She shook her head. "No. To be honest, I don't think I'd be a good parent - I've had pretty crappy examples. Besides, I don't have a maternal bone in my body."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

He took a deep breath, thinking long and hard about how to phrase what he wanted to say before he opened his mouth. "Just because you had a sub-par parent ... that doesn't mean you would be one, too. I mean, is it really any different to only ever having seen a relationship end badly? We both did, and we fell in love anyway."

"It's not the same," she said. "We don't have a tiny, defenceless person relying on us. It's just you and me."

He held her close to him now, and kissed the top of her head gently.

Tonight was not the time to make decisions or plans for their future. Conversations like these only served to remind them both of how they really were in different places in their lives. He was older, clearly ready to start planning to settle down. Being younger, she wasn't sure she was really ready for any of this yet.

It didn't dissolve into a fight, and it didn't cause her any panic. But it did start to make her think.

There was no rush, of course ... But it was certainly comforting to know that he wanted a future with her.

Two weeks later, their lives were still plodding along nicely. They were relaxed, and they were happy. Their time together had been cut short on more than one occasion - Connor was near-constantly working, studying cardiothoracic surgery under Dr Downey. Crossing paths on shifts non-withstanding, they hadn't been spending time together at the hospital like they had previously.

Downey was working him hard, but he was making made sure he was getting one night off each week for date night. Which Sarah found funny, especially since it was all Downey-mandated.

Today, she knew Connor was scheduled on a double lung transplant. So when her rather bulky teenage hockey player patient passed out and took her down as he hit the floor, the first thing she told Ethan was not to tell Connor.

She now found herself in a treatment room, an ice pack on her shoulder and Ethan poking and prodding.

"Anything hurt?"

"Not really," she answered him. "I'm going to be stiff tomorrow though, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but pain builds character," he joked.

"According to who exactly?" she laughed.

He didn't have a chance to reply - Connor rounded the corner purposefully and walked straight into the room. She barely had a chance to register his presence when he spoke. "What happened?"

"You called him?" she asked Ethan disbelievingly.

"He would kill me if I didn't," Ethan replied. To Connor, he said, "Patient passed out, took her down when he hit the floor. Doesn't look like he's done any damage, but she's bruised."

"Really, I'm fine," she said, knowing she wasn't going to get a response out of either of them.

Connor was on to it immediately, now looking at her shoulder himself. "Have you ordered an x-ray?"

"Just examining her before I send her up to radiology, just to be safe."

"Hello?" No response. By now, she was very aware neither of the doctors were listening to her.

That was when Dr Charles appeared in the doorway.

"Hi," Sarah greeted him quietly while the other men continued to talk behind her. "I think they've forgotten I'm here."

"Two doctors to look at one shoulder?"

Dr Charles' presence seemed to sober the two men, who suddenly popped out of their own little world and back into reality.

"Really, guys," Sarah said, jumping off the bed and out of their reach. "I'm fine. I promise I will go up to radiology right after I fill out an incident report. The last thing any of us need is the Troll losing it."

She left as quickly as she could, heading straight out to Maggie who had the paperwork ready and waiting for her.

Dr Charles and Ethan had a quiet conversation about their hockey player's father, but Sarah couldn't help but notice the way he watched Connor heading back out toward the elevators. She sighed, and directed her attention back to her paperwork. Nothing got past the head of psychiatry, and they all knew it.

After she returned from radiology with the all-clear, she found herself sitting at a workstation pouring over brochures for residency programs. This was where April and Maggie found her.

"You still at it?" April asked, leaning over the desk to get her attention. "Didn't your Momma ever tell you you'd go blind if you stared at a screen too long?"

Her answer was both very sarcastic and very true. "My mother was a litigation attorney who worked ninety hour weeks. She didn't tell me much."

"Well, guess it's on the nurses then," April answered her.

She and Maggie were immediately all over the brochures. They were good-naturedly ragging on the other hospitals, which only made Sarah chuckle.

"This one's Boston?" April asked, pulling a face. "The winters are terrible."

Sarah and Maggie both just looked at her.

"Alright," she conceded. "You got me on that one. Maybe, I'm wrangling for you to stay."

Sarah smiled. "Chicago Med is definitely in the running. It's my specialty I'm torn over - I always thought I'd choose pathology, but the ED's really grown on me." She looked to Maggie, and added, "I can't believe I just said that."

"Oh, that's okay, sweetie," Maggie gushed. "You're not the first lab geek that we've turned."

As April walked away, Maggie leaned down to her and whispered, "And I know someone else who would be really happy to see you stay."

By the end of her shift, she and Ethan had diagnosed their teenage patient with a genetic condition. It was manageable, but if he took the wrong hit while playing hockey he could be killed instantly. And yet, he'd chosen to still keep playing.

She decided her future right that on the spot.

"Headed out? Made your decision?" Maggie asked her, clearly knowing something was wrong.

"Yep," Sarah replied. "Just now."

April approached them confidently. "Let me guess, ED strikes again."

"No, pathology."

Their faces fell.

"What?"

"It's the patients," Sarah explained. "They come in, and you wanna help them. You care about them, and you try to connect. And just when you think you're getting through, they go back to what they were doing before. It's like you were never even there. Like everything you did was for nothing. I can't take a life of that."

She finally stopped to breathe.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, then made a beeline for the door.