We All Have Secrets
AU . Post 3x16. Sarah and Connor connect in the most unexpected way as he treats her father. Rheese twists to the last episodes of the season. Now a season 4 alternative version.
Thanks Eilis for the help with grammar. I still own nothing!
The sound of sirens still haunted Connor's ears as he came to his senses. He tried to move, to check on the others in the car, but a sharp pain in his leg made him stop as it was probably pinned down. "Sarah?" He gasped, trying to reach for her again but to no avail.
Claire Rhodes was waiting in the crowded airport for her Father's jet to be given the ok to fly. Eric eased her worries with a gentle squeeze of his hand as they sat together. The doctors had cleared her too and Sarah had assured her she would still be able to travel for a few more months at least.
Sarah couldn't open her eyes but her senses spiked up again as she tried to come to, she'd barely had time to register what had happened, but she could feel Connor next to her. She could have sworn he was calling for her but she couldn't reply.
No matter how hard she tried to scream.
"Do we have something else Maggie?" Will Halstead came down the hall with a chart to be completed and filed. "No wonder...it's Sunday huh?"
"Don't jinx it, you know better." She scolded. Monique sighed as they all looked around the empty bay. Everyone was out but Will, Natalie and Ethan.
April had come down with a nasty cold and Dr. Charles had taken the Sunday off to see Robin who was back in town.
But the calm always came before the storm, Will's comment had seemed to have cursed them all and their calm afternoon was about to turn haywire. Ms. Goodwin came over a moment later; her face was serious but strong. "There's been an incident" she said simply, to the people gathered around Maggie's station "And two of our own have been caught up in it." She continued. "Med is the nearest Center so that's why they are being brought in, and I do believe our team to be the best equipped to handle the situation. I trust all of you to do your job."
Natalie shot a glance in Will's direction. "Who is it?" He asked.
Ms. Goodwin sighed. "Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Reese's car was involved in the collision earlier today; we still don't know the extent of the situation, all we know now is that they are alive."
Natalie gasped as she tried to compose herself. Goodwin then pulled Will, Maggie and Ethan aside. "There's one more thing, we are going to need PD down here. Dr. Halstead, you best get your brother on the line and ask him to come down as soon as possible."
"What does that mean?" Maggie asked. "Were they hit on purpose?"
Sharon gave a loud sigh. "Also, Dr. Choi, I will need you to care for another victim." She said sternly as Ethan seemed to be the only one to keep a cool head given his military training.
"It's Haywood, isn't it?" Will all but whispered. Sharon gave a small nod. "We are going to need to contact Dr. Charles and get him to come in."
"The bastard is alive." Maggie swore under her breath. "And they are bringing him here?"
"I guess we all know why they asked Choi to take over." Will hissed. "We're all too involved anyway."
"It's not our job to judge who lives or dies Will." Ethan said darkly. But Will knew it hit him hard as well, Sarah was his surrogate little sister and Connor was his friend.
"Not even if that one person tried to kill our friends?" Maggie said. Ethan sighed beside her.
"We have a job to do Maggie." Ethan reminded her. She placed a hand on Will's arm and followed Ethan to wait for the incoming ambulance.
Connor could barely move as his eyes came into focus to a bright light. "Connor? It's Hermann, can you hear me?"
"Sarah…" He gasped as his eyes searched around.
"She's right behind us buddy. We've got her, don't you worry." Hermann smiled at him and placed an oxygen mask on his face. "You're going to Med, we'll see you there…"
Claire's phone buzzed in her purse as she was about to come down the main stairs and onto the tarmac to board the plane. "Honey, what's wrong?"
"Miss Rhodes, My name is Sharon Goodwin, I'm calling from Gaffney Medical Center…" the next few words she heard were mere whispers as she tried to register what they meant. "There's been a situation…"
"Claire?" Eric was beside her in a second. "What is it?"
"Connor, he's… he's hurt. Sarah too."
"What?" He asked.
"They were in a car accident with Arthur and Sully…"
Natalie Manning had seen a lot of horrible things in her line of work, some wonderful and others that were just plain terrifying and as the couple of gurney's that were carrying her friends arrived into Med, she understood, just how messed up the world could be, just how sick of a sense of humor it had. "Nat?" Maggie placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I'll take Sarah." She said simply.
Maggie nodded. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, let me know, about Connor?"
"Of course, alright you are going to Trauma One….." Natalie moved on autopilot, taking a minute to look at Sarah and then at Connor beside her still trying to make sense of the situation.
"He's conscious." Will called as Nat saw Connor trying to get up, with Severide and Hermann managing to hold him down.
"Connor, stop man, or I'm going to have to sedate you, you need to let me check you out." Will said. "Sarah's right next to you. Nat's got her, I promise." Will felt Connor's glare on him. "I've got you, you're both going to be okay." He saw Connor's eyes close as Maggie slipped some Haldol to calm him down which allowed Will to finish the examination.
"How is she?" Will turned to Nat as the nurses settled Connor down about half an hour later. Honestly, the last 30 minutes had passed in a blur for all of them. Arthur had a few bruises and concussion and Sully was up in surgery. Sarah didn't seem to have any internal bleeding but Natalie was keeping an eye out for decompensation.
"Still non responsive." Nat said. "Him?"
"They might have to take him up to the OR, his leg is in pretty bad shape and his hand was jammed under the wreck, it took Kelly and the guys a while to pull him out, but it's touch an go, but there doesn't seem to be any neurological trauma."
"How did this happen, Will? It's like something out of a movie." Will placed a hand behind her back soothingly. "How's Haywood?"
Of course she'd heard who the other person was, the one that had caused the accident. It wasn't like that couldn't be kept for long, especially when Nat had given him that look.
"Sharon moved him upstairs. She didn't want Connor to see him." Natalie huffed.
"Great. The killer gets VIP treatment, he was a great waste of a good heart."
"Nat...None of us knew just what kind of a monster he was." Will put in but Natalie kept her eyes fixed on Connor.
"He knew. Or at least he sensed it early on, that there was something more to Robert Haywood." Will was about to reply as Monique came down the hall.
"Dr. Manning? Are we still up for the MRI?" She asked coming back with a tablet for Nat.
"Yes, but first..." Natalie gave a glance on the nurse's direction. "Let's make sure she's not in any danger." Monique raised an eyebrow at the test she was requesting.
"You think she could be pregnant?" Will asked, wide eyed checking the chart.
"Her count was a bit elevated. I want to cover everything." Natalie sighed. This felt like Wheeler all over again. Only this time their friend's lives were in their hands and they knew the outcome of what their actions or lack thereof them could mean.
"Can you imagine Connor with a baby?" Will said, turning his head to the once trauma fellow."Or Reese?"
"Actually I can." Natalie said bitterly. "And that monster might rob them of everything Will. Have you heard anything?"
"No, Ms. Goodwin is keeping it on the down low until Jay gets here, he's still down at the car wreck site. All I know is that he's alive."
Claire's head was spinning as she and Eric made their way into Med. It was like she was reverting to the night Elizabeth had died. "Excuse me." A nurse looked up from the chart. "My brother, his girlfriend and.."
"Miss Rhodes?" Sharon Goodwin, a familiar face greeted her. "I'm not sure if you remember me but we spoke on the phone…" Claire nodded but suddenly she couldn't move her mouth, she was feeling light headed.
"I'm Eric Robertson, Connor's brother in law…how are they?" Sharon updated them on all of their conditions. Arthur was out of the woods and recovering well while Sully remained in surgery but Dr. Latham appeared optimistic.
"Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Reese both remain unconscious. He was lucid for a moment but we had to sedate him to assess his injuries. He's going to be taken up for surgery in a little while."
"Surgery?" Claire choked out. Sharon then explained the extent of Connor's injuries.
"Claire, you should sit honey." Eric told her. Ms. Goodwin then understood as Claire's hand moved to her tummy. "We're supposed to be in our honeymoon…"
"I see." Ms. Goodwin said. "If you want ."
"Claire, please."
"Claire, we can have someone examine you. We wouldn't want you and your child to be in danger. I'm sure Dr. Manning will be more than willing..." Claire's eyes rose up at the mention of Natalie. She nodded and Lucy led her to where Nat was standing.
"Do they know what happened?" Eric asked in a mere whisper as Claire was out of earshot. "Where are the other people who got hurt?"
"We don't have all the facts yet." Goodwin told him. "I'll keep you posted Mr. Robertson, it's best if you are with your wife right now."
Eric nodded. "Thank you. Will you let me know when they take Connor to surgery?"
"Of course." Ms. Goodwin took her leave as Natalie greeted him.
"Is that Sarah?" Claire said as her head turned to the side. "How's she?"
"She hasn't woken up just yet." Natalie said, trying to control her emotions. "But it is still too early to tell exactly what's wrong."
"Sarah is sweet and I know she loves my brother, the way she looks at him, I've been waiting my whole life for someone to care about Connor like that, everyone who ever pretended to, only did so because of the money, but not Sarah." Claire admitted bitterly. "She's different."
"She's family to us too. They both are." Natalie said kindly as Eric stood behind Claire, a hand on hers.
"I have Sarah to thank for having some sort of a relationship with Connor…" Claire smiled sadly. "God, if anything happens to either of them…" She sobbed.
"Claire…" Her husband warned worriedly but Claire pulled away.
"He's my little brother Eric and I've been horrible to him for such a long time." She countered. "I haven't even called Dad...I need to call him even though I know Connor's going to fight me on it." She smiled bitterly at Dr. Manning.
"Families can be complicated." Natalie commented reassuringly.
"There's that and then there's the Rhodes scale." Claire replied grimly.
"Let me worry about your Dad and you know Connor is one tough guy, he'll be okay." Eric smiled. "Right now we need to focus on you." Natalie did a quick sonogram and Claire was relieved to know everything was normal.
"Baby's doing just fine, but have you eaten anything in the last few hours?" Natalie asked when Eric took a step outside to try and get a hold of Cornelius.
"I'm not sure…" Claire said tiredly. "When are they going to take Connor? Can I see him?"
"Of course." Nat said with a kind smile."I'll take you."
Maggie watched it all from her spot at the nurse's station. Everything had settled down again, so much she was afraid something worst was going to be dropped on them soon. She looked down at the small screen of the device in her hand, she had been trying to get a hold of Sarah's Mom for a while now but hadn't gotten a response.
"Anything?" Will stood beside her. Maggie didn't reply. "Morrison is taking Connor up soon." He said as they watched Claire stand beside her brother. "You know Sarah told me they'd barely talked?"
Maggie eyed Will. "Guess they do now?"
"All thanks to Sarah." Will stated sadly. "And now her own father might end up killing her."
"Don't you there say that, she's going to be okay, they both are." Maggie said firmly as Will offered her a small smile.
"Nat thinks she might be pregnant." Will said after a moment as they watched Morrison make his way over.
"Good thing we drugged Rhodes, otherwise he'd be up there going all Rambo on Haywood." Maggie said sombrely.
Will tapped his hands on the tablet. "Call me as soon as Sarah's Mom gets here?" He made his way back to Natalie as he went to greet Claire and Eric and check on Connor before he was taken up.
"Claire, Eric this is Dr. Halstead. He's..."
"You're Will?" Claire inquired in surprise. "So if he's... you two are getting married soon, aren't you?" Will turned a bit red as Natalie smiled. "Oh yes, I can see it. You have to have the wedding at the ranch." Eric shot Claire a weary look.
"Honey…"
"What? I need to focus on something else or I'm going to go crazy." Claire told him. Natalie and Will offered her a kind smile as Dr. Morrison arrived to take Connor up to the OR. It was strange really to have to operate on the guy you'd taken the job from.
"We'll keep you updated. "Will said taking his leave behind Nat.
"You'll think about it? For your wedding I mean? I'd love to." Claire commented kindly.
Natalie nodded softly glancing at Sarah's small frame from their spot by the door as Claire and Eric walked over to stay with Reese. "I'm going to page Abrams to come down."
"You think it's neurological?" Will inquired. "Like her brain just shut down?"
"Could be. She's been dealing with this for far too long." Natalie said tiredly. "I don't even know what I would do? I wonder if we could have done something more?"
"Like what?" Will asked. "Connor pulled all the stops, Jay and PD were after him." Will countered. "And to think I made fun of him for hiring her a bodyguard, If it had been you..." Natalie leaned closer to him."She lived in fear this whole time, didn't she?"
"This is so messed up. We didn't take it seriously enough and now she might never come out of it." Natalie beckoned taking his hand. Will felt his heart sink in his chest. He still couldn't believe this was happening.
"I should head upstairs and check on Connor..."
"Dr. Halstead!" Monique's voice interrupted them once more as they both looked away from each other. "You need to get to the OR, Dr. Morrison needs you..."
"Me?"
Monique nodded. "It's Dr. Rhodes."
Dun, dun, dun! It took me forever to get back into the mood of this story but since Med is coming back, I thought it might be time to!
Let me know what you thought? I might get back into adding episode related bits as the season progresses, though I'm scared for Reese on the show and honestly right now, here as well.