Racing Hearts

When Sarah's father returns to her life years later claiming he wants to make amends she struggles a bit with the decision of letting the man who once betrayed her into her heart again. Will her family make her see there's forgiveness after all? And how will she and Connor deal with tragedy as it strikes and a dark secret its revealed?

I own nothing.

Thanks to Eilis for helping me out with grammar :)

Sarah made it back from work just in time to tuck the boys in. They'd be 3 the next morning.

She smiled to herself, the last few months had certainly been some of the hardest, but things had finally seemed to be taken a turn for the best. Ollie was finally home and he hadn't been back in Med since being discharged.

She stayed there watching the boys sleep soundly for a little while and her mind drifted to her and Connor. They'd reached a rough patch for a while but slowly seemed to be getting back to knowing each other again.

If she was being honest, Robert, being back in her life just made her more grateful she had Connor by her side.

She was grateful for him, their boys and their life together.

Sarah closed the door to the room and slowly made it to her own, slumping onto the bed after changing into an old shirt of her husband's.

He'd been attending a conference in San Francisco for the week, which had seemed to last forever.

On cue her phone beeped and she lay back on the pillow as Connor's face came on the screen.

"Hey beautiful."

"Please tell me you're right outside." Sarah smiled softly.

"Sadly no, my flight got delayed." He told her. "But I'll be there tomorrow, I promise."

"I miss you, we all do." Sarah said.

"I miss you all too babe." Connor said with a smile. "This hotel bed is too big."

"Agreed." She replied.

"How was work?"

Sarah told him about this woman she'd been working with, she had lost her son to cancer and she had been having these vivid dreams in which he was alive.

Her son had been a little older than her own boys and it had been tough for Sarah not to imagine herself in this woman's position if she'd lost Ollie.

She fell asleep as Connor did too; waiting on what the morning would bring.

Summer in Chicago was the best. Sarah woke up rather late. She was a little worried by the fact the apartment was quiet.

Her boys now slept in beds, another milestone they'd reached recently and so they could easily be everywhere now.

And with triplets, silence was never a good sign. With any kid really.

Sarah suddenly spotted her half opened door and the boys, one behind the other, in their pajamas and wide eyes staring at her.

Their smiles were in full force as they noticed she was awake.

It was the best feeling in the world.

They'd called Connor who beamed at his now three year olds and promised he'd see them soon.

"Do you need a hand Sarah?" Natalie smiled as they made it outside to where the party would take place.

It had been their friend's idea to have it over at their place; a bouncing castle was being set up as they spoke. They couldn't have that at the apartment.

"No, I think I'm good." Reese smiled as she took the snacks out.

Will and Ethan had taken the kids out for a while so they could work on setting everything up.

Sarah glanced over at her phone. No missed calls or texts from Connor. And it was almost time for the guests to begin arriving.

"He's probably flying." Nat assured her.

Sarah sighed, she was right, but her boys had been insistent about Connor being back and she had vaguely promised them he'd be before the party began, which as they returned a moment later, was turning out not to be true.

"I'm sorry, but we were all going a little crazy." Will told Sarah.

Yeah even for trained doctors, six kids under ten was a handful.

Emma, who was the youngest on the Halstead brood and of the kids, fussed in her father's arms.

It had been funny having Natalie and April being pregnant almost at the same time and their girls being best friends was even better.

Natalie took the baby from Will as she told him to still keep the boys occupied.

Sarah kept herself busy too as she tried to keep an eye on everything. She didn't want the boys to notice something was happening. She'd never forgive herself if she gave them a reason to worry about Connor not being there, he usually was. He might have been reluctant to become a father in the early days but now if there was something he was good at and that was being a parent and a husband you could always depend on. Even if she had given him a hard time about Robert and they began to argue about him ending in Connor sleeping on the couch and she'd go and cuddle with him because she just didn't have the heart for them to sleep apart. Connor was nothing like Cornelius or Robert.

She suddenly saw Luke make his way over to her shyly. As if he was afraid of admitting something and being told off.

"Baby, is everything okay?" Sarah crouched down so she could look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Did Daddy forget?" Luke asked. It was amazing to Sarah how in a matter of months her boys were becoming more and more into their own, Luke Sarah noticed was more like Connor as time went by, Finn was pretty independent and Ollie was still as shy as her.

Reese smiled. "No, how could Daddy forget? I'm sure he'll be here any second okay?"

Luke bit his lip. "Promise?"

"I promise." She hugged him as he smiled and went off; probably to reassure his brothers that Connor would be there soon.

"Sarah? The cake was meant to be Lion Guard themed, right?" Will says they mixed it up or something."

She couldn't believe this was happening, another thing that wasn't going her way today, her boys wouldn't mind of course, but she would, the perfectionist in her was already freaking out.

She made her way to the door to greet the cake people and instead there stood Connor beaming at her.

"Special delivery?" He told her shyly. He'd shaved and looked relaxed wearing a short sleeve red shirt and dark jeans. Sarah's heart skipped a beat. "Hi." before he could react she threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply.

"Hey, you two, let's keep it PG, okay?" Will mused passing by. "Sorry Sarah, he made us."

Of course he had. Natalie beamed at them as they made their way outside. The boys hadn't noticed their dad yet. Claire was also there, Sarah made sure to invite her and she knew Connor was grateful she'd force him to have an actual relationship with his sister that didn't imply having to put on their best dress clothes and dancing.

"How was your flight?" Sarah asked.

"Good, but I might need a little longer to recover from the Red Eye."

"You're getting old, man, admit it, it's time for you to take out the private jet."

"Will…" His wife warned.

"What?" Connor rolled his eyes at him. He gazed at Sarah as he moved slowly to where the kids were playing with their friends. Owen spotted him first but Connor held up his finger.

Luke was of course the first one to notice him. "Daddy!"

Connor smiled widely as he swiftly picked him up, and a moment later the other two squealed in delight as well.

"Daddy, we got a huge cake." Finn told him.

"So I hear…" He said as Sarah came to join them.

"Need a hand?" She mused.

"Mommy! He didn't forget!" Luke told her. Connor gave her a puzzled glance.

"I told you he wouldn't, baby." Luke beamed.

Connor made it back to where the others stood as he and Sarah reached the table meant for grownups. The kids were in good hands with Ethan and April at the moment.

"So? How was the conference?" Natalie piped up as she held Emma in her arms.

"It was good, investors seem interested." Connor said. He'd been in San Francisco to downplay investors, he'd been groomed to do it as a young man, but it was all for a good cause. The David Downey Foundation was in full force, with Connor at the head of the project.

"Aw, Connor that's great. He'd be so proud of you." Natalie said.

"Or give me a hard time about it." Connor laughed. "But yeah, I think it's gonna do pretty well. We just need to have a place like Med behind it in order for it to start. I have a meeting with Ms. Goodwin and Peter next week."

Sarah smiled as she watched Connor talk so passionately about the project he'd been working on for almost 5 years, ever since Dr. Downey had died and it became even more important after they'd had Ollie, for which he and Sarah had set up Ollie's Law which was meant to do funding for research for Pediatric heart diseases.

"Uncle Connor? You want to play?" Owen came over to the table to call him as Will had already joined in on the fun.

Reese watched as her big kid joined her little ones in a friendly game with Owen and Will.

The party went on smoothly after that, their sugar filled toddlers trailed after one another and their daddy.

It was around 7pm when she and Connor made it back home. The boys were asleep in the backseat.

"You okay?" Connor asked Sarah as he drove.

"They had a good party, right?"

"Are you kidding? Babe, it was great." He assured her.

"I hope so. This is the one party they'll start to remember."

Sarah carried Ollie to his bed as Connor managed the other two.

Ollie, she honestly didn't think she'd see the day her baby boy turned three. Sarah felt the weight of his little body close to hers.

"Happy birthday my sweet boys, Mommy and Daddy love you so much." She and Connor stayed in the room a little longer to watch them.

"Thank you." She told him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"For?"

"Them. Our lives." Sarah said. Connor leaned down to kiss her shoulder.

"I should be the one thanking you." He made her look at him. "It's been quite a ride huh?"

"It has and I'm sorry I got so bad about Robert, how could I even think badly of you? You've always been there..."

"Don't think about it..." He brushed her cheek softly. Sarah then led him to their room. "Sarah? I can hear your mind racing..."

She sighed. "He's really dying now, isn't he?"

Connor's gaze softened. "Yeah, his body will start to shut down soon."

In the last few months, Robert had been back at Med a couple more times and during the last stint, Ava had told them there wasn't much hope left, It had been hard enough for him to get one heart.

They wouldn't give him another chance.

"Babe, come here." Connor said as he patted the bed. "Listen to me, you've done all you could for him, even more than he deserved."

"I hate the power he has over me." Sarah said softly leaning her head on Connor's shoulder. "It's just...I don't want to feel like this anymore, you know?"

Connor did know, Cornelius had the same effect on him. " Then don't..." He kissed her softly. "You are amazing Sarah and that's all you need to know, okay?"

She smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kissed her nose.

Sarah laid there with Connor, listening to his heart beating and figured he was right. Her boys were healthy celebrating a major milestone and she had him.

Not even Robert could take that away.

Two more chapters left guys! What did you think?