"And you're avoiding him because ... ?"

Ethan was in full big-brother mode again. He'd made the mistake of mentioning to Sarah yet again this morning that Connor was still looking for her, before she'd managed to down her first cup of coffee. She'd nearly bit his head clean off his shoulders before he managed to get her stop biting and start rambling an explanation.

"Because I'm a big wimp and I'm not ready to face him yet."

"After your break up."

"That, and -" she cut herself off, suddenly realising what finishing that thought would mean. "Nevermind."

"Never ..." He studied her very intently for a short moment, before asking her, "Everything is okay, right?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling and nodding but knowing she was not convincing him of anything.

She was saved when he caught an incoming ambulance patient, and she saw her first patient of the day - Danny, a return visitor.

Connor, meanwhile, found himself waiting for his order in the coffee shop next door.

"Double iced latte with one pump of sugar-free vanilla."

Connor was just about to pick up the order from the counter when the barista added, "For Robin."

"Excuse me," a new doctor said, snatching the coffee away just in time.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You just ordered the exact same drink as me."

"Vanilla?" she asked him almost disbelievingly, checking the name and department on his lab coat. "A little dainty for a surgeon."

"What are the odds?"

It was meant to be rhetoric, but he found himself amused at the way she started to answer him.

"Well, if you limit the data set to just lattes, you've got ice or no ice, caf or decaf."

"Don't forget the vanilla."

She smiled, then slipped back into her all-business demeanour. "I'd say the odds of any two random people ordering the same drink are about one in thirty-six."

"You're good with numbers." He surveryed her lab coat, and it clicked. "Ah, of course. Epidemiology."

And then, he found himself asking, "Wait, are you - are you that Charles?"

"I'll see you later," she cut his thought off completely, walking away without a second thought.

He couldn't help himself. He was smiling.

He hadn't had an interaction like that in a very long time.

"Hey, Dr vanilla latte," Robin Charles greeted Connor as they ran into each other in a hallway upstairs in the cardiac ward.

They were working on a case together - a young woman with endocarditis. As unfortunate as it was for the patient, Connor was quite enjoying working alongside the epidemiologist. She was good company.

"I need to collect another blood sample from Pamela, I can't grow a decent culture."

"I can do you one better. I can get you the infected valve itself."

"Great, I'm scrubbing in."

"Once again we're in the same place at the same time, wanting the same thing. You care to run that through your calculator?"

Ooh, he was flirting. He didn't entirely mean to, but he wasn't hating it either. He'd started to miss the banter.

And then the surgery was cancelled. By Dr Charles - senior - who was working on the case as the consulting psychiatrist. And now they were arguing.

This all lead to Connor finding himself going up against Dr Charles to Ms Goodwin. His attending and the chief of department had both signed off on the surgery, and Connor was off to do the surgery.

It was the right decision, in the end. Pamela pulled through just fine, and her mental state was completely back to normal. But Dr Charles still wasn't happy with the decision - and he wasn't kind in letting Connor know.

"We're gonna have to agree to disagree on this one, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we could just disagree too. That'd be alright."

It was then that Robin entered the ward.

"Hi Connor," she said conversationally. "The lab identified the bacteria from our infected valve."

"Q Fever?"

"Mhmm," Robin confirmed. "She works on a dairy farm downstate on the weekends."

They shared a look. It was short, and it had been a while since he'd had to recognise one, but it was definitely there.

"I'm heading down to the cafeteria to write up my report for the health department. If you're free, I was hoping you might help me fill in a few details."

That was definitely an invitation. No doubt about it. And for some reason, it threw him.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "I just have to sign over a few patients. I'll, uh, meet you down there in ten?"

"Great."

He didn't know what Robin had said to her father after he'd left, but the look on his face was enough to tell him that he was not happy.

Part of him was asking himself what he had just gotten himself into. And the other part?

The other part wanted desperately to just let go and move on. No matter how much he might have loved Sarah, it was over now.

This was new. This could be just as good.

(At least, that's what he was telling himself.)

Sarah had had a real shit of a day.

First, she wasn't able to do anything to help protect Danny if he wouldn't talk to the police. And he didn't want to talk. Then, she couldn't find him a safe place to stay herself. And then, when he asked to stay with her, she hesitated. She knew the risks of inviting a patient into her home. She knew it was something she really shouldn't do, and yet she was considering it anyway.

And now, Danny was gone. He'd fled the hospital, telling April he was going 'back where he belongs.' She was dreading to think what that could mean, and so desperate to find him that she and Ethan walked the streets.

Not to mention, she'd had to walk past the cafeteria on her way out. Her heart dropped when she saw them - Connor and Robin, Dr Charles' daughter. They were working on paperwork, but they were sitting just a little too close. And that look on his face. She knew that look.

It was the way he used to look at her.