Things seemed to be going well between Connor and Robyn these days. So well, in fact, that he had told Claire about her.

She had been surprised, to say the least, that Sarah was not in the picture anymore. But she was still happy for him. And she wanted to meet Robyn.

"I went to Joe's last night. My sister loves stone crab," he was telling Robyn as they exited the elevator. "It was nice. I mean, there were a lot of years when Claire wasn't speaking to me."

"I'm sure she had a very good reason."

Connor smiled. "She can tell you all about it herself."

"What do you mean?" Robyn asked him, now very confused.

"She wants to meet you. She wants to have you over for dinner."

"By meet, do you mean grill? Make sure I'm worthy of a Rhodes?"

She was kidding, but she also had no idea she'd touched a nerve. In the very back of his mind was that one little voice reminding him how much Claire genuinely liked Sarah.

"No, that's more my father. Claire's not like that." His mouth kind of kept going, almost as though his subconscious was trying to reassure him: "She's happy if I'm happy. And I'm happy."

He desperately hoped he was right about his sister. The last thing he needed was her comparing Robyn to Sarah. Because he knew right now which one she'd think was better.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to, uh, meet the family."

They shared a look, but he was saved responding by the appearance of one of his residents. You know, the one who tended to give off the air of being completely in love with him? The one who worshipped at his feet? Yep. That one.

Little did Sarah know, this situation was how she wound up grabbing lunch with Claire Rhodes at that little coffee shop next door to the hospital.

"I feel so bad," Claire was telling her. "I had no idea you guys had, well ..."

Sarah smiled. "It's okay, Claire. Really."

"But you broke up. And I had no idea."

Sarah shrugged. "It's fine, Claire. It was months ago."

"And that's why I feel so bad!"

It took Sarah a minute, but she very quickly worked out what that expression was. The Rhodes' siblings were far more similar than either of them cared to admit.

"We're friends, and I had no idea what you were going through."

That caught Sarah off guard. "... We're friends?"

Claire actually laughed. "Of course we are!"

"But I'm not with Connor anymore."

"Just because you're not dating my brother now, doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

They shared a smile. Maybe Sarah would make it through this in one piece - maybe even with an extra friend or two on her team. But she still felt kind of guilty. She didn't know how much Connor had told her, but it was just as much hers to share as it was his.

"Claire, how much did he tell you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did he tell you?"

She knew he hadn't. Claire had no idea what she was talking about. Without even really meaning to, she found the words falling out of her mouth, telling Claire the whole story beginning to end.

"Oh my God, Sarah. I'm so, so sorry."

That right there - that was the moment Claire and Sarah truly became friends.

By the end of the day, Connor had performed a notoriously difficult surgery on a teenage kid. They weren't sure how it was going to go, but they saved his life in the end. And he just might have dealt with a couple of his own issues along the way.

"I heard the surgery went well," Robyn said as she approached him in the hallway. He was outside the recoveryh ward, watching the patient interact with his father.

"Yeah, thankfully."

"Yeah, don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

"Tell them what?"

"Oh, that you were scared."

And there was that banter again.

"Oh, that's what you think, huh?"

She'd just smiled at him.

"Oh, man," he sighed, "you're definitely a Charles. Very perceptive."

She waited for him to talk.

"I was. After that first time, I was afraid I was gonna lose him."

"I have fears of my own, you know."

"Cholera? Typhus?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "And relationships. There are a lot of pitfalls in dating a surgeon. There are the crazy hours, stress of the job -"

And then that resident appeared again. "Tough case, Dr Rhodes," she said. "Very impressive. And thanks for the vote of confidence."

She was gone as quickly as she had appeared, but it hadn't gone unnoticed. Robyn just continued as though she hadn't been interrupted: "Fawning women falling at your feet."

He'd wanted to jump in and make a joke about his sixth sense for that sort of thing, but this wasn't the time.

"Yeah, I don't know if I can compete with all of that."

"You don't have to compete," Connor reassured her. "I'm all in."

"Are you sure?"

He took a moment and really considered what she was asking him.

"Yes," he said finally. "My past is my past. You are my present."

Well, look at that. He'd finally moved on.