"... Wait. So you're not dating him, but you're not not dating him?"
Somehow - God only knows how - Sarah had found herself standing in the middle of the football down in the ED, talking to Will Halstead about the remnants of her love life. Exactly how this had happened, she still couldn't quite figure out. But here they were.
She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "Will. I am not dating him."
"And you're definitely not getting back together?"
"I'm not even dignifying that with a response."
She'd made to make her exit and get the hell away from this conversation, but he stepped in front of her and said, "It's just - I happen to know he's been on, like, three dates this week."
As much as she didn't want to talk about this, Sarah knew this line of questioning was going to start happening sooner or later. It had been weeks since she'd told Connor she wasn't ready to go there with him again. They were still friends, they grabbed coffee and lunch from the food truck when they could, but the flirting had all but stopped.
He knew he was going to have to work for it, and so far he seemed to have elected not to do anything at all. It was disappointing, but that was life. Maybe they were better off as friends after all.
On the other hand, he didn't need to go around sleeping with half of Chicago, either. It's not that he was flaunting it, but this was Med. Word got around, and it got around quickly.
"He's a grown man, Will," she said with a sad smile. "He's quite entitled to go out on dates with as many women as he wants to."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
Will shrugged. "You don't seem to have been out on too many dates of your own since everything went down."
Some days, she really hated that he was so perceptive.
"I ..." She paused, taking the first moment in a very long time to actually think about it. "Right now, I don't think I really want to be dating. Besides, I've been too busy fending off Noah."
"Speaking of which." He nodded his head to the side, gesturing to the man in question and surreptitiously took a small step to his right to completely block her from Noah Sexton's view.
"Thanks," she muttered, gathering the last of her things and taking off in the direction of the elevators.
Just as she heard the inevitable, "Hey, Sarah!" being called her way, she also heard Will calling Noah's name, spurting something about sub-par charting.
Just this once, the Troll's obsessive stance on the 'art of charting' seemed to have worked in her favour.
Connor found himself in a very strange situation this morning. He exited the elevator to the cardio ward, accompanied by a beautiful red-haired woman. She was older than he was, but that wasn't the strange part. The strange part was how he suddenly felt awkward being here.
"Is this really necessary?" she was asking him. "Like I said, it probably indigestion."
"The first thing they teach you in med school: Always take chest pain seriously."
"That's what I get for hooking up with a heart surgeon."
He found himself pulling a face when she said that. It was, after all, fairly obvious where they had been. He'd haphazardly jumped back into his suit when he noticed something was wrong - his shirt wasn't entirely tucked in, his bow tie was laying undone around his neck, and he'd even managed to mis-align one of his shirt buttons.
He directed her into a patient room before he had to face the nurse in charge of the ward.
"Who'd you just plant in my room?"
He had to choose his words carefully. He knew whatever he said here would be repeated over and over again through the hospital's infamous gossip mill.
"She's a friend," he said dismissively. "Ah, she woke up this morning with tightness in her chest. I'd like to get an EKG and troponins."
"What's your friend's name?"
"Margo."
He suddenly realised the nurse was expecting more. Like a surname. Which most people had.
He knew the nurse - and everyone in the surrounding area, for that matter - now knew exactly what was going on. He wasn't surprised at all when he was asked if his friend had a surname. So, he did the only thing he could. He conceded.
"Can you help me out here, Bea?"
Bea, the cardiac charge nurse, shot him a look and headed into the patient room. And then, there was Ava Bekker.
Somehow, he just knew today was not going to be his day.
"It must be hard, remembering all their names," she commented slyly. When he didn't reply, she tried to goad him again. "I read that Derek Jeter used to send his conquests home with a gift basket. But a full cardio work up is much classier."
"Jeter, huh? You're a baseball fan?"
"No, it's too boring. But I love gossip."
He knew exactly where this was going. That comment had made it very clear that his attempt at changing the subject had not worked. He'd tried to walk away, but she followed him just like she always did.
"Have you stopped to think how your actions might be making that resident you're so fond of feel?"
He scoffed. "Since when do you care about what may or may not be happening in my love life? Or, for that matter, anything to do with other people's feelings?"
"I am human, you know," Ava countered. "And I've been there. Where she is right now. What you're doing really sucks, Rhodes."
He didn't dignify that with a response. Instead, he headed into the patient room, where Margot was telling Nurse Bea she was from Missouri, in town on business.
"Well, we will get you in and out of here as quickly as possible," Connor said, donning his stethoscope and putting his doctor mask back on.
"That's what Dr Rhodes is renowned for around here."
Of course Ava had followed him in. Of course she had to be here right now.
"Quick in-and-outs."
She took great delight in watching him turn his head and glare daggers at her. It was even better when she casually introduced herself to the patient. He wanted nothing more than to push her out the door and close it in her face, but that would be all kinds of professional.
Even though what could be deemed professional had been thrown more or less out the window right now.
"Your insurance card has you listed as a dependant of Theodore J. DiMillio."
Margot didn't miss a beat in answering Bea's observation. "That would be my husband."
Connor paused momentarily, but resumed his normal procedure as quickly as he possibly could. He'd called it - today was really not going to be his day. And there was no way Ava was going to let this one go.
Speaking of which, she was speaking again. He knew it was the right question to be asking, but he was also very aware she was asking it for all the wrong reasons. "Would you like us to contact him?"
"No thank you," Margot answered her politely. "Not just yet."
It was then that Bea and Ava took their leave. Connor felt it wasn't a moment too soon, but then it occurred to him that he would now have to have the single most awkward conversation he'd ever had in his life.
"So you're married," he said as casually as he could. "Didn't wanna tell me?"
"If I had, would you have come back to my hotel room?"
"No," he said immediately, then reconsidered. "Maybe. I don't know."
"That's why I didn't tell you."
And now Connor's day had just gone from bad to worse. Margot had had a heart attack - it was only mild, but it was enough to be concerning. They needed to get her over to the cath lab for further investigation. He was in the process of arranging that when Dr Latham called him over to his workstation.
"I received a call from IR, said you requested a priority reschedule for your patient, Margot DiMillio."
He knew what was about to happen. He knew what he was about to have to tell his boss. And no matter how badly he really did not want to go there, he knew he wasn't going to have a choice.
"Yes. Her EKG showed some PBC runs and possible SD changes."
"Ah. I'm not sure you heard, but her lab work came back. They found traces of cocaine in her urine."
Of all the things Connor was expecting to hear, it was definitely not that.
"I don't believe that's what caused the distress."
"Why not?"
It was times like this that Connor really, really wished Dr Latham was able to read between the lines. Or that he both listened to and/or actually believed at least some of the gossip thrown about by the nurses in this place. Because he knew what was on top of their radar today, at least up in cardiac country.
Ava had noticed. She could hear their entire conversation quite clearly, he knew it. And now she was looking over her shoulder at him half-grinning, just waiting to see what he would say.
He'd had enough. Enough of this damn rumour mill, enough of the gossip, and most of all, enough of the speculation. If his reputation was going to be shot in this place, at least it could be undone by the truth.
"Alright. You want all the details? Sure" he addressed the room at large. They were all listening, after all. "We met at a fundraiser at the Field Museum. We were at the roulette table, we both like the number nineteen. She ends up inviting me back to her hotel room where we ... exerted ourselves a couple of times."
The look on Ava's face was priceless. Latham's expression, however, had not changed.
"I only offer that up because I believe it was the exertion that exacerbated the pain she was already experiencing, which is why I brought her in and why I believe we need to take a closer look at her vessels."
To his credit, Latham didn't miss a beat. "Did you partake in the cocaine?"
"No," he answered immediately. "And I didn't know that she was either. I can take a drug test if you would like."
"That won't be necessary," Latham said.
Latham suddenly directed his attention to the hallway behind Connor. "Can I help you?"
"Um ..."
Connor would know that voice anywhere. He dropped his head down to his chest and rubbed his temples with a sigh.
"Uh, I was paged for a pre-transplant psych consult."
"Yeah, that's for my patient," Ava said, standing up and grabbing a tablet with an open patient file. "He's down the hall."
"Great," Sarah Reese replied, following Ava as quickly as she could.
Connor actually groaned out loud. "Sarah, wait."
He tried to follow her down the hallway, but she stepped into the patient's room as quickly as she could. This was the last thing Sarah wanted to deal with right now.
Barely a couple of hours later, Connor had been taken off his cardiac case and sequestered down into the ED. They were short a trauma surgeon, and Latham had volunteered him. So he headed downstairs, doing exactly as he was told.
"Connor," Will greeted him coldly. "Didn't know you were working trauma today."
"Nor did I," Connor sighed, heading straight for a workstation.
Over the next ten minutes, he noticed the way Will kept throwing looks in his direction. They had a very precarious friendship, but it had been a very long time since Connor had been on the receiving end of one of his cold stares.
Finally, he cracked. "Is there something you want to say to me?"
"Actually, yes."
They were both standing now, right up in each other's faces.
"You're a real dick, you know that?" Will said quietly, suddenly very aware of the fact that one of their colleagues might hear them.
"And what exactly would you be referring to?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about."
Connor shook his head. "This is none of your business."
"Maybe," Will said quietly. "But I'm not going to sit back and watch you hurt her."
The words slipped out before he really thought about what he was saying.
"It's hurting me too."
He'd caught a case not long after that. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sarah in a treatment room with Dr Charles, speaking with a patient. Now was not the time to be thinking about her, or worrying what she might be thinking of him. He had surgery to do, and a life to save.
Sarah had crossed the line. She was convinced what she was doing would help her patient, but she couldn't see how dangerous this situation really was. She was locked in with a patient who wanted himself committed - he was convinced he was going to kill his wife. So she'd gone into the room, and brought a knife in with her. Despite the fact she'd proved her theory right, she still directly defied Dr Charles instructions and put both herself and the patient in danger.
"I appreciate that exposure therapy has given you a newfound sense of confidence," Dr Charles said after having chewed her out. "NBut it does not make you all-knowing and invincible. What you just did in there was unbelievably stupid."
There was more to it. This was not as simple as Sarah being out of line. She was reacting to something in a very unhealthy, dangerous way. And they both knew exactly what she was reacting to.
Dr Charles stormed into the ED, where he knew he would find Connor. He grabbed the other doctor's elbow roughly, saying, "We need to talk. Right now."
"What the hell -"
"- No, no. You don't talk. You listen."
Connor had never seen the psychiatrist like this. He'd worked alongside him for three years now, dated the man's daughter, been there through the ups and downs of that health journey, and eventually somehow found his footing with him as a colleague again. But through all of that, he had never seen the look that adorned Daniel Charles' face right now.
"Whatever you're doing - you and Sarah - it needs to stop."
"What are you -"
"- I'm still talking."
Connor very quickly closed his mouth as the elder, more experienced man surveyed him closely.
"This whole are-they-or-aren't-they thing is affecting her more than you know. She just risked her life to prove a point."
Those words hit home.
"That is not Sarah. This is not who she is. This is not what she does."
When Dr Charles was quiet for a moment, Connor spoke. "And what has this got to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with you, man!" He was heading for the door now, having come here and said what he needed to say. "If you love her, show her. Reunite and live out your lives together in your own happily ever after. But if you don't? Then you need to let her go. For real, this time. Whatever you decide to do - don't hurt her."
Later that evening, Connor found himself back up in the cardiac ward. He'd managed to avoid Ava for most of the day, but he knew she'd find him. When she did, he was standing outside Margot's room, watching the woman interact with a man who he could only assume was her husband.
She approached from behind him, then said, "Surgery went without a hitch."
He turned to face her, very determinedly not saying anything.
"Seems your personal life keeps working in my favour."
It was then that the husband came out into the hallway and hugged them, thanking them both for saving his wife's life.
He felt awful. It wasn't just that he was a party to a woman stepping outside her marriage, and a poor husband that was absolutely none the wiser. He had hurt Sarah. Badly.
And that was not okay.
