As the days passed, it became more and more clear to the staff of the ER that something was up with their redheaded attending. She seemed to float through every shift, possessing a newfound optimism that made even the ever- cheerful Yosh a little suspicious. "No one's ever that happy without a reason," he confided to Susan one morning as they watched her from across the triage area. "I'm telling you," Susan insisted, "it's gotta be this new mystery man!"

"I didn't know she was seeing someone!" Yosh gasped. "The only people I ever see her socialize with are you and Chen and Abby."

"Trust me, there's somebody. She mentioned him a couple of months ago."

"What did she say?"

"Not much, and she hasn't mentioned him since. And it's not like I haven't been digging. But believe me, he's still in the picture. He has to be. We went out on Tuesday night, and the most gorgeous man asked her to dance - she didn't even do a double-take."

Yosh watch alarm suddenly beeped, and he groaned a little. "I'd better get back upstairs. We'll talk about this more later." As he headed for the elevator, a very worried Gallant ran to Susan's side. "Dr. Lewis, Dr. Carter needs you."

"Tell him I'll be there in a second."

Gallant politely but firmly stood in her way. "I'm sorry ma'am. He said it's very urgent, and to make you come NOW." Concern washed over Susan and she nodded, following behind the young man. He led her to the suture room, and she could see Carter inside, hovering over a small blonde girl. Gallant knocked on the window, and he glanced up. Susan could see he was masked, and her alarm increased. She watched as Carter excused himself and came out of the room. "What is going on?"

Erin was exchanging charts at the admit desk, making small talk with Chen and Jerry when Malik, Carter, Susan, Gallant, and Abby all gathered together. Susan and John broke the news that the children quarantined in the suture room were likely suffering from smallpox. After allowing a moment for the information to sink in, they all moved quickly into action as the ER went into full lockdown. Erin found Luka and filled him in, and then the two of them went to work on the remaining patients awaiting attention. She had no idea how much time had passed when Jerry called to her from across the room. "What is it?"

"Phone for you."

"Not now, Jerry, take a message!" She called back impatiently.

"Dr. Windsor, I tried that! It's Dr. Romano. He insists on speaking to you. Now!"

Erin excused herself from her patient, and crossed the room, taking the handset from Jerry, and lifting it to her ear. "Robert?"

"Tell me you came in with your whole brain on duty this morning."

"What?"

"Tell me you haven't been in direct contact."

"Oh! No, I haven't."

"Good," he cut her off. "You keep it that way."

"Robert, I have to do my job." "And I am your boss," his voice barked out or the receiver. "And I'm telling you that today, your job is to stay the hell away from children who may be infected with highly contagious, deadly diseases. Do you understand me, Windsor? THAT'S an order!"

His voice was belligerent, and his words were condescending, but all Erin could do was smile. She realized he was speaking from concern for her well being. She wanted nothing more than to tease him, to rub it in, but she decided instead to let it go. "Yes, sir," she replied smartly.

"Good." His relief was audible. "The CDC Gestapo has arrived and sealed off the ER, so there's no way I can get down there." He glanced at his watch. "Look, no one knows how long this is going to take, so you just hang in there, okay?"

"Okay," she grinned. "You, too. It can't be easy, being chief of staff in a hospital that's about to be quarantined."

"Don't you worry about me," he said casually.

"Well, then," Erin sighed, "I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"Erin?" He spoke suddenly.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

She stood at the admit desk, thunder-struck. He had said those words to her before, a couple of times, even. But never without her saying it to him first. She composed herself, and murmured, "I love you, too." Then she lay the telephone back in its cradle, and was swept back into the chaos of the ER.

An eternity later, Erin rolled down her sleeve over the spot where she'd received the immunization required before she could leave the hospital. She stepped out into the ambulance bay, scanning the area for any familiar faces. Anonymous police personnel, a few CDC staff milling about, and Dr. Weaver. She walked over to her with a wry grin. "Been out here all day?" Kerry nodded, looking strained and fatigued. "It must have taken ten men to keep you out."

"Erin, I'm sorry."

"No, Dr. Weaver, it's okay!" She touched the woman's shoulder reassuringly. "I think we handled it all right, and I'm glad they stopped you from putting yourself at risk." The woman was still clearly feeling guilty, and Erin squeezed her arm. "It's okay, Kerry," she repeated. Dr. Weaver smiled gratefully, and the two glanced back at the ER. "So what now?"

Kerry began speaking about press conferences and patient transfers when a burst of static exploded from the walkie-talkie on her hip, followed by the voice of Susan Lewis. At first, Erin couldn't make out what she was saying. Kerry turned up the volume, and she and Erin listened closely as Susan's near panic explanation emerged. The roof. Patient transfer via helicopter. An accident. Dr. Romano. Kerry was trying to absorb as much information as possible until she caught a glimpse of Erin's face, completely drained of color. "Erin? Are you all right?" Erin couldn't breathe, couldn't answer. All she could hear was the empty sound of the open radio channel. Then, Susan's voice. "He's gonna need blood, lots of blood."

"Oh, my God," she gasped, then turned on her heel and bolted back into the hospital, despite the protests of several of the CDC employees. She ran to the elevator, which was waiting, doors open. She stabbed the button for roof access repeatedly. "Come on, come on, COME ON!"

The doors slid shut just as two Chicago police officers rounded the corner. Erin could hear Kerry's voice in the distance: "Let her go! She's a doctor! She knows what she's doing!" And then the car was moving upward. Erin clung to the guardrail for strength. "Oh, please, dear God." The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. She lurched out and moved towards the roof access exit on legs that were suddenly numb. She took a deep breath before leaning heavily against the push-bar, and heaved it open.

Her stomach fell at once, and her hand fluttered weakly to her mouth as she choked back a scream. Thirty feet away, Robert lay on his back on the chopper pad. His face was deathly pale, and he was unconscious. Lewis and Kovac were hovered over him, but Erin could not discern what they were doing. As she drew closer, she realized they were frantically clamping off arteries. Even thought the clinical part of her mind recognized and understood, it took the rest of her a few minutes to grasp that, a few inches below his left shoulder, Robert's arm was gone.

Erin fell to her knees at Robert's side. Kovac handed her his belt and gestured for her to tourniquet the arm at the shoulder to try and reduce the bleeding. She did so automatically, wincing as the pressure she applied drew a moan from deep within his chest. She could see that he had vomited from the shock, and she gently cleaned his face with her bare hands. Then Luka was hollering over the din. "Let's get him on a gurney and get him inside." Working together, the three doctors managed to lift him, and they were moving towards the door.

"His arm!" Erin suddenly gasped. "Where is his arm?"

"Don't worry, we got it. We have to get him inside before he bleeds out!" Luka urged. She nodded, and they rushed forward, battering the door open and moving swiftly to the elevator. As they moved, Erin hovered close to Robert's ear, whispering reassurances. When they finally burst into the ER and settled into a trauma room, she and Luka went to work, inserting IV's and placing monitors over his heart. Suddenly, Chen and Pratt appeared, seemingly from nowhere. "He's lost half his volume! He needs blood," Erin commanded. "All the O neg and type specific you can get your hands on!"

"But the blood bank is shut down." Chen began.

"BREAK IN IF YOU HAVE TO!" Erin was bordering on hysterical, and this was not lost on Pratt. and he sprinted off down the corridor. "And ice!" Luka called to Jing-Mei. "Lots of it!"

Amazingly, Robert's voice emerged weakly from his throat. His eyes opened a crack, and a look of dismayed recognition passed over his face. "Ohh, God. I'm at County." Erin leaned protectively over him, taking his remaining hand in hers. "Robert, it's me. I'm here. I'm here and you're going to be okay." She stroked his cheek gently as he tried to focus on her face.

".dizzy." he slurred slightly, and she tried to shush him. Undaunted, he murmured her name. She leaned in even closer, her ear almost resting against his mouth. "Listen to me." She nodded, concentrating intently. "I love you," he whispered, and Erin could feel her body begin to tremble. She lay her fingers gently over his mouth, trying to silence him.

"I love you, Robert," her voice quivered. "Now, just hush, and let us take care of you." His grip on her hand tightened, and he willed his dark eyes into focus.

"I need you to know that I love you."

"I do," she insisted. "I do. Now, please, please, try and relax."

She trailed off as his eyelids fluttered, then fell. Luka's voice bore into her head. "Lost his pulse. Starting CPR." As he began compressions, Erin scrambled to find a scope and ET tube. She forced her shaking hands to still as she moved the scope into place and guided the tube down his throat. "I'm in," she announced. Luka paused compressions long enough to help her get a bag in place, then they resumed artificial respiration together.

After what seemed an eternity, Pratt reappeared with an armload of blood bags and frenetically set up transfusion. Erin was all set to look for a BP when the trauma room doors swung open. Her knees weakened in relief as she found herself face to face with Donald Anspaugh. "Oh, thank God," she murmured. The bustle of activity continued around her, but all she could see was Robert's pale, unresponsive face. All she could hear was the puff of the bag blowing air into his lungs.

And then, they were wheeling him out and up to an OR. She wasn't aware of her legs moving, only saw herself floating along as if in a dream. And then Luka's hands were pulling hers from the cold metal of the bed rails. "Dr. Windsor," his voice as through a fog. "They have to take him in. You have to let him go." She watched the gurney disappear through the OR doors. After they swung shut, she found herself alone with Dr. Kovac. He was looking at her with a mixture of surprise and sympathy. She met his gaze with raw, red eyes.

"How long?" He asked in a quiet voice.

She breathed a shuddering sigh. "A few months. Since Mark died." With that, the shock she had been fighting took control, and Luka had to catch her as her strength failed. She melted into his arms, and her tears finally came. Luka rested his cheek against the top of her head, rocking her gently as she cried. He guided her slowly to the waiting area, where she sank gratefully into a chair. She was shaking uncontrollably from head to toe, and he walked thoughtfully away.

He returned a few minutes later with a blanket and a cup of coffee from the vending machine. "It's lousy," he smiled a little as he handed it to her. "But it's hot." She accepted the cup and sipped mechanically, and he draped the blanket around her shoulders. "The CDC, the cops? They didn't say we have to get out of here?"

"I don't think they even know we're in here," he said with an ironic chuckle. "Don't worry." He sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "We're not going anywhere." Still trembling violently, Erin accepted his offer of comfort, and leaned her head against him. They sat that way, in the dark, waiting.