Author's note: Well, here's the second part, and it's starting to turn into a story now... I'm aware that I jump a little between using characters' first names and last names, but hopefully that won't be a problem :)
Disclaimer: The ER characters belong to Warner Brothers. The lyrics for A Love So Beautiful belongs to whoever wrote it.
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Elizabeth carefully got out of bed, managing not to wake Robert up. He was still curled up to her when she woke up, which made getting out of bed without waking him up much harder. A glance at the alarm clock told her it was past eight in the morning. He was sleeping in. She realised with a sigh that she would have to walk the dog, and decided to just let Gretel out in the back yard. Ella needed breakfast, she didn't have time for dog walks.

She returned to the bedroom 90 minutes later, and found that he was awake. She could hear him in the shower, singing as usual, but noticed that he wasn't singing anything by Simon or Garfunkel. It was some sentimental love song about long lost love, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes and wonder if he was being sarcastic. Romantic was probably the last quality she would associate with Robert Romano.

She angrily shoved Gretel off the bed and wished for the umpteenth time that he'd gotten himself a dachshund instead, or something else smaller and less hairy. Gretel growled at her, but then left to find out what Ella was up to. Elizabeth proceeded to make the bed, and once again wondered why on earth Robert was singing some mushy love song in the shower. Had he gone through a personality change during the night, or was he joking? She listened to the lyrics and wondered what was going on.

"We were too young to understand, to ever know…" his voice came from the bathroom. "That lovers drift apart, and that's the way love goes…"

"Robert, you're scaring me" she mumbled under her breath. She kneeled down to pick up a book that had fallen down on the floor. How did their two bedrooms end up so messy? There was always something lying around on the floor. If she kept this up she wouldn't be able to nag at Ella to clean her room when she got older.

"And when I think of you, I fall in love again…" the singing continued from the bathroom, briefly interrupted by some gargling.

Elizabeth stopped for a second and wondered again why he was singing this mush instead of his usual lions. She couldn't help but wonder if it was somehow connected to his low spirits when he got home last night. She had never given much thought to his previous love life, in fact she'd never even reflected over the fact that he had one. She had never been able to picture him in a long term relationship, but it seemed as if he was going to have one with her now, so it wasn't impossible that he'd had one in the past. She couldn't help but wonder if he was singing about some former girlfriend of his.

"A love so beautiful, in every way…" he continued in the shower. "A love so beautiful, we let it slip away…"

"I must be going out of my mind!" she decided, and threw the book she was still holding on the bed.
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It was late in the evening, but neither of them had a shift until after noon the next day. It was a rather warm October night, probably one of the last warm nights of the year. Elizabeth sat out in her back yard, warming her hands in her armpits one at a time while the other one held a glass of red wine. She would have to go back inside soon, but she wanted to stay out just a bit longer. It was a clear sky, and she had always had a secret interest in astronomy. She tried to spot some constellations, but gave up after only finding Ursa Major, or was it Minor?

Robert was inside, Ella was asleep, Gretel was guarding Ella… The only thing that disturbed her silence was the radio which kept her company with its music. She was alone with her thoughts, when for the second time that day the thoughts came creeping. What did she really know about Robert's past? She knew he had lost someone when he was a teenager, but she didn't know who that was, it could have been a lover or a family member, or neither. She had no information whatsoever about his love life before she came into the picture, it wasn't a subject that had come up during their years of working together. But his behaviour when he got home last night and his very unusual choice of song for his morning shower had made her wonder.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door behind her opened and the subject of her thoughts joined her on the patio. He sat down behind her and wrapped a blanket around them both, shivering slightly in the cold night.

"Trying to catch a cold?" he asked.

"It's a lovely night."

"Nights aren't lovely" he responded. "Nights are just the world closing its eyes while sleeping."

"Well this night is lovely…" she said.

He didn't say anything else for a while, and neither did she. She was starting to wonder about this relationship, what it really was and where it was going. She couldn't even tell when it had turned into a relationship, one day they had just taken for granted that they'd be spending the night together. She wasn't even really sure of how they ended up kissing, and then sleeping together one night, in the first place. All she knew was that a few weeks later they had started spending every night together and a couple of months later showed their new relationship more open. But nothing had ever been said, nothing had ever really been made official. She wasn't sure what she was feeling for him, or if the feelings she had were genuine. And she was even more unsure about his feelings. They had never said anything out loud, the three famous words were still unsaid, and she didn't know if either one of them would say it anytime soon. The strongest words that had come out of their mouths so far was "I like you" and "you mean a lot to me".

It was the strangest kind of relationship she had ever had with someone in her entire life. But then again, what was to expect when she was in a relationship with Dr. Romano? Most people would probably not have gotten this far, but yet it felt like they hadn't gotten anywhere at all. Elizabeth knew that something would have to happen sooner or later, but she hoped for sooner. She really wish she knew how he was feeling, she was terrified of falling in love and then finding out that he was never as serious as she was. But she couldn't ask him, it was not the kind of thing you asked someone. She wondered about the song he'd been singing earlier. By now she had convinced herself that it was about a love from his past. Was he still hooked up on that other woman? Was she still hooked up on Mark?

"That song you were singing this morning…" she said, not knowing why she said it at all. "I've never heard you sing anything like that before."

"You hate Simon and Garfunkel. I thought I'd change the record" he said, grinning at his own joke.

"Didn't sound like a song typical of you…" she continued, ignoring his lousy joke. "Who were you singing about?"

"The dog I had before Gretel" he claimed, and she sighed.

"Come on, I'm curious…"

"Curiosity killed the cat" he replied. "Lizzie, honestly it's none of your business."

She let that answer sink in and wondered what on earth that meant. She assumed it meant that she was right, that it was some former girlfriend that he might still have feelings for, but there was no satisfaction in being right. She felt disappointed, and at the same time wondered why she reacted so strongly. She hadn't analysed her feelings for him for a long time, and now that she was starting to think them through she wondered if maybe the tables had turned. She had suspected for a long time that he fancied her, and she'd never been interested, but now it seemed like it was the other way around. She felt stronger about him than he felt about her.

"Why, are you jealous?" his teasing voice broke the silence.

"No" she said, not knowing whether or not that was true.

"Nah, of course you're not" he said. "You know you're my best girl."

She felt like elbowing him in his good arm for having said that with what sounded like a joking tone of voice. Why did he always have to do this to her? Leave her to be the one who felt awkward, felt bad or was in the sticky spot? How could he always manage to escape unharmed? It wasn't fair.

She sighed and leaned back against his chest. Now she wouldn't be able to get this out of her head for a while. Why did she have to be so damn obsessive? And why did he always have to be so care-free?

Scorpion's "Still Loving You" was playing on the radio and he was absent-mindedly humming along. Elizabeth had to force herself not to read anything into this as well. But she wished the radio would play something else, even something by Simon and Garfunkel.

"I have to admit…" he said, breaking the silence once again. "You were right. This is a pretty nice night."

"The night looks a lot different when you're not seeing it from the hospital roof" she said, just to say something at all.

"Yeah, I'm having some trouble thinking anything is nice when seen from the hospital roof anymore" he said. "Though I'm sure if I saw you there I'd think it was a pretty nice sight."

He raised his left arm slowly and grabbed her glass of wine, taking a sip from it and pausing for a moment before he returned it to her.

"Your arm is a lot better now" she said. "It's nice to see."

"I know," he said, "it's gotten a lot better over the past few months. This thing between us has been good for me." She didn't respond, but he didn't mind. He was getting used to her getting silent every once in a while, even sometimes in the middle of conversations. "Finally things started to go my way when you and I… happened. Getting a sunny side in my life has worked magic on this stupid limb. So thank you."

"For what?" she asked.

"For everything, Lizzie" he said and pulled her closer. "I'm glad I'm here with you now…"

She put her glass down and finally put all of her thoughts aside. He didn't sound like he had no feelings at all for her. She was glad to be there with him too, it felt good to sit together out in the back yard like this.

"You're welcome."
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The ER was chaos. As usual. People never seemed to stop hurting themselves or get sick. Sometimes Chen wondered if they hadn't treated the entire population of Chicago at least twice by now. She hated night shifts, especially when she'd worked an exhausting shift the day before. Karen Simmons, the young girl who had been in a car accident with her brother Sean the day before, was still alive but she wouldn't make it for much longer. They were still trying to find a suitable donator, but no luck so far.

Chen leaned against the admin's desk and rubbed her temples. Why was she stupid enough to come back to this profession? Couldn't she at least had gone for a different field, anything but emergency medicine? She sighed and wished her shift would end, but she knew she had another three hours before she could go home.

"Dr. Chen!"

She looked over at Josh Hailey, and wondered if she could force him to go away with her willpower. Probably not.

"I'm on a break" she said. "Find somebody else."

"Everyone else is in trauma 1" Hailey said and bit his lip. Gosh, he was such a sissy.

"Okay" she sighed. "What is it?"

"I have an elderly woman here with a cut in her finger."

"So suture it!"

"Well, the thing is…" he began, and bit his lip again. "Well… See, she hurt herself more than two hours ago and the blood has started to coagulate, and--"

"And what's the problem?"

"She won't let me touch her!"

Chen sighed and wondered what the problem was this time. Hailey was African American, but if that was the problem then Chen wouldn't be able to help. People who had racist issues with African Americans tended to have the same kind of issues with her. But she decided to take a look at the woman, it couldn't hurt.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked the woman as she entered the exam room.

"This boy does not get to sow up my finger!" the old woman stubbornly declared. Chen sighed.

"I can assure you that Mr. Hailey--"

"Are you a real doctor?"

"Yes madam, now would you let me take a--"

"Well I don't want you to do it either" the woman said. "This is County General, right?"

"Yes" Chen said with a sigh.

"Well then I'm in the right place."
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"Dr. Romano's mother?" Lewis said with an eyebrow touching the ceiling. "Really? Are you serious?"

"Yes. And now I know where he gets his charms from" Chen muttered and leaned against the admin's desk again. "And the stubborn woman claims she doesn't trust anyone else to fix her precious finger."

"So call Romano here, this is going to be fun" Lewis said with a grin. "Maybe if I get on the good side with his mother I'll get my raise."

"Maybe" Chen said, without believing it for a second.

"So, what are you going to do?" Hailey asked.

"He's your patient" Chen said, eager to get out of the situation.

"But…"

"Call Dr. Romano, tell him his mother won't be sutured by anyone else than him" Lewis said. "And make sure you have a good life insurance policy."

"But…"

"Have fun" Lewis said with a grin and went to check on one of her patients.

"Good luck" Chen added.

Hailey made a face and trembled like a leaf when he dialled the number given to him by the desk clerk. After a number of signals he hung up.

"He wasn't in."

"Here, try this number" Chuny said and handed him a number on a piece of paper. She grinned and looked forward to seeing his reaction when he found out whose number it was. Chen frowned and shook her head at Chuny's amusement.
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Elizabeth reached out her hand and fumbled a bit with the phone before she got it to her ear.

"Hello?" she mumbled into the receiver.

"Dr. Corday!" Hailey exclaimed, in complete shock over finding out who he'd called. Chuny disguised a giggle into a cough. "Dr. Corday! I, I'm uh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, uhm, they must, uh, it must have been a mix-up with the phone numbers, I must have gotten the wrong number! I was looking for Dr. Romano--"

"Hold on" Elizabeth mumbled and rolled over on her back. She gave Robert a nudge. "It's for you." He mumbled half the curses in his vocabulary and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with one hand while reaching for the phone with the other.

"Who the hell is this?" he barked. "This had better be a disaster in line with the Hindenburg crash or the battle of Helm's Deep, otherwise whoever you are will be out of a job tomorrow! Hello? Hello?"

Chuny was no longer able to disguise her giggles, and Lewis who had rejoined them was having some trouble as well, as Hailey just stared at the phone as if it had just predicted the future for him. On the other end Romano still tried to make contact with whoever was on the line.

"I think you scared him" Elizabeth said, and rested her head against his shoulder while putting an arm across his chest.

"Damn sissy! Hello? Whoever the hell this is--"

"Dr. Romano, hi!" Chen's voice said, as she gave up and took the phone from the somewhat traumatised Josh Hailey. "Sorry, bad connection."

"Bad connection my ass, what the hell do you want?"

"Well, we have your mother here--"

"My what? Check again Ling-Mei, my mother is in Europe."

"It's Jing-Mei" Chen sighed. "And she's not in Europe anymore. She's here at County and she wants you to come suture her finger."

"I'm sorry, did we hire only doctors who were incapable of suturing?" Robert said. "Here's how you do it, you take a needle--"

"She wants you to do it" Chen said, wishing she had never gotten out of bed this morning. "She refuses to let anyone of us handle it."

"I don't treat family members" Robert informed her. "Damn it, put her on the phone!"

Chen was relieved to get to hand the phone over to someone else. She put it down on the desk and went to get Mrs. Romano, who was just as stubborn as her son. She wondered which one of them would give in first.

When she returned with the old woman, Lewis was taking care of the still shocked Hailey, who looked like he didn't have a clue what had just hit him. She mouthed 'you're evil' to Chuny, who just smiled and shrugged her shoulder. Chen once again leaned against the desk as the two Romanos were put on the phone together and started debating in some foreign language.

"How's he doing?" she asked Lewis, nodding at Hailey.

"I think he's just been scarred for life" Lewis replied.

"Chuny you are evil."

In the end, Robert appeared to win the battle with his mother, who hung up and said something that didn't sound too flattering in a language Chen didn't understand.

"Are you ready to be sutured now, Mrs. Romano?" Chen asked, not looking forward to the task. But it would be no use forcing Hailey to do it…

"His own mother…" the old woman muttered and stormed past Chen back to the room where she'd come from. "I see what you mean" Lewis said to Chen. "That old lady is nothing but charm."

"And I get to be the lucky one who fixes her finger" Chen said. "Go me."
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"Dr. Romano!" Chen exclaimed forty-five minutes later as Robert came barging into the ER. "I thought you weren't coming, we've already fixed your mother."

"I don't treat family members" Robert reminded her. "She can't stay here all night, I have to take her home, where the hell is she?"

"Exam four" Chen told him and grabbed a chart. Two more hours to go… she thanked her lucky star tomorrow was her day off.

She examined her new patient, who had fallen off his bike and hit his head, and ordered some labs and a CT. She then went back to admin and saw that Romano's mother was sitting alone in chairs.

"Mrs. Romano?" she asked. "Is everything all right?"

"Hasn't seen his own mother in three years, and he runs off again!" the old woman complained. "I'm gonna be stuck here all night."

"He took off?"

"He'll be back. I hope…" The last bit was added with a sigh.

"Do you want me to go look for him?"

"No, that's not a problem" the old woman answered. Chen shrugged her shoulders and decided to take another five minutes off. The place was slow at the moment anyway.

"Hey how's Corday's fan doing?" Chuny asked with a grin when she passed by Chen in the hallway.

"Lewis gave up and sent him home. I really think you ruined his whole belief system tonight."

"A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!"

Chen didn't comment. She stepped onto the opening elevator and pressed a button. She decided to go check on Karen Simmons and see how she was doing. Chen was still hoping for a miracle, but she had a feeling none would come. Karen was slipping away from them, and there was nothing they could do about it.

The room was almost empty, except for Karen and her mother who was asleep on a bed someone had rolled in. The only sounds heard were the ones of the machines that were keeping Karen alive. The room seemed so peaceful, but Chen doubted that anyone was experiencing any peace in there at the moment. Karen was only ten years old, and it was horrible to see her lying there, knowing she most likely wouldn't make it. Her left kidney had been removed and her right was barely functioning.

Chen checked the machines and the girl's pulse, just to have something to do. She didn't know if she should say something or not, she didn't want to wake the mother up. The door opened and she turned her head to see who it was.

"Dr. Romano!"

"I've just checked on her brother" Romano told her quietly, careful not to wake the mother who had finally fallen asleep. "It looks as if he's going to be fine, although we're not sure yet whether or not he'll be paralysed."

"Your mother's waiting for you downstairs."

"I know, I just wanted to check how they were doing…" He walked over to Karen and took a glance at her EEG and EKG. "When the mother wakes up, talk to her about organ donations."

"Have they found a donator for Karen?" Chen asked, eyes perking up.

"I meant Karen as a donator. It would be a shame wasting those organs she still has working! Mrs. Simmons will probably feel the same way."

"You can't be serious!" Chen said.

"What, you'd rather just bury her?"

"She's not brain dead!"

"So?" Robert turned and went toward the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned his head to look at Chen. "We both know Karen is as good as dead. Even if we do find her a kidney she'll probably die during surgery. Talk to the mother, encourage her to help other families in the same situation."

Chen stared after him as he left. She couldn't believe him, the girl still had brain activity. For a second she had thought he might have some good sides after all, since he took the time to check on the twins. But then he ordered her to ask the mother to agree to have her daughter's organs donated, while the daughter still had brain activity. He really was an insensitive jerk, and Chen was glad she didn't work with him more often.
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Elizabeth's day did not start well. The first person she encountered when she came to work was Josh Hailey, who was incredibly mad and offended.

"Dr. Corday!" he yelled at her the second she walked through the doors.

"Hello Josh" she greeted him, wondering what was wrong now. Had she missed out on making a surgical consult for him because she'd had a day off? Josh had a tendency of being offended by everything and anything.

"I need to speak with you!" he informed her and followed her as she headed for the doctor's lounge.

"Then go ahead, I've got a few minutes to talk."

"You're seeing Dr. Romano?" he spat out, as if Romano and Stalin had been synonymous.

"So that was you on the phone last night?"

"You're seeing him?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes. I'm seeing him."

"But why?" Josh asked, sounded incredibly disgusted. "The man's a jerk, a, a pig! Everybody hear loathes him!"

"Do they?" Elizabeth said casually and unlocked her locker.

"He's a sexist, racist scumbag!"

"Is that so?" Elizabeth said, getting annoyed. "And you've heard him say sexist and racist comments?"

"I haven't, but everyone else--"

"Oh please…"

"I'm serious!" Josh said. "Look, Elizabeth--"

"It's Dr. Corday."

"Dr. Corday, listen, the guy's a jerk!"

"Hailey," Elizabeth said and slammed her locker shut, "do you really think you know him better than I do? Or for that matter know what's good for me more than I do? I know what Robert is like, I've known him longer than I've known anyone else at this hospital. And for that matter I've always known him better than the rest here."

"So what are you saying, he's a saint in disguise?"

"No" Elizabeth said with an annoyed sigh. "But don't presume to tell me all about him and his personality."

"The man is a jerk, and--"

"Well so are you!" Elizabeth cut him off. "Or what do you call the way you're acting right now?"

"I just don't get it!" Josh said and looked sulky. "And by the way, thanks for telling me! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was last night?"

"Hey, my love life is none of your bloody business" Elizabeth said, getting more and more angry. "I've told you I'm not interested in a romantic relationship with you, so don't come and tell me I've been leading you on!"

"You're only gonna end up hurt" Josh angrily replied. "That guy is rotten through and through, you should have seen how cold he was during a trauma case this weekend!"

"He sees a million trauma cases at work, it's called professionalism" Elizabeth replied.

"Not cases like this one!" Josh insisted. "There were two twins, and--"

"What the hell does it matter?" Elizabeth snapped. "Stop lecturing me about my love life, you are out of line Hailey."

"At least I'm not cold and heartless" Josh replied. "At least I care! That jerk cares of nothing but himself, I know his type."

"Oh do you really?"

"Yeah, I do. He's a big jerk, and you know it as well as I do. Doesn't take more than five minutes with him to realise that. Why do you even want to be with him?"

"Because I'm in love with him!" Elizabeth yelled, and angrily stormed past Josh on her way to the elevator. Once inside the elevator she sunk down to the floor. "Oh god…" she mumbled.

Well, then that was settled. Josh Hailey probably hated her now, and he had just found out more about her feelings for Romano than she had known herself up until that point. Great. Now what? She knew she had meant what she had blurted out, but it scared her. Robert didn't know, and more importantly, she didn't know whether he felt the same or not. What a mess…

The elevator doors opened and she got up on her feet. Luckily no one seemed to be around at the moment, she felt a bit stupid for having sat on the floor like a child. She wandered down the hall and found herself wishing she wouldn't run into Robert. She wouldn't know what to say to him right now, her mind was one big mess at the moment.

"This is going to please Dr. Romano" a desk clerk told her as she stopped to check what surgeries she had scheduled for the day.

"Huh?" she said, jumping slightly as if the nurse had read her mind.

"The donator he was hoping for, the mother gave her okay."

"What donator?"

"Horrible thing, a young girl who was in a car accident this weekend…"

"So she's going to be a donator? Well that's good" Elizabeth said, although the thought of a young girl being in the state when she could donate organs didn't exactly seem good to her.

"Hopefully that will keep him happy today" the clerk said and sighed. "He scares me."

"It's like with rabid dogs, don't look directly into his eyes" Elizabeth mumbled and continued to the surgeons lounge.

"Lizzie!"

Elizabeth stopped at the sound of the familiar voice and turned around. Robert came up to her, grabbed her by the arm and led her into the lounge. Why did he always have to turn up when you least wanted him to?

"Good day" he said. "Sorry 'bout last night."

"No problem" Elizabeth said, trying to remember exactly what had happened last night. She had gone back to sleep right after he'd left and didn't remember much, only that he wasn't going to come back that night.

"Dinner at my place tonight" he told her. "Mother's insisting on meeting you."

"Your mother?"

"Yes. I have one of those, you know."

"I thought she was in Europe" Elizabeth said and sat down in an armchair.

"So did I. How much do you remember from last night, really?"

"Only that we earned ourselves a new enemy in Josh Hailey" Elizabeth sighed.

"Ah, who cares? My mother apparently decided that Europe wasn't amusing anymore and got on a plane and flew over here."

"Just like that?"

"She's always been the spontaneous one."

"I can see that."

"We won't have to put up with her for long, she's flying to Boston in two days to see my brother."

"I thought you had a sister."

"Yeah, that too. Anyway, so dinner tonight and then she'll move on."

"I hope she doesn't hate me" Elizabeth said with a sigh. "Last I heard, women with children weren't very popular as plausible girlfriends."

"Nah, she won't care" Robert said. "My brother hasn't had a date in four years with a woman who hasn't had children."

"Great" Elizabeth mumbled.

"Well, I've gotta go see how things are going with our kidney patient" Robert said and headed for the door.

"I heard you had some young girl that will be a donator."

"Really? Splendid, now I'm gonna go see how her brother's doing."

"She'll be donating to him?"

"Nope. See you later, Lizzie."

Elizabeth watched him leave and wondered what was going on this time. Whatever it was, it was probably a lot less fun than he made it sound.
~*~
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Elizabeth had to admit that she was quite relieved that Mrs. Romano would be flying to Boston in a few days. Not that she wasn't nice, or that she had problems with Ella, but Elizabeth had seldom met a woman who talked that much. Elizabeth and Robert could be happy if they could get a word in, it was as if she'd made up her mind to tell her son exactly everything that had happened between the day she last left the States and the current hour. Robert didn't seem very interested, he had probably heard most of it several times before, and Elizabeth had no idea who any of these people were anyway.

'Perfect end to a perfect day' she thought.

"… and then Heather of course had to make a whole big deal out of this, your sister can never take anything lightly, and before you knew it…"

Elizabeth wondered how long it would be before she got a headache. All these names were making her head spin, and her long day at work didn't make things much better. She wondered if Robert's mother was always this chatty, or only on occasions when she hadn't seen her son for three years.

"Mother!" Robert finally interrupted her. "Enough about Heather! I don't want to hear another word. How long will you be staying in the States?"

"That all depends on David" Mrs. Romano told him. "I'm planning on staying a few months, if he doesn't throw me out. But if he does I'll just come stay here."

"In an apartment of your own, then" Robert said.

"Can you believe him, Lizzie?" Mrs. Romano said to Elizabeth, automatically nicknaming her the same way Robert always had. Apparently nicknames ran in the family. "His own mother…"

"You've said that around ten times already" Robert said. "Look, it's not that I don't want you to stay, but I really don't have the time…"

"He never has the time" Mrs. Romano informed Elizabeth.

"Stay with David, it'll be good…" Robert said and emptied his glass of wine. "Say hi to him for me."

"When was the last time you spoke with him?" his mother asked, and then turned to Elizabeth once again. "To think you have to force your children to socialise with each other."

"He was here taking care of Gretel when I was in the hospital" Robert reminded her.

"You're always in the hospital."

"My arm, mother."

"Oh, that" Mrs. Romano said. "Well, guess what, on the subject of something completely different…"

"What?" Robert asked with a sigh.

"I've brought you something, one might say."

"What? Another one of those cheese cutters? Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but I never eat cheese."

"No, not a cheese cutter."

"What, then?"

"It's a surprise" Mrs. Romano said and looked very pleased with herself.

Robert and Elizabeth shared a resigned look.

"Well since I hate surprises, thank you" he said.

"Oh you'll like this one" his mother said and looked very smug.

Robert sighed and got up from his chair. He hated surprises and surprise visits, and his mother knew that. He eyed her smug look and wondered what on earth she had gotten into her head now. Knowing her, it could be anything from a monkey to a toaster that she had brought, and neither one of those options sounded tempting.

Elizabeth rose as well and helped him clear off the table. She couldn't wait to get into bed and end this incredibly long day. She wondered what his mother would say about her spending the night, but then again they weren't exactly teenagers. And all she wanted tonight was to sleep anyway, she was far too exhausted for anything else.

The phone rang, and Robert went to answer it in another room, leaving Elizabeth and Mrs. Romano alone together. Mrs. Romano grabbed the rest of the things from the table and helped Elizabeth put it all into the dishwasher.

"Well it was a delightful dinner" Elizabeth said, just to say something.

"Thank you, dear" Mrs. Romano replied.

"So…" Elizabeth said, not knowing what to say to break the silence. "It was very nice to get to meet you."

"Likewise" the older woman said. "I've been wondering about you."

"Has… Robert talked much about me?"

"Yes, you're the redhead who called him a horrid turd, right?"

Elizabeth blushed. She didn't even know that he knew she'd called him that.

"Well… that was a long time ago."

"Yes, you seem to like him better now" Mrs. Romano noted. "And if you don't go back to calling him turd, whatever that is anyway, you might just stay together for a while."

"So you think he likes me?" Elizabeth jokingly asked, and thought to herself that his mother sure didn't think much of love and relationships.

"He tolerates you" Mrs. Romano said. "But that's more than what he does with most people."

Elizabeth was still trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean when Robert came back, and hadn't made much further progress with the question by the time they went to bed. She decided to let it go for now and just try to go to sleep, but when she looked over at Robert she couldn't help but to wonder. She was in love with him, but what did he really feel about her?
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