Disclaimer: No, I still don't own ER or any of its characters, I'm just borrowing.

Thanks everyone for the reviews. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I've been a bit 'stuck' with this story lately, not really knowing which path to take with it as it was originally supposed to be just one chapter and I hadn't planned a continuation. I still don't have the future of this story figured out, so basically I'm just writing and seeing where the characters are going (which should be interesting, knowing how difficult both Lizzie and Romano can be ;)).

There's also another reason it took me so long to write this chapter: it just grew out to be so damn long…I hope you won't get bored. =)

Oh, and one more thing: I'm just assuming here that "Fast Eddie" Dorsett has a real name and that it's 'Edward'…

Please R&R

~~~~

 The Lunch

Elizabeth returned to the table, shaking her head slightly as she sat down. Ella was finishing her meal, having made a mess in the kitchen, but Elizabeth barely noticed it as her thoughts were still in the conversation she had had with Robert.

"Who was it?" Ella asked, her mouth still full of food.

"Just a friend of mommy's from work." Elizabeth replied with a smile

"Will mommy go to work?" There was disappointment in Ella's voice.

"No, dearest." Elizabeth assured the little girl. "It wasn't about work."

Ella looked satisfied and returned her attention to her plate, which by now was nearly empty.

"Are you finished already?" Elizabeth asked after a short while, picking up some of the food that had found its way on the table.

Ella nodded, stuffing the last bits of food from her plate into her mouth.

Elizabeth instantly got up to wipe Ella's face and to her chagrin she noticed that even the floor hadn't been spared.

"I see you have found an appropriate place for all your vegetables too." She noted sarcastically, pointing at a piece of cabbage on the floor.

Ella giggled and nodded again.

Elizabeth only shook her head and started cleaning up the mess. Normally she would not have let Ella get away so easily, but this time she had other things in her mind and she only wanted to get Ella to bed and the kitchen cleaned before Robert's arrival.

Ella looked at her mother suspiciously. Surely there had to be some punishment coming? But Elizabeth only smiled at her puzzled expression and continued wiping the floor.

"Is mommy sick?" Ella asked, frowning.

"No, mommy's not sick" Elizabeth replied. "But…" she continued, looking up, "…mommy wants Ella to go to bed now."

"No!" Ella protested, her frown turning into a pout.

"Yes." Elizabeth insisted, straightening her back as the wiping was now done. "Little girls need to get enough sleep if they want to grow big and healthy, especially if they don't eat their vegetables."

Ella still pouted and tried to resist, but Elizabeth calmly picked her up and carried upstairs to where her room was. It took Elizabeth a while to make Ella take her nap, but finally she managed to lull her into sleep, promising they would watch cartoons on TV later. Elizabeth sighed in relief when Ella finally shut her eyes and slowly drifted into sleep with a satisfied smile on her little face.

About half an hour had now passed after Robert's call and he could be expected to arrive any minute. As soon as she was certain that Ella had fallen asleep, Elizabeth hurried downstairs to the kitchen where the table had to be set for two. She was almost done when the doorbell finally rang. Elizabeth quickly finished the table before rushing to the hall. There she stopped for a while to gather her breath and to make some final adjustments on her appearance in front of the mirror.

Then she moved on to open the door.

Robert was standing there on the porch, dressed casually in dark jeans and a T-shirt. His left hand was in the sling and with his right hand he was holding a bottle wine. To Elizabeth's satisfaction he looked slightly uncomfortable, while she herself had somehow managed to gain more confidence by turning the tables and making the first invitation.

They greeted each other slightly awkwardly with casual 'hellos' before Robert seemed to get back his normal demeanor.

"I couldn't think of anything else to bring on such a short notice." He noted, lifting up the bottle in his right hand. "Basically, it was either this or dog food and I thought you'd appreciate the wine more."

Elizabeth smiled. "That's very thoughtful of you, but you really wouldn't have needed to bother at all."

She moved aside from the doorway to let Robert in. He shoved the bottle to Elizabeth and then closed the door behind him. A short silence ensued, but it was soon broken by Romano:

"A nice house you have here", he commented, looking around.

"Yeah, it's quite comfortable. Mark…" Elizabeth cut her sentence short. She had been on the verge of saying something about how Mark had bought the house for them, but for some reason it just didn't seem like a good idea to talk about Mark with Romano. Elizabeth wasn't quite sure, though, why it was so, because it was long since she had had problems talking about Mark with other people.

Robert, however, chose to act as if he hadn't heard anything and he started turning around as if to get a better look of the house. But then he came to a halt. Elizabeth looked over his shoulder to see what had caught his attention and she noticed that he was looking at a picture of herself and Mark together with baby Ella. The picture had been taken soon after Ella's birth and both she and Mark looked particularly happy in it. Elizabeth wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything that would make any sense. Of course there should be no need for her to justify the existence of the picture. It was ridiculous that she even felt she should somehow excuse it. Robert, however, saved her the trouble of thinking of the proper thing to say. He turned around, looking as if he had seen nothing interesting.

"So, where's Ella?" he asked casually to change the subject. "Are you hiding her from me?"

Elizabeth let out her breath.

"No, Robert." she snorted, relaxing. "She is upstairs, taking a nap."

"I see." Romano replied, searching for another topic. Then he finally seemed to remember the reason he had come for in the first place.

 "I thought you said something about lunch", he noted. "Was that just a cheap trick to get me here or is there actually something that a grown man could eat in this house?"

"Grown?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow while her lips curved into a teasing smile. No matter how awkward she was feeling, she was always ready to hide it in a bit of a snark with Robert.

Romano, who apparently had known what to expect, had already put up a pouty face:

"Seriously, Lizzie, I thought you would by now have grown out of that habit of making fun of people who are not as fortunate as you." He made his voice sound very heart-broken, making it hard for Elizabeth to maintain a straight face.

"I didn't say anything to offend you, did I?" she asked innocently, grateful for the relishing turn in the conversation.

"You didn't answer my question. Now that's what I find offending." Romano retorted.

Elizabeth could only roll her eyes and smile. After a short pause Robert returned to a more serious note:

"So, is there or is there not any food in the house?" he asked. "I'm actually starving."

Elizabeth sighed. "Yes, there is and it's all ready", she replied. "Satisfied?"

"Very."

Without any further ado Elizabeth lead the way to the kitchen and the two sat down in silence. It was only after they had both filled their plates that Elizabeth realized she hadn't thought about Robert's arm while setting the table. She had placed the fork on the left hand's side.

"I'm sorry." She muttered in embarrassment, while Robert reached out his right hand to grab the fork from the other side of the plate. "I should have thought about…"

"What?" Robert snapped. "That I'm disabled and therefore totally incapable of doing anything by myself?"

"No" Elizabeth replied, looking down at her plate. This response was not enough to convince Romano.

"So, it's true!" he exclaimed, and then continued in a softer tone: "You do think that I am completely useless."

He paused, but when Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something, he raised his hand to keep her silent.

"Is that why you invited me here today?" he asked next, "Out of pity?"

"No!" Elizabeth insisted. "Of course not! I just…"

"You don't have to deny it." Romano spoke quietly, cutting in. "I should have guessed…The good Dr. Corday has taken pity of her helpless, former boss."

"That's not fair! Nor is it true!" Elizabeth was beginning to lose her patience. "Or even if it was, what would be so terribly wrong about it? If I pity you, it's only because I care about you."

Robert chose not to reply, but as he seemed to be listening, Elizabeth decided to continue:

"Look, there are many people I pity; I meet dying patients every day and I meet people who have just lost someone dear. I pity these people, but I don't invite them over to my house to have lunch with me… and you can rest assured I would not have invited you either if I felt nothing but pity for you."

Elizabeth was shocked by her own speech and she quickly looked down to stare at her plate, trying to avoid Robert's eyes and hoping he would not ask what she was feeling for him if it wasn't pity. To Elizabeth's relief, he chose not to ask that question, at least not directly:

"Then why did you invite me?" he inquired after a short silence.

Elizabeth hesitated. She wasn't sure of the answer. She had told herself she wanted company, but now that she thought about it, she couldn't explain why it was Robert of all people who's company she had sought.

"I – I don't know", she finally uttered.

Robert nodded quietly and after that exchange, nothing more was said for a while. They ate their lunch in silence. A couple of times their eyes would meet over the table, but Elizabeth was always the quickest to look away. Finally, however, she had to admit herself that any conversation would be better than the awkward silence.

"I'm sorry I raised my voice earlier", she started as a peace-offering.

"It's your house." Robert only replied.

"But you are my guest."

"Yeah. A guest who can't even take the invitation without turning into an issue."

"You had your reasons..." Elizabeth interjected soothingly.

"Right." Robert retorted. Then he smiled.  "So, are we now going start arguing about who gets to take the blame? Because in that case, I'm warning you; I'm going to win this one."

Elizabeth's lips slowly curved into a smile as the discussion was taking yet another turn.

"You want to take a bet?" she asked archly.

"Lizzie, you surprise me." Romano replied in kind. "I didn't know you were into gambling."

"You started." Elizabeth retorted.

"Okay, okay. I back off." Robert gave in, raising his hands in surrender. "Just make sure you won't slip any pills in my food."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, smiling.

"You don't really think I would do that?"

"Should I trust a surgeon?" Robert only replied, winking slightly as he reached for his glass of wine.

Elizabeth shook her head with a smile and then returned her attention to her plate.

The lunch passed on without any further complications. They didn't talk much, but this time the silence was friendlier and less awkward. Both were simply concentrating on their food instead of  on trying to search or avoid the other's eyes.

'I could get used to this', Elizabeth found herself thinking as she kept picking on her food, but then she had to remind herself of how only moments earlier she had been most uncomfortable in the same situation. At least she could be sure about one thing: life was never boring when Robert was around. Sometimes he was just making everything so bloody difficult…or, Elizabeth had to ask herself,  was it she who was making things complicated?

~~~~

Finally they were both finished with the meal and Romano stood up, seizing his plate. Elizabeth hastened to get up as well.

"I can do that", she blurted before biting off her tongue. Too late.

"I'm not a child, Elizabeth." Robert said challengingly, taking his plate to the sink and then returning to get his glass.

"I didn't mean it like that." Elizabeth sighed, sitting back down.

Robert did not reply.

"Will you take my plate too?" she then asked in an attempt to make up.

Romano did as he was told, but didn't say anything.

"You know, maybe you would like to do the dishes too?" Elizabeth continued as she noticed that Robert was still a bit sulky. "And now that I started thinking about it, someone really ought to use the vacuum around here…and while we're at it, maybe you should also…"

"Okay, okay, I got your point!" Robert exclaimed. Then he looked at Elizabeth and gave a sly little smile. "If you are trying to make me your slave this isn't necessarily the best way to make it happen."

"Oh? Maybe you have a better idea?" Elizabeth asked boldly, getting up from her seat and approaching Romano. She wasn't exactly sure of what she was doing, but whatever it was, she found herself enjoying it.

"I guess I could come up with something..." Robert replied, setting down the dishes.

"Really?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on her lips. "Maybe I should try to seduce you…" she heard Robert gasping for breath as she moved closer. "…with dessert?

"Dessert?" Romano repeated. Then he seemed to realize he had been caught off guard. "What kind of dessert?" he asked casually, returning his attention to the dishes.

"Um…" Elizabeth hesitated. She hadn't really even thought about having any dessert before now.

"Ice cream!" She finally replied, remembering that there should be some of it left in the freezer.

"What kind?" Romano inquired.

Elizabeth opened the freezer and drew out the package.

"Cherry" she read aloud and turned to face Robert. "Good enough for you?"

"That, Lizzie, depends of course on how it is served", he replied with an intense look that made Elizabeth suddenly feel very warm despite the cold ice cream in her hands. She began to fear she had gone too far.

Elizabeth turned around to place the package on the table, suddenly wishing she could bury her head in it in order to cool down.  Luckily, the absurdity of the mental image made her chuckle to herself.

"What's so funny?" Romano demanded, looking at her curiously. "Did you accidentally drug your own food instead of mine?"

Elizabeth shook her head, still smiling.

"No", she replied. "But I think I will skip the ice cream this time. You can have the lot of it."

Elizabeth picked up a bowl for the dessert from one of the cupboards.

"Just tell me how much you want." She continued. "Unless, of course, you want to help yourself."

"Nah, I think I'll let you do the honors, just this once", Robert retorted. "I'll scrub in another time."

"Thank you, Dr. Romano" Elizabeth replied, finishing the "operation" as she successfully removed the ice cream from its original package to the bowl in front of her. Then she handed the dessert to Robert, looking away as their hands touched over the bowl for the briefest of moments.

"Thanks", he said quietly. It was only after Robert had stood still for a while, holding the bowl in his good hand, that Elizabeth realized he was unable to eat in his present position.

"Uh…maybe we should sit down," she suggested.

"Yeah. That might be a good idea." Romano agreed, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

"Maybe we should go to the living room", Elizabeth tried. "No point in standing here in the middle of all the dishes…."

"Right." Robert replied. "Just show me the way then."

Elizabeth did and so they soon found themselves in the large room, wondering how to get seated. Elizabeth looked at the couch, trying to decide if she could sit on it without having to fear that Robert would sit down too close next to her. She finally decided to let Romano choose his place first.  He looked at Elizabeth, but when she gave him no encouragement, he chose a lonely armchair apart from the couch and started eating his ice cream in silence.

Elizabeth then picked another armchair opposite to Robert's, leaving the poor couch totally unused.

"Is it any good?" she asked after a short silence.

"What?" Robert looked as if his thoughts had been elsewhere.

"The ice cream." Elizabeth repeated. "Is it any good?"

"Oh, it's fine." He replied.

"You don't sound very conv…" Elizabeth started, but she came to a halt when she heard a cry from upstairs.

"I'm sorry", she said, looking up and then back to Robert again. "Ella must have woken up. I have to go to see her."

"No problem." He  replied softly. "Take your time."

"I won't be long." Elizabeth assured him as she hurried upstairs.

15 minutes later she reappeared with Ella in tow. She had tried to get her back to sleep, but she had soon had to give up on the idea. Ella wanted to see the visitor.

"Ella, do you remember Robert?" Elizabeth spoke to her daughter as she carried Ella to the living room and sat down on the coach with her.

"Roh-but?" Ella peeped quietly, burying her face in her mother's shoulder.

Robert put down his bowl of dessert, which he by now had already finished.

"Yes, Ella." Elizabeth half-whispered to her. "This is Robert Romano, my col…friend from work."

"Hi Ella." Robert said, giving a small wave to make the little girl look at him.

"Say 'hi' to Robert." Elizabeth urged her daughter. "Say 'hi' to him." Then she turned to look at Romano apologetically: "She's a bit shy among strangers."

"Yeah, aren't we all." Robert replied, winking at Ella. "Hey, Ella", he then tried. "I could tell you funny stories about your mother."

"Robert!" Elizabeth warned him, but she was satisfied to notice that this exchange seemed to interest Ella. The girl lifted her head from her mother's shoulder and turned to look at Robert. She still looked suspicious, but the first fit of shyness was now overcome.

"Roh-but." she repeated, trying to imitate Elizabeth. This, in turn, seemed to amuse Romano, who quickly turned his head to hide a grin.

"Will you say 'hi' to Robert now?" Elizabeth tried again, ignoring Romano.

"Hi" Ella said quietly, looking down. Robert replied with another 'hi'.

"Do you want to go back to bed now?" Elizabeth whispered to Ella, stroking her hair gently. The child nodded and Elizabeth picked her up again, muttering to Romano that she would be right back.

When she returned, she found Robert standing up. He seemed to be ready to leave.

"Look, I'm sorry…about the interruption." Elizabeth said, approaching him. "Ella wanted to see you, but she is still a bit shy around new people."

"I wondered if it was just me she was scared of." Robert noted. "The One-Armed monster."

"Robert, you still have two arms!" Elizabeth retorted. "Besides", she continued. "Ella liked you. She even asked if you would come back later. It's just the first meeting that's always a bit hard. She doesn't meet that many people."

Robert only nodded.

"You were not leaving yet?" Elizabeth then asked. Suddenly she found herself wishing that he would stay a bit longer.

"I have to go and get Gretel out." He replied.

"Gretel?"

"My dog."

"Oh, right, of course."

Robert hesitated a moment. Then he stepped closer to Elizabeth.

"Thanks for the lunch." He said softly. "…and for the ice cream. It was delicious."

"Thanks for accepting the invitation." Elizabeth replied, unable to think of anything more interesting to say. She was finding herself oddly breathless in his immediate presence. Before she even realized she was looking at his lips, absentmindedly wondering if she could still taste the ice cream on them if she…Elizabeth checked herself and quickly looked away. What was going on with her? She could only hope Romano hadn't noticed her look. That, however, seemed unlikely as he was staring intensely at her face.

But then the moment was broken by the ringing of the telephone. Happy of the excuse to get some distance, Elizabeth hurried away to pick up the call.

"Hello?" she spoke to the phone, stealing a sideways glance at Romano, only to notice he had turned his back on her. She returned her attention to the caller. The voice sounded oddly familiar…

"Dr. Dorsett?" Elizabeth questioned. She noticed that Robert immediately turned around at the sound of the name.

 "Yes, it's Elizabeth." She spoke to the phone, trying to ignore Romano even though she knew he was now staring at her.

"No, this isn't exactly a good moment", she continued the conversation.

"Yes, if it's not urgent, perhaps it would be better if you called another time." Elizabeth noted, wondering if Robert's stare had already burnt a hole on her back.

Getting rid of Eddie, however, wasn't as easy as Elizabeth had hoped. Before she even knew, he was asking her on a date.

"Um…I don't know about that." She replied, but the man was persistent. Robert, on the other hand, seemed to be losing his patience observing the conversation.

Elizabeth did her best to finish the call: "Yes, Edward,  I'm sure that would be lovely, but…Look, can we talk about this tomorrow…I mean, on Monday, at work?" Finally Dorsett seemed to take the message and he ended the conversation after extracting a promise from Elizabeth that they would talk more later.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head as she hung up. Then she turned her attention back to Romano.

"It was from the hospital." She tried to cover, but Robert had heard Dorsett's name and wasn't going to let it slip.

"Doesn't that idiot know you're having a day off?" he raged.

"It must have slipped his mind…" Elizabeth shrugged, not really wanting to stay on the subject.

Romano, however, seemed to have forgotten that he had been on his way out.

"I see", he retorted. "How often does it 'slip his mind' anyway?"

Elizabeth didn't reply immediately.

"What? How many times has he called you?" Robert insisted.

"He hasn't", Elizabeth retorted, not liking the tone of Romano's voice. "Usually he just…"

"What?"

"Nothing. Why don't you just stop questioning me?"

"Oh please, don't tell me you and that…Dr. Dork - or should we all just call him 'Edward' now? - are suddenly having some sweet secrets other people shouldn't know about."

"So what if we are?" Elizabeth snapped back before thinking. Romano's questioning was beginning to irritate her.  "It's hardly any of your business anyway!", she cried, but soon she wished she had held her tongue, or at least chosen her words more wisely, when she looked at Romano.

Robert's expression was stoic as he replied:

"No, I guess it wouldn't be." He looked down at his shoes and then back at Elizabeth. "Good bye."

"Robert…" Elizabeth tried to apologize, but Romano was already on his way out.

"Thanks for the lunch." He cast over his shoulder before storming out.

Elizabeth buried her face in her hands and then slowly drew her fingers through her long, curly hair. Things certainly hadn't gone as she had planned. Not that she even had had a particular plan for the day, but having Robert storm out,  pissed with her because she had made him believe there was something going on between herself and Edward Dorsett, was certainly something she had not hoped to achieve when inviting him over in the first place.

With an exasperated sigh, Elizabeth went to the kitchen and picked up what was left of the ice cream. Then she returned to the living room, grabbed the spoon Robert had left behind him, and started eating the dessert, wondering what would happen on Monday at work. 

TBC