Disclaimer: Yup, that's right: I still don't own ER or any of the characters. They belong to the great powers that are WB, NBC and whatever other letter formations there might be. I'm just borrowing.

I warn you, there's not so terribly much of anything going on in this chapter, it's more like a bridge to what might or might not follow in the future. It's Shirley's turn to make a guest appearance in this one and I think I can already give you a Dorsett alert for the next installment even though it's not yet written. ;)

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Some Things Never Change

It was 7 o'clock in the morning and Elizabeth was in for an early shift after the weekend. Looking at her watch, she realized she was running a little late so she passed the ER hurriedly with only a quick 'good morning' to the people standing at the reception. Then she took the elevator up to the surgical floor where her tiny little closet of an office was located. There Elizabeth immediately ran into Shirley:

"Good morning, Dr. Corday!" she greeted her cheerfully. "How was your weekend?"

"You wouldn't believe." Elizabeth only replied, proceeding to her office, opening the door and quickly changing her jacket into the white coat. Shirley came to stand by the door, keeping up the conversation:

 "That bad, huh?"

"Well, not really, but…"

"It really seems to be in the air." Shirley continued before Elizabeth could finish her sentence.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth looked at her co-worker curiously. Then, without waiting for a reply, she stepped out of the office and moved on to the reception desk.

"You should have seen Romano yesterday morning!" Shirley chuckled, following Elizabeth. "I only saw him briefly, but I thought he'd bite my head off. I've rarely seen him so heated - and you know I have seen a lot. Good thing I'm not working at the ER!"

Elizabeth tried to laugh with Shirley, but the attempt wasn't very successful as she could only wonder how much she herself had had to do with his foul mood.

"Is he working today?" she asked after barely managing a half-amused smile.

"I wouldn't know." Shirley replied, shrugging. "You should ask someone at the ER."

"Right…" Elizabeth picked up a chart from the desk to change the subject. "So, what do we have today?" She turned to look down at the paper.

"Just one major operation. You probably won't even need to bother for the rest if you're covering the ER, Dorsett can handle them."

Elizabeth's head perked up.

"Is he here today?"

"Not yet, but he should arrive in a couple of hours."

 Elizabeth nodded, returning her attention to the chart, but then she realized that Shirley was still looking at her expectantly.

"What is it?" she enquired, frowning.

"Well, I was just wondering…" Shirley began suggestively.

"What?"

"You do know what people talk about…"

"No, actually, I don't" Elizabeth retorted. "Why don't you enlighten me?"

"Well…" Shirley began a bit uneasily. "Apparently there are people here who think that there might be something going on between you and Dr. Dorsett."

Elizabeth sighed. Would the nurses ever stop gossiping? A couple of looks and winks from his side and the entire hospital was ringing the wedding bells? Then she thought about Robert. Had he found out about the rumor? It occurred to Elizabeth that he might have heard something already before the Saturday. That would certainly explain his reaction to Dorsett's call, assuming of course – Elizabeth blushed against her will at the thought - that he still had some feelings for her.

"Well?" Shirley was still waiting for a response. From the knowing smile on her face, Elizabeth could only assume she had seen her blush and misinterpreted it to concern Dorsett. But perhaps it was for the best. Having the rumors fly about her and Edward was bad enough, but the thought of someone starting to gossip about her and Romano was absolutely horrifying…Not that there was anything going on between her and Robert anyway. All would be well and back to normal as soon as she could find something else to think about and as soon as Robert would get his own life back on track.

In the meanwhile, she would have to deal with Shirley and the existing rumors:

"Have they started betting money on it already?" Elizabeth asked sarcastically, trying to avoid any serious conversation on the subject.

However, instead of laughing the suggestion off like Elizabeth had expected, Shirley remained silent.

"Oh no." Elizabeth sighed, noticing the look on her face. "They really have?"

Shirley nodded. "I think it's Frank and Jerry who are running it. The stakes are high, I've heard."

"I can't believe it! Don't these people have anything better to do?"

"Apparently the people at the ER don't." Shirley shrugged. "You really should spend more time here at the OR."

"Right." Elizabeth snorted. "More time here in surgery with Dr. Dorsett. Wouldn't that just increase the water in the mill?"

"At least we're now safe from Romano here." Shirley noted. "Although, actually…" she lowered her voice: "I must confess I almost miss that old bullet-head from time to time, don't you?"

Elizabeth chuckled as she knew it was expected.

"Don't we all", she retorted, carefully refraining from expressing any personal opinion.

"Yeah." Shirley replied. Then she continued more seriously: "He really was a great surgeon."

"One of the best." Elizabeth agreed, sighing. "It's a great pity that we had to lose him… Finding  a replacement certainly isn't going to be easy."

"Really? I would have thought…" Shirley began, looking at Elizabeth pointedly.

"What?"

"Well, I just I thought you were going to be the replacement." She elaborated. "I mean, in a way you already are. You've been more or less in charge of the OR all year already, and now that he's down at the ER…"

"But that's only temporary." Elizabeth insisted. "I am the Associate Chief, so you know I'm only in charge as long as there is no-one else to do the job. And if Robert…" she paused and hesitated as if it was hard for her to say it aloud. Then she finally continued: "If Robert…can never return to surgery…then I suppose they are going to run a national search to fill the post. There is nothing I can do about it. "

"But aren't you going to apply for the permanent job when it opens?" Shirley countered, while Elizabeth's thoughts were still wandering somewhere between Romano and his former job.

"Uh…I don't know" she replied. "I haven't yet thought about it."

"I know it's a big decision", Shirley agreed. "But you'd be the best for the job. You are a great surgeon and you already have four years of experience as the Associate Chief.. This would be the natural step forward."

"I appreciate your trust, I really do." Elizabeth replied with a smile. "But I have to give it some more consideration…I have to think about Ella and..." she drifted off, but silently had to add to herself: and Robert. For some reason she was afraid that it might upset him if she tried to take his job, even if it wasn't his job anymore, and that was something she did not wish to accomplish.

In the meanwhile, Shirley continued in a lighter note:

"I really hope you will consider it", she spoke. "It would definitely be best for us all. The last thing I want right now is another cocky, middle-aged man with a…" Shirley was suddenly cut short.

Elizabeth, who hadn't been paying full attention, quickly looked up at her companion, wondering what had silenced her so abruptly. She didn't have to wait long for the answer as a familiar voice, coming from behind her back, broke the silence:

"What is this chatter I'm hearing?" asked the voice that couldn't belong to anyone but Robert Romano. Apparently he had heard at least some of their conversation. "You weren't talking about me, were you?"

"No." Shirley choked and, after exchanging worried looks with Elizabeth, quickly excused herself.

"What was that all about?" Romano asked as soon as Shirley was gone.

Elizabeth uncomfortably turned towards the desk and began searching through various papers and charts.

"Nothing", she replied, shrugging.

"Oh, come on, Lizzie", Robert snapped. "I heard Shirley mention a 'cocky, middle-aged man'!"

"She was talking about her neighbor." Elizabeth lied. She really didn't want to approach the subject of becoming the Chief of Surgery right now. Not while they still had so much other unfinished business to deal with.

But Romano wasn't ready to let it go so easily. Either he was having another bad morning or he was still mad at her.

"Lizzie, you should know you are a pathetic liar", he said, examining her face with a long stare. "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing important." Elizabeth insisted, avoiding Robert's eyes.

A short silence ensued as Romano chose not to push the topic any further. He seemed to have something else in his mind, but Elizabeth decided to cut in with something meaningless before he could speak:

"So, what brings you here anyway?" she asked, determinedly focusing on the chart she was still holding. "Shouldn't you be at the ER?"

Bad choice of words again, Elizabeth sighed to herself soon after as he watched Robert's expression harden.

"What?" he snapped. "Am I no longer even allowed to enter the OR floor? I see you'd rather keep me down at the ER."

"Oh, cut it out, Robert." Elizabeth retorted, slightly embarrassed of her own lack of consideration but also irritated that Robert seemed so willing to use any excuse to start an argument with her that morning. "If you just come here to pick up a fight, you might just as well…"

"No" Romano interjected irritably. "I came here to ask if any of you precious surgeons could finally bother to descend to the ER? Lewis asked for a surgical consult over half an hour ago. I had to come all the way here to see what's keeping you all, and what do I find? Dr. Corday showing her fine example by chatting away with her surgical team when she's supposed to be covering the ER!"

"I just arrived less than ten minutes ago!" Elizabeth protested, beginning to lose her patience with Robert again.

"Your shift began more than twenty minutes ago." Romano countered coolly.

Elizabeth sighed resignedly. She knew she was late and her only excuse was that she hadn't bothered to get up in time. Besides, she would have been down at the ER by now if she hadn't stopped to talk with Shirley.

"Fine." She retorted. "I'm coming."

"Good." Romano replied curtly, but no longer unkindly.

"So, what's the case?" Elizabeth asked, returning to professional mode after venturing a little smile as the final peace offering.

"Victim of a shooting…the usual stuff." Robert replied, taking off.  Elizabeth followed him.

They began walking towards the elevator and after a moment of silence, Elizabeth decided to take the opportunity to try to talk with Romano now that he seemed to have cooled down a bit.

"Robert?" she began.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…I just wanted to know…if we are okay." Elizabeth struggled to find the right words. "I mean, you left so abruptly on Saturday…I'm sorry it had to be like that."

Robert stayed quiet for a while. Then he spoke:

"Yeah. Me too."

"Are you angry with me?"

"Why would I be?"

They reached the elevator and stopped to wait for it.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Well, I just thought", she replied. "You seemed quite pissed off."

"So?" Robert avoided the question. "It can't have been the first time you've seen me seemingly pissed off."

"It certainly wasn't", Elizabeth snorted, but then she remembered the seriousness of the conversation:

"I don't want to fight with you, Robert." She said softly.

"I'm glad to hear it", Romano only replied.

The elevator doors slid open and they both stepped in.

"I really mean it." Elizabeth continued once the doors behind them were closed. "Maybe we should try again some other time," she suggested "A dinner, maybe?"

There was a short silence. Robert seemed to be contemplating the offer. His reaction was not quite what Elizabeth had expected:

"Do you really want it or are you just trying to please me?" he finally asked in return.

Elizabeth was taken aback.

"Well, I just…" she began, but didn't have time to finish her thoughts before the elevator doors swung open again. They were down at the ER.

Romano stepped out first.

"Forget that I asked", he said lightly, but his voice sounded a little forced to Elizabeth who knew Robert better than most people. But she didn't get a chance to reply as Romano, after taking one more look at her, disappeared into the early morning crowd of the ER, and Elizabeth was not fast enough follow him. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. The ER could be stressing enough even without adding Robert into the mix. She'd have to get her mind elsewhere. Soon.

TBC

Please R&R and let me know what you think.