Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter up. It took me a long time to be pleased with it. I'm still not completely happy with it, but it'll do for now. I know this story is slow going, but there will be some action eventually. I promise. I'm building things painfully slowly, because that's what the show does. This is my first fanfic, so I don't feel I really know what I'm doing. Thank you so much everybody for reading it.
G - Just growing the characters in this chapter and Elizabeth's feelings for Robert.
Chapter 10 - Hands
There was nothing but darkness, silence and Elizabeth. He could hear her slow, soft breath as she slept against his shoulder. He closed his eyes savoring her warmth, then opened them quickly for fear he might fall asleep. He wanted to spend all night savoring her in his arms. He looked down at her face. She looked so peaceful; not at all like a woman who had a gun to her head just a few hours earlier. He didn't want to think about how she might have been shot.
He looked back up again. He didn't want to stare at her face for too long. Well, he wanted to, but he was afraid she'd realize he was staring and wake up. He looked down at her again. He couldn't help it. He wasn't planning to look at her again so soon; it just happened. She was so beautiful. He then bent down slightly and kissed the top of her head gently. This was yet another action he didn't plan to do, but just happened. She stirred. He froze. Here it comes. She was gonna wake up, jerk away and get all cold and nervous like she usually did. He could see it now. But she didn't wake up. In fact, she just adjusted herself and brought her hand up to her face, resting it lightly on his chest. She was fast asleep and had no idea what she'd just done. If she'd known, she would have been mortified by her own action.
He realized again that he was staring and looked back up. After a few minutes, he could hear her breathing a little louder than before. He raised his eyebrows and looked down again. Was she snoring? Just a little. It wasn't very loud, but it was definitely snoring. He smiled. "Ah, Lizzie," he whispered. She didn't even stir. She was deeply asleep now. He sighed, "You mean everything to me."
He then began to think out loud. He saw that he could whisper and it wouldn't wake her. He decided to take advantage of this situation.
"I love you, Elizabeth...I love you so much...I'd do anything for you...I've always loved you." He stopped and thought back to when he first knew her. "Okay...well, maybe not always, but...I've always wanted you...Since I first saw you...You were so breathtaking...I've just wanted to be with you...I need you, Elizabeth."
He stopped and looked down at her again to make sure she was still sound asleep. She was. She was still snoring and her lips were even parted slightly. He stared at her lips for a moment, thinking about how soft they looked. His eyes then scanned down to her neck and then slowly down the rest of her body all the way down to her feet. He looked back up and leaned his head against the wall thinking he shouldn't really have done that.
He continued to whisper to the sleeping Elizabeth. This was good for him. He had wanted to get these things out for a long time. "You have no idea how much I think about you. I used to sit in my office thinking up things to have to talk to you about, just so I could talk to you. I'd come up with things for you to do, just so I could tell you they needed to be done."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His head was still relaxed against the wall. "You're so beautiful, Elizabeth. This is the best moment of my life..." He looked around, "...in a closet. I loved my wife...but I don't think I loved her this much...I don't remember. All these years there's just been you...my dearest...loveliest...Elizabeth."
His eyes began to get heavy and he began to speak slower and more randomly. "You're so talented...and sweet...and intelligent...you're perfect...I love you...I love you...I...love..."
LIGHT!!!!!!! "Ahh" proclaimed Elizabeth as she put her hand over her eyes to block out the bright light. "Oh God," she moaned.
Robert took in a deep breath quickly and winced. It was morning and they had both fallen asleep.
"Good morning," stated a rather devilish sounding female voice. Neither Robert, nor Elizabeth could see whom the voice belonged to, but they definitely recognized it as Shirley.
"What time is it?" asked Elizabeth groggily.
Shirley looked at her watch. "About 8," she answered. "Have you been here all night?"
"Don't ask," stated Elizabeth as she stood up slowly. Robert stood up right after her. They were both a little sore and very stiff.
"We found Linda tied up in the scrub room this morning and came in here directly. She told us Dorsett tied her up. We presumed he killed Mr. Dublin. Is this true?" Linda was the nurse on duty last night.
"Yes," answered Elizabeth plainly. The memory of it all was starting to come back to her. It was horrible. That coupled with the poor sleep she received was making her emotional. Romano saw this.
"Oh my," continued Shirley. "Are you guys okay? What happened? When did he-"
"Shirley," interrupted Romano, "I have an idea. Why don't you go call the police and we'll stay here. And, hey even better, why not after you call the police, you go downstairs to meet them, buy them doughnuts, coffee and then...well, I don't really care what you do then as long as it is away from us. Okay? Thanks."
Shirley just gave him a weird look, then looked at Elizabeth. Elizabeth was sitting in a chair staring into space, so Shirley decided to go ahead and leave them alone. She left to go call the police. Robert walked over to where Elizabeth was sitting and she began to talk to him.
"I just realized I now have to call his family and explain how he died."
"You want me to do it?" Robert asked.
"No," she answered coldly. She then stood up and walked away without even looking at him. He watched her leave.
She went straight to the Ladies Room. She went to the bathroom, washed her hands, arms and face. She ran her hands through her hair and just stared at her reflection. She was exhausted. She was a little worried about Ella, but she knew Kris wouldn't leave her. She wanted to just go home, curl up in bed and stay there for about a week. But, she couldn't. She had surgeries to do today as well as some of Dorsett's, too, she imagined. She started to cry. It had all just been too much. After about 10 minutes, she was able to compose herself and left the bathroom. Robert was nowhere to be found thank goodness. She walked over to the nurse's station. Shirley and some other nurse she didn't recognize were speaking in hushed voices.
"And then I-" Shirley said, but then cut herself off abruptly when she saw Elizabeth coming over. Shirley pretended to be writing something down that was very important. Elizabeth merely wanted to double-check her schedule.
"Good morning, Dr. Corday," said the other nurse politely, as she stepped a bit away. She also began to pretend she was working on somebody's chart.
"Good morning," groaned Elizabeth.
Shirley was looking down trying to hide her wry, little smile. "Sleep well, Dr. Corday?" Shirley asked. Her and the other nurse were trying not to laugh. But it was obvious by their little snickers that they were having a hard time at it.
"Can it, Shirley. I'm not in the mood," said Elizabeth.
"Not any more," stated Shirley seductively. She couldn't help herself. The other nurse let out a loud snort, trying not to laugh.
Elizabeth looked at them both appalled. "You do realize I had a gun to my head last night?" she asked rudely.
"Yes ma'am," said Shirley apologetically.
"Good. Now if you don't mind, I am going to go home to make sure my 2 year old is still alive. Then I'm going to kill the nanny for sleeping on the couch all night. After that, if I have time, I would like to take a shower before I have to come back here for an Endarterectomy at 10:30. Oh, and somewhere in there I get to call Mr. Dublin's family and explain to them that he was murdered in his hospital bed last night. Is that alright with you?" finished Elizabeth.
"Yes ma'am," said Shirley again.
"Thank you." At that, Elizabeth left. But just as she turned the corner, she stopped to hear loud laughter coming from the two nurses. She just ignored it and kept going.
----------
Thankfully, Elizabeth got to go home around 2 o'clock in the afternoon that day. Apparently news traveled quickly and a couple of surgeons were paged to help fill in for Dorsett and Elizabeth's scheduled surgeries. Even Anspaugh came in to lend a hand. He's the one who told Elizabeth to go home. She had called Dublin's family before leaving and that was horrible, but she got through it.
When she got home, Kris offered to stay if Elizabeth wanted to take a nap. Kris had felt bad about sleeping all night last night and tried to make up for it. Elizabeth took up her offer and slept the rest of the afternoon away. That evening she began to feel a bit better and her mind was a little clearer. She decided to fix her and Ella a proper dinner. She didn't feel like she'd eaten well in days. She opened the refrigerator and found some pork chops that were still good, some frozen corn and things for a salad. It wouldn't be the best supper in the world, but it would do. She definitely didn't want to go to the store.
As she was cooking she could hear Ella in the living room watching a videotape and singing along with it. It was a Blue's Clues video. Elizabeth had gotten very tired of it. Ella had to watch the same video over and over again: Blue's Birthday Party. Both Ella and Elizabeth had it memorized by now.
Elizabeth's mind started to wander now. This was the first time it had popped into her mind the fact she had...well...slept with Robert last night. It made her cringe just to think about it. Great, she thought. What was he going to do now? She hoped he wasn't going to read anything into it and try and hit on her again. She hadn't had to see him today afterwards, but she would have to see him again sometime. Hopefully, if she just acts like it didn't happen and if he doesn't bring it up, it will all be forgotten. Yeah, that's probably the way it will go.
She flipped on the water faucet and placed a saucepan full of frozen corn underneath it. She all of a sudden wondered what he was doing right now. Did he cook for himself? Could he cook with one arm? It had to be difficult. These stray thoughts wouldn't seem to go away. She turned the faucet off and placed the pan on the stove, turning it on low. She then went back to the sink to rinse the pork chops. She decided to play a little game. She stuck her left hand in the pocket of her jeans just to see if she could do it. She flipped on the faucet again and already came across her first obstacle: opening the package. She was so used to just tearing it open, but she couldn't. She had to use a pair of scissors and even that proved difficult. When she began to rinse them she dropped one in the sink. She was able to get them started cooking in the pan, though, finally. Afterwards, she felt she had just completed a great accomplishment. She then needed to wash her hands...er...hand. How on earth did he do that? She put a little soap on her hand and scrubbed it around her palm as best she could. She couldn't even get to the back of her hand. He must have to fill up the sink or something to...
"Mommy!" she heard Ella cry. The tape must have ended.
Elizabeth walked into the living room and automatically ripped her hand out of her pocket and scooped up her daughter before heading back into the kitchen. Well, I guess that's the end of that game, she thought. She concluded that there had to be no way anyone could ever take care of a young child with only one hand. Heck, sometimes she felt she needed three.
She talked to Ella after that and they enjoyed their dinner. She put Ella to sleep, then watched some TV before going to bed herself. She couldn't sleep very well, though. She'd had a long nap. Her mind kept focusing every now and then on how much she used her left hand: to change clothes, to get into bed, to scratch an itch on her right wrist. She had never noticed it before. It made her worry about Robert all the more. Many things must take longer for him. How does he scratch an itch on his right wrist? He lives alone. It's not like he has any help. He must scrape it up against something. Finally, while all these thoughts and others were scrambling through her head, she fell asleep.
G - Just growing the characters in this chapter and Elizabeth's feelings for Robert.
Chapter 10 - Hands
There was nothing but darkness, silence and Elizabeth. He could hear her slow, soft breath as she slept against his shoulder. He closed his eyes savoring her warmth, then opened them quickly for fear he might fall asleep. He wanted to spend all night savoring her in his arms. He looked down at her face. She looked so peaceful; not at all like a woman who had a gun to her head just a few hours earlier. He didn't want to think about how she might have been shot.
He looked back up again. He didn't want to stare at her face for too long. Well, he wanted to, but he was afraid she'd realize he was staring and wake up. He looked down at her again. He couldn't help it. He wasn't planning to look at her again so soon; it just happened. She was so beautiful. He then bent down slightly and kissed the top of her head gently. This was yet another action he didn't plan to do, but just happened. She stirred. He froze. Here it comes. She was gonna wake up, jerk away and get all cold and nervous like she usually did. He could see it now. But she didn't wake up. In fact, she just adjusted herself and brought her hand up to her face, resting it lightly on his chest. She was fast asleep and had no idea what she'd just done. If she'd known, she would have been mortified by her own action.
He realized again that he was staring and looked back up. After a few minutes, he could hear her breathing a little louder than before. He raised his eyebrows and looked down again. Was she snoring? Just a little. It wasn't very loud, but it was definitely snoring. He smiled. "Ah, Lizzie," he whispered. She didn't even stir. She was deeply asleep now. He sighed, "You mean everything to me."
He then began to think out loud. He saw that he could whisper and it wouldn't wake her. He decided to take advantage of this situation.
"I love you, Elizabeth...I love you so much...I'd do anything for you...I've always loved you." He stopped and thought back to when he first knew her. "Okay...well, maybe not always, but...I've always wanted you...Since I first saw you...You were so breathtaking...I've just wanted to be with you...I need you, Elizabeth."
He stopped and looked down at her again to make sure she was still sound asleep. She was. She was still snoring and her lips were even parted slightly. He stared at her lips for a moment, thinking about how soft they looked. His eyes then scanned down to her neck and then slowly down the rest of her body all the way down to her feet. He looked back up and leaned his head against the wall thinking he shouldn't really have done that.
He continued to whisper to the sleeping Elizabeth. This was good for him. He had wanted to get these things out for a long time. "You have no idea how much I think about you. I used to sit in my office thinking up things to have to talk to you about, just so I could talk to you. I'd come up with things for you to do, just so I could tell you they needed to be done."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His head was still relaxed against the wall. "You're so beautiful, Elizabeth. This is the best moment of my life..." He looked around, "...in a closet. I loved my wife...but I don't think I loved her this much...I don't remember. All these years there's just been you...my dearest...loveliest...Elizabeth."
His eyes began to get heavy and he began to speak slower and more randomly. "You're so talented...and sweet...and intelligent...you're perfect...I love you...I love you...I...love..."
LIGHT!!!!!!! "Ahh" proclaimed Elizabeth as she put her hand over her eyes to block out the bright light. "Oh God," she moaned.
Robert took in a deep breath quickly and winced. It was morning and they had both fallen asleep.
"Good morning," stated a rather devilish sounding female voice. Neither Robert, nor Elizabeth could see whom the voice belonged to, but they definitely recognized it as Shirley.
"What time is it?" asked Elizabeth groggily.
Shirley looked at her watch. "About 8," she answered. "Have you been here all night?"
"Don't ask," stated Elizabeth as she stood up slowly. Robert stood up right after her. They were both a little sore and very stiff.
"We found Linda tied up in the scrub room this morning and came in here directly. She told us Dorsett tied her up. We presumed he killed Mr. Dublin. Is this true?" Linda was the nurse on duty last night.
"Yes," answered Elizabeth plainly. The memory of it all was starting to come back to her. It was horrible. That coupled with the poor sleep she received was making her emotional. Romano saw this.
"Oh my," continued Shirley. "Are you guys okay? What happened? When did he-"
"Shirley," interrupted Romano, "I have an idea. Why don't you go call the police and we'll stay here. And, hey even better, why not after you call the police, you go downstairs to meet them, buy them doughnuts, coffee and then...well, I don't really care what you do then as long as it is away from us. Okay? Thanks."
Shirley just gave him a weird look, then looked at Elizabeth. Elizabeth was sitting in a chair staring into space, so Shirley decided to go ahead and leave them alone. She left to go call the police. Robert walked over to where Elizabeth was sitting and she began to talk to him.
"I just realized I now have to call his family and explain how he died."
"You want me to do it?" Robert asked.
"No," she answered coldly. She then stood up and walked away without even looking at him. He watched her leave.
She went straight to the Ladies Room. She went to the bathroom, washed her hands, arms and face. She ran her hands through her hair and just stared at her reflection. She was exhausted. She was a little worried about Ella, but she knew Kris wouldn't leave her. She wanted to just go home, curl up in bed and stay there for about a week. But, she couldn't. She had surgeries to do today as well as some of Dorsett's, too, she imagined. She started to cry. It had all just been too much. After about 10 minutes, she was able to compose herself and left the bathroom. Robert was nowhere to be found thank goodness. She walked over to the nurse's station. Shirley and some other nurse she didn't recognize were speaking in hushed voices.
"And then I-" Shirley said, but then cut herself off abruptly when she saw Elizabeth coming over. Shirley pretended to be writing something down that was very important. Elizabeth merely wanted to double-check her schedule.
"Good morning, Dr. Corday," said the other nurse politely, as she stepped a bit away. She also began to pretend she was working on somebody's chart.
"Good morning," groaned Elizabeth.
Shirley was looking down trying to hide her wry, little smile. "Sleep well, Dr. Corday?" Shirley asked. Her and the other nurse were trying not to laugh. But it was obvious by their little snickers that they were having a hard time at it.
"Can it, Shirley. I'm not in the mood," said Elizabeth.
"Not any more," stated Shirley seductively. She couldn't help herself. The other nurse let out a loud snort, trying not to laugh.
Elizabeth looked at them both appalled. "You do realize I had a gun to my head last night?" she asked rudely.
"Yes ma'am," said Shirley apologetically.
"Good. Now if you don't mind, I am going to go home to make sure my 2 year old is still alive. Then I'm going to kill the nanny for sleeping on the couch all night. After that, if I have time, I would like to take a shower before I have to come back here for an Endarterectomy at 10:30. Oh, and somewhere in there I get to call Mr. Dublin's family and explain to them that he was murdered in his hospital bed last night. Is that alright with you?" finished Elizabeth.
"Yes ma'am," said Shirley again.
"Thank you." At that, Elizabeth left. But just as she turned the corner, she stopped to hear loud laughter coming from the two nurses. She just ignored it and kept going.
----------
Thankfully, Elizabeth got to go home around 2 o'clock in the afternoon that day. Apparently news traveled quickly and a couple of surgeons were paged to help fill in for Dorsett and Elizabeth's scheduled surgeries. Even Anspaugh came in to lend a hand. He's the one who told Elizabeth to go home. She had called Dublin's family before leaving and that was horrible, but she got through it.
When she got home, Kris offered to stay if Elizabeth wanted to take a nap. Kris had felt bad about sleeping all night last night and tried to make up for it. Elizabeth took up her offer and slept the rest of the afternoon away. That evening she began to feel a bit better and her mind was a little clearer. She decided to fix her and Ella a proper dinner. She didn't feel like she'd eaten well in days. She opened the refrigerator and found some pork chops that were still good, some frozen corn and things for a salad. It wouldn't be the best supper in the world, but it would do. She definitely didn't want to go to the store.
As she was cooking she could hear Ella in the living room watching a videotape and singing along with it. It was a Blue's Clues video. Elizabeth had gotten very tired of it. Ella had to watch the same video over and over again: Blue's Birthday Party. Both Ella and Elizabeth had it memorized by now.
Elizabeth's mind started to wander now. This was the first time it had popped into her mind the fact she had...well...slept with Robert last night. It made her cringe just to think about it. Great, she thought. What was he going to do now? She hoped he wasn't going to read anything into it and try and hit on her again. She hadn't had to see him today afterwards, but she would have to see him again sometime. Hopefully, if she just acts like it didn't happen and if he doesn't bring it up, it will all be forgotten. Yeah, that's probably the way it will go.
She flipped on the water faucet and placed a saucepan full of frozen corn underneath it. She all of a sudden wondered what he was doing right now. Did he cook for himself? Could he cook with one arm? It had to be difficult. These stray thoughts wouldn't seem to go away. She turned the faucet off and placed the pan on the stove, turning it on low. She then went back to the sink to rinse the pork chops. She decided to play a little game. She stuck her left hand in the pocket of her jeans just to see if she could do it. She flipped on the faucet again and already came across her first obstacle: opening the package. She was so used to just tearing it open, but she couldn't. She had to use a pair of scissors and even that proved difficult. When she began to rinse them she dropped one in the sink. She was able to get them started cooking in the pan, though, finally. Afterwards, she felt she had just completed a great accomplishment. She then needed to wash her hands...er...hand. How on earth did he do that? She put a little soap on her hand and scrubbed it around her palm as best she could. She couldn't even get to the back of her hand. He must have to fill up the sink or something to...
"Mommy!" she heard Ella cry. The tape must have ended.
Elizabeth walked into the living room and automatically ripped her hand out of her pocket and scooped up her daughter before heading back into the kitchen. Well, I guess that's the end of that game, she thought. She concluded that there had to be no way anyone could ever take care of a young child with only one hand. Heck, sometimes she felt she needed three.
She talked to Ella after that and they enjoyed their dinner. She put Ella to sleep, then watched some TV before going to bed herself. She couldn't sleep very well, though. She'd had a long nap. Her mind kept focusing every now and then on how much she used her left hand: to change clothes, to get into bed, to scratch an itch on her right wrist. She had never noticed it before. It made her worry about Robert all the more. Many things must take longer for him. How does he scratch an itch on his right wrist? He lives alone. It's not like he has any help. He must scrape it up against something. Finally, while all these thoughts and others were scrambling through her head, she fell asleep.
