A Time of Healing 4
Disclaimer: I own neither ER nor any of its characters and I'm not trying to make any profit by writing this story.
Author's note: This story takes place somewhere during the summer between seasons 9 and 10, about a month after the Evil Amputation. It's about Romano and Elizabeth and how they find themselves in each other's company during the time of Romano's medical leave. I've read no spoilers for season 10, so there won't be any of them in this story either. Whatever will be written, will be pure speculation of what might happen.
Rated PG-13 for now, but the rating may go up in later chapters.
Special thanks to Mimi for beta reading this chapter!
Chapter 4 ~ Your Kiss
As Elizabeth stood looking at the hall around her, Robert took the opportunity to take in her appearance. She looked lovely as ever - but that, of course, went without saying. Much to Robert's satisfaction she seemed to have paid at least some more attention to her appearance than on an average work day, making it very easy for him to imagine they were on a real date. She was wearing a light skirt that ended just below her knees and an unbuttoned see-through blouse over a top that seemed to be of some finer cloth, but also slightly less revealing than the one she had been wearing the day before, when he had ran into her at the riverbank. Her hair was tied loosely behind her neck, some errant curls falling graciously on the sides of her face.
In Robert's mind there was only one word to describe the sight in front of him; beautiful. But he felt that was an understatement.
He even went as far as to consider saying some compliment about her appearance out loud, before Gretel's barking brought him back to his senses. He bent down to pat the pet and, when he noticed that Elizabeth had wandered off the hearing range, he whispered to the dog:
"Are you jealous, huh?" Gretel panted enthusiastically. "Don't worry girl, I think you're quite beautiful too, but," Robert looked up to see Elizabeth approaching him again and lowered his voice before continuing: "You've got to give her some credit. Or have you ever sprouted such pretty curls out of your head?"
At this point they were interrupted by Elizabeth:
"If I didn't know better I'd say the two of you are plotting something against me," she spoke, smiling mischievously. She had completely pulled herself together again after the unsettling first meeting at the front door, and was determined to keep the conversation light-hearted.
"Lizzie, I'm wounded by the obvious lack of trust you have in me," Robert replied with mock disappointment, deciding to follow her lead and continue the easy banter. "After all these years you still think I would pull a…"
"Robert, after all these years I don't think, I know." Elizabeth interjected, crossing her arms over her chest. They were both smiling, secretly enjoying the sparring. Gretel, on the other hand, was looking from Robert to Elizabeth, seemingly distressed about the fact that something, which she could neither understand nor be a part of, was going on between her owner and this strange woman whose hair she couldn't compete with.
"It's such a shame, though," Robert was now faking a pout, ignoring Gretel's attempts to get his attention. "I'm afraid I'll have to find someone else to taunt if you think you've already seen everything."
"That's not what I said." Elizabeth retorted. "I've just known you so long I know to be prepared for anything in your company."
"Now, do you really?" A new risky thought suddenly entered Robert's mind. He could bet she wouldn't be prepared if he now jumped and planted a kiss on her lips. For a while he toyed with the idea, but he knew he didn't have it in him to do it right now. Maybe some years ago, before being continuously rejected by Elizabeth, he might have done it, but now…now he needed a clearer sign of her feelings before he would dare to make a move. He had played with fire before and he had been burnt. It wouldn't happen again.
And speaking of burning…Robert looked up and around. He could smell something burning and, judging by the look on Elizabeth's face, she had caught the scent as well. Then he noticed that Gretel had disappeared from his side and was now barking in the kitchen. Then it dawned to him. The kitchen. The dinner! Robert rushed off. He suddenly remembered he had left the food in the oven.
Elizabeth, who followed him several steps behind, was still well out of the kitchen and could only hear his cursing when he a moment later pulled the food that had once been a delicious lasagna out of the oven. 'So much about showing off with my cooking skills,' Robert thought bitterly. He was just about to throw the entire dish away when Elizabeth reached the kitchen:
"Is that – I mean, was that our dinner?" she asked softly, but Robert could see she was struggling to repress a grin.
"Just keep on laughing and I will make you eat this," he shot back.
"I'm not laughing," she insisted, but she was clearly having increasing trouble keeping a straight face.
"Ok, that's it." Robert grabbed a spoon and picked a good mouthful of the burnt lasagna with it. "Open your mouth."
"That's not fair," Elizabeth kept resisting. "I didn't laugh!"
"But you were going to," Robert quipped. " That counts too." The initial disappointment of the spoiled meal was quickly fading away as he noticed how good results the unfortunate event seemed to have. The wall of uncertainty and nervousness that had been hovering between them seemed to have fallen, and before he even knew he had taken a few steps forward and was trying to shove the spoon into Elizabeth's mouth, without even stopping to rethink the action.
Elizabeth seemed to be enjoying herself just as well and she kept jerking her head backwards every time Robert got near enough with his spoon, and all the time she was grinning at him teasingly.
"See? Now you are laughing," he pointed out when Elizabeth could no longer repress a giggle after his third failed attempt to feed her the burnt food.
"But I'm not laughing at the meal," Elizabeth replied, trying to sound serious. Then, unable to keep a straight face, she let out another giggle and continued: "I'm laughing at you."
"Fine," Robert snapped back, pretending to be hurt. "Now you won't get away with just one spoonful!" He made yet another attempt to force the lasagna on Elizabeth, but this time his effort ended with the contents of the spoon falling on to the floor, and before Robert could even think about breaking the battle and cleaning the floor instead, the food was all already going through Gretel's digestion.
"See?" Robert bent down to pat his loyal friend. "At least someone knows how to appreciate my cooking."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, smiling mischievously.
"I believe that explains it then, why she needed the surgery," she suggested.
"Oh, come on, Lizzie! It's not that bad." Robert was now seriously beginning to doubt that Elizabeth would ever touch any of his cooking again. Despite the good beginning of their date, he was beginning to feel that things weren't going exactly to the right direction – especially if his intention had been to show how well he could manage with only one hand. "You'd be surprised to know how well I actually can cook," he added under his breath, but still audibly.
There was a small hint of defeat in Robert's voice as he spoke and Elizabeth must have noticed it because she soon took a more serious face and moved on to examine the infamous lasagna a bit closer.
"You know, Robert," she said after a while. "I think it still looks pretty good on the inside."
"Define good." Robert grunted, piling some of the burnt stuff on Gretel's plate.
"Anything that doesn't land us in the ER to spend the rest of the evening with a food poisoning," Elizabeth retorted. She picked up another spoon and carved herself a small piece of the lasagna. Robert watched her as she first brought the food under her nose to smell it and then, after a short moment of hesitation, brought it into her mouth. Her expression quickly turned from doubtful to smiling. Robert's heart leapt as she swallowed the food and reached for another spoonful.
"My, are we now trying to get a food poisoning or has Dr.Corday misdiagnosed the meal?" he said triumphantly.
"Oh shut up, Robert, and start eating if you're still going to." Elizabeth snorted. "You never know, I might eat it all if you're too tardy."
"Really?" Robert raised his brow. He was pleased to hear her indirect approval of the meal, but his ego wanted more, so he went for fishing: "Are you now complementing my cooking or are you trying to make me believe you always eat like a rhino so that I wouldn't invite you again?"
"Now there's a thought." Elizabeth mused, smiling mischievously. "But, no, actually I'd say you are a good cook – or rather, you might be if you just spent less time talking to your dog in the hall while your meal is burning in the kitchen."
"Lizzie, I'm overwhelmed by your flattering words. Where did you learn to give such smooth compliments?" Robert was determined not to show how pleased he actually was about Elizabeth's words. An outsider would have known nothing of the warm feeling that had landed somewhere inside of his chest - someone who didn't know him might even have thought he was disappointed of the lack of proper recognition, but Robert knew he couldn't fool Elizabeth.
Their eyes met and he could instantly tell that his own eyes were betraying him. He would have looked away to save his face, but he found himself too enthralled by the pair of blue eyes, only a foot or two away from his own, to move. So, in the end it was Elizabeth who looked away first. And was that a blush on her face? Robert took a deep breath. That would be the second time within one hour, and this time he hadn't even said or done anything. Robert inwardly shook his head. It was probably just the heat.
He quickly went on to grab a fork and to taste the lasagna to get his attention elsewhere. He had to admit it was good. At least the part of it was which hadn't burned. Without a word, he then began laying the table, but he froze as Elizabeth laid her hand on his arm to stop him.
"I don't think that will be necessary," she said, releasing his arm.
Robert was confused.
"So, now you suddenly don't want to eat anymore?", he asked, still feeling the weight and warmth of Elizabeth's hand on his arm.
"No," she replied, picking up her spoon again. "What I mean is, you have your fork, and I have my spoon, so why don't we just put the lasagna on the table and eat like we've been doing so far. There'll be a lot less dishes to wash."
Robert smiled. He knew she was suggesting it for his comfort, probably not knowing he had a dishwasher, because doing the dishes with only one hand would indeed have been a difficult task. But he didn't bother to inform Elizabeth of this little fact. The thought of bending over a pot of shared lasagna together with her was simply too tempting to be thrown away.
"You're right about that," he therefore said before she could start suspecting anything. "That'll be a lot easier" – 'and more fun,' Robert added to himself before picking up the pot and laying it on the table so that by moving the chairs a bit closer to one another they could both easily reach it.
"You know, this is actually quite good, Robert." Elizabeth pointed out after they had been eating for a while in silence.
"Yeah, you said that already," he replied cheekily. The fact that his legs were nearly touching Elizabeth's under the table – in fact, he had already brushed them against hers a couple of times "by accident" – was a great source of joy to him, and he was on his best mood. He could hardly believe that only yesterday he had been walking the streets of Chicago alone, feeling as if the entire world was against him.
"Well, it's worth repeating," she stated, finally putting down her fork "It is delicious, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get anywhere tonight if I take one more bite of it."
"And that's a bad thing because…?" Robert was feeling bold. For the first time in many months he was actually feeling like Rocket Romano again.
"Because I have a daughter waiting at home, and a babysitter who has a life of her own and needs to be set free," Elizabeth pointed out, but despite the rather dull tone of her voice, Robert could have sworn there was something almost flirtatious about her expression as she made the reply.
"I see," he replied, wondering if he had just imagined it all.
"So, I guess we'd better call it a night," she continued. "It's getting late."
"Well, you know what they say – time always flies in good company," Robert stated, trying to hide his disappointment. The evening seemed to be ending way too soon.
They both got up and made it out of the kitchen, but in the hall Robert suddenly remembered something.
"I didn't even get the chance to give you a tour of the house yet," he pointed out aloud, wondering if he could persuade her to stay a little longer.
Elizabeth looked around. It was a big house. There was no way the tour could be finished in only a matter of minutes. Robert could see what she was thinking and sighed inwardly. Apparently there was nothing he could do to delay her departure.
"Well, I guess it's time to say good night then", he said, hoping he wasn't sounding too much like a kid who had just been denied a visit to the zoo.
Elizabeth smiled.
"I suspect the house isn't going anywhere," she began. "So if you want to give me that tour some other time…"
Robert's head perked up.
"You mean there will be another time?" he blurted out, and then nearly bit off his tongue for sounding like a stupid teenager after a first date. "I mean, when will you be up for the next ride?" he hastily added.
"Ride?" Elizabeth raised her brow.
Robert grinned. "Yes, ride. When?"
"Well, tomorrow I'll be spending the entire day with Ella," she thought aloud, "but maybe the day after that, in the afternoon?"
"That sounds fantastic," Robert replied, this time trying not to sound too excited. "If you want to bring Ella with you, that's fine. I think there might still be some toys somewhere around the house."
"Toys? Your old toys?" Elizabeth asked, perplexed.
Robert laughed. He could see she was trying hard to imagine a toddler Romano playing with his toys.
"I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you?" he commented. "But no, what I mean is that my niece, now a teenager, might have left something behind."
"Oh"
There was a silence.
"You're wondering where she is now?" Robert said aloud what Elizabeth hadn't ventured to ask. "You probably wonder why neither she nor her mother, my sister, weren't here when – you know?"
Elizabeth nodded, but then hastened to speak:
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Robert smiled ruefully.
"Maybe I will some other time," he said. "But tonight - didn't you say you were in a hurry?"
"Yeah," Elizabeth looked at her watch. "I'd really better get going."
She walked to the door, but there she stopped and turned to face Robert again.
"Thanks for the dinner, Robert," she said, smiling. "It was great."
"Thanks for coming," Robert replied in a moment of softness. "I really enjoyed our evening."
"So did I," Elizabeth replied. Then, as if of an impulse, she made her way back to where Robert was standing, kissed his cheek softly and whispered "Good night" into his ear.
Robert's heart missed several beats the moment her lips touched his cheek, and by the time he had recovered, Elizabeth was already at the door again. With one last parting look, she turned the handle and slipped out into the night, leaving Robert rooted on the spot.
"Good night," he sighed at the door as soon as it was closed again, absentmindedly bringing his hand to where Elizabeth's lips had been only seconds before.
To be continued…