Chapter 4 is here! Robert confronts Dorsett, and later takes care of Elizabeth and Ella who are both sick with a cold.

Disclaimer: I do not own ER, I think you all know that.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

*******************************************************************

Robert and Elizabeth sat on the roof for a few more minutes before Elizabeth had to get back to her office. She had a few more hours left on her shift, and there was a stack of paperwork six inches high on her desk.

Meanwhile, Robert had to get back to the ER. And after that, he had to pay someone a visit.

*******************************************************************

Robert's shift had ended fifteen minutes ago, and he made his way down the surgical floor, dressed in casual clothes; jeans and a form fitting black t-shirt. He stopped in front of the door of a dimly lit, dilapidated office, belonging to none other than Dr. Edward Dorsett.

Eddie was on the left hand side of the room, facing away from the door. Standing next to the filing cabinet, his fingers moved quickly through the papers he was looking at.

Robert set his briefcase down outside the door, and entered the room silently. He walked up to Eddie and shoved him forcefully into the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eddie yelled.

"You son of a bitch," Robert said in a low voice. "You must think you're so smooth."

"What are you talking about?" Eddie asked, not knowing what was going on. "She was lonely and vulnerable, and you seduced her. I watched you do it. You flirted with her, and then you used her. How could you not tell her that you were married. You have some nerve. She just lost her husband, you bastard!" he yelled.

By now Roberts hands were trembling with uncontrolled rage. "And now she's pregnant, and you tell her you want nothing to do with this child. If I was still Chief of Staff, I'd have your ass fired so fast…" he trailed off, as an evil grin spread across Eddie's face.

"But you aren't Chief of Staff anymore, are you? So there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

"Oh yes there is, " said Robert, and with that he punched Eddie square in the face. Eddie fell to the ground and blood poured from his nose as he brought his hand to his face. He tried, but failed to get up.

"You made a big mistake when you hurt Elizabeth Corday. You stay the hell away from her. I swear, if you ever do anything to hurt her ever again you'll pay."

Eddie was still laying on the ground, and before Robert left he made sure to kick him on his way out the door.

*******************************************************************

A knock on Elizabeth's office door startled her, as she looked up from the paperwork she had been working on. Robert leaned against the door frame.

"Still working? I thought for sure you would've gone home by now," he said smiling at her. Elizabeth smiled back at him, thinking how rare it was to see that smile on his face anymore. She enjoyed the few times he let his guard down.

"You seem in a good mood tonight," she told him, laughing.

"Well I just took care of some unfinished business," he said, hoping she wouldn't ask the details. He didn't really want to tell her that he had punched Eddie.

"Oh yeah, what?" she asked.

"Nothing worth talking about, " he replied. "Are you leaving soon?"

"In a few minutes, yes," she said.

"Can I give you a ride?" he asked.

"I was just going to take the El."

"Come on, let me give you a ride. I promise my car is cleaner and safer than the El."

"Well, if you insist," she said smiling. "Just let me get my stuff," she said, standing up and grabbing her coat off the rack and her bag from off the desk. Pulling her keys out of her bag, they walked into the hall, as she shut and locked her office door.

*******************************************************************

"We need to get surgery down here," Robert said to one of the nurses in the trauma room the next morning. "Dr. Corday is on call, I think," he said, remembering last night that Elizabeth had said she was covering the ER today. A few minutes later Dr. Edson came through the door, "What's the story?" he asked.

"Where's Dr. Corday?" Robert asked. "I thought she was covering the ER today."

"I don't know where she is, all the schedules got switched around for today, so here I am," he said.

Edson started his assessment of the patient. Five minutes later the patient was wheeled off to surgery, and Robert decided to take a break and go upstairs to look for Elizabeth.

First he went to her office, which was dark, and the door was still locked. He made his way down the hall looking for a nurse that he knew. Finally he found Shirley coming out of the scrub room.

"Shirley, where's Elizabeth?" he asked quickly, starting to get impatient.

"She called in sick today," Shirley told him.

"Sick?" he questioned.

"Yeah, she sounded like she had a pretty bad cold. And Ella's sick too, so it sounds like she's got her hands full today."

"Thanks," Robert said, distracted. He took off quickly down the hall and back to the ER.

"Susan," he said, approaching the admit desk. "I have to go take care of something, cover the rest of my shift, will you?" he said, not really asking.

"Yeah, sure, because I don't have anything else to do," Susan said sighing.

*******************************************************************

Robert pulled into Elizabeth's driveway a little after 10:30 that the morning. He got out of the car, carrying with him some essentials that he had picked up at the store on the way there. He had gotten Children's Tylenol for Ella, some Nyquil for Elizabeth, a box of tissues, a carton of orange juice, and cough drops. He was definitely prepared.

He knocked on the door. Trying to balance the bag of groceries in his good arm and knock at the same time turned out to be harder than he thought, but he managed ok.

After a minute or two, Elizabeth yanked the door open, and a look of surprise spread across her face as she saw Robert standing on her front step.

"Robert, what are you doing here?" she said, and then turned her head and coughed. She held a tissue in her hand.

"I heard you and the munchkin were sick, so I came to check on you. I took the day off," he said.

She held the door open for him to come in. Robert stepped inside and followed Elizabeth into the kitchen, setting down the bag of stuff on the counter.

"What did you bring?" she asked, sitting down on a stool on the opposite side of the counter.

"Medicine, for you and Ella, orange juice, tissues, cough drops, " he said as he unloaded the bag.

"Oh, that's wonderful," she said, picking up the Children's Tylenol. "Ella's almost out, and I didn't feel up to going to the store," she said, sniffling. Robert put the orange juice in the refrigerator, and then approached Elizabeth, putting a hand to her forehead.

"You have a fever, you should be in bed," he said.

"I know," she said. "I was up with Ella, she's just fallen back asleep."

"Where do you keep your glasses?" he asked, as he opened a few cupboards.

"Next one," she said. He pulled one out and filled it with water, handing Elizabeth two Nyquil and the glass of water. She gratefully accepted the medicine. She hadn't even taken anything yet, because she had been busy trying to care for Ella.

Elizabeth climbed off the stool and put her glass in the sink. Robert followed her out to the living room as Elizabeth curled up on the couch. He sat on a chair opposite from the couch, watching her. She shivered, and Robert got up from the chair.

"Let me get you a blanket. Where do you keep them?" he asked.

"The closet across from Ella's room upstairs," she said. He made his way up the stairs and grabbed a thick quilt from the closet.

When he came back downstairs, Elizabeth had fallen asleep. He spread the blanket over her and sat back down in the chair, picking up a magazine from the coffee table to read.

Ten minutes later, he heard Ella crying upstairs. Elizabeth sat up drowsily, hearing the cry too. She started to get up, but Robert stopped her. "I'll go check on her," he said. "You get some rest."

She looked at him warily. "I'll come get you if I need help, ok?" he said, trying to put her mind at ease. She nodded, and curled back up under the blanket as Robert made his way upstairs.

Ella was sitting up in her bed crying. Her nose was running, and she was sweating from the fever, her clothes were soaked. Robert and sat down next to her in the bed. "Hi Ella," he said sweetly. Luckily Robert and Ella had met before, and she was fairly comfortable with him. She held out her arms to him, signaling that she wanted to be picked up. He gathered the little girl in his arms, and went over to her dresser, where he found some new clothes to put on her. Some sweats and a t-shirt. He sat her down on the bed and took her wet clothes off, putting the clean, dry ones on. "Now, how bout we go take some medicine to make you feel better and wipe your nose, ok?" he asked her. She nodded as he picked her up, and she snuggled into his chest.

He carried her downstairs and into the kitchen, setting her in her highchair. Opening the box of tissues he brought, he wiped her nose, and she smiled at him. Next he got her a dose of the Tylenol and a drink of orange juice. She made a face as she drank the little cup of medicine, and quickly reached for her sippy cup of juice.

Robert noticed the ear thermometer lying on the counter, and decided to check Ella's temperature, which was hovering just a little over 100. Not too high, he thought.

Just as he was trying to figure out what to do with Ella next, Elizabeth shuffled into the kitchen, and went over to Ella, feeling her forehead. "It's 100.2," he told her. "I just gave her some Tylenol. How are you feeling?" he asked.

As if on cue, Elizabeth turned her head and sneezed into the tissue in her hand twice, and then started to cough.

"Well I guess that answers my question, " he said. "Let me take your temperature," he said. So she allowed him. He stuck the thermometer in her ear, and waited for the beep. The numbers glowed red when he took it out. "101.4. Well the medicine hasn't had a chance to kick in yet, give it a little while. How about Ella and I go watch some TV in the living room, and you go up to bed for a little while. That Nyquil is going to make you very sleepy when it starts working."

"Okay," she said. Robert picked up Ella and brought her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch.

Elizabeth went upstairs and collapsed onto her bed, crawling underneath her comforter and falling fast asleep.

Robert and Ella started watching Blues Clues downstairs, and about an hour later Ella had finally fallen asleep with her head in Robert's lap. He stroked her hair gently and felt her forehead, relieved that her fever had gone down a lot.

Gently, he lifted Ella's head off his lap so that he could get up and check on Elizabeth. He climbed the stairs quietly, hoping not to wake her if she was asleep.

The door to her room was open, so he cautiously entered, seeing Elizabeth lying on her bed wrapped in her comforter. He approached the side of her bed and carefully sat down on the edge next to her. Brushing a few stray damp curls out of her face, he put a palm to her forehead, which was still too warm. She was sicker than Ella was, and probably exhausted from working so much.

Elizabeth stirred and shifted in the bed opening her eyes sleepily. "How's Ella?" she asked right away.

"Her fevers gone down, she's asleep on the couch," he said. "How are you?" he asked gently.

"My head hurts, " she replied. "And my throat."

"Do you wants some tea, or some soup?" he asked.

"I am kind of hungry, I am eating for two after all."

"Right, which means we have to get you feeling better soon and keep you healthy. Do you want me to bring the soup up here?"

"No, I think I can handle going downstairs," she told him. "I want to check on Ella anyway."

She pushed the covers off her body, revealing her pink plaid pajamas, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She swayed a little as she stood up and Robert grabbed her arm to steady her. "Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to sound convincing, even though her legs felt so weak she thought they might give out at any second. As they passed the end of the bed, Elizabeth grabbed the afghan that lay there and pulled it around her shoulders, and then they made their way slowly down the stairs.

On the way through the living room Elizabeth stopped quickly to check on Ella, and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she went to join Robert in the kitchen.

Robert was already busying himself in kitchen making the soup as Elizabeth crossed the room and took a seat at the counter. She grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter and blew her nose, lowering her head down to the counter when she was done.

Robert set a cup of tea down in front of her, and she lifted her head briefly to take a small sip. Slowly she lowered her head back down and closed her eyes. She jumped when she felt something go inside her ear, but then realized that it was just Robert taking her temperature again.

"101.6," he stated. "It hasn't gone down at all. In fact, it's gone up," he said sighing. He went and got her two more Nyquil, and then got two Advil for her to take also. Setting a bowl of soup down in front of her, she are a few spoonful's before she pushed it away.

"You didn't eat much," he said, concerned.

"I know," she said. "I feel nauseous," she told him. "It's probably just morning sickness."

"Do you want me to go out and get some Compazine?"

"No, I'll be ok," she said, getting up from the stool. "I want to go sit with Ella."

Robert followed her into the living room, and watched as she lay down next to Ella, the little girl snuggling up to her mother. She pulled the blanket around them and started to doze off.

Robert went to the kitchen to start cleaning up the dishes that he had used, and when he came back out, both Elizabeth and Ella lay sound asleep on the couch. Robert sat down in the chair and got comfortable as he watched the two of them sleep, thankful that they were both able to rest, and hoping that they would be feeling better by tomorrow.