Don't own E.R or any charachters from it.....
I've re-done chapter one slightly so you may want to re-read it (or not).........
TURNING THE TABLES
Chapter II – You don't bring me flowers anymore....
She smiled whimsically, as she thought of Robert; she seemed to spend most of her time thinking about him now. He was in pain lashing out at everybody, and had shut himself down completely where she was concerned. It had hurt her pride at first, but now it just plain old hurt.
She was worried about him, worried about his recovery, worried about his state of mind, but mostly she was just... worried. Worried she had lost him for good.
She missed their caustic banter, his acid wit, shameless flirting and innuendo. He really had been her best friend in this place. But now he had no time for her, and she had no one to blame but herself. What was it they say? You never really miss something until it's gone?
That's how it was for her now.
He'd always been there for her, these past five years; he was in fact the reason she was here, far from home. He'd recognised her talent, and plucked her from obscurity, taken her away from that old boys network; a network she would never have hoped to scale on her skills alone. Quite why she'd returned there after Marks death she didn't know.... she wished she hadn't now. Then she could have been there for him from the start of his nightmare. They could have helped each other with their very own different demons. Could have grown stronger together, through and beyond their pain.
He'd shown her tremendous compassion and understanding through Mark's last bout of illness, had been a huge support to her. Looking back, she hadn't really appreciated it then...
A darkened lounge, a horrible day and he had come, seen her tears, sat and simply listened. He'd weighed her words and levelled them with calm concern. Then he'd spoken directly to her heart, and helped her leapfrog her ego, made her face what she already knew she must do. Only a man of real emotional depth could have uttered so few words, so quietly and conveyed the message that he had....
With hindsight, she could see Robert had saved her that night. That tiny glimpse of what lay beneath the austere shield he cloaked himself in; it intrigued her more than ever now. He was obviously capable of great insight and empathy, so why did he feel the need to behave the way he did, to act like he didn't care?
It was an act she'd fallen for herself, she thought ruefully.
Perhaps...if only he'd let her see the real him from the start things would have been very different for them. Maybe she would have gone on that date, he'd asked her for. Maybe if she had gone on that date then she would have learned how he could be?
She shook her head.
What am I doing thinking about dates with him for Christ's sake, the man can't stand me anymore!
She looked back to the paperwork that stared up mockingly, at her from the desk. She couldn't bring herself to focus on the words, never mind concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing.
I wonder what he's doing?
Probably wishing he was in the OR, his hands bloodied as he fought to save yet another life. A bright bandana tied around his head; he'd be spouting clever jokes and insults and Shirley and I would be rolling our eyes at each other.
She laughed nostalgically and smiled at the many happy memories of hours spent verbally sparring with each other, over anaesthetized patients...
But that couldn't happen now...Robert's life, as he knew it lay before him completely shattered, and there was no Rocket to put him back together again. His career was in grave doubt and his enemies were plotting all around him. Everything he had, everything familiar to him had either gone or changed for the worse. All in that brief period of her absence, when his world had come tumbling, spectacularly down around him. God she wished she hadn't fled after Marks death. She thought she'd been running to old comforts, to familiarity, little realising that she'd never really had that in England. It hadn't taken her long to figure out her mistake. She'd opted to return, to live with the memories and move on and she had. Mark was gone; her life was back on track now, but what of Robert's?
He'd asked her for help, and she'd set him adrift, completely alone. Alone. That single word filled her with guilt.
Yet ironically, she felt alone herself. Yes, she had Ella and her work, but she missed companionship, missed having someone to talk to at the end of the day. Robert could always be relied upon to have something witty to say, he could make her laugh and infuriate her at the drop of a hat. If she'd stayed after the funeral, he would have looked out for her, made sure she was okay; she was sure of that.
So why or why had she pushed him away?
Now if she entered a room, he usually left or would find fault with something she had or hadn't done. What really got to her though, was he never called her Lizzie anymore. It was Dr Corday this, Dr Corday that, sometimes Elizabeth but never Lizzie. She'd hated that name at first, but she'd grown to like it coming from him; it was something only they shared, and she had quietly cherished the pet name. It held an intimacy of a sort; something only he was allowed to get away with. If anyone else tried, they were corrected, very abruptly and very forcefully. No, she never thought she would miss being called Lizzie, but she did.
She'd seen him in a new light of late. He appeared strong and unfazed by his handicap to anyone around him, but she knew he was desperately hurting and lonely. Even now, when he was being horrible to her, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. She knew he was just trying to handle things in the only way he knew how. She'd told him after all, that he'd work through it, and that was precisely what he was doing. He was doing well in physical therapy she knew; she kept in touch with the P.T department for the snippets of information they would toss her. She wished she could help and wanted to be involved, but he was a closed book to her now. She wanted desperately to make it up to him, to help him, to get her friend back. But how exactly do you make amends when you have wronged someone so badly?
Oh, Robert what can I do to make this right?
And then suddenly there he was barging into her office, yelling at her.
"Dr Corday, get your ass down to that cesspit of an ER NOW! I do not expect to be getting whiney calls from Weaver, when I'm supposed to be at lunch 'cause you can't be friggin bothered to do your job!"
"Robert, I'm sorry I was just on...."
"Save it Corday, I'm not interested!" he spat, "Just get down there!"
He turned on his heel and left as abruptly as he had entered, his white lab coat billowing behind him.
Elizabeth sighed and got to her feet....................
She ripped the gloves off her hands and threw them into the waste bin, as she cast another eye over the dead man she had been unable to save.
"Sod it! Where are the relatives?" she asked Chuny.
"It's okay Elizabeth, I'll tell them." said Susan who had just entered the trauma room, "Your nanny's waiting out at admit with Ella."
"What?"
She wasn't due off for hours, something must have happened. She ran out to the admit area and spotted Chris, her nanny holding her daughter.
"What's the matter, why are you here?" she blurted out, casting an eye over Ella for signs of injury.
Chris turned at her boss's familiar voice, "Hi, I'm so sorry Dr Corday, my father has been in an accident and I have to catch a flight to Atlanta, like in the next hour. I'm so sorry, but I really have to go!" She thrust the little girl forward into Elizabeth's arms, then turned and fled leaving a shell shocked Elizabeth literally holding the baby.
"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" she muttered to nobody in particular.
"Problem?" asked Frank.
Elizabeth put the toddler down and turned to him. "Well if you call having no childcare, when I'm supposed to be on for the next five hours a problem then yes!"
"Dr Corday, we need you now!" shouted Luka, as a GSW victim was wheeled through the doors and people started running and shouting,
Elizabeth looked around her at the ensuing chaos. "Dr Corday NOW!"
She glanced down at Ella.
"Frank can you please watch Ella for a minute?"
"Do I look like daddy daycare?"
Elizabeth shot him an evil glare and he squinted his eyes at her, "Five minutes okay, I'm busy!"
She was off and running towards the trauma, before he finished his sentence.
Another dead patient later, Elizabeth stormed out of the room furious.
Could this day get any worse?
She stomped back to admit and looked around. She saw Frank on the phone, Carter and Susan talking, but no Ella.
"Frank where's Ella?" she asked.
Frank looked up from the call he was on, and looked around him shrugging his shoulders, before placing a hand over the receiver.
"She was here a moment ago, can't have gone far."
"Frank you idiot, where the hell is she?" she yelled.
Elizabeth felt the first stirrings of panic begin to knot in her stomach.
Susan appeared at her side, "What's wrong?"
Elizabeth spun around frantically looking everywhere and shouted, "Ella...ELLA!"
Susan captured her arm, "Ella's missing?"
Elizabeth nodded her head before running off to try and find her daughter.
"Frank get security now!" Susan yelled and ran after Elizabeth...............
Elizabeth ran out of the lounge into the waiting area.
"Has anyone seen her?" she screamed. Carter shook his head and raced of in another direction. She stared frantically around her, saw Susan talking to security, saw Luka searching round by chairs. The ambulance bay doors opened, and she ran outside her eyes scanning everywhere all at once. She froze in horror as she saw Ella playing there, oblivious to the ambulance backing up towards her. Time stopped before her eyes, as a scream ripped from her throat and she started running.
"Ellaaaaa!"
The ambulance moved closer, and despite running full hilt she was too far away. Elizabeth felt bile rise into her throat, and screamed her daughters name again. Suddenly a figure darted across her field of vision scooping up Ella, just as the ambulance rolled over where she'd been playing seconds before. The ambulance made contact with the man before they could clear it, knocking the pair of them to the ground hard. She ran to where the prone figures lay on the ground, but Luka appeared beside her and pushed her out of the way.
"Get a gurney, now!" he yelled, "I need help!"
He rolled the man off Ella and Elizabeth reached down for her daughter, "Ella!"
The little girl sat up on hearing her mother's voice, and stretched out her arms crying. Elizabeth picked her up and slipped into doctor mode checking her daughter's physical condition. Once satisfied she looked down to where Luka worked.
"Dr Romano.... can you hear me?"
Her heart stopped when she saw Robert lying there unconscious, bleeding heavily from the head.
"Oh God, no." she cried incredulously, before sinking to the floor gripping Ella to her. She watched numb with shock, as Carter and Abby appeared next to Luka and set to work on their chief of staff.
TBC
R&R