CHANGES

Disclaimer : Not mine, not mine. :(

A/N : This story could be set either in season 7 or season 8, I leave that up to your imagination :)
Still Savage Garden Lyrics : I don't know you anymore
Still no beta reader.

Thank you so much for reviewing, Flick, gezzy, savedbygrace, Stargazergirl8 & girlintheyankeeshat. It's wonderful to get such a positive feedback :)

Lots of love going especially to my fellow C/L shipper Renée & and my msn buddy Helen for all their support and encouraging words :)

CHAPTER 2 HOMECOMING

The silver grey Southwest Chief train was moving east, towards the rising sun, which was highlighting the tracks in front of it. Awakened by the sunlight that lit up her carriage, she slowly opened her eyes and looked out of the window. The scenery seemed familiar to her, and a glance at her watch confirmed it : she was almost there. Having just left from Naperville, the train was passing by refineries and power plants. Chicago would be the next stop. The long journey would soon come to an end, and she would get off the train, at Union Station. At home.

The closer they got to the city, the more she wondered what it would be like to be back, even if this time would technically be a short visit only. And most of all, she wondered what it would it be like to see HIM again. Secretly, she hoped that he would still be in love with her. She wanted him to say „I love you" again, wanted to start all over new again with him.

Leaning back in her Amtrak seat, she looked out of the window. The beautiful skyline of Chicago already emerged on her right in the warm light of the morning sun. Only a few more minutes to go.

Shortly afterwards, the train finally pulled up at Union the Station. The place where she had seen him last. The place where they had shared their first and only kiss. The place where she had made on of the biggest mistakes in her life - getting on that train to Phoenix. After having spent more than 30 hours in the Southwest Chief, she had reached her destination at last. She slowly descended and looked around the marble-pillared station. It was pretty crowded, people were rushing around, talking manically on their cell phones while sipping on their Starbucks coffees, trying to catch their trains. Many different faces, white ones as well as black ones. Commuters, business men, families. The platform where the Amtrak from Arizona had just pulled up slowly emptied itself. The other people who had gotten off the train trailed off into different directions, some were being met by their families, others hurried away on their own. Maybe they had a connecting train to catch. She looked into many happy faces, saw some tearful goodbyes, and all old memories of how she had said goodbye to him years ago flashed by.

Eventually, she grabbed her suitcase and left the platform. Starbucks was her next stop. With a tall latte and cream cheese bagel in her hand, she finally left the building. It was a sunny day, not a single cloud in the pale blue sky, colored like a pair of faded jeans. Even though it was already pretty warm – at least by Chicago standards - she was freezing a little. The Arizonian weather had really spoiled her during the last years and she was no longer used to the cold wind that blew into her face. She buttoned up her leather coat and took a sip of her hot latte. For a few moments, she just stood there on the street, inhaling the smell of the city, listening to the noise of the traffic. God, she had missed all that so much. The smell and the noise had driven her crazy back in the days when she still lived here, but now it made her feel home.
After some time, she hailed for a cab.

"County General Hospital," she told the cabbie and fastened her seat belt.

During the whole ride to County, she looked out of the window. The closer they got to the hospital, they more nervous she became. Would her ex colleagues still recognize her? After she hadn't seen them in years? After she hadn't spoken to any of them in such a long time? What would it be like to see HIM out of all the people again?
Although he had been one of the most important persons in her life for as long as she could remember, they were no longer that close. Would he still be her best friend? She didn't know. During all their phone conversations, they had never talked about their lovelives. She had never dared to ask him if he was seeing someone, and it was probably the same the other way round. She had been with a couple of men in Phoenix, but none of these relationships had been serious. She had never been really happy. The chance that he would still be in love with her was very little, but she wanted to take it anyway and find out if he still felt for her. A couple of minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of the main entrance of the hospital. She paid for the ride, got her suitcase, and got out of the car. She slowly walked around the building towards the ER. Her emotions were mixed.

On one hand, she was anticipating seeing all her old friends and colleagues again, but on the other hand, she was also a little scared. In a few minutes she would see all of them again : the ambitious surgeon who would do just about anything to push his career, the intern who used to have a crush on her as a med-student, the doctor who would never agree with her, the pediatrician who had slept with most with most working at County in between his on- and off relationship with her best friend. She would see the admittance clerks again, and all the nurses. And of course, she would see HIM again.

She stood there for what felt like an eternity to her, looking at the entrance, before she finally had the courage to enter. Passing through those doors caused some many memories to come flooding back to her thoughts. For so many years, she'd walked through those doors every morning and left again in the evening, or, the other way round when she was on the night shift.

She glanced around. Not so much had changed in the ER itself. However, none of the admittance clerks and the nurses who were standing at admit desk looked remotely familiar to her. But where were all her friends? All the people she used to work with? Had they all been promoted? Been transferred? Moved away? Started to work at another hospital? Time had seemed to pass so quickly while she was in Phoenix, but now that she didn't recognize one single face, it felt as if she'd been gone forever. She never knew that the ER had such a huge turnover.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the tall women with strawberry blonde curls coming across the corner. She crashed into her.

„Hey! Watch where you're going! " The tall woman exclaimed angrily. Her accent told loud and clear that was not from Chicago. She was wearing blue scrubs and held a scrub cap in her hand – apparently, she was a surgeon.

„Excuse me... I didn't see you..."

„Obviously."The surgeon said icily as she walked away from her.

After that encounter with the unfriendly surgeon, she continued to walk around the ER. It was so weird to be back...All those hours she had spent in there seemed so far away. She felt like a stranger, although this hospital had always been like a second home to her. No matter how much she despised working there on some days - she had always felt safe and comfortable. Right now, everything reminded her of her first day at the hospital in Phoenix, where she had really been a stranger.

After some time, she sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting area, watching people coming and going. They had agreed to meet at admittance. She was pretty nervous, feeling like a teenager on her first date. A quick glance at her watch told her that it was 10:50. He was supposed to get off in few minutes. She hurried over to the bathroom and checked her appearance in the mirror. Considering that she'd been through a loooong train-ride, she was quite satisfied with what she saw. She was wearing black pants along with her white pinstripe blouse and a blazer. I'm dressing up for the job interviews, she had tried to make herself believe when she had changed and applied some make-up in the train this morning. But she knew it was lie. She wanted to look nice for him, and not for her future employers. Having applied another layer of mascara and some lip gloss, she was finally ready to meet him. At least physically.

And there he was. Standing right in front of her as she emerged from the bathroom.

so far for part 2

I know that not that much has happened in the story so far, but I wanted to focus on Susan's thoughts in the first two parts. Part 3 will be different. It should be up soon.

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