Note: You know the drill, these characters aren't mine, I'm not making any money off this…blah, blah, blah. This hasn't been going like I had originally intended, so now I'm not really sure where it will end up. Thanks to those of you who have left feedback and thanks for reading!
After stopping of downstairs to pick up their things, Robert and Elizabeth met Kris in the parking lot. Luckily she was available to take care of Ella for the next few days and had offered to drive them to the airport. Elizabeth was grateful for Kris and Ella's presence in the car. She didn't have to try to make lame conversation with Robert. There'd be plenty of time for that in the coming days. Instead she distracted herself by going over everything with Kris for the millionth time while Robert played peek-a-boo with Ella in the back seat. This was the first time Elizabeth had ever left Ella for more than a day. And while she trusted Kris completely, she was still nervous about leaving Ella for so long.
All too soon they arrived at O'Hare. The four of them headed inside. They checked their bags and headed for the security gates. When they got to the line Elizabeth knelt down to Ella's level.
"Ella I have to go now. Kris is going to stay with you and your going to have lots of fun, ok. I'll be home in a few days."
Ella nodded clutching a teddy bear in her hands.
Elizabeth picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly. "Bye Ella, I love you."
"Elizabeth…"said Robert gently from behind. "We have to get going if we're going to make our flight."
"Right," answered Elizabeth briskly. She quickly gave Ella another hug before handing her over to Kris and gathering up her carry-on bag.
"Bye Ella, bye Kris" added Robert, giving them a little wave before following Elizabeth.
It was after they were through security and heading towards the gate when Robert spoke again. "Is this the first time you've left her behind?" he asked softly.
"Yeah" answered Elizabeth quietly.
"Hey, she'll be fine. Its only a long weekend" he said, trying to be reassuring.
"I know, its just that…" started Elizabeth before trailing off. "Never mind" she finished.
"I know" he said simply.
"What gate are we going to?" she asked quickly, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Uh, 15, right up here."
"Delayed! This day just keeps getting better and better." exclaimed Elizabeth a few minutes later.
"You want a drink," asked Robert, gesturing to a nearby bar. "I know I could use one."
Their conversation was strained at best. Elizabeth knew Robert was still mad about her comment earlier when she asked him if he was still going to go to this conference despite his latest setback. She'd realized right after she said it that he would interpret it as her saying that he should give up. They'd both had a long day and neither wanted to get into a deep conversation now. Unfortunately this severely limited their conversation. As they sat in silence Elizabeth realized just how little she knew about the man sitting next to her, even though she'd met him in England almost eight years ago.
"Have you even been to San Francisco before?" asked Elizabeth in a desperate attempt to say something, anything, to fill in the silence. She was surprised when he have more than a one word answer like he had been doing earlier.
"Yeah, my sister lives in the area" he answered quickly.
Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. "I didn't know you had a sister. Are you going to see her while you there?"
"Ha!" he snorted, "Like she'd see me if I tried. My sister and I aren't exactly close."
"Why not" asked Elizabeth before she even realized she'd said anything.
"Cause we don't get along" he answered shortly. "Why do you want to know about my family all of the sudden?"
"I don't know, I guess I'm just now realizing how little I know about you."
"Wow, Lizzie. It only took you how many years to figure that out?"
"Forget it" responded Elizabeth. "Sorry I asked."
They finished their drinks in silence. This time neither one of them tried to break it. Luckily their flight was called a couple minutes later.
"About damn time" muttered Robert under his breath as they headed towards the gate.
At last they were in the air. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off Elizabeth put her seat back and let exhaustion take over. In the seat next to her Robert was reading, at least trying to read. However his thoughts kept drifting to their earlier conversation with the woman sleeping next to him. He wasn't really mad at her, although she probably thought he was. Her comment had upset him, but not because she said it, she was just the perfect scapegoat. Robert had been realizing that the sensory function in his arm had been deteriorating over the past few weeks. It would have been impossible for him not to notice, but until today he had been able to hide it pretty well. Today his charade ended. And to make it even worse, he revealed his weakness in front of a med student of all people. A med student! The people he spent all day trying to break, except that this time he broke first. He wasn't mad at her, she'd only said what he'd been starting to think about. Should he give up? Was there really a point to staying in a purely administrative job? He didn't want Chief of Staff because of the paperwork. He'd taken it for the power it gave him. But with the surgery side gone, his power was severely weakened. Robert was really mad at himself for thinking about giving up. He'd never been a quitter and certainly wasn't about to start now, but what other choices did he have?
Several hours later Robert's thoughts were interrupted by the pilot announcing that they were about to begin their descent. Robert glanced at his watch, almost midnight, Pacific time. Great, they still had to get off the plane, find a cab, get to their hotel and then be up in seven hours. He looked over at Elizabeth and saw that she was still sound asleep. She looked so much more relaxed than she did at work. Robert felt a pang of guilt at the thought that he probably caused a lot of that stress, or at least he didn't really help eliminate any of it.
"Elizabeth," he said gently, hoping she would be easy to wake up. No such luck.
"Elizabeth" he called again, louder this time. She stirred slightly this time but still seemed determined to stay asleep. "Hey sleeping beauty, time to wake up," he called again. She stirred again and mumbled something.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures" thought Robert to himself. Then to Elizabeth's still sleeping form he said "Don't say I didn't warn you" as he slowly brushed his lips against hers.