Just for the record, I know nothing about medicine or medical technology or anything like that aside from a couple things I've seen on the internet but I wanted to have some sort of arm recovery plot so sorry if the details are fuzzy or very unrealistic. As usual, the characters aren't mine. I know the last couple chapters have been kind of short so here's one that's a little longer...hope you like it =)

"Lizzie, remind me again why we're here" whispered Robert. They were sitting in the middle of the auditorium the next afternoon. The morning speaker had actually been interesting but the current speaker was droning on and on.

"Because Donald and the members of the board think that this is a good technology for us to look into so County will get noticed."

"Yeah, but why do we have to be here?" he whined.

"Well you are Chief of Staff. Don't you think it would be good for you to know what all this is about?"

"Sure but they could at least get someone with more personality than a wet mop to talk about this stuff."

"Well we can't all have your charming wit and good looks" she answered sarcastically.

"Sad isn't it, just think how much better it would be if there were more little Romano's running around."

"Now there's a scary thought," mumbled Elizabeth.

"What's that Lizzie? You don't think filling the world with more Romano's would be a good idea?"

"Not so much."

"Aww, I'm crushed."

"You'll get over it" she answered.

He was about to answer back when the man sitting in front of them turned around and politely asked them to stop talking. Robert was about to snap back at him when he was interrupted by hearing the sound of his own name. He quickly turned back to Elizabeth saying, "Oh, that's my cue."

Elizabeth could only stare at him in disbelief as he headed up to the podium to begin his presentation to polite applause. When he reached the podium Robert looked over at Elizabeth, flashed her a devilish grin and began speaking.

An hour and a half later Robert finished his presentation and wrapped things up for the day. He made a beeline for Elizabeth as everyone headed out the door into the cool evening air.

"What the hell was that?" she asked when he reached her, trying to sound annoyed while at the same time barely hiding a grin.

"Aww, Lizzie, you didn't like my little speech up there?" he said pouting.

"It was wonderful but you could have at least told me what you were up to" she replied while playfully punching him in the arm.

"Hey…just cause I kept a little secret from you doesn't mean you have to go beat up on me."

"Oh, so participating in a study that could potentially revolutionize how we practice surgery isn't a big deal?"

He thought for a second before answering, "Hmmm, not really. I mean sure if all goes well I could very well operate again with the help of this little robot thingy and it gets County all sorts of money and attention but who cares about that." He paused a moment before continuing on a more serious note. "Besides I didn't want you to talk me out of it and try to tell my I was getting my hopes up for something you think is impossible. But now we're committed to it, its going to happen."

Robert began walking away from her. He was starting to feel the first bit of doubt and he didn't want to show that he wasn't as confident as he sounded.

"Robert, listen to me" began Elizabeth as she reached for his arm. He reluctantly turned around to face her as she continued. "I don't think its impossible, now that I can see what your up to I honestly think that you have a very good chance of being able to get into an OR as a surgeon again. And knowing you you're not going to give up until you get what you want."

"Lizzie…" he began before put her fingers to his lips to signal him to be quiet.

"Robert for once let me finish without you interrupting." At his subtle nod she continued speaking. "I'm really proud of you. You've had everything important taken away from you but you haven't given up on getting what you want. So, uh, let me know what I can to do help you with this, okay?" she finished.

He tried not to show how much her words had touched him but failed. "Elizabeth," he started awkwardly.

"Don't…don't say anything, okay."

He nodded, grateful for her understanding and support.

They continued walking down the street back to the hotel in comfortable silence before Elizabeth spoke again. "Wait a second, Robert I'm confused about something."

"Well I have all the answers so tell me what your confused about and I will reveal the answer with a wave of my hand," he replied, obviously in a good mood.

"You've obviously been planning this for a while, so how come yesterday on the plane after you woke me up you said that you had made a decision just then," she asked blushing slightly of the memory of just how he'd gone about waking her up.

He didn't seem to notice her discomfort and continued energetically, "I'm glad you asked that Lizzie. You see yours truly has been trying to get into this study using MedTech's technology for quite sometime so I've always entertained the idea of using this robot thingy, but until yesterday I always thought I would be able to use it as it's meant to be used. As a tool to assist surgeons with two functioning arms. However my latest setback has nixed that idea so I decided to push the envelope and as long as all goes well with these initial trials, I intend to modify the technology they have to suit my own purposes."

"And just how do you intend to do that?" she asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out" he taunted like a little kid.

"But I wanna know now," whined Elizabeth.

"Too bad. I'm not going to tell you, so there!" he retorted playfully.

"Your no fun" she replied.

Trying a different tactic Elizabeth asked, "So any other surprise speeches I should be waiting for?" She was hoping he would give away some hint about what he was up to but he had none of it.

"Nope, sorry to disappoint…" he said trailing off, obviously distracted by something.

Elizabeth followed his gaze to rest on a woman who looked to be in her early to mid thirties about a block ahead and headed in their direction.

"Robert, wha…" she started to ask but quickly grabbed her arm and led her back the way they came.

"Shhh. Just come this way, I'll explain everything later."

Elizabeth started to pull back but was surprised by how strong his grip on her arm was, "Robert, what the hell are you doing?" she asked, starting to get angry as well as nervous about his sudden change in behavior.

"Lizzie please…lets just go back this way," he asked again.

She was about to protest but was surprised to see that desperate look in his face and decided to follow without further argument. He broke into a brisk trot, abruptly turned the corner and went down another block before slowing and melting into the crowd.

Elizabeth followed him silently for another block before asking anxiously, "Now will you tell me what that was about? Why did you act like that, something about that woman we saw set you off."

Robert glanced back over his shoulder and decided the coast was clear before answering, "My sister, I don't want her to know I'm here."

"Why not?"

"Its nothing. I don't want her to see me like this," he said softly.

Elizabeth paused for a few seconds before realizing what he meant, "Your arm?"

"Duh!"

"You mean she doesn't know about any of it?"

"Nope and I intend to keep it that way" he replied brusquely, looking straight ahead.

Elizabeth was silent for a few minutes while thinking of what to say. When she spoke again she asked, "I take it you two don't get along."

"Very good Lizzie. What was your first clue? I told you that yesterday or have you forgotten already?"

"I didn't forget, I'm just surprised you acted this strongly" she answered, hoping he would give in and tell her what was so wrong between the two siblings that his sister wasn't there to offer any support at all while he was going through what was one of the most difficult times in his life.

When he didn't respond Elizabeth decided to drop the subject, for now at least. When Robert did speak again it was on a completely different subject, "I really enjoyed our little chat tonight Lizzie, but its been a long day so I'm going to head upstairs, order room service and call it a night."

"Huh?"

"You know, at the hotel, the place people sleep when they are in a city they don't live in," he said sarcastically pointing.

In her attempt to try to figure out what was going on in Robert's head Elizabeth hadn't noticed they had circled around the block and were now in front of their hotel. "Right," she answered absently.

He cocked his head and waved his hand a few inched in front of her face grinning, "Hello, Earth to Lizzie. Anybody home?"

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts without saying anything.

"I'd love to stay and keep up this captivating conversation but like I said before, I'm going to go upstairs and relax before getting up early tomorrow morning," he snarked before heading inside and upstairs to his room.

Elizabeth slowly followed him upstairs before going into her own room.

Robert reached his room, threw his jacket on a chair, flopped down on the bed and flipped on the TV. He finally settled on an old movie he thought he recognized but couldn't place, then looked through the room service menu before deciding on a burger with all the fixings, before settling down to watch the movie. Except he couldn't pay attention to it. His thoughts kept drifting back over the past day and he felt his apprehension growing. Soon exhaustion took over and he drifted off to sleep.

In the next room Elizabeth was distracted by thoughts of her own. Robert's behavior outside had disturbed her. He wasn't one to walk away from a fight. Quite the opposite. He was that one who wasn't afraid of confrontation and was always willing to be brutally honest and speak his mind. So why had the appearance of his sister over a block away caused such unusual behavior out of him? She was starting to get frustrated with how little she knew about this man who she'd known for over eight years and worked side-by-side with many hours a week. Most of the time he was a pain in the ass to work with or be around, but those glimpses of a kinder, gentler side to his personality were starting to happen more often. Elizabeth didn't want to admit it to anyone, including herself, but those rare glimpses intrigued her.

Sighing heavily Elizabeth turned on the television, hoping there were be something worthwhile to help her clear her mind. She eventually found an old Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movie and settled down to watch. After only half an hour of watching her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep.

It was always the same dream. Everything looked just like it had that night nine months ago. The other doctors, the helicopter, the patients, the roof…and then that damn chart blew under the tail and his life was turned upside down. Usually everything played out like it had really happened but tonight things were worse. As he fell away from the blade there was the pain and then laughter. His eyes looked around wildly and saw everyone from County just standing there. Lewis, Kovac, Carter, Corday, Weaver…they were all there just standing and laughing. He tried to reach out but couldn't. Everyone laughed more when they saw him struggling, their faces twisting into bizarre and unnatural shapes as they mocked him. He started to yell at them to get back to work but all that came out was a strangled cry. Slowly the pain and the laughter started to fade away to black until a persistent knocking sounded that kept getting louder and louder until he sat up suddenly.

Robert looked around the room wildly, trying to get his bearings. Slowly he came awake and realized that it wasn't really happening, it was just a dream. He was noticing that the sheets were tangled around his legs and his body was trembling slightly when he realized that the knocking hadn't been part of his dream. It was coming from the door separating his room from Elizabeth's.

"Robert! Are you okay in there?" she called thought the door anxiously.

"Damn!" he thought to himself ashamedly, she must have heard me call out in my sleep. After a few seconds he found his voice and called back, still somewhat shakily, "Just peachy, guess I had the TV turned up kind of loud. Sorry about that."

Elizabeth looked at the door suspiciously. She knew he was lying but decided to let it slide and said awkwardly, "Okay, good night then."

"Goodnight," he called back, relieved that she seemed to have bought his lousy excuse.

Elizabeth made her way back to bed and was quickly asleep.

Robert went into the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face and got a drink of water before attempting to sleep again. It was over an hour later before he finally settled into a restless sleep.