Elizabeth began to scrub in. As the soap escaped her hands for the third time, she finally acknowledged her nerves. Not since Lucy had she been so nervous about a procedure. But she could not allow herself to think about that now; Robert needed her full attention if he was to survive and she needed to be at her very best.

"Are you ready?" said a voice from bedside her.

She had not even realized that Donald had entered the room, never mind that he was stood scrubbing beside her! Elizabeth dipped her head slightly and stepped away from the sink her hands raised. Donald eyed her carefully and stood in front of the doors blocking her way.

"If you feel you can't perform this operation I will understand - no one will think any less of you."

She straightened herself up and looked Donald in the eye.

"What and pass up the chance to gloat over Robert how I saved his life after he risked his to save Kerry - I don't think so!"

"Well when you put it like that I think we'd better get a move on," he said and smiled.

Three hours later

The theater was oddly quiet as they operated. There was none of the usual banter, as conversation was kept to a minimum with instructions from Elizabeth or Donald. Outside interested parties tried to peer in to see if their Chief of Staff was going to make it…

After the surgery, Elizabeth went directly to the locker room and got changed. She felt drained. On her way out, she stopped by recovery to check on Robert before she left.

When she entered the room, she found Donald and Kerry already there.

"How is he Donald?" Kerry asked.

"Well he's still critical but in a stable condition. We have stopped the internal bleeding but I am still concerned about the risk of infection. Also, one of the bullets may have caused nerve damage to his left arm."

"God I hope there's no permanent damage - I can't imagine him not being able to operate," said Elizabeth. She turned to face Kerry and asked, "Do we know exactly what happened yet?"

"I'm afraid not. We know nothing about the man or how he got past security," said Kerry. She turned to look at Robert. "All I know is that he saved mine and that little girl's life today. Does he have any family that we should contact?" she asked.

"We rang the emergency contact number that was on his file, but it's not in use. It was for his mother, but I guess he never kept the information updated. I don't even know if she's still alive," Donald said shaking his head sadly.

Elizabeth stared at Robert for a second.

"I wonder if there's anyone here who knows anything about Robert outside this hospital - it's amazing how you can work beside someone for years and know hardly anything about them."

"Well Robert always kept people at arms length. I'll call his house tomorrow - maybe he has a house keeper who can help," said Kerry as she left the room.

"Well I don't know about you Elizabeth but I think I need to go home to my family and maybe have a rather strong drink. Can I offer you a ride?"

"No thanks Donald I have my car today."

Then they turned and left, leaving the sleeping form alone in the darkened room.

Please R&R