A/N: I've been watching Chicgo Med and I love Sarah and I love Connor... So this is my take on her being a few years older at the start of the show and already having a history with our favorite trauma surgeon. Right now, I'm tinkering with this story as I work on my other WIPs. If your interested in seeing this continue, please let me know.

Disclaimer: I own what is mine.

Chapter One

She hated Connor Rhodes.

Sarah held in a sigh as she finally managed to yank on the vinyl gloves that suddenly felt too small around her slim hands. All it had taken was hearing his voice and suddenly it was like the past eight months had slipped away.

She was no longer in Chicago but in Riyadh... She swore she could smell the heat and spice that seemed to have infused the air.

Hot.

She was too hot and it was his fault. Blunted nails dug into the meat of her behind as she was yanked down. She gasped at the exquisite stretch within her. Lost to the rumble that crawled through his chest and to her ear.

He was burning her alive.

She registered the scalpel that was suddenly grasped within Connor's hand, bringing her back to the present.

Christ. This wasn't the time, nor the place.

She wasn't overseas, she was here. At Gaffney. In the midst of a mass casualty, staring at a friend she hadn't thought she'd see ever again.

What the hell was he doing here?

Dimly, she noted how appropriate it seemed that his entrance came with so much drama. Connor had always thrived in chaos and by no means did it seem to hide from him. Though, she strongly believed that he sometimes sought it out. There was no denying the man before was an adrenaline junky.

"You are?"

He had caught sight of her in his periphery. Stethoscope. Gloves. Coat. Doctor. He hadn't looked at her face and Sarah wasn't sure if the brisk command in his voice annoyed her or amused her as she realized he hadn't registered who exactly stood by his side.

It worked to her advantage, "Doctor Sarah Reese, psychiatry resident with a specialization in trauma."

There was the barest hesitation as he pulled the scalpel away from the patient's throat, indistinguishable to anyone who didn't know Connor as simple caution, but she knew Connor. Nor did she miss the faint flick of his lip into a brief smirk. He knew exactly what she doing by introducing herself that way and only later would she acknowledge the flag of challenge she had waved before the bull.

"Can you do a cordis to the groin, Sarah Reese, psychiatry resident?" Eyes like butane flames quickly seered her as he grabbed the breathing tube for insertion. She didn't miss his quiet taunt... after all, it hadn't been that long ago that she had been a trauma resident. He knew full well that she could do the cordis.

She bit her tongue against the retort that bubbled on her tongue as she quickly disinfected the patient's leg and identified the vein. Nerves abruptly wracked through her gut as she prepped the needle and she remembered why she had turned to psychiatry. Her anxiety was only made worse, knowing that he was watching... She nearly missed the vein and had to claw back the sudden rush of mortification as her hands left the patient in tremors.

Sarah didn't need to look to know that Connor had noticed it as well. The way his hand suddenly twitched toward her belied his need to give comfort, but as quickly as the need arose the quicker it passed as the team began to shock the patient back to sinus. She left the room before he had a chance to say more to her and pressed herself into the service of another patient as more continued to be wheeled in through the new ED.

Anything to stave off the swell of memories that his presence invoked.

Blood covered both of them, but he wasn't waking. Sarah choked on a lungful of dust as she scrambled across the ground and felt for a pulse, barely registering the ache that tore up her side. Her palm found purchase on his chest as she stiffly began compressions.

Come on, Connor. Don't do this.

The wrenching crack of broken bone echoed in her ear and for a horrible moment, Sarah remembered the child below her. Rachel...

She had come to check on mother and child. Offer her assistance while they awaited news on Rachel's father... she could comfort. Sarah had gotten very good at comforting in the past few months. It wasn't hard when she knew what it was like to need it. Yet, she had only been in the room a few seconds when the little girl had begun to arrest, and like that, she had gone from psychiatrist to trauma doctor.

Rachel's tiny body fought for life as Reese continued compressions, ignoring the loose way her chest now flexed from the cracked rib. She was surrounded by nurses as Doctor Choi gave assistance. He was one of the few residents that seemed to sense her unease in the emergency department. He never mentioned it, but lingered in the background like an awaiting angel whenever she was present. She wasn't sure if it was distrust that made him supervise her or simply kindness... in truth, she didn't want to look at his motives too closely. It would be disheartening to find it to be the former.

"Alright, Sarah, hold." Choi ordered as he looked back at the monitor, "There we go. Back in sinus. Get a BP."

Sarah stepped back and watched carefully as Manning approached. Pediatrics was her specialty, Rachel would fall into her care now.

In a blur, they got Rachel stabilized and were wheeling her out for a CT and she was left standing there... inwardly furious for losing herself to those Godawful memories again. It hadn't been a full-grown man below her, but a child.

"Good job."

Sarah could only blink as she processed Choi's words, almost robotically she walked past him as she mentioned, "I broke that little girl's ribs."

Choi seemed almost bewildered by the hollow anger that pervaded her, "Reese, you saved that girl's life."

She could have just as easily killed her, Sarah thought darkly but kept such musings to herself. Instead, she nodded and allowed his praise to settle over her ire for a moment. Rachel was alive. That was good.

What wasn't good was the almost feline-like prowling the new trauma fellow was doing through the hospital as he checked on his patients. Connor really did remind her of a panther as he explored his new territory. It would have been cute if she didn't also note his searching gaze. Without having to ask, she knew he was looking for her, but luck was on her side... and eight months' worth of familiarization. It wasn't hard to duck into other rooms and hide away in the downstairs labs.

She wasn't ready to have the discussions that he would want to have with her. To answer the questions that he assuredly would be asking... She just wasn't sure if she owed him any answers though.

Of course, he found her. Hours later with the damn training dummy. The perfectionist in her had balked at her haphazard handling of that central line, despite the fact that she tried to avoid practicing trauma medicine anymore. She didn't like sloppy work and that was what she had been doing all day.

"Central line." Her jaw tightened as she forced herself to finish and not look at him, "Since when do you need to practice such a simple procedure?"

"A refresher never hurt anyone." Sarah stated pointedly as she finally turned to him, forcing a near impassive mask into place, "I nearly missed this morning."

"And practicing on the ideal patient will make you better? His life's not hanging in the balance, makes the process a little skewed." Connor taunted as he squarely placed himself between her and the exit.

The move didn't go unnoticed as she raised a brow at him, "Want me to practice on you?"

A smirk twisted at his lips, "That could be fun."

Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Masochist."

His smile only grew amused, "Sarah, what are you doing here?"

It was a funny question for him to ask, "Could ask you the same thing. I thought hell would have to freeze over before you returned to Chicago."

They studied each other for a second. His gaze turning sharp as he turned over her words, "It was time to come home. Is that why you chose to come here? Didn't think I'd follow you?"

"I'm not arrogant enough to think you'd follow me anywhere, Connor," Sarah answered softly.

He didn't like that answer. She could see it in his gaze... his eyes were always so incredibly expressive. Frustration, anger, hope, and a few other emotions she refused to name shined at her and it took everything in her to not let her guard down.

"You left." He stated quietly.

The strain of hurt she detected in his voice made her look away, "My contract was up."

"Bullshit." Connor murmured so lowly, she nearly missed it, "You didn't leave a trauma residency to come halfway across the world to practice psychiatry. Which by the way, what the hell is that? You're not a psychiatrist, Sarah."

"I'm not a trauma specialist either, Connor." She snapped, her brown eyes blazing at him. He would have smiled in victory at the sight. He always did love to rile her, and it was nice not to see the stalwart wall that she had been hiding behind, except for her next words, "I nearly killed you."

"I'm right here." He snatched her gloved hand and placed it against his chest. The movement startled her as she realized just how close they had gotten to each other, "Hearts still beating. I'm still breathing. Because of you."

"In spite of me." Sarah growled as she tried to tug her hand away, but he wouldn't budge, "Connor."

"Sarah." He mimicked in response as he tilted his head to catch her eye, "You're my best friend, Sarah Reese. Despite going radio silent on me and disappearing without a word. And if you think for one second I'm not going to drag you kicking and screaming back into trauma – that I'm going to let you run scared, you gotta another thing coming."

She refrained from touching on the kicking and screaming trauma irony and tried very hard not to linger on the words best friend. He wasn't wrong they had been best friends, but it was also hard to call someone a friend when she knew how their skin tasted and what he sounded like as he reached his bliss. Instead, she glared at him, "You're a pain in the ass, Rhodes."

"Right back at you, Reese." He finally let her hand go as her pager sounded at her hip. She was needed for a consult in the ICU, "Oh, I forgot."

She glanced up and paused at his vaguely sheepish smile, "What?"

"I know I'm a day late, but I had a present for you that got lost on the train." Connor explained quietly, "Belated happy birthday, Sarah."

She nearly blanched – no one ever remembered her birthday and for the first time since seeing him, she smiled, "Thank you, Connor."

"I'm taking you to dinner tomorrow. Bring something nice to wear. I already checked your schedule – I know you're not working, so don't even try that excuse." He stated, making it clear that he wasn't going to let her avoid him. He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek and sauntered out of the training room, "Don't you have a consult to get to?"

Sarah sighed.

She really did hate Connor Rhodes.