"Are you sure you can do this?"
"I'm sure." Allison squeezed her daughters hand, shutting the door to the black car and walking towards the elevator from the parking lot. It was a soft sense of deja vu as she visualised her laptop bag under her arm and the days work ahead of her. James had yet again adorned the tell tale lab coat as it swished in the wind as the elevator opened to the stairs in front of the clinic.
"I made sure he wasn't on clinic this morning, don't worry." James smiled, pushing open the door for her and faces turned as the older Allison walked through the door, holding onto a calmer, younger version of herself.
Immediately, old nurses turned around and recognised her instantly. As she walked past, people acknowledged her just as they used to when she walked through the hospital. The clinic looked exactly the same as it did when she left, with the whining patients and everything, doctors passing through the rooms and young doctors she didn't recognise wore tight lab coats, flinging files every which way. Doctors whom had been there all those years bid her sweet hello's as she passed, simply nodding even if she didn't remember them. It seemed like hours before she stepped into the elevator again. Nothing had changed as her moment of vertigo had ended.
"Does Chase still work here?" She asked James sheepishly and he nodded.
"Second floor ICU," he said, the door sliding open to the second floor and the people behind them fed through.
"Do you mind if I see him first? I might have a little more confidence after that," she asked him, he simply nodded and held the door open.
"Good luck explaining it to him," he smiled and she nodded, raising her eyebrows in defeat as the door slided shut.
She turned the corner into the door blazing 'Dr. Robert Chase, Intensive Care Unit' and she gulped, not sure how she would explain to him let alone to her daughters father.
"Mom, what's up?" Ellie made a peep, she hadn't spoken much all that morning, sheepishly keeping quiet in her mother's moment of nostalgia.
"I haven't seen Robert in ten years either," she said, taking in a large breath before taking a step, "come in with me. He's nice, don't worry."
She knocked on the door, the blonde man inside looked up and his face faded from confusion to happiness within seconds.
"Allison?" He said, leaning back in his seat and instantly Allison could see that the ten years hadn't only been long for her.
"The very same," she smiled, still tugging at her daughters hand who had her eyes shut in the new light of the room.
"How've you been all these years?" He instantly came around the desk and threw his arms around her, embracing her in a soft hug, he noticed the blinded girl behind her and moved away, looking at her suspiciously, "and who's this?"
"This is my daughter, Elliot. You wanna say hi, Ellie?" She looked behind her and Ellie brought her hand to her eyes, opening them and seeing Robert who beamed.
"Hi there," Robert said, extending a hand for her to shake, she smiled even though still squinting so much that only her pupils could be seen.
"Hi," she said, Robert giving them the motion to sit down and they did.
"So, are you married now or something?" Robert was upfront at asking, Allison flinched and she should have expected his ignorant bluntness she'd gotten used to over the years they'd worked together.
"No, single mom. It's hard work you know," she smiled, looking at Ellie who simply kept her eyes shut.
"Are you okay? Is it the light?" Robert asked, getting up and shutting the window, letting Ellie open her bright blue eyes fully. Robert got a lump in his throat when a theory came to mind about why his old friend was a single mother, he wanted to ask her that question whilst he was sober with her and Allison could see that he was bursting.
"Hey Ellie, you want to go and get some coffee from the cafeteria? It's just down the hall," Allison got out her purse, handing a few green notes to her daughter, "white and one for me and black with two for you?" She looked at Robert who smiled and nodded, liking the fact that she had remembered how he liked his coffee, "get an ice cream for yourself if you want."
"Thanks, Mom," she smiled and hopped up from her seat, closing the door behind her and Robert sighed.
"So how've you been handling every thing?" Robert asked her, noticing that she looked older but she still had that glow about her.
"What's there to handle? Sure, looking after her and being a doctor at the same time is hard, but it gets me through the day."
"I meant that..." he let the sentence trail, hoping that she would get the message and luckily, she did.
"Yeah. It's hard when she does something particularly him and I still haven't moved on. It's ten years Robert," her eyes were starting to look tired and she sighed, "and here I am. Wilson's been kind enough to have me at his apartment which will be hard if he turns up half drunk one night."
"Are you going up to meet him?" Robert was glad that she was being upfront because that meant that he could be too.
"Eventually. I hope."
"I'll look after Ellie when you do, if you want."
"That would be great," she sighed from relief, "but be warned. She's sweet but when she's in the mood, she has her father's wit."
"Really?"
"Yep." Allison lifted up her eyebrows and nervously laughed.
"So...I don't mean to be rude, but did something happen when you were still here that me and Foreman were oblivious to?"
"Well, you know how we went to the truck rally all those years ago," he nodded and listened closely, "I went back to his place. One thing led to another and..."
"Right. So was that why you left?"
"I had no idea by that time, it was only a few weeks after. I didn't know but when I found out, I ran. I didn't want him turning up at my apartment one night, drunk out of his mind and wondering why my stomach had grown. It was the lesser of two evils."
Robert hummed, looking down at his fiddling fingers, wondering whether she should know what happened when she left. Truly, he was miserable. His wit lessened, he'd been taking multiple days off and his Vicodin level went dangerously high. Wilson had been in the pits because his wife was harassing him for spending so much time with his miserable friend and once again, like he had five years before, he was left to pick up the pieces. Robert and their other colleague, Eric, had still been working under him then and their lives were made miserable by his hermit behaviour and the taunts that flew worse than usual. Robert shook his head, sighing again.
"I think you should go see him. Grab Ellie and I'll talk to her whilst you're gone."
She nodded, picking up her purse and standing up over the desk. She turned to leave but just before she slid out of the door, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him solemnly. He wished her good luck and she shifted her eyes to the wall, nodding again and she shut the door with a soft click.