Chapter 4

By the time Connor exited the bathroom, Sarah had emptied about half of the boxes, arranging things on his counter. Making my kitchen homely. Far from being scared, as he would have with a woman making his home personal, he felt pleased. It would be nice if his feelings could make up their mind. Sarah glanced at him and handing him a glass of wine.

"I think we deserve a break, shall we sit down?" Connor suggested. Sarah smiled and nodded as Connor led her to the couch. It seemed as though Sarah was determined to put as much space between them as she could and popped a pillow on her lap for good measure. Connor lifted his knee to the couch and Sarah mimicked him, sipping her wine. Connor took the scene in, imprinting it into his memory. She had pulled her hair up into a bun again while she was unpacking, she'd undone a few buttons of her blouse, if he raised his head, he thought he could almost glimpse a shock of bright blue from her bra. Connor met Sarah's eyes as she too studied him intently. He wondered what she was thinking. Probably that you're a Katy Perry song… coz you're hot and you're cold. Suddenly it was imperative that he explain to Sarah.

"Sarah I…I… What happened earlier…" Sarah reached out and squeezed his hand, a kind smile on her face.

"You don't need to explain Connor, I get it. You're hurting and I'm… convenient." Connor let out a breath. How could such a brilliant woman be so oblivious? She's not a mind reader, jackass.

"No, Sarah, that's not it. Well maybe partly. I am hurting, I'm not in a good place emotionally. But I want you, you make me feel … well better than I have in months." Connor rubbed his face, he was not explaining very well at all.

Sarah looked as though she were debating something internally.

"What is it you need from me?" Connor smiled at her, she was so compassionate, so loving.

"Time. I need- I need to heal. I don't have any right to ask, but will you wait for me for a while? Until I'm ok? I want you with me, but I don't want to hurt you." Connor felt his breathing stop as he watched Sarah process. He liked that she was so thoughtful, that she was cautious. He was forever jumping into situations that he couldn't handle, never with great results. He needed her to lead him.

"Waiting for you is… an odd thought. I don't know how to feel about that. I can be there for you though, lean on me, right?" She smiled sweetly, almost anxiously. Almost sadly. Like she didn't believe that she was desirable. Connor considered her and nodded. He slowly lent forward, Sarah didn't make a move as Connor pressed his lips to her cheek, his hand coming up to softly caress the back of her neck.

"Thank you." He whispered in her ear as the room flashed. Sarah gasped as Connor moved back, the rumble of thunder followed as the rain began to pour heavily, so heavily that it blurred the city lights. Another flash of lightning followed as Sarah drew a hasty breath.

"I should get going…" Sarah placed her almost untouched glass on the coffee table. Connor considered the weather.

"Sarah, I don't think you should drive in this, the weather is awful…" A sudden crash on the street made them both jump as they ran to the window. A large tree had fallen, on the thankfully empty street.

Sarah rubbed her cheek, torn between insisting and staying safe. "Stay, Sarah. Please." Sarah sighed.

"I don't want to impose…"

"It's not, you can take my bed, I'll take the couch…"

"No, this is your-"

"I insist." Without hearing another word, Connor took her hand and led her to the bedroom. Dark and dirty thoughts invaded Sarah's mind as she stared at those perfect black silk sheets. "Here, you can wear this." Connor was suddenly next to her, smirking as though he knew what she was thinking. He handed her a shirt with the Dolan Rhodes logo on it. She chuckled softly.

"Thank you, Connor. I think I'll sleep now if you don't mind. I've the early shift tomorrow."

"Of course. Sleep well. Help yourself to anything." With a squeeze of her arm, he left with his own pyjamas.

Sarah changed into the shirt that came to her thighs, folding her own clothes. She wondered if there was a psychological reason Connor would give her a shirt with his family name, then admonished herself for her overactive imagination. Gingerly she pulled back the sheet and slid in, the silk gliding over her heated body. Sarah gasped as Connor's scent filled her nose. She didn't even realise that she knew what Connor smelt like. She moaned a little, her thoughts drifting to what her body very clearly wanted. The temptation to run her hands down her body, to bring herself to the brink, was almost overwhelming. She resisted the urge and fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of blue eyes.


Sleep wasn't coming much easier to Connor, knowing that Sarah was in his bed, making delicious little moaning noises in her sleep, wasn't helping. He was hard, harder than he'd been in a long while. Connor couldn't remember ever wanting someone like this. This old Connor would slide into bed with Sarah, gently seduce her. Then not call her back after. He didn't want to fall into that pattern. In the meantime…no he wasn't a 14 year old boy anymore.

He threw his head back onto the cushion and closed his eyes, letting oblivion overtake.

Connor woke up to his phone buzzing, sleepily he opened the text from the overnight charge nurse, requesting that he go in to help with the storm injuries. He quietly snuck into his room to grab some clothes, as Sarah's phone buzzed too. Unaware of Connor in the room, she groaned and got out of the bed, giving Connor a flash of her delicious looking thigh and ass, the pretty panties a matching shade to the bra he spotted. His family name tucked on her breast.

"Oh, you too Connor?" She noticed him then. For a moment, he wondered if he knew he was aroused, then realised she meant the text.

"Yeah," he growled "Sorry, I needed clothes." Sarah shrugged as she pulled on her pants.

"It's your room." She turned around, shucked off Connor's shirt as he practically salivated at her naked back before she slipped on her blouse. He was wrong earlier. Now was the hardest he had ever been in his life. He turned around as Sarah left the room to let him change.

"I'll drive us in a minute, Sarah." A pause, almost as if Sarah was considering it, as she called back "Ok."

Once dressed, they walked to Connor's car quietly. Once buckled in Sarah admitted "I'm concerned what people will think if we arrive together. Especially as I'm in the same clothes as yesterday." It was too dark to see her blush, but Connor was convinced it was there. He desperately wished he could reassure her, tell her that it didn't matter what people thought, that they could be together. That would be hugely selfish. While they were in different departments, it was expected that she defer to him. He tightened his grip on the wheel and drew in a deep breath before glancing at her.

"I understand. How about I drop you at the front while I go park? I doubt anyone knows my car yet." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and agreed.

The ED was the epitome of organised chaos when Sarah walked in, Connor not far behind her. The pair dived in, changing into scrubs when they found a spare moment. Connor spent the rest of the night and a good portion of the morning in surgery after surgery, getting people stable before sending them on to the ICU. Sarah pulled her old practical knowledge, dusting it off and sewed up wounds, calmed patients, ordered blood tests and scans. The fatalities were thankfully few and far between, but it was hours before the ED could breathe a sigh of relief and the called in staff could disperse and sleep. Sarah stumbled to on call room after on call room, desperate to find a spare bed. Eventually she found one where there was a lump on a bottom bunk, but space up top. She wandered in, climbed the ladder and passed out on the top bunk after setting her alarm to go off in just a few short hours.

Sarah groaned as an alarm that was certainly not hers went off, and the sun shone in through the window. She threw her arm over her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Of course, then her alarm went off. Sarah could have cried. A male voice chuckled.

"Hey there, sleepy Sarah. Seems we spent the night together after all." Sarah opened he bleary eyes to see a shirtless Connor staring back at her, a sparkle in his eyes. Bastard probably enjoyed a night of nothing but surgery. She scowled at him and got herself up and down the ladder.

"I need a shower, coffee and then maybe I'll be ready for work." She grumbled. Connor laughed as he pulled on the top half of his scrubs.

"Meet me in the cafeteria for coffee? My treat. I need a shower too- half an hour enough time?" Sarah nodded and stumbled to the staff showers, nabbing a spare set of scrubs, toothbrush and toothpaste from her locker on the way. She always felt gross when she didn't sleep at home. The shower revived her and her mind floated back to the night before and those almost kisses. Her hands brushed her breasts and Sarah tingled. A knock on the door shocked Sarah out of her fantasy.

"Hurry up, we've all gotta shower!" Sarah turned off the shower and dried herself, scraping her hair up into a damp bun before exiting.

"Sorry." She muttered to the ED resident. Checking the time, she saw she didn't have long before her shift started. Connor was waiting for her, her coffee order in hand. His smile was warm and bright.

"We'll have to sort out getting your car back, will you let me take you back to mine at the end of our shift? Unless I get caught up- I'll pay for a taxi if I do."

"If you're free, that would be great, no worries if not though."

"Rhodes, Reece! Come join us." Dr Milton called, motioning to free seats. Sarah smiled and led. She knew Connor needed to spend time with the attendings, she could always make up an excuse.

"Crazy night eh?" Dr Milton said to her and Dr De Luca chatted to Connor.

"Yeah, it's been a long while since I've had to pull up my sleeves and deal with blood." Sarah laughed dryly as Milton looked at her contemplatively.

"You were excellent under pressure. Have you ever considered switching specialities? Or going for a double board certification?" Sarah smiled.

"I wanted to be an ED doc, but I decided that after I was placed in path."

"Ahhhh, they wouldn't let you switch to ED." Sarah inclined her head ruefully.

"But the Head of Psychiatry gave me a chance. Diehard psyc ever since." Milton considered Sarah as she checked her watch.

"Time to go for me, longer to get to the psyc ward for rounds than the ED! Bye."

"See you later Dr Reece." Sarah caught Connor's eye and returned his smile.


Dr Kai Milton, head of the ED, was a discerning kinda fellow. He had a knack for considering what a person could and could not handle and he just had a feeling about Sarah Reece. He'd seen her help in several emergencies now and knew it would be tragedy for her not to pursue her talents. Kai had a resident quit just last week, a decent doc who just wasn't cut out for the ED. He'd already discussed the possibility with admin and with Dr Campbell, Reece's superior, and all agreed it would be an interesting exercise to see if Sarah was up for the challenge. The benefits of Sarah becoming both a psychiatrist and an internist seemed exponential in an ED.

Settling into his office, Kai brought up Sarah's records from HR. He picked up the phone and called the Chicago number listed on her references.

"Sharon Goodwin, head of patient services at Gaffney Chicago Med. May I ask who is calling?"

"Hello, This is Dr Kai Milton at Baylor in Dallas. I'm calling about a previous resident of yours? Sarah Reece?"

"Ah yes, I know Dr Reece well. Exceptional resident, we were very sorry to lose her. How is she doing?"

"She's doing very well, so well in fact that we would potentially like to make her an offer to finish her residency and commit to ED Internist/Psychiatry fellowship. I would like to confirm some details about her time at Gaffney before we make the offer."

"Well, that's unlike any program that I've heard of for a resident. Very ambitious. Though I have no doubt that Sarah would be successful. She came to our ED as a medical student on rotation. She learned fast with us and eventually came to enjoy and thrive. You've probably seen how calm she is under pressure? I was so disappointed when she requested pathology."

Kai did like a woman who cut to the core of an issue.

"Yes, that seemed like an odd move on her part, she confided in me that was a decision she regretted?"

"That's right, she asked to be taken on as an ED resident after signing the contract, which we couldn't do at the time. She made the decision for path on a particularly rocky night with a difficult patient. Truthfully she lost her confidence and chose at a low point." Kai could hear the regret in her voice.

"Well, we've all been there and considered throwing in the towel. So, do you think she'd be a good candidate for this program?"

"Yes, an excellent one in fact. I would suggest talking with her supervisor here though- Dr Daniel Charles. He can discuss Dr Reece further."

"Thank you, I'll do that. In the meantime, I'm confident that I have enough to go to our board here. Many thanks for your time Ms Goodwin."

"You're welcome, take care now."

Putting down the phone Kai felt pleased and began to write up his proposal for the young Dr Reece, idly wondering what exactly was going on between her and the estimable Dr Rhodes. They seemed like they would make an…interesting couple.