Chapter 11
Waking up wrapped in Connor's arms was a thing of beauty. Sarah could not recall the last time she felt so safe, so loved. Is this real? Then the anxiety set in. What if he wakes up and doesn't want me? What if he decided Robyn really is his one?
"Sarah, you're thinking too loud babe. Love you. Sleep." Connor murmured against her hair, tightening his grip around her waist. Sarah smiled and felt the tension leave her. Slowly, she fell back to sleep. Connor smiled as he heard her breathing even out, her heartbeat return to normal. He needed to watch out for that, no doubt Sarah would convince herself he didn't love her or that he wanted to be with someone else. That was entirely his fault after the hiccup with Robyn and he needed to mend fences. He was going to have a hell of a time building her trust back up in him.
With a deep breath, breathing in his lover's scent, he was once more asleep.
"You're awfully peppy today, Reese." Kara teased as Sarah bounced in to the ED. Connor had come in earlier for an emergency surgery.
"Things are really good at the moment." She shrugged, pulled her hair up into a bun, and got to work.
"Sleep well, Dr Rhodes? You've pulled three back to back surgeries and you're wide awake." Connor patted Dr Milton on the back.
"What can I say, Sir? Dr Reese and I are heading up to HR this afternoon." Connor winked cheekily and (if skipping were a manly attributed) he would have skipped down the corridor.
"I just don't understand why we have to disclose our relationship- it's no one's business but ours." Connor picked up the tray that held their lunches and popped it on a little table out of the way.
"It's protecting ourselves, babe. If something happened in a treatment room while we're fighting, or if a patient alleges that we're too wrapped up in each other, it can cause serious all round legal issues. Better to avoid it altogether."
"It's protecting the hospital, not us." Sarah pointed out drily as she ate her sandwich. "In case we break up or have a blazing row in the middle of the hospital."
"So? I can pretty much guarantee that at some point we'll have a loud argument in the middle of the ED." Connor chuckled while Sarah rolled her eyes at him. "Come on, you know I'm right. We're two strong physicians that sometimes have different priorities. At some point we're going to have a professional disagreement. I remember some of the highlights at Med with both of us. Remember when you screamed at the father of that patient who had been abused? In a weird way, I enjoyed that. I would have done the same." Sarah's jaw fell open.
"You were there?" She squeaked.
"Oh yeah, needed a consult. You were so busy being furious, I didn't want to interrupt. That's when I knew that the little med student who couldn't do a central line on a live patient was long gone." He smiled proudly.
"And… that's the other reason we have to disclose, babe. I was your teacher for a couple of years there." Sarah groaned.
"One of my teachers, not even a direct supervisor. It was my internist trauma rotation, not a surgical rotation." Connor smiled and tugged a loose curl, putting it behind her ear and kissing her cheek.
"You know that's semantics, love."
"Fine. Just fine. Now can we eat in peace?!"
"Yeah, here let me." Connor spooned some of her yoghurt to feed to her, which she promptly snatched back.
"Not a baby." She pouted sweetly as Connor smiled at her adoringly. Maybe she was a little young for him, but God he loved it. He loved her.
Arm around her shoulders, just in case anyone could miss the sparks flying, the sensuous looks or the glare Connor gave any man that got even a little close, the duo made their way to the HR department.
"Right, disclosure forms. Fill these in, return them and that's that." Sarah and Connor looked at the one page form and then at each other.
"O…k then." Connor shrugged and stood up, offering Sarah his hand.
They left the office and filled in their forms in the little waiting area. Connor handed them to the receptionist and they left with as little flair as the meeting had required.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Sarah drawled. Connor kissed the top of her head.
"I liked it. I got to announce that you're mine."
"Oh really, what's next, a skywriter?" She bumped his shoulder with hers and a cheeky smile, just to take out some of the bite in her words.
"Obviously. Let's go then. By the way, I texted Halstead, you'll never guess what's happening at Med…" Connor took her hand as they strode through the hallways. They barely noticed as people stared… and gossiped.
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1
As Sarah reached zero she laughed and Connor twirled her into the hallway wall of her house. With one smooth movement he had her pants and panties off, her blouse open and was kissing her hard, one hand against the wall and the other teasing her pussy, working to get her ready for him.
"Fuck you're so damn hot, Sarah. So wet for me, going to have you." He picked her up by her ass, her legs wrapping around him as he carried her to the bedroom, pulling out the clips from her hair as they went.
"Faster, Connor, need you." She whimpered in his ear, partly out of need…partly because she knew it would drive him crazy. It did. He growled as he dropped her on her bed and quickly followed, not even taking the time to undress as he let out and covered his cock in a condom. Within seconds he was taking Sarah fast, cock sliding in and our barely before Sarah had a moment to comprehend. She moaned and screamed his name, her body shaking with delight. Connor laughed with unbridled joy, kissing whatever skin was available to him.
Without warning Connor pulled out, grabbing Sarah's ass again until she was on top.
"Ride me baby, ride me so I can watch that sexy body of yours explode on me." So she did. Sarah pushed her body back and forth, whimpering as Connor's cock hit new and exciting places inside her. Connor's cries were turning her on too. "That's it baby, that's it, come on me…come with me. You're so fucking good." With an explosion of cries, they came together, lost in their little bubble.
That's the thing about bubbles though, isn't it? Eventually they have to pop.
For a few weeks, things were great for Connor and Sarah, in their pink, love induced, haze. Sarah introduced Connor to her friends, including sharing that Rivvon was someone else's boyfriend, not hers. There was a great deal of binge drinking at the pub involved. Connor took Sarah to dinners and fundraisers with the other attendings, getting her used to the life he led. It had surprised Connor that Sarah almost slipped into a role at those events, shedding the awkwardness that was her usual self. In truth, it made Connor distinctly uncomfortable to watch her hide herself away.
"Where did you learn to do that?" He asked as a town car drove them back to his place.
"Do what?" She had taken off her heels, wincing as she rubbed her feet.
"Act so differently." Sarah laughed ruefully.
"My mom. She loved to drag me to events like this. She hated it when I didn't say the right thing, or do the right thing. She made me go to a ton of etiquette and conversation lessons."
Connor blinked in shock. What the fuck? She caught his eye and gave a half shrug that reassured him that this was still his Sarah. "We may not have been Chicago Rhodes, but my mom's family are pretty wealthy."
"That sounds like the worst kids club ever." She had smiled and told him stories of the shit her mother made her learn.
"None of it feels natural, but at least I can blend in wherever I am. If we ever go back to Chicago, I promise I won't embarrass you."
"Nothing you do embarrasses me, Sarah. You're a rockstar and I'm your number 1 fan."
Connor snapped back into the present as he finished scrubbing out. "Dr Rhodes? They need you in the ED." Connor smiled at the nurse- Kelly? Kourtney?
"On my way."
Sarah bit her lip as she looked at the scans for her current patient. It was a mess, frankly. She-Rosa- had fallen off a rollar coaster. Mass trauma in her body. She'd been almost immediately intubated, blood/plasma hooked up and watched constantly. In the meantime, the surgeons and internists were debating where to even start. Incredibly, there was no neuro damage presenting, but pretty much everything else was fucked. The question was, what would kill her first?
"Dr Reese, what do you think?" A frustrated Dr De Luca asked her.
"I think we need to deal with her liver and kidneys first. There is that aorta that is going to go, but I think we have a bit of time before it does. Maybe try those three things in one surgery, give her time to recover and go back in for her bowel and the ankle reconstruction?"
"It's a good thought Dr Reese, but we need to prioritise her aorta. That blows and it's game over." Connor sidled up beside her to look at the scans as he gave his rapid fire opinion. Sarah's ego was tweaked. 30 seconds vs her ten minutes? And she was the one who had stabilised Rosa and comforted her three kids who had just watched Mama do an inadvertent swan dive.
"No, I really think that aorta is stable for now. Look at the overall condition of her heart. Very little plaque, very little build up. If my heart looked that good with that blood flow, I'd be thrilled."
"Until your aorta exploded in your chest, then it doesn't matter how well you eat or how much you exercise."
Sarah glared at him and saw the challenge in his eyes. Bastard is getting off on this. Don't I satisfy you enough at home, sweetie?
"So, you'd rather risk the patient needing kidney and liver transplants? Because those organs are practically shredded. If the patient has any chance of avoiding life changing injuries, Dr Milton needs to get in there right now and fix them."
"This level of damage and I don't think they're salvageable. Get in, prevent the life threatening injury, get out and revaluate. Number 1 rule of trauma. I know you know that." Sarah rose her eyebrow at him, rage filling her. Do not yell at him, do not yell at him.
"Right, this is where I make the call I think Rhodes, Reese, before you two have a domestic in the ED. We're going to open her up, aim to solve the heart first, and evaluate what is and isn't salvageable. While the scans don't necessarily show it, there is no way the patient doesn't have internal bleeding somewhere. Let's find it before she bleeds out."
The surgeons moved out, Connor stalking to the patient without so much as a backwards glance. Dr De Luca put her hand on Sarah's shoulder.
"Your first disagreement with a surgeon. Sometimes, they can't see the bigger picture, that's our job. You did well advocating for the patient. For the record, I think your plan made good, medical sense." Sarah smiled at her ED mentor.
"Yeah, but so did Connor's-Dr Rhodes I mean." Dr De Luca's eyes were warm as she nodded.
"Emergency medicine is as much of an art as a science. Neither plan is wrong. It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. Don't forget though, a surgeon has to be able to take stock of what he sees when the patient is open. It can look quite different to what the scans are telling us, usually worse. Can you be the go between for this one? I think the family connected to you, they'll need to be informed and updated." Sarah agreed. This is what she did best.
It was a long night as Sarah went back and forth between the family and the OR viewing room, requesting periodic updates. Connor was professional with her, as was she. As the night went on, Sarah could feel the anger building at Connor. He'd never treated her… like a resident, Sarah. He treated you the way he used to, before everything happened.
She kept trying to remind herself of that, it wasn't personal. It wasn't a reflection of their relationship. Periodically, Connor would need to slip back into the role of her teacher, as though she was that med student who struggled putting in a central line on live patients. She grabbed coffee for herself, Connor and Rosa's husband. This would be the shortest part of the surgery hopefully, where they searched the body for bleeds. Connor was on his way to update the family on the aortic section himself. He arrived in the waiting room at the same time Sarah did. Silently, she handed him a coffee and led him to Rosa's husband, who was pacing while his children slept on the uncomfortable chairs.
"Mr Hiros? I'm Dr Rhodes, the trauma and CT surgeon on your wife's case. So far, the surgery has gone as well as can be expected. I have repaired the aorta- one of the routes that pumps blood into the heart. Dr Milton is now looking for anything that could become an emergency problem before we pack up the incisions and take her to the ICU."
"But, isn't there more damage than that? Why are you closing her back up if there is more damage?"
"There is significant damage to multiple organs and bones, but we can only do so much surgically in one go, Rosa wouldn't be able to take more time under anaesthesia and it increases the risk of complications or infection. So it's a balance, fix enough to get her through the next couple of days, then go back in and fix more when she has more strength. We aren't closing her up each time, we're putting in specialised material into her body to combat infection and putting a medical film over her torso to essentially vacuum wrap it, that way we can get to any emergent sites easier if we do have to take her back to the OR sooner than planned."
He looked devastated and dropped his head into his hands.
"Mr Hiros- George, this is going to be a marathon, but Rosa is strong. You remember what you told me, about how you climbed Everest together? Remember that strength and have hope." Sarah comforted the grieving man as best she could, without make debilitating promises.
Connor's pager rang with a 911 alert. George's head shot up "Rosa?" almost panicked. Connor shot Sarah a glance and nodded as he sprinted back to the OR.
"What's going on? What's happening with my wife?" Panic filled his voice.
"I'm sorry, I don't know, let me see what I can find out, but Mr Hiros, I can't go until you breathe… that's it, that's better, sit down. Rosa has the best surgeons in the city. I've worked with Dr Rhodes for years… that's it. Well done. I'll be back as soon as I can." Sarah ran in the same direction that Connor went as fast as she could, her own heart beating out of her chest.
"What's…. happening?" She gasped as she got to the viewing room, leaning on the wall.
"It's not looking good Reese." Kara said grimly. "Her liver started bleeding out faster than Milton can stitch. The pressure caused her aorta to start leaking in a different section. Rhodes is scrubbing in again now, I don't think he'll be able to leave again." Sarah gave her a hopeless look.
"Shit. What do I say to the family?" Kara wasn't smiling as she ran a hand through her russet hair.
"I think we'll know by the time you catch your breath. She'll either be hanging in there or gone." Sarah's eyes fluttered as she watched the man she loved confidently barking orders at the scrub nurse, simultaneously, if awkwardly, fixing the aorta alongside Milton removing the liver. It was worse than on the scans, there were lacerations everywhere. No way it could have been saved. Sarah pressed her forehead to the window and waited with bated breath.
