Outside of the glass walls of the emergency room lobby, Leanne stood with Jesse and a group of police officers watching as Ethan worked to remove an unexploded ordinance from Officer Fiona Burnside's leg. She hated that he was in there alone and she hated Campbell for refusing to let her help, but most of all she hated feeling useless. When she couldn't take the waiting any longer, she opened the door slightly and quietly called out to him, "Dr. Willis, how you doing?"
"Shouldn't be too long now."
"Ask her how Eric is," requested Fiona.
Ethan glanced at Leanne, who silently signaled that Eric had been taken upstairs for surgery. He responded by nodding toward Fiona, indicating that Leanne should say something that would make her feel better. Leanne hesitated for just a second before telling Fiona, "He's waiting to see you."
The next thing Leanne knew, alarms were going off and Fiona was crashing. "Talk to me, Ethan," she demanded.
"Bullet moved. It severed her femoral artery," he explained. He looked up when he heard her push the door the rest of the way open. "Do not come in here."
Leanne ignored the order and started walking into the room until one of the officers yelled, "Doc, stop!" The officer came up to her and began to remove his body armor. "Put this on," he said as he helped her into his Kevlar vest.
Once the officer was done with her, she made her way toward Ethan, but stopped again when she realized Jesse was following her. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Where you go, I go."
"Jesse, you don't have to do this."
"If I didn't, you'd never shut up about it. Let's go."
With the matter seemingly settled, they got to work. Ethan was simultaneously glad for the help and frustrated with Leanne for putting herself in danger. "Did either of you hear what I just said?" he asked.
Leanne replied, "As you're very fond of saying, we don't work for you."
"You said it, Daddy," agreed Jesse.
"Campbell's not going to like this."
"Probably fire us."
Ethan decided to join their banter and joked, "This bullet moves again, there won't be anything left of us to fire."
*** CB ***
Later that day, after Fiona and Eric were both out of surgery, Ethan and Leanne arranged for the younger couple to spend some time together. As Fiona told Eric she loved him and he kissed her, Leanne met Ethan's eyes over the top of their heads and gave him a wide smile. He didn't think he'd ever seen her looking so happy or so beautiful. He returned her smile and mouthed, "I love you."
"I love you too," she mouthed back.
Ethan was surprised that she'd returned the sentiment and wished that he could kiss her. Unfortunately, that would have to wait until they could be alone.
*** CB ***
At the end of their shift, Ethan and Leanne met Jesse on the roof to smoke cigars and celebrate the fact that they hadn't blown themselves up. They shared a moment of panic when Campbell appeared, but he didn't seem interested in reprimanding either Leanne or Jesse. Instead, he took the cigar that Ethan offered.
The four of them smoked in silence while looking down at the city below them. When the cigars were gone, Jesse and Campbell each claimed to have other plans and left. As soon as they were alone, Ethan closed the distance between himself and Leanne. Bumping his shoulder against hers, he said, "Just so you know, I meant it."
Leanne thought about toying with him and asking him what he was talking about, but she didn't want to be cruel. Taking a deep breath, she confessed, "So did I."
"Since we've decided we're in love, do you think you can stop trying to die? It's taking years off my life."
"What are you talking about?" Leanne asked, turning around to lean against the railing and look up at Ethan. "I'm not the one with a death wish."
"I'm talking about going head-to-head with a murderer and walking into a room with a bomb."
"First, the Damien thing wasn't my fault. Second, you walked into the room with the bomb before I did. I only went in to help you. And, third, you're the one who went traipsing off for a secret mission on a Russian submarine. Oh, and, let's not forget your little adventure at the collapsed haunted house. Clearly, you're the one with the death wish."
Despite Leanne's angry rant, Ethan couldn't help but smile at her. "But you don't dispute that we're in love?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her.
Smirking, Leanne answered, "No, I don't."
"How about we both agree to be more careful?"
"I can live with that."
"Good. Any chance I can get you to say it again? Out loud this time?"
Leanne grabbed the front of Ethan's shirt and pulled him closer. "You can try," she challenged him. She had barely finished speaking before he pressed his lips to hers. When he ended the kiss, she happily sighed, "I love you."
"I love you too."