Chapter 10

AN: Quotes from Season 5 Episode 20

Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing!

I think this is the chapter you've all been waiting for.

Chocolate consumed: All.

He had been cross with Elizabeth for a week now. As enjoyable as the afternoon at the hotel bar had been with her, Robert was struggling to get passed the fact that she hadn't told him about the trauma fellowship proposal. He knew why of course, he thought it was a waste of time and her skills to sit idle in the ER when she could be kept busy by actually operating in surgery. Preferably with him. Lizzy has told him she didn't want to bring up the fellowship until she knew if it was happening or not, mentioning it to Peter had already bitten her on the ass. Logically Robert knew it made sense, but it still hurt that everything seemed to be going so well between them, and yet she didn't feel like she could talk to him about it. Time to take it out on the ER.

Weaver has miraculously taken the day off; she still couldn't look him in the eye, and Robert was just fine with that. It gave him more time to observe Greene and try to figure out the man's motives where his Elizabeth was concerned. Robert figured being blunt and catching Greene off guard would be the easiest way to do it and to make sure he knew that Lizzy was off-limits. In not so many words, of course.

Robert was, however, regretting that observing Greene meant having to interact with the masses of the ER.

"And that is why I prefer my patients anesthetized." He needed to wash his hand. The OCD part of his surgeon's brain was kicking in. Must scrub away the filth. Greene was talking about the next patient, but Robert wasn't listening. Instead, he ducked into the nearest men's room and started to wash his hands.

"Ever dream about Lizzy Corday?" Robert took the opportunity to blind-side Greene.

"What?"

Robert continued to wash his hands, acting as if this were the most natural conversation.

"It'd be understandable, the one motive I could follow for the ER trying to ah poach her away from surgery." Greene was shifting around behind him, his body language screaming uncomfortable.

"The trauma fellowship is not about poaching Robert."

"Yeah, how longs it been, Mark" Robert paused just long enough to look up at Greene in the mirror, the double entendre hanging in the air "since you had a trauma come in?"

That threw Greene, and Robert knew he was on to something.

"Ah, what today?

"Yeah"

"Five, six hours. -" Good. Robert could use that to go in for the kill and cut Greene off.

"Ok, so. If you actually had a trauma fellowship for the last five or six hours, that highly skilled surgical resident would have been sitting on her pretty little hands or maybe babysitting gorks waiting for ICU beds." Robert was leaving the restroom, making Greene follow him around. He enjoyed a good power play. Damn the nurse who interrupted it by telling them that a scalping was coming in.

The bright side to roaming the halls of the ER was that Lizzy was often there, trying to catch as many traumas as possible to appeal to the powers that be for the fellowship.

"Lizzy, Peter's already been paged on this, but you'll probably wanna see it, it takes more than a 10 cm scalp avulsion to get my heart pumping, but then again, I'm not a trauma wonk."

Elizabeth dipped into the trauma room to evaluate the patient. Mark was running things, and it looked worse than it actually was. He clamped the bleeder while she prepared to suture. Somehow the patient thought they were flirting; it did sound rather dirty, though. Elevating tips and slipping in. And then the power went. Indeed a sign that the day would not be a good one. Then again, it was the ER, and those signs were bountiful.

"Who the hell left the patient in the hall?!" Haleh was pissed, and Elizabeth walked over to see what was going on.

"I saw an x-ray tech, did he just leave her?"

Elizabeth helped Haleh with the patient trying to figure out who she was. There was no chart, and they uncovered her; she was naked and unconscious, having been clearly battered and bruised. She wasn't breathing, and Elizabeth's training kicked in, directing the gurney towards a trauma room yelling for a hand. Robert jumped in, and she filled him in as they went down the hall. They intubated her and determined she had been sexually assaulted as well. They got her stable, and then Robert went to deal with the issue of the x-ray tech.

Elizabeth hadn't seen much and was lamenting to Mark about it as they got the patient back into a gown. The patient had been missing from medicine all morning and was a car crash victim that had been in a coma for the past ten days. Mark was trying to be a friend in the inept male sort of way, suggesting that he was sure the little information that Elizabeth had provided helped the police. She wished she could have done more and was almost relieved that the patient needed minor surgery; at least it was something Elizabeth could fix.

The scrub room was beginning to feel crowded. Peter and his over-inflated ego had joined her to scrub, intent on pushing her out of the surgery.

"I heard I missed another trauma."

"Tragic case, actually."

"Is Romano doing the ex-lap?"

"It's perfectly routine; you needn't join us if you're busy."

"Yeah, well, he'll need an assist."

"We both know I can handle that. "

"Elizabeth, you're an intern; stop seeing every move I make as a competition, ok."

"Right. It's just the way I see it, it seems you're going for the trauma fellowship full boor."

"I haven't made up my mind."

The door opened, and Robert walked in. The petty part inside Elizabeth that had been flair up around Peter these days hoped that Robert had heard the tail end of their conversation.

"My, my, my. How many surgical heavy weights does it take to screw in a light bulb."

"Depends on what's at stake, I guess," she said under her breath.

Tensions were high as they started the surgery. Elizabeth was sure that Robert was picking up on the death glares she had been throwing at Peter when the power went out. There were backup generators, of course, but now that they had started the surgery, they were going to have to finish it with minimal light. The upside was Reese was afraid of the dark. Elizabeth knew that she should feel bad that Peter's son was deaf and in a dark daycare, but it meant that he had to scrub out of the surgery to go and check on him. It left Elizabeth to work with Robert free of competition.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Robert has just removed the spleen, and the surgery was going smoothly.

"I hesitate to say."

"We're ready to close 4-0 vicryl, please."

"I was just thinking Ms. Heather's body's been through quite enough. An accident, a coma, a brutal attack. The kindest thing might be to let her go in peace."

"Of course, we can't." His tone was stern with her from across the operating table.

"Be careful what you ask for; she's bradying down," the anesthesiologist interrupted.

Without full power, there were no alarms going off to signal what was happening with their patient, but Elizabeth and Robert worked in tandem to save her.

"It's hard to believe she's crashing, I can't think without all the alarms blaring. Try phenylephedrine." Robert was working frantically while Elizabeth performed chest compressions.

"Wait!" Elizabeth checked the patient's neck, "the neck veins are distended. No pulse in the aorta."

"Tamponade?"

"Exactly. 60 cc syringe, 18 gauge needle."

"Going in blind?" Robert looked up at her as she was passed the needle, reassurance in his eyes that he trusted her with the next step.

"Yeah. Ok. Retract the left lobe of the liver."

"Got it. This is living, huh? A pericardiocentesis without an electronic monitor. Careful, you don't punch the ventricle." Robert observed her as she inserted the needle into the pericardium sac around the heart, methodically draining it of fluid.

"Thanks, Robert. Got it."

"Give me a minute to check the pressure. I think it's coming up." a surgical tech said.

"Ho-hum. All in a day's work." Robert looked up at her, and she could see his thoughts in his eyes; they made a damn good team.


Elizabeth was exhausted after the long day. Being in the OR was usually a thrilling challenge, but operating on auxiliary power had taken that to a new level, one she didn't particularly care to revisit anytime soon. She was practically zoned out to the Zen rhythm of bagging the patient in recovery when Robert finally found her.

"Well done, Dr. Corday." He had found coffee somewhere and was absentmindedly stirring it as he came in. Robert didn't know where they stood anymore. It felt as if they had taken one rather large step forward and then two steps back when he found out she had hidden the trauma fellowship from him.

"Thank you," her voice was quiet as was the smile that came unbidden to her face at his words.

"I'd be remiss if I didn't say this, especially after today, you are an exceptional surgeon. It would be tragic for you to waste your talents on a trauma fellowship. Let me finish." He could tell she wanted to interrupt him, to argue about the fellowship. Robert received a slight nod in acknowledgment, and he held her gaze, willing her to give him some kind of sign that they weren't just going around in circles. At this point, Robert was concerned that he had just become a convenient friend, one that she would never really trust with the important things, and he needed to speak his mind.

"Now ...I'm aware that you don't relish working with me. But your face, I can't resist. But know this...I would do anything in my power to have you stay in surgery. Including making myself as scarce as possible. Think about it."

Nothing. Robert got no reaction from her even as he was pleading with his eyes for her to say something. Robert walked around the bed to where Elizabeth sat.

"I'll take over." He had regained his familiar unaffected voice, "the cops wanna see you." And then he watched her walk out.

Elizabeth couldn't stop thinking about Robert as she walked with the police officer. What he had said to her. Truth be told, he often played a prominent role in her thoughts these days, Elizabeth didn't know how or when it happened. As Elizabeth was lead into the morgue to be shown the body of the suspected rapist, the power came on, casting light on the body and on her feelings for Robert. All Elizabeth wanted to do was turn away from the corpse of the attacker, a man who hung himself after brutalizing a coma patient, and walk into Robert's arms. To have him hold her. 'Your face, I can't resist.' That was what he had said to her with such sincerity that it stole her ability to speak.

The day wasn't over yet. Back down to the ER, but thankfully with power, Elizabeth was trying to play catch up so she could leave on time. She was making small talk with Mark while taking notes, and he was telling her why the backup generators shut down—a failed bearing in a fan.

"Oh well, that makes it all clear." Elizabeth didn't have the energy for anything other than sarcasm at this point. "I'll admit it, I'm not 100% comfortable in the dark." She didn't even look up from the chart she was scribbling away on and was caught off guard at Mark's comment.

"Oh, I guess a candlelit dinner would not be an enticing offer?"

Elizabeth couldn't tell if he was serious or joking and didn't want to find out. Mark was a sweet man, but the only one she was thinking about was Robert and her rather complicated feelings for him.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm heading home."

"Some advice; I wouldn't do that" Mark clearly wasn't giving up and pivoted with ease. "Yeah, rule number one of trauma, after a day like today, you should shift gears, not take it home with you."


Dressed in street clothes, Robert was finally done for the day. While it had felt like the longest shift he had had in a while, in reality, it wasn't all that late. Plenty of time to meet Max at their favorite bar and drown himself in wine, a martini, a beer, scotch - well, anything but scotch. Robert had no desire to consume something he now associated so distinctly with Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who had just looked at him as he pleaded with her and said nothing. The elevator dinged open, and he stepped in when he heard his name.

"Robert, wait!" Elizabeth was coming down the hall after him, and Robert was of half a mind to hit the close door button on her. But her face, he couldn't resist after all and hit the door open instead. She stepped into the elevator, bag over her shoulder, looking ready to leave for the day.

"Elizabeth," he glanced at her, and there was something different about her face. Clearly nervous, Elizabeth was looking at him in a way he had never seen before. She took a step closer to him, closing the gap between them, and then placed both hands on his chest and slid them up to his shoulders.

"I don't want you to make yourself scarce." Robert's eyes, which had been watching her hands, snapped up at that, locking with hers. "I'd miss you far too much."

Robert blinked and nearly missed it as Elizabeth took a final step towards him, sliding her hands up and behind his neck and pulling him to her.

Elizabeth Corday was kissing him.

His arms came up and around her waist on their own accord, and he pulled her closer, letting out a soft moan against her mouth as she backed him up against the elevator wall. The elevator dinged, signaling the doors opening far too soon for Robert's liking, and she stepped away from him and glanced around. Miraculously no one was standing outside the elevator to see them.

Robert wasn't sure how they managed to escape the hospital without anyone noticing them, he thought the smile on his face was blinding enough to make up for Chicago's loss of power earlier, and a similar smile adorned Lizzy. They managed to catch a cab with relative ease when Robert remembered his plans to meet Max. He knew trying to cancel now wouldn't work; if he didn't show up at the bar, then the chances were high his friend would come looking for him. Robert had sounded miserable enough on the phone earlier for Max to be concerned and offer to ditch his caseload early for drinks. Elizabeth had been excited to meet Max, though when he mentioned his plans and Robert was temporarily unable to do anything thing but agree with her when she smiled at him like that. That's how they found themselves walking in one of Chicago's most well know cocktail lounges, the Green Mill.

It was a slow night and still early, so Max was already waiting at the bar. Tall and built like a linebacker, Max was naturally hard to miss, a trait he built upon with his penchant for a well-tailored suit. He turned his head when he heard the door open and stood up upon seeing Robert enter the room.

"Rocket, there you are. I was worried you'd get dragged back into that hell hole of a hospital you..." Max trailed off when he realized Robert wasn't alone and kept looking back and forth between Robert and Elizabeth, confusion setting in on his face. "Ah, hey man, you didn't say anything about bringing someone."

"Last minute change of plans. It was either ditch you, ditch her, or bring her along. And I sure as hell wasn't ditching Lizzy."

"Lizzy." The lightbulb had finally gone off for Max, and he looked between the pair, finally noticing their entwined hands and Identical grins. "You're Lizzy?" She nodded. "Rocket...you know I hate to tell you this, but I didn't think she actually existed." Robert looked pissed while Elizabeth burst out laughing.

"Hey, fuck you. I'm a surgeon, not a psych patient."

"Ok, ok. No need to beat me up, I've had my ass handed to me by you enough to last a lifetime." Max put his hands up in the air and took a step back.

"Lizzy, this is Maxwell Anderson, Max, this is Elizabeth Corday. You've been introduced, can we order drinks now?" Robert guided Elizabeth to a seat at the bar and ordered two scotches.

"So what the hell happened at work today? You sounded like someone kicked Gretel on the phone earlier." Max took another sip of his drink, eying Robert and Elizabeth carefully. He pulled out a small case and offered up a cigar to Robert and was shocked when Elizabeth took one along with his cutters and lighter. She made short work of lighting her cigar, and the weight seemed to lift off her shoulders as she took the first draw.

"Oh god, what didn't happen," Elizabeth answered and then downed her scotch in one go. The bartender scrutinized her carefully as she slid her glass towards him. "Don't worry, I'm a professional, and I'm really going to need another of those."

Max's mouth opened slightly as he watched her lace her fingers with Roberts on top of the bar.

"Rob. You wished really, really hard, didn't you?"

Robert made a face at his friend for hitting a little too close to home. He had, in fact, wished really, really hard. There might have been the occasional bargaining with god. Frankly, he was too happy to care about what he knew to be good-natured ribbing from Max. Max had spent his fair share to time listening to Robert talk about Elizabeth ever since he brought her back from London. It had started with 'I sponsored a surgeon' and then quickly turned into Lizzy this and Lizzy that. When Robert had shown up at Max's Christmas party at the Prudential building, he couldn't stop talking about the feisty British surgeon that had stayed in Chicago last minute for the holidays, to the point where several women Max tried to set him up with had walked away.

Most importantly, Robert had never been nervous to talk to a woman before, but when it came to Elizabeth, he had proven to be useless. Rocket Romano could usually smooth talk his way to a date or three, but where the British surgeon was concerned, he could barely string three non-surgical words together. And yet here they were. The three of them sitting at a bar having a drink, and Max was very clearly the third wheel.

"Yes, Maxwell, I wished really, really hard."

Elizabeth lit up at Robert's words, a million-dollar smile adorning her face as she turned towards Robert and kissed him.

"You know as horrible as today was, it's ended far better than I could have hoped for." Elizabeth looked at Robert as she spoke, happiness rolling off of her in waves. She then turned to Max and proceeded to tell him about their day. The trauma fellowship and Benton trying to poach it, complete with her father's commentary on Peter Benton. Robert made no effort to hide his glee at Charles Corday's harsh words for Elizabeth's ex. They took turns talking about their coma patient, being as discrete as possible, and spoke more about the challenge of performing surgery on auxiliary power. Max was able to read between the lines and understand that something happened to the patient while at the hospital, the lawyer in him knew not to ask further questions.

Several drinks in, Robert was regretting introducing Lizzy and Max. They were getting on thick as thieves, and with a similar sense of humor, it was unsurprising. He did not like his best friend and girlfriend ganging up on him.

Girlfriend.

It was a foreign concept that he mulled around in his head as he observed Lizzy and Max talking about places they had both been in London. Robert has no doubt that was what she was, though no words on the topic had been exchanged. So much had happened between them that he at least felt confident that Elizabeth wouldn't corner him in the elevator like that unless she was serious. He was, however, confused about the little details.

Like taking her home. They all had to work the next day, and the night would be coming to an end shortly. All Robert wanted to do was to bring her home with him and then make love to her. That was his ideal situation, at least, take Elizabeth to bed and never let her leave. The practical side of Robert told him that he needed to take things slow still. It had been a shitty day, and while Lizzy had given him an obvious sign of her feelings, drinks with Max after a shorty day did not qualify for a proper date. In other words, that was no way to treat a lady. A hot and steamy good night kiss, sure. Hot and steamy sex, no.

Robert really needed to stop thinking about hot and steamy sex with Elizabeth though else his well-tailored trousers would betray him when he needed to leave.

Eventually, Elizabeth excused herself and headed off to the restroom, leaving Max and Robert alone.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Rocket. When you called me earlier, I thought this woman had torn your heart out, yet you show up here with her on your arm, smiling like an idiot. What happened?"

Robert covered his face with his hands and laughed.

"Maxie, when I called you, I thought she had. I wasn't sure what to think about what was going on between us, and I tried to acknowledge that I had feelings for her. That I was willing to back away if that's what she wanted. Granted, part of this was disguised with a talk about a fellowship she is pursuing. But she just sat there and acted like it went In one ear and put the other."

"Jesus. That's clearly not the case now. She looks like a woman ready to jump you. "

"I'm not pushing my luck on that tonight."

Max gave him a look. College roommates for four years, Max knew just how much Robert enjoyed sex and couldn't believe he wasn't going to pursue it tonight.

"She practically jumped me in an elevator already. If she was comfortable with more happening tonight, do you really think I would have brought her to a bar to meet you?"

"No. And good one you for being able to read between the lines on where she's at. That's more willpower than I would have ever attributed to you where Lizzy Corday is concerned."

"First off, it's Elizabeth to you. Only I get to call her Lizzy," Max roared with laughter. "Shut up, you sleaze bag lawyer. And second, I'm not stupid. I know that I've had feelings for her far longer than she has for me. We're not on the same page yet. Same chapter, sure, and she seems to be a quick reader, but not the same page. I'm not willing to fuck this up because I can't keep my dick in my pants."

"I can respect that. It's gotta be hard-"Robert interrupted him.

"We are not making those jokes, Maxie. Hey, stop laughing."

Max couldn't. He was so happy for his friend, and they had imbibed just the right amount of alcohol that Elizabeth found both of them consumed by laughter when she returned.

"Ok, ladies, the girls in my dorm at boarding school could hold their liquor better than you. Perhaps it's time we called it a night?" Elizabeth said whilst shaking her head at the pair of them.

This set them off more. But with the promise of stories of Elizabeth's boarding school days, Max managed to pay the bill, insisting to Robert that it was his treat for being happily proven wrong on Elizabeth being imaginary. The trio managed to stumble out of the bar before midnight, just as it was starting to get crowded.

Elizabeth leaned into Robert as they stood on the sidewalk, waiting for a cab. Robert was a content man waiting on a taxi with Elizabeth's arms wrapped around his waist, and her head neatly tucked into the curve of his neck. Max managed to flag a cab down and opened the door allowing Robert and Elizabeth to take it. A round of good nights later and they were off to Elizabeth's flat. Robert was not looking forward to saying good night and leaving her there, but he knew it was what he needed to do. A long, searing kiss later, and she was safely in her building, when Robert finally gave the cab driver his address. It was the best good night he had had in a long time, and knew he would fall asleep dreaming of her face. His Lizzy. And for once the idea of her would not be just a dream.