House Of Cards

This chapter and some dialogue take place over season nine episodes, 'No Good Deed Goes Unpunished' and 'No Strings Attached.'

Chapter Five

Elizabeth hurried from Recovery, wondering just what the hell Robert thought he was doing. She'd been paged by Shirley and learned that Robert was supervising a surgery, that was going south very quickly. She still didn't believe it, but then she met Shirley outside of O.R 1, and there he was, through the glass, scrubbed in and assisting. She nodded her thanks to Shirley, who looked at her with clear relief evident in her eyes. Lifting a surgical mask to cover her face, she pushed inside to hear Robert chastising the unfortunate resident.

"Move any slower Jensen, and this guy's gonna heal before we can sew him up."

"Giving one of your inspirational speeches Robert?" she said, announcing her presence.

He looked up, surprised to see her there. "Elizabeth? I thought you were doing an atrial caval shunt? Another lap to me? I take it he died?"

"On the contrary, I'm finished. The patient's in recovery. I heard you were having some difficulty though," she said, careful to keep her tone neutral.

His eyes flicked on her ever so briefly. "You were misinformed," he said.

"Apparently." She tried a different tack, seeing as he was obviously not going to accept her olive branch of help. "I didn't realise you were back on surgical rotation?"

"Just assisting Jensen," he almost sang. She knew bravado, when she heard it, especially when it came to him.

"So, errr, how are we doing, Jensen?"

Jensen looked at her, clearly nervous, and feeling caught between a rock and a hard place. "Fine, thank you. Good hemostasis, no leak," he said, obviously opting to follow Romano's lead.

"The posterior cutaneous nerve runs next to the artery," she said. "It's easy to cut both."

"And the head bones connected to the, what again?" Robert said, in a mocking voice.

'Enough', she thought, beginning to lose patience and leaned in closer to Jensen. She lowered her voice and asked. "Would you like me to scrub in to check?"

Jensen didn't get the chance to reply though, as Robert did it for him. "No."

She fixed him with a death stare. "It would be such a shame for this young man to come in for an abscess and go home with a dropped foot from a severed sciatic nerve!" she snapped.

"You're right," he snapped back, throwing a bloodied gauze down into an instrument pan. "Look I just thought of a way you can help me." He locked his eyes with hers, his expression stony. "Leave!"

She shook her head at him, and then did just that.

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Robert walked into Post Op Recovery to find Elizabeth checking on his patient.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Your Resident asked for a curbside," she said, keeping her voice as neutral as she could in the busy room, despite her anger. She jotted down her observations and looked up to catch him staring at her. His posture screamed nonchalance, but the twitch of his hand betrayed him.

"And?"

She stepped a little closer and lowered her voice. "There's an area of sensory loss on the posterior aspect of the thigh."

Robert bit on his lower lip and sighed. "Jensen bagged the posterior femoral cutaneous."

"But there's no foot drop. Sciatic, tibial and peroneal are completely intact, although he'll probably be left with some numbness in his thigh."

"Well, I guess he got lucky then," he said, and gave a small smile.

"Yes he did," Elizabeth replied, making it quite clear who she was referring to.

Robert scowled at her, turned around and left. He walked past Shirley and asked if she had seen Jensen.

"He said he was going up to the roof," she called after him.

"For a patient?"

"To jump…"

Robert shook his head and made his way up to the roof. When he stepped out from the elevator he spotted Jensen looking out, over the edge of the roof. "Don't do it Jensen...my car's down there!"

Jensen turned towards him as he approached, and Robert felt a tinge of guilt at how miserable the kid looked. "Your patient's going to be fine. The leg should be fully functional."

"There was nerve damage."

"Yeah, but it was minimal. Hey, you'll do better next time."

Jensen's face hardened. "You're right. Because I won't go into surgery with you," he said, then stalked past Romano heading for the elevator. Rocket Romano would never let a resident get away with speaking to him like that, but then he realised Rocket Romano was gone. As if to prove the point, a helicopter suddenly hovered above, its mechanical roar deafening, and its lights blinding him. Mocking him, temporarily stripping him of yet more of his senses.

And then just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. He turned and walked to the side of the roof, climbed onto the step and looked down, over the ledge. 'I'm never going to perform surgery again,' he thought. He reached up and pulled the scrub cap from his head and stared at it, and all it represented. And then just like that, he let it go and watched as it fell, spiralling on the wind, heading towards the ground until he could no longer see it. He felt crushed, humiliated and overwhelmingly sad. Hope had sustained him throughout his recovery, but he realised all was lost after today. His recovery, his life, his prospects were all headed in the same direction of that cap. The thought crossed his mind ever so briefly to follow it, and he stepped away from the ledge. He stood there for a few more minutes, the sensible part of him knowing he should go and find Elizabeth and apologise to her, whilst every other fibre told him to go find the nearest bar.

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A flustered Elizabeth left Susan and Abby in the E.R to make her way back upstairs, but before she made it there, she found herself paged straight back down for another consult. Fifteen wasted minutes later, she stepped back onto the surgical floor. She needed to find Robert and went straight to his office. He wasn't there so she asked Shirley for his whereabouts, and was told to 'try the roof'. Not finding him there either, she tried his office again, and then had him paged. Nothing. She called his phone, and it went straight to message. Nearing exasperation, she drove to his house and hammered on his front door. It was getting late, but the house was in total darkness, even though she could hear Gretel's excited, protective barks from within. If he was inside, he was clearly not going to open the door to her. Having exhausted every option she had no choice but to give up her search and return home to relieve Kris. If Robert was that upset with her and wanted to be alone that much, then there really wasn't much she could do about it. She just hoped he didn't do anything else stupid.

With all the extra running about, she got home later than planned, and was annoyed, but not surprised to learn Ella was already asleep. Kris beat a hasty retreat sensing the bad mood and left her to it. Elizabeth showered, poured herself a generous glass of wine and proceeded to channel surf getting angrier and angrier as each button push of the T.V remote, produced no distraction whatsoever. She tried calling him again, and left yet another message. How dare he go AWOL like this. He must know how much she'd be worried. What on earth had gotten into him today to make him so reckless, so irresponsible...and then to go and do a disappearing act. He was so selfish! Angry and frustrated, she downed the wine, locked up the house and went to bed.

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Two day's later, Robert stood seething, barely keeping it together, as Kerry Weaver was presented to the press as the new medical liaison to Cook County's Public Health Care Administration. The role he was perfect for, but had been completely overlooked on. He saw the Alderman's hand hovering over the small of Kerry's back and wondered just what the hell was going on. Sex was obviously off the cards, so what exactly were these two getting out of this newfound power relationship. Something was going on and he was going to make it his business to find out. As the photographers rushed forward to get their publicity shots, Robert rolled his eyes and turned to quietly leave. He was nearly out of the door when he heard his name being called and turned around to identify the source.

"Doctor Romano?"

A small, dark haired woman stood before him, her hand outstretched, and he automatically reached out his own to shake it. "I'm sorry, have we met?" he said, not recognising her.

She shook her head. "We've never been formally introduced, but I'm Pattie Cohen with the Chicago Tribune."

"What can I do for you, Ms Cohen?"

"I wondered how your arm is healing?"

"What the hell's that got to do with you?" he snapped, and she held up a conciliatory hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Look, I'll come clean with you...I would very much like to write a piece about how you."

"What?"

"Your story is amazing. The fact that you're still working, despite your injury...it's inspirational."

"No."

"No?"

"You heard."

"Doctor Romano, don't be too hasty...our readers would love to hear your story."

"Are you deaf?"

"Look, sorry, I am aware that it's still a painful subject for you, but please don't dismiss the idea out of hand."

Robert couldn't believe his ears. "Are you shitting me?!"

The young woman looked horrified, as she realised her unintentional pun. "Oh God, I am sooo sorry. I promise you, I was NOT trying to be funny. Let me give you my card," she said, reaching inside her pocket. Her hand came out empty and she cursed before reaching into her bag and produced a piece of paper which she hurriedly wrote her details on. "Here's my number. At least have a think about it. If you change your mind or have any questions, you can reach me there." She thrust the paper at him and fled the room. Robert took one final look at Kerry basking in the flash-light of the media circus and left himself.

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After yet another, excruciatingly long day, Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as she signed the last piece of paperwork and handed the file back to Shirley. "Right, well that's me then. I have the day off tomorrow, so please don't even think about paging me for love nor money."

Shirley nodded and crossed her heart, and Elizabeth smiled at her. "Thank you," she said, turning to leave.

"Doctor Corday," Shirley started, a little uncomfortable.

"Yes?"

"I wondered if you had spoken with Doctor Romano today?"

Elizabeth immediately felt her back stiffen. Robert hadn't answered any of her many messages, nor made any attempt to seek her out since their 'conversation' in the Recovery room. If he wanted distance, then distance was what he was going to get. She glared at Shirley. "No."

"It's just that he looked upset earlier...after he'd spoken with Doctor Anspaugh."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm not his keeper, Shirley."

A little taken aback by her tone, Shirley looked around her. Lowering her voice she said, "No, but I was under the impression you're his friend?"

Elizabeth almost felt like she was being chastised. "I try to be, but right now he's not making it very easy."

"He's had a really rough couple of days."

"Haven't we all?"

"We haven't all been removed from surgery!"

Elizabeth shot her a dark look. "What do you mean?"

"Doctor Anspaugh has banned him from any procedure that he's physically not capable of doing."

"That's not news."

"No, but it also now includes no supervising of Residents and no consultations….Doctor Anspaugh actually kicked him out of a consult in the E.R this morning...in front of everyone."

Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes picturing how well that would have gone down. "What did he do?"

"What could he do? I believe he kicked a trash can."

Elizabeth smiled sadly. "Do you know where he is?"

Shirley gave her a grateful smile. "Try the roof."

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She found him stood staring over the edge of the roof, his entire body language screaming defeat. Still, what he had done with Jensen was downright, bloody irresponsible and she wasn't convinced he was even able to see it.

She stepped off the elevator and walked towards him. "Shirley said I'd find you up here," she said not wanting to startle him as she walked up beside him.

He didn't acknowledge her, but a stiffening of the shoulders told her he'd heard her well enough. She stepped up next to him and crossed her arms shivering slightly as the wind lapped around them. He continued to stare straight ahead, making absolutely no effort.

"Hey," she said and nudged him with her shoulder, causing him to sigh.

"What do you want Elizabeth?"

"Well for one, I would appreciate it, if you would stop ignoring me!" she said.

He glanced up at her, then slowly shrugged out off his lab coat. Turning towards her he wrapped it around her shoulders and she gratefully accepted the additional layer of protection from the wind.

"Thank you," she said. "And then, I think I'd like an apology and an explanation for your behaviour the last few days."

He looked at her with tired, red eyes then turned his head away again, to stare at something, or nothing, but definitely anything but her.

"Robert, have you any idea how worried sick I've been about you? You can't just do a disappearing act like that. Do you even care?!"

When he gave her no reaction she threw her hands up in the air and lost her temper. "No, of course you don't!" she yelled. "Because the only person Robert Romano cares about is Robert Romano! You don't give a damn that I've been worried sick about you, or that Ella's upset and confused that suddenly you're nowhere to be seen! It's not fair on her Robert, and its bloody well not fair on me!"

He shrugged. "I just figured you were busy with Dorsett, and didn't want to cramp your style."

"What on earth on you talking about?" she spluttered.

"I know he asked you out."

"What?!"

"Don't deny it. I went looking for you the other night to apologise and overheard Abby telling everyone that he'd asked you out."

"Well, then you must have also heard that I very firmly turned him down!"

He turned his head back towards her, taken aback. "Err, no. I, errr...didn't, really stick around."

"Evidently," she said. "Robert please don't tell me the reason you've been a complete jackass the last few days is because you were jealous another man asked me out!" She turned to leave but he caught her hand, and she spun to look at him. "Let me go!"

"Elizabeth, don't go...please."

She exhaled heavily. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't!"

"Because I need you!"

"Well, if you need me so much, why have you spent the last few days pushing me away?!"

"Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted me around."

She'd guessed as much. "Been on a pity party bender, have we?"

He gave her the saddest of smiles and her anger dissipated.

"Look, I'm sorry Elizabeth. You're right, I should have at the very least called you. Is Ella okay?"

She gave him the smallest of smiles as the Robert she knew began to re-emerge. "She will be, but you need to talk to me, because until I understand what's going on in your head, you're not going anywhere near her."

He nodded. "I promise I'll make it up to her...and to you, if you'll let me."

"And I'm putting you on notice Robert, if you EVER pull a stunt like this again, you will not get another chance! Do you understand?"

He nodded again. "Where is Ella?"

"She's at home with Kris, so you had bloody well better start talking to me."

Robert turned around and leaned back against the ledge. He rubbed his face and then looked at her. "Did you know that Donald threw me out of a surgical consult this morning in front of the whole friggin E.R?"

"Yes, Shirley just told me…"

He laughed mirthlessly. "Hah, I guess everyone's having a really good laugh at my expense."

"No-one is doing that, Robert. She told me because she was worried about you, and you have her to thank for me being here...she basically made me come up here to talk to you, and I'm glad she did. Look, you've been an arse Robert and despite all that, you still have people looking out for you. When will you realise that?"

He had the grace to look abashedly down at his feet.

"But you also can't blame Donald after the stunt you pulled with Jensen. You must see how it looks!"

"I know, I know" he sighed defeatedly. "I would've probably fired myself by now."

"So, what on earth is going on in your head to have made you think that it was a good idea. And then to not ask for help, or to even take it when it was offered?!"

He looked back down at his feet. "I had this idea that I was still a surgeon," he said softly, and then looked up at her. "Turns out I'm not any more."

This sad admission sucked any remaining anger from her, and her heart went out to him. She felt tears threatening to fall on his behalf.

"Did you also know that I actually begged Donald, to keep me on the schedule even in name only. That's what I've been reduced to, Elizabeth! Begging! I've been kicked out of surgery and that's it, it's over it's finished, I'm finished! I am officially no longer a surgeon!"

"Maybe," she said. "But you're still a doctor and you're still the Chief of Staff."

"Oh whoopy fucking do!"

"Robert!"

"Anyhow, I'm probably going to lose that too! Weaver's probably going to take that from me soon!"

"Don't be paranoid Robert. Kerry's got enough on her plate right now with this new liaison role."

"I'm not being paranoid, Lizzie. She's always wanted the position and if she gets to shaft me in the process, then all the better. I'm not exactly popular with the Board right now, either. They don't know what to do with me! Hell, I don't know what to do with me."

"Then maybe, instead of doing their job for them, you should perhaps stop handing them opportunities to get rid of you?"

Robert ran his hand over his head. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I even want the job any more, but then, I don't really see a line of people wanting to offer the gimpy armed, ex-surgeon a job."

"Then you have to do better, Robert! You have to prove them wrong! Where did Rocket Romano go? The man who convinced me to come to America was better than this!"

"That man no longer exists, Elizabeth!"

"Why? Because you can't do surgery? You are more than that Robert. Don't let it define you! There's so much more you can do."

"I don't know if I can!"

"Don't give up, Robert. Keep up with the P.T, and keep working hard...Doctor Gunn was pleased with your progress."

Robert looked down at his left hand and tried to flex his fingers. "I thought so too….and then a few days ago I dropped a cup of coffee."

"What?" she said, a little confused.

"I was in the lounge talking to Gallant whilst making a cup of coffee...smart kid that one, by the way...and, well basically I dropped the cup. It slipped right out of my hand and the first thing I knew about it was when it smashed all over the floor!"

"Wait. A few days ago? Are you telling me you risked a young man's mobility over a spilt cup of coffee?" she said, incredulous.

"Lizzie, don't you get it? I'm losing what sensation I have." He breathed in quietly and closed his eyes and she watched as he struggled to keep himself together. "It's not going to get any better...it's only going to get worse!"

Elizabeth reached for him and wrapped her arms around him, and he gratefully buried his face against her. "I just want my arm back, Lizzie...I want to be able to feel whole again! I want to be able to feel."

She let her hand trace down his arm to where she knew the scar was, and let her fingers dance lightly around it, feeling the unevenness of the wound.

"Can you feel that?"

She felt him nod.

"Good." She let her fingers drift further down, this time tracing a line with her fingernails.

"Can you feel that?"

Again, a nod.

She stepped back just a little and looked down as he lifted his eyes up to meet hers. She slipped her fingers in between his and gently brought their joined hands up. She kissed the back of his left hand.

"Can you feel that?"

Robert wished to hell he could feel it and she could tell instantly she'd said the wrong thing.

"Give me your other hand," she said quickly.

He obliged and she squeezed both of his hands with hers.

"Can you feel that?"

He smiled sadly. "That's cheating, Corday."

"No, its not. You know exactly how it should feel, and should you ever doubt it, then you just have to use your right hand to remind yourself." She could see the scepticism in his eyes, so she opened his right hand and placed it, open palmed, over her chest. "Can you feel that?"

Robert's breath left him as he felt her heart beating beneath his hand. Equally he became aware of his own heartbeat thumping loud, and resonating in his ears, and all he could do was nod.

She moved his hand again and placed it against her cheek. "And that?" Unable to speak, he nodded again.

Then she brought his hand to her lips and kissed it. "Now, I know you can feel that," she said and smiled. "Don't ever tell me you can't feel, Robert, because you can feel just as well as anyone else...you just have to remember that there are only ever solutions."

He freed his right hand and cupped her cheek, pulling her down towards him and touched his forehead to hers. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"You're welcome."

He released her face and moved both of his arms around her and held on to her as tightly as he could not wanting to let her go.

She brought her own up and pulled him in too, drawing warmth and comfort from him. She wasn't sure how long they stood like that, but eventually she whispered against his ear. "Robert?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think we could go home now? I'm freezing."

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Elizabeth enjoyed a luxurious soak in the bath while Robert began his penance reading Ella an extra long bedtime story. She'd been so excited to see him, she was now desperate to stay awake as long as possible. As a result, Elizabeth was already curled up and relaxed on the couch waiting for him to come downstairs. She looked again at the piece of paper she'd found in the pocket of his lab coat and wondered who Pattie Cohen was. Why did he have her number in his coat? Was it someone he'd picked up in a bar whilst he was out on his 'bender'? Was it really any of her business? It's not like they were involved in a romantic sense. Still, it bothered her and she didn't really know why. She heard him coming down the stairs and quickly threw it down on the coffee table as he sat down beside her. She smiled at him as he sat down. "How many did you have to read?"

"Seven! That's a new record. She definitely inherited your stubborn streak."

Elizabeth beamed proudly. "My girl."

"That for me?" Robert said, reaching for the cup of tea she'd made for him.

She nodded and waited for him to take a sip before speaking. "So first thing tomorrow morning, I was thinking we'll go see Dunn about this latest development with your hand."

Robert shook his head and replaced the cup on the table. "There's no point."

"Robert," she said, disappointed and he cut her off.

"No, I went to see him straight after I dropped the coffee."

"And?"

Robert shrugged and leaned back into the couch. "He basically said suck it up and be grateful I still have an arm."

Elizabeth put her own teacup down and sat up. "He said what?!"

Robert rubbed his cheek and sighed. "Maybe, he's right."

"No, he is not," she said. "Okay, new plan. First thing tomorrow, we're going to find you a new doctor, and we're going to get you a second opinion."

He made to open his mouth and she cut him off. "I mean it. I'm not giving up and neither are you. If they concur with Dunn's assessment, then fine, but until we hear it straight from the best specialist in the fields mouth, we absolutely do not give up."

Robert smiled at her. "I don't deserve you."

"True," she smirked.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Seriously though, Lizzie. Thank you for putting up with me. I know I can be a real jerk, but I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

She smiled at him and he reached for the teapot. "You want a top up?" he asked, leaning forward to pour more tea. As he reached for the teapot he saw a familiar looking piece of paper and picked it up.

"Where'd you get this?" he said, turning to Elizabeth.

"I found it in the pocket of your lab coat," she said trying to sound casual.

"Oh," he said, absently rubbing the paper over and over in his fingers, remembering the somewhat surreal conversation that morning.

Elizabeth watched him and wondered briefly what was going on as he seemed to drift of somewhere.

"Who is she?" she asked, trying not to sound too curious. He turned back to her wearing a grin and she wasn't convinced she'd succeeded from the look on his face.

Robert tried to curtail his grin. He knew he was probably wrong, but for a moment he could have sworn there was a little hint of jealously in her voice.

"Sit back Lizzie, you're gonna find this one hilarious."

Elizabeth did just that and settled herself, then raised an expectant eyebrow.

"She's a journalist," he started to say.

"A journalist? Robert, why do have a journalist's number?"

"Stop interrupting me, and I'll tell you."

Elizabeth waved her hand at him to proceed.

"So this morning after the press conference, I'm just about to leave and this woman sort of ambushed me..."

"Why? What did she want?"

"Listening ears, Lizzie!"

She rolled her eyes and he continued. "Anyhow, she asks how I'm doing and then tells me her readers would love to hear all about my miserable life.."

"She did not say that!"

"Okay, she actually said something about people finding inspiration, blah-blah...you get the gist."

"What did you tell her?"

"What do you think? I told her to take a hike."

"Hmmm," she said.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What does, 'hmmm' mean?"

"Hmm?"

He rolled his eyes. "What's going on in that head of yours? What are you thinking?"

She smiled at him. "I'm thinking you should give her a call, and arrange a meeting."

"S'cuse me?"

"Hear me out," she said. "Earlier, on the roof...were you really worried that they're trying to oust you from Chief Of Staff, or was that just noise?"

Robert shook his head. 'It's not just noise. Weaver is making some very influential friends."

"Okay," she said and leaned forward. "So we need to fight fire with fire."

"What does that mean? And how does me giving an interview help?"

"It helps, Robert, because she's going to write a human interest story about you. She's going to write about a dedicated doctor; a surgeon who, at the top of his game, is horrifically injured whilst doing his job. She's going to write that this surgeon is a determined little bugger, who..."

"She's not writing little."

"Shut up and listen. She's going to write that this determined surgeon is fighting daily to regain his strength and mobility so that he can continue to practice medicine...not surgery, because he is realistic in how much mobility he can achieve, but because his is a Doctor and penultimately, that is what he loves to do. He wants to continue to practice medicine so that he can continue to help people. Now, think of the positive spin that said publicity will generate for you and the hospital. Imagine how hard it would be for the Board to then remove that heroic Doctor…"

He grinned, seeing where she was going with this. "Definitely keeping the heroic bit…"

She smiled back at him. "And imagine how bad it would it look, if that very same hospital in which he was injured, was to then fire our very heroic Doctor from what is, essentially an administrative position...one that he was doing just fine, and with no complaints before and after his 'accident'."

Robert laughed. "That's actually genius, Lizzie! I think I may be rubbing off on you."

She laughed too. "Yes, I rather think maybe you are! So what do you think? Will you do it? It would buy you the time to figure things out without you having to look over your back everyday."

He looked at the paper again and nodded. "I'll call her tomorrow and set up a meeting."

TBC