Three

Connor could have hit him. In fact, he'd tried to, but Claire was suddenly standing right behind him, holding his arm back with just enough pressure to get his attention. She shook her head ever so slightly, a silent and imperceptible warning that he knew he had to heed. Instead, he dropped his head down and ran his other hand through his hair.

To Cornelius, Claire said firmly, "Dad, this is not the time or the place."

"Oh, I beg to disagree," he said pompously in reply. "It's always the time and place for family."

Sarah had to stop herself from screaming. She wanted nothing more than to be sick, right here in front of everyone. At least then the attention wouldn't be so wholly on Cornelius Rhodes. Unsurprisingly, it was Connor who stepped in here.

"When did we become a family?" he asked the pompous asshole. "Was that before or after the divorce?"

Unfortunately for them all, Rhodes Sr had the worst possible reply.

"What divorce?"

For Sarah, the world wouldn't stop spinning - and not in the normal, everyday, this-is-what-the-planet-does kind of way. It was more the oh-my-God, what-is-happening, everything-is-falling-down-around me kind of way.

She'd heard the world-shattering response Cornelius had given his son, but none of the ensuing argument after that. In fact, she hadn't heard anything at all until she vaguely registered someone calling her name. God knows how long it had been - she was sitting in the doctor's lounge back down in the ED, on the floor in the far corner, curled up in a little ball. Her head was in her hands, and she was very clearly hyperventilating.

It wasn't until whoever the disembodied voice belonged to gently took hold of her hands and instructed her to follow their slow, deliberate breaths that she found herself blinking and finally saw Natalie Manning's face come into view. From the outside, it was a bit of a funny scene - the very pregnant Nat was standing over her awkwardly, leaned half-forward, doing her very best to comfort her young friend.

"There you go," Nat said gently as she watched the resident blink several times to bring her face back into focus. "Hey - breathe with me now. Deep breath in, and out. In, and out again."

It took a couple of minutes, but ever so slowly she managed to bring her breathing back to normal again. That was when she burst into tears - which, frankly, surprised Nat more than anything else. Suddenly, her whole world was crashing down around her ears, and there was not a damn thing she could do about it.

When her heaving cries turned back into quiet sobs, Nat knew it was finally time to talk. Somehow - despite being eight months pregnant - she managed to manoeuvre herself so she with sitting on the floor beside Sarah, their backs resting against the wall. Without even realising she had done it, Nat had pulled Sarah into a hug and let her cry on her shoulder.

"... I knew it was wrong," Sarah whispered between heaving breaths. "Of course it was wrong. How could it possibly be right?"

Nat didn't need to say anything. She knew exactly what Sarah was talking about. After the display in the trauma bay this morning, word had spread quickly. Though she was nowhere near them at the time, Nat knew exactly what her young friend was talking about. She also knew better than to interrupt.

Sarah continued, "But it happened. And we were happy. We thought - we thought it was all over for them. That there was no reason for us to not be ... But it's all true. It's all true, Nat."

She turned to face Nat directly now. Her words were barely audible, but Nat heard them all. "They're still married, Nat. He never signed the papers. They never got the divorce. Legally, we're still - oh my God. We're ..."

Nat wrapped her arms back around Sarah tightly again then, pulling Sarah so her head rested on her shoulder. Looking up, Nat's wide eyes met Will Halstead, who was standing in the doorway. He'd heard every word she had just uttered. And the look of horror on his face mirrored Nat's perfectly.

Connor, on the other hand, had not run. He'd stood to face off with his father, and made rather a spectacle of himself in doing it. In reflecting back on this day later in life, he would find himself quite satisfied with the feeling of his fist making contact with his father's face. Right now, however, he was cradling his fist protectively in front of him as he marched his way back down to the ED.

The words his father yelled at him as he walked out of the cafeteria kept circling around in his head: "You are disgusting, Connor. You should have known when to leave the poor girl well alone!"

He knew there was no way the hospital administrators would let this go, no matter how much they might consider him to be their new golden boy. There was definitely no way his father would let it go. In fact, he was fully expecting CPD to arrive at any moment to arrest him for common assault. But despite everything it would mean, he had to admit - it felt damn good.

He walked through the doors to the ED sideways, using his shoulder to push the doors open. There he found Chicago's usual chaos - Ethan working on a gunshot wound in Baghdad, Dr Charles doing a psych consult in Treatment Three. But this wasn't what pulled his attention. It was the horrified look on Will Halstead's face.

He was standing in the doorway of the doctor's lounge, and had just turned around to look at the room around him. And then his eyes fell on Connor in the doorway across the room.

In that moment, Connor Rhodes knew things would never be the same again.

A/N: So here we are - back again. It's short and sweet, but that's what I need for now. Hope everyone is keeping safe and well in isolation - some of us (me included) are going nuts being stuck in our own homes! So I hope this little offering might have brightened up your day xx