Chapter Two

Robert gasped in pain, his hands gripping his stomach.

"Jeezus!" he hissed.

Emma leapt up and punched the call button several times, before turning back to him. "Robert! What is it? Talk to me!"

"M'mokay," he said through gritted teeth.

"Really?" Emma said unconvinced. She hovered over him scared and feeling useless, watching him intently. Clearly in pain and wearing a sheen of sweat, his eyes were clamped firmly shut.

"You look like shit," she said, her voice full of worry.

He sucked in his breath and tried to release it again slowly...breathing in breathing out, trying to take control of the pain. He focused solely on it and started to manage it. He reached out a hand to Emma and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Really, I'm okay," he said quietly and she let out the breath she'd been holding.

Shirley ran in followed by Donald Anspaugh.

"What's happened?" he asked, his eyes already assessing Romano.

"I don't know, he woke up and was fine, but then he tried to sit up and well...started crying," Emma said.

Robert shot a filthy look at her, still gripping his side.

"Well that was monumentally stupid of you Robert," admonished Donald, and he had the grace to look embarrassed.

Shirley tried to stifle an amused snicker and busied herself checking readings and noting things down on his chart.

Donald gave Robert a thorough examination. "Well luckily, you don't appear to have done any damage. How'd you feel now?" he asked.

"Sore, but I'm good," Robert said sulkily as Shirley snapped on a blood pressure cuff.

Donald folded his arms together, and adopted an air of a disappointed parent. "Need I remind you Robert, that you are recovering from a GSW to the abdomen? That bullet had a nice little party inside of you causing plenty of damage to your muscles and soft tissues. Elizabeth and I spent a lot of time repairing the damage..."

"Yes, yes, I get it Donald….I don't need a lecture," Robert said holding his hands up in surrender.

"You're an idiot," Emma said annoyed and relieved at the same time.

"Yes thank you, I got that already," Robert snapped at her.

"Do you get it though?" Donald asked fixing him with a stare.

"Yes," he sighed. "I promise to lay here and be a good patient," Robert said as Elizabeth rushed into the room with alarm written all over her face.

"Has something happened? What's going on?" she demanded.

"He's an idiot!" said Emma again.

Elizabeth's eyes immediately went straight to Robert to assess him. He appeared to be fine other than scowling at his sister whilst she simply smirked back at him. Elizabeth looked to Donald with a raised eyebrow and he brought her up to speed.

Elizabeth couldn't believe her ears. "Are you that bloody stupid Robert!?" she shouted and Emma started laughing.

"I mean, are you trying to rip out your stitches? You're a bloody Doctor for goodness sake! We shouldn't have to explain this to you!" Elizabeth ranted.

"I could bring in his copy of 'Medicine for Dummies' from home," Emma offered innocently.

"Oh shut up!" Robert snarled at her.

Shirley removed the cuff from his arm. "BP's a little high," she said to Doctor Anspaugh showing him the reading.

"OH, WELL DONE Robert!" Elizabeth said throwing her hands up in the air. "Are you that desperate to go back into the O.R that you're happy to go back in lying on your back!" she carried on, absolutely livid with him.

'Well hollering at me isn't helping!" he hollered back.

"Oh, this is priceless," snickered Shirley shaking her head in amusement.

"Not helping," Donald coughed trying to hide his own smile.

"OKAAAY, you can all stop now!" Robert yelled with what energy he had left. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and took another deep breath. Breathed in, breathed out. He let out a tired sigh, opened his eyes and looked at everyone.

"Donald," he began slowly, "I promise not to lift so much as my little pinkie without your prior approval ….Elizabeth just….just stop shouting, please….Emma, I will try to not be an idiot….if you will ALL very kindly go away and LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

Donald rolled his eyes, nodded, then turned and left followed by Shirley, who couldn't resist throwing a smirk over her shoulder. Robert looked up at Elizabeth and Emma expectantly, who both in turn stared at him back.

"Can I buy you a cup of coffee Elizabeth?" Emma asked sweetly whilst staring pointedly at Robert.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Absolutely," Elizabeth said and proffered her arm to Emma.

Emma patted Robert on the cheek. "Try to be good," she said then linked her arm with Elizabeth's and they left.

Robert groaned and lay back in his pillow.

"This SUCKS!" he yelled in frustration to the empty room.

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Elizabeth and Emma found a table in the cafeteria and sat down with their coffee's.

"Its very important he doesn't push himself at the moment," Elizabeth said. "He was lucky that the bullet did no major damage, but we had to repair a lot of tissue and stop a lot of bleeding."

Emma blew on her coffee and took a sip, nodding. "How long a recovery are we talking about?" she said only just beginning to grasp the magnitude of how long it could take.

"It's the old 'how long is a piece of string?' answer I'm afraid," Elizabeth said.

"But I can't stay here forever….my life is in Germany! In fact I need to go back in a few days for a meeting."

"Well, he'll most certainly still be in hospital then," Elizabeth said.

"I'll have to arrange for Gretel to go into kennels," I suppose. "He won't be happy."

Elizabeth sipped her coffee. "Maybe I could help with her? Or we can arrange a dog walker….I'm sure we can sort something out between us."

"That's very kind of you, thank you."

They both looked up as they felt someone hovering over them.

"Hello Elizabeth," Kerry said.

"Hi Kerry," she replied with a friendliness she did not feel.

"I wanted to check how Robert was doing?" she asked.

"He's getting there," Elizabeth said, and then remembering she was mad at him said, "You could always visit him yourself…I'm sure he'd appreciate a visit."

"Yes, I'll try and get up there," Kerry said looking over at Emma.

Emma returned the look but offered nothing. Elizabeth looked between the two of them.

"I'm sorry…Kerry this is Robert's sister, Emma….Emma, this is Doctor Kerry Weaver, Chief of the E.R."

Kerry extended a hand which Emma accepted, but not with any level of warmness.

A silence lingered on long enough to become uncomfortable. "Well, I must get back to the E.R," Kerry said. "Pleased to meet you, Emma," she said. "Give Robert my best...let him know I'll try and pop by." And then she was limping away.

"Robert will be thrilled," Elizabeth said dryly.

"I don' t like her," Emma said. "Why don't I like her?"

Elizabeth laughed. "I'm guessing some weird sibling sympathy thing, or you could just be an exceptional good judge of character."

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Emma poked her head back into Robert's room and checked if he was sleeping.

His eyes opened with some sixth sense and fixed on her.

"Safe to come in?" she asked.

"If its just you, yeah," he said.

Emma pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.

"What about Elizabeth?"

"She's a little scary right now, even for me," he said.

"She likes you."

"No, she tolerates me."

"She tolerates you because she likes you."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know I'm happily married with a family and you're not."

Robert had no comeback for that.

"So how was coffee?" he asked nonchalantly.

She smirked. "Don't worry I was good…no dirt dished…yet," she said.

Robert inwardly sighed with relief. He felt exposed enough already without embarrassing tales of his youth being bandied around.

"So, I met Kerry Weaver," Emma said.

"Lucky you," he said and gave an exaggerated shiver.

"Yeah, she asked how you were doing and Elizabeth suggested she should visit you."

"Well, she's off my Christmas card list," he said.

"Oh, like you even have one...I see you've done your usual job of ruffling feathers around here."

"You know me," he shrugged and changed the subject. "How's Jess?"

"She's great and says to get better. I could bring her back with me if you like?"

"Awesome…wait, you're leaving?"

"I have to go home for a meeting, but I'll be back, I promise. Elizabeth says you're going to still be here while I'm away anyhow….and she even offered to help with Gretel so she doesn't haven't to go into kennels."

"Really?" he said surprised.

"Yes. You know, on account of her liking you and all," she said.

Robert scoffed but took his time to digest this development.

"Well, if you bring Jess back with you that would be great," he said. "When are you leaving?"

"Couple of days. I have a work thing I can't get out of," she said apologetically.

"Its okay," he said. "I'm fine."

"Hey Rob?"

"Hmm?"

"Please look after yourself. Don't make me have to call you an idiot."

"I will...and about that, you need to stop calling me that. I have spent years building up a fearsome reputation."

"Oh shut up idiot," she said laughing.

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Elizabeth popped her head in on Robert later, just before she was about to leave.

He was sleeping and looked peaceful. She thought about staying and before she knew it had unwittingly sat down and reached for his hand. His fingers, unconsciously curled around hers as naturally as breathing.

She felt compelled to stay, and couldn't explain why. She tried to look upon him as if the last week had never happened and see him again as just plain old Robert Romano, her sometimes nemesis and annoying boss. But some visions you just can't erase though, no matter how hard you try. She saw him getting shot. She saw him bleeding, losing far too much blood, far too quickly. She saw the fear in his eyes just before he lost consciousness; saw him going into shock, saw him coding right there in the E.R, saw his body jolting with electricity as they restarted his heart. Saw him opened up on the operating table, saw Donald's and her hands working feverishly to save him.

She shuddered and closed her eyes, then forced herself to refocus on him. He was safe, he was sleeping and she could feel the warmth of his hand in hers. It gave her comfort and she squeezed his hand. Surprisingly, she was rewarded with a squeeze back.

"Hey, you awake?" she asked.

"Depends," he said sleepily, turning his head to face her with drowsy eyes. "You here to yell at me again?"

"No." She let out a gentle laugh. "You should be asleep."

"Right back at ya, Lizzie."

"Well, I was just about to go home actually," she said.

"Oh."

"I can stay for a bit if you like? Until you fall asleep?"

"Yah," he mumbled already fading.

"Go to sleep Robert."

"Wake up Robert, go to sleep Robert,...y'all need to make your minds up."

"Shut up Robert."

"That one everyone seems to agree on."

"Good night Robert."

"G'night Lizzie."

TBC