Chapter 9 – Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot

It was four days before Christmas when Grace was discharged. By Christmas Eve she was feeling much better and although still not 100%, she agreed to take a shift for another nurse who wanted to be home with her family for Christmas.

To her surprise, the staff had a cake waiting for her, in the shape of an appendix.

"You guys are crazy! Where do you even go to get something like this?" Grace asked.

"Roeser's on North Ave. They'll make anything into a cake." Malik said.

As they were eating cake and celebrating Christmas Eve, someone noticed Grace was standing under the mistletoe. Luka took the opportunity to capitalize, making a big production out of it, and the staff were all cheering and whistling just as Romano walked by.

"If you aren't seeing patients in the next 30 seconds you're all fired!" He bellowed.

As he walked away, murmurs of 'Scrooge' could be heard by all.

Romano stormed back upstairs to his office, angry that he'd lost his composure for purely personal reasons.

"Merry Christmas, Dr. Romano." Brenda offered as she left. "I'll see you after the new year."

He feigned a smile. "You too, Brenda. Enjoy your time off."

He entered his office, shut the door and threw the nearest object at the wall behind his desk. He was angry that Luka had kissed her, and more so because she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. As he replayed the image in his mind, he noticed a wrapped gift on his desk. As much as rule as the fact that he wasn't close enough with anyone to ever exchange gifts, he was indeed intrigued to find out who had left this on his desk.

The gift had a small tag on top which read, "Thanks for taking such good care of me. Happy Holidays, Grace xo."

He closed his eyes and fought back his emotion. In all his time at the hospital, no one had ever given him a gift, except for Brenda, which was more about job security than real sentiment.

He unwrapped the package and sat down, as he opened the box to reveal the gift inside. It was a gold plated stethoscope, engraved Dr. Robert 'Rocket' Romano.

He teared up a little as he took it from the box and laid it around his neck. The anger he'd felt earlier from watching Luka kissing Grace faded away and he held the gift she had chosen for him.

After sitting alone for a while, he decided to go back down to the ER to see if Grace was still there. It was well after midnight, the skeleton staff were thankfully not very busy and for once in a very long while, and the place seemed almost peaceful. With the lights dimmed for the night, Romano found it difficult at first to see Grace, but eventually spied her with a couple of kids who had come in earlier with food poisoning.

"Lousy place to spend the holidays." He whispered.

"Especially for kids. They should be home dreaming about waking up on Christmas morning and seeing all the presents under the tree."

"Well, that'll keep them from dipping into Grandma's homemade eggnog. You're not supposed to be back at work yet, Grace," He said, pulling her aside into a quiet corner.

"Lydia wanted to be home with her grand kids. I couldn't say no. Besides, I'd just be sitting at home in an empty apartment." After a slight pause, she added, "I see you're wearing it."

"It's perfect, thank you." He said softly.

"I feel bad about some of the things I've said to you, especially in light of the fact that you took such good care of me." She smiled. "Maybe I should come with a time delay so I can censor myself before I speak."

"You say what you think, Grace. Don't apologize for that. This world is already full of too many politically correct, bleeding hearts."

She smiled. "Well, I'm glad you like it." She turned to walk back to the kids.

"Grace," He held her back a moment. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek. "Merry Christmas." He then pulled her in close for a more sensual kiss.

"Robert, we can't."

"No one can see us."

"Everyone can see us. They just aren't looking this way."

"Or maybe you're worried that Kovac might walk by?" He stood back with his arms crossed, looking upset.

"Oh you can't be serious? We were standing under the mistletoe, it's just a silly tradition."

"One you sure seemed to enjoy."

"You're being ridiculous. It was just a spur of the moment thing. It's not worth you getting all worked up about."

"Did it get you all worked up?"

"For God sakes, Robert. Just because I let you kiss me the other day doesn't mean…"

"Oh, you let me kiss you? Well, you sure didn't give the slightest hint that you weren't enjoying it, Grace. In fact I seem to recall you moaning at one point."

"Please keep your voice down. You know, this is just like you to over react and turn something irrelevant into an argument. I hope you enjoy your gift, I've got to go check Mr. McBride's IV." Grace walked away quickly to attend to her patient. Even though she'd found a small chink in his thick exterior, he was still inherently exasperating. She was kept busy by patients for the next few hours and by the time she looked up at the clock it was nearly time to go home.

"Hey Grace, you want to get some breakfast?" Luka offered.

"Are you buying?" She said hopefully.

"Depends. How hungry are you?"

"After jello and ice cream for a few days I'm feeling pretty ravenous."

"Well, seeing as it's Christmas." He smiled.

They went across to Doc Magoo's with several others, most of whom were single and avoiding the inevitability of going home alone. Finally, just Susan and Grace were left finishing a cup of coffee.

"So, is Romano still driving you crazy?" Susan asked.

"Not exactly. Well, kind of."

"I heard he stayed by your bedside for quite a while after your surgery."

"Probably worried I might sue him for malpractice." Grace sniped.

"Shirley said he was doting on you, bringing you ice cream…"

"Shirley likes to gossip, Susan."

"Come on, Grace. There's something going on that you're not telling me."

"He kissed me." Grace confided.

"Get out of here!" Susan said. "See, I told you."

"Well, it was a bit of a shock. He called me up to his office to apologize for his behavior and then, well, the next thing I knew…But, in true Romano form, he's being a complete ass after he saw Luka kissing me under the mistletoe."

"He's jealous. I think that's kind of sweet."

"I don't know what to think. God, Susan. I wasn't really expecting this."

"Well, they say there's someone for everyone. Give the guy a break, Grace. It's Christmas." She said as they stood up to leave.

"Well, I'm going to give my car one more try before heading for the EL. Thanks for the chat, Susan."

"Anytime." She said smiling. "Merry Christmas."

"Yeah, you to."

Grace walked to the parkade to see if there was any life left in her car, although it had now been sitting for couple of weeks. After half an hour and a few close calls, she finally gave up. She did feel bad the way she'd left things with Romano and decided to take a chance that he might still be in his office. She ran back to Magoo's to pick him up something to eat. He hadn't mentioned any holiday plans and to her knowledge he didn't have any family in town.

She knocked but there was no answer.

She knocked again. "Anyone home? It's Santa's little helper." She called out. After a moment or two, she turned and started walking away when his door opened. "So you are here. Screening your visitors?"

"Technically, I'm not here. If they find out downstairs they'll be paging me all day long. What's up?"

"Can I come in? I brought you some Christmas cheer." She said, holding up the brown bag from the restaurant.

He looked at her for a moment, and as he considered it, he looked down at his watch. "Did you just finish your shift?"

"No we were over at Doc Magoo's."

"We?"

"A bunch of us. Yes, Luka was there too. Are you going to let me in or was coming here a complete waste of my time?"

He opened the door and let her in.

"Wow, looks like you're planning to be here for the long haul?"

"I could stay all week and never get caught up."

"Aren't there any med students that can do some of the scut work?"

"The new victims don't start until January. We're still short a surgeon and Anspaugh won't be back until the New Year."

"But it's Christmas. You can't work up here all day by yourself."

"It's just another day, Grace."

"I had a feeling you might be up here all alone. It's not much but you have to eat." She said handing him the bag with a turkey sandwich inside.

"You can be very persuasive when you want to be."

"That's because you know I'm right."

"But I'm always right."

"That's just the over-inflated Rocket Romano ego talking." She said, smiling.

He took the bag and placed it on his desk. "Come here." He said, pulling her towards him as he leaned back against his desk. He pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately.

"Mm, Robert." She said. "My incisions."

"Sorry, I forgot. You look so tempting."

"In my scrubs? You've got to be kidding?"

He kissed her again, but was more careful this time. "You could be wearing a biohazard suit and I'd still want to jump you."

He plunged his lips against hers, kissing her firmly and seductively. They began to devour each other and Romano's body began to betray him almost immediately. He carefully moved his hands up inside her scrub top, avoiding her incisions by caressing her back. His hands made their way around to her breasts, and he firmly squeezed them, as she let out a soft moan. She loved the feeling of his hands all over her body and every touch, every sensation, seemed to increase her desire for him.

She could feel his arousal growing, and his body pressing firmly against her excited her immensely. She slid her hands up inside his scrubs to explore his chest, inch by inch.

He pushed up her bra and wasted no time rolling her nipple into a stiff peak as he kissed her hungrily.

"Oh, God." She gasped.

With heavy breathing in between wet, electrifying kisses, Grace nearly forgot where she was as she began to feel completely swept away. Romano was suddenly aware that it had been ages since he had longed for a woman like this.

Instinctively, Grace pushed her hips into his and then reached down between his legs. She grabbed him firmly, and it was his turn to let out a moan. "Jesus, Grace." He whispered.

As he kissed her neck, Grace began to remove his scrub top, but Romano stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Grace, hold on."

"What?" She said, trying to catch her breath.

"We can't. You have to avoid strenuous activity for two weeks post-op."

"Says who?"

"Your surgeon."

"He probably doesn't know what he's taking about. If memory serves, he has a very large ego and sometimes he talks just to enjoy the sound of his own voice."

Ignoring her frustrated tone he added, "It's been a week since you had it out, so it's only a few more days." He said, pulling her back in for another soft, wet kiss.

"I almost think you're enjoying teasing me."

"You think I enjoy this frustration? It's hard to believe I'm the voice of reason here."

"It is hard to believe. Well, at least it's hard." She said, giving his package a firm squeeze.

"In case you hadn't noticed, patience isn't something I'm very good at."

"Patience? You're preaching to the choir. You have no idea how long I've been…by myself." She looked at him pleadingly. She pulled him close and kissed him eagerly. She boldly ran her hands down inside his scrub pants, finally having free reign to feel him with her bare hands.

"Grace, you're killing me. It's all I can do right now not to knock everything off this desk, throw you onto it and screw your brains out."

"That may be the best idea you've had all day. And by the way, you are an unbelievable kisser."

"Better than Kovac?"

"Let it go, Robert. I'm not with Luka, I'm right here, and," she whispered into his ear, "I'm about to do very naughty things to you."

"Okay, that's enough, Grace. I can't take this." He said, moving away from her.

"You're serious?"

"You know I have no choice, Grace. We can't take the risk."

She knew he was right. "All right. You win."

He laughed sarcastically. "Somehow it doesn't feel like a victory."

"We'll just have to try to think about something else, that's all."

"Well that's easier said than done." He said, adjusting himself. He turned away from her, closed his eyes and tried to get her out of his head, if only for a moment.

She turned to look out the window, watching the snow fall. "You know, a year ago, I never would have imagined spending Christmas in Chicago. Last year at this time, I was sitting home with Steven, in our lavish condo without a care in the world."

"Do you miss him?"

"No. You probably think I'm lying, but I really don't. Not after what he did. It seems like a hundred years ago now, but I've moved on. I'm not one of those women who needs to be with someone, to feel complete and secure. All in all, he might have done me a favor. I've been on my own before and I really don't mind living alone, most of the time."

"I can understand that."

"Well, except when I'm forced to kill a spider. That's when I really miss having a man around." She smiled.

"So you do have a weakness."

"Sad but true. Spiders and surgeons." She said, winking at him.

He smiled back at her. "Is your family all back in Detroit?"

"Yeah. I do miss them, but, they can be very intense and after things were over with Steve, I just needed to get away from everyone and start fresh. I take it you've never been married."

"You know how insane the hours are. It makes it impossible to stay with anyone for long."

"That's why there are so many hospital romances, especially doctors and nurses." She smiled. "We're the only ones crazy enough to go down that road with each other. So, have you had many relationships here at County? "

He was suddenly quiet. "No."

"What about you and Elizabeth? I heard you were…"

"No we weren't." His entire demeanor changed and Grace could feel the chill begin to fill the room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up painful memories."

"You didn't. But," He said, looking down at his watch, "I really need to get back to work. If that's even possible after you got me all hot and bothered."

"For now I guess it will just have to be a preview of things to come. Don't stay up here all day."

"That sounds like genuine concern for my well being."

"Don't get used to it. I'm just swept up in some of the holiday spirit."

He walked her to the door and kissed her softly one last time before she left.

Grace took the EL home but couldn't stop thinking about Romano's reaction to her question about Elizabeth. She knew she'd hit a raw nerve and was now more intrigued than ever to know what had really gone on between them. She made her way upstairs to her apartment and poured herself a glass of wine.

"Merry Christmas, Grace." She said, toasting herself.

She did her duty and called her family back in Detroit to wish them all a Merry Christmas. She was glad in a that she was able to hear their voices and spend a few moments talking to them all. But honestly, she was relieved not to be there, fielding questions about her love life or how sorry they were that she was alone. She was happy with her life and the direction it was going.

Pouring herself another glass of Château Calon-Ségur, she spent the evening watching It's a Wonderful Life until she fell asleep on the couch.