Racing Hearts
When Sarah's father returns to her life years later claiming he wants to make amends she struggles a bit with the decision of letting the man who once betrayed her into her heart again. Will her family make her see there's forgiveness after all? And how will she and Connor deal with tragedy as it strikes and a dark secret its revealed?
I own nothing.
Thanks to Eilis for helping me out with grammar :)
Sarah Reese had fallen in love with Connor Rhodes pretty fast, not because of the fact he was gorgeous or rich or kind. She'd fallen for him for the way he made her feel.
Right now, she didn't even know exactly why she was mad at him.
He was there, tending to their child. Maybe he'd had an emergency and he'd been called in, Sarah of all people should understand that.
"Dr. Reese." Lucy came into Ollie's room the afternoon after the surgery. "I'm sorry but your father is asking for you."
"Connor, where are we going?" Sarah had asked her boyfriend, they had been together for two years now; their relationship had come as a surprise to the both of them, Reese, the dorky fourth year med student and Rhodes, the hunky Rambo like Trauma fellow?
Not in a million years would that have been something that would have crossed Sarah's mind or anyone's for that matter, not until he'd sat with her one night at Molly's and they'd spent the entire night talking until the following morning.
Connor who was 6 years older than Sarah was very surprised by how easy it had been talking to her.
"You'll see." He told her, he had blindfolded her, which made Sarah anxious but never afraid as she knew he'd never allow for her to get hurt.
Then Sarah heard something that sounded like a plane.
"What…" He took of the small cloth covering her eyes.
"Happy anniversary babe."
"Please tell me you didn't just buy a private plane."
"And get a hard time from Will for the rest of my life? No thank you. I rented it."
Sarah's eyes widened. "You do know we have to go to work in the morning?"
"No, not really…" Connor bit his lip.
"What did you do?" She inquired.
"Trying to be romantic?" He said shyly.
Sarah suddenly felt bad. "And I'm ruining it, aren't I?"
Connor bit his lip once more."No, it's okay… I should have told you."
"No, I love it...I just...Where are we going?"
Connor smiled again. He took something out from his pocket and handed it to her.
"New York?"
He nodded. "You didn't…" She said as realization hit her.
"I did." He beamed.
She squealed in delight as she hugged him, kissing his cheek in the process. "But...I don't have anything packed."
Sarah and her over thinking. "Actually, you do. I asked April and Nat if they could help me out in that department."
"Everyone knew?" She asked much to his delight. "I can't believe it, even Dr. Charles?"
Connor nodded.
"Dr. Rhodes?" A man approached them with a smile. "Good evening sir, you are just in time. Shall we?"
"What do you say babe? Ready for an adventure?" Connor offered her his hand, which she gladly accepted.
"I love you." She kissed him quickly.
"I love you too." He brushed her cheek softly.
"Gently guys." Sarah reminded her two older boys as the triplets sat on Ollie's bed. She could see they were happy to be reunited. "See those?"
"Medicine?" Luke said, managing the best he could.
"Yeah, they make Ollie feel all better, but we have to be careful, remember?"
"Yep!" Both boys beamed at her.
"I thought I heard someone in here…" Connor appeared by the door, much to his sons delight.
"Daddy, Ollie's better." Finn said proudly. Sarah brushed the little boy's hair gently. "Going home soon?"
"Soon but not yet guys." Connor said softly. Ollie eyed him curiously. "Has Ava been up yet?"
"Yeah. They're doing an echo soon." Sarah told him. "I asked Maggie if she could page you as soon as they got here."
Connor smiled. "That's okay."
"Daddy…" Luke motioned for Connor to pick him up, which he did swiftly.
"What's up bud? You've been taking care of mommy while I've been in here these last few days?"
Connor had slept in the hospital for two days now, he'd offered so that Sarah could be with Finn and Luke, as they really had been shut out of this whole process, barely understanding anything.
Luke nodded. "Daddy going home?" Finn asked. Connor looked over at Sarah.
They hadn't been talking much except when it came to the kids, she'd found out he'd gone to see Robert from the man himself and somehow it had made Connor look like the bad guy. Much more than the guy who'd apparently had gone MIA after his son had come out of surgery.
But he had had to do something so she would avoid her father, Sarah understood that, but she couldn't even grasp the idea of just how dangerous Robert might be, especially as she had an emotional attachment to him.
Which made him even more dangerous to her, according to Dr. Charles.
"Dr. Rhodes? I'm sorry they need you down in the ED." Monique said behind Connor.
"Be right there." He told her.
Sarah smiled. "I've gotta go guys, you better stay here a little while longer, I'll see you later."
"Connor…"
Sarah said as soon as he turned around.
"Yeah?"
"They've… we've been through a lot, can we… can we talk tonight? I've already asked Nat if she can stay with Ollie for a while and Amy's putting the boys down."
Connor smiled softly. "Sure, let me know as soon as you're ready and I'll come find you?"
Sarah nodded. "Okay."
"Okay."
Sarah waited Connor in the lounge; they had agreed to go to neutral ground as they didn't want everyone to meddle, even though they were both aware that their friends had begun taking sides in the matter.
"Sarah?" Will inquired. "Are you spending the night?"
"No, Connor is." Sarah told him. Will smiled, he and Rhodes had never seen eye to eye on things but he'd been one of the first to notice those two were head over heels about each other, because Will was a romantic at heart.
"I know it's not my place but…" Will said. "You shouldn't be so hard on Connor Sarah; he was just trying to look out for you."
"I don't mean to be rude, but…"
"Ready?" Connor came in before Sarah could finish replying. "Goodnight."
"See you guys."
"You meddled?" Natalie asked amused.
"Sarah's overreacting, if Connor could have been there he would have but he was just trying yo make sure..."
"Robert was in a bed what could he possibly have done?" Natalie asked.
"Exactly what he did, manipulate Sarah..." Will said firmly.
"But that's not the point."
"What is then?"
Natalie sighed. "Sarah was scared, she was terrified Will, her son was having heart surgery while her father's life was being threatened, that's a lot. Sarah isn't mad about Connor being over protective, she's mad because he left her alone."
"I get that but… that's his way to deal with things, he needs to take a step back and do it his way, as annoying as it might be. You know Connor, Nat."
"And I know Sarah too, they'll figure it out."
"Where are we going?" Sarah asked as she allowed herself to be driven around.
"Neutral ground." He told her.
She huffed. "I can't believe you think this is a joke. You're unbelievable."
"I'm not… you said we needed to talk."
"And we do."
"Sarah…"
"I'm not having this conversation while you are driving." She said.
Connor pulled over. "Fine, you want to this here?" He inquired.
"It doesn't matter where I just want this to stop." Connor ran his fingers through his hair as she spoke. "First off, I need you and your ego to get a hold of yourselves."
"Do you think that's what that was? My ego?"
"You got my father a heart because you were trying to prove a point, didn't you?" She snapped at him.
"Sarah, what is this? I got him a heart because he's your father and I'm your husband and the father of your children it's as simple as that." He told her.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." Connor sighed.
"You left me alone." Sarah said after a moment. "Our son was being brought up and you were nowhere to be found…I needed you Connor and you left us." Connor's heart sank. "Instead of being with us you decided to go threaten a dying man. One which you saved. Twice."
"I already said I was sorry…" Connor said frustrated. "I just knew what he could do to you and..."
"You needed to prove a point again." She said.
"He's dangerous Sarah and I don't want him anywhere near you." He told her, defeated.
"I..." Sarah's pager beeped.
Connor's too.
This conversation would have to wait
"Can I see it again?" April gushed as the girls were having a few drinks at Molly's a few weeks after the trip to New York. "Rhodes has got good taste."
"It was his mom's ring." Sarah said. "One of the few things he could get out before he left for Mexico."
"You're telling me he stole his mother's ring as a child?"
"He was 18. And it wasn't stealing." Sarah huffed at Maggie's remark.
"Well, it's beautiful..." Nat put in. "I can't tell you how happy I am for the two of you."
"Yeah, we all are…"
Sarah smiled. She was truly thankful to have such good friends. "Sarah? Are you okay?"
She suddenly felt light headed. "Sarah?"
Sarah Reese rarely got sick. "I'm sorry I ruined girl's night out." She said as the others drove her home.
She'd texted Connor to tell him the night had been cut short.
"Here, drink this." He told her after she had gotten into bed.
"I don't think I can." She mumbled.
"Baby, you have to try okay?" He helped her sit up, and gently pulled the loose hair away from her face.
She took a few sips and smiled.
"You're good at this…" She told him softly. "And I'm not just saying that because I have the hottest doctor in my bed right now."
He laughed. "Thank you." He kissed her forehead. "Lay back."
He lay there with her until she fell asleep.
A week later she found she was pregnant.
"If he doesn't get another heart soon…"
"It is unlikely he will recover." Ava told Sarah. "I'll go over the options with Dr. Latham."
"ECMO could work; we've done it before with patients in his condition." Connor offered, what was game was he playing? He shouldn't be trying to save the man's life. He'd already done enough damage.
Ava sighed. "Like I said, I'll consult with Dr. Latham, see what our options are and then we'll discuss them."
"Thank you." Sarah said.
"Of course." Dr. Bekker gave her a kind smile as she took her leave.
Sarah looked over at Connor a minute later. "I'm sorry."
"I know." He told her. "I'm sorry too, I should have known better."
She knew this wouldn't fix all their problems, beginning with the fact that she'd had abandonment issues since her father had left and it had all come crashing down around her in so little time.
She moved over to find his arms waiting for her. "I'm always going to be here, you know that, don't you?" He told her.
Sarah felt her eyes water. "I know."
"Can I kiss you?" He asked after a moment as he held her. Sarah laughed a little as she looked up to kiss him.
"You better."
Soo... Rheese made up for the time being, but Robert's certainly up to something, we only have a few chapters left, I just want to thank everyone for their support, I love you guys and this story so much.
