"Morning Devon," said Julia as she walked into the ER. "You paged?"

Devon smiled. "Morning Julia. Yes, I've got a patient for you in box 4."

When they pulled the drapes back Julia blinked a couple of times. Based on what she was seeing, she was surprised to see the patient alert, reactive, and conscious.

"Andrew Winters, 35, attacked by his nail gun."

"Mr. Winters, I'm Doctor Julia Adams, how are you feeling?"

"Is lucky a strong enough word?"

"Probably not," replied Julia. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Be my guest," replied Andrew.

Julia put on gloves and walked over to him. Very cautiously she looked and briefly touched the areas on his skull where 4 nails had planted themselves.

"How did this happen?" she asked.

"I'm renovating my place and well, a mouse fell off one of the beams. I got scared, dropped the nail gun and here I am."

She looked at him then at Devon. "Do we have images?"

He handed her the tablet and she had a look at them. It was nothing short of a miracle. Either he was lucky or had a guardian angel watching over him, because none of the nails had hit essential parts of the brain. It then dawned on her that they needed a neurosurgeon.

"Did you beep neuro?"

Devon nodded and signaled for Julia to step away from Andrew. "I beeped and called his cell."

"Then where is Cain?"

"He's having breakfast with Red Rock Medical in the boardroom. He said he'd come when he was done."

Julia looked at Devon flabbergasted. "When was this?"

He looked at his watch. "An hour ago."

He could see her blood start to boil.

She turned and looked at Mr. Winters. "Mr. Winters, we're going to prep you for surgery. We'll meet you upstairs."

She shoved the tablet into Devon's hands and stormed off toward the elevator. Conrad who was exiting another box saw her walk determinedly to the elevator. Devon joined him.

"Where is she going?" asked Conrad.

"I think she's going to ring Cain's bells. He's had a patient waiting for him for an hour."

Seeing Julia enter the elevator, Conrad ran after her, but the elevator doors closed before he could enter it.

He went to the door that led to the stairs and started up.

Julia walked into the boardroom and looked around. Cain, Kim, and a few others from Red Rock Medical were talking, laughing, drinking, and eating. She walked over to where Cain was sitting and planted herself next to his chair, towering over him.

"Enjoying your breakfast, Dr. Cain?"

He gave her a smile, but she knew it was fake. "I am, Dr. Adams. Would you like to join us?"

"You're kidding, right?!"

"Doctor Adams," started Kim as his anger could be seen on his face.

She turned her head in his direction and gave him a deadly look. "I'm not addressing myself to you, Mr. Kim, so please have the decency to not interrupt me."

She turned back to Cain. "The patient I was just beeped for, had nails gunned into his brain for breakfast and was wondering how much longer you were going to be before removing them in the OR. I'm sure you can understand his concern considering he's been waiting an hour for you to even acknowledge his presence. Shall I tell him you'll be available around dinner time, after you've had brunch and scones in the afternoon? Or maybe tomorrow if you end up drinking that mimosa in front of you?"

A few of the Red Rock Medical members looked at them, then specifically at Cain. He might have had a few of them in his pocket, but it was apparent that it wasn't all of them.

She could see Cain's jaw twitch as he tried to remain untouched by what she had said and was doing. "Get him prepped for surgery," said Cain as he wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin.

"Already being done," replied Julia as she walked away from the table. "OR 3."

She walked out of the boardroom and headed down the corridor. Suddenly, she felt a strong hand grab her, stopping her in her stride and forcing her to pivot on her feet.

Cain towered over her, irate and fuming, his hand still holding her arm.

"Do you know who I am?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I know exactly who you are. You could be the best neurosurgeon in the world and Red Rock Medical's precious diamond, but as far as I know, your job is to save people's lives. Right now, if you ask me, I'd say you're the closest thing to the devil walking around in this hospital."

He laughed and leaned into her ear. "You are not strong enough to withstand the storm I'd unleash, so don't tempt me."

Feeling his breath on her skin and the fact that he thought himself superior and untouchable, sent her mad, yet amused.

He pulled back and was surprised to see her smile.

"Dr. Cain… I am the storm." And she was, he just didn't know it yet.

"Let her go," they heard from behind Julia.

Cain lifted his eyes and looked over her shoulder. Standing behind her were Randolph and Conrad. He gave Julia one last look, let go of her arm and walked past her and the others as if nothing had happened.

Randolph walked up to her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said as she rubbed her arm where Cain's strong fingers had burned her skin from his deadlock grip.

"I'll advise security right away," he said.

"Don't. My patient needs him. Besides, it won't happen again. He'd rather burn in hell than lose his job."

"Are you sure?" asked again Randolph.

"Yes."

Randolph nodded and walked away leaving her in the corridor with Conrad. He had a look that could have killed anyone.

"You went to get Bell?" she asked him angrily.

"I know Cain, I figured that if you went out guns blazing, he'd fire back, I couldn't be the only one to witness if things went wrong. I'm a whistle-blower, remember? No one would have believed me."

She exhaled. She needed Cain to stay at Chastain, it was vital.

"I don't need your help," she said as she walked past him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that vibe. Would it have been different if it had been Al coming to your rescue?"

This time it was her own choice to stop walking and pivot. When he saw the look on her face, one of anger, confusion, and pain, he knew he should have kept his mouth shut. At first, he thought she was going to lash out at him or say something, but then her face changed.

She remembered something that Marshall had told her once about Conrad, 'he is passionate about the people he loves and cares about, he can't stand it when someone hurts them, he's extremely protective of them.' Even if she knew he liked her, the fact that he wanted to protect her and was reacting the way he was, indicated to what extent his feelings for her ran and she couldn't hate him for it. On the contrary, it filled her with a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, hope.

He watched as she turned and walked away. He stood unable to say another word or go after her. It hadn't gone according to plan, and he felt awful.