Once inside the elevator, Julia looked at the individual floor buttons and instead of pressing one of the regular floors, pushed the C-level one. A few people joined her in the elevator and got off at the lobby. Jessica, watched from the lobby, as the elevator doors closed as she reached it. She looked up at the screen above the elevator and saw it stop on the C-level. Once another elevator reached the lobby, she took it and headed up.

Julia walked down the corridor. Even if she had only done the trip once, she had no problem finding where she was going. It was either her great sense of direction and memory or the strong smell of burned components that got stronger as she moved forward, but it didn't matter as long as it brought her to where she needed to go.

The door had been sealed off by police tape and she stood against the wall across from it. Flashes of what happened surfaced and just as if she had been in therapy, she processed them, trying to remove as much emotion from them as she could. The fear, the anger, the pain, the regret, the guilt.

She took a few steps and stopped just shy of the tape and looked inside. The room walls were dark black in the places the flames had licked them. Piles of ashes were sitting in the strategic places Cain and Kim had brought the files together to get rid of the evidence.

Even though it had been a couple of weeks, the smell was just as present as she had imagined it had been that day. She let her eyes stray momentarily to both columns then closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she saw Conrad standing a foot away from her. He looked worried and concerned.

"I needed to come back. I needed closure," she said as she stepped back against the wall.

He placed himself in front of her, saying nothing.

"It's what I did after 9/11. Once ground zero was accessible again, I returned. Just like back then, it started here, and it ends here."

He took her hand and held it.

"I wish I could take it all away. All of it. All the pain you've been through the past years. I wasn't there when your parents or Jeremy died, but I'm here this time around and I want you to know I won't hover, but whenever you need, I'm the one you can lean on."

"I know," she said as she nodded. "I've been given a second chance and I won't let Cain, Kim, or Red Rock Medical take that away from me. The minute that elevator door closes, my focus will be on us, my patients, and the trauma center."

He nodded and still holding her hand, they headed back toward the elevator.

His naked body over hers, he caressed her cheek and smiled. The alarm on his phone rang, indicating it was time to start a brand-new day. He shifted off her, grabbed his phone and shut off the alarm. Seeing she was about to sit up and get out of bed, he pulled her back and placed himself over her again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She smiled. "To take a shower and then get ready to go to work. Which, I'm more than certain is exactly what you should also be doing."

He gave her his seductive smile and shook his head. "Nope. I want 5 more minutes before we leave this bliss."

She eyed him. "Oh, because when we leave it's no longer bliss?"

"Not what I meant. It's just that you and I are so busy at the hospital that it's only natural for me to want to spend as much quality time as possible with you when we're home."

"We can spend quality time in the shower," she joked.

"That's actually a good idea."

"Then let's go, because at the rate you're going, we're not going to be able to take a shower or even have breakfast… if I let you have your way."

"Both are so overrated."

"Not sure Randolph would appreciate me fainting in the OR because I haven't eaten."

He shifted against his will and watched as she slid from under the covers, off the bed and walk toward the bathroom. The way her naked body moved was something he was crazy about.

"You're torturing me!"

He fell on his back against the mattress as she disappeared laughing. Once he heard the water running, he got out of bed and joined her.

By mid-afternoon, she had operated on one trauma patient and then had worked on the trauma center. Feeling the need to stretch her legs, she headed to the fourth floor and met up with Jessica and Danica who were at the nurse's station.

Both were looking at a young teenage girl in a room. A patient that Julia had treated after a car accident that had led to finding out she had a cancerous tumor on her liver that had been removed and was now undergoing chemotherapy.

"What is Sylvia doing here?" asked Julia as she joined them.

Both turned around.

"She fainted, is dehydrated, vomiting, you name it. Chemo is taking a hard toll on her body," replied Danica, "they decided to keep her until her next round, out of precaution."

"And if all that wasn't enough, she's angry," added Jessica, "her senior prom is this weekend and she's going to miss out on it."

"I get it," said Danica, "it's a big deal when you're that age and a senior. Aside from getting into your first-choice college, it's the second most important thing about being a senior. It's the social event of the year, of your entire high school life. At least, it was for me. I'm sure it was the same for you."

Jessica shrugged. "Didn't go to my senior prom."

"Why not?"

"Couldn't find a date and I didn't want to go alone, so I passed."

"I'm sorry Jess," said Julia. "But you know what they say, better be alone than badly accompanied."

"True and look at who I have now in my life." She paused for a moment and smiled. "I would have loved going to the prom with Irving."

All three laughed.

"That would be quite a sight to see indeed."

"What about you Julia?"

"I didn't go either."

Jessica frowned. "You're going to stand there and tell me you couldn't get a date?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't be able to tell you because I wasn't in school."

Both looked at her curiously.

"I got sick in the beginning of my junior year. I couldn't go to school anymore or follow classes. So, I stayed home and since I hate sitting idly and wasting time, when I had the energy, I studied for my GED, took the exam, and graduated when all my classmates were still in their junior year."

"So, you traded a prom for a high school diploma… smart move."

"True, but there are still times when I think back and wonder what it would have been like to go to the prom and be a senior, you know? The dress, the guy, the limo, the dance. Danica is right, it's almost like a rite of passage. And don't even get me started on graduation… never got that either. Hell, the first time I wore a cap and gown, I was graduating college."

"Did you ever go to one of your high school reunions?"

"No. I didn't really keep in touch with any of my classmates and neither did they. I got an example of the yearbook I was supposed to be in as a graduating senior and there was a 'what if' section. You know what they put for me?"

Both shook their heads in sync.

"What if Julia Adams disappeared?"

"Seriously?" asked Jessica flabbergasted.

"Yeah. And I couldn't blame them really. I did disappear. One day I was in school, the next I was gone and never went back. I thought about going to one of the reunions but then I thought, what am I going to talk about? They're all going to reminisce about things from their junior or senior year and all I could remember was being a sophomore when everything was normal. So, I passed."

"You'd have plenty to tell them now, being the surgeon, you are now."

"I mean you must have dated in high school," said Danica, "you weren't even interested in seeing what one of your exes looked like now?"

"Yes, and thanks to social media, I know I dodged a bullet. He's bald, wears a cardigan, an ascot and is a historian."

"Well considering who you share your life with now, I'd say you've gained in the exchange," said Jessica as she noticed Conrad standing behind them with Devon.

"I'm happy he dumped you!"

Julia turned around upon hearing Conrad's voice.

"So am I. Just promise me you'll never wear a cardigan or ascot."

"Promise," said Conrad smiling as he took the tablet from Danica and walked over with her and Devon to Sylvia's room.

"Life really isn't fair sometimes. It's hard enough being a teenager, now she must go through all of this and miss out on her prom," said Jessica sadly.

Julia looked at Jess then at Sylvia.

"Maybe she doesn't have to."

Jess eyed her. "Ooh… you've got that look in your eye. You're up to something, I can see the wheels turning in your head."

"Well, she can't go to the prom, but maybe we can bring the prom to her."

"I love the way you think. You think it's possible?"

"I have no idea. I'll investigate it. So, hush for now. Don't want to get anybody's hopes up."

Jessica took her hand and pretended to zipper up her lips.

Just as Conrad and Devon walked out of the room, Julia's beeper went off.

"Incoming trauma. I'll see you guys later."