A/N – I am not a medical expert – making it up as I go along. Pardon any discrepancies.

If you're not a fan of Sarah Webber, of course you're not going to enjoy this story!

Chapter Five

"I know it's been almost two weeks since I've been here, but things have been challenging with my patient, Stella." Sarah was talking on the phone in her office when Nikolas knocked lightly. Waving him in, she gestured to the phone and mimed one minute. "No, you can't come here. I understand and I miss you.. " Sarah rolled her eyes as she was cut off again. "No, Stella. Do not come here! I will be home this weekend, I promise! Even if it's just for the weekend!" Sarah rubbed her eyes. "Sounds good. I have to go now – I have to get my patient into surgery. Bye." Hanging up, Sarah turned and looked at Nikolas. "Good morning."

"Things not going well at home?" Nikolas asked mildly. In the eleven days Sarah had been in town, she'd kept mostly to herself and had revealed nothing personal about herself. He wondered again if she had a husband at home. Having heard that end of the conversation, Nikolas wondered if maybe she had a girlfriend at home.

Sarah grimaced. "I wasn't expecting to be gone so long," she said honestly. "When Sonny and Ava decided to try medication first and see how Avery did…" she trailed off. "I gave them two weeks. We're almost there, and Avery is not responding well to the medication. I'm pretty sure they're going to move forward to with the surgery. Avery had a rough night last night. She needs the surgery."

"You mean Sonny and Carly."

Sarah looked at Nikolas quizzically.

"Sonny and Carly decided. Ava may have been allowed input, but make no mistake. Sonny and Carly are Avery's custodial parents and if they disagree with Ava, they'll make whatever decision they want," Nikolas explained.

Sarah blanched. "Parenting is so hard. How do you put the best interest of the child in front of the anger, hurt, or fear? I see it in so many of my patients, where one parent legally can make the decisions and the other has no say. Or look at Elizabeth, parenting three kids and only one father around daily."

Nikolas heard the compassion in her tone, but he also heard another emotion he couldn't quite make out. "Have you and Elizabeth talked yet?"

"No but we haven't argued again either," Sarah replied ruefully. "She's been the consummate professional around me, and acts like we're nothing more than co-workers. I should be grateful for small favours." Sarah paused. "You know, I've been blaming the entire rift in my relationship on Elizabeth. I haven't admitted the part to her that I'm responsible for."

"What's that?" Nikolas asked, surprised. "Did you do something?"

"I coveted my sister's life," Sarah admitted. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at Nikolas. "I've long since moved past it, but Elizabeth has always been so loved. So adored. I wanted that. I wanted to feel as loved and cherished as she did, especially by Lucky. That was my original motivation when he and I became friends. I really did fall in love with him though, Nikolas. Truly, madly, deeply. There's been no one else for me since then. No one I've been in love with, anyway."

Nikolas walked over to her and hugged her. "I know you did. My brother loved you too. Whatever your motivation that started the relationship, you both adored and cherished each other. " He pulled back and looked in Sarah's eyes. "You and Elizabeth are both strong willed women, both Webber's. You need to let go of the anger and the hate and figure out a way to be sisters again."

"We've never acted like true sisters," Sarah pointed out, wiping her eyes.

Nikolas chuckled. "There's a first time for everything."

Sarah's pager went off. "It's the nurse. Sonny and Carly are here. Time to convince them to do the surgery. Thanks for the chat, Nikolas."

"Anytime." After Sarah left the office, Nikolas leaned back pensively. There was something deeper Sarah wasn't saying. He needed to find out what it was.

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Elizabeth took a deep breath as she stared at her cell phone in her hand. She'd been putting off making this call for days, but in the almost two weeks Sarah had been in town, Elizabeth had done nothing but think. She'd talked it over with Audrey, and even listening to the lectures about being blood and sisters hadn't made Elizabeth move any faster in her thoughts. Her grandmother meant well, Elizabeth thought, but Audrey was loyal to both her granddaughters.

Unlocking the phone, Elizabeth finally dialled and put the phone to ear, listening to it ring. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest.

"Hello?"

"Hi Lucky, it's Elizabeth."

"What did Aiden do now?" Lucky asked with a groan.

Elizabeth grinned momentarily. Aiden was a very curious boy and more often than not, got himself inadvertently into some sort of trouble. "Like grandfather, like grandson," Elizabeth teased.

Lucky chuckled. "If that is the case, we're definitely in trouble for the next sixty years or so."

"That's for sure." Elizabeth paused, closing her eyes. She and Lucky had a good parenting relationship of their boys. She hoped this didn't ruin it. "I actually called about something else. Someone else," she corrected. "Sarah."

There was a brief silence and then Lucky said, "What about her?"

His tone was unreadable. Only the silence told her that he wasn't a fan of this conversation topic being brought up. "She's back in town. Temporarily. Sonny hired her for his daughter. Sarah's a pediatric cardiologist and Avery is pretty sick."

"That's gotta be rough."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and surged ahead. "I… I'm … I'm not even sure what you can contribute to this, to be honest. Seeing her just brought up this surge of anger, this surge of hate. I've forgiven you for having a relationship with my sister. Why can't I forgive her?"

Lucky sucked in a deep breath. "Things are good between you and I, so I'm going to say this as carefully as possible and hope you don't take it the wrong way. I'm not sure why you were ever so angry at her in the first place, if I'm honest. You and I weren't together, and it's not like I knew of your, uh, renewed interest in me. She and I were good friends and it turned romantic."

"I guess because she's my sister. Sisters before misters." Elizabeth smiled as she quoted Nikolas.

Lucky considered that. "Let's say I was to agree – you're right. Sarah shouldn't have slept with me knowing I was your ex. So then – "

"Then why can't I get past it now that I did the same thing to you by sleeping with your brother?" Elizabeth cut him off, knowing his next point was going to be that.

"Yes." Lucky's tone was gentle. "You and I were together at the time, which makes it almost worse."

Elizabeth nodded, tears gathering in her eyes. "I know." She shook her head. "Sarah always seemed to want what I had. She always was jealous of me, and everything I did or said."

"Then that's a different issue. Maybe you're just confusing them a little bit in your head," Lucky suggested. "Only you really know. But if that's the case, don't you think enough time's gone by? What's it been, five years?"

"Six," Elizabeth corrected, wiping her eyes as a few tears fell.

"Ok, six years then. Liz, the woman I know and fell in love with more than once doesn't generally hold a grudge for this long. Unless it was Carly." They both chuckled. "I know you miss your sister and have missed being close to her. This might be your second chance to have that."

"Did you love her?" Elizabeth didn't know where the question came from, but it was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Yes." Lucky's voice was soft. "It wasn't the same way I loved her, but yes, I fell in love with your sister."

"And I ruined it."

"No pity parties," Lucky said sternly. "And no, you didn't ruin it. Sarah and I let what happened between us happen ourselves."

"Thanks. I'd better go."

"Sure. Say hi to Sarah for me. And kiss the boys."

"I appreciate the chat, Lucky." Elizabeth hung up and bit her lip. She checked her watch. It was time to get the boys ready to go to Audrey's and head to the hospital.

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Sarah tapped gently on the door to Avery's room and then pushed the door open. "Hi," she greeted Sonny and Carly. Sonny was carrying Avery, pacing the floor gently while trying to comfort the little girl. Avery, for her part, was miserable and whimpering intermittently with cries thrown in.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase. Avery had a rough night. She's not responding well to medication and is uncomfortable. I believe her pain is getting worse." Sarah narrowed her eyes at them. "I'm recommending surgery right away."

Carly's face fell. "I was afraid you were going to say that." She exhaled a sigh. She'd been watching Avery carefully since their decision to see if the medicine worked, praying in the chapel every second she could that it would work. Watching Avery grow sicker was heart breaking. "Sonny?"

Sonny's face was stony. "Sarah, it's not that I don't want Avery better. It's just the thought of you cutting my baby open… "

Sarah's face was gentle. "I'm not without compassion, Sonny. But you hired me to do my best to make your daughter better. I can't remain in Port Charles indefinitely. I have obligations back in California. The medicine isn't working – so we either do the surgery or I go home and you can find someone else."

Sonny's face darkened. "I don't really like ultimatums."

"Don't use your mob boss tone on me, Sonny. I'm in the business of doing what's best for my patients. What's best for Avery is to have the surgery to repair her heart. I know you're afraid of the risks, but pretty soon repairing her heart through surgery isn't going to be an option," Sarah said.

Carly smothered a smirk at Sarah's tone. So many people were afraid of Sonny, it was nice to see someone who wasn't. "Then let's do it," Carly decided. "Get the paperwork ready and we'll sign it. Avery will have the surgery."

Sonny's eyes turned towards Carly in surprise. She met his gaze wordlessly. After a moment, Sonny nodded. "We'll do the surgery."

Sarah sighed with relief. "I will get started immediately. The faster we get Avery into surgery, the faster her recovery time."

"Avery into WHAT?"

All three of them turned to see Ava standing in the doorway, a stunned look on her face dissolving into anger. Nikolas stood quietly by her side. "Over my dead body is Avery going into surgery."

"That can be arranged," Sonny replied sweetly. "Sarah, as I have legal custody… sole legal custody… you can leave us to explain to Ava what is going to happen with Avery while you get everything ready."

Sarah nodded and hurried from the room, relieved not to be around for that argument.