After almost five years since I posted this story on FFN on 4/29/20 and last uploaded there on 6/30/20, this story is FINALLY OVER!
Thank you to everyone who read this story, it means a lot that there are still Rhekker fans out there and disagree how the show handled Ava & Rhekker's story. They really deserved better from them and should have been ENDGAME.
This final chapter is the longest one at 13,559 words
Enjoy!
- One Week Later -
In the test lab room, the conjoined twins' team were practicing for the upcoming surgery. The CT team was gowned, gloved and goggled up for the practice. They had twin baby dolls with its anatomy made from a 3D printer with fake red liquid and were hooked up to a computer simulation. Dr. Latham stood in the lead surgeon's position, with Ava standing across from him as his second, Connor was standing on her right side watching on standby within a few steps.
"Now, the access to the atria of both hearts." Said Dr. Latham.
"We're ready to clamp." Said Ava as she slightly turns to her left to receive the tools from Nurse Beth. "Left is clamped. And the right..." She clamped one of the hearts with both tools.
"Dr. Bekker will now perform the separation." Dr. Latham looked up to alert the team.
"Scalpel." Ava asked Nurse Beth to hand her the tool.
"Josh, have peeds surgery ready." Said Dr. Frisch standing on the other side of the room. A few seconds later, alarms started to beep, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. "What's happening?" She asked.
"Heart rate's diving. The twins are bradying down." Dr. Krasny said looking at the monitors.
"Dr. Bekker?" Connor asked.
"I don't know, my incision was superficial." Ava explained, she wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
"Step aside." Dr. Latham looked down to see what was going on.
"Heart rate's down to 44." Said Marty.
Dr. Latham takes off the clamps to get a closer look. "There's no bleeding. We haven't cut near any major vessels." He took a glance at Ava.
"We need to push atropine." Said Connor.
"No, it's too late." Dr. Frisch turns around to her left to turn on the light switch. The machine then stops beeping.
Ava sighs in frustration and leans her head backwards.
'Damn it.'
"Congratulations, Dr. Latham. According to the computer simulation, your team just killed both twins." Dr. Frisch approached the CT team.
"Yes, we did." Dr. Latham replied regretfully.
"I don't what happened." Said Ava after taking off her mask. She slightly shook her head and licked the lips in defeat.
"That's why we conduct these exercises, Dr. Bekker, so that we can predict all outcomes and make the necessary adjustments on game day." Dr. Frisch said, looking at her then at the chief surgeon.
"Dr. Frish, my team will evaluate our approach and determine what went wrong." Said Dr. Latham.
"We'll gather again this afternoon and resume the procedure." Dr. Frisch said to the whole room. The majority of the team then started to exit one by one.
"I'd like all possible scenarios on my desk before lunch." Dr. Latham said looking at Ava.
"Yes, Dr. Latham." She replied looking solemnly as she watched him walk away.
Only her and Connor remained by the table.
"Keep your chin up. You'll figure it out." Connor assured her.
Ava clocked her over to the right to look at him. Giving him a sarcastic look. "You know, you don't have to do that." She turns her head back
"What?" He said softly, feeling confused by her words.
'I was only being encouraging.'
"Act like you don't enjoy seeing me on the hot seat." Ava went back to her snarky attitude when around him. "Go ahead and buy it. If I were in your position I would."
'And... she's back.'
"Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Bekker, they need you in the ED." Nurse Beth informed them.
"Okay." Connor answered and Ava took off her goggles as the two of them started to exit the room.
"You're saying I have damage to my heart?" A young red-haired 25-year-old pale skinned woman asked. She was sitting in bed dressed in the patient gown with her blonde-haired mother standing next to her on her left.
"Uh, to be specific, it's your mitrovalve. Uh, when it's not functioning properly, the body doesn't get enough oxygen." Connor explained.
"Which is why you've been feeling so weak and short of breath." Natalie added, also in the room with both surgeons. She asked them to consult her patient.
"But she's never had any problems with her heart before." The mother explained.
"In all likelihood, Tracy was born with a defect, and it just didn't show any symptoms until now. Um, the baby has apparently added strain to your heart, which has caused it to present itself." Connor explained in more detail why this could be happening now and not earlier.
"We'll need surgery to replace the defective valve." Ava said looking at Tracy.
"Oh..." The young woman turned to look at her mother, they silently agreed by nodding their heads. She turned to face the surgeons. "Okay."
Natalie's eyes looked downcast at what they were about to tell their patient. It wasn't going to be easy.
"The are... potential complications." Connor started to speak.
"Complications?" Tracy asked.
He turned to look at Ava for her to explain the risk with her condition. "Due to your pregnancy, the medication needed to conduct the surgery could cause a life-threatening vaginal bleed, and given that your fetus hasn't reached viability..."
"Wh-what are you saying?" Tacey asked.
The blonde looked solemn at the woman. "We think it's best for your health if you terminate before undergoing surgery."
"What? No. You don't understand" She complained looking at the doctors.
"Her husband, Roy... we lost him in a car accident three months ago." Her mother explained why her daughter was upset. Connor and Natalie slightly nodded understanding the situation.
The pregnant woman held onto her stomach. "We had just got the news that I was pregnant. He was so excited. He wanted this so bad."
"Tracy, trust me, I understand what you're going through, but without this surgery, neither you or your baby will survive." Natalie said sincerely, after gone through the same thing when her husband died in the line of duty.
"Honey, please... listen to the doctor." Her mother tried to convince her.
"No. No!" She shook her head, and her voice started to crack. "This baby is all I have left." She looked at her mother and then at the surgeons. "I won't let you take it from me."
The doctors looked at her with sorrowful looks and then at each other.
This was a complicated situation.
With the way things were going, the surgeons contacted Dr. Latham to inform him about this case to get his opinion on what they should do. They were talking outside the room with the door closed and off to the side.
"The patient understands that, without surgery, the condition could be fatal?" Their chief asked.
"Yeah, we explained the risks." Connor explained.
"Well, so, your concerns are certainly justified. We need blood thinners to keep the bypass pump for clotting. Hm. Have you considered a minimally invasive valvuloplasty?" Dr. Latham asked looking between the two.
"Yes, but due to the level of stenosis and the presence of regurgitation, we don't feel that she's a candidate. We have to open her chest." Ava explained, they tried other possible solutions. None of them worked.
"What if there is another option?" Connor brought up.
"What?" Ava asked, feeling another Dr. Connor Rhodes' abnormal ideas coming up again.
"If we lower the dose of the blood thinners and use a hyparin-coated bypass tube, there is a chance that we could save both mom and baby." Connor suggested looking between the two of them. Dr. Latham nodded, listening carefully to his words.
"According to Dr. Manning, Tracy's Level Two ultrasound showed placenta previa, which puts her at an ever-greater risk of developing a serious bleed." She explained the risks of doing that.
"Ava, you heard what she said. This baby is all she has left of her dead husband. Don't we have an obligation to honor the patient's wishes?"
"So we should let the patient's emotional involvement impact our medical decisions?"
"I think we owe it to her to give it a shot, yes."
Ava gave him a dismay look.
"With close monitoring, it is possible to stay ahead of any bleeding." Dr. Latham shared his thoughts. "Dr. Rhodes, if you believe that this is the best course of action, please proceed."
"Thank you." Connor nodded.
Dr. Latham then walks away, leaving the two alone.
Ava blinks, looking at him. "Well... good luck." Accepting what they were going to do.
'He pulled off surprising miracles before, let's hope this is one of them.'
Connor and Ava were now in the O.R. performing the surgery. Things were going smoothly so far during the operation.
"All... couple of more seconds and I'll have the valve free." Connor said to the team as he started moving some tools.
Ava leaned in slightly as the nurse suctioned some of the blood. "No evidence of bleeding."
"Good." Said Connor. "There got it." He pulled out what he was looking for in the heart and dropped it in a tray the nurse was holding. "All right, let's get a sizing tool. I'm gonna measure the opening determine what size valve we need. Let's start with a 21." He held his hand out for one of the techs to hand him the tool. He placed it in the heart to measure. "Yep. Let's open a 21-millimeter porcine valve." He handed back the tool.
"Manufacturer had some production delays with that size valve. It's on backorder." Nurse Beth explained to them. Ava wrinkled her forehead in concern. "But I have a mechanical." The nurse suggested.
"Can we get one from another supplier?" Ava asked.
"Sure, but it'll take an hour or more for a rep to get here." The nurse replied.
Connor turned his head left to look at the anesthesiologist. "Marty?"
"With any other patient, maybe, but every minute this woman's on pump reduces her chances of maintaining this pregnancy." He responded.
Connor sighs at their situation and Ava stares at him at what his next move will be. This surgery was already risky enough as it is. "Okay, then let's open the mechanical valve." He gave in.
"Mechanical valve means she'll need heparin post-operatively. She'll be more likely to bleed. We need to wait for a porcine." She warned him.
"You heard what Marty said. This baby doesn't have an hour. We don't have a choice." He replied.
Nurse Beth handed him the tool. He takes it and looks up to Ava to wait for her to grab the other tool needed. She stares at him for a few seconds before reaching the tool. She stared back at him, not saying anything, but the look in her eyes showed she was very concerned about these risks he was making.
Risky as it was, they managed to successfully complete the surgery with no further issues. Tracy was sent to the ICU afterwards to recover with her mother sitting in her room. Connor went to check in on her after she woke up a few hours later. The mother stood up upon seeing him.
"The surgery was a success. We managed to replace your valve and stave off any bleeding." He told her.
"And the baby?" Tracy asked softly.
"The baby pulled through just fine." He smiled.
"Thank you, Dr. Rhodes." She thanked him.
"Thank you." The mother shared her gratitude as well.
"I'll be back to check in on you soon, see how you're doing, okay?" He exits the room.
Outside the room, he is approached by Dr. Latham who is passing by looking for him.
"Dr. Rhodes, good work." The two men started to walk together.
"Things broke our way this time."
"Nonetheless, well done."
"Hey, I was wondering, uh, has there been any progress on the conjoined twins simulation?" Connor wanted an update, having thought of a possible explanation himself for the cause.
"Uh, Dr. Bekker and I suspect it was the placement of the clamps that caused the problem, but we've already confirmed that the coronary vessels and vagus nerve were not affected." Dr. Latham explained they haven't fully figured out the cause yet.
"What about the sinoatrial node?" Connor suggested, causing them to stop walking.
"We hadn't considered that given its location." The chief narrowed his eyes at the suggestion, not convinced but was curious what was his explanation for thinking so.
"Well, the anatomy of these hearts is highly irregular, so it's possible that we clamped the SA node and it cut off the heart's electrical activity." He explained in detail.
"So are you suggesting moving the L.A. clamp laterally?
Connor shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a shot."
"Ah... Dr. Rhodes, why don't we test your theory before the next simulation? Meet me in the lab in an hour."
"Okay." He nodded.
Connor watched his boss walk away from him. Feeling everything going great today with his ideas, he happily snapped his right fingers and slapped against his left fist.
Natalie walking nearby, heading to her next patient's room saw Connor's happy mood and changed directions to talk to him. "I take it that means good news for Tracy and her baby?" She stared at him with an optimistic look in her eyes.
"You know what they say, right? Fortune favors the bold." He smiled at her as he leaned backwards to walk away and towards the elevators.
As said, an hour later, Dr. Latham, Connor and Ava were back in the test lab to test if Connor's theory was true. Dr. Latham was standing by the table, leaning over and carefully looking at the baby dolls in deep thought. Near the foot of the bed, the two surgeons were leaning against a medicine cart watching.
"Hear you might have a found a solution." Ava said breaking the silence between them
"Fingers crossed." He replied.
She turns her head to the right to take a quick look at him. "Looks like it's all coming up roses for you today."
'Hmm. I did say "next time" I would do something about this between us. If everything does go well with the twins' surgery, I'll tell him.'
Dr. Latham then turned to his right towards them. "You two, join me."
"Yes, sir." Connor answered and the two started to walk towards their chief. "I mean, I'm still hoping it's me who gets to do the surgery." He whispers, turning his head left towards her.
"No surprise there." She replies.
The two back to their playful banter as rivals. They both stood on the opposite side of the table where Dr. Latham was.
"If we move the two clamps to the center of the bridge, between the two atria, that could solve our problem." He motioned with his hands at how to place the clamps and looked at the two. They nodded understanding. "I'll let Dr. Frisch know that we're ready to run another simulation."
"Okay." Said Connor.
Dr. Latham took a quick look at them and then moved to exit the room.
Connor and Ava both turned their heads to look at each other, talking with their eyes.
'Nice job.'
'Thanks.'
They hear the door open. "Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Bekker, they need you back in the ICU." Nurse Beth tells them and moves out to hold the door wide open for them.
The two took a quick look at each other before quickly leaving.
The monitors in Tracy's room started beeping out loud. Nurse Hank was in there checking her blood pressure.
Connor and Ava quickly rushed back into the room, putting their gloves on.
"What's going on?" Connor asked as they arrived in the room.
"Her BP just started plummeting." Nurse Hank started to lower the patient's bed. The surgeons both went to the right side of the bed.
"Bag her." Connor ordered.
"What's going on with my daughter?" The mother asked.
"Uh, ma'am..." Nurse Hank walked towards the mother to keep her back to let the doctors work. Connor lowered the railings.
"She's hemorrhaging." Ava said looking at the woman's waist and saw blood, while bagging her to help her breathe.
"Uh... all right. All right, hang 2 units of o-neg on a pressure bag. Give me the ultrasound. We need to check her fetus and take a look at her placenta." Connor grabbed a blue long cloth to drape it over her waist, covering her lower half that was heavily bleeding.
One of the nurses handed him the wand and used it to check her belly.
"Placenta's marginally separating, causing her to bleed." Ava stated what was on the monitor.
"Fetal heart tones are strong. We'll reverse the blood thinners. Hopefully, the placenta will tamponade itself." Connor tells them.
"If we reverse the thinners, her new valve could clot off. We lose mom and baby. We have to get her to the O.R.." Ava warned him of the high risk.
"Look, we can still save this pregnancy." He was determined to save the baby.
"It's too late for that. If we have any hope of getting control of this bleed, she needs an emergency hysterectomy." She informed him of the current situation. Saving this pregnancy was not possible anymore.
"Stop the heparin drip. Bolus a gram of TXA." He ordered the nurse and then turned to look at Ava. "We're not gonna lose either of them." Connor turns to look back at the monitor while Ava gapes her mouth at his plans.
'This is way too much of a gamble, even for his standards.'
About another hour had passed by as they worked on Tracy. A few bloody blue cloths were on the ground where Ava stood on the left side of the bed. She was checking her waist underneath the blanket and the patient was hooked to a ventilator. Connor stood on the other side, applied some gel to the wand connected to a small device to check the belly.
"How's she doing?" Connor's eyes rolled up to look at the blonde.
"She's passing an old clot, but there's no more active bleeding. Placenta looks like it tamponaded itself." Ava gave him a small smile.
"Fetal heart tones are steady." Conner stated what was shown on the device. He looked back at her and then at the mother.
The mother exhaled in relief.
But the happy moment didn't last long.
"We've got a problem." Nurse Hank looked at the monitor then turned to his left to face the doctors. "Pressure's down."
"Heart rate's spiking. She's clotting off that valve." Said Ava.
Connor moved his left hand to check her pulse. "We need to get her to the O.R. and replace the valve. Let's go, come on!" The team detached the ventilator, moved the doors wider and moved the bed out of the room.
"What's happening?" The mother called out to them
"Stop!" Ava called out for them to stop moving. She used her right hand to check Tracy's pulse. "No pulse. She must be in v-fib."
"Let's get a crash cart!" Connor calls out getting on the bed to begin chest compressions. "Come on. Come on, Tracy. Come on. Stay with us."
"Charge to 200." Ava tells the nurse.
Returning to the ICU for her other patient, Natalie was there. She saw what was going on and decided to stay and watch.
"Clear!" Ava calls out for Connor to stop and pull his hands away for her to shock the woman. She checks her pulse after the electrical current went through her. "No pulse."
"Milligram of epi" Connor starts to do chest compressions again.
"Please save her! Please!" The mother cries out.
"Hold compressions." Ava informs him.
"Come on." He begs.
"Clear!" They repeat the same action as before, he gets off the bed to let her shock the woman. She checks again. "Still no pulse."
"Charge again."
The team didn't move into action, knowing it was too late.
"Charge!" Connor grabs the paddles from Ava to shock the woman himself. "Clear!" He checks her pulse, still nothing. "Another milligram of epi." He gets on the bed again to do more chest compressions.
"Connor..." Ava stops him to get his attention. He stops to turn his head to look at her. "she's gone." She stares at him deeply to get him to understand there's nothing more he can do.
Connor exhaled and slowly looked down at the now dead pregnant woman.
"Oh, god, no!" The mother cries out loud. "No, no, no!"
Connor gets off the bed, still staring at Tracy's lifeless body.
"No..." The mother cries.
Ava puts on her stethoscope to double check her heart.
The whole team stayed quiet.
After a few seconds she slowly takes it out of her ears and wraps it around her neck. "Time of death, 17:23." She sorrowfully looks down at the patient.
The mother continues to cry.
Natalie looks downhearted at the scene.
Connor just stares troubled at what happened.
Connor and Ava stood back beside the nurses' station to give the mother some time with her daughter to say goodbye. Natalie was a little further back to watch them and her patient behind her on the other side. Soon the nurses proceed to cover up her body and push the bed away to another location.
"If you want, I can help the mother with the paperwork." Ava offered, knowing the mother would be blaming Connor for her daughter's death.
Connor shook his head. "No. This is my responsibility."
Ava placed a comforting hand on his right shoulder for a few seconds before walking away.
Connor walked towards the mother, who turned to face him. "Ms. Baker, I am so sorry for your loss."
"You talked my daughter into this, and now she's gone forever." Connor didn't say anything, he was already expecting this reaction. "You did this." She starts to jab her right index finger at his chest. "This is all your fault! It's all your fault!" She started pounding both of her fists against his chest as she cried.
Natalie motions Nurse Hank to come and take the grieving mother away.
"Dr. Manning..." A nurse calls out to her behind. She turns around. "Cody's temp's back up to 103.7."
"What are his stats?"
"83%."
"83? He's getting worse." She nods. "Okay." The nurse walks away.
Natalie turns to look back at Connor. He slowly looked at her, his eyes were shiny. He then looked away.
She stares at him a few seconds longer then walks away to her patient's room.
A few hours later, the team was back in the test lab preparing to do another practice simulation. Ava and Dr. Latham were both gowned and gloved up, they were just waiting for Connor to show up.
Ava was keeping herself distracted by adjusting the spreader tool on the baby dolls. She heard from the nurses that the mother was very upset with Connor and put her hands on him before being taken away.
'We can't save them all. The mother was already willing to die instead of aborting her child to remember her husband.'
Outside the lab, Connor entered the room and paused to look at the team through the glass of the monitoring room.
'This is the right thing to do. I can't trust my judgement with this surgery.'
He walks towards the room entrance, his steps become loud enough to get Dr. Latham's attention to turn his head towards the sound.
"Dr. Rhodes, good." Dr. Latham took notice of him, causing Ava to turn around. "We're just about to get started." He informed the younger man.
Connor stayed put, the look on his face, he looked very lost.
Ava notices he wasn't moving. "You coming?" She slightly nudged her head to the right.
Connor looked at her and faintly gulped. His eyes changed direction to look at their boss. "Dr. Latham, with your permission, I would like to remove myself from the team."
He didn't show it, but Dr. Latham was unsettled by Connor's words. He took a couple steps forward towards him. "Why?"
Ava also took a few steps closer, keeping her gaze on Latham before shifting to look at her rival. She had a very puzzled look on her face.
'Hold on, what?'
"I think it would be best for the patients and for everyone involved." Ava's facial expression changed from confusion to dismay. She could see from his slightly glassy eyes that he's blaming himself for their patient's death. "A surgery with this level of difficulty and in that environment... I don't know that I can trust my judgment."
"Are you sure about this?" Dr. Latham asks for confirmation of his decision.
He nods. "Yes."
"Mm." Dr. Latham nods. He looks down for a few seconds then makes eye contact. "Very well." He slowly turns around to go back to prepping the simulation.
Connor watches him walk away and then looks over at Ava who stared at him with a very concerned look. They didn't say anything, just stared at each other, talking with their eyes. Like they always do.
'Are you sure?'
'This is for the best.'
He broke eye contact and walked away.
She keeps staring at him, watching him leave.
'Connor...'
Connor purposely grabbed his stuff from the surgeon's lounge and headed downstairs to the ED for the remainder of his shift. He couldn't handle seeing anyone from the CT after they were done with the practice simulation. After the shift ended, he quickly packed up his stuff and headed to Molly's. Wanting this day to be over with.
Ethan, having arrived a few minutes earlier, was sitting at the front end of the bar. "Herrmann give me a bourbon."
"Make that two." Connor walked right behind him and took a seat next to him on his right side.
"You had a rough day too?" Ethan asked without turning his head to look at him. He could sense his friend also had a bad day.
Connor exhaled loudly as he sighed. "Rough isn't a strong enough word for what I'm feeling."
"Same." The chief resident nodded in agreement.
"Okay, I'll make them both a double while I'm at it." Herrmann said getting ready to pour his friends their drinks. Sensing it was one of those days at the hospital.
*Phone vibrates
Connor pulls his phone out of his pocket and sees it's a text message from Ava:
✉️️ I know you're tough and strong, Dr. Rhodes. Believe me, I know that better than anyone else here at Med. But I do know that you shouldn't be alone right now. At least for a couple of hours. It doesn't even have to be a drink. We can go for a walk, or anything. I just don't want you to be alone. ✉️️
Connor stares at Ava's words, they sounded familiar.
Then it hit him.
He said those exact words to her months ago when Dr. Jaffrey called her a disappointment and took her out for a drink to cheer her up.
She wanted to do the same for him.
He started to type back to her.
️✉️ I'm not alone. I'm with Dr. Choi right now. He had a bad day too. We're keeping each other company. ✉️️
As much as he appreciates that she was concerned about him,
he really didn't want to talk to Ava right now.
Maybe tomorrow.
Or maybe in a few days...
He asked Dr. Stohl to be on the Trauma service for his next few shifts. He needs a little break from CT.
"Planning on getting wasted tonight?" Ethan shifted his head to look at him.
"If I wasn't driving I would. You?" Connor placed his phone face down on the counter.
"Same."
"Guess I won't be alone to lick my wounds. At least I'll be in good company."
"Here you go fellas." Herrmann placed two glasses in front of them.
"Thanks, Herrmann." The surgeon picked up his glass.
"To agony?" Ethan said lifting his glass to him.
"To agony." Connor clinked their glasses together and took a large swing of his drink. He inhaled as his senses started to flare up from the burn in his nostrils. "I'll take another." He pushes the glass.
- One Week Later -
The time was finally here.
The scheduled date of the highly anticipated separation surgery of the conjoined twins.
The twins were brought in yesterday and last night spent the night in the PICU.
Connor and Ava stayed the night to keep an eye on the twins and Natalie joined them as well. She decided she wanted to be included in the case as well.
Currently, the three of them were in the twins' room with their parents and a few nurses as well. Both women were standing on both sides of the twins' patient bed while Connor stood at the foot of the bed looking down on a tablet of the recent scans. The parents were standing next to him on his right.
"Lungs sound clear." Ava said using her stethoscope on the twins' chests on the left side of the bed. She pulls up the blanket to cover up the babies.
"The latest chest X-rays are good. No infiltrates." Connor said looking up.
"Vitals and saturation are stable." Natalie said looking at the monitors.
Ava wraps her stethoscope around her neck and turns to her left to look at the parents. "The girls are healthy. In my opinion, they're strong enough for surgery."
"Dr. Rhodes?" The mother turned to look at Connor.
"I agree with Dr. Bekker." Connor smiled looking at Ava then to the parents.
The blonde briefly looked down, showing some signs of solemn for a second before looking back up at the parents. "Actually, Dr. Rhodes will not be in the operating room. Dr. Latham and I will be performing the cardiothoracic portion of the separation." She informed them.
Natalie slightly furrowed her eyebrows towards the middle in confusion and turned to her right to look at the dark-haired surgeon.
"What?" The mother asked in confusion.
Her husband turned to his left to look at the male surgeon. "You've been so involved since the beginning."
His wife also turned to face the doctor. "What if we spoke to Dr. Frisch?"
Connor looked at them and in the corner of his eye looked at Ava who gave him an uneasy look. He looked back at the parents. "Believe me, Dot and Lily have the finest surgeons in the hospital." He assured them.
Natalie looked between him and Ava.
Ava looked at the parents. "We'll be back soon to take the babies to the O.R." Her and Connor then proceeded to leave the rom.
"Excuse me." Natalie said to the parents before following the surgeons out of the room. "Connor..." The surgeons stopped walking to turn around "why aren't you on the team?"
Connor doesn't say anything and avoids making eye contact.
Ava steps in for him. "He pulled himself out."
"Why?" The brunette looked between the two. "Because we lost a patient?" She recalls what happened last week in the ICU.
"I lost her and her baby because of my poor judgement. I made the wrong call on her treatment." Connor tells her with solemn look.
"But the Cronins are counting on you." Natalie tries to get him to reconsider.
"They're counting on the team." Ava reminds her. Even if Connor was still part of the surgeon, he couldn't do it by himself. Other departments are also involved in this complicated surgery.
Natalie takes a moment to look at the South African woman who recently became her friend. Two weeks has already passed by since the shooting event and the night the two hung out with other female first responders. Since then, the two started to get to know each other, getting coffee, drinks and lunch at work. Will joked to Connor that he finally managed to patch things up with Natalie, only for Ava to steal her away from him. Even though Connor was going through a hard time with his decision-making skills as a doctor, he was still happy for Ava making friends with other colleagues at work.
"She's right." He agrees.
Natalie still looked very uncomfortable with the decision but sees that there was nothing she could say to get Connor to change his mind. She walks back into the room.
Ava stares at him.
It's been a week since the case, and she hasn't had gotten the chance to talk to Connor about pulling out of the conjoined twins' surgery due to them working different shifts since they lost the pregnant mother. She heard from Dr. Latham before she went home that night that Connor would be on Trauma service for the next few shifts with one of the surgeons being out of town. Ava knew better, Connor himself had requested to be on Trauma right after seeing them in the test lab. That's when she sent him that text, she was worried about him and wanted to see him. She backed off when he told her that he was with Ethan and the two were keeping each other company from a bad day. She figured an old friend to talk to would have helped him with his confidence level as a surgeon and a doctor overall.
Apparently that conversation didn't change how Connor felt.
"Look, I can understand if you're having second thoughts." At least for now, she can tell him that she understands that he needs some space to regain his confidence, and he can go back to the guy she's been working with for a year. Which was why she plans to talk to him after the surgery about it to help him get over it.
He turns his head to the right to look at her. "Yeah." He appreciates her understanding he needs some space to regain his confidence.
Ava turns to leave, but Connor stays to stare at the Cronins family.
'This is for the best. The kids will be fine with Ava and the others.'
In the test lab room, the conjoined twins' team were once again practicing for the upcoming surgery one last time to make any final adjustments and improvements. Like last time, everyone was dressed for the practice round.
Everyone except Connor who was standing back by the door with Goodwin on his right side watching.
"How's the position of the twins?" Dr. Frisch asks, looking at Dr. Bardovi.
"Good for peds surgery." The young surgeon replied.
"CT?" Dr. Frisch asks as she walks towards the foot of the table.
Ava looks down where she was into the chest of the baby dolls. "Bit of a shadow in my field. Can we adjust the light?" She looks up to Dr. Latham who adjusts the lamp where he stood. "Good." She finished.
"Has everyone got room to work?" Dr. Frisch asks, looking up at the whole team.
"No, bypass is in my way." Marty answered, looking uncomfortable, where he was sitting.
"What if you move the machine to the foot of the bed?" Connor suggests to the team, getting all their attention. Ava slowly looks up; her eyes start to twitch slightly at his interruption.
'Really Rhodes? What happened to your lack of confidence you were feeling a few hours ago?'
"You could run the tubing along the sides. That way, you don't cross with anesthesia." Connor finishes.
"Ah. Good idea." Dr. Latham takes in his words.
Ava turns her head left to stare at him.
'Still, you do seem like you're slowly getting your confidence back.'
Goodwin stares at him in confusion. "Tell me again why you're not in there." The dark-haired turns and stares at her.
*Phone vibrates
Goodwin's phone starts to vibrate and looks down to see a page that she's needed in the ICU. She places a hand on Connor's shoulder that she's needed and leaves the room.
"So, are we good to go?" Dr. Frisch asks the team one last time. Everyone nods. "All right, it's show time."
Ava turns her head to stare at Connor again. Talking with her eyes to send a message.
'Wish us luck.'
'Good luck.' He solemnly crosses his arms.
Ava and two female nurses dressed in scrubs with their hair in either surgical caps or a teal hair net were pushing the twins' patient crib bed on the surgical floor with Connor and the parents following right behind them.
"Please, can we have just one more minute?" The mother asks.
"Yeah. Guys, hold on." Connor tells the ladies to stop to give the family one last moment together.
Ava and the two stopped moving to let the parents see their daughters. The parents walked closer to the bed and leaned down to touch the girls' chests. The twins started crying.
"We love you so much." The mother sniffles with a tear slipping out of her right eye.
Seeing they were done, Ava nods towards the nurses to continue pushing the patient crib bed towards the operating rooms beyond the doors. Connor stays with the parents as they watch Ava take the twins into the operating room. Once they were out of sight the parents turned towards Connor.
"Are we doing the right thing taking this risk?" The father asks.
"Yes." Connor nods in agreement.
"Look after them, Dr. Rhodes. Don't let my babies die." The mother pleads as her and her husband stare at the doctor.
The surgeon stares at them and then towards the door.
'This has to work.'
In the O.R., the team were currently in the beginning stages of the surgery. The twins were both under and were cut open.
"Clamps are on." Ava says after clamping the twins' hearts.
Connor was watching in the monitor room with several other people that were young doctors, techs and representatives from other major hospitals in the country.
"A lot of bigwigs here: Hopkins, Mayo, Duke." A young dark-skinned doctor commented to Connor on her left side.
He didn't answer, his eyes were intently staring towards the O.R. in front of him.
"Dot's inferior vena cava is more anterior lateral than anticipated. We'll have to reconstruct the atrium to get it closed." Dr. Latham informs after taking a closer look at the chest. Ava stops what she's doing to look up at him.
"What does that mean?" The young doctor turned to ask Connor.
"They need to continue the surgery on bypass." He answers.
"I'm afraid we're gonna have to put the twins on bypass." Dr. Latham said to the team.
"You were right." The young doctor turns back towards Connor to praise him.
Unknowingly to either of them, a little further behind them towards the door entrance was a tall older looking grey-haired man, wearing a dark-greyed suit. He was carefully staring at them, listening to their conversation in the quiet room.
'Hmm, who's this doctor? He seems to know what he's doing. Why isn't he part of this surgery?'
It took them some time to adjust putting the twins on bypass. Once they cut and connect the appropriate tubes for the twins' hearts.
"Both hearts on bypass. We're ready to go." Ava announces.
"One more echo to confirm positioning." Dr. Latham says looking up at the monitors.
"I'm seeing a pretty large muscular ventricular septal defect in Dot's heart." Dr. Frisch informs the team after looking at the echo.
Everyone looks over at the echo monitor, including Connor.
"Why didn't we see this on previous imaging?" Ava furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Doesn't matter. We'll have to correct it before we can proceed." Dr. Latham informs her there is nothing they can do but first fix the problem.
In the monitor room, the young female doctor turns to look back at Connor again. "Is this a big problem?" She asks.
Some people around them turn towards them to hear Connor's explanation. Aware from his scrubs that he's also a cardiothoracic surgeon who can explain to them what's going on.
"Patching a whole of unknown size near the heart's apex, a difficult spot to reach, yeah, it's a very big problem." Connor answers her.
The older gentlemen from before stares intently at him.
'Very impressive.'
Back in the O.R., the team were discussing how to fix the issue with Dot's heart.
"To get access, we need to make a ventriculotomy." Ava suggests looking up at her chief.
"No, in this case, with the abnormal anatomy of the heart, by cutting into the ventricle, we can disrupt the heart's conducting system. The heart might never beat again." Dr. Latham warns her of the risk with her suggestion.
"We lose one girl, we lose them both." Seeing things becoming worse, Connor slowly moves through the crowd. "Excuse me." He exits the monitor room, walking past the older gentleman that was watching him.
'Looks like he's going to join the surgery after all. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.'
"I think we should patch the hole using the sandwich method: two pieces of Gore-Tex on either side." Ava suggests another option.
"More incisions in her tiny, fragile heart. No, too risky." Dr. Latham continues to warn her about making more cuts to the heart that they were trying to avoid.
'Dammit. This surgery is already hard enough as it is, why did we have to get this problem now of all times with the chest open?' Ava curses in her mind about the situation, feeling frustrated.
The scrub room doors open and Connor enters wearing a scrub cap and holding a mask to his face. "Use a transcatheter VSD closure device." The team all turns to look at him.
'Connor?' Ava stares at him in shock for a split second before taking in his suggestion.
"That's a Cath lab procedure. We never do it on an open-heart case." She informs him.
'Of all times for your abnormal ideas, of course you do it when we're in the middle of surgery.'
"It's the only way to reach the VSD and not damage Dot's heart. No incision. We snake the patch in through the atrium." Connors stares at her and then at Dr. Latham.
Ava sighs at his explanation.
'Well, at least it seems like he's back to his normal self if he's pitching this crazy idea. But still...'
"Dr. Latham." The blonde tried to get their chief to tell him disagree.
"No, he's right. It's our only option." Dr. Latham agrees with Connor they didn't have a choice left.
Ava blinks at him and turns her head to stare at Connor.
"I will take full responsibility for the outcome." The dark-haired surgeon tells the team.
"Indeed you will. Dr. Rhodes will perform the procedure. Go scrub in." Dr. Latham approves of Connor rejoining the team.
Ava raised an eyebrow.
'Hold on a moment.'
"Yes, sir." Connor turns around and leaves the room.
Ava sighs and turns to walk away from the table, takes off her gown and gloves as she follows him out, removes the top strap of her mask. and pushes one of the doors. "Connor..." She calls out to him after to get him to stop walking.
Standing at the door entrance to the hallway open, he turns around to look at her. "I have to do this." He was very determined.
"You realize if those babies don't pull through, your career is over?" Ava warns him if his idea doesn't work, it could cost him everything he worked so hard for.
'Are you sure about this? Isn't it too soon? I know you've been shaky on your confidence since last week, and I really want to see you back to who you were before, but not by taking a huge gamble on this case at the last moment.'
"Yeah. I do." He says softly.
'If it cost me my career, so be it.'
The two stared at each other, talking with their eyes.
'Connor, I don't wanna see you ruin your career over this if they die.'
'I have to try, Ava. I don't think I can forgive myself if I didn't try to save the twins when I knew I could have done something.'
'I want to believe you can do this, but I'm scared.'
He walks around and she stares at him through the glass window.
'Connor...'
The team waited for Connor and Ava to return to continue the surgery. After waiting for some time, the surgery continued with Connor in the lead surgeon's position with a pair of white goggles with a scope included as he inserted the transcatheter VSD closure device to look within the tiny conjoined heart. The team was watching him carefully, Ava standing across from him wearing a black version of the same goggles he was wearing.
"I can't see her field of positioning as much as I hoped." Connor tells the team.
"Can you get the device in place?" Dr. Latham asks standing on his right side.
"Give me a second." Connor replies.
In the monitor room, the older grey-haired man stepped closer towards the window to get a closer work of the surgery.
'This I gotta see up close. I wanna see how good of a surgeon this Dr. Rhodes is.'
The room was quiet as Connor tried to get the tool in place. Ava looks down at the heart.
'Let's hope this works.'
"Okay." Connor tells them he got the tool in place. "Snaking the catheter into position. Pulling the first half of the patch into the left ventricle." He slowly starts to pull the other end of the tool.
"But if you can't see or feel the alignment, you can't be sure of deploying the second half correctly." Dr. Frisch tells him.
"So we'll have to open the heart even more to make the repair, which is exactly what we're trying to avoid." Ava sighs and stares at him.
"Maybe not." Dr. Latham starts to speak, having got a solution in mind. Ava looks at him. "Let's try a flexible pharyngoscope. Maybe we can see where the patch is lying before we deploy."
"Beth?" Connor calls out to the nurse to get the tool.
"Here." Nurse Beth handed the tool to Ava.
Ava places one end of the tool towards the heart, turning the light on and moved the other end of the scope towards Connor's left eye and turns it on. Connor closes one eye to put all focus on the other.
The entire room becomes quiet. Waiting for Connor to say something.
"Dr. Rhodes..." Dr. Latham says his name after a couple of seconds.
Connor doesn't say anything.
Ava stares intently at him, seeing his shoulders tensing up.
'Come on...'
"Well?" Dr. Frisch asks after waiting a couple of more seconds.
Connor still doesn't say anything.
The team starts to become anxious.
"Uh..." Connor says softly.
'Almost there...'
After a couple of more seconds, he starts to nod. "Yeah, I see it."
Ava blinks.
'Okay, this might work.'
"All right, aligning the patch." He starts to move the tool again between his bloody gloved fingers. "And deploying. The VSD's repaired." He pulls the tool away and so does his partner across from him.
Dr. Latham exhales. "Now we can proceed." He nods.
Ava sighs in relief and relaxes her shoulders as she breaths. Still staring at him.
Connor feels her stares and rolls his eyes up to make eye contact.
'You did it.'
'Thanks.'
A few hours later, Goodwin walks into the monitor room of the O.R. to see the progress update on the surgery. She was paged earlier and informed that Connor had rejoined the team and took part in the remainder of the surgery.
"Liver separation is complete." Dr. Bardovi turns her head to look at Connor on her left.
"Both hearts as well." Connor spoke.
"Already off bypass." Said Dr. Frisch.
"Decannulated as well." Said Dr. Latham.
"Placing wires are in." Connor spoke again.
The team looks down at the chest and those in the monitor room look at the large monitor that was viewing the surgery from the ceiling up close. Goodwin sees that the team has successfully separated the twins' conjoined hearts.
"Patch is holding." Said Dr. Latham.
"Both hearts look good." Connor looked at the team, then at Ava who was also staring back at him.
The team was nodding to one another, happy that the surgery was a success.
Not noticing the two cardiothoracic fellows only staring at each other and not at the rest of the team. Talking to one another with their eyes.
'We did it.'
'Yeah, we did it after all. I'm glad you're back.'
The older grey-haired man in the monitor room was staring at Connor.
'Dr. Rhodes, he's a rare doctor indeed. I've never seen any surgeon like him at all. His skills are top notch no doubt. I want him at my hospital.'
With the organs now properly separated, the rest of the surgery became easy to do. About a few hours passed by for the team to finish the surgery and the nurses and techs were now pushing two patients' crib beds out of the O.R. with Dr. Latham, Dr. Frisch, and Dr. Bardovi following behind them. The audience that was watching was applauding the team as they were passing by in the hallway.
Connor and Ava were the last to leave the O.R. as they exited through the doors. They stared at the team as they were walking further down the hallway. They both smiled at the sight.
Ava turns her head to her right to stare at him, taking in the way he looked. He was smiling and had his arms crossed. He looked very relaxed.
'Looks like he really is back to his old self. I'm glad. I guess I don't have to talk to him about last week after all. Now's as good a time as any to tell him about how I feel... but first things first.'
"Come here, we need to talk." Ava grabs a hold of Connor's left sleeve and drags him away in the opposite direction of the crowd and towards the surgeon's lounge. And luckily for them, it was empty. Once inside she pushes him further into the room and turns around to push the door to close.
"You just had to one up me again, huh, Rhodes?" She crosses her arms and an old familiar smirk and glint in her eyes appear.
"That was never my intention, Bekker. I never meant to take all the glory away from you." He held up right hand up front of himself.
She raised her left eyebrow and slightly tilted her head to the right.
"Okay, maybe a little." With the same hand, he pinched two fingers together.
"Oh, I know. Working with you for almost exactly one year now, I think I have a good understanding of how you operate." She nods assured.
"You do? How so?" He crosses his arms, enjoying the feeling of them going back to their playful bantering.
"You care deeply about your patients, sometimes a little too much. Especially when it comes to the patients' wishes. You always go the extra mile, even if it means taking a huge risk that an average normal doctor wouldn't make. A very courageous one is what you are." She takes a few steps closer to him.
"I'm impress." He nods.
"Also... you're very arrogant, you love to be proven right when doing your methods over others. Something that I'm far aware of better than anyone in this hospital." She raises both her eyebrows in amusement and Connor sighs in response.
"And there she is." He looks back up at her. "The same vice versa can be said about you as well, Dr. Bekker. You love being told that you're right."
"Mm-mm. More like I love it when it's coming from your mouth when operating together."
"Oh, so you do admit that you enjoy working with me?" Connor said tauntingly with a grin on his face. He takes off his surgical cap and puts it on the table in the room as he leans against it.
"Well, I do recall telling Dr. Latham that "we're a team" long ago." She takes off her surgical cap as she thinks back to that day, the day she stole his case.
"I know you were just lying to him at the time to get my case, but it turns out you were right all along. We do make a good team."
Ava grins walking past him and towards her locker. "See there it is again. I just love it when you tell me I'm right." She starts to free her hair from her hair bun and shakes her head a little to reduce the strain.
Connor smiles watching her.
'Now is the perfect time to try again.'
"I guess that means my waiting is finally over then?"
"For what?" She opens her locker and tosses the cap on the second shelf.
"For the right partner...I guess." He said sincerely as he watched her freeze her movements. "You?"
Those words...
Connor said the very same words to her once before in this very same room a few months ago.
It was the night where they almost kissed.
He's hoping Ava remembers that night as well. Given that nothing much has happened since he pretty much confessed to having feelings for her weeks ago.
Ava recognized those same words. She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to recreate that night again. She felt her heart beating at the suspenseful anticipation of that memory. She slightly bit her lower lip recalling how she felt that night.
'I see. Even he's trying to move this thing forward between us right now. He's easy at taking the bait. Two can play this game.'
"I guess I've been too busy competing with you that I haven't been looking." She slowly turns around to lock eyes with him. "It's just you." She repeated the same words, only this time her tone was different.
It was more seductive.
Ava takes a few steps closer to him.
"Yeah…. that sounds about right." Connor nods standing up straight and takes a step forward.
They were standing very close to each like,
like that night a few months ago,
and the presence was just like that time in the elevator in Rock Island.
They stayed silent but kept staring at one another.
Didn't know what else to say.
That's why actions speak louder than words.
Ava leans in first before him by two seconds, uses her right hand to grab the back of his neck and her free pressed against his chest. Connor reciprocates her gesture by leaning in, using both his hands to wrap around her body. Left hand pressed against her back while his right was around her waist.
Leaving no space between themselves. Ava pulls his face closer to her, tilting her head left. A sigh of contentment escapes her mouth after finally feeling Connor's lips pressed against hers. They start kissing with fervent passion.
His lips were very soft to her. The hand on his neck roams towards the back of his head, feeling his hair through her fingers. His right hand caresses her waistline and slightly leans her backwards, adding more pressure into the kiss. They both slightly part their lips as they both shift their heads in the opposite direction.
Her left hand slides up to caress his neck at the change in position and grips onto his hair with her other hand. Their tongues and lips moving with desire and purpose. They weren't in control of their bodies. Both were enjoying the feeling of devouring each other's irresistible lips.
'Hmmm. I can see why all those women kept throwing themselves at him. He really does have kissable lips. I could spend the rest of the night just doing this.' The South African woman thought when she parted their lips from lack of oxygen for a few seconds, welcoming his tongue in her mouth.
'She's every bit of a good kisser as I thought she would be. Not surprising since she's always been Miss Perfect. Gosh her lips are so soft, why didn't we kiss earlier?' The dark-haired man thought as he pulled her body closer to his.
They were both so distracted by greedily kissing one another,
that neither of them heard the door opening.
"Ah-UH!" A familiar voice raised their vocal levels in shock at the scene before them.
The couple jolted at the sound and broke the kiss to turn their heads to face at who walked in the room.
It was Dr. Latham.
Realizing it was their boss, the two quickly separated from each other like they were two horny teenagers caught by a parent with deer headlights on.
"Oh! Dr. Latham!" Ava quickly started to straighten out her ruffled clothes and fix her hair. Her face very flushed.
Connor did the same standing a good foot away from her.
'Okay, I finally kissed Ava, but...WHY did it have to be Latham of ALL people that had to be the one to walk in on us.'
"Oh um, Dr. Bekker, Dr. Rhodes, I-I didn't know you two were..." The older man was at a loss of words looking between the two of them. He fakes coughs to compose himself in the situation he just walked himself into with his fellows. "A-A year ago when I said I hoped you two would get along working together when I introduced you two, I didn't know it would lead to this..." He points with his right index finger between the two.
"Uhh... a lot of things happened since then..." Connor didn't know what to say. His eyes trailed over to the blonde on his left, but even she was at a loss for words on what to say to their boss.
"Uh huh. How long has this been going on between the two of you?" Latham carefully stared at them for an answer.
"Um... officially... right before you walked into the room." Ava said weakly avoiding eye contact by shifting her gaze downwards. Her hands behind her back, her right hand holding onto her left wrist.
"Ah. I see." He nods. "Well, I'm glad to see that the two of you have um, gotten along better than before." He looks between the two, recalling their old fights during their earlier days. "Anyway, the reason I came looking was because I was looking for Dr. Rhodes."
Connor points with his left index finger at himself. "Me?"
"Ms. Goodwin is looking for you regarding the board meeting that took place today. She said it's very important you talk to her right now. I'm not sure what it is she would like to discuss with you, but I suggest you go see her immediately. She's currently still in the surgical floor talking among other guests that came to see the surgery."
"Yes sir." Connor quickly said and shifted his head to look at Ava who was quietly watching the exchange.
Neither of them knew what to say after getting walked in on.
"I-I'll go see Goodwin now." Connor starts to exit the room.
"Yeah um-I-I better change back into my regular scrubs now." Ava stares and walks straight towards her locker, avoiding looking at her right side.
Latham turns his head at their exchange.
Not sure what to do.
He may not be as young as he used to be, but he could tell the feeling in the room was... awkward.
"Okay then, I'll be in my office. Page me when it's time to wake up the twins back to the PICU." Dr. Latham walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.
Ava closes her eyes and groans as she bangs her head against her locker door. "Out of all the times I've dreamt about kissing Connor in the past, that did not go the way I expected it to end." She touches her lips with her right index finger and slowly starts to trace them, recalling the feeling of her rival's lips on hers. She grins at the memory. "I see someone's had lots of practice at kissing." She chuckles.
Connor heads back to the surgical area and finds Goodwin talking to some officials. She looks to her right and sees the surgeon. She quickly ends the conversation and walks towards him.
"Uh hi, Ms. Goodwin, Dr. Latham said you wanted to speak with me?"
"Ah yes, Dr. Rhodes. Let's talk in private." The two walk into an empty operating room. "It's regarding the board meeting that took place today." She starts to talk when she turns around to face him.
"Okay."
"In response to the Millennium Park shooting, Chicago Med has received a good number of new donors to improve patient care. Many of the new donors had relatives that were victims in the shooting."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yes, and a good number of them didn't make it. They agreed changes need to be made in the ED such as how many patients we're able take care in a mass casualty protocol."
"What kind of changes to the ED?" Connor crosses his arms.
"More treatment and trauma rooms, more equipment such as ventilators, and..." She paused with a smile. "A Hybrid O.R. in the ED."
Connor widened his eyes in shock. "Really? I'm very happy the board went through with the proposal I gave you last week." He smiles and nods.
"Yes, it was touch and go there for a moment, but we managed to get it approved. There is one more thing though."
"Which is?" He leans forward to signal to her to not leave him hanging.
"The board said they're only fully on board with the Hybrid O.R. if you run the program." She smiles.
"Me?" He asks pointing at himself with his right index finger.
"With your background in both trauma and CT, you're the ideal candidate to head a program like this."
"Wow. So, I'll be back on the Trauma service full time then." He nods. "Well, that was the reason why I came to this hospital in the first place 3 years ago."
"There's no rush on making a decision right now. You just completed a major surgery; the board will understand if you need the night to think about it." Goodwin reassures him to take his time on making the decision.
"I'll take the job." He answers immediately.
"Really, not even a second to think about it." She chuckles.
"I have been thinking about it for a while, and I want the hospital to go through with it." He nods with a determined look in his eyes.
'That and I don't want to leave Ava when I finally got her.'
"Okay then, I'll inform the board to go ahead with the proposal." She pats his right shoulder as she walks past him.
"Thank you, Ms. Goodwin." Connor turns to look at her.
Goodwin turns to look at him with her left hand keeping the door open. "No, thank you, Dr. Rhodes. I'm you stayed in Chicago Med." She smiles and walks out the doors.
Connor smiles in satisfaction with everything that has happened in the last few hours. "And so am I." He touches his lips with his right index finger, recalling the lips of his attractive blonde-haired colleague he met a year ago. "I take back what I said last year, I'm glad I got involved with her."
Some time passed by, and the team now dressed in their regular scrubs and white coats were in the PICU checking on the twins by finally waking them up. Goodwin with the guests and other hospital staff were watching outside the room while the team of doctors and the parents were inside with the babies.
Both girls were awake and softly making baby cooing sounds with their torsos bandaged. They were both content and healthy as normal babies should be. The parents were at the foot of both of their crib beds with huge grins on their faces.
Standing in one corner of the room was Connor, Ava, Dr. Latham, Dr. Frisch and Dr. Krasny looking very content and happy at the scene. Outside the room, watching through the glass walls along with the guests and staff were Will and Natalie who finished their shifts and wanted to see the twins.
"It's amazing." Natalie said softly towards Will.
The crowd starts to applaud as the doctors slowly one by one start to exit the room. First it was Dr. Latham followed by Connor right behind him. Ava was a few steps behind and was stopped to shake hands with someone.
"Excuse me, Dr. Rhodes. Ralph Ballard, you got a minute?" The older grey-haired man from the monitor room stopped Connor once he walked right next to him. Connor motioned his head, agreeing to talk to him. Deciding to take him into an empty interview room, further down the PICU.
Ava looks up to see Connor walking in another direction with an unfamiliar man in a suit with him. She ignores Dr. Bardovi's hand on her arm in celebration. She stares at the two men walking away in confusion. Goodwin took notice of the South African woman's puzzled look and approaches her.
"Dr. Bekker? What's wrong?" she asks concerningly.
"Um, do you know who that man is that's with Dr. Rhodes?" She points at the two men as they disappear from their line of sight.
"Oh, that's Ralph Ballard, he's one of the hospital representatives that came here for the surgery."
"Which hospital?" The blonde looks backs at the older woman.
"The Mayo Clinic."
Ava widens her eyes at the name. "Mayo?"
"Guess he was impressed by Dr. Rhodes today. Probably gonna try and steal him away from us." She crossed her arms with an aloof facial expression. "But I don't think there's anything I need to worry about. It's a good thing I talked to him before Mr. Ballard did." She placed a small comfort hand on Ava's left shoulder. "Congratulations once again on the surgery Dr. Bekker."
"Thank you, Ms. Goodwin." Ava nods with a forced smile.
"You're nearing the very end of your fellowship now; I hope you will consider the attending position here at Med. We would be afraid to lose someone with your very exceptional skills to any one of the hospitals here." Goodwin says with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"I'm considering it." She nodded and her eyes looked towards the direction Connor went. "Unless Dr. Rhodes wants to fight me for the position."
"Probably not, he's has another option I'm sure he's more interested in taking." Goodwin gives her left forearm a comforting squeeze before walking away.
Ava didn't register Goodwin's words; her mind was still on the fact that the number 1 hospital in the world was interested in Connor.
'He wouldn't leave me, right? After everything we've been through? Did he orchestrate this whole thing? Reluctant hero comes in and saves the day? Was he playing me this whole time? Making me pity him and let my guard down so he could show off his skills to all those top hospital officials in the country? Did he really make me fall in love with him for nothing!? Wait... did I just say I love him?'
'Where is she?'
Connor thinks to himself as he keeps looking down at his phone for a response from Ava. His phone read, 9:24 PM. Both of their shifts had already ended, and the twins were doing fine and didn't need them to stay another night in the hospital. After he talked to Ralph Ballard, he headed back to the PICU to find her, only to hear from the nurses that she had left the floor. He thought he would find her back in the surgeon's lounge, only to see it was empty. She hasn't left yet because she was informed by the night charge nurse that Ava was asked to do a quick consult on a patient in the ICU before she could head home.
That's when he texted her to meet him outside in the warm Spring night weather wearing just a light thick dark coat over his T-shirt and dark jeans, with his messenger bag slung over his right shoulder, at the valet parking area when she was done so they could talk. They really needed to talk about what they were now after that kiss. It wasn't something they could brush off like before when they almost kissed months ago. The kiss meant something more and what they said to each other in the room. He knew how he felt about her, he'd known about it for months. And he's known they've been on the edge of this cliff for some time and so has she. He's been waiting for 20 minutes since he got outside. He already got his car back, but he wasn't going to leave until he talked to Ava.
Connor kept his eyes down on his phone, not paying attention to the fact that behind him, someone opened one of the doors.
It was Ava.
She was dressed in a blue top with white buttons and dark jeans underneath a long wool-like dark-grey blazer coat. Carrying her backpack only her right side, the strap hugging underneath her arm.
She closes the door and sees Connor's backside looking down at his phone. She frowns staring at him.
'I wonder, is he gonna lie to my face or tell me the truth about everything?'
Ava takes a few steps closer to him and tucks some of her hair behind her right ear. "How was your conversation with the Mayo Clinic rep?" She starts talking to get his attention. Connor turns around upon hearing her voice.
"What?" He asks after putting his phone in the right pocket of his jacket. He takes two steps towards her.
"That guy in the PICU." She nudges her head to the right. "I know he came from the Mayo Clinic. You got an offer tonight, didn't you? An attending position in CT at Mayo, right?" She stares at him.
Connor blinks in confusion at how fast things changed from their moment in the surgeon's lounge. He could tell from her eyes that she was upset. He sighs, looking down and then up. "Yeah, I did."
Ava exhaled and looked down. A lot of emotions were going through her all at once. Her eyes started to sting, she blinked to hold back the tears that were threatening to slip out.
'Of course he's going away. Who was I kidding thinking he and I would...'
She looks back up but doesn't make eye contact with him. She looks off to the right side of her vision. "You got an offer at Mayo. I can't believe it." She takes a deep breath to calm down her mercurial emotions. She shakes her head.
'I'm so stupid.'
"Of course you're going to take it." She inhales and exhales, still avoiding making eye contact.
"I turned him down." He said directly.
"What?" Her head flinches to finally look at him. Her hazel eyes popped stretched out at his words.
"I turned down the offer at the Mayo Clinic. Told him that I was flattered but wasn't interested." He repeats himself with more details. The look in his eyes, he wasn't lying to her.
"You turned down the job? You actually turned down an attending position at the #1 hospital in the world? Connor Rhodes, are you out of your mind?! Your ambition strikes me as boundless. You're very likely to not get another chance in the future. That's one in a billion chances right there! Why didn't you take it? " She furrowed her eyebrows into a slight glare. Her unshed tears quickly dried up.
'Okay, I really don't know this guy. He doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps to run the family business and now he turns down working at the best hospital in the world? Who the hell is this guy?"
"The same can be said about you as well." He stares at her.
"Huh? Me? What do you mean?"
"You're one in a billion chances." His cerulean blue eyes went from serious to sincere. His face softened.
"What?" she said softly.
'Did he just...'
"Chances of being with someone and finding that someone in the world of trillions of others is 0 to billions as well. If I leave, I'll never see you again. I don't want that. I really don't want to leave you. I could never find another you. Not after everything we've been through and how long it took us to finally get here, Ava. I just want you." He said sincerely, staring deeply at her, trying to get the message through her that he wanted to be with her.
"Y-You're choosing me over Mayo?" She points to herself with her left index finger. Ava wanted to confirm what he said and that she wasn't mishearing him.
"Yeah I am." He nods.
Ava stares at him in awe. She didn't know what to say.
"And besides, it's also a better career move for me to stay here with what Med are preparing in the coming months." He takes off his bag strap and puts it on the hood of his car.
Ava looked confused by his words. "Huh? They are? What's going on?" She puts her hands in her coat pockets.
"That conversation Goodwin wanted to have with me, it was about the board meeting today. A lot of new donors arrived following the Millennium Park shooting and they decided to go through her proposal of upgrading the ED to be much larger. More equipment and rooms for patient treatments. Along with the approved proposals, they also approved the Hybrid O.R. to be included in the ED." He reminded her about his idea two weeks ago.
'Oh... Goodwin did say she was glad she talked to him before the other guy did. She was talking about this. Probably should have listened.'
"Really? They approved it? I'm glad." She nods now understanding everything that's going on. She jumped to conclusions.
"Yeah, it really helped that many doctors and nurses signed the petition to make it happen. And Goodwin said that she wants me to run the program given my background in both CT and trauma. If the program is a success, then it could be a very big deal."
"That'll bring a lot of good revenue and PR to the hospital's image, it really is a much better career move than Mayo." She nods with a timid smile.
"Exactly." He grins at her.
Ava smiles and chuckles. "Rochester, Minnesota, is after all the 14th coldest city in the U.S., Chicago's 48, you know. It's much warmer." She had a playful grimace look for a split second. She holds onto her backpack strap.
"Plus, you're still going to be here. No doubt taking that CT attending position yourself soon." He stares at her for a few seconds in silence. "I would be a fool for leaving when I could have everything I want right here, with you." Connor brings them back to the topic of the main reason why he wants to stay in Chicago.
"Connor, I... I thought you were going to leave me." Ava let herself be vulnerable in this moment. She felt her face become warm as her heart was beating faster at the anticipation of his next words.
He shook his head. "Of course I'm not leaving you, Ava..." He said wholeheartedly, staring at her, stepping a little closer to her, where they were now only one foot away from each other.
"I love you."
Ava gapes her mouth at his confession.
'Connor, loves me?'
Connor waits for her to say something.
She was too stunned by his words to say anything out loud.
'No one has ever said that to me. Not even Josh. Is this real?'
"You love me?" she asks softly, finally finding her voice. She breathes softly.
"Yeah, I do. I love you, Ava Bekker." He stares at her with admiration.
"Wow." She drops her gaze down, taking everything in.
Connor Rhodes wasn't going to leave her; he was going to stay in Chicago for her. He was going to take the job offer of the new Hybrid O.R., meaning the CT Attending position is guaranteed to be hers.
She lost so much before coming to Chicago. She lost her family as a child, had to grow up alone in the foster care system, had a hard time making friends due to her lack of interpersonal skills with her peers. Was betrayed by her ex-boyfriend who turned to her hated rival to be used against her.
And now, she has the opportunity of being with someone who cares so much about her, has a slowly growing number of colleagues around her that she can now call her friends, and she was going to get her dream job at one of the top 20 hospitals in the 3rd largest city in the United States.
How did she lose so much, so badly, but still win so much to make up for it?
"You don't have to say it back. I know this is all very sudden, but I had to get that off my-"
Connor gets cut off when Ava rushes towards him and pulls him into a passionate insatiable kiss. Much more than their first one a few hours ago. Dropping her backpack to the ground. She grips onto his jacket collar with both hands, and he reciprocates by wrapping his arms around her back to pull her closer to him. She moans into the kiss as left right hand grips the back of his neck. Soon the lack of oxygen gets to Connor by the blonde's sudden action that he parts their lips to take a moment to breathe. He holds her small face in his right hand and stares deeply into her eyes. Still holding her with his left arm around her back.
"I'll take that as a maybe then?" he asked softly with a smile on his face.
"I love you too, Connor." Ava finally confesses her feelings to him. "I didn't realize how deep my feelings were till I saw you talking to that guy from Mayo when Goodwin told me who that man was. A part of me thought you were trying to display your skills in front of those officials. I didn't know what to think after we kissed in the lounge. But... the thought of you possibly leaving me after everything we've been through, it killed me. A lot more than the last guy I trusted. With you it's different. I feel... more. And I don't want lose you."
He grins and chuckles causing her to widely grin and lean in for another kiss. The kiss lasted for a couple of seconds and the two pulled away.
Connor removes his hand on her face to caress and brush her hair slightly away from her face. He looks back at her. "Wanna go out for dinner to celebrate the surgery?"
"Depends, you plan on buying me stake again?" She raised her right eyebrow and smirked.
"I'll even cut your stake for you as well if you want." He places his hands on her shoulders.
"Sorry Prince Charming," Ava starts to fix his collar "but I can cut my own stake just fine. I'm really good with a knife." She playfully pats his chest and gives him a quick kiss. Then turns and leans down to pick up her backpack and puts it back over her right shoulder.
"That I do know." He points with his right index finger at her.
Ava smirks and holds onto his jacket edges. "But... you can help me out with dessert right after." She leans close to his left ear and seductively whispers, "your place or mine?" She presses a few kisses down his ear to his neck, sending goosebumps down his spine.
"Do you wanna skip dinner and head right into dessert instead?" He leans talking into her hair above her right ear.
"No, I'm hungry. I've been on shift for like 60 hours. I want to eat some real food." She leans her head back to look at him. "If you want me to stay happy."
"I do want you to stay happy. Dinner it is." He takes a few steps backwards to open the passenger door for her.
Ava walks towards the passenger side and turns to look up at him. "And you're gonna need that fuel for later." A devilish smirk appeared on her face as she winked with her right eye before getting into the car.
"Ah. This woman." Connor realizes what she means and chuckles. He closes the door and grabs his bag off the hood walking towards the driver's side.
'And so, it begins' He comments to himself driving the Porsche away from the hospital.
This final chapter covers the remaining episodes of Season 3 + A little bit content lines from 4x01, 4x05 & 4x07
Thanks for reading everyone!
There is a Sequel to this story in the works. Basically a complete rewrite of Season 4, but will combine events that takes place in S4-S10. A lot of things will be same/similar/different. And an OC of mine will be one of the main characters along with Rhekker. If you paid attention in the last 3 chapters, you can figure out who the OC is.
It will be posted on AO3 under LeviKnight