A few weeks has passed by since and Connor was getting less and less trauma cases to work on when on trauma service on some days, making it a lot easier for him to get more sleep in. He was now feeling back to normal and was starting the day by introducing his patient to Ava and Dr. Latham. They entered the recovery room.

"Dr. Latham, this is Ray Preston, 53. Felt short of breath while jogging." Connor introduced the patient as they stood around the patient's bed.

"It was only two miles in. I'm always good for at least 5 before I start to get tired." Said Ray.

Connor explained how far Ray lived away from Chicago and what his cardiologist performed on him. Ray then explained that he told him to skip a community hospital and to just come to Med instead.

Ray turned to face him. "Dr. Rhodes, I know we're getting a bit close to showtime here but, are you absolutely sure I need this surgery?"

"I'm positive." Connor assured him. Ava turned her eyes to stare at him.

"But I'm not in any pain." Ray replied.

"I know and that's the danger." Said Connor.

Ava looked back down at her tablet. "Severe three vessel disease complicated by..."

"Heavy calcification and extremely poor targets." Connor cut her off and continued to explain the patient's condition to Dr. Latham. "CABG is still doable, but it will be more challenging than normal." Ava continued to stare at him with a small smile and slightly shaking her head.

"Indeed." Dr. Latham agreed. "You're a lucky man, Mr. Preston. Keeping fit bought you the time to notice something was wrong."

"Yeah. Well, Dr. Rhodes said people with arteries as damaged as mine usually just drop dead." Said Ray.

"He's absolutely right." Dr. Latham concurred.

Ray stared at him with an unsure look on his face.

"Not to worry, Ray. We'll take great care of you." Ava assured him with a smile.

Connor and Ray both stared at her.

In the OR, the three were in the middle of performing the surgery with Connor taking the lead.

"Proximal anastomosis is complete." Connor stated.

"That looks good." Said Dr. Latham. "Let's move on to the base. Do you have a suitable landing spot?"

"Yeah. Lighter calcification in this area." Connor pointed where in the patient's chest. "Potts, please" He lift his right hand up for the nurse to hand him the tool.

"I'd go more distal." Ava suggested. "Vessel's bigger. You'll get a cleaner target." She looked up to face him.

"This area vessel is perfect." Connor assured her.

"If you say so." She looked back down.

Connor continued to stare at her before continuing. "8-0 Prolene." He asked the nurse for the tool.

"The artery could probably handle the 7-0" Ava made another suggestion with a different tool.

"I prefer the 8-0" Connor stated.

"Just thought the larger stitch might be easier for you to work with." She countered her suggestion with additional information on why it's better.

The two stared at each other till Dr. Latham broke it up.

"I don't understand the debate. The difference between vessel location and now suture choice, is negligible."

"Good point, Dr. Latham." Ava slightly turned her head in his direction on her left before turning and facing Connor across from her. "Dr. Rhodes, you're lead surgeon, I'm only assisting. I defer to your preference." She looked back down.

"Thank you, doctor." He responded in a fake tone. She slightly looked up to meet his eyes. "Now, how about from, here on out, we keep the background noise to a minimum." He shifted his eyes to look at her.

She slightly shook her head looking down before shifting her eyes to look at him.

And right beside her, Dr. Latham was watching the entire conversation exchange between his two fellows.

As stated, the remainder of the surgery was kept mostly quiet till they finished and closed the patient's chest.

The team was preparing to move the patient off the table and onto the gurney then transfer him to the recovery room while the three surgeons were removing their gowns, masks and goggles into the disposal waste bin.

"I still would've landed the grafts more distal, but your way worked, too." Ava spoke taking off her gown.

"I'll take that as a "nice job."" Said Connor as he held onto the bin's lid.

"Didn't know my approval meant so much to you." She mocked taking off her mask and goggles.

"Always on, aren't you?" He countered.

Ava didn't say a word, but the corners of her mouth were curved as she walked away.

Dr. Latham, who was standing between the two of them, finally spoke, ""Always on." What does that mean?" He asked.

Connor paused for a moment on how to respond. "Nothing. It's just, um..." he thought about it some more "steel sharpening steel." He finished.

"Hmm, can't say I'm any more enlightened." Said Dr. Latham.

Their conversation ended when they heard the machines beeping that something was wrong. The team looked at the monitors.

"BP's falling. We're in to the 80s." Ava said at the foot of the patient.

"Anterior lateral ST elevations." Dr. Latham continued.

"Damn it. Cardiac ischemia." Said Connor.

"One of your grafts must have went down." Ava looked at him with a stern look.

Connor looked at her before continuing. "All right, get him back on the table. I'll go back in to fix the graft."

"No, we've already broken down the room. By the time we re-prep, we'll have lost too much time." Said Dr. Latham. "IR's a better option." He suggested.

"What about the hybrid room?" Ava suggested. The team turned to look at her. "I have it booked for a stenotic dialysis arm graft. I'll bump it and Cath Ray. If I can't fix the issue noninvasively, room's already prepped for us to re-open him up." She finished.

"Dr. Rhodes." Dr. Latham asked for his opinion. Everyone stared at him.

Connor thought about it and with the way things are, there were choice. "It's a good idea." He responded.

"Okay, let's go." Said Dr. Latham.

The team prepared to move Ray while the three surgeons left the room to scrub and head to the hybrid room.

Connor took one last look at Ray before leaving with the two other doctors.

In the hybrid room, Ava took the lead to do the procedure with Connor standing behind her.

"Don't beat yourself up, Connor. Grafts fail, often in patients with far less calcification than Ray." Said Ava.

"Doesn't make any sense. I checked every graft before I closed. They were solid." Said Connor.

"They still are." Dr. Latham wearing an x-ray apron, approached the large LED monitors. "Good flow through all repaired vessels. One, two, three." He pointed on one of the screens. "The problem is here." He pointed again at an area.

"Clot of the left anterior descending artery." Said Connor.

"Likely a bad reaction to the protamine administered during anesthesia. Recommendations on how to proceed?" Said Dr. Latham

"Treat noninvasively with heparin." Connor suggested. "Thin the blood, let his heart clear the clot out on its own."

"Too conservative. Clot's already stopped up the vessel. The LAD is the widow-maker. If it's down much longer, Ray's not coming back. We've got to suck it out." Ava recommended.

Dr. Latham took in her words. "I agree with Dr. Bekker." He nodded. "Thrombo-aspiration, though the riskier procedure, ensures complete removal of the blockage."

"Excuse me, Dr. Rhodes." Ava moved to her left to have more space to work.

Some time has passed by and as stated, Ava was working on trying to suck out the clot in the vessel.

"All right, think we're there." Ava switched tools. "Vacuuming." She started to use the tool, keeping her eyes on the monitor. "Got it." She switches the tool over to her right hand.

"Ah, blood flow's good. BP's holding." Dr. Latham stated.

"Nice job." Connor complimented, surprising Ava as she turned her body to face him then back to the screen.

"Thanks." She replied.

'Did Connor Rhodes just compliment me? That's a first.' Ava thought in her head.

Dr. Latham watched the exchanged looks between the two.

"Look, I know I have a tendency to step on toes." Ava knows how she acts. "Not personal. I just want to..."

"Win." Connor finished for her. She stopped what she was doing to look at him, he stared back her.

Dr. Latham remained quiet during their exchange of words till the room was filled with the monitor beeping. They all reverted their eyes towards the screens.

"What happened?" Ava asked.

"Artery ruptured. Blood is pouring into his chest." Dr. Latham looked down at the blood machine. "Blood flow was blocked, and now it's out of control."

Connor stepped forward to stand beside Ava. "All right, help me stent the leak before he arrests." He moved his right hand to the technician to hand him a tool.

"Where's the rupture?" Ava took a step back for Connor to receive the tool.

"Distal LAD." Dr. Latham pointed on the monitor.

"Are you kidding? That's not even where the clot was. It's an entirely different section of vessel." Ava responded.

Connor and Ava looked very concern at the monitors.

"Murphy's Law." Connor stated.

After trying to fix the situation, Ray was in the ICU, unconscious and hooked up to a ventilator.

Connor was outside his room looking over his charts on the tablet when Ava came by to check in.

"He's moving in the wrong direction." She spoke as she placed her hands in her coat pockets.

"He'll turn around." He replied.

"Your optimism is enchanting." She turned her head to the left to face him. "Reality though: between the clot, then the bleed, his heart is dying. We should push for a transplant."

"We're only a few hours post-op. We are miles away from the discussion." He turned around to walk towards the nurses' station. Ava followed him.

"Normally, yes, but a hit-and-run just died in surgery." They stopped to face one another. "His heart is an HLA match." She stated.

"You already tested for compatibility?" He raised his eyebrows. "Ray's not even on the list." He pointed towards Ray's room.

"Anything that could go wrong with Ray has." She started to explain their situation. "We fix one thing, something else breaks. A heart has fallen into our laps. Let's use it and steal a win."

"Is that our priority?" He asked.

"You want his death on your record?" She asked.

"Dr. Bekker, you may have elbowed your way onto Ray's case, but he's still my patient." He reminded her. "Transplant's not an option." He walked around her.

"Then you're just wasting time," she turned around to follow him again, "because the balloon pump he's on won't hold. He'll max out on pressers, but he'll still need to go on VA-ECMO. Then it gets invasive: a procedure for a temporary LVAD. When that's not enough, a bigger procedure for a permanent one. You're going to put Ray through months of physical and emotional strain only to get back to exactly where we are right now."

Connor opened a folder and looked through Ray's files. "Ray's arteries were bad, not his heart." He looked up at her face. "Now that the vessels are repaired, it will compensate for the clot and the bleed. It'll heal."

"No, it won't." She shook her head. "And when I'm right, I'll make sure the blame is on you, not me." Ava told him before walking away.

Connor stared at her back as she left.

A few hours passed by, and just as Connor predicted, his method worked. He was in Ray's room checking his pulse and his test results.

Ava walked back into the room. "So, how's our patient? Heading for ECMO?"

"Actually, no." Connor responded standing on the other side of the bed. "BP's risen and is holding, vitals have stabilized as well, so I'm going to remove the balloon pump and give his heart back its full load." He turned to stare at her with a reassuring look.

The two stared at each other, not saying a word, till Ava broke the silence.

"What do you want, an "I was wrong"?" She asked with a slight smile on her face.

"I'm not holding my breath." He said with a slight shake to his head before turning towards the monitors.

Ava softly snickered at his action before Dr. Latham walked into the room.

"Ah, I see our patient is making a turn for the better." Said Dr. Latham.

"For a moment, there was concern the damage was irreparable." Ava started to explain. "A transplant option presented itself, but upon discussing the visual assessment of the heart during surgery, the decision was made to give it more time to come back on its own." She turned to look at Connor. "It was a risk," she nodded at him "but it appears we made the right choice." The two stared at one another.

"Indeed." Dr. Latham looked between the two. "Nice work, doctors."

"Thank you." Ava gave Connor one last look before leaving the room.

Connor stared at her then prepared to leave the room as well till Dr. Latham stopped him.

"You and Dr. Bekker..." he started, Connor turned to face him, "your successes suggest a good pairing, but your..." he paused for a moment to think, "exchanges often convey the opposite." He observed. "What's peculiar is Dr. Bekker seems to enjoy this...discordance. Do you?" He finished.

Connor listened to his words carefully and a content look on his face. "Maybe I do." He then slowly walked away.

Dr. Latham started to think about what he said and remembered how the two acted towards each other.

- Few Weeks Later -

"Incoming." Maggie looked down at her pager. "Monique, you're on deck. Dr. Rhodes?" She called.

Entering from the walk in were two paramedics with a man intubated and covered in blood and bruises.

"Pedro Suarez, 30-year-old male. Fell 20 feet off his roof stringing Christmas lights. GCS of 8. King airway in the field. Initially hypotensive but responded to a liter of fluids." Paramedic Courtney informed them as they moved the patient into Trauma One.

"Please tell me my son is gonna be okay." Pedro's father pleaded.

"Mr. Suarez, I promise you we're gonna do everything we can." Connor replied to the worried father.

Outside the room, a nurse was comforting the father and taking him to the waiting room.

"All right, everybody on my count." Connor announced. "One, two, three." They all lifted the patient over to the bed.

"Thank you." Connor thanked the medics.

"Mm-hmm." Paramedic Courtney responded.

Connor put on his stethoscope to listen to the patient's breathing.

"Stats are 86 and falling fast." Said Nurse Monique.

"I'm not getting breath sounds on the left." He took off his stethoscope and wrapped them around his neck. "He's got a tension pneumothorax. Let's decompress him and put a chest tube in. Needle?" He asked and Monique gave him one. He inserted the needle in the patient's chest.

"Sats and blood pressure are coming up." Said Nurse Monique.

"All right. I'm gonna place the tube." Connor announced. "Scalpel?" He asked and Monique gave him one. He placed at the patient's side to cut into his chest. Once he cut a hole, Monique handed him two chest tubes and proceeded to place them in the patient's chest.

Though, when he placed the two tubes in the patient's chest, one tube was filled with a different substance they were not expecting. It was a brown color.

"That's not blood." Monique widen her eyes.

"Nope." Connor agreed as more brown substance leaked out of the chest tube. "That's..." he realized what it was, "that's fecal matter."

"Fecal matter? How did he get poop in his chest?" Nurse Monique asked at the unusual situation with the chest tube.

After sorting out the situation in the ED, Connor had Pedro transferred to the ICU after he ran tests and scans on him. Once he got a better picture on what was going on, he moved him to the CT floor and paged Ava.

"So, his colon's in his chest?" She asked in a bewildered tone and gave him a puzzled look. She looked at the scans on the tablet as he opened the doors for her to pass through as they continued to walk through the CT floor.

"Diaphragm ruptured from the impact of the fall. Stomach, spleen, and color were ripped from the abdominal wall, and migrated into the left chest." He pointed on the screen as she zoomed in.

"I hate when that happens." She told him as she gave him back the tablet.

"The OR is being prepped for surgery right now. You'll do the thoracotomy, while I open his abdomen."

"All right." She agreed.

"Oh, and just as a reminder," she looked at him, "uh, I am on trauma service today," they stopped to look at one another. "and this is a trauma surgery, so..." he paused.

"So, you'll be the attending on the case, and you're going to get your kicks out of calling the shots?" She finished with a smile knowing he wanted to be in charge.

Connor remained silent as he stared at her.

"I'm delighted to assist you, Dr. Rhodes." She continued to smile.

"I'm glad to hear that." He continued to give her a blank less facial expression. "Shall we?"

"Okay. Boss?" She mocked as she back pushed and opened door for him to walk through first.

In the scrub room, Connor and Ava were about done scrubbing their hands and arms when April walked in.

"Hey Dr. Rhodes, just wanted to let you know Radiology's uploading your patient's latest scans."

"Thank you. Things going okay in the ED?" He asked.

"Not really, a patient came in with Leptospirosis. And turns out, it's appearing in other places as well. Robin Charles is busy working on all of them on her first day back." April responded.

"Lepto?" Ava turned her head around. "Isn't that a rat disease?" She took a quick glance at Connor.

"Yeah, it can be." He replied. "Hope she's doing okay."

"Just what she needs today on her first day back." Ava took another glance at Connor before focusing back at her hands.

Once they were done, they proceed with the surgery.

"Are you sure Robin was ready to come back to work?" Ava asked in the middle of their work.

"If she was cleared to come back, then she should be." He replied. "Let's get that tube out before it contaminates his chest." He tried to change the subject off his ex-girlfriend.

"I only ask because we had an anti-NMDA patient at Groote Schuur. She had psychotic episodes for a full year after the tumor was removed." Her eyes shifted to look at him. "Tube's out."

"Well, everyone's different, right? Staple the colon before it leaks anymore stool." He quickly talked about two different conversations.

"Already on it." She responded. "Tough on you huh?"

"Why?"

"Always wondering if she'll flip out again?" She looked at him.

"Not really. I haven't talked to her since the day of her surgery. I don't keep tabs on her. That's her dad's job. Though, I'm more worried about him. I'm sure he's the one that's worried about her the most if she flips out again. I'm just glad I don't have to take care of her recovery. It sounds like a lot of work and besides, I have enough work as it is dealing with you." He looked up to stare at her with a slight glare in his eyes. Even though he couldn't see it, he could tell from her eyes that she's smirking under her mask.

"I'm gonna pull the colon back down into the abdomen. You'll need to guide if from the top." He instructed and the two worked between the two holes in the patient's chest together. "Got it." He verified as he adjusted the colon.

"All right, colon is repaired and reduced. Dr. Bekker, let's irrigate the chest with 10 liters of saline."

"Right away, Dr. Rhodes." She responded.

"And open a 10-by-20 Gore-Tex patch to reconstruct the diaphragm. I will be back to put it in."

"Where are you going?" She looked up in surprised.

"It'll take you at least 30 minutes to clean out the chest. I'm sure a hot shot surgeon like yourself don't need my help to do that. And within those 30 minutes I can provide help in the ED and this time of year, things do get crazy down there. I'll be back in time when you're done." With that Connor walked out of the OR.

Ava couldn't help but shake her head and smirk under her mask.

'This guy.' She thought in her head before starting to clean out the patient's chest.

Just as Connor stated, he returned in the OR, but longer than 30 minutes.

"You were gone awhile. Everything okay?" Ava asked when Connor was being gloved up and masked.

"Dr. Halstead asked me for help about a patient of his. Guess what, his patient tested inconclusive for Zika." His words surprised the team to turn and look at him.

"What? Zika?" Ava paused her work to look at him.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Wow, first Leptospirosis and now Zika. You were right, things do get crazy in the ED this time of year."

"Yep." Connor stood beside her.

"So, what's gonna happen to his patient?" She asked.

"Well, for starters, he got it from cheating on his pregnant wife and isn't gonna tell her about it."

"What?" Ava was baffled. "So, he rather risk infecting the fetus than tell her the truth? And why can't we tell her?"

"We can't."

"That's ridiculous, if he was HIV positive then the hospital can break confidentiality. Doesn't Zika get the same exemption?"

"Nope. Since Zika is still new, there's no legal precedent so we can't break his confidentiality."

"Damn." Ava spoke softly.

"But luckily, there's another way." Connor gave hope.

"Really? Like what?" Ava raised an eyebrow.

"Well, since Zika's a public health emergency, the CDC has to investigate all inconclusive test results. And, federal law requires them to do so, meaning that the hospital is not breaking HIPAA." He explained.

"I'm impress." Ava complimented.

"Anyway, where are we?" He stated that they should be focusing on the surgery now.

"Just coming around the posterior medial." Ava looking back down at the chest. "You're just in time for the hard part." She turned her head briefly to look at him.

"Good." Connor was given a tool from one of the team members and slowly started to work. "Every time the lung inflates, the patch moves. Do you have an angle on it?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head.

"All right, then we need to deflate his lung." Connor announced.

"No. No way. Sat's are too low." Alan, the anesthesiologist responded.

"What if I use a Long-Allis-Clamp to get behind the lung and hold the patch?" Ava suggested.

"No, it's fine. I've got it." Connor answered trying to make it work.

"I've got room. I can do it." She continued to stare at him to answer.

He stopped what he was doing and considered it. "All right, go."

"Clamp." A team member reached for the tool and handed over to the South African woman.

Ava started to work and was successful. "Patch is in place. Stitch away."

"No, I still can't reach the crus of the diaphragm. Can you give me some more torque?" He tried but couldn't get it to work.

"No, but I can finish the stitches from here, if you hold the patch in place." She looked at him. Seeing no response back from him she shook her head, not bothering to continue to press on him. "Okay, your call."

He sighed. "All right. Fine." He agreed to her way.

They adjusted their hands to have a better angle on it and were now standing very close to one another. Ava's head was almost laying on top of Connor's right shoulder. They continued to work in silence.

Alan looked down at their work then at their faces. Surprised by their lack of banter and how quiet it was.

They were working together as a team.

That was first.

Especially since they've been at each other's throats since their first surgery together.

"I can't get in the last few stitches." Ava spoke, breaking the silence.

"All right, Allis coming off." Connor responded putting down a tool and receiving another one from a team member. "All right, finish the run."

"Look at you two, getting it done like Jordon and Pippen." Alan spoke, comparing them to two basketball players.

Connor and Ava both briefly looked at each other before continuing the surgery. Their heads practically laying on top of each other.

For the remainder of the surgery, Connor and Ava didn't once argue with one another, surprising the entire team. The surgery was successful.

Pedro was now in the ICU with his father sitting beside him.

"Now, we were able to remove all the stool contents from his chest cavity and repair his diaphragm. It might be a little while before he's back on a ladder." Connor slightly joked. "But he should make a full recovery." He finished.

"Thank you for saving my son. Uh, thank you both." His father thanked the two surgeons.

"Of course." Connor responded and nodded towards Ava whom repeated the same action as they both left the room.

Ava had an impressed look on her face. "We made a pretty good team today."

"We did." He agreed as they approached the nurses' station, handing one of the nurses the tablet.

"Thank you, doctor. And sign this." The nurse gave him a sheet of paper.

"Why don't you say we go have a drink and celebrate?" Ava leaned against the counter as she stared at Connor.

Connor turned towards his left to look at her. "You wanna get a drink with me? Seriously?" After everything they've been through, he was surprised.

"You know, a little Don Corleone: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." And besides, we had to cancel that drink we planned months ago the day we first met because we had to perform surgery on your ex-girlfriend's father because he got shot. Remember?" She reminded him.

Connor looked up, recalling that night.

"And technically, you did say that you would buy me a drink and asked for a raincheck that time." She raised an eyebrow.

'And we actually were a good team today. Even I'm surprised.' Ava thought in her head.

He sighed, "When you put it like that, I can't refuse now can I?" He finished signing the form. "And you're right, it was a good day, for the most part on our end." He joked, earning a small chuckle from her.

'Did I actually hear a chuckle from Ava Bekker? THE Ava Bekker?' He thought in his head.

"Sure, let's go have a drink together and celebrate." He turned towards her. "It is almost the holidays."

"Great. See you in about 20 minutes, Rhodes." She smiled and walked away.

Once she was out of sight, Connor couldn't the stop the corners of his mouth from curving a small smile.

"I just agreed to go have drinks with Ava Bekker." He sighed.

This chapter covers 3x03-04

*It looks like Connor and Ava are slowly starting to become a team

(Adding different scenes since this is an AU where Connor is single when he first meets Ava and still basing them off of the episodes.)

Tell me what you think about it!