Chapter 3

AN: Yet again, I own nothing, but with my birthday coming up, the rights to ER would make a lovely present.


Snuggled I to a mound of pillows, Elizabeth was doing her best to ignore the trickles of sunlight that were beginning to dance across her face. The house was blessedly quiet for once, and she pulled the soft duvet over her head, determined to fall back asleep.

The house was quiet.

As the thought registered, she bolted upright. It took a moment for her to become aware of her surroundings. It wasn't the house with Mark or her hotel room she was in. It was the guest room at Robert's.

It was still too quiet. It took another moment to remember that Ella was in the guest room next to her and had apparently slept through the night. A quick glance at the clock on the end table told her it was already ten am; all thoughts of snuggling back down until Ella woke flew out the window. Grabbing her dressing gown, Elizabeth left the comfort of the bed and walked into the next room to check on Ella. She couldn't believe the little girl had slept this long.

The quick peek into the room revealed that Ella had not, in fact, slept in like her mother. Ella wasn't even in the room, which meant at some point Robert had gotten her up, leaving Elizabeth to sleep. Wrapping her dressing gown a little tighter, she made her way down the stairs, following the faint sounds of the tv into the lounge. Lying on the floor, playing with a small stack of blocks were Robert and Ella, with Gretel curled up next to the little girl. The muppets were on TV, with the volume just loud enough to mask Elizabeth's entrance affording her the opportunity to watch the adorable picture they created.

"You know, Robert, if being Chief of Staff doesn't work out, I'd be happy to hire you as Ella's full-time Nanny."

That caught his attention. Robert's eyes snapped up upon hearing her voice, and a smile settled on his face.

"Lizzie! I see you've finally decided to join us. Was it the sweet lull of uninterrupted sleep or wine that kept you in bed this long?"

"I think a bit of both. Although considering Ella looks freshly changed and well entertained, I'd wager you had something to do with the former."

"Yeah, well, Ella was insistent that she be the one to take Gretel for her morning walk. She even promised not to spit up her breakfast if I let her."

The uncaffeinated mind of a sleep-deprived mother stumbled at his words, unable to tell if he was being facetious or not. It must have shown on her face as well because Robert started to laugh at her.

"Relax Lizzie, Ella was perfectly safe in the stroller. I did not let her ride Gretel like a pony no matter how many times she insisted."

"You've got a stroller?" The confusion persisted.

Sighing and resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Robert reminded himself that Elizabeth had been operating under stress, sleep deficiency, lack of caffeine, and lack of support for months now. If he was going to pick on her, the least he could do was provide her with coffee first; that was bound to jump-start the witty remarks that Robert knew to be bubbling away below the surface.

"Niece, nephew, godson. Yes, Elizabeth, I've got a stroller. A bit dusty and several years old, but it works well enough to manage a munchkin and a dog at the same time."

Shaken out of her stupor, Elizabeth moved from the doorway to the couch and sunk down into it. Rubbing the back of her neck, she was slightly ashamed. Having seen him with Ella last night and now this morning, it was obvious how much he loved children, and with three in his life, of course, he'd have everything needed stashed away somewhere.

"Sorry, I think I'm a little disoriented from actually having slept so much. I'm not really used to that these days."

"Yeah, well, I think you need a better quality of help. You were looking at me like I'd grown three heads at the idea that I could be prepared for dealing with a small child. That or you're in serious need of coffee. You want me to make you a cup?"

"I don't know…not sure I want to remember what it tastes like and then go back to not having any."

Glancing away from Elizabeth, Robert felt slightly awkward at the thought of the question he wanted to ask. Focusing back on Ella, he tried to sound as casual and neutral as possible. "You know, at this point, formula is just as good nutritionally. If it's a bonding thing you're going for, I'll keep my nose out of it, but you're not a bad mom if you stop breastfeeding to take better care of yourself."

He could hear her shifting awkwardly. So many things with Lizzie were a delicate dance these days, and Robert was never sure when he would inadvertently step on her toes. He had his suspicions based on little things he'd overheard at work, that up until recently, a lot of the child care decisions she had made were either against her wishes or under pressure. All of Surgery probably knew that she hated not having a full-time nanny, and everyone that had been in the OR the day Elizabeth had to leave to pump could see how humiliated she was at being put in that position. The nurses' gossip was that she couldn't possibly want to be a practicing surgeon and continue breastfeeding after that.

"I've…I've learned the hard way that…Americans, well some Americans, have a very particular idea of what a mother should do. And things like full-time nannies and formula are frowned upon."

"Wait. You had a live-in nanny growing up?"

The musical sounds of Elizabeth's laughter flooded the room, and even though it was at him, Robert couldn't help but smile.

"I think for the first six months they did, my father only had a week off, and my mother was at a spa in Spain the first two weeks. I know once they got a routine down, they cut back on evening hours, and no one worked on Sundays. I think it saved everyone's sanity, though. Mark barely agreed to have a nanny in the first place and tried to convince me that his other child could help babysit on weekends."

"It sounds like you need to start making more choices that are good for you. Ella's not going to know the difference right now if you've got a nanny on call for the weekend or if you need to switch to formula so you can feel a little more human. Take a few days a week to take care of yourself and not just your daughter."

Focusing on entertaining Ella, Robert did his best to ignore Elizabeth as she sat in silent contemplation. It was a Herculean effort. Robert was painfully aware that to an unknowing outsider, they would paint a rather charming picture of a family having a lazy Saturday morning.

Ella had been a delight all morning. The little girl was absolutely adorable, and Robert had been pleased when he remembered the stroller tucked away in the back of a closet. Gretel had been excited as well, happily willing to mosey along at a slower pace than their normal, brisk run; she had kept Ella giggling and entertained the entire time by constantly sticking her nose in for a sniff or bouncing along in front of them playfully. It had been a serene half-hour, and As Robert passed the few other people out for early morning walks, he had briefly allowed himself to imagine that Ella was his. A very dangerous thing in retrospect now that Lizzie was awake and had taken over his couch whilst clad in her pj's.

Lost in his own thoughts, Robert missed the fact that Elizabeth had finally broken her silence. He was only brought round by a pillow to the face courtesy of Lizzie.

"Hey! What was that for?" Glaring up at her, Robert tried to ignore Ella's giggles of amusement.

"I need to know how to work that fancy coffee machine of yours, and you weren't answering me."

"Far be it from me to get between a surgeon and her coffee." Getting up, Robert picked up Ella, passing her to her mother. "Ella can tell you all about our morning adventures, and I'll make your espresso."

"You don't trust me to use your fancy machine?"

"Lizzie, it's a Rocket, and it's more expensive than the Mr. Coffee we've got in the surgeons' lounge, so yes, I don't trust you." He ignored her laughter as he left the room and drowned out her comment of "it's a Rocket?" with the sound of the coffee grinder. Roughly five minutes later, Robert reappeared in the lounge with two cups of coffee and was greeted by the sight of Elizabeth and Ella curled up watching The Muppets. They were adorable.

Passing Elizabeth her cappuccino, he sat down on the free end of the couch and watched as she took her first sip of coffee in over a year. Very clearly, the way to the surgeon's heart was with espresso if the little noises of happiness were anything to go by.

The comfortable silence that engulfed the room was occasionally broken by Ella, but Robert and Elizabeth were perfectly happy with it until more coffee and food were needed. It had turned into a rather lazy morning with Elizabeth not changing out of her pajamas until early afternoon, at which point Robert had easily convinced her to just stay another night. There was no point in going back to a hotel room just to sit there and stare at the walls.

Inevitably, Saturday turned into Sunday, and Elizabeth and Ella departed sufficiently rested and well-fed. Dreading returning to work on Monday after finally having a moment to breathe, Elizabeth resigned herself to another week of hotel life, promising herself that next weekend would be spent looking for a suitable flat.

Monday was hell.

Monday's were always hell, but this particular Monday had reached a new circle. Elizabeth had finally worked up the courage to change her contact information for the surgical emergency contact sheet, and it took every ounce of willpower not to smack the knowing look off of Shirley's face when she did it. If the entire hospital didn't know by lunch, Elizabeth would call a psych consult for the surgical nurse.

The pitying looks that followed Elizabeth around that day were met with icy glares that were enough to make people actively avoid her. Shirley even began to show hints of remorse for being the source of the gossip, but Elizabeth suspected that had more to do with the nurses taking the brunt of her displeasure. Never before had she wished for someone else's life to fall to pieces just to take the spotlight off of her, but no major gossip was coming forth to take the place of hers. The only thing of interest that happened was an unknown person had nicked a giant strap-on from a dominatrix patient and put it in Weaver's locker and the quiet news that Carter and Lewis broke up.

Tuesday was spent planning. Plans to swing by the house for more of her things, plans to meet with her lawyer on Friday, plans with a realtor on Saturday to view flats. Elizabeth had been dreading trying to arrange with Mark when the house would be empty so she could go round—dreading going back there where it happened. Where Rachell still happily lived consequence-free whilst Elizabeth and Ella were living in a hotel. Where Mark still lived in his fantasy bubble that Rachell was daughter of the year material. Where Mark proposed and Elizabeth had first bought into the lie that a shinny ring and a nice house would fix all their problems.

How na?ve she had been.

Pulling up to the house Elizabeth shook her head in exasperation. Mark had promised that he and Rachell would be out of the house for the hour she would be there that evening. Instead, his van was parked out front, and Elizabeth acknowledged that she would have been surprised if he actually stuck to that promise. She supposed he was hoping that she'd have Ella with her, and she made a mental note to arrange time for Mark to see his daughter. Elizabeth had never meant to keep Ella away from her father, just her older sister.

Letting herself in the house, Elizabeth was pleased to note that The Evil Daughter was, in fact, out for the evening. The tv wasn't on, no music blaring from the teenager's room, and no one lounging on the couch on the phone for hours. It probably hadn't been too hard in hindsight to get the teenager out of the house for the evening with how easy-going Mark tended to be with her. Despite Mark's van being parked out front, he was nowhere to be seen as well, and Elizabeth figured he was probably out on the deck to give her space.

Trudging up the stairs, Elizabeth could hear faint sounds coming from down the hall. So Mark was in the house after all, probably forgotten to tidy up and was trying to hide a pile of laundry last minute. The closer she got to the bedroom door, the louder the noise became, and in her tired state, Elizabeth didn't realize what she was walking into until it was too late.

Pushing open the door, Elizabeth found the source of the noise. Going at it in their martial bed was Mark and Susan Lewis. The sounds had been the bed creaking and soft encouraging noises from Susan. Frozen in the doorway, it took Elizabeth's mouth a full minute to catch up with her mind, and when it did, the fury it unleashed was tangible.

"Tell me, was it really so hard to wait an hour until after I'd have packed my things and left, or was the idea that I'm legally still your wife so unbearable that you need to fuck the woman you wished you married when I'm supposed to be packing?" The cold rage that had settled into her voice seeped across the room, freezing the other occupants mid-thrust.

The look of pleasure on Susan's face transformed to terror, and her eyes briefly met Elizabeth's before turning away in search of anything to cover herself with. Mark was so tense that Elizabeth thought he might have stopped breathing; she almost hoped he had. He finally recovered from the initial shock when he realized Susan was trying to grab something for modesty, and he went to pull back from her when Elizabeth crossed her arms and spoke again.

"Oh no. Don't pull out on my behalf; I'm only here to free up closest space after all."

Forcing herself to ignore the pair tangled in what was her bed, Elizabeth headed towards the closet, grabbing a suitcase from the shelf and shoveling as many things into it as possible before reaching for the next bag. The room behind her was quiet, and Elizabeth suspected its occupants too frightened of her to move. By the time the third bag was full, Elizabeth had realized her hands were shaking, and tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. Banding the bags together, she stood up straight and walked back through the bedroom and out the door towards Ella's room. The shaking had gotten worse as she stood in Ella's room and took stock, wondering how her life had gone so horribly wrong.

With tears starting to break free, Elizabeth used the last of her strength to pull herself together, grabbing a handful of things for Ella before heading downstairs. The door to the master bedroom was shut, and Elizabeth tried to block out the thought of who was hidden away in there. Upon arriving downstairs, she saw Mark standing in the entryway waiting for her. Fully dressed and looking rather sheepish, he started to open his mouth to talk, but Elizabeth cut him off before he got started.

"Don't. Just don't. There is nothing you can say that would ever fix this. It's bad enough what happened to Ella and that you wouldn't make our home safe for our infant daughter, but you've got to go and miss her appointments for lunch with Lewis, and now you can't even give me an hour to get her my things without shagging Lewis in our bed."

All of the anger left her at that moment. They both knew they should have never made it this far, and this evening was proof. The confirmation Elizabeth had needed to not feel completely gaslit in her suspicion that Mark had wished he married a different woman. He'd never gotten over Susan Lewis, and Elizabeth had supposed this outcome was just inevitable.

"I'll be filing for divorce. My lawyer has the papers drawn up, a part of me was just hoping that it was all a bad dream."

With a final glance around what once was her home, Elizabeth stepped out the door and loaded up her car. Mark watched her until she got in the driver's seat and then shut the front door. Sitting behind the wheel, she glanced at the house one last time, seeing a flicker of blond hair up in the master bedroom window—bloody cow.

Pulling away from the house, Elizabeth drove, not quite sure where she was going at first, just aware that she couldn't bring herself to go back to the hotel room and be left with her thoughts. It had taken a full ten minutes of driving for her to realize it wasn't quite so aimlessly. She was in Robert's neighborhood.

The house was dark when she pulled up, and Robert's car was nowhere to be seen. Sitting on the front step, Elizabeth could hear Gretel pacing past the foyer. Looking at her watch revealed it was eight-thirty, not horribly late, but late enough that Robert should be arriving home soon to feed his furry companion. Deciding to wait a bit longer, Elizabeth wrapped her jacket tightly about herself and looked up at the stars trying to focus on anything to keep the tears from falling.

It wasn't too long before Robert's sleek Jag turned the corner and pulled up to the house, the driver of the car being far too preoccupied with the blond woman in the passenger see to notice Elizabeth waiting at his front door until he was halfway to her.

"Lizzie! What are you doing here?" The pair had been laughing as they made their way to the door, and it had died away the moment they saw Elizabeth.

"You know it's polite to call first." The blond woman that Elizabeth suspected was Robert's girlfriend sounded none too pleased.

Mortified at yet again interrupting a couple, Elizabeth stood, trying to maintain the last of her composure. "Ah, you're right. I, ah, I'm sorry Robert, I didn't think I'd be interrupting your evening in the middle of the week. I. I should really go." Stepping past the couple, she darted towards her car.

Every step was a struggle, and Elizabeth finally stopped fighting the tears as she realized that she was, in fact, on her own. Robert could be a friend, but he had other priorities in his life, and she should have never shown up at his home in the first place.

"Lizzie, wait!" Robert started to follow after her, aware that something must have happened to drive her to his home uninvited. The slim hand of Nikki reached out to grab him and hold him back.

"Rocket, leave her, let's go inside. We've got better things we could be doing."

Robert supposed she was trying to sound sultry, but it was lost on him at that moment, and Nikki could sense that.

"Rocket." Her hands came up to rest lightly on his chest before trailing down to the waist of his trousers, lightly pulling on them as she tried to guide him towards the house. "Rocket, she's not important right now. Not more important than me."

It was the wrong thing to say, and Nikki knew it the moment she saw his face. Slapping her hands aside, Robert's face grew cold as he took a step towards the blond. His voice was low and dangerous in a way that few had heard.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Elizabeth will always be more important to me. I will always put her before you." Pulling out his wallet, he fished out two twenties. "Here, call yourself a cab and leave."

Walking down to the street, Robert let out a sigh of relief that Elizabeth hadn't left yet. She had dropped her keys whilst trying to unlock the car and had sunk down to the pavement in quiet defeat. It broke Robert's heart to see her sitting there with silent tears glistening on her cheeks. Sitting down next to her, he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a handkerchief before wiping the tears from her eyes when she turned to look at him.

Elizabeth's sniffles were only punctuated by Nikki shouting 'fuck you asshole' towards Robert as a cab pulled up rather quickly. Robert let out a silent prayer of thanks that a cab had been close by, and he wouldn't have to endure whatever tantrum Nikki would decide to throw.

"I'm sorry for ruining your evening, Robert. I didn't know where else to go."

"Ruin it? Ha. You saved me from that shrieking banshee. I should be thanking you."

The laughter was brief as it turned into a sob, and Robert wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "Hey, none of that now. You want to come in and tell me what's wrong?"

"You sure it's alright?"

"Elizabeth, I will always be here for you. So why don't we go inside and you tell me what's got you so upset, ok?" He could feel her gentle nod in agreement, and he stood up, pulling her up with him.

It took a few minutes to get inside the house and appease a very hungry Gretel, a distraction that Elizabeth was grateful for as it allowed her to filch a rather nice bottle of wine and pour herself a glass. Robert wasn't distracted long enough to miss the melancholy look that had settled on her face even after the first few sips of wine. Taking the bottle away from her, he moved it out of reach before guiding her to a barstool.

"Where's Ella?"

"With the nanny, why?"

"That's a rather large glass you've poured, and if something has upset you enough to come here in the middle of the week leaving your daughter behind, I'm a bit worried about how much more wine you'll need and how you'll get back to your hotel."

"You make it sound as if coming here is my last resort."

"It's not?" Pouring his own glass of wine, Robert leaned across the counter, watching her, trying to determine just how far he could push his questions tonight.

"My last resort would be my mother. She adores Mark to the point that I haven't told her I'd left him."

"Ouch. I guess if she's your last resort in this instance, then it's Mark who's upset you again?"

Her nod brought more tears, and Robert moved around the kitchen island to pull Elizabeth into what was supposed to be a comforting hug, yet all it brought were more tears.

"Hey, Lizzie, it's ok. You can tell me what's wrong."

Pulling back from the hug, Elizabeth looked at him only briefly before taking another sip of wine. "I went to pick up more of my things from the house; Mark was supposed to have arranged for it to be empty this evening."

"Ah. The evil stepdaughter was there."

"No. The blond mistress is more like it."

"WHAT?" Robert knew Mark Greene was an idiot where his personal life was concerned, but never did he think the man was stupid enough to actively bring another woman home while Elizabeth still had things there.

"Oh yeah, he confirmed all of my suspicions in the worst way possible. I walked into what was our room to find him, ah, balls deep in Susan Lewis. In the bed that I picked out. I ah, kept it together long enough to grab a few bags worth of clothes for myself and Ella and then left. Told him I was going to file for divorce."

It was a bombshell that she was dropping on him, and Robert's normally quick brain was struggling to keep up. He was no longer surprised at how much of a wreck Elizabeth was and couldn't help but think they needed something stronger than wine to be drinking for this conversation. With it being a work night, he knew attempting to drown her sorrow in a bottle of scotch was out of the question and instead moved towards the freezer, producing a carton of ice cream instead.

"Lizzie, can your nanny stay the night?"

"What?"

"I've got two cartons of ice cream and a bottle of wine. You're in need of some serious ice cream therapy, and frankly, I'm concerned about you going back to that hotel room and just brooding over this. If she can stay the night, then great, I don't have to worry about how to get you back there after all the wine you're probably about to consume, and if she can't, then see if she can bring Ella here to stay. I don't think you should be alone tonight after walking in on that."

Putting one carton of cookie and cream ice cream in front of her along with a spoon, Robert watched Elizabeth's face, careful to look for any signs that he had overstepped. The tiniest of smiles assured him that he hadn't.

"Thank you." She had said it so softly that he almost hadn't heard it, and it emboldened him to press on.

"Hell, just. Just stay. Stay until you figure out what it is you're going to do or where it is you're going to live. Stop feeling rushed to find something just to avoid going back to a hotel every night."

The spoon had stopped midway to her mouth that continued to fall even further open. Very slowly, Elizabeth lowered the spoon to the counter and leaned back ever so slightly. Robert could see her mind whirling away, trying to process what he said and how to respond to him.

"Robert, I. . . are you sure? I mean, I don't want to cause more issues for you-"

"Elizabeth, Nikki can get over herself. I'm far more concerned about you." His hand came up to cup her face almost automatically, and Robert wanted to curse himself for doing it. The look in her eyes told him that he was dangerously close to a line he should not cross. "Lizzie, I'm worried about you, and I'm just trying to be a friend. Right now, you clearly need a place to stay that isn't a hotel, and you need someone to talk to when this all gets too much. Or maybe just someone to supply you with wine and ice cream." A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, and Robert knew he was back on track. "Stay awhile. Eat all the ice cream. Cuddle with Gretel. Abuse the hot tub." The smile was in full bloom at the mention of the hot tub, and Robert knew he was back on track and away from a line that shall not be crossed.

"You know Robert; you still haven't learned to lead with the hot tub."

"Yeah, well, even I have a fault."

Elizabeth fell silent, choosing to take bites of ice cream and ignore Robert for the moment, something he was fine to let her do as she contemplated his offer. They stayed like that for another five minutes before she pushed away from the remainder of the ice cream and reached for her glass of wine to wash it down with.

"I'll have to tell social services where we're staying. And the nanny will need to be here with Ella during the day."

"That's fine; Adele's good at her job and won't gossip like the nursing staff does. I'm sure your nanny will enjoy being somewhere other than a hotel room as well." She was watching him closely at his response, and Robert knew she had made her decision.

"Thank you, Robert."

Moving to the opposite counter, Robert picked up the phone from its cradle and smiled to himself before turning to hand it to her. Watching her dial the number, Robert zoned out thinking about the absolute mess Greene had made of things and how badly it had hurt Elizabeth. He was so lost in his thoughts that he missed the entire call Lizzie had with her nanny, only pulled from his trance when she snaked her arms about his waist for a hug.

"The nanny is going to keep Ella overnight, then pack up most of the room tomorrow. I'll go meet them after work to bring everything over here."

"Let me know if you need any help." Wrapping his arms about her, Robert returned the hug, holding her close. Mark Greene was an absolute fool, and Robert was determined to help Elizabeth pick up the pieces from the wreckage Greene had left in his wake.