"We don't have to go tonight if you don't want to" Connor told her as they pulled into med. There was yet another donor Gala tonight, the last one before the big New Years one. It was Ava's first week back at the hospital and she was expected to attend all events like normal.
"No, it's fine. I want to go anyway, I can't just rotate between med and your apartment"
"Our apartment, Ava" Connor corrected her.
Ava pursed her lips as she got out of the car, it still felt wrong to say it. They walked into med together in silence until a gurney came crashing in behind them.
"Dr. Bekker, we need you, emergency surgery"
"Of course" she replied.
Connor gently brushed his hand on her waist while taking her bag from her, sending shivers down his arm. "Go" he urged her.
Ava ran into the lift after the patient. She hopped out when it dinged on the CT floor.
"Get him prepped and give him a round of saline" she told them while she went to go scrub in.
"Dr. Bekker" a voice called after her as she held the or door open.
"Yes"
"Your prescription is ready for collection" the pharmacist told her.
"Thank you, I'll pick it up after shift" she moved to go into the OR.
"Pharmacy closes at 4pm"
Ava turned about around, trying to find a solution, she needed her meds.
"I can have them shipped to your address, the hospital offers that to staff"
"Yes, that's perfect thank you so much" Ava said hurriedly, running into the scrub room.
*
Ava runs her hand through her hair as she gets out of the lift.
"Long shift?" Connor asks, appearing at her side.
"Exceptionally" Ava replies with a weak smile. Waking out of the ED she catches Will's eye who gives her a look she can't quite read. She quickly throws her eyes the other way to distract herself.
"We don't have to go if you're too tired" he reminds her as they pull out of med.
"Connor I would tell you if I didn't want to go, besides it'll be good for the hospital" she shrugs, closing her eyes.
"Okey but we can leave whenever you want, I can only handle so many hours at these things anyway"
"We can always go hide in the on call room" Ava joked, keeping her eyes shut.
"Ava it isn't at the hospital this time, it's in this nice building on 175th. You'll like it, it's got a great sky garden"
"Sounds lovely" Ava exhale softly, closing her eye.
Connor waited at the kitchen table for Ava, taking out his phone he expected Ava to take a long time getting ready. Before Connor could open anything he heard a door click open and light thumps of high heels across the wooden floors.
"Do you think this is appropriate?" Ava asked, stopping to adjust her earring.
Ava was dressed in a black, backless dress that was held up with two thin straps. There was a deep plunging v-neck line, and a slit up her thigh with fabric pooling at her feet. Ava had finished the look off with matching silver sparkly heels and drop earrings.
Connor had to remind himself to pick his jaw up off the floor and speak, "Yeah, yeah. Very appropriate" he snaps his eyes away from her.
"I figured if people were going to stare they might as well look at the scar on my chest, then question the one on my neck"
Ava walked to the door, flicking her long blonde hair over her bare back. Ava had let her hair grow out since getting out of hospital and it now lay down her back in blonde ringlets.
"Your ties crooked" she stopped him, her hands on his tie before she could even realise how intimate a position this was. Ava didn't meet his eye as she adjust his tie to make it straight.
"Thanks" he said softly, Ava's hand still resting on his chest.
"I could drive, if you want to have a drink" she suggested awkwardly, running her palms down the front of her skirt.
"Sure yeah, if your comfortable with that" he hold his car keys out to her.
"Oh, no, no" she pushed the keys back to him.
"I am not driving that death trap" she told her, taking her own car keys from the bowl.
"You never seemed to have an issue being in it before?"
"That's different, I wasn't driving. It's goes too fast" she told him as they left the apartment.
Ava drove them to the venue, following Connors directions. She switched from her flats back into her heels when they arrived. Ava flipped down the mirror above her head and took out a tube of lipstick, tracing her lips carefully. When Ava had just passed her Cupid's bow her hand let out a little tremor.
"Dam it" Ava cursed.
"Here, let me" Connor took the tube from her hand and held her chin, finishing of the line for her.
"Thank you" Ava smiled in his hand, rubbing her lips together.
"It's just because I'm a little nervous" she said, pulling back, popping her lipstick into her purse.
"There's nothing to worry about" he assured her, getting out of the car.
"Oh wow" Ava said as they walked up to the building.
"Pros of having wealthy donors" Connor joked, holding the door open for her.
"Always the gentleman" she teased him walking through the lobby and up to the lifts.
The lift doors close behind them and they start being lifted into the sky. Standing in opposite sides of the lift, Ava smiles down at the street below them.
"Chicago's always so pretty at night" she sighs softly, studying the ground below her.
"Do you ever miss anything about Capetown?" He asks suddenly, drawing Ava's attention to him.
"The mountains. We have a fair few high rise buildings, but wherever you go you can see the mountains over the buildings. I always like to think they were watching out for us all. And the stars, when there were power cuts you could see hundreds of them"
Ava looks back up to Connor, who smiles to her, listening intently to her story.
"I told you that was the wrong floor!" Sharron's voice floods into the lift as the doors open in the ninth floor.
"I could have sworn it was the ninth" Daniel replies as they step into the lift.
"Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Bekker, lovely to see you both at this event" Sharron greeted them.
"So it's floor nineteen then?" Daniel comforted as the doors closed behind him.
Ava gave him a nod and a light smile while the lift took them up.
"So Dr. Bekker you've chosen to stay at med I seen?" Sharron says.
"Yes" Ava confirms, glancing to Connor. "For the foreseeable future"
"Well we'll always love having you"
They exit the lift onto the nineteenth floor which is alive with party.
Sharron and Daniel head off to one side to speak to someone while Ava and Connor stick together.
"Dr. Bekker, Dr. Rhodes. A comment for the Chicago times about your attack?" A reporter asks coming up to them. "No thank you" Ava says coldly walking past him.
"I didn't think they'd be so blunt" Ava whispers to Connor as they make their way to the bar.
Connor go a whiskey and Ava just got a Sicilian lemonade.
"Dr. Bekker I'm Sarah Biden, I'm one of the donors on the hospital board. I just wanted to say how sorry I am for want happen, I hope your recovering well" she said quickly, placing a hand on Ava's arm.
"Thank you" Ava gave her a fake smile before she walked away.
"I feel like such a fraud" Ava whisper, turning to lean back on the table.
"C'mom Ava, Sharron decided to go with that, you had to follow" He said softly back to her and Ava nodded in agreement.
"It would be worse if they knew" she shook her head, turning back around.
Connor placed his hand discreetly in Ava's wrist, rubbing his thumb over hand in support. A light clinking sound came over the room and Connor pulled his hand away. Sharron made her way up onto the stage in front of the mic.
"Thank you all for coming today, our wonderful donors" she greeted them.
"You donations have helped countless people, build our famous hybrid OR room, and had helped Gaffney grow to the beauty we see today. Some of the best of our best are out in the crowd. Sam Abram and of course of amazing Cardiothoracic surgeon duo"
Ava smiled at the mention of her and Connor, knowing the cameras would be on them at their mention.
"We have some new and exciting projects coming up in the hospital, a new maternity ward refurbishment and some new chemo treatments that will be getting trialed. Gaffney would also like to announce our first wellbeing and anti-suicide course and team"
Ava threw her glance down to the table at that mention.
"Ava I didn't know" Connor mouthed to her as she looked up to him.
"After the death of the late Dr. Wheeler at our hospital three years ago, we felt that enough wasn't down to prevent doctor and nurses suicide." Sharron says, swallowing.
"A doctor and other medical staff have some of the highest suicide rates, and it should be a national headline every time it happens. I refused to let my people go on in a system like that" she said confidently.
"Starting next month we will have a complete reform about how staff and med students are to be treated and we will be taking up a see something say something policy. Thank you for all your support with all of our programmes, I hope your will show this one the same love."
Sharron stepped down from the podium as everyone applauded. Ava swallowed the lump in her throat and clapped for Sharron.
"I'm going to get another drink" Ava excused herself before Connor could object. She was tempted to order a proper drink to cope with the feeling rising in her chest but managed to order a second lemonade instead.
"You feeling okey?" Daniel asked joining her at the bar.
Ava glanced around the room, seeing all the familiar faces, knowing the one she feared the most wasn't around.
"Yeah, i know he's not here" she said quietly into her glass.
"I was surprised by Sharron's announcement"
"It was a long time coming Ava" Daniel told her, knowing exactly what she meant.
Ava hummed in agreement, nursing her glass.
"What is that, lemonade?" Dr. Charles asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Sicilian Lemonade, can't stand the American stuff" she chuckled, taking a sip.
"I'm driving tonight as well, so no champagne for me"
"So you and Dr. Rhodes..." he began, throwing an eye back to Connor.
"Are good friends" she dismissed his insinuation.
"And you and Sharron are?"
"Good friends" Daniel finished for her, laughing into his wine.
Daniel and Ava finished catching up as the party came alive. Daniel said his goodbyes to Ava and went to go dance with Sharron. Ava left her empty glass at the bar and went to go find Connor. After making a round of the room and stopping to chat to several people Ava eventually spotted a figure outside in the dark.
"Connor?" Ava questioned stepping outside onto the balcony.
He turned his head to face her, "Hey, just needed to get away for a moment" he told her, straightening his back as he stood up from the railing.
"Mhm" Ava nodded in the dark, studying the scene around her. The balcony was surround by plants but and small growing out of big planters. They seemed to muffle the sounds of the city around them, putting them in a bubble of silence.
"Come here" Connor nodded to his side.
"I'm okey over here" Ava said stiffly, standing against the window.
"Come on, I want to show you the view" he told her, reaching out a hand. Ava shook her head in the dark, Connor should see her curls swirl around her.
"What's wrong?" Connor asked, worried something had happened. Ava stayed silent in the dark, Connor couldn't really make out her face.
"I'm scared of heights" Ava said quickly.
"What, like Acrophobia?" He laughs
"No, it's not severe or irrational" she defended. "We're nineteen floors up, that's a big drop"
"Come on" Connor walked over to her, his hand out stretched. "I won't let anything happen to you Ava"
They were in complete silence as Ava gazed into his eyes, his hand between them.
Give him a chance
Ava reached out her hand and clasped his, Connor pulled her towards him, guiding her to the edge of the balcony. "You know your wearing high heels right?"
"Yes Connor, the extra three inches are terrifying" she laughed as Connor walked her forward.
Ava slowed her pace as they reached the rail.
"Just hold onto the railing" he guided Ava's arm out and she grasped the rail.
"See, I got you" Connor told her keeping his hands on her waist. He felt her relax under his hands as she studied the sky line. "It's even better a night" she breathed, taking in the sights.
She closed her eyes, she could feel Connors warm breath on her bare shoulder behind her. The familiar scent of his cologne seemed in engulf her, giving her a strange sense of warmth and safety. Connor kept his arms in her waist, feeling the soft fabric of her dress draped over her skin. Ava wasn't wearing her signature lilac perfume, but Connor could smell the vanilla from her body wash and the lemon from her breath.
"Everything seems so small from up here" Ava smiled. "It's weird to think Gaffney's out there somewhere"
Connor didn't say anything, he didn't want to say anything, he just wanted Ava to keep talking, about anything and for her to stay in his arms.
"Cat got your tongue?" Ava glanced back to looked at him.
Connor smiled and shook his head, Ava giggled under his hands, sending vibrations up Connors arms. It was so peaceful, so sweet, the only sound out here was Ava's sweet laugh.
"So whats your fear of heights?' Ava asked, relaxing back into his arms.
"Don't have one" he said softly, studying the sky.
Ava turned her head in doubt, "Nothing?, come on everyone's scared of something"
"No seriously, nothing really scares me" Connor laughed.
"Hm, sure, okey" Ava chuckled.
After a moment they realised they'd both been staring at each other, for longer the would have been appropriate. Ava realises she should turn her head back, but she was frozen, mesmerised by Connors blue eyes. The same eyes that were trailing down to her reddened lips. Ava tilted her head up and Connor moved to close what little space there was between them.
Suddenly the balcony exploded with noise as the door was opened behind them. Ava changed the positioning of her head to see Dr. Charles lingering in the doorway. Connor pulled back, trying to put an appropriate "we're just two colleges" distance between them.
The door shut again and they were brought back to the bubble of silence. Ava met his eye again, placing her hands on top of his on her waist.
"We should go back inside" she almost whispered, not wanting to disturb the tranquility of the setting.
Connor nodded stiffly before releasing her waist. Ava pulled the glass door open for Connor, "Always such a lady" he softly teased her, walking inside even though he never wanted to leave that balcony, that peace with Ava.
The party continued and Connor and Ava kept their distance, their eyes only meeting from across the rooms. Only when the evening was coming to an end did Ava find herself at Connors side again.
"Are you ready to head home?" Ava asked quietly, coming to his side.
"Yeah" he smiled, finishing his drink with a smile.
"What?" Ava question his sudden change in mood.
"Nothing" he smiled again, walking Ava to the exit of the hall.
"It's just you called the apartment home"
Ava smiled and shakes her head, remembering her words. Before she can interject she's met with two familiar faces.
"Leaving us so soon" Sharron asked, catching them before they left.
"It's was a lovely night, but I agreed to drive Connor home" Ava tells her.
"Ah, it's nice to see two looking out for each other" she tells them with a smile.
Ava can't help but notice Daniel lurking behind Sharron. Ava's eyes study the floor, avoiding his eye, knowing that he saw them on the balcony.
"Goodnight" Connor smiles at both of them, exuding themselves as they left the hall.
The lift ride was awkward to say the least. Without other people around them they had very little to say to each other, especially after the balcony. They left the lift together and left the quite lobby, Ava immediately shivered as she stepped into the cold Chicago night.
Connor pulled his suit jacket off, moving to drape it over her shoulders and bare back.
"I'm okey, Connor" she told him, but he gave her one of those determined looks and put it over her shoulders anyway. They walked to Ava's car in silence, when she got into the drivers seat she slipped off her heels and traded them for a pair of ballet flats so she could drive. Ava turned on the engine and the radio came to life, thankfully making the journey seem less awkward. Ava kept her lips pursed for most of the journey, thinking of this to say to start a conversation but then stoping at the last second.
Ava pulled into the underground car park of Connors apartment before she knew they were their.
"Their apartment" echoed in her head.
Another short elevator ride had them at the apartment door, Connor let them in and Ava walked in with her heels in her hands.
"Did you have a good time tonight?" She finally manages to ask, slipping off her shoes.
"Yeah, I had a great time" he says, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek.
Ava slips his jackey off her shoulders, "I'm going to go get ready for bed, thank you" she tells him, holding out the jacket. Connor takes it from her and smiles, "Anytime" a smile that she returns before going to her room.
Connor strips off his suit and pulls on a pair of pyjama bottoms and a hoodie. He always slept shirtless but had gotten into the habit of not walking around the more public parts of the apartment shirtless because he didn't want to make Ava uncomfortable.
Connor sat down in the sofa, it was half eleven but he needed to calm his mind for a bit before trying to sleep. He flicked on the news and muted it in use Ava was already asleep.
He head a click behind his head and turned to see Ava sheepishly walking down the hall, her face a little flustered.
"Your still in your dress?" He asked, confused as to why she hadn't gotten changed.
"I can't reach the zipper" she grumbled, pursuing her lips into a line.
Connor chuckled and spun his finger to motion for her to turn around. Ava obliged and brushed her long hair off her back and into her hands.
Connor came up behind her and grabbed the zip in the back of Ava's dress, pulling it down slowly. Ava could feel his breath on her back, feeling him inhale as if he was about to say something.
"Claustrophobia"
"Pardon?" Ava turned to him, holding the front of her dress up with her hands.
"I'm claustrophobic" he admitted,
"Small spaces?"
"Like how small" she asked.
"Like a closet small"
Ava looked him up and down and nodded with a little smirk, "okey"
"Well we'll just have to avoid very high up wardrobes then, won't we, Dr Rhodes?" Ava nodded knowingly,
"Goodnight Connor" she smirked, turning back to her room.
"Goodnight Ava" he called after her, watching her go.