Getting back to "Normal" | Rhekker

Chapter 26- Returns

"Hey Connor when's Ava coming back?" Maggie asked as he was leaving for the day.
"Tomorrow, actually she got cleared last week for work"
"Oh that's great!"
"Yeah, Mags I know everyone's going to be happy to see her back but can we just keep everything low-key. She's nervous about coming back, even if she won't admit it"
"Of course, anyone would be nervous after everything she's been through"
"Dose she need someone to walk her to her car?" April asked coming over with Nat.
"Yeah, I know you all mean well but that's exactly what I mean, she just wants to get back to her job as it was before"
"Okey, yeah we can do that" Nat agreed.

Connor said goodbye to them getting into his Porsche.
"Ava I'm home" he called into the apartment.
"Hey" she stuck her head up from the sofa. She was curled up at one end, her knee bouncing under her blanket.
Connor watched her knee and her anxious movements.
"You nervous about tomorrow?" He asked eyeing her up.
"What, me? No" Ava brushed it off.
"It's okey if you are"
"I'm not" Ava said quietly.
"Okey then" Connor said as his phone buzzed on the counter and Ava's buzzed next to her.
"Anti-depressants" he called out.
Ava eyes him up and down, "you put alarms on your phone for my meds?"
"Yeah, not that I don't trust you. It's just incase you sleep through another alarm"
Ava smiled sincerely, "Thank you"

She got up and got her medicine box, "I'm like a walking pharmacy at this point" she joked, throwing back her pills with some water.
Ava gazed down at the bottom of her empty glass.
"Maybe little nervous about tomorrow" she whispered, biting her lip.
"It'll be okey Ava" he told her, placing a hand on her upper arm.
"I know" she nodded, putting her glass in the sink.
"Do you want me to stay up with you for a little bit?" Connor asked.
"No, you don't need to do that, I'll be going to bed soon anyway"
"Okey then, I'll head to bed" he told her.
"Night" Ava smile over her shoulder to him.

Ava was tossing and turning all night long, it was a mix of excitement and nerves at the idea of going back to work. She woke up ten minutes before her alarm but couldn't get back to sleep. Switching off her phone Ava went to shower, sobbing silently which had become the routine when she was here. Ava muffled her cries and steadied her breathing, Shaving her legs once she was calm. Ava did her skin care and looked at herself in the full wall mirror above the bathroom sink. Her towel was slightly low hanging, exposing her heart surgery scar. Ava pulled her towel down lower, tracing the scar with her finger, tilting her head she did the same with the one on her neck. Ava didn't think while she did this, her mind was blank as she walked out of the bathroom, colliding with another body.
"Connor" Ava gasped, pulling her towel higher.
"You're up early" Connor chuckled , keeping his eyes on Ava's face.
"Couldn't sleep," she pursed her lips and shook her head. Quickly walking past him into her room.

Ava got changed into a fresh pair of scrubs and wandered into the kitchen. Winter was well underway in Chicago and dawn and yet to break. Ava watched the lights of Chicago from the kitchen counter, sipping on her coffee. The under cabinet lights flick on behind her and Ava's eyes are drawn to the culprit.
"I made you a latte" Ava says, pushing the travel mug towards him.
"You don't have to keep doing that every morning" he told her, going her at the counter.
"I wanted to" she shrugged, taking a sip of her own.
"Thank you" he takes it graciously, taking his first sip, Ava had managed to get it right every time.
"Are you okey?"
"Yeah why?" Connor asks, sipping his latte.
Ava studied his face in the light, "You just look a bit tired"
"Always with the compliaments" he shook his head, "I'm fine, just a rough night"

Ava held her mug with both hands as she looked out the window. She felt a tingling on her neck, turning her head she noticed Connor watched her intently.
"I miss seeing you in these" he says softly, staring at her chest.
"Scrubs, I mean"
"Oh well lucky for you Dr. Rhodes I'm in these all day" Ava pushed herself off the counter.
They grab their jackets and coffee and head out the door.

When Ava and Connor entered the ED they immediately noticed the stares and whispers.
"C'mon Ava" Connor urged her walking to the elevator doors. Ava exhaled as the doors closed, rubbing her brow.
"Maybe this was a mistake" Ava muttered.
"No Ava, you deserve to be here just as much as everyone else. Give it a week and they'll have moved on to something else" he assured her.
"Yeah" Ava lifted her head up, closing her eyes.
"Wait why are you coming up to CT with me?"
"Maybe I just enjoy your company" he smiled, "I'll head back down, just wanted to talk to you before your first day back"
"Thank you, Connor" Ava smiled tilting her head before getting off at her floor.

*

"Dr. Rhodes your needed in CT, surgery assist" Maggie called over to him.
"Got it" he called, hitting the button on the lift.
"Well if it isn't my favourite second in surgery" Ava smiled as Connor walked into the scrub room.
"Always a delight, Dr. Bekker" Connor started scrubbing in.
"What have we got" Connor started eyeing the patient.
"Value reconstruction, should take five hours, I think we can do it in four"
"Someone's confident" Connor bumped his hip against his.
It was like nothing had happened, the scrub room jokes, hip bumps and the competition.

"You ready to go?" Ava asked, drying her hands.
"Be right in" he told her over her shoulder as Ava entered the scrub room with her hip.
Connor followed her into the OR and took the second position by the table.
Ava was glancing around the OR watching the floor and the patient.
"Dr. Bekker" Connor said, reminding her of what she was doing. Ava met Connors eyes over their masks, his eyes were caring and soft as he gazed to her.
Ava took a deep breath, "Scalpel to me"
Ava made the first incision into the patients chest.

Before Ava knew it her twelve hour shift was over. The elevator door opened with a ding and Ava walked to the ED doctors lounge. Connor spots her in the doorway and smiles.
"How was your first day back?" He asked, closing his locker.
"Exhausting" Ava smiles, "But I've missed this"
"You ready to go?" He asked, pulling on his jacket.
He and Ava left the lounge together and make their way to the exit.
"Dr. Bekker" Lankin stopped her.
"Do you want me to walk you out?"
"No thank you, Lankin. I think Dr. Rhodes has it covered" Ava apologetically smiles to him.
Ava turns to leave with Connor before she's called back again.

"Ava, some of the girls from the ED are going to Molly's for drinks at the weekend if your interested?" Maggie told her.
"Yeah, that sounds nice, thanks"
"I'll go too, I have a feeling this is going to be a tough week" Connors says, knowing how many surgeries he has planned.
"Dr. Rhodes did you not hear me when I said the ED girls" Maggie sassed him.
"But Ava's from CT" he argued.
"Ava was invited" April reminds him.
"Goodnight" Ava tells the girls, ending the conversation there.

"Why was Lankin asking to walk you out of the ED?" Connor asked as they pulled out of the med car park.
"He and three other male members of staff, kindly gave me their numbers so I could ring them if I didn't want to walk to my car alone" Ava smiles to him, knowing exactly why these men were giving her their numbers.
"How thoughtful" Connor said through gritted teeth.
"Other then that how was it like back in the saddle"
"Good yeah, everyone says hello to me, even people from the orthopaedic floor which I would never go to. That will all die off soon though. How did you like having me to boss you around again?"
"Loved every second of it" Connor laughed.
"You okey, after being back in the OR?" Connor glances to her, taking on a more serious tone.
"Yeah" Ava pursed her lips, "it's was uncomfortable at first, given what last happened in there. But I have more happy memories in that OR to out way that one"
Connor smiled at the fact that Ava thought of their time together in the OR as happy memories.