Normal | Rhekker

Prolouge- I

Ava huffed as she lifted the last box into her new apartment. All of them had been carefully labelled in a mix of Connors and Ava's hand writing. Her new mattress had been delivered and stood against one bare wall of her new home.

She'd have to repaint, that was the first decision she'd made, the walls were a depressing off white colour throughout the whole apartment. She pushed with her hip and got the mattress into what would be her bedroom. Ava's new apartment was noticeably smaller then her old one in Chicago, and the rent was noticeably more expensive. She unpacked the most important things- her scrubs, laptop, kitchen ware and foot ware- first and set them in their new homes. She had no furniture in New York, the first item of her long list of things she needed to do. She was due in the hospital from Monday so she needed to do that soon. Ava looked through a magazine she had picked up from a corner shop and found a local take away to order for dinner.

Ava stood with her back to the mattress and it fell back. She unpacked her bedding and pillows and lay them out on her mattress like she wanted. Surrounding herself in the duvet she fell back into the bed, sending the mattress several inches away from the wall. Ava giggled and felt something hard on her side, her phone sticking out of her leggings.
Ava picked it up and instantly pressed the call sigh. The phone rang for quite a while and just as Ava was loosing hope the tone sounded.

"Ava!" He practically shouted down the line.

"Missing me that much already?" She laughs, starring at the ceiling.

"I thought I'd missed you" he chuckled into the line.

"Where are you?"

"I am in my new apartment, laying on my mattress on the floor. Waiting for a takeaway dinner delivery, didn't get a chance to go food shopping yet"

"Dinner?" Connor questioned.

"Yeah, it's 19.30pm, I'm well past dinner time" she rubbed her brow.

"Ah, yes. It's only half six here"

"Oh, of course" Ava brought a hand to her face, "I forgot about the time difference, got you've probably only just got off work"

"Yeah, I'm just pulling into the apartment car park when you rang"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, your probably tired I shouldn't have rang-"

"Ava, I asked you ring me once you were settled"  he reminded her, getting out of his car.

"Ah, right" Ava rolled onto her stomach.

"So anyone new in Dr. Rhodes love life?" Ava smirked.

Connor smiled into the line as he pressed the elevator button, "no, no one new"

"God, how terribly dull, I didn't think you'd take so long to move on. Are you seriously that heartbroken over me?" She teased.

"Yes, you know I may actually become a recluse from my grief, and just spend every second of every day thinking about you" he joked he flopped down on his bed in a smiler way he imagined Ava to be.

"Ah well you can do that while still going out and being a great surgeon, can't you?"

"I'll try"

The line was silent for a moment.

"The apartments quite without you" he said with his eyes closed.

Ava pursed her lips, "you'll get used to it" she assured him.

"Or hey, take a leaf out of my book, get a fish to keep you company"

"Yeah, yeah I might look into something like that"

Connor could hear the doorbell ring on the end of the line and some rustling as Ava answered the door. He heard a distant "thanks" before the door shut behind her.

"Hello?"

"Hey"

"Just making sure I hadn't lost you" Connor heard her a rummage through a bag.

"I can leave you to eat if you want"?"

"No, no, you know I hate eating alone and I've got just a mattress and fridge to keep me company here, so" Ava puts him on speaker phone so she can eat and talk at the same time.

"Alright, what's on the menu then?"

"Vegetarian curry" Ava told him, begging to eat her rice, potatoes, beans and carrots.

"Nice" he sits up from his bed, walking around the house to do a few things.

"So how's the new place?"

"Dam cold, heating doesn't get turned on till tomorrow" Ava munchies away, getting up from the kitchen counter to get a hoodie.

"Tough, you think with all those blankets you'd be warm enough" he smirks.

"Mhm, you'd think" she put her phone on the counter to pulled the hoodie over her head.

"So you've got you're own balchlorette pat now, look at you"

"No all of us get around as much as you, especially not when their running a new floor"

"Yeah, we'll see. Hey have you seen my Blackhawks hoodie?" He asked while he has her in the line.

"No" Ava shakes her head, tracing the Blackhawk logo on her chest, still smelling his cologne on the collar.

"I must have put it away someone and forgot about it, it doesn't matter" he brushes it off.

"Oh actually have you seen my bottle of vanilla perfume? I had a little bit left but I can't find the bottle"

"No I haven't seen it" Connor says, eyeing the bottle in his bedside cabinet, closing the door quickly.

"Ah well, I was kind of going off that scent anyway, might be time for something new"

"Speaking of something new, I've got my new therapist, as Daniel will be over joyed to hear"

"That's good"

"Yeah, I have my first appointment on Monday after work. Are you still seeing Violet?"

"Yes, promise not to go a-wall again"

"So has the hospital fallen apart without me?" Ava dropped her empty take out container into the bin.

"Oh not yet, but I'd say we're near the brink"

Ava laid back on her mattress, snuggling into her duvet.

"I miss you" she breathed, closing her eyes she pushed the hair from her face.

"I miss you too" Connor closed his eyes, laying back on his bed.

They were quite for a minute until Connor hear light snoring on the other end of the line.

"Goodnight, Avery"

A/n: were back 🎉
You have no idea how big this is for me, starting the sequel to Getting Back to Normal. Ending "Getting back to normal" was very emotional, Something that I'd worked on for over a year coming to an end; I'm so glad to have shared it all with you.
Nothing was really done to this squeal, "Normal" for a little while. The day after I ended "Getting back to Normal" I actually got quite sick for a few weeks. I have picked it back up, I had a lot of  it thought out and planned while I was still writing GBTN. 

Can't wait for you to see the rest 💓