Four-and-a-half years later, Peter Benton was back in Chicago. It was a snowy Sunday morning in December and he was walking into Doc Magoo's to get a coffee. He was looking for a place to sit when he spotted a familiar head of unruly chestnut curls perched at the counter. A grin spread across his face, and he made his way over to her.
"Elizabeth Corday," he said as he sat down next to her. "What a lovely surprise."
She nearly jumped out of her seat at the sight of him, but then regained her composure and replied, "Peter Benton. I can honestly say I never thought I'd see you again."
"Well," he said, "here I am."
"Are you visiting?"
"No, actually, I'm moving back here."
"Really?" she raised her eyebrows.
He nodded, ordering a cup of coffee from the waitress as she passed by.
"When you say 'I', do you mean you and Cleo, or..." she trailed off.
"Nope. Just me," Peter said. "Cleo and I, uh, well, we broke up about a year ago."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We agreed to end it because, well, we both knew our relationship wasn't going anywhere."
"I see," Elizabeth said, becoming very interested in examining her coffee mug. "Are you seeing anyone now?"
"No. Are you?"
"No. I've been with a few men, but," she shrugged, "none of it meant anything."
He nodded. "Well, how's everything at County?"
"Good, good, everyone's good. They'll be happy to see you."
He smiled.
"You are going to work, aren't you?"
"Yeah...I don't know where, though. Not sure what I want to do."
"Well, you'll figure it out, I'm sure."
"So how have you been?" he asked.
She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, fine. I went back to England for a little while, but I found out that I don't really belong there anymore."
"So you're staying here, then?"
"Yes. Chicago is my home now," she said with a chuckle. "How was your time in New York?"
"Good enough," he shrugged, "but I guess I realized the same thing you did; that I belong here."
They spent the next two hours catching up on their lives and falling back into their easy rhythm of conversation.
"Well, I'd better be going," she said when she checked her watch.
"Wow, we've been here longer than I thought!" he exclaimed, checking his as well.
"I'll see you around," she called as she opened the door.
"Hey, do you want to walk around and look at lights when you get off work tomorrow?"
"Sure!" she nodded. "That would be great! I get off around six. Does that work for you?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
**********
Elizabeth couldn't sleep that night. No matter how hard she tried to think about beaches or Christmas trees, dogs or rainbows or the surgeries scheduled for the next day, her thoughts always ended up drifting back to Peter. She hadn't forgotten what Cleo had told her all that time ago, about him still having feelings for her. She wasn't sure if it was still true or not, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted it to be. But she couldn't seem to divert her mind anyplace else.
