We All Have Secrets

AU . Post 3x16. Sarah and Connor connect in the most unexpected way as he treats her father. Rheese missing scene from the ep.

My Rheese feels were high today after finally catching up with the newest ep. I promised some friends I'd write something up involving the 3 seconds of interactions we had with Connor and Sarah so here it goes.

I own nothing but my poor fangirl heart.

After finding out the truth about her father, Sarah hadn't known how to process the fact that now the man in front of her was dying. He didn't have much time from what she could gather on his diagnosis from Dr. Charles's file.

And she'd been mad, disappointed and heartbroken over the kind of man her father had turned out to be, the world had a cynical way to force us to grow up and Sarah was someone who relied on facts, she'd learned to analyze things more deeply under Daniel's guidance, yet she hadn't seen the signs pointing to her father, the red flags.. or maybe she hadn't had the guts to see it because she was afraid, afraid of what she might find out.

Maybe Dr. Charles was right and she was nothing like her father but she couldn't help but wonder.

"Come on, Sarah, you can ride up with us." She'd heard Connor call her name. She hadn't seen him much lately but then again, she had kept to herself, buried in cases and she knew Connor was trying to prove to Dr. Latham he was a better fellow than Ava.

Not that she knew her that much either.

I mean she knew Connor, she knew him, she knew facts about him and recognized him as a colleague and as someone who was kind but hard headed and dedicated to his job, dedicated to the people he cared about like he'd done with his ex.

She wondered just how much that had affected him. He seemed so invested in caring for her and from what Sarah had learned, she'd moved to Minneapolis to 'Work on herself' leaving Connor and the life she had known for a year or so behind.

But mostly Connor.

"Sarah?" She had heard him again as he rushed down the hallway, but Sarah still didn't move.

She seemed to have forgotten how to.

"We stented your right coronary artery, and we placed a balloon pump now, your ejection fraction is low, so I'm afraid that you're gonna have to stay in the ICU..."

"Until a heart becomes available, well it's just as I predicted." Robert said in a calm almost catatonic way. "Though, I'll admit, I didn't expect to end up here so soon."

"You are at the highest status on the transplant list." Connor was quick to add, although he knew if a heart became available and an emergency presented itself, Robert would not be first choice because of what the system entailed for a person with the kind of recommendation Dr. Charles had made.

"But only for 30 days, If I don't get a heart by then..." He eyed Connor cautiously. "Ah, well we'll cross that bridge when we get there?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Bob." Connor smiled softly. I'll see you soon, all right?"

"Right...Oh, , do you know if, uh, Sarah's here today?" Robert asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure about that, but I can check on it for you." Connor said after a moment, then he took his leave. Although he'd known what Robert's mental persona entailed from his failed attempt at psychology plus having been raised by someone like Cornelius Rhodes, Connor felt he didn't have all the information to judge or to look at him as more than his patient, even though he was Sarah's father and a named psychopath.

But Connor did have an obligation then to treat the man so he would do so at the best of his abilities. He sighed as the elevator door opened to reveal Sarah.

"Connor..." She said with a small nod.

"Sarah." He smiled softly. "You in all day today?"

"Yes, I'm doing rounds in the ED with Dr. Charles." She said.

"Well, I thought you'd like to know your father is in a room on the floor in case you.."

"Oh." Sarah said. "That's fine, thank you." Connor nodded as if he understood where she was coming from.

The door opened and Sarah left the elevator without another word.

She was exhausted as if all her hard work and keeping her nose in a book had finally caught up with her or maybe it had been Henry Lee and his son who'd failed to show up when his father needed him most.

Sarah had felt confusion and sadness until she realized what Noah was doing. He'd gone and gave Henry one last wish by pretending to be the man's child and letting him die in peace instead of leaving the world with guilt.

It had been a kind thing to do and she was sure to let him know. Noah hadn't turned out to be half as juvenile as she'd made him out to be in the early days.

"Rough night?" A familiar voice asked behind her softly. It was Connor. She turned to offer him a smile. "Yep, me too..." She saw him open his locker and putting his jacket on. "Hey, maybe...you want to grab a drink? Molly's... Seems like we both need it."

Sarah was in utter surprise by his advancement, she'd always thought of Connor as someone so distant of her field and way out of her league if she was being honest, especially now that he seemed to spend his days in the OR, but she did remember that Connor had offered her advice when she had felt. 'a little lost' as he'd called it and comfort when Wheeler had died.

But she also remembered Connor who was almost too invested in his relationship with Robin Charles as to almost yell at her.

"I don't bite Reese.." He said with a smile.

"I wouldn't want people to get the wrong impression, especially Dr. Bekker..." Sarah said after a moment.

Oh

"And so my reputation precedes me again, although not in a good way." Connor chuckled. "Alright then, goodnight Sarah."

"But..." She said after a moment. "I guess neither of our days can't get any worse, but I thought maybe we could go somewhere else..."

They hadn't gone to Molly's. Alcohol was not something Sarah needed right now, they had sat on a bench near a hotdog cart and bought themselves a decent meal. At least that's what he'd called it as he had not forgotten the salad she had ordered that time at the food truck.

"I will never live that one down, will I?" Sarah laughed.

"Nope, sorry..." Connor smiled.

They remained quiet for a moment. "So, how's Robert?" Sarah asked finally.

Connor became instantly serious. "He will need that transplant, otherwise..."

"He will die." Sarah said.

"Yes." Connor took a minute to speak again. "Listen Sarah, I know I might be out of line here but if there's, if saying goodbye to him is something you'd like to do, I recommend you do it as soon as possible."

"I take it Dr. Charles's notes don't make him look too good on UNOS?" She said bitterly.

"No." Connor told her.

"You must think I'm a horrible person." Reese admitted. "I mean my father is dying and I have this need to turn away and run."

"You'd be surprised of just how many times I've felt like that." Connor revealed. "So I don't think I'm the person to judge." He admitted shyly. "But if there's a part of you that feels the need to let go of something, of the past, I think this the time to do it."

Sarah took a deep breath. "What would you do?"

Connor bit his lip.

"My father and I, we don't have the best track record as I'm sure you've noticed." Sarah did remember his father and it certainly beat her how a person like that could have raised someone like Connor.

"I ran away... I didn't want anything to do with him so I ran." Connor told her. "I took what I could and made everything happen so as soon as I was able to graduate I would move as far from him as I could, I was afraid really of what kind of person I would be if I stayed."

Sarah was in awe of the fact that she had found out something about Connor Rhodes from Connor himself. "You are nothing like him." She said as the feeling wore off. "Your father, I've met him and you are nothing like him."

Connor laughed bitterly. "Thank you?"

"I'm serious, you should give yourself some credit."

"So should you." He said. "You have come so far Sarah, really.. you're a good doctor and you will be great. Give it time."

"I don't think so, every time I feel like I'm moving forward, something pulls me back, whether it's the fear of failing or my father's abandonment or maybe the notion that I turn into him."

"Listen to me Reese." He told her, his blue eyes turned darker as the night dawned on them. "He's sick and you're not. You couldn't possibly be like him."

"How are you so sure?" She asked.

"How are you so sure I am nothing like my father?" Connor countered.

"Have you considered Psychology?" Sarah bit her lip. "We could use someone like you."

"Ah, no... not really." He admitted as his body relaxed a bit. "Seeing the things I can fix in plain sight, that's more of my thing."

"So you know you'll be able to fix them?" She offered him a kind smile.

"Most times, yeah." Connor admitted. He'd found it extremely easy to talk to Sarah, in all his time at Med, he'd never taken a notice in her, not much anyway, until now. "Come on, we should probably get going, it's late."

They were in walking proximity of the hospital so he walked her to her car. She suddenly felt self conscious of the state of her vehicle.

That she was up to her head in student loans and he was loaded.

That she was Sarah Reese and he was Connor Rhodes.

"This is me." She told him.

"Right." Connor moved to open the door for her as soon as she unlocked it. "Let me."

"Thanks." She smiled. "Goodnight Connor."

"Goodnight Sarah."

So... What did you think? One shot for now but might turn into more. Please review!