Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except Erin

Spoilers: "I Don't" and "The Honeymoon's Over"

Content Warning: None…right now…

Summary: Ray returns to County after two years of rehab with a surprise.

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Ray sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. After two years, he was returning to County as a new attending. Things had changed since the accident. He changed; County changed. Life, he long since discovered moved on without hesitating to realise his life had changed dramatically. He smiled as he put on his jacket. For the first time, he felt alive; normal. He felt as though nothing had changed. Until he moved. The first step was always the hardest first thing after putting his prosthetics on. It was then that he was reminded that his life had changed.

He leaned against the doorframe and gathered his thoughts. How the hell am I going to make it through today? He straightened himself up and grabbed his keys and left.

Greg Pratt was standing at the admit desk when he looked up. "Ray!" He greeted his old friend with a hug. "Glad you took me up on my offer."

"Great to be back, Pratt." Ray smiled.

"I heard rumors that you'd be coming back, Barnett." Archie Morris shook Ray's hand in a ridiculous attempt to be cool. "Welcome back."

"Thanks." Ray adjusted his pack. "Doctor's Lounge in the same place?"

"Yeah. I'll show you where your locker's at." Pratt smiled. He walked beside Ray. "So, tell us. How was Baton Rouge?"

Ray laughed. "You should have visited." He sighed. "It was all…" The door to the lounge opened and Neela walked out.

"Ray!" Neela uncharacteristically gave Ray a big hug. "Glad you're back. Listen, I would like to talk to you when you can spare a moment."

"Easy, Neela!" Pratt laughed. "It's his first day back. Let him get back into the swing of things, okay?"

"Sure. See you around, Ray."

Ray sighed heavily. He hadn't expected to see Neela on his first day back. "So…"

"She's not been the same since you left, Ray." Pratt spoke softly.

"Yeah, Pratt? Neither have I. In case you haven't noticed, I lost my legs."

"Because you got drunk and…"

"Sure. But she made her choice, Pratt, and I wasn't it." Ray looked around. "So, which locker's mine?"

"Excuse me?" A tall blonde stood at the admit desk where Tony Gates was working on a chart.

He looked up and smiled. "How can I be of service to you?"

The blonde scoffed. "You can find Ray Barnett for me."

"He's with a patient right now, but if you need…"

"Erin!" Ray's voice rang out. "What are you doing here?"

"Not happy to see me?" She playfully pouted.

"Not at all. I told you I don't want to see you." Ray teased back.

"Well, then, I guess that's all there is then." She smiled.

"Pratt, I'm going to lunch." Ray told the new Chief of the ER.

"You have half an hour, Ray." Pratt smiled. "Make good use of it."

Ray smiled as he and Erin left. "So, what brings you by?"

"Well, I was here for the interview anyway and…"

"How'd that go?" Ray stopped at the coffee stand and got two cups of coffee.

"I start in two weeks. We'll be on opposite shifts for a while, but we can handle it, I'm sure." She took her coffee from Ray. "Thanks." They found a bench and sat down. "You forgot something this morning." She took out a ring and handed it to him. "Now, you either learn to put those things on with it on or you wake me up and I'll…"

"I couldn't wake you. You looked so beautiful sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you."

"That's never stopped you before." She wrapped her arm in his.

"Okay…no one has deserved to sleep more than you. After all the shit you've gone through with me and this move and everything."

Erin smiled. "It's okay. How's the first day back going?"

"Other than a little sore, I suppose I'm alright. I thought that I'd be used to these things by now, but as I work I find that I'm not."

"You'll be fine. But, don't push it too hard, okay? I don't want to have to worry about you anymore than I already do."

"You don't worry about me." Ray gently nudged her.

Erin smiled. "Okay. Fine. But, what will you do when you see her?"

"I already saw her."

Erin sighed. "I don't want to sound like the jealous insecure wife, but how is this going to work, Ray? You working so closely with the woman who held your heart before I did?"

Ray kissed his wife's forehead. "It'll be fine." He adjusted himself so that his arm was firmly around her shoulders. "Whatever I had for Neela is gone. She made her choice and luckily for me, I'm an idiot." Ray smiled. "If I hadn't been so stupid that night, I'd not be here, right now, with you, thinking that somehow in the midst of all this, I got lucky."

Erin stood up. "It's time for you to head back." She helped Ray stand and wrapped her arms around his waist and looked at him. "I've got some shopping left to do for the apartment, but what do you say to some Chinese take out for dinner?"

"Sounds good." Ray smiled down at her. "You're going to wear the thigh highs with the skirt, right?"

Erin smiled back up at him. "Only the thigh highs?"

"You tease me." Ray kissed her softly. "I'm off at eight, so I'll see you around eight thirty?"

"You got it." He walked off. "And Ray?"

He faced her. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He strode back to her and kissed her again. "I love you, too and don't forget it."

Erin watched Ray walk off with a slight limp. She had worried about his first day back at the ED, but she knew he was stubborn enough to make it through. She sat back on the bench and thought about their past.

"Jesus, Erin!" Ray shouted. "It's not that hard!" He took the guitar from her. "It's like this." He played the tune. "Try." He practically shoved the instrument at her.

Erin stood up. "You can sit here and pretend that you're pissed off because I can't play guitar. The truth is, Ray, that you're pissed off because Melissa dumped you because you didn't want to give up the band."

"You don't know." Ray stood up and put his guitar back in its stand. "Melissa dumped me for Trevor."

"Because you didn't want to give up that damn band!" Erin turned towards the door.

"Erin, don't." Ray's voice went soft.

She stopped and faced him. "Ray, I know what's going on here…"

"No, you don't." He sighed. "Melissa was getting too clingy and I can't handle that. Jesus, Erin. I'm only 16, I don't need to have a serious relationship like what Mel wanted. She was looking at wedding gowns."

Erin laughed. "That's being a girl, Raymond." She sighed. "Look, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow in school, kay?"

"Ok."

Erin wiped a tear. Ray had always overcome whatever had come his way and she knew that he would overcome this, but that did nothing to ease her fears. She stood up and headed off to find things for the apartment.

Ray limped back in the ER and noticed Gates and Morris smiling at him. "What? Did one of my legs turn around and I'm not aware of it?"

"That lady's hot. Bet you're tapping that." Morris joked.

Ray sighed. "Yeah, I'm 'tapping that'." He rolled his eyes as he headed back for the Doctor's Lounge. "Hey, Pratt."

"Hey." Greg turned from the coffee pot. "I hired an Erin Barnett today."

"Yeah, I know. She told me." Ray put his lab coat on.

"Any relation?"

"She's my wife." Ray stated matter-of-factly.

Pratt choked on a sip of coffee. "Wife?"

"Yeah." Ray closed his locker door. "For the first six months, I moped over the fact that Neela wasn't coming to visit me and Erin, well, she slapped me into reality."

"How long you known her, Ray?"

"That a trick question?" Ray smiled. Not seeing Pratt smile back Ray continued. "My entire life. She's my best friend. There was this moment when I thought Neela was the best friend I ever had until I got down there and realised it was Erin."

"What changed?"

"Changed? Everything." Ray faced Pratt. "With Erin, there's no games. I knew from the moment we met where I stood with her. When it came to making decisions, she learned to trust not just her head, but her heart as well. She knew what to do when an ex came by. I never had to guess what was going on with her. Unlike Neela."

"So you gave up on Neela?"

"Neela gave up on me when she chose Gates." Ray shoved his hands in his pockets. "I spent a long time trying to keep what I felt for her to myself and then when I do tell her, she shoves me away, and she made her choice. She wanted Gates and she's got him."

"Ray, Neela and Gates aren't together. She's not been out much since you left. Remember I told you she hadn't been the same since you left?" Ray nodded. "She's been mopier than any of us can possibly recall and she's not been out a lot. She…"

"Why didn't she visit?" Ray hissed.

Pratt stepped back. "Work. She put in for time off and Crenshaw and Dubenko denied it every time. She wanted to visit, Ray."

"She couldn't have called? I left my number and…" Ray slammed his fist against the locker door.

"She didn't know what to say…"

Ray angrily looked at Pratt. "That's her protocol. Never knowing what to do or say. Anything she said or did would have been fine. But, now it's too late. Whatever love I had for her at one time isn't there, Pratt."

"Ray, you can't…"

Ray stormed out of the Doctor's Lounge, grabbed a chart, and quietly worked his shift.