Summary ~ Elizabeth deals with the sudden disappearance of her young daughter.

Genre ~ Mark/Elizabeth

Disclaimer ~ The characters portrayed in this story are in no way mine, and I will return them to their original positions once I am done messing with their lives. The characters of Maura, Matthew, or anyone else you have not seen waltz across your TV on a Thursday night are purely of my own imagination.

Need to Know ~ The last episode that applies to this story is April Showers. Everything up to that point happened, but nothing after it did. Which includes the return of Susan Lewis. Mark has had no recurrences of his brain tumor and is going to be fine. Also, Abby and Luka broke up some time around July of 2001.

Feedback ~ As always, feedback is more then welcomed. Please feel free to email me, or Bridget, with comments (good or bad) on this story, another story, or just the site in general to greeneblob707@yahoo.com. If you could please put the title of the story you wish to make comments on in the subject box that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!

County stood before her, looming over her head. Through the windows she could see people walking back and forth, some quickly, some not. She soon would be one of those people. She looked up at the hospital, which seemed to look a lot different then it did two weeks prior. In her head it seemed like a make shift shelter, but it also seemed like a prison.

Taking a deep breath in and slowly exhaling as she stepped forward, inching her way towards the doors. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest. Her palms began to sweat. She pushed open the doors and stepped inside. It seemed as if she could hear every little sound. The dozens of conversations taking place all rang through her head. Telephones rang and heart monitors beeped, all accented in her mind. In front of her she saw Randi fiddling with the computer, Kerry was going over the board with Carter, and Malucci was sifting through charts. Everything seemed just the way she left it those two weeks ago. She didn’t know whether to be comforted by that or scared.

She approached the admit desk. No one noticed her right away. She turned toward the board where Kerry was talking with Carter. She hesitated a moment before speaking. Finally she said, “Hey, I heard you could use another surgeon.”

Kerry and Carter both turned towards Elizabeth. They smiled when they saw her. Elizabeth smiled back. They both said at relatively the same time, “Hey!”

Kerry then stepped forward and gave her a slight hug. Elizabeth hugged her back. “It’s so great to have you back!” Kerry said with a slight smile.

“Thanks, it’s great to be back!” she said plastering on the biggest grin she could muster. “Just to warn you though, I might be a bit rusty!”

“Hey, understandable, take your time. We’re just glad to have you around again.” Kerry replied.

Almost as soon as those words left her lips Chuny came over to where they were standing and said urgently, “Hey, Dr. Weaver, they need you in trauma one, auto vs. pedestrian.” She then noticed Elizabeth and added cheerfully, “Hey Dr. Corday, welcome back.”

“Thanks Chuny!” Elizabeth called out as the nurse walked away.

Kerry then began to walk away while saying to Elizabeth, “Okay, Romano would like to talk to you later so you might want to get that out of the way.”

“Great.” She sighed. Just what she needed, a chat with Romano.

“Carter! Gown up, we need you!” Kerry called.

Carter put down his chart and said before walking away, “It really is great to have you back.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t work to hard!” he ordered in a teasing manner.

“I won’t!” she replied with a chuckle.

“Lizzie! So wonderful to have you back with us!” Romano said in his normal tone of voice.

“Thank you, if you really do indeed mean that.” Elizabeth said taking a seat in one of the brown chairs.

“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I be thrilled? You’ve been gone for so long I really did begin to miss you!”

“Yes well, I felt that my absence was appropriate considering the conditions under which I took it.” Elizabeth said in the firm voice she often used during confrontations with Robert.

“As did I Lizzie, as did I. But now you are back and you have the administration wondering if you are ready to jump right back in where you left off.”

“Well, I’ve been out for two weeks, but that does not mean that my surgical skills have suffered in any way, shape or form.”

“I didn’t say they had, I am simply curious as to whether you are able to assume all the responsibilities that you left behind two weeks ago. Whether or not you are able to focus and devote your undivided attention to the patients you will be operating on. It really has nothing to do with your surgical skills. Merely your…awareness if you will.”

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. She wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. In her heart she knew that she could never be as focused as she was before Maura disappeared. But she didn’t want to spend months doing scut work. That’s not what she came back for. She knew that she wasn’t in a horrible state and that her personal problems wouldn’t endanger lives, but she had to admit that Robert had a point. But she didn’t want to admit that to him because she knew she would be making slides for the next month. She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, “I feel that I am focused enough as to not endanger the lives of my patients.”

“Really?” Robert said testing her.

“Really.” She said trying her best to convince him.

Robert was quiet as he contemplated what to say next. He finally spoke up. “Well, how about this. I think it is foolish for me to have you deliver labs for the next month because you are an excellent surgeon and that would be a waste.” Elizabeth took a deep breath in, trying to relax herself. “But,” he added, “I want to put you on restrictions. No snaking bullets out of hearts, no performing amputations in the field. For the next few weeks I want to limit you to general surgery. Appendectomies, gall bladders, hernias and such. And you are to remain in the hospital, let the other docs go to the field. Do you believe that this is fair Dr. Corday?”

“That seems fair Robert.” Elizabeth said. And she did indeed think it was fair. She was grateful to perform any surgery.

“Good!” he said standing up.

“Is that all?”

“That will be all Dr. Corday.”

Elizabeth stood up and began to walk towards the door. But before she stepped outside Robert added, “Oh, Lizzie.” Elizabeth turned around to face him. “I just want you to know that I am terribly sorry about what happened, and if anything comes up and you need to take a few more days off you will have my support.”

Elizabeth was shocked. She knew that Robert would never say anything cruel about this subject, but she never imagined he would be so generous. “Thank you Robert.” She said sincerely.

The rest of her morning was filled with surgical consults. She sent several different patients up to the OR with several different aliments. She finally managed to squeeze herself into an appendectomy at around noon. When she finished she decided to grab some lunch.

On her way to the cafeteria she decided to take a small detour, stopping by day care to check on Matthew. She peeked through the windows and looked for her son. In the corner she saw him. She also saw Mark.

She smiled at the site of them. Mark was sitting on the floor helping Matthew play with legos. Matthew liked to knock whatever Mark built, down. He would burst into a fit of giggles when one of Mark’s designs came crashing to the ground. She began to chuckle watching them.

After a moment she reluctantly stepped inside, not wanting to ruin the sense of normality she saw through those windows. When she watched them through the windows it seemed as if everything was perfect again. Like everything was like it had always been. But she knew that once she stepped inside she would truly notice that only one of her children was there, and that things weren’t exactly perfect.

She made her way over to where the two sat. It took a few moments for them to even notice she was there. Eventually Mark looked up and saw his wife standing over them smiling. “Hey!” he smiled. “Matthew look, it’s mommy!”

Matthew turned and looked up at Elizabeth. He giggled and said, “Mommy!” He thrust his arms into the air, signaling he wanted her to pick him up.

“Hey Matthew!” she smiled. She picked the little boy up lifted him until he was eye level. “What are you up to?!”

“Daddy and I are playing legos! Daddy isn’t doing too good!” he laughed and pointed at the mess of legos surrounding Mark.

“Oh he isn’t is he? Look at all that mess!” she grinned

“Well maybe if someone didn’t knock everything I built down, there wouldn’t be a mess.” He said in teasing voice.

“No daddy, it’s not my fault you stink!” Matthew laughed. Elizabeth laughed as well, looking playfully from Matthew to Mark. Mark pretended to be insulted by that, which made Matthew laugh harder.

“Now, that’s not very nice Matthew!” she said in a half teasing voice.

“Well it’s true!” the little boy smiled.

Elizabeth was about to say something when the day care manager began to say, in a very chipper voice, “Okay, boys and girls, lets all come to the center for a story!” Elizabeth looked at Matthew and she placed him on the ground. He then scampered over to the place where the story would be read.

Elizabeth smiled as she watched him take his seat. She then turned to Mark and said, “Lunch?”

“Yeah sure, that’s where I was going anyway, but I decided to stop here and check on him.”

“Me too.” She smiled.

Their lunch was brief. Mark got called away to a trauma, so Elizabeth finished up her lunch by herself. As she was leaving the cafeteria she glanced at her watch. It was two eighteen. She was off at seven. That day seemed to be dragging by forever, and she couldn’t wait to get home.

The rest of her day was fairly boring. She assisted on a surgery and was a consult in a few minor traumas. But mostly she spent her time doing rounds and checking on patients in recovery.

When her watch beeped signaling seven o’clock, she sighed. She made her way to the admit desk and placed the chart in the rack. She walked out of admit and was passing the curtain area when she was approached by Carter. “Hey Dr. Corday, I’ve got a LOL that complains of increasing pain in the right lower quadrant.”

“I’m off Carter, hand it to Benton” she sighed. She walked into the lounge and placed her lab coat and stethoscope in her locker. She pulled out her overcoat and stepped out of the lounge into the hallway. She saw Mark rounding the corner and began walking towards him. He had Matthew on his shoulder.

“Hey!” she said giving him a kiss, then kissing Matthew on the forehead. “I was almost sure you wouldn’t be able to get off right away.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a slow day, they don’t need me.” He said with a sense of gratitude in his voice.

“So I’ve noticed.” She replied. She then turned to Matthew and said playfully, “You look exhausted, we need to get you home to bed!”

The little boy’s head shot up and his eyes widened in an attempt to make him look less tired. “No mommy, I’m not tired, see!” he said smiling.

“Oh, sure you’re not Matthew!” she said humoring him. They then began to walk out the door. Matthew decided to sing the song they had learned that day in day care. Elizabeth smiled as she listened to him sing. Mark placed him in his car seat and they got into the car.

Elizabeth sighed as she buckled her seat belt. Matthew was still belting out tunes in the back seat. Mark smiled as he looked at him through the rear view mirror; Elizabeth did as well. When he pulled out of their parking space Mark asked Elizabeth, “So how was your first day back?”

“It was rather interesting really.”

“How so?” he inquired

“Well, it was much better then I thought it would be. I wasn’t as distracted as I expected. It just seemed to run rather smoothly.“

“So it was a good day?” he asked

“Yes,” she paused and smiled, “It was a very good day.”

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 6