One of the Boys (or Sarah Reese in the Off Campus Universe) Years Later...

TW: Cancer Mention

Joanna was talking to an older woman. Sarah saw when she finally broke away from the chaos that was the ED. (Where they were dealing with the aftermath of someone running through a pop-up street market with their car.) Because of course she was. That's just who Joanna Maxwell was. She was easily the coolest person in the room, but she was also incredibly kind and friendly. She would talk to anyone and everyone. Sarah blinked away the tears trying to form in her eyes because not only was it was unfair for someone like Joanna Maxwell to be sick, but because it was unfair for everyone in that room to be sick.

Shaking her head, Sarah pushed through the door to the clinical trial waiting room. Then she stopped short. The brunette blinked, as if the image in front of her would disappear but no. She tensed and froze because there stood her boyfriend still stood in front of her, hugging his ex-girlfriend very tightly.

"And there she is now! Reese's Pieces," Joanna called out softly as she stood up and moved across the room. Connor and Robin Charles broke apart and turned to stare at her. Robin looked surprised, yet delighted to see her while Connor looked guilty. Even muscle in her body seized up. Because in her head this was conformation enough. She was only ever Connor Rhodes' consolation prize. (Across the room Dean clocked the shift in Sarah's body language immediately.) But Sarah had only glanced at him for a moment before she adverted her eyes from his to look at her friend.

"You know I wish I could say that it's been a while since someone called me that, but it was only this morning." Sarah laughed as Beau's older sister wrapped her in a tight hug. Sarah returned it just as tightly. It wasn't a Beau Maxwell hug. Sarah hadn't had one of those since she was nineteen. But it was a very close second and it brought tears to her eyes. Joanna hummed, "When was the last time we saw each other?" "Two years ago? I was on my yearly trip with the boys and it was Dean's turn to host so we were in New York. You had just landed Janis in Mean Girls on Broadway so you insisted we come to the opening night."

"It can't be that long ago." Watery laughter bubbled out of Sarah's mouth before she squeezed the other woman tighter. Then Joanna pulled away and grabbed her hand, "Come meet my new friend! I was telling her all about you and how you told me about this new clinical trial. This is Caroline Charles. Caroline, this is Sarah Reese. "

"Dr. Reese was also my psychiatrist Mom, before we knew I had the tumor in my head. She was the one who made me feel normal even when I was going crazy. She's also one of Dad's residents." Robin Charles called softly, before she made her way back over to where her mother was with Connor in tow. Sarah's heart clenched. Especially with Connor now hovering over her shoulder.

Because this was the problem with her jealousy of Robin Charles. Sarah felt as if she didn't have any kind of justification for it, because the woman had been nothing but kind to her. Even when Sarah hadn't been able to diagnose her properly. It would be easier if Robin was a bitch. But she wasn't. But she Connor's last serious girlfriend before Sarah. And Sarah wasn't dumb okay? She knew she was Connor's rebound after Robin left. Her and over half of the greater female population. But she was the one that stuck. But it didn't change what she was. Connor's consolation prize because he couldn't have the one he really wanted.

"Then I must shake your hand. For not only helping my daughter when she needed it. But also putting up with my ex-husband. I know that isn't easy all the time." Sarah smiled tightly as the older woman grabbed her hand. But it didn't meet her eyes. (Another thing Dean cataloged in his best friend. Also how she seemed to shuffle a little so she wasn't touching even shoulders with the dark haired man behind her.)

"And this is Connor Rhodes, Connor this is my mom. Caroline Charles." Robin introduced and Connor reached around Sarah to offer her his hand.

"Connor, I have wanted to meet you for a very long time. Thank you so much for taking such good care of my girl when she needed you."

Sarah inhaled tightly because this was starting to feel more and more like a boyfriend meeting the girlfriend's parents. She ignored the look Connor threw her when no one was looking. ( Or when he thought no one was looking. Except Dean was. He might not know what was going on with his best friend and the other man, but he had had enough of it. He stood up.)

"Okay Jo, quit hogging my best friend. After she was mine first." Dean said easily, opening his arms for Sarah. Sarah took the out for what it was and darted into Dean's waiting arms. His arms locked around her waist, lifted her off her feet and, just like that she was home.

Even as Joanna laughed, "Actually, I think she was Tucker's first."

She almost sobbed. Her other friends and Connor were lovely and she loved Chicago, but they weren't her boys or even their better halves and Boston...Boston was the first place she felt at home anywhere.

Summary:

An alternate universe where instead of leaving in Season 4 Sarah instead begins a double residency in psychiatry and emergency medicine while her father is on trial for serial murder. So watch as Sarah stops filtering what she thinks, replays Final Fantasy 8, gets a tattoo, (actually gets several tattoos) gets a roommate, gets a dog, gets a boytoy, and maybe. Possibly. Gets to a chance to heal from all the shit she's been through. Beginning canon Rhekker, endgame Rheese

Ami : The summer before Connor left for college, his friend overdosed. That's the part of the story he's willing to tell people. Here's the part of the story he's never told anyone.

Junction: Sarah is either going to Texas, or she’s getting a tattoo.

Shuffle or Boogie: No one gets Sarah’s Halloween costume.

Balamb Garden: Sarah Reese, newly minted psychiatry AND emergency medicine resident, just wanted a quiet place to eat her caprese salad. Instead she gets an involuntary show.

Heresy: An after work drink at Molly’s turns into a confession booth.

Maybe I'm a Lion: Sarah's patient is dead. He shouldn't be dead, and she isn’t going to let Rhodes slink away home.

Don't Be Afraid: Connor seriously overestimates how much Sarah Reese thinks about him.

Force Your Way: Believe it or not, Sarah really doesn't care about whatever the hell is going on with Rhodes and Bekker.

Waltz for the Moon: Sarah needs food and sleep and a new phone number and to maybe get laid someday. Connor volunteers to help.

Eyes on Me: All Sarah tried to do was call 911. That's what you're supposed to do when someone brings a gun to your workplace and starts shooting people. Chapter One / Chapter Two /

Chapter 29: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

hi guys! This is the last chapter. I cannot believe we have reached the end of the main chapters...epilogue will be up tomorrow.

The drive home unfolded beneath a silence that was anything but empty. It sat heavily between them, dense with aftermath and memory, carrying the weight of everything that had happened on that rooftop and everything that would continue existing long after tonight was over. Connor did not try to disturb it. One hand remained steady on the wheel while the other rested lightly against Sarah’s thigh, his touch neither demanding nor possessive, simply present in the quiet way he had learned she needed most when words became too sharp to bear. Sarah did not speak once. She sat angled toward the window, though Connor doubted she was truly seeing the city sliding past them. The lights beyond the glass blurred together in restless streaks of gold and white, reflected faintly against her face without ever seeming to reach her. Yet through all of it, one thing remained constant: her hand stayed curved protectively over her stomach, fingers splayed unconsciously across the small rise beneath her clothes as though grounding herself in the one thing that still felt unquestionably real. Connor noticed every time her thumb shifted there. Every slight tightening of her fingers. He said nothing about it. Experience had taught him there were moments when grief could not be dragged into the open without risking fracture. Sarah had spent years surviving by containing pain rather than confronting it, and tonight that instinct was fighting against something far more dangerous: the possibility that the containment itself had finally begun to crack. So, he let the silence exist.

you can read the full chapter here:

IM BACK ON RHEESE. ITS A PROBLEM.

But like I kinda stopped watching Med after Sarah left then completely after Connor so it makes me sad now to realise that even if I tune in like the majority of the OG staff/family are gone...

“And I'm sick of being sick for this whole fucking place to witness. And I’m living a sick life that most people call privileged. And they’re kinda right but I’m still sicker than I can cope with.”

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