#the final chapter

Sophie couldn't even pretend she wasn't loving the princess treatment. She let Robby take care of her without complaint. 

As they drove home Robby talked about how he’d gotten everything set up for her to be as comfortable as possible.

She smiled warmly at Robby, he of course didn’t take his eyes off the road, but he held her hand and gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb.

When they got to Robby's house, Sophie had to convince him to let her use her crutches to get inside. She knew he would have carried her in if she let him, but his willingness to relent was probably only because sleeping on a hospital recliner and then a cot had been hell on his back.

The crutches hurt. The pressure of holding her weight on her injured arm and the movement of her body pulled at the injury at her side. Sophie did her best to not let the pain show, but by the time she made it in the door it was obvious by the worry in Robby's eyes that she was failing.

He stopped Sophie the second she was far enough into the house to shut the door behind them.

“I'm ok, really, it's fine.”

“You are a terrible liar,” Robby looked at Sophie thoughtfully, running a hand down his beard. “Let me see your crutches.”

Sophie balanced on one foot and handed one of the crutches to him, she assumed to adjust it better to her height.

Instead he dropped it against the wall and scooped Sophie into his arms before she could protest. A squeal escaped her and she dropped her other crutch.

Sophie knew she should probably protest, make Robby put her down to save his back. She didn't though, she instead buried her face in his neck and hummed contentedly.

Robby pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“Thank you,” Sophie said softly into Robby’s neck.

“You're welcome, beautiful.”

Robby carried Sophie to the couch, where he very gently set her down. Before she could sit down though, he pulled her into a hug and buried his face in her hair.

Sophie wrapped her good arm around him. 

“I'm still here, Robby. I'm here and I'm safe.” She gently stroked the back of his hair as he nodded into her.

He pulled back and sniffled, his eyes wet, not quite looking at her. 

Sophie stroked his cheek, “Hey, I'm ok.”

Robby nodded again and looked at her, “I know, I'm just happy that you're home.”

Sophie's heart melted, “Me too. Will you cuddle with me while we watch something?”

“You had to ask?” he helped her get comfortable on the couch, which took some effort. Getting into a comfortable position, then squishing pillows around her to support all the right spots. Then Robby finally sat down with a groan.

Sophie desperately wanted to curl up next to him and lay her head on his chest, but there was no way her body could handle that right now, even with all the pain killers. So instead, she found a loose pillow and laid it across her lap. 

She looked at her sweet, amazing boyfriend and patted the pillow, inviting him to lay down. Without any hesitation, he shifted his tall frame until his head rested on her lap. 

Sophie turned on an old movie and absently ran her fingers through Robby’s hair. 

He hummed softly and Sophie watched his muscles slowly relax. She wasn't sure if he had fallen asleep until he spoke again. 

“I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be comforting you right now.”

Sophie smiled, “You are. I needed this too.”

Robby shifted, careful not to jostle Sophie, until he was on his back looking up at her. Sophie continued to run her fingers through his hair.

“I need you, Soph.”

Sophie bit her lips, trying not to let tears form, “I need you too, you know.”

Robby took her hand and kissed it, and Sophie finally had the courage to say what she’d been holding back for days.

“I was so scared,” it came out quiet, almost a whisper, and the tears she was fighting filled her eyes.

Robby sat up and looked at her, head tilted, like he always did when he wanted someone to go on.

“It took some time, but I remember everything, the crash, the ER,” she sniffled and Robby reached out to her, tucking stray hair behind her ear, but stayed quiet. “I remember waking up in your car, pain everywhere, feeling blood running down my face, I knew it had to be bad. And you looked so scared.” Her voice hitched.

“When you were trying to keep my talking while you raced me to the ER, I could feel myself slipping,” a small sob escaped her, “Slipping away from you. I was trying so hard to stay with you, to stay awake. I didn't want that to be the last time I saw you, I didn’t want to leave you alone. I was screaming at myself to stay awake, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t, and I was so scared.”

Robby cupped her cheek, running his thumb along it to wipe away another tear that fell. He looked so sad again, and it made another sob escape her.

“I’m so sorry, Robby. I have never been more relieved than when I woke up in the ER. I can’t imagine how scared you were, I felt guilty to be so relieved.”

“Stop,” Robby said it so gently, it wasn’t a command or a request, just gentle. “Never apologize, you went through hell that night too.” He leaned in, pressing his forehead into Sophie's temple, and Sophie leaned into it.

“I’m sorry if you felt like you had to keep it together for my sake, I’m here baby, I’m here for you, no matter how I’m feeling, we’re in this together.”

Sophie nodded.

Robby kissed her temple, “I love you.”

“I love you too. Thank you. Thank you for saving my life, thank you for this, thank you for being in my life.”

Robby blinked slowly, then with all seriousness replied, “You’re welcome.” Breaking the tension in the room.

Sophie let out a short bark of a laugh before groaning, “Ow.”

Robby chuckled, “Sorry not sorry.” He kissed her forehead. 

“Oh my god, the Pittlings have got to stop trying to teach you and Dana new slang.” Sophie smiled brightly.

“The Pittlings?”

“Santos, Javadi, Whitaker…”

“When did we start calling them the Pittlings?” Robby laughed.

Sophie made a strained noise as she suppressed a laugh, “Well we don’t call them that to their faces! They are just always together, it’s nice that they are all friends, and they are all new, they are our little pittlings, you know?” Sophie smiled brightly because she loved the nickname for the 3 students.

“They do tend to follow each other around.”

“Exactly, it’s endearing.”

—-----------

Robby took another full week of PTO to stay home to take care of Sophie, to her protest, of course. He wasn’t about to leave her home alone when she could still barely move around, and he had the sneaking suspicion that she was secretly loving the attention.

If he was being honest with himself, Robby was enjoying it as well. Taking care of Sophie was nice, and having her staying at his house for the next few weeks as she recovered was even better.

Robby had been planning on asking Sophie to move in with him the night of their perfect date, as Sophie put it. She wouldn’t let him refer to that day as the ‘day of the accident’, because she didn’t want that to be what they thought of first. He still wanted to ask, now more than before, but he wasn’t sure the timing was right.

When Robby did eventually go back to work, it was obvious that everyone, none more so than him, missed Sophie’s presence. Gloria had hired a doctor to sub for Sophie while she was out of commission and the new doctor was, interesting to put it nicely.

She kept trying to implement long term changes to the department, which rubbed Robby the wrong way from the beginning, but the way she kept bringing up the changes were what really bothered him.

“I’m not here to replace Dr. Connor, but…”

“I know I’m not Dr. Connor…”

“I know I’m only here temporarily until Dr. Connor returns, however…”

It was grating the way she kept saying it, like she was saying the opposite of what she meant. It also sounded even more insincere because she kept calling Sophie ‘Dr. Connor’, when absolutely no one in the department ever called her Dr. Connor.

Robby was always trying to find ways to avoid her, but then he’d turn around and she would just be there, standing just close enough to be uncomfortable but not enough to seem unprofessional, smiling at him. She wasn’t technically doing anything wrong though, and he had to admit she was a competent emergency medicine doctor, so there wasn’t much he could do about it besides counting down the days until Sophie could return to work.

A few weeks after Sophie had been released from the hospital she’d healed up enough to be able to get around on crutches and do some things for herself again. She’d decided to pay a visit to the ED, she said she missed everyone and the chaos of the ER, but Robby knew she’d also come to pay her respects to a patient they had lost that day. A frequent flyer that everyone in the department had loved, despite his frequency in the ER.

That day had been one for the history books. Not only was it Sophie’s first visit back to the ER since the accident, it was also the first time the department saw them together since finding out they were a couple. So that had been a circus. Then another hospital had gone down and all their ambulances were rerouted to the Pitt. When they were finally told that the hospital had been shut down because of a cyber attack, they were also told the PTMC would be going analog for the unforeseeable future.

Sophie had stayed to act as a clerk, helping process the paperwork to keep everything flowing while everyone wrote out charts and orders by hand. The day had been so hectic, much more so than usual. Everyone besides him, Abbot, Dana, and Sophie had no idea what they were doing, charts and orders got mixed up, patients fell through the cracks, everything took 10 times longer than it should. It was a nightmare. 

By the time day shift left, it was about three hours since their shift should have ended, and they were exhausted. Robby was no exception, and by the looks of it neither was Sophie. When they got into his car, finally on their way home, Sophie seemed agitated.

“Hey, you ok?”

“I don’t like the new doctor that is covering for me while I’m out.”

Robby couldn’t help but chuckle, “I can’t argue with that. I didn’t think you’d had much interaction with her though.”

Sophie didn’t reply right away, clearly mulling over her thoughts, “I don’t like her.”

Sophie didn't sound angry, but Robby couldn’t put his finger on what her tone was.

“Three times, at least three times I asked Dana the same question today.”

“What question is that?”

“Why is the new attending flirting with my boyfriend?”

“What!?”

Robby was shocked. He had no idea what Sophie was talking about.

“She was flirting with you, shamelessly! And Dana said she knows you have a girlfriend, and that she flirts with you regularly. Then she laughed because of how oblivious you are,” Sophie giggled.

“You’re sure she’s flirting with me?”

“Yes, she stands way too close to you, only to you by the way, you look so uncomfortable every time.”

Robby scratched his beard, “Yeah, I noticed that. I’m not a fan.”

“Then there is the way she talks to you. I’m not a jealous person, but she made me want to walk over and mark my territory,” Sophie let out an adorable huff.

Seeing her all worked up over someone else flirting with him made Robby oddly happy. He always felt protective of Sophie, not jealous, but protective, and it was nice to be on the receiving end of it.

Robby smiled and kissed the back of Sophie’s hand, “I love you.”

“I love you too. Why are you smiling?”

“You’re being protective of me.”

“Well yeah, of course! You’re my man! Who does she think she is, flirting with you, that’s my job. Just because she is currently doing my job as day shift attending doesn’t mean she gets to take over my job as your girlfriend!”

“You’re really worked up about this.”

“I am! I already feel like I’m being replaced at work, I don’t need to be replaced in other areas of my life.”

“You are not being replaced. Soph, you aren’t being replaced. Everyone misses you, not just me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really, everyone. They are counting down the days until your return. I’m serious, Princess made a countdown calendar.”

“That’s really sweet. I still don’t like the new attending though. Dana told me she is trying to make a bunch of changes. And the next time I come to see you at work, I’m going to kiss you as much as possible to make her back off.”

Robby laughed, “I looked forward to that very much.”

Sophie smiled at him, “Good. Let’s grab some takeout on our way home, I’m starving.”

Robby carried the boxes of takeout as Sophie hobbled inside the house, clearly in more pain than she would admit. He set the boxes down and helped her get settled with her feet up.

“I like this.”

“You like helping me get comfortable on the couch?”

“Well, yes, but I meant having you here.”

“It has been really nice…”

“Stay.”

Sophie gestured at her injured leg, “It’s not like I’m going somewhere.”

“I’m serious, stay here with me.”

Sophie opened her mouth to respond, but Robby continued talking before he lost his nerve.

“I don’t just mean while you recover. Move in with me.”

Sophie didn’t hesitate for a second, “Yes.”

Robby wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t an immediate yes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Robby, yes, I will move in with you.” She was beaming, smiling ear to ear.

There was no hesitation in her voice, in her face, no fear or uncertainty. Just happiness. Robby’s stomach flipped and before he had even thought about it he was kissing her.

Sophie threw her arms around his neck, intertwining her fingers with the hair at the back of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, trailing kisses across her jaw, behind her ear, down her neck.

Sophie let out a breath, “I can’t wait until the doctor clears us to have se-”

Robby cut her off with another kiss, he agreed with her sentiment, but this wasn’t about that. This was his way of expressing how happy he was when he couldn't express it enough with words.

He kissed her again, softly, then pulled back, just enough to look into her beautiful eyes, “I love you, Sophie.”

“I love you, Robby.”

Robby did know if he could be any happier, but with Sophie he knew the possibilities were endless.

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