Chapter Text
Chicago in the Spring was cold.
You would think that by March there would be no more snow and the temperatures would even out. Nope. It was a chilly 42 degrees and I was freezing.
I trekked through the parking lot and practically ran to the doors separating me from the warmth inside the airport. As soon as I made it inside, I booked it to the nearest cafe and bought the largest caramel latte they had.
Connor found me sitting on a bench to one side scrolling through my phone and halfway through my coffee.
“Let me guess, you forgot to check the weather before leaving this morning?” He chuckled as he saw my outfit: leggings and one of his old college hoodies.
“In my defense, I was running late and I thought this would be warm enough to get me through the 5 min walk from the lot to here,” I argued. He cocked his head to the side and raised his brow but stayed silent. He saw the red nose and cheeks and decided that teasing me would be better than arguing.
“Alright Rudolph, come here,” he smirked and pulled me into a hug. Smug asshole. “I’ve missed you and I’m so incredibly proud of you,” he whispered into my hair before kissing it.
“Thank you love, I’ve missed you too,” I murmured into his shoulder.
We stayed like that for what felt like an hour, but was really a minute or two. This was the longest we had been apart since he had moved to Minnesota. The past month had been super busy for both of us. He was inundated with cases and a week-long cardiology conference, while I had been finishing my emergency med elective; neither of us had had any time off.
Originally his flight had been scheduled for Sunday, the day before the start of match week, but the weather had been so terrible the past couple of days that the earliest flight he could book was for today at 7am, two days later. We had face-timed yesterday when I had received the news that I had matched into a residency, but nothing beats having him here with me in person.
He had gotten about a month off and my schedule was more lax in the radiology department since it was my last rotation before graduation. Now that he was here and I had a job confirmed for the summer, we were going to take it slow and just spend quality time together.
We didn’t speak until we reached the car, just walked in comfortable silence holding each others hands as if the other would disappear if we let go.
After putting his suitcases in the trunk of my car, I was walking toward the driver’s seat when he suddenly pulled me back. No words were spoken, he just wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. It was one of those breathtaking kisses that seemed to have no end in sight; those that make you feel vulnerable, that make you feel loved. I broke away first and gasped for air.
He chuckled at the sight and just placed his forehead on mine, “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
As we drove back to the apartment he recounted how his flight went. He mentioned the lady two seats ahead of him spent the entire flight talking loudly to the neighbor across the hall; the family behind him that spent the flight entertaining their young kids who seemed to have way too much energy for how early it was; and the elderly couple sitting next to him that recounted their love story to him.
———
The apartment looked somewhat of a mess when we walked in.
“You guys went hard, huh?” He asked as he looked around the space. The coffee table had been pushed out of the way to make room for the makeshift bed consisting of blankets and pillows. Half-empty wine bottles and takeout boxes littered the living room, and half of a carrot cake was sitting on the kitchen island.
“Claire was a great sport. She brought a case of wine, a carrot cake and 2 cashmere blankets from Dolan Rhodes that she was sure I would love. So we ordered takeout, sat on the floor and watched both Mamma Mia movies before she left around 1am,” I recounted as I started throwing away the takeout boxes.
“Ahh, now it makes sense why someone who is always early to everything was running late this morning,” he chuckled as he put the cake in the fridge.
“Leave the rest of it, let’s go back to bed and we’ll pick it up later,” he stated as he ushered me away from the mess and toward the bedroom.
He walked into the ensuite and started the shower. I followed and wrapped my arms around him, placing my head between his shoulder blades and whispered, “I’m glad you’re here.” He squeezed my arms and brought me around so he could see my face, “me too,” he said softly.
“I love you, Alma.”
“I love you, Connor.”