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"You waiting on some news?" Jack frowns as he looks up from a patient's chart as he leans against the central hub of the nurse's stations. Shen passes by, his obnoxious slurping stealing her attention before she gazes back up at the older man.

Parker shakes her head. "Nah, it's just… I thought I felt it vibrate. Thought I missed a text." She drops the phone back in her pocket.

Jack pauses and he has that look where he seems to see right through her, sees the half-lie for what it is: a sad, hopeful wish for a different outcome. Fortunately, her attending leaves it be but it has Parker itching to check her phone just once—

Bzzt.

Maybe she should've been a bit more cautious at how eager she looks as she digs out her phone but the rush of dopamine is irreplaceable when the one person she's been waiting on occupies her screen in a multitude of playful texts.

—

"So. Night shift. This is weird."

Trinity shifts her weight from her left foot to her right foot as she stares up at the board, Mel by her side with her usual shifty yet calm energy. Dubbed as one of Robby's 'pitt-lings', day shift had been her usual schedule until another awkward not-fight with Garcia had her searching for some reprieve to the so-called dark side of PTMC.

"It's not that weird," Mel hums casually as she steps closer. She's been experimenting with night shifts now that Becca seems to crave more independence. Hand-offs had been completed an hour ago and although chairs never seem to catch a break, there's an odd sense of calm that blankets the ED anyways. "Just like day shift but the sun isn't up."

"Thanks, Mel." Sarcasm is easy to reach but it always falls flat whenever it comes to the other resident. Trinity sighs and picks up a patient but it's still so unnervingly calm. However, she isn't bored enough to tempt fate and say the 'Q' word out loud so she sidles up to the charting computers where Crus seems to have taken shelter in between his sips of red bull.

"Here to gossip, Santos?" Crus chuckles knowingly, his gaze fixed upon the screen. Trinity huffs out a laugh as she lets her gaze wander before they land on a curious scene of Parker near Peds, brows furrowed and lips pursed as she glares down at her phone.

"What's up with her?"

Crus follows her eyes over to his fellow senior resident and bites back a grin. "Honestly? I have no idea. Shen says it's an ex-girlfriend. My guess is it's a situationship."

Amusement flickers to life within Trinity as she gives Parker another cursory look. Tense shoulders, desperation evident in that gaze, and yet the slight fidgeting that never seems to settle.

"Situationship. Has to be."

Mel frowns. "I don't see it."

—

Jet lag doesn't touch you anymore when you land in Pittsburgh from Europe, maybe a touch sleep-deprived and dehydrated but nothing a decent nap and a bottle of Gatorade can't fix. However, you call for an Uber to take you straight to PTMC rather than the closest hotel from the airport.

You travel light anyways, a backpack slung over your shoulder as you circle the side of the hospital towards the ambulance bay instead. A security guard stops you, a frown on his lips. "Ma'am, you can't come this way."

A charming smile stretches across your lips. "I know, I'm here to see Doctor Parker Ellis? Unless she doesn't work night shift anymore?"

"I—" Before the security guard could answer, a doctor approaches with an iced coffee in hand.

"You're looking for Dr. Ellis?" Although the doctor—Dr. Shen, according to his badge—maintains professionalism, you wonder if you're imagining the mischievous glint in his eye.

You nod and readjust your bag on your shoulder. The doctor waves away the guard with a friendly grin before he beckons you over. The pitt encloses around you in its own specific energy of the night shift but you fall into step with Dr. Shen without a stumble. You're good at that, adapting and slipping between the spaces to fit in— makes it easy to slip out when you need an escape.

"Are you coming back from a previous appointment?" Shen asks but he knows better, a smile fighting around his straw. He's seen you before, not in person but on the homescreen of his colleague's phone when she'd been too exhausted about hiding her private life. Your hair might've been shorter in the photo but the beatific smile is the same.

"No, I'm just a—" But before you can solve the mystery of who you are to Parker, she appears around the corner and your nickname falls from her lips like a bad habit.

"Bug? What're you doing here?"

Your smile widens and something kickstarts in her chest. It fights against the slight resentment that builds every time you go radio silent ever few days; how could you look at her like that when she never seems to be enough to stay?

"I just landed, I wanted to surprise you," you say simply as you cross the space to gently cradle Parker's jaw. She goes down easily, bending the distance so you could press a feather-light kiss to the corner of her lips while her hand finds your waist. "Are you almost off?"

The mention of work sobers her up and she looks up just in time to see Lena, Shen, and Jack watching in quiet amusement. "Uh— almost. One more hour. Wanna wait for me in the break room?"

You nod and gently squeeze the forearm of the hand that's still holding your hip. "Take your time, El."

—

When the door shuts behind you in the break room, Crus doesn't hesitate to step into Parker's orbit with his red bull long forgotten.

"El?"

"Don't start, Henderson," Parker bites but the little smile on her lips shine likes a million-watt sign that even Trinity's curiosity is piqued. "She's just—"

"— your situationship," he finishes. "I remember her, you know. I was with you. Was she the same one that came by to drop off coffee a few weeks ago?"

The emergency department must've hit a lull because Lena wanders closer along with Trinity in tow, charts momentarily set aside for some good piece of gossip. Princess and Perlah's been rubbing off on her.

"Wait, spill." Trinity all but demands and even with the sidelong glance Parker gives her, the new resident doesn't budge. Looks like someone's already made herself comfortable with the night shift, Parker thinks to herself.

"We met a few months ago—"

"— several months ago," Crus amends with a shit-eating grin.

Parker takes a deep breath. "Several months ago at that shitty dive bar near here. It was karaoke night and the little thing had too much to drink. I was close enough to the stage to catch her before she took a tumble. Guess she saw my badge or somethin' because she asked if I could… check her out."

"Oh my god, that was kinda smooth," Santos grins, the exhaustion ebbing away; who needs energy drinks when hospital gossip works just as well to keep anyone up?

"Long story short, we started seeing each other, but…"

An awkward silence follows when Parker's little audience realizes there isn't anything else to say—or rather, nothing else she's willing to divulge to them.

"It's a situationship," Trinity realizes aloud and now her grin matches Crus, giddy at the new bit of information that subtly chips away at the cool front that Parker always seems to exude. "You have a situationship with that— sorry, what'd you call her? Bug?—and you're not handling it well."

Parker glare sharpens but it lacks any heat with the slight frustrated purse of her lips. "I'm handling it."

—

Parker Ellis is not handling it. Not even close.

Not when you're looking so peaceful, curled up on the lumpy couch of the break room, lips slightly parted for each quiet huff of breath. It's the end of her shift and yet fatigue takes a seat on the backburner of her mind so she could kneel by your side, run a gentle finger along your cheek to slowly rouse you awake.

"Hey, sweetheart," she murmurs and when your lashes flutter open, something inside her cracks at the way you beam so brightly at her despite the late hour. "Sorry for taking so long. Ready to head home?"

You gently take her wrist to kiss her palm before nodding and it takes everything in Parker to keep her mind from creating every domestic fantasy she's had of you. "Mhm, I'm ready." You slowly sit up and whine quietly in objection when Parker takes your bag along with hers, a sleepy frown on your lips when she slings both bags onto one shoulder so you could hug her free arm to your chest.

"Want breakfast?" she offers as the sunrise to peek through the clouds, ignoring the way day shift is watching the two of you exit to the employee parking lot.

You nod, still half-awake. "Waffles. Extra syrup, stat."

A bemused laugh escapes her as she kisses the top of your head. "Yes, doctor."

—

In the beginning, it hadn't been this hard. You were gorgeous but it'd been your smile that stole her breath, that much had been enough to suck her into your orbit even after you landed right into her arms. But in the beginning, it'd been something just physical.

"Maybe it can be… a few times thing," you had tried to explain over a glass of water. Parker had shepherded you to the bar to get you hydrated again, the flush on your cheeks slowly dissipating as you sobered up under her gentle guidance. Her hand was warm against your thigh, knees knocking into one another as she had all but dragged your stool closer until your thighs had parted to make room for hers.

"A few times thing?" Parker repeated with an amused chuckle.

You didn't back down, just elaborated with a smile that she couldn't quite parse through. A Mona Lisa type of smile, Jack would comment wryly. "Mhm. A few times thing, not a one time thing. It works out, doesn't it? You're an ER doctor, very hot of you by the way, and I… I travel a lot. I'm never in one city too long but if the stars align and you're free while I happen to be here, then we can totally fuck."

She choked on her Dr. Pepper at the blatant invitation but she focused on something else entirely, her smile widened. "What do you mean, while you happen to be here?"

"I mean, I don't really choose where I go sometimes." You had taken another dutiful sip of water and you were rewarded with another pass of her hand along your thigh. "I spin a globe and wherever my finger lands, that's my next destination…"

There was a story there, Parker knew it, but she decided back then to not pry just yet, lest you lose interest if she demanded a potential sob story in a bar. She must've played her cards right because she had you under her within a couple hours, moaning her name like a prayer.

A couple months in, she'd begun to make room in her closet for you, on the random week or weekend Pittsburgh had been your destination of the month. Maybe that should've been the first red flag that Parker's starting to crave more than this unorthodox relationship but she's already six feet deep when one day, she rolled over and nearly smothered herself into her pillow to catch the faint traces of your perfume.

One month ago, she's accepted her fate and can only pray that your little globe would lead you back to her.

—

It feels like home whenever you pass the threshold of Parker's apartment, but instead of the terrifying gallop of your heart that follows the idea of settling down (tachycardic, Parker would say—only because she knows how squirmy and turned on you get whenever she talks 'medical'), your heart rate settles. Like the fight or flight instinct inside you just turns off around Parker. And maybe that alone should be enough to terrify you anyways but it just has you seeking her out.

"You wanna shower first, lovebug?"

The full nickname never fails to bring forth a smile as you nod, watching Parker set your things down by the couch to free her arms so she can sling them low around your waist. "Yeah, I smell like plane."

She leans down to kiss along your temple, cheek, and jaw. "Smells good to me." With an indulgent grope of your ass, she hustles you over to her bathroom as your laughter echoes behind you. It's domestic and heartachingly perfect, living in this limbo of unnamed connection that's making you want more than just a stolen weekend. So maybe you stopped spinning the globe exactly five weeks ago, the countries and places you visit acting as placeholders to kill time before Parker Ellis pulls you back in; there's only so much distance you can go across the earth before you're right back where you started.

You shower quickly and efficiently, stealing her body wash to sate the homesickness that's been festering the moment you had left a few weeks ago and is only now abating back in Parker's presence. With nothing but a towel on, you step out to see her on the couch, TV on and a cup of coffee in hand.

"Are you working tonight?" you ask, a droplet of water sliding down the nape of your neck as you approach until your knee bumps against hers. An appreciative gaze runs down your body and you burn with delight.

She shakes her head. "No, I'm off for the next couple of days. So you didn't have to seduce me in that tiny little towel to convince me to stay," she teases, a hand sliding up the back of your thigh to skim the skin beneath your towel.

Your eyes roll but your smile is bright, playfully swatting her hand away as you head over to her bedroom. "Nuh-uh. You smell like hospital, Ellie, go shower then maybe I can share the bed with you." You drop the towel just right before you shut the door and she's left there reeling, mouth slightly agape.

"Cruel woman," she calls out but she hauls ass to the bathroom anyway.

—

"… god, yes—! right there…! fuck, fuck, fuck—" you squeal, hands fisted around the sheets beneath you as your thighs clamp like a vice around Parker's head. She's already wrung out three orgasms from you, once from her fingers alone, the next two with her strap (lavender, your favorite), and now she seems dead set on killing you with a fourth.

Her mouth is precise, her tongue deadly accurate as she tongue-fucks you with a brutalistic rhythm— it'd almost be considered clinical if it isn't for the way she's moaning around your sopping cunt while she grinds against the mattress. "Cum for me, sweetheart," she croons as her lips glide up to suck around your nub, her fingers taking the place of her tongue as she watches you arch off the bed and finish right on her face.

Your tense muscles slowly loosen as your hips sink back down into the bed, whining quietly when you feel Parker's hands massage your calves to alleviate any cramping for when you hurtled into your final orgasm. "I hate you," you say, eliciting an amused laugh from your lover as she places feather-light kisses up your body before settling in beside you.

"No, you don't."

You shake your head, lifting it so you can rest it right onto her chest while her arm fits itself around your frame. "No, I don't," you confirm with a quiet sigh, pleased and content.

—

It's rare for your visits to coincide on Parker's off days. It makes the short time she has with you feel longer in comparison to the days where you could see her between shifts, spending it mainly in bed or in the same four walls of her apartment.

("I can always call off for you, sweetheart, it's fine—"

"No—! Then it wouldn't be serendipitous, Parker. Imagine a weekend where the globe takes me back to you and fate decides to not keep you at the Pitt for me. Wouldn't that just be the perfect sign?"

Parker didn't quite agree but she couldn't ever say no, not when you get hung up on signs and hidden meanings and fate— it sounds like you've been circling the idea of the two of you being soulmates and she likes the sound of it too much to ever negate your own thought processes.)

So when you ask to see the city rather than be spoiled to death with more orgasms (another glaring sign that this has always been more than physical), it takes her a second to nod and agree as she takes this chance to show you that the two of you could be more than fuckbuddies.

"Where are we going?" Despite your third time asking, Parker merely hushes you with a playful kiss to your forehead before helping you into the passenger seat of her Jeep.

"You'll see, sweetheart."

It takes all your energy to keep from asking her to pull over as she drives, looking unbelievably attractive with the way she's got one hand on the wheel and the other curled around your inner thigh. With the short skirt you've got on, each pass of her warm palm seems to land closer and closer to where you usually need her the most.

"Parker…" you huff. She chuckles and at a stoplight, her hands move back down to your knee before stealing a kiss from you across the console. "You're such a tease." She neither confirms or denies it, just sends you a wink before turning her attention back to the road.

The drive takes you to the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, eliciting an eager gasp from you. After the hassle of parking and admission (which Parker pays for without a chance of arguing), her fingers tangle with yours as the both of you stroll along the pathways.

Conversation flows easy and with the sun as your witness, you realize that spending time with Parker outside of the bedroom doesn't necessarily leave you like a fish out of water, struggling to pass the silence that isn't a moan or a desperate cry of her name.

"So where did your globe take you this time?"

After the botanical gardens, Parker had taken you to her favorite pizza place, buying a pie for the both of you to share. Not wanting to head back to her place yet, she's parked at an empty lot with the two of you sitting on the hood of her Jeep with the pizza box between you both.

You glance back down from where you've been staring up at the starless sky, mid-bite. "Rome," you hum, reaching for a napkin to wipe your mouth before Parker beats you to it. Her touch lingers. "Didn't really stay too long, might've gotten homesick."

Parker couldn't hide the surprise on her face even if she tried. "Homesick?" The unspoken question is there: what's home to you?

"Mhm. Homesick." The pizza box is shut and put away as you lay down, resting across the hood with your head nestled on the meat of her thigh. She waits patiently, her fingertips tracing your features gently. "My aunt traveled a lot and when she passed, she made me promise to see the rest of the world for her."

"You've seen a lot of the world already," Parker muses quietly.

"I did. She said that once I've seen my fill of the world to come back home. Maybe that's what's happening now."

The meaning of your statement settles deep in Parker's bones, her heart fluttering in a way that felt like hope. She can't deny that the gaps between your visits have been lessening far more frequently, feeding the impractical dreams of asking you—wanderlust personified—to stop flying. To stay here with her.

"You know what I want from this," she says quietly. "I think I've made it obvious."

Your laugh is delicate when your eyes finally meet hers, reaching up to cradle her jaw as your thumb skims along her cheek. "I think I need you to be more obvious, Parker. Every time I visit, I keep waiting for you to stop me from packing."'

"Can't ask you to stay for me when you've got the rest of the world to see, lovebug," she frowns. As much as she's been dreaming of this, she can't be the reason you clipped your wings.

"Parker, I stopped spinning the globe."

Your confession makes her pause. "What?"

Slowly, you sit up and she moves in tandem, bringing you close to straddle her lap as her arms wind around your waist. Your hands lock loosely behind the nape of her neck. "I stopped spinning the globe. I just… went wherever to pass the time, just to keep moving, but I couldn't stop myself from just going back home to you anyways."

Her eyes search yours and she must've found the confirmation she needs because when she kisses you, all the walls you both have half-heartedly drawn up crashes down. It isn't the first kiss you've shared, hell—not even the hundredth, and yet the way she kisses you without any hesitation elicits a newfound desperation to sit even closer.

But she slides slightly against the hood of the car and she laughs gently against your seeking mouth to reach behind and stabilize the both of you with a palm against the windshield. "Hold on, sweetheart—" she mutters as she carefully gets off the hood with you still in her arms, your legs wound tight around her waist. With her feet now planted on solid ground, she hikes you back onto the hood before leaning in to kiss you without a second to waste.

"Can't believe we're having our first kiss in the parking lot of a pizza parlor," you mutter against her mouth and she nips your lower lip in reply.

"Baby, this isn't our first kiss," she mumbles back, refusing to part from your lips for even a second.

You shake your head. "It is— as girlfriends."

The confidence that reverberates from those four little words draws out a pleased, dreamy sigh from her as she nudges the tip of her nose against yours. "So we're girlfriends now?" Parker teases anyway, just to see the way your nose scrunches up.

"We better be. You kissing anyone else, Doctor Ellis?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, lovebug."

—

EPILOGUE.

The sliding doors of the ambulance bay open for you and this time, Ahmed tips his head to you in greeting.

"Morning, Bug."

Ever since your first arrival, the nickname Parker gave you was immediately adopted by the rest of her colleagues. Despite her griping and whining, you never really did mind so she would drape herself around your back, huffing and whining into your neck much to everyone's utter surprise.

"Good morning, Ahmed," you chirp as you flounce into the ED just as handoffs have been finished up. Lena finds you first and you casually set a banana bread muffin onto the nurse's station before handing Shen a fresh cup of iced coffee from the artisanal cafe a few blocks down. Your gifts brighten up the end of what seemed to be a brutal night shift.

Dr. Robby chuckles and even his cool exterior as chief of the PTMC crackles beneath your insistent warmth when you make it to one of the charting computers where he's perched himself at. "Good morning, Bug."

"Hi, Dr. Robby. Muffin?" You offer the tray you arrived with, rewarding the older man with a beatific smile that he even falters at. "Is Parker done?"

Jack cuts in with a swiftness, stealing a muffin with a large bite. "She'll be right out, darlin'. Make sure she gets some proper rest, she got stuck with the few Dr. Googles."

You wince and nod in understanding. "Got it. Thanks for taking care of my girl, doctors." The two older men chuckle in fond unison, their gaze following the way Parker materializes from one of the rooms in South (after finishing a handoff with Trinity) and immediately perks up when you cross the distance to greet your girlfriend with a chaste but sweet kiss.

Parker Ellis had always been one of the cool-headed residents, quick to adapt to any situation in an emergency department and could be relied on to stay steady. Calm, collected, and undeniably charming only to fall apart and unravel into a blubbering, giddy mess when you deign to spare her a gentle smile.

Jack chuckles as he watches the way Parker slings an arm around your waist, dragging you into her side to press an obnoxiously aggressive kiss to your temple and cheek that has you squealing in delight while the both of you finally exit the hospital.

Before Jack could turn away to finish up his charts, he sees Ahmed clear the white board in the security breakroom to scrawl on a new betting pool category.

NEW POOL: Parker + Bug. Wedding date?