You stand around for about 15 minutes past 6:30 before heading inside, deciding to get a quick drink while you wait. But that’s when the texts come in. One after the other your friends regretfully bail on you, either coming down with the flu or not having the energy to go out any more.

You sit at the bar, your feelings jumping from anger and frustration, to sadness and understanding. You are gutted that you have been bailed on for what was the now 4th attempt of a girls night. But decide that unlike every other time, you deserve to have a good night.

Maybe you should stay out. You deserve this.

“Can I have another whiskey please?” You smile to the bartender, sliding your phone in your back pocket.

“On the rocks?”.

“Please”.

You quickly scan the bar, searching for a seat in a booth or somewhere else out of the action. Preferring to sit somewhere secluded where you don’t feel as though you are on full display for everyone inside the venue.

You can see couples scattered around the bar, friends laughing and gossiping together, other people sitting alone hugging a glass, and a rather rowdy group near the jukebox having a dance. You watch them with a soft smile on your face, the two younger girls of the group dragging the smaller guy up to try to dance with them, the shy-faced man looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but there.

Taking a sip of your drink you can’t help but long for that type of friendship to find you, praying that you will find friends who actually care about you and aren’t just around for convenience.

You happen to make eye contact with a man sat on the opposite end of the bar to where you are, immediately snapping your eyes away when you see a smirk appearing on his face. You do not have the energy to be dealing with men right now. Especially men who are just trying to get in your pants.

Pulling out your phone, you begin to scroll through Instagram, taking a sip here and there from your whiskey. But soon enough, a figure blocks the light from beside you. You hear the stool scrape as someone sits down, turning your head to see the man you made accidental eye contact has decided to try his luck. You sigh softly at the sight, the man turning to face you with his full body, wide confident grin across his face. He was trying real hard.

“Hey gorgeous” he smirks, running a hand through his gelled back hair. “You here all alone?”

You contemplate lying to the man and telling him that you were with friends or even that your boyfriend is hanging around. But who are you gonna fool? You are so clearly alone, and you are definitely too scared of socialising to pick a random stranger in the crowd to be your friend/boyfriend.

“Uh yeah. Just a post-work drink”.

You see the man nod softly at your words but the smile on his face doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He is listening to you but not really, his stare piecing straight through you.

“Oh, what do you do for work?” He grins, his hand now lying flat on the bar top, right beside your own which was gripping your glass tightly. You want out of this conversation as soon as possible.

“I’m a dance teacher” you awkwardly smile, tucking a piece of your hand behind your ear nervously. “I have my own studio”.

You see his smile falter slightly and you know instinctively why. Nearly every person you have met has either one opinion or another about your chosen profession. It’s either surprise for being a business owner especially that of a dance teacher, or it’s amusement, not seeing dance teaching as a real profession at all. You’ve lost count with the sheer amount of times that you have been called a glorified babysitter.

“Right. Well I’m a lawyer” he laughs loudly, clearly boasting to you as he chugs the remainder of his beer, slamming the glass back down on the counter when he’s done. “I’m a senior associate lawyer at Handler and Lawson on Maine Street. You know, big leagues stuff”.

You nod slowly not wanting to look at the man who you still don’t know the name of. Your lips are pressed into a thin line as you sit in silence, feeling his eyes bore into the side of your head as he waits for your response. You begin to think of ways to get out of this god awful conversation, now coming to regret that deserving drink you so thought you’d have.

“Oi dude!” The lawyer shouts at the bartender from beside you, snapping his fingers to get his attention. “Hello? Stop fucking around I need another beer bro!”

You screw your face up in disgust with the way he speaks to the bartender. Nothing uglier to you than being disrespectful to hospitality workers, retail workers and healthcare workers. You see the bartender mutter under his breath as he places another beer in from of the man beside you, not before giving you a side eye as if to ask if you’re really here with him. You widen your eyes subtly to him when you make eye contact, hoping to convey that you wanted nothing to do with this asshole. Something that works when you see the bartender let out a chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Fucking finally” the suited man grunts, eyes now unfortunately training back to look at you. “So you just couldn’t get another job or something? Stuck with kids huh?”

Your jaw drops at his words, shamefully affected by the utter shit he is spewing. “What?”

“I just mean clearly you’ve had to settle. No one wants to actually be a dance teacher or whatever you call yourself”.

Your eyes narrow as he speaks, growing angrier and angrier by the second. The fuck is he on about? You know people have looked down on you previously for your job, but this? This was just some guy with a small dick who believes that he is a hero and it’s well within his right to talk to women in this way. He is some try hard lawyer who thinks the sun shines out his own ass, and you aren’t about to let that slide.

“You are fucking joking right dude?” You laugh, but the now deadpan expression you’re met with says otherwise. “Like you’re actually pulling my leg right now”.

The lawyer shifts awkwardly in his seat, his lighthearted expression turning somewhat sour. He is getting embarrassed.

“It’s a real fucking job, one that I’m extremely fucking proud of. So if this is some ‘I’m better than you’ complex you’re pushing onto me right now you can fuck right off!”

You laugh, downing the rest of your whiskey with a shake of your head. You grab your bag and stand up, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of this conversation. But just as you’re about to walk away, he grabs your wrist tightly, pulling you into his side with a scowl.

“You don’t get to talk to me like that you little bitch” he spits, hatred and rage spilling from his eyes. You’ve clearly hit a soft spot. “You fucking apologise to me right now or I’ll make you apologise when I take you outside”.

A shiver runs up your spine at the threat. Maybe you had bit off a little more than you could chew. This guy wasn’t too big, 5’11 and lean, but definitely someone who could overpower you fairly easily if he really wanted to. You try to rip your hand from his grasp but he only tightens around you, his head dipping down to your eye level as he waits for you to speak.

“Fuck you” you choke out, deciding to just double down. You weren’t about to start apologising for shit you didn’t want to. Never have and never will.

The man opens his mouth to speak, his hand pulling your arm down aggressively, causing a sharp pain to run up your arm at the movement. You yelp slightly from the sudden pain but slam your mouth shut when you see the smile that elicits from the guy in front of you. Before he can get another word out of his stupid mouth, another body appears from the shadows to stand beside you.

“I believe the lady made her point”.

You look over to see another man leaning on the bar top from beside you, an intense stare in his eyes. His salt and pepper hair and freckles standing out the most to you in your moment of panic. He has a plain back tee on and camo cargo pants, the boots on his feet are scuffed and well worn. The man’s hands are clasped gently on the counter, clearly calloused and strong from years of working with them, his strong forearms flexing as he watches your attackers every move.

“She told you to fuck off, and I think that’s a great idea”.

“Get lost old man” the lawyer spits, his sharp eyes now trained on the man beside you. “We’re just talking”.

The older man doesn’t even flinch, his blue eyes glancing over to check on you every so often. You can see him calculating on how exactly to get you out of this predicament. He glances over the shoulder of the lawyer briefly, nodding once to someone near the front of the bar. Someone who you’re unable to see because of how you’re being restrained by your attacker.

“Doesn’t look like talking to me” he mocks, hand gesturing toward your now bruised wrist that the lawyer has in his grasp. “Looks like you’re hurting the lovely lady. Doesn’t it, Tom?”

A tall, buff, Polynesian man appears out of nowhere, arms crossed and security band sat tightly around his bulging bicep. That’s who he was looking at. ‘Tom’ nods in agreement as he stands next to the silver fox who has come to your rescue, nodding toward the hand clutching your wrist with a tense stare.

“Let’s go champ”.

The lawyer opens his mouth to argue but is redirected by a strong hand being placed on his shoulder. He finally lets go of your wrist and holds his hands up in surrender but is still shoved out of the bar by Tom, protesting the whole way. You rub your now bruised wrist with your other hand, a shaky breath that you didn’t even know you were holding slipping past your lips.

“You alright kid?”

Your eyes snap to look at the voice, too wrapped up in your own thoughts to even remember the man beside you. Something which causes him to apologise softly upon seeing your reaction, his eyes softening with concern.

“I- oh- um- yeah. Sorry. Yeah I’m okay. Thank you” you stutter, struggling to form a coherent sentence. Your bag slides off your shoulder and only the floor abruptly, the man next to you picking it up and placing it on the bar top before you even have a second to catch your breath. “Really, thank you-“.

“I’m Abbot. Or you can just call me Jack, I’m not picky”.

An apprehensive smile makes its way onto your face and you can see that Jack is trying to make you as comfortable as he possibly can.

“I’m Y/N”.

“Let me buy you another drink, Y/N”.

Three drinks and an hour and a half later you are now seated at a booth in the corner with your ‘hero’. The man adamant to turn your night around and make sure you are alright, no matter how much you protest.

“So. Dr Abbot? That’s hot” you smile, certainly feeling the effects of your many glasses of whiskey. The man in front of you blushing slightly from the compliment.

“Not it’s really not” he chuckles, his arms coming to cross in front of his chest. Good god he is buff. “It’s tiring and bloody and certainly underpaid. But I enjoy it, I like helping people”.

A warm smile stretches across your face from his words, your skin growing hot both from the alcohol and simply from looking at the man before you. You can’t help but stare at his biceps and forearms for a moment, veins prominent, freckles scattered across his skin like kisses. You could take a bite out of them and die happy, you think.

“Well, I’m glad you like helping people. I definitely needed it”.

A somewhat awkward silence floats between you both, Jack actually growing quite bashful from your words. He doesn’t see himself as a hero or anything, he just stepped in when he saw someone in trouble as he went to get another drink. Simply doing what anyone would do if they saw someone in your situation.

“I bet you look hot doing it” you laugh. “I know you certainly did tonight”.

Jack coughs as he chokes on his spit, quickly sipping his beer to help it go down. Red grows from the back of his neck to the tips of his ears, as he rests a hand over his mouth and thinks about what you’ve just said. He’s debating how in the hell to even respond to that.

“Sweetie, I’m old enough to be your dad”.

You laugh loudly at his words, finally taking the time to think about how true that statement must be. Yeah he was older but doesn’t mean you didn’t want to grab his face and kiss him right then and there.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t find you cute” you shrug nonchalantly, running a hand through your own hair as you take a sip of your whiskey.

“You need a guy your own age” he starts, leaning forward on the table now, hands clasped and an intense look in his eyes. “Someone your age who is miles better than that loser from before”.

You hesitate slightly at his words, not wanting Jack to think that you actually came to the bar to go on a date with that asshole who grabbed you. You open your mouth to set the record straight but ultimately decide against it. You think that Jack doesn’t need nor care about it at the end of the day so why waste his time and your own. This is all just a big of fun anyway right?

“Guys my age suck! They’re horrible really!”

Jack shakes his head slightly at your words. “I’m sure they’re not all bad”.

“Jack”. You start, head tilted and eyes staring at him with a look that says ‘seriously?’. Sighing, you tuck your hair behind your ear and adjust how you’re sitting to lean toward the doctor sat across from you. “They are all in some form or another rude. Or selfish. Or they just look down on me because I’m a dance teacher and they think that it’s not a real job”.

You shrug as you speak, trying to convey the cool, calm and collected facade but deep down you’re frustrated. Why can’t you seem to find anyone who will just love and support you for who you are?

“You’re a dance teacher?”

A smile washes across Jack’s face, a soft one that you happen to mistake for mockery. Your eyebrows furrow as you lean back into your seat, now on the defensive.

“Yeah I am” you snap, sass etched into the ends of every word you speak. “Is that an issue, huh?”

Surprise comes across Jack’s features at your new attitude. The man panicking that he has said something seriously wrong. “No. Not at all!”

You see the tension on Jack’s face and immediately backtrack, removing the hostility from your words and body language. Way to go Y/N, way to ruin a conversation.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry” you sigh, rubbing a hand over your face in a way that screams, exhaustion and regret. You open your mouth to speak again but are cut off quickly by the doctor sat across from you.

“Don’t be”.

Jack pats your hand that is resting on the table once, his own hand lingering on top of yours for a brief moment. Silence fills the booth, neither of you knowing what exactly to say next. Causing you to scan around the bar awkwardly, wanting to escape from this moment as much as you could.

Jack senses this tension, and feels as though he is partially at fault for your change in behaviour. You have certainly been through it tonight, so he could have picked his words better. Wanting to relieve the awkwardness, the serious man cracks a light hearted joke, his words dripping with both seriousness and charm.

“I’d let you teach me some dance moves sometime”.

Your head snaps back to look at the now smirking man before you. Fully entranced back in the conversation. “Wait really?”

“Sure!” He laughs shrugging, coming to play with the beer sat on the table as he looks into your eyes. “It’ll really be a test for how good you are”.

“If I can teach a 3 year old how to bend and turn I can teach you” you laugh, body language easing at his words. He has immediately made you feel comfortable within his presence yet again. Not something that happens very easily.

“I don’t know. I can throw a pretty mean tantrum”.

A loud cackle escapes from deep down in your chest, the sound eliciting a wide grin from Jack. He laughs softly as you slam a hand over your mouth, trying to take back the sound that has just left your body. But he commits it to memory. He already can’t wait to make you laugh like that again.

For a moment you both forget that you have only just met each other, and completely forget that you are decades apart in age. The conversation and energy between you two blend together so well that it just feels normal, feels like it has always been there and that is strangely comforting. Your short time together just feels so right.

A tall man with a short beard and sad look in his eyes approaches your booth, his hands tucked deeply within his jacket pockets. You notice that he is one of the men from the friend group sat by the jukebox earlier, the remainder of the group standing a bit behind him waiting.

“Hey man, we’re gonna get going. You coming?”

Reality crashes back into you when you remember where exactly you are and what the time is. Realising that this little fantasy night where you feel so connected to this stranger is coming to an end. You look between Jack and the other man, seeing that they are almost having a wordless conversation with their eyes.

You see Jack’s friend smile softly before turning to have a quick look at you, his smile growing briefly as a form of greeting. He has deep crows feet around his eyes from years of happy moments and memories, something you find quite endearing.

“Nah I think I’m gonna hang around a little longer” Jack breaks the silence, glancing over the man’s shoulder to look at the rest of his group briefly, then turning back to his friend with a smirk. “I’m booking in some dance lessons”.

Shock fills your body at his words. Jack is joking, you know that, but this is the first time someone is joking around and not at the expense of you. And not only is he joking around to include you, but he is being dead serious about staying with you at the bar even though his friends are all calling it a night. Jack looks over at you to feel out your reaction to what he has said, mainly also to see whether you are wanting him to stay out and talk with you. Your surprise definitely giving him the reaction he wants.

Jack’s friend chuckles under his breath softly as he shakes his head. Torn between believing the words coming out of his friend’s mouth, or rather just believing that Jack wants him to leave him be with his new lady friend.

“Whatever you say brother. Night”.

The bearded man turns you with a small smile, a look in his eyes that you can’t quite place as he begins to leave. “Goodnight”.

“Night brother” Jack says at the same time you mutter out a “g’night” toward his friend, the man walking back to the group as they quickly discuss the encounter in a hushed whisper. You can see the small, shy boy from earlier snap around to stare in your direction, something that is quickly shut down as he is slapped across the back of the head by a short blonde lady. The group making their way towards the front doors.

“So where were we?”

You smile at Jack’s words, happy he has decided to stay. Yes, you are pretty tipsy, but you are really enjoying the man’s company, and you hope that he kind of feels the same.

“You were booking some dance lessons and I was considering giving the elderly a chance in my dating life”.

Jack ducks his head as he laughs but you’re dead serious. Not so much about Jack being a part of the elderly age bracket, but for the rest of it? You’re serious.

“Very funny” he laughs disbelievingly, shaking his finger as he points toward you. He picks up his beer and chugs the rest of it, placing it back on the table with a grin.

“No I’m serious” you stare, watching his every move in order to gauge his reaction. “I can’t deal with guys my age”.

“You just haven’t found the right person” Jack sighs, thinking that this is just a phase you’re going through. This is just a reaction because of your circumstances tonight, a form of attachment toward your ‘hero’. “They’ll come along”.

“You sound like my mum” you laugh as you roll your eyes, not excited to be hearing this impromptu lecture.

“I’m probably the same age”

You sigh loudly at his words yet again. Worried that you’re not getting your point across. You aren’t sure how many times you can say to this guy that you don’t care about his age.

“Yeah, but you’re hot so it’s fine”.

Jack stares blankly at you for a moment. And you can see the cogs in his brain turning over and over again. You begin to think that he might try to argue with you or counter your words but he doesn’t. Instead deciding to double down on his version of this conversation, ignoring your flirtation attempts.

“That guy was just a pig who desperately needed to be put in his place”.

“You got that right. But I don’t know, I feel like someone more mature, someone’s who’s lived could really work for me” you state, quickly turning and thanking the barkeep when they come to collect your empty glass and Jack’s empty bottle.

You turn back to face Jack, digging in to your purse and quickly reapplying your lip gloss. Having done it at-least a thousand times you don’t even need to use a mirror to apply, but you do however begin to doubt your skills when you see Jack staring at your lips intently. You swipe the corners of your mouth to wipe away any lipgloss that you must have smeared there based on the watchful gaze of Jack, but don’t seem to find any. Weird.

“Honey, if that were truely the case I’d take you out tomorrow. But it’s not” Jack smirks, his eyes snapping up from your lips when he notices that you’ve caught him staring.

“Deal”.

Jack’s smile falters slightly as you speak. You’ve just backed him into a corner and it actually impresses him. No one has been able to do that to him in a hot minute.

“No I don’t mean-“ he begins but you cut him off with a loud laugh. You point at him with a “ha!”, grinning as though you’ve won the lottery.

“No it’s done! It’s a date”.

Jack stares at you blankly, watching the way that you do a little tipsy happy dance from what feels like a game day win. You see his face and begin to panic slightly thinking that maybe you have over stepped the mark. Were you being too pushy? Your doubts squashed however upon seeing the shadow of a smile slowly growing on Jack’s face, no matter how much he tries to hide it from your view.

“Come on Doctor. What’s the worst that could happen?”

For the first time tonight you see a wide toothy grin appear on Jack’s face, shaking his head with a laugh. The feeling that fills you is one of pride and arousal, Jack looking even hotter when he laughs. If that is somehow even possible.

Still with a grin, Jack raises his eyebrows in a challenging way. The man hinting that he is flirting with you as he speaks.

“Someone I know sees me out on a date with someone who’s young enough to be my kid?”

“A super sexy kid” you jokingly laugh, hands softly slamming onto the table in protest. Jack groans in disgust as he rubs a hand over his face, he felt like a dirty old man. “Oh come on, I’m kidding! Just one date. If we don’t work out like that at least it’ll be a funny story to tell all those friends of yours?”

You wriggle your eyebrows waiting for his response. You are being pushy, but you certainly aren’t about to force someone into going out with you. If Jack ultimately decides against going out with you for whatever reason you’ll let it be.

You are tipsy, not psychotic.

“Alright. One date”.

Your jaw drops in surprise, completely shocked he is actually agreeing to this. A part of you definitely wants to go out with him, and is certainly happy he decided yes. But the other part of you is kind of flirting with this man for the thrill of it. You find him definitely attractive, but a part of this enjoyment stems from the idea that you will never be able to have him. A little cat and mouse game. But this is actually happening.

Jack sees the change in your demeanour and laughs to himself. He can tell you are half playing along with this game knowing that he wouldn’t say yes. But he actually does.

“Oh don’t tell me I’ve scared you off now”.

“What! No!” You rush out, trying to bring back your cool, calm and collected facade that you have brought this whole night, but Jack can see straight through you.

He can see your excitement and hesitation bubbling beneath the surface. He can see you scanning his face for any sign of jest, or rather that he is doing this out of pity. But he’s set on his decision.

“I’m totally excited. I get to go out with a hot doctor. I’m winning right now”. You grin, fanning your face from fake heat and melting into your seat dramatically. Your performance making Jack chuckle and shake his head, the slightest of blushes reaching the tips of his ears.

“You’re lucky you’re cute girly”.

You were sat on a park bench with Donnie and Princess, beer in hand as you all gossip and decompress about your day. You let out a loud laugh at something Donnie says, taking your hair tie out of your hair and shaking it.

God nothing feels better.

As you place the hair tie around your wrist you look to your left to see a solemn looking Robby and Abbot approaching the group, your heart tingling as you lock eyes with Robby.

You so have the hots for the sad old man.

“Hey, hide the hard drugs kids!” Donnie says with a chuckle, the two attendings flopping down onto the chair beside you with a groan.

Robby bumps his knee into yours as a form of greeting, a warm smile covering his face. Your own definitely doing the same as a warmth crawls up the back of your neck from his attention. Donnie tosses the pair a beer each Abbot not catching his as smoothly as Robby does. The latter making that point clearly known.

“Oooh, nice catch”.

You lean forward to catch a glance at Abbot’s reaction only to see him not fazed, more interested in taking off his prosthetic and letting his leg breathe. The group falls into a content silence, each glancing toward one another sporadically as time passes.

You love being able to just exist, surrounded by your people. You all have created a little family within the walls of PTMC, and there is nothing you wouldn’t do for your people. Some more so than others.

Looking over to Robby, you see the man with his head tilted to the sky and his eyes closed. A deep exhale leaving from somewhere low in his chest. He had been through it today. Your heart hurt for the man who always took on way too much emotionally. He took responsibility for the ER in the wake of the Pittfest shooting, he shouldered the responsibility of all of the patients you guys had lost today, and he tried to breathe, all while blaming himself for Dr. Adamson’s death, that especially because today was the anniversary.

You’d do anything to take the pain away from him.

Almost as if he can feel the sadness radiating off you, he opens his eyes to meet your own, seeping with sorrow. You absent mindedly lean toward him, shoulders brushing for a moment, your mouth opening to speak. But before you have the chance, you’re cut off by Donnie.

“Today was a motherfucker”. The group all nod silently in agreement, everyone having their own personal experiences with today. “Have you ever been in anything like that before?”

You look to Donnie to see him staring at Abbot and his now bare leg, the man massaging his stump. You could see it in Abbot’s eyes how tired he was, and how much he really didn’t want to answer. Perks of being a close friend, you could see straight through him. Robby could also feel the tension, replying on behalf of Abbot instead. “Let’s hope none of us ever has to again”.

Your mind starts to drift as the conversation carries on, stuck thinking about your patients you have treated today. Especially the one you lost. You worked tirelessly on the 6-year-old drowning victim, your heart clenching every time you looked at her. Even now you could see her intubated face when you close your eyes. You can hear the screams of her parents when you told them there was nothing else you could do. And you could hear the hope in her sister’s voice as she told you all about her love for her hero sibling.

Today was going to break you, it was just a matter of when.

You feel a gentle hand on your knee as tears brim your eyes, shaking your head quickly to rid them before they fall. You take a big swig of your beer and turn to see Robby’s concerned gaze, offering up a soft smile to try and stem some of his concern.

It doesn’t work.

“Is this where all the cool kids hang out?”

Looking to you left so see Mateo, Victoria and Samira approaching, a smile making its way to your face when you lock eyes with the latter. You adore Samira. The girl sends you a cheeky grin, nodding her head to bring your attention to Robby’s warm hand which is still firmly resting on your knee. You send her a look that screams “I know right!”, widening your eyes quickly at her. You are so excited to debrief with her about tonight later.

Almost sensing the attention you feel Robby’s hand slide off your knee slowly, coming to rest back on his beer can. His head tilted down to look at his hands almost sheepishly.

Yeah, he definitely noticed Samira’s look.

“Nice of you to join us!” Princess replies, Donnie taking care to toss a beer can to all three of the new attendees.

“Actually sorry, I don’t drink. I- I don’t know why I took that” Victoria mumbles, hastily shoving her been can towards Mateo. You can feel the stress radiating off her. Poor girl has had a big first day.

You give her a warm smile, never going to be the person to judge someone for their drinking choices. Princess however having other opinions as she pipes up. “She’s not old enough!”

“Princess!” You whisper in a scolding manner, the woman looking at you with a shrug. You don’t want to embarrass the young girl, she’s already done that enough today with her googly eyes and mismatched conversations with Mateo.

“I’d say if she’s old enough to put in a chest tube and intubate, she’s old enough to drink a beer”.

You look over at Robby who is staring at Victoria with a look of almost pride. The man chuckling to himself as the rookie yet again speaks with heart eyes at Mateo. They were cute. And you can’t help but wish you had that, someone who you can be hopelessly in awe of, someone who would do the same for you. Your mind flicking to think of Robby without even meaning to.

The next minute you hear Robby’s chuckle turn into a deep cackle, a smile forming on your face as you look at the man who rubs a hand into his hair. Your chest clenches at the sound, loving it when he’s laughing. A small slither of concern coming in however, when you can still see the stress radiating from him.

“What’s so funny?” Samira smiles, Victoria looking at her attending with a concerned expression. She was gonna need some time to adjust to all these new personalities by the look of it.

“I just realised this is your first shift!” Robby exclaims to Javadi, turning to look at you with a smile once he speaks. You let out a laugh at his realisation, the whole group chiming in when they also think about it.

Laughter still radiating, you lean into Robby with tears trying to break free from your eyes in joy. Robby leaning right back into you as he cackles. A warm look of something you can’t quite place written on his face as he looks at you. And you’re sure you’re doing the same right back.

“That was baptism by fire, baby” Abbot laughs, shaking his finger as he points toward Victoria.

“I can almost guarantee the next one will be easier Vic” you smile, swinging your legs up to sit cross-legged on the bench. Now an awful lot closer to the attending right beside you.

“Yeah I really fucking hope so”.

“Hey!” Donnie starts, laughing harder with each word. “At least you didn’t get pissed on”.

“I’ll drink to that” Veronica pipes up, small laughter falling from the lips of the group as they think about the other poor newbie.

“Awww poor Whitaker! Where is he?” Princess frowns lightly-heartedly. Everyone already having a soft spot for the kid. Yourself agreeing with them about how much of a sweetie he is.

“He’s probably quit” Donnie says with a smirk, immediately making a frown form on your face.

“Don’t be mean” you tease the nurse as you take another swig of your beer. “He’s cute”.

Robby bumps your shoulder with his own as you speak. A warm smile reaching his eyes as you talk. He loves knowing how much you care for your coworkers, and how much you would come to bat for them.

“That kids tough!” He smirks, placing his beer can down onto the bench beside him. “He’ll be back. Just like the rest of us”.

A silence falls amongst the group at Robby’s words. Everyone feeling a mix of emotions as they think about their day and the endless possibilities of what tomorrow will bring. You look over to see Samira taking out her claw clip and shaking her hair free, letting out a sigh at the feeling. You reach your hand out with a smile, the girl taking your own hand in hers with a grin. You both silently stare at each other almost in a comforting way before you chuckle softly at your swinging hands.

Yourself and Samira were having a girls night tomorrow after work do you knew that you would have an extended catch up then, feeling a little less guilty for wanting to leave so early now. You can feel exhaustion begin to creep in the longer you sit on the bench, your chuckle quickly turning into a deep yawn.

“Alright. I’m off” you smile, groans of protest falling from the mouths of Princess and Samira, you dropping the latter’s hand as you gently slap your knees. “I don’t trust myself to not fall asleep on this bench so I must go. It’s a long walk ahead of me!”

Robby’s ears prick up at the sound of that. Not liking the thought of an exhausted and tired you, walking home alone in the dark. The chivalrous side of him takes over, immediately downing the rest of his beer and standing up in front of you. “Alright, let’s go”.

Your head tilts in confusion as you look up at the man, Robby almost combusting from how attractive he found it. You were almost positive that he will be walking further away from his house than toward it if he is to walk to home, but you aren’t even allowed any time to argue. “Let me go with you. Please?”

Looking amongst the group you see everyone staring at you waiting for your response. Princess failing miserably to hide her smile behind her beer can, Abbot staring at you with a blatant smirk on his lips. These people.

“No Robby it’s fine honestly” you start, already feeling guilty. “I can’t ask you to do that, you live in the opposite direction”.

Robby stares at you with a soft smile, wordlessly bending to pick up your bag off the ground and sling it over his shoulder. “Lead the way”.

You roll your eyes knowing that you will not win this argument even if you tried. Once Robby had set his mind to something there was no going back. You could feel the tension ripple amongst the group without even looking at them. And you knew full well you would have a million texts from Samira asking about how your walk home went. Jesus, you were dreading the messages you’ll get from Dana when she hears about this. She’s been betting on the two of you getting together for weeks now. Something you have blatantly denied every time it came up, there was no way Robby felt the same.

There’s been talk in The Pitt about the two of you liking each other for a while now, you only finding this out because you happened to walk in on a suspicious looking McKay and Ahmad exchanging money. The pair freaking when they saw you. That’s when you knew that there was a betting pool about you having the hots for your attending.

You stand up and reach out to take your bag back from Robby but the man just gently slaps your hands away with a grin. You let out a short laugh as you throw your hands in the air and turn to look back to Samira in a ‘can you see this’ manner.

Oh yeah, she can see this.

“Goodnight. Get some rest” Robby calls back to the group from beside you as the two of you begin to walk away. “Tomorrow is another day!”

You wave back at your friends as you depart, falling into a steady rhythm with Robby. You both walking silently for a while, the only noise being the sound of your footsteps and the sound of the fabric of your bag swishing against Robby’s jacket. You try and sneak a glance at the attending, attempting to hide your giddy smile from the fact that he is walking you home. Only to see that Robby is doing the exact same thing, sheepishly snapping his eyes back to the path in front of you when he is caught.

Cute.

Needing to break the silence, you tuck your hands into the pocket of your jacket and smile up at the man beside you. “How are you feeling after today?”

Robby was not doing well. Anyone with a set of eyes could see that. And as much as he wanted to lie and say he was doing fine he couldn’t. Not with you. Whenever the man looked at you there was something buried deep down inside that stopped him for being able to lie to you. He felt safe.

“Not great” he smiles gently, his smile not meeting his eyes whatsoever. “I’m just exhausted. Both mentally and physically, and no matter what I did I felt like it wasn’t good enough”.

Your next step falters slightly at the vulnerability coming from the man next to you. Sure, Robby has been honest with you in the past, and yes, he has told you things in confidence before. But this was different. This felt like he was completely baring his soul to you. Almost as though he was just waiting to see how quickly you would run from him. Robby was worried that his deep sorrow would scare you off. And he didn’t know if he could deal with that possibility.

You stop walking abruptly, which causes Robby to panic slightly, fearing that he has truely turned you away. But it’s when he also stops to look at you that you reach out and grab his large hands in your own. Giving them a squeeze as you look deep into his eyes.

“You are an amazing doctor, Michael” you say softly, not wanting to speak any louder in fear you will scare him off. “You are an amazing doctor but you are an even better man”.

You can physically see his shoulders sag in relief at your works, tears glistening in his eyes as you keep going. “You are warm, and funny and kind. You know how to speak with patients, whether that’s the elderly or a child. You are gentle to even the harshest people and you are an advocate for others who don’t have the strength to be there for themselves. You are an amazing doctor. But you are an even better man, Michael, I know that you are more than enough”.

You reach up gently to wipe a stray tear that has fallen from his eye, his hand coming up quickly to hold yours in his own as it rests on his cheek. Robby tilts his head slightly to rest into your palm with a deep breath, his eyes closed. You both stay like that for a moment before Robby opens his eyes, something you can’t quite place lurking beneath the surface of them. The man gives the palm of your hand a soft kiss as he pulls your hand away, coming to hold it in his own as he guides you back toward the direction of your home.

Your heart pounds at the kiss, stomach tossing and turning while your mind goes crazy. Does this mean he feels the same way for you? Surely he does, I mean, he’s holding your hand and walking you home!?

The walk is silent all the way back to your house, your mind reeling at what is happening. You have no idea what to do or even say. God, can you phone a friend for this one? You don’t want the night to end. Which is a funny turn of events after wishing this day to be done all shift. Standing at your doorstep, still hand in hand with your attending, you look up at him and smile. Not sure what to do.

“Thank you for walking me home Robby. You really didn’t have to”. Your mind slips, allowing yourself to stare at his lips for a moment. Looking so soft and inviting, wanting nothing more than to feel them on your own. You had dreamed about what they would feel like on your own for months now. Call you desperate.

Robby can see your eyes flickering between his own and his lips. Heart hammering as he thinks about all the implications if he does kiss you goodnight. I mean, he did walk you home while holding your hand, what’s one more step?

Yeah, fuck it.

Without warning, Robby’s free hand comes to hold the back of your neck, pulling your lips closer to his own agonisingly slow. His eyes flicker from your lips back to your eyes, looking to make sure what he is doing is okay. You let out a shaky breath at the action, body coming to press against his own, your free hand reaching up to rest on his chest. You can feel his heart pounding.

The kiss was not what you had thought your first kiss with Robby would look like. Sure you had imagined a multitude of different scenarios where you would have your first kiss, and you had definitely imagined it to be rushed, breathy and hot. Lips smacking, hands in his hair, tugging and desperate. Needing to feel each other and be with each other. It turning from kissing to more, legs wrapped around him, quick breathy gasps coming from the both of you.

But this is the opposite. This kiss is soft, gentle and sweet. Holding each other as if the other person will fade away. This is filled with love and sorrow and the need to feel seen by another person. Kissing each other with months worth of longing, admiration and contentment.

This kiss is exactly what you and Robby are meant to have in this very moment.

Now a second-year resident at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre, you are very comfortable with being around your coworkers and their different personalities. And quite comfortable navigating patients, both happy and aggressive. The latter unfortunately coming to fruition tonight.

It was hour 6 into your shift, the full moon seeming to bring in all the crazies. Within the last hour you had an unhoused man brought in with lacerations all over his body from “releasing the werewolf out of him”, and another woman named Heather, who claimed she could speak with the dead. The poor lady breaking her arm from falling off her roof because the spirits told her she needed to bathe in the moonlight. Why that had to be completed from her roof? You have no idea.

Walking up to the nurses station, your hands press into your hips as you stare up at the board to see if there are any new cases. Your eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, but exhaustion is clear on your face. It’s been a big night.

“I can see your brain overheating from all the way over here”.

Looking away from the board you spot an incredibly nonchalant Abbot leaning against the outside of the desk, the smallest of smirks on his face as he looks at you, rubbing the palms of his hands together as he talks. God why is he so hot?

You slide your hands over your face with a soft laugh, trying to shake the inappropriate thoughts about your attending from your mind.

“Did you know that I have psychic powers Dr. Abbot?” You laugh, your conversation with your earlier patient Heather finally being spoken into the universe. “Apparently I’m wasting my time here, I need to be working with my spirit guides to find my soulmate”. You smirk, your hands now in line with your eyesight, wriggling your fingers at the man before you with a silent ‘woo!’ out your mouth.

Abbot stares for a moment, your heart beating louder than normal when you realise what you have exactly said and done to your attending. Maybe you should take Doctor-patient confidentiality more seriously? It’s not long however, before he lets out a soft ‘HA!’, sounding more like a cough than any actual word. He takes a quick breath in and looks around briefly, before leaning over the desk to speak to you in a hushed voice.

“As much as I would love to see that career opportunity happen for you Y/N, I would miss seeing your pretty face as you parade around the ER like it’s your own personal practice”.

Without another sound, the man swings his stethoscope back around his neck with a smirk and walks away as a sepsis patient is wheeled through the doors by paramedics. The ER picks up as people rush around to prepare a vacant bay for the patient, but you are just standing there dumbfounded by what you have heard.

Was he flirting with you?

Sure, you were a flirty person by nature, god-awfully awkward too, but Jack Abbot is certainly not. Or at-least not toward anyone that wasn’t you, you begin to piece together. You both seemed to be having these unannounced flirting competitions back and forth for months. And sure, you had to squint hard to read between the lines, and guess whether he was being just sarcastic or teasing. But with this? Oh yeah. Jack Abbot was flirting.

God, you were gonna need a stiff drink after this shift to deal with your emotions tonight.

Lena sits at the desk in front of you, the night shift’s very own mother hen sending you a small wink at what she has overheard. “He’s down bad for you, sugar” she smirks, pen tapping the desk as she speaks.

Warmth flows throughout your body at her words, trying hard to bite back the smile that is itching to appear on your face.

“No he’s not Lena, he’s just being nice. He’s like that with everyone” you say, rolling your eyes. The charge nurse in front of you snickering at your attempt to down play the situation.

“Honey, he’s looking at you like he wants to eat you. I don’t see him looking at Shen like that”.

You open your mouth to try and counter her statement, eyes darting over to where Abbot is with his patient to see whether or not she is telling the truth. And by god she is. You make eye contact with Abbot as he speaks to his latest patient, the man offering a small smile when your eyes meet. He looks you up and down once more before turning away, purely so he can stop getting distracted. Not that you’re aware of any of that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Lena” you deny, attempting to diminish any hope that you have a chance with your middle-aged boss. “I’ve definitely seen him look at Shen like that”.

“Whatever you say sugar” Lena laughs as she rolls her eyes, standing when she is called over to the other side of the hub by another RN. She looks at you as she leaves with a look of ‘we’ll talk about this later’, and you know that will be the case. You will definitely be hearing more about this later.

Looking back to the board you see that there’s a patient in room 2 who’s still waiting to see a doctor. Grabbing an iPad you head over that way, spotting a yawning Mateo as you move.

“How’s night shift treating you? You regret picking up that extra shift now, Romeo?” You laugh, the young nurse shoving you softly at the nickname as he follows. You’ve always liked Mateo.

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Wish I was getting paid overtime for this one though. I think I’ve seen more naked patients tonight than I have in my whole career” he laughs. “This full moon really brings out the worst in people”.

“You’re telling me” you sigh as you pull back the curtain, your patient twitching restlessly on the bed as you and Mateo walk through.

Upon first glance, the poor man looks like he’s been through hell. He’s covered in bruises and tiny lacerations, his whole body is covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and his shirt is ripped at the collar. And as you take a closer look, you see that his eyes are erratic and he is mumbling things under his breath, his hands grabbing the sheets of the bed as he goes.

“Hello sir, my name is Dr. Y/N and this here is Mateo what seems to be the reason for your visit with us tonight?” You begin, cautious to not be too loud and threatening as you assess your patient, briefly reading his intake report. Although you are aware of the basics why he was brought in, you always prefer for your patient to tell you themselves. You begin checking for any signs of injury other than the most obvious ones, making sure to keep an eye on the man before you. His incoherent mumbling beginning to concern you, if there are no drugs involved this could well be a case for psychology.

After receiving no response and seeing no other signs on injury on the man, you subtly tell Mateo that this might be a good one for psych to take a quick look at. Knowing that there was a psych doctor already down in the ER consulting with a different patient, you tell him to pop over and see if they’d be willing to take on another while you grab some vitals and a blood draw to rule out narcotic use. Once Mateo leaves the room you prep for a blood pressure test and set up the different equipment on a tray for a simple blood withdrawal.

“Sir can you tell me what your name is? Do you know your name?” You smile softly as you take a seat on a small rolling chair in the corner, pulling it over to be beside your patient as you talk. “Is it alright if I put that band around your arm? Test your blood pressure sir?”

You pause, hand resting on the rail of the bed as you ask, waiting for any sign of agreement or hesitation from your patient. But you’re met with no change, he is presenting the exact same symptoms and lack of acknowledgement as before. You deciding to proceed with the tests, but stop if you are met with any protest from him.

As you stand to grab the blood pressure band from behind you, the metal wheel of the your chair bangs into the metal leg of the drawers behind you creating a sudden and loud noise. This mixed with your quick movement seems to set your patient into a panic, the man’s eyes locking onto the back of your head in a craze.

As you turn back to face your patient and apologise for the noise, he lunges. His hands come to grab at your throat as he pushes you onto the ground from where he is seated on the bed. The wind being knocked out of you almost instantly, the back of your head meets the cold floor of the ER with a loud crack, your vision splintering between black and white spots. The tray full of vials and a syringe smashes onto the floor as you both go down, creating thankfully more noise for other people in the ER to take notice of.

Fear sets in as you see nothing but panic and rage in the eyes of the man on top of you. His fingers digging into your neck as you choke. Clawing at his hands you manage to pull them away for a second and let out a strangled, “Help!”. But that is short lived as he pushes into your neck with even more pressure than before, eyes so big you swear you can see only the whites. While it feels like minutes of you being attacked by this patient, it is in reality a mere matter of seconds.

Just as you are about to pass out from the lack of oxygen, Mateo returns, mumbling something about psych being a little too busy for you right now. The nurse freezing for a second, taking in the scene before him.

He was only gone for a second.

“Fuck..” he mumbles, “ABBOT!! AHMED!!”

Mateo dives toward the man on top of you, using all his strength to separate you two. As soon as the patients hands are away from your throat you manage to let in a strangled gasp, immediately rolling to the side in the fetal position in a way to try and protect yourself. You hear multiple footsteps running toward the room, your hands clutching at your throat desperately to try and take some of the pain away.

It hurt so bad, why did it hurt so bad?

You feel his hands on your shoulders before you see him, the ringing in your ears from shock taking a while to go away. It’s only then that you lock eyes with Abbot and begin to realise what has just happened and where exactly you are.

“Sweetheart, you need to breathe for me”

Still on your side you see Abbot yelling at your co-workers in the room who have come to your aid. You however, are too distracted by how disgustingly hot Abbot looks barking orders to even notice which friends are present. You think that amongst the chaos you might have seen Parker and Shen.

Even half dead you still mange to admire the man.

“Jac-“ you try to speak but your voice gives out halfway through from the trauma. The pressure in your head making you dizzy and causing the room to sway slightly. You want nothing more than to have a quick nap to get rid of this feeling.

“Yeah I’m here honey, keep your eyes open okay?” Abbot orders softly, his eyebrows furrowed tightly as he bends his neck down to look you in the eyes.

You love it when he does that.

You can feel the stress radiating off him as he snatches gauze from someone’s hand and leans over your frame on the floor to press it against your bleeding scalp, a small laceration apparently happening when you fell. A whiff of his cologne makes your hands tingle from attraction as you watch him work- or maybe it’s the trauma?. Quick, efficient and gentle. You’ve never seen him like this before, never this worried for a patient.

Wait- did he just call you sweetheart?

“I’m fine” you choke out, trying to swipe his hands away, managing to miss miserably as a result of your current double vision. “I swear, I’m- I’m fine Jack”.

Abbot pauses for a moment, staring into what feels like your soul. He lets out a shaky breath before squeezing his eyes shut and sighing. “You’re not fine. You never call me Jack”.

Well he’s got you there. Now that you come to think of it, you’ve always been just that little too scared to call him Jack. He’s technically your boss for Christ’s sake. Thank you head trauma for seeming to rip all of your feelings of hesitation and embarrassment away from you. God, you need a nap.

You push off the floor to sit up, much to the audible disapproval from Abbot. The room swaying for a moment at the change, the movement making you squeeze your eyes shut to adjust and reach your hand out to grab Abbot’s bicep to stabilise yourself. When they open again you meet the soft eyes of your attending, his hand placed gently but tense on your knee.

“What happened Y/N?” He stares, concern smacked thick across his face. Effortlessly swapping out the now bloody gauze with a new piece on the back of your head. “I heard yelling and when I come in you were hurt, and just laying lifeless on the ground”.

Smiling sloppily at the man before you in an attempt to relieve some of his worry, a small laugh escapes your lips. “I’m not even sure! My chair made a loud noise? Must have stressed my patient. One minute I was grabbing something from behind me and the next, I’m being strangled”.

Your mind is a daze and Abbot just looks so damn fine with his stupid forearm muscles twitching with every movement of his hand on your knee. His bicep his hot under the palm of your hand, and is seemingly the only thing you can seem to focus on. This taken into consideration, it’s probably the reason why your brain short circuits and decides to add on laughing, “like, if I’m gonna be strangled the guy should’ve changed his name to Abbot. Am I right?!”

The silence you hear in response is deafening.

Your loud laughter slowly dies down to a chuckle, then to a giggle, then to nothing. The whole time your attending is staring at you with concern and something else you can’t quite place. Your smile is wiped off your face when you realise what you’ve said, opening your mouth to try and take it all back and apologise.

“I’m sending you for a head CT” he says gruffly, retreating away from you on the floor, refusing to make eye contact. “You hit your head pretty hard. And you’re obviously not thinking clearly”.

“Wait Ja- Dr. Abbot wait!” You try, hand slipping from his bicep as he stands up and steps back, the fog in your head beginning to clear as a result of your panic.

What have you done?

“I’ll get one of the nurses to take you up” he calls over his shoulder, throwing out the gauze he had previously pressed against your head in the bin.

You reach for him as he turns and walks out the room, smacking the hand sanitiser on the wall in frustration as he goes, rubbing it into his hands. The panic you’re feeling makes your head throb and your throat ache. You can’t believe what has happened in the past 10 minutes.

You’ve just ruined it all.

You were drunk. One drink turned into two, then two turned into five, and before you knew it, you were explaining how to perform a thoracotomy to the bartender as he made you yet another drink. Everyone found intoxicated you to be hilarious.

Everyone but Robby that was.

He laughed at you being tipsy, stumbling around a little bit as you blabbed more than you normally do. But not this. You could barely stand upright and were constantly trying to fight Dana off as she yet again attempted to give you another glass of water and some chips, groaning about how she was being a ‘party pooper’.

You giggled as you danced with Santos, the girl not being too far off from your state. Happening to fall over as you try to “drop it to the floor” for one part of the song that was playing, you sit there giggling for a minute. Looking up from the floor you meet the concerned gaze of Robby, who was already crossing the dance floor to reach under your arms and pull you up.

You smile sweetly at the man and his actions, looking into his eyes as you stand, never really noticing before just how beautiful his eyes actually are. The warmness of them, mixed with concern and sadness really did something for you. And you were almost drunk enough to say it to his face.

“Alright. That’s enough for you missy”.

You groan at his words, immediately going limp in his arms, like a 3 year old does when getting put in their car seat. The older man swore softly under his breath at your actions, Santos letting out a loud laugh as she watches on, drawing the attention of the rest of your friends.

“I think it’s home time” Dana smiles, everyone else agreeing with her softly as they down the rest of their drinks and collect their belongings.

“No! ‘M havin’ funnnn!” You slur, attempting to use puppy eyes on the crowd, finishing up to look at Robby with a pouted mouth. The man laughs at your statement, shaking his head as he picks up your handbag from the table, with you still being pressed tightly into his side as he gently holds you up.

“Yeah, definitely home time for you” Robby laughs, noting the fact you can barely stand without support. “Everyone sorted for a ride home?”

One by one, everyone nods their head and says how they’re getting home. That being everyone but you. All eyes eventually fall onto you as the group comes to make their way out of the bar and stand on the front curb, awaiting your response.

“I’m walkin’!” You grin as you snatch your handbag from Robby’s grasp, pushing off the man to stumble down the footpath toward your house without another word.

The group share a panicked glance with each other at your words, Dana opening her mouth to speak. But before she can say anything, Robby places a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, keeping one eye on you as you go.

“I’ll get us a cab to Y/N’s, then I can walk home from there” he smiles at everyone, Mohan and Dana letting out a little protest at his words. After all they were your girl friends, and you can be a handful when you were drunk. But Robby shut them down quickly, already walking toward you with a smile and a laugh, spinning around to address the group. “It’s fine! You guys go! I’ll clock in for overtime with the drunkard”.

Turning back around he stops dead in his tracks to see you bent down and grinning and cooing as you pet a dog tied to a pole out the front of the 7/11 a few businesses down. Shaking his head, Robby walks over to you, your starry-eyes grin now focusing itself on the attending standing beside you.

“Robby look at him! I love him! I’m gonna steal him!” You whisper aggressively toward the dog. Nothing but love, gentleness and alcohol being seen within your eyes.

“Woah now sweetheart. I want to get you home, not bail you out of prison” he chuckles, the corners of his eyes crinkling from adornment. He thought you were the cutest right now.

Your eyes snap to Robby at his words, standing up so you are shoulder to shoulder with him as you both stare down at this dog. “You’re right. I would like to have a job in the morning not a criminal record”.

Robby shakes his head with a grin as he gently holds your shoulders, guiding you slowly away from the dog. He directs you down the road a bit before sitting you down on a nearby bench, grabbing out his phone to call for a taxi for you both.

“You know what?” You mumble, head resting on your knuckles as you lean on the back of the bench, eyes twinkling as they stare at Robby. “You’re being very responsible, Dr. Robinavich!”

Robby freezes slightly when he hears his full name, twisting to get a good look at you whilst finishing up his call. You’re swinging your handbag around with one hand as you talk, still in a heightened state of bliss.

“Am I?”

“Mmhm” you smile, leaning forward to whisper loudly at the man before you. “I think you look very sexy when you’re being responsible”.

Robby chokes on his spit at the comment. A wave of shock showing quite clearly on his face. You both were known to be a little flirty with each other but this was very straight forward for your standards. The alcohol was very much solely participating in this conversation.

“You’ve been hot tonight don’t get me wrong! But a man who lets me turn my brain off and not think? Mm mm!”

A blush creeps up the back of Robby’s neck at your words and suddenly he can’t even make eye contact with you anymore. The man tries to rationalise your comments with the fact that you’re drunk but got does it feel good hearing you say that.

Assemble a chair from IKEA I’m like uhhh.

You silently screamed at the stupid instruction booklet from your new bed frame for the 3rd time. It was currently 7:30pm and you had been at it for 6 hours, only managing to piece together one side of the bed. The night was coming quickly, and you were starting to lose all patience with the task at hand. Who needs a bed to sleep on really?

Deciding to bite the bullet you give Robby a call, your friend/attending already telling you earlier today that he was available at all hours to help you with this stupid furniture. It’s almost like he knew you would lose your mind and not finish the task.

The man arrives in as little as 20 minutes, dropping his bag by the door and taking off his jacket like he owned the place. Robby rolls up the sleeves of his Henley shirt, running a hand through his hair as he puts his reading glasses on and picks up the instructions.

Oh yeah, he means business.

“I’ll order pizza while you save the day” you laugh, phone in hand, Robby’s usual order on the tip of your tongue. You couldn’t even count the amount of times Robby and the rest of the gang had come over for pizza parties. “It’s the least I can do for my knight in shining scrubs”.

Robby rolls his eyes at your declaration, already progressing more with the build in those few minutes than what you had in the last hour. You watch his forearms flex as he works, concentration clear on his face. His eyebrows furrow slightly as he places his glasses back onto the top of his head, screwing another screw into place, his mouth slightly agape as he worked. God, he looks fucking hot.

You leave your drool-fest to go grab Robby a beer from the fridge and pour yourself another glass of wine while you wait for the pizza. Swaying as you come back into the room, singing a song softly to yourself, you take a seat on the floor in front of Robby. Sitting crossed legged, you smile to yourself at the domesticity of this situation, always loving the time that you get to spend with Robby outside of work. The man makes small talk here and there, face flushed from the hard work, you adding in little flirty comments sporadically when you realise that it makes Robby go even redder.

Fuck me, he looks good.

You have to stop yourself from jumping his bones right then and there when he finally finishes building your bed, helping you place your mattress on top, with a groan. You love and hate the feeling of dependency you have when it comes to being around Robby. It bordering more on the love side when it means you get to ogle at your hot, older attending while he sweats and pants on top of your bed.

A little respect for women can get you very, very far.

The ER was packed as per usual, with a no where near enough of beds and rooms for the sheer amount of patients you had in the waiting room. Doctors and nurses being run off their feet, everyone having a stressful and busy day. You had just finished up with a patient, completing your charting at one of the computers near the nurses hub. So concentrated, you didn’t notice Robby sneak up, scaring the living daylights out of you.

“Jesus, Robby” you yell, hand coming to clutch your heart as you breathe. “You can’t do that!”

Letting out a deep laugh, the attending places a hand softly on your shoulder in apology. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I was just checking in. Everything good so far?”

Your heart lurches at the nickname, loving it but only when it comes from him. You give him a nod and a smile in response, Robby squeezing your shoulder once before having to go see another one of his patients.

Finishing up your charting in record time, you decide it’s a good time to grab another patient and head back into a free exam room, collecting an iPad as you go. The waiting room is full of people talking, shouting and groaning, definitely way too loud for your liking. You have no idea how Lupe does it day in and day out.

“Charles Pranter?” You call out into the space. A middle aged man with a tea towel around his arm standing to meet you at the doors. “Hi there Mr. Pranter, I’m Doctor Y/N come with me and I’ll take you through now”. You notice the man give you a strange look when you tell him your name and title, shrugging it off to the pain he is experiencing.

You lead Charles through the ER to a now empty exam room and pull the curtain halfway shut. Sitting on your rolling chair you smile up at your patient and ask him to tell you about what has happened. The man is short and abrupt with his answers, barely giving you the time of day. You begin to grow frustrated with the man as you try and treat him with limited information and communication, setting up your side tray to suture his laceration.

The second you begin to stitch the now numb wound, the man lets out a yell, a series of profanities and names being shouted in your direction. Abuse in the workplace is something you are unfortunately not new to, it especially making you angry when someone questions your job based off your gender. This being one of those times.

“Stupid fucking bitch!” Charles yells, almost at the top of his voice. “Get me a real fucking doctor not a glorified nurse!”

You bite your tongue, knowing anything you say will just escalate the situation. Taking a deep breath you go to stand to find someone else to help, but before you can, the curtain is ripped back to find a rather concerned looking Robby. You give the attending a tight lipped smile when you make eye contact, Robby’s presence making you immediately at ease.

“Fucking finally! Can you take over for this idiot” Charles snaps gesturing toward you, looking at Robby with an exasperated expression. “I need a real doctor who knows what he’s doing man! Not a fancy titled nurse alright?”

Robby looks livid. He stares at Charles with his eyebrows raised at the sheer audacity, immediately reaching out for you, not breaking eye contact with the aggressive patient. You stand up at the gesture, Robby placing his large hand on the small of your back as he ushers you out of the room. You both stepping behind the curtain, Robby searching your eyes wordlessly to check you were okay.

“I’m fine, it’s okay” you say, shaking your head in anger. “It’s not really okay but I’m okay”.

Robby nods once, telling you to stay right here, before stepping back into the room with Charles, curtain wide open for everyone to see and hear. Charles breathes a sigh of relief when Robby re-enters, thinking the attending was here to fix him up. But he is sorely mistaken.

“Thank god man! You get it I-“

“No I really don’t get it man” Robby hisses, arms crossed over his chest. Speaking loud enough so you and half of the ER can hear him. “You do not get to come in here and disrespect my ER or my doctors like that. Got it?”

Your jaw drops at his words, both pride and arousal filling your chest. Holy shit it feels good to hear him backing you up like that. Even though it shouldn’t be needed, you deserve to feel respected in your workplace.

“You are tired, I get that. And you are in pain, I get that. But I do not get the disrespect for women, nor do I allow that inside my Emergency Room. So you will treat Dr. Y/N with the exact same respect you just gave me, or you can find another hospital. Am I clear?”.

Your jaw is on the ground as Robby walks back out of the room, giving you a cheeky wink as he walks past. You take a second to breathe before you go back in with your patient, heart pounding at Robby’s words.

You definitely have the hots for your attending.

Remembering how to use your phone gets me oh so, oh so, oh so, HOT!

You are having the most relaxing night that you have had in weeks. After an exhausting shift you took the time to take a relaxing bath, have a glass of wine, make a mini charcuterie board and binge watch ‘Bones’ in your dressing gown. You have your feet propped up on your coffee table as you absent mindedly swirl your wine around in the glass.

Your phone vibrating like crazy draws you out of your trance, starting to think you’re getting a phone call. Placing your wine down, you pick up your phone to see that it is not a phone call making your phone go crazy. But rather Instagram messages from Robby. Who appears to be sending you over 8 different reels.

You added Robby on social media a few months after you all started hanging out in the park after work. You actually had to set up the Instagram account for him, the man obviously not being the most tech savvy. Robby just liked seeing the funny memes on Instagram, especially the ones that you to send him. It making him feel special that you think about him whenever you see something funny. Having help to create Robby’s Instagram you needed to come up with his username, ERCOWBOY101 being the funniest one you could think of. Even helping him pick his profile picture, one of his super awkward but super sexy selfies.

You slowly went through making sure to watch each and every one of the reels, excited that Robby has thought about you while watching these videos. Some of them were very dad jokey, other ones were meme videos or silly cats and dogs. But the one that caught your eye in particular was different from anything he had sent you before.

It was a random photo with a sound and text attached, nothing out of the ordinary. But it isn’t until you read the text that your heart skips a beat. The text starts out saying “everyone has that one coworker that no matter how hard they flirt with them, they simply just don’t get it. And all you want to do is pin them up against a wall and fuck them till-“.

Your mouth falls slack as you re-read the reel, the sound playing over and over again for what seemed like minutes. Your face grows hot and your heart pounds, sure the two of you flirted non stop with each other but this is different. He has never been so abrupt, the old “senile” man that you know has just sent you a smut reel! You see that he has even liked the reel, his profile picture floating in the bottom left corner of the video with a little heart next to it.

But before you can click on it again to try and process/rewatch what you had just seen, it disappears. The reel itself has vanished from the list of ones that Robby has sent you. Your eyebrows furrow in confusion as you leave your chat and try to get back into it, only to be met with the text ‘ercowboy101 has deleted a message’ amongst the list.

Your jaw basically unhinges at this rate. You can’t believe what you have just seen, nor can you believe that Robby is seemingly enjoying smut! Coworker smut!

The one thing that actually kind of impresses you about the whole thing is the fact that Robby somehow knows how to delete his message after he sends it, god knows you’ve never shown him that feature.

You pick up your wine and take another swig, smiling giddily as you think about what you have seen. To save the poor man’s dignity you will never bring it up to anyone, but god does it feel good to see.

Considering I have feelings I’m like, why are my clothes still on?

You had been on the worst date in human existence. Your date did nothing but talk about themselves, their likes, their dislikes and their feelings. Not once were you asked anything about you, your opinions, or your feelings. And when it came time to leave, they just so happened to forget their wallet and bail before the cheque even came.

Walking into work the next day was something else. You were met with many questions about last night from your coworkers, you wanting to do anything but rehash last nights disaster. You had a busy day, full of emergencies and frustrated patients and you were just holding on to the fact that you would be going home to a hot bath and a wine in a few hours time.

“How was your big date night last night, sugar?”

Turning stiffly, you meet the eyes of a smirking Dana, clearly excited to hear about what she thought would have been a great night. After all, she certainly approved when looking at the profile on Tinder.

“Oh sweet Dana” you smile sarcastically, hand coming to rest on top of the counter at the hub, “it couldn’t have gone any worse if I tried!”.

The smile falls from Dana’s face in a matter of seconds, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. She looks over the top of her glasses toward you, placing her hand on top of your own softly. She gives it a quick couple of pats before pulling back, eyes glancing over to look at the person who now stands beside you.

“What’s happening?” Robby smiles, not knowing that he has accidentally interrupted a moment between Dana and yourself. “You look happy” he sarcastically adds on looking toward you.

Your head turns to look at your attending at the speed of a sloth. Your lips pulling into a tight line, eyes pinching ever-so-slightly into a weak glare. “Oh I’m doing amazing Dr. Robinavich. Having the best day I’ve ever had, thank you so much for asking!”

You offer Robby a weak curtsy as you depart, beginning to walk away from him and toward the break room for a much needed coffee. You alone time is short lived however when you hear footsteps hurrying to keep up with you as you walk.

“Hey- hey wait!” Robby calls, finally catching up, his hand coming up quickly to block the doorway of the break room. “Did I do something?”.

You sigh, hand rubbing your face in frustration. “No Robby, I- I’m sorry I just had a bad night last night and I’m in a filthy mood”.

“Oh. Okay” he says, concern evident in his eyes. “This because of your date?”

Your head snaps up to look him in the eyes surprised. You didn’t tell him about your date whatsoever, not even that you were dating again.

Seeing your surprise, Robby lets out a laugh, stepping into the lunch room and allowing you to enter behind him. He begins making a coffee, holding a cup up in silent question as to whether you were wanting one too.

“We work in the Pitt” he chuckles, pouring your coffee when you nod in silent approval. “Word gets around fast in these parts”.

You sit at the table with a huff, thankful no one else is in the room to hear your pity-fest. Robby places your cup in-front of you with a small smile, taking a seat across from you expectantly. He wants to hear all about it.

“It was awful!” You groan, hands immediately coming to run through your hair. “All they did was talk about themselves, didn’t ask me a single question, did not care about my feelings whatsoever. AND I had to pay for everything! They left before the cheque even arrived! It was bad, I had to get an Uber home because they picked me up and then ghosted me. I got stuck in my dress because my zipper got stuck, and to top it all off I dropped my only bottle of wine on the floor before I could even get a sip once I got home”.

Your rambling comes to an end, arms flailing as you tell the story, Robby nodding, grimacing and running a hand over his face as you speak. He was VERY invested. You stare at the man waiting for some kind of response once you stop talking but are met with silence. You look over to see Robby staring at you, not even blinking, causing you to wave a hand in front of his face with a “hellooo?”

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Robby wakes from his trance. He opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted as Princess sticks her head in the doorway, “sorry Robby, the dad of your teen DKA wants to see you”, before promptly leaving.

Robby groans, swigging the rest of his coffee before standing up and placing his hands on the back of his chair, leaning in and looking you in the eyes.

“You deserve nothing but the best Y/N. You deserve to be asked how you’re feeling and how your day went. You deserve to be the topic of conversation and to not pay for dinner. You deserve to be safely driven home and to have that nice glass of wine after a night out. Give it time, the right person will be there before you know it”.

Your jaw falls slack and your eyes soften at Robby’s words, warmth blooming across your chest. That was possibly the sweetest thing someone has ever said to you. No one had ever reassured you and made you feel special all at the same time before. Robby walks toward the doorway stopping briefly to put hand sanitiser on his hands, turning back to look at you as he rubs it in.

“You deserve to have someone unzip your dress for you after a long night”.

Offering to do anything I’m like, OH MY GOD!

Between your raging headache and your ridiculous fever, you were sure death was about to knock on your door. You were sat on a chair at the nurses hub, wet cloth over your eyes, arms draped over the top of your head. The ER carried on around you, with your self proclaimed 10 minute break unfortunately coming to an end. You felt a nudge on your arm as you sat there, pulling the cloth off your eyes with a squint.

“You need to go home, sweetie”

Looking up you see the concerned stare of Dana, her glasses pulled down the bridge of her nose as she stares at you expectantly.

“Dana I’m fine I swear! Give me another 5 and I’ll be good to go this time. Promise”.

“You’ve said that the twice now” she says with a sigh. “I’m telling Robby you’re going home”.

Your eyes snap up at the comment, a sharp pain burning into them as you do. You look at Dana through narrow slits almost as a challenge, she wouldn’t dare.

You see her glance at someone over your shoulder and before you can even turn you feel a soft hand come to meet your forehead. Looking up you see the concerned face of Robby and you groan at the sight. Busted.

“Hello to you too” he laughs at your reaction, immediately frowning once he feels how hot and clammy your skin is. “You’re going home”.

Your body freezes almost as a trauma response. You hate not being useful, and getting sent home from work for some reason makes you feel like you really are useless. No matter how silly that sounds.

“No Robby, I swear I’m fine!” You protest, desperate for your attending to change his mind. You were going to finish this shift! You definitely need the money anyway.

Robby stares at you for a second and you can see the cogs turning in his brain. Almost as though he was assessing both your illness and mindset in one. “No you’re not”.

You groan loudly, drawing the attention of a few nurses and doctors near you. Robby letting out a small chuckle at the sound, Dana rolling her eyes. “I am fine! I just need some food… and maybe a drink… and maybe some meds… but then I’m good to go!”

Robby stares at you in silence yet again. His hand coming up to check your forehead one more time as he chews on his lip thinking. You get excited, thinking that you’ve won this argument and can get back into work after a few more minutes but you are sorely mistaken.

“What do you want to eat?”

Much to your head’s protest, your eyes snap over to look Robby in the eyes. Both confused and in a little bit in pain. “Huh?”

Robby smirks at you, one hand coming to rest on the back of your chair, the other on his hip. He speaks slowly and softly, over enunciating every word out his mouth, “What. Do. You. Want. To. Eat?”

“Robby no-” you start, adamant that you are not about to make your attending fetch you food and medication because you’re feeling a little under the weather. As much as you feel a tiny bit flattered that he’s even offering.

“Robby yes” he cuts you off, not taking no for an answer “I’m getting you a sandwich, water and some ibuprofen all while you’re taking a lie down in the staff lounge. Okay?”

You sink back into the chair, resting the palms of your hands to your eyes with a deep breath. You could try and make a run for it? But there’s no way you’re outrunning your attending in this condition. You could try and talk your way out of it? But it’s so clearly not working now. There’s really no escaping Robby and his stubbornness.

“Robby. No, it’s fine I promise!”

Your attending lowers his head slightly to stare into your eyes expectantly, he knew he was going to win this back and forth game. It was just a matter of when.

“It’s either you rest at home or you rest here. It’s up to you?” He smiles.

You look between Robby and Dana, the woman more than happy to stand by and watch this little duel between the two of you. She’s been nothing but smirking the whole time. Looking back over to Robby you look through the ends of your lashes up at him, a fake scowl on your face, arms crossing. “You’re not going to cave are you?”

A shit-eating grin crosses his face as he chuckles, rubbing his hands quickly over his face and then returning to the chair on either side of you, blocking you in.

“Nope. I’m going to get you all those things while you head to the staff room. Then I’ll be coming to check on you myself. I need proof that you’re resting”.

“Dana help!” You whine, looking at the charge nurse with mock fear. Holding an arm out to the woman in a begging manner.

Dana laughs shaking her head. Grabbing an iPad from the desk and pointing a finger at you in a motherly way. “Don’t pull me into this, I agree with Robby. I’m just a little less generous. I wouldn’t offer to be your chauffeur”.

“Rude!”

You watch Dana leave with a soft smile, having nothing but love and adornment for the charge nurse. She was always looking out for the best for you. Robby too. You look back over to see Robby already looking at you, not entirely convinced he even looked away.

“Robby you’re being too nice” you sigh. Arms falling limp by your sides finally surrendering, exhaustion creeping its way back in. Maybe you could go for a quick nap on the staff lounge?

“It’s the least I could do sweetheart. Off you go” he smiles widely, wiping a few stray hairs out of your eye before spinning the chair you’re sitting on to face the direction of the staff room. He holds the chair firmly as you stand, watching to make sure you aren’t going to fall over or stumble. Light glistens in his eyes are he watches you slowly make your way across the room, visibly in pain and not feeling the best.

Feeling eyes on you, you spin back around slowly to see Robby still holding on to the chair looking in your direction. A smile makes its way across your face as you look into his eyes, sarcastically calling over your shoulder toward a grinning Robby.

“Race you there!”