super graphic ultra modern girl

Holiday shifts were always tough, and you knew the Fourth of July wouldn’t be any different. Though, what you hadn’t expected was ICE agents dragging away a patient and a nurse; a cyberattack forcing the department to go completely analog; a patient choking out the new nurse; a new attending; and your current attending taking out his mid-life crisis on any person who stepped even an inch out of line.

Flipping through the clipboard Dana had passed off to you, her own version of the handwritten board, you swore could feel your brain turning to mush. You wanted nothing more than to go home and get into bed, dragging your girlfriend along with you.

As if her ears had been ringing, Cassie entered the central station with a sigh.

“Hey.” She leaned back against the desk and looked down at you.

“What’s up?” You asked, your eyes still trained on your chart as you scribbled something down really quick.

“I just need a second,” Cassie sighed. She unfolded her arms and dropped her hands to the edge of the desk. “I feel like I’m being pulled in a million directions.”

Looking up, you offered her a sympathetic smile. “Only three more hours to go.”

You set the clipboard down and subtly placed your hand atop hers, brushing her knuckles with your thumb. Your relationship was by no means a secret—you and Cassie had been dating for nearly three years—but that didn’t mean you went around flaunting it with public displays of affection.

The feeling of your skin against hers caused Cassie to exhale, her muscles visibly relaxing. In the ED, uninterrupted moments were few and far between. Each second she got with you were ones she would revel in. However, the peace didn’t last very long, as her name was being called.

“Dr. McKay—” Princess approached the station as she tucked a pen into her chest pocket— “little boy with wrist fracture is gowned and ready.”

Cassie nodded, acknowledging the nurse, but before she could even push herself off the desk, another person was trying to grab her attention.

“McKay, I need your hands on an incoming MVC!” Robby shouted from across the department. “Ten minutes out.”

“Heard,” Cassie yelled back, and as if the world was deciding to test her even further, her name rang out again.

“McKay, scans are back on Central 12,” Dana announced, eyeing you both over the bridge of her glasses.

“Thanks, Dana,” Cassie sighed, before flipping through the chart Princess had handed her.

“I’m starting to hate my name,” she muttered under her breath, loud enough for you to still catch it.

“You could always change it.” You shrugged as you return to your chart.

“Yeah?” Cassie scoffed with a glint of amusement in her eye. “To what?”

Your own last name slipped from your lips so casually that it took Cassie a minute to comprehend what you were saying, her exhaustion doing her little favors.

“Did you just–” she frowned, narrowing her eyes at you. “Did you just propose to me?”

Clicking your pen, you grabbed your clipboard and stood up, leveling Cassie’s confusion with an innocent smile, as if you hadn’t just suggested in the middle of the ED that your girlfriend take your last name.

“Just think about it.” You winked, squeezing her bicep before sliding past her.

Cassie watched as you walked away from her and approached Dana, chatting with the head nurse like nothing happened.

“McKay!” Robby’s booming voice snapped her out of her stupor.

“I’m here,” she said, rounding the nurses’ station.

As she rushed over to the incoming gurney, Cassie’s eye caught yours, and you gave her a soft smile and a nod, giving her the boost of energy and confidence she needed for this trauma.