luck protects the daring ones

she might be able to joke with him and i’m sure they are learning more about each other because of the proximity, but she clearly struggles with having another person in her house. yes, they watch tv somewhat amicably and they like living together even if they would never say it out loud. but they are both still quite awkward around one another and trinity barely ever tells him an honest feeling unless he literally pries it out of her. and considering trinity has a history of sexual assault and harmful behavior by men, she’s still gonna cautious and attempt distance(even if she’s kinda bad at it).

she likes him, yes, of course she does. but she clearly doesn’t show that unless it accidentally slips out. she doesn’t even call him dennis, why would she ever call him ‘denny’, cuddle him, or be naked around him?

As much as Whitaker might be becoming a 'safe space' or confidant to Santos, I don't think 10 months is enough time to unlearn habits and coping mechanisms that she used as a form of protection. As for Whitaker, we know he was spending more time out of the apartment than in - helping out with the street team or at the Miller's farm when he wasn't working. I think there was definitely a part of him that felt like he was a burden or intruding on Santos' space, and spending time away from the apartment (and, therefore, Santos) was his way of being less of an imposition. We see him in season 2 attempt to check in on Santos, we see him notice that she's struggling - but his attempts feel awkward (to me), like he's not entirely comfortable or doesn't quite believe it's his place to be the one comforting her. Then Santos' begrudging worries of Whitaker potentially getting taken advantage of lead to the whole house-sitting mess, and both of them end up under the assumption that the other either wants them gone or wants to get away from them - I mean, it's taken 10 months for Whitaker to even realise that Santos actually likes living with him! Likes having him around! (Maybe now that Whitaker's getting paid and can contribute more to their living expenses, he would start to feel a bit more comfortable in his role in Santos' life and less like he's taking advantage of her?)

Which is why I’m not sure Whitaker knows the whole truth about the Langdon situation. I think he knows about how Langdon treated Santos - I think Santos likely did complain about that and I think Whitaker is definitely on her side in that conflict - but when it comes to the drugs, I think Whitaker, and most of the other staff, only knows that Langdon has a substance abuse issue and was 'caught' because of that. I don't think Santos told Whitaker about Langdon stealing meds from patients. So, in this scenario, the only other people who know about the meds stealing prior to season 2 are Robby and Garcia.

And it makes me wonder if Santos' situationship with Garcia would have lasted as long as it did if Santos hadn't told her? Because, yes they're attracted to each other, and yes they're sleeping together because they're attracted to each other. But Santos has also been confiding in Garcia - yes she's been 'complaining' to Garcia about how Langdon treated her, but she must have also been struggling with both the guilt of being responsible for potentially ruining someone's career (no matter how deserved it may have been, that's a heavy 'burden' to carry) and also with the injustice of Langdon being able to return with quite lenient repercussions for his very serious and very wrong actions. I don't think Santos would have felt comfortable going to Robby about this, with him being their boss and all, so Garcia was realistically the only person she may have felt like she could trust to be open about her feelings and concerns without revealing what actually happened to more people. And Garcia's not been shy about her opinions on the situation and her general support of Langdon - so I'm not surprised that Santos seems to have a lot of unresolved feelings on the matter, I don't think she was ever able to properly process what happened. Would she open up to Whitaker about it in the four months between seasons 2 and 3? Isa's mentioned that she's keen for the Santos-Langdon conflict to get resolved (I think I've read that somewhere), so would an improved and closer friendship between Whitaker and Santos, that allows for Santos to really talk through and process the trauma of her experience with Langdon, help with that?

And Whitaker potentially not knowing all the details is why I also don't believe his 'confrontation' with Langdon in the break room scene had as much to do with Santos as I've seen others argue - it may have played a part, especially in shaping Whitaker's impression of him, but Whitaker's only known Langdon for one shift and had minimal (and somewhat positive) interactions with Langdon during that shift. He's also not the kind of person to hold grudges - even the kind of person who carries other people's grudges - rather preferring to give people the benefit of the doubt, and seems to view Langdon's addiction problem with empathy over judgement. So, in this scenario, he only knows what Santos has told him about Langdon's behaviour towards her, and what's been revealed about his addiction problems - both of which are definitive issues, but I don't think Whitaker is necessarily expecting the repercussions to be effecting him 10 months down the line. Whitaker doesn't know Langdon had been stealing meds from patients, he doesn't know Louie was the patient Langdon had been stealing from, so he's probably also a bit confused about why Langdon, who was sent to triage, is taking a marked interest in Louie's (Whitaker's patient) care - something Langdon isn't shown to be doing with the other doctors' patients (barring Mel). Adding this to how Langdon (who's essentially a stranger to Whitaker) had been behaving around him since the start of the shift, slightly condescending and teasing and trying to establish a buddy-buddy, big brother-little brother hierarchy between them, I can understand why the break room scene felt like the last straw after an already long and brutal shift.

Especially as this Whitaker is not the same as season 1 Whitaker - he's 'grown' now, a fully qualified doctor. His main depiction in season 2 is a representation (both physical and professional) of his development and improved competence and confidence in his role as an EM physician. After having established himself in such a way, and gaining the trust of his fellow colleagues in the process, I can understand how grating it might be to have someone treat you like you're still the slightly hapless and uncertain med student you were on the first day of your rotation - because that's the version of Whitaker Langdon remembers. Establishing that boundary was important for Whitaker, and Langdon immediately recognising and acknowledging the significance of it, without the moment potentially escalating beyond what happened, was meaningful too. I also think the reason why that scene might feel quite awkward and weird is because Whitaker is slightly awkward and weird - he's not a confrontational person, it's not in his nature to be - so the moment might come across as slightly clunky and odd because Whitaker is putting himself in a position that doesn't come naturally to him.