julestrella

https://www.tumblr.com/julestrella/819153654126968832/between-the-lines?source=share (part one)

baran x afab!character; Afro-Brazilian Character.

Chapter 2/ “It’s a practice in Alabama”

Nothing like a rainy day to get to know your new coworker. 

TW: medical inaccuracies, but nothing graphic

Al Hashimi and Parahyba didn’t cross paths again until two days later. It was raining, more like pouring. Tainá was driving home when she saw Baran in front of the hospital. The woman was looking at her phone, so the neurosurgeon honked to get her attention. The attending looked up at the sound, and Tainá rolled the passenger’s window down. 

“Hey, Bambi! Need a ride?” She asked with a smug look. The attending rushed towards the car, her jacket on her head for minimal protection. 

“You don’t mind?” Baran asked once she had reached the car. 

“Get in,” Tainá told her, pushing the passenger’s door open. 

Baran got in quickly and put her seatbelt on. The neurosurgeon took a quick look at her; her hair was in her usual half-up, half-down, a bit frizzy because of Pittsburgh's humidity. She had shed the scrubs for a Stanford T-shirt and some blue jeans. Except for the bags under her eyes, the woman looked good, Tainá thought. 

“Ready?” She asked after the attending was done buckling up. Baran nodded. “Put your address in,” Tainá told her, handing her her phone. 

“Thank you so much,” Baran said as she gave the neurosurgeon her phone back. “Most buses are blocked because of the flooding downtown, and Ubers are taking forever.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Tainá dismissed with a hand motion as she started driving, following the GPS instructions. 

The two sat in the car in silence for a while. The only sound that could be heard was the rain hitting the car and the windshield wipers. The silence wasn’t awkward; it was peaceful, especially after a day working in the E.R. for the attending, and Tainá just liked silence sometimes. 

Nonetheless, the journey to Baran’s house dragged on as they got caught in traffic. After about ten minutes of being stuck, the neurosurgeon tapped her fingers against the wheel. 

“So,” She said. Baran turned to her, a smug look on her face.

“So what?” She asked. 

Tainá turned to her with a glare, hands still on the wheel. “I’m trying to make conversation, Bambi. Don’t make it harder than it already is,” She told her with a shake of the head, a smile threatening her lips. 

Baran laughed at that. “Alright, I’m sorry. How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around much.” 

“Oh, I’m good. I’ve had three different procedures over the past few days. Long procedures,” She specified. “That’s why you haven’t seen me much in the Pitt.” 

Baran groaned at that last part, “I hate this name.” 

It was Tainá’s turn to laugh. “I heard about that, yeah,” Baran looked at her with a questioning look. “I have eyes everywhere, and also Trinity told me.” 

“Dr Santos?” Baran’s brown furrowed. “I didn’t know you two were close.” 

“We’re not,” The neurosurgeon said, her eyes widening just a bit, fearing she said too much.

“Is it because she’s got a thing for your friend, Dr Garcia?” Baran asked her. She knew the answer already, but it was fun seeing Tainá turn to her, shocked. “Relax, I know.” 

Tainá leaned back in her seat. “How?” She asked. 

It’s not that the two were discreet, but more so the fact that it took about six months for their coworkers to see that something was going on, yet Baran had known about it in not even three weeks of being here.

The attending shrugged. “I have eyes. Though I must admit I thought Dr Garcia was your ex-partner or something of the sort,” She added, which earned her another horrified look as Tainá fake gagged. 

“Please never say that again! Yolanda’s my cousin, we grew up together,” The neurosurgeon told her, turning to look back at the road as the cars started moving at last. 

“It’s a practice in Alabama,” Baran told her in all seriousness. Tainá shot her a quick, disgusted look that made the woman laugh. “I’m kidding!”

“Ah Ah, very funny,” Tainá said sarcastically before changing subjects. “How have you been? Your head?” 

Baran took a breath, smoothing her hands on her thighs. “I’ve been fine and so has my head. The swelling went down drastically, and the headaches stopped,” She told the neurosurgeon. The latter stayed quiet, asking a silent question. “I haven’t had any seizures, if that’s what you were hinting at.” 

“That’s good,” Tainá nodded. “I’m glad.” 

The sincerity in her voice took Baran by surprise; the woman was used to her witty and sarcastic remarks. The attending took a moment to look at Tainá the same way Tainá did when Baran was buckling up. The neurosurgeon had her hair in the same fish braid as the day they met, and some curls had been let out to frame her face. She was wearing a half-sleeved top that revealed the tattoos on her arms and some regular dark blue jeans, similar to the ones the attending was wearing. 

“We’re almost at your house,” Tainá said, shaking Baran out of her thoughts. The woman nodded, looking at the GPS to see that the ETA was 2 minutes. 

A few minutes later, Tainá parked in front of Baran’s house. 

“I cannot thank you enough for driving me home. I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother,” Baran told her as she picked up her bags. 

“You weren’t, don’t worry,” Tainá said, giving her a tired smile. “Get some rest.”

Baran nodded as she got out of the car, yet she did not dare close the door. “Do you wanna grab a bite upstairs?” She asked. “As a thank you, I mean. I made way too much Morassa Polo last night.”

“I would have loved to, but I’m really tired. I’m going to get home and sleep until tomorrow,” Tainá told her. “But if you still have some left tomorrow, bring me some for lunch, then you won’t owe me,” The neurosurgeon teased. 

“I’ll do that,” Baran said with a shake of her head and a smile. “See you tomorrow.” 

Tainá was once again with Dana, signing a chart when the attending saw her. 

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Dr Dramatic,” Baran teased as she handed a file to one of the nurses. 

Tainá shook her head with a smile at the voice. She handed the file back to the charge nurse with a small ‘thanks’ before turning to the attending. “Dr Al Hashimi,” She simply said, leaning with one elbow on the nurses’ desk. 

“I already told you, Baran, please,” The attending told her before making a head motion towards a random part of the E.R. “Walk with me?” So Tainá did.

“How was your night?” The neurosurgeon asked as she walked next to the attending, supposedly nowhere (?). 

“Fine. And you?”  

“The rain put me to sleep,” Tainá told her before looking around.  “So, where are you leading me right now?” 

“Nowhere,” Baran shrugged. That made Tainá stop in her tracks and turn to her. “What?” The attending asked, also stopping, with a small smile on her lips. 

“I got a surgery in thirty. I thought you needed my help on something.”

“Well, no. But it’s been proven that walking helps you relax, which you’ll most likely need for surgery,” Baran told her, cocking her head to the side with a smug smile. 

“Walking anywhere but the E.D., sure. Walking around this E.D. feels like waiting for death to come get you,” Tainá told her. 

Baran frowned at that. “I don’t get if you just hate the day shift, or if you hate the E.D., or if you just hate your job.” 

The neurosurgeon laughed at that, seeing the seriousness in Baran’s eyes. “I love my job, don’t worry. Being a neurosurgeon is so much easier than doing whatever you do down here.” 

“That’s debatable,” Baran muttered.

“For your information, I don’t actually hate any of this, but night shift’s more fun. It’s calibrated, organised, more put together,” Tainá shrugged. 

Baran scanned the woman’s face, brown eyes shining with what Tainá knew was going to be a joke. “Are you saying my E.D.’s a mess?” 

Tainá smiled at her with a pointed look. “Don’t put words in my mouth; that is not what I said. Though,” She added. “I will say that Robinavitch’s E.D. was a mess.” 

“You don’t like him very much, do you?” Baran asked her, remembering their first conversation two days ago. 

“I think ' at all’ is a more accurate description,” Tainá told her, not trying to hide her real feelings towards the man. 

Nonetheless, as a new attending and a new doctor in the PTMC, Baran did not feel like partaking in this debate about Robinavitch, so she changed subjects.  “Can I ask you a rather personal question?” 

“Shoot.” 

“Why did you switch to night shift? I heard that a year ago you were working the day shift.”

Tainá sighed. “The night’s quiet,” She simply said. 

“So, basically, you chose night shift because you’re an introvert?” Baran asked with a teasing smile. 

The neurosurgeon playfully glared at her. “What about you?” She asked, sizing the woman up briefly,  “You like chaos? Is that why you chose this hellhole?”

Baran smiled at the remarks right as a nurse called for her. “PTMC is different,” She told Tainá as she started walking. 

“And is that good or bad?” The neurosurgeon asked, slightly trailing behind the attending as she signed a form. 

“It’s different,” Baran repeated with a shrug. “You’ve got one of the most dedicated doctors I have ever seen, but you also have a chaotic Emergency Department.” 

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” Tainá told her, looking around at the E.D., her brows furrowing as she actually took a moment to take in the chaos around her. 

Baran thanked the nurse before looking up at Tainá, who was now quiet. Seeing the frown on her face, she followed the woman’s gaze only to be met with a familiar sight. “You get used to it, eventually.” 

“Well, since I don’t have to, I’m going to go back to the O.R.,” The neurosurgeon said, turning back to the attending. “Very nice talking to you, Dr Al-,” She was cut off with a glare. “Baran,” She corrected. 

The other woman smiled at that. “You too, Tainá. Good luck on your surgery.” 

“And good luck with your habitual mess!” The neurosurgeon exclaimed as she headed towards the elevator.

“Oh, wait!” Baran called after her, motioning for her to come back. 

“What is it?” Tainá asked as she followed Baran. 

“I brought you lunch, as promised,” The attending said, entering the break room before grabbing something from the fridge. 

“Oh,” The neurosurgeon said. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

Baran smirked at her. “I always follow up, so here,” She said, handing the lunch box to the surgeon. “Now, we’re even.” 

Tainá hummed. “It all depends on how good this tastes.” She said, taking the box before giving a smug look to the attending. “Thank you, Bambi!” 

Baran watched her go with a laugh before going back to work. 

On her way back to the elevator, the neurosurgeon heard her name. She turned in the direction the voice came from, only to see Samira. The two had grown fond of each other over the two years Samira had spent at PTMC. 

“Hey, Mirb. What can I do for you?” Tainá asked her, checking her watch briefly. 

“Are you busy right now?” Samira asked her, her brown eyes looking sad. 

“I have surgery in about twenty minutes, but if you need to talk right now, I can.” 

Samira’s shoulders sank a bit. Tainá felt bad. Samira was always the sweetest. 

“It’s alright, it can wait,” The R4 told her. 

“Listen, some of the night shift, and I are going out in the next few days. I think it’d do you some good to relax outside of the hospital, so how about you come with? We can talk then,” The neurosurgeon told her. Sensing the other woman’s hesitation, she felt the need to bribe her better. “Parker will be there, so will Abbot,” She smirked at that last part. 

Samira playfully glared at her. “I’ll consider it and not because of Abbot.” 

Tainá smiled at that. “Alright! You have my number, if you need to talk before then, don’t hesitate!” 

“I will,” Samira told her as the neurosurgeon went towards the elevator. 

The surgery dragged on way more than it should have, and after four hours, Tainá was finally able to take some time for herself. She went to the break room and grabbed the lunch box Baran had given her earlier. She barely had time to enjoy her first bite when her pager beeped; they needed her downstairs. 

The neurosurgeon went downstairs, where she was met with Yolanda and other doctors. 

“What do we got?” She asked. 

“Female, 34, responsive. She fell down the stairs and broke a leg. A few moments ago, she lost all sensation in her legs,” Santos told her, at the foot of the bed, far enough for the patient not to hear. 

“Okay,” Tainá nodded, making her way towards the woman. “Hello, ma’am. I’m doctor Parahyba. What’s your name?” 

“Melinda Doss,” The woman said, her eyes filling up with tears. 

“Nice to meet you, Ms Doss. I was just told you stopped feeling sensation in your legs. Is that right?” She asked, bending down to see the back of the woman’s neck. 

“Yes. I feel like it’s going up.”

The whole room froze at that. 

“What do you mean by going up?” Tainá asked her, straightening up to watch the woman’s face. 

“I could feel a sharp pain in my lower back, and now I can’t feel anything.”

“We need an MRI,” Whitaker said. 

“We don’t have time for an MRI, call an attending,” The neurosurgeon said. “Now!” She called when nobody moved. “Melinda, you might have a spinal cord injury.”

“Is that bad?” The woman asked, turning her head as best as she could to look at the surgeon. 

“It’s pretty serious, yeah. I have to turn you to the side to see what the problem is and then proceed with the surgery. You’ll need to undergo anaesthesia; the procedure is painful and has some risks, but we need to do it now, or you might not be able to walk again. Do you understand?” 

The woman nodded frantically, seeing all the people in the room move around fast and whisper things she could not hear. 

“Don’t worry. They’re doing the best they can to give you proper care. I’m going to perform what we call a laminectomy, which is a surgery where we remove part or all of the vertebral bone. This will help ease the pressure on the spinal cord or the nerve roots that may be caused by injury.” 

“Am I going to die?” 

“You won’t,” Baran told her as she came to stand on the other side of the gurney, looking at the woman with a reassuring smile. “Dr Parahyba is very talented at what she does. She’ll make sure you’ll make it out okay.”

With that, they all got to work. Not being able to do the surgery in the O.R. as she normally should, the neurosurgeon had to rely on people who had never had to deal with neurosurgery, which meant relying mostly on senior doctors like Yolanda and Baran, the other doctors hovering around to help in any way they could, as the three did most of the work. 

“Okay,” Tainá said. It was the most she had said in an hour and a half. “We should be good for now, but she needs to go to the O.R. now so I can finish up!” She told them, taking her gloves off before grabbing the phone in the room. 

The nurses in the room took care of sending the woman to the O.R. as the doctors in the room took off their protective gear. 

“Okay… Thank you, Linda,” Tainá said over the phone before hanging up. 

“Was that Dr Conley?” Baran asked her.

“Yes, she’s going to take the case upstairs.” 

“That was impressive,” Whitaker told her. 

She looked at him for a beat before nodding. “Sure. Let’s see if she makes it out with all functional limbs,” The neurosurgeon told him, leaving the room.

Once out of the room, she released a breath she did not realise she was holding, making a beeline to the bathroom. The cold water on her face helped ease her back in the moment. 

As she was drying her face with a paper towel, she heard the bathroom door open. The neurosurgeon looked over, thinking Yolanda was going to be here, only to be met with the attending she had driven home the night before. 

“Hey,” The attending said when their eyes met.

“Hi,” Tainá answered, turning to look back at the mirror. 

“I know Dr Whitaker already said it, but what you did back there was truly impressive,” Baran told her as she leaned on the bathroom door.

Tainá gave her what seemed like a self-deprecating laugh. “Thank you, Bambi.”

The use of the nickname felt out of place in this context. Baran felt like Tainá was using it as a distraction more than her usual teasing.

“Are you okay?” The attending asked, cocking her head to the side as the neurosurgeon continued to lean on the sink.

Tainá nodded. “I’m fine. Just tired. I had just gotten out of the surgery I told you about earlier, only to come back down to this. Today’s unpredictability just got to me, that’s it.”

Baran nodded, walking closer to the other woman. “I understand, but I think I have a way to cheer you up,” She said with a smile, piquing Tainá’s curiosity. 

“And what is that, Bambi?” The neurosurgeon asked with a genuine smile on her lips. 

“My Morassa Polo waiting in your break room,” Baran told her. 

Dr Al-Hashimi meets the not-so-new neurosurgeon from the night shift.

baran x afab!character; Afro-Brazilian Character.

chapter 1/ "Sure, Bambi."

Dr Al-Hashimi had been working in the E.R. for about two weeks; she had gotten accustomed to the chaos that was “The Pitt” (how she hated that name). She had learned every name she could from her floor and the O.R.; she knew the trauma surgeons, the orthopaedic surgeons, and the neurosurgeons who came down when needed. 

“Page neuro,” Dr Garcia said to the room filled with nurses and doctors. Perlah nodded, reaching for the phone. 

“They’ll be right down,” She told them. 

Not even two minutes later, a brown-skinned woman made her way into the room, tight curly hair in a fish braid. 

“What do we got?” The woman asked as Perlah helped her get into the protective gear. 

“Nani? I thought you were on the night shift?” Dr Garcia asked, surprised at the woman’s presence. 

“Switched back to day shift two days ago,” She answered, assessing the victim on the table. “Car accident?” 

“Yes, how did you know?” Dr Santos asked. 

“Well, I have eyes. Now, can anybody tell me why I was called down, please?” She asked again, getting impatient. 

“We think we might have a cervical radiculopathy; we need you to check. The victim has a wound we need to treat, and we-,” Dr Al-Hashimi told her before she was cut off. 

“And you need me to check before you move him. I got it,” The neurosurgeon finished, immediately getting to work. 

After making sure that turning him around wouldn’t cause him to be paralysed, the woman left the room. 

“Dr Garcia, can I let you supervise?” Dr Al-Hashimi asked. 

“Yes,” Garcia answered, already starting to give orders to the residents in the room. 

With that, Dr Al-Hashimi nodded and left the room. She looked around in the E.R. and found the woman she was looking for at the nurses’ desk, signing something Dana was holding for her. 

“And you’re all good!” Dr Al-Hashimi heard the charge nurse say, as the curly-haired woman handed back the pen. “It’s good having you back on the day shift.” 

“Wish I could say the same,” The woman answered with a smile. Dana just laughed, shaking her head. “Anyway, I should go back. I’ll see you later.”

Nonetheless, right as she was about to turn around, she ran into Dr Al-Hashimi. 

“Oh, sorry,” She said, getting out of the way and towards the elevator. 

“Oh, I was actually looking for you,” The attending told her. 

The neurosurgeon turned around and frowned. “Do I know you?” 

“No, not yet. I was in the room with you just moments ago. I wanted to introduce myself. I’m the new day shift attending, Dr Baran Al-Hashimi,” The Persian woman told her, extending her hand. 

“Oh, you’re Robinavitch’s replacement,” The woman remembered, shaking her hand. “I hope you’re better than him,” She said, taking her hand back almost as fast as she gave it. 

“I am. And you are?” The attending asked. 

“Dr Tainá Parahyba, I switched to the day shift for a few weeks at a colleague’s request,” Dr Parahyba told her. 

“Brazilian?” Baran asked out of nowhere. 

“What?” The neurosurgeon asked, brows furrowed in confusion. 

“You’re Brazilian, right?” 

“Oh, yes. And you’re Persian?” 

“Half-Iranian, half-Iraqi,” Baran clarified with a nod. 

“Cool,” Dr Parahyba said with a small smile before her pager rang. “I’ve got to go, but it was nice meeting you, Dr Al-Hashimi.” 

“Baran, please.” 

“Then call me Tainá.” 

Tainá was currently on her lunch break when a familiar face entered the room. Seeing the smirk on her face, the Brazilian just shook her head with a smile. 

“Yoyo,” She simply said. 

“Nani,” Yolanda said back, making her way towards the girl to wrap her arms around the other girl’s shoulders. 

“You’re so dramatic!” Tainá told her with a laugh, pushing her arms away. 

“You haven’t worked the day shift in almost a year. Excuse me for missing my sister,” Yolanda clapped back with a teasing smile, going over to grab her lunch from the fridge. 

“We see each other every day off, except the ones when you'd rather spend them with your girl from the E.R.,” The neurosurgeon said, with a teasing smile.

“Okay. I actually didn’t miss you,” Yolanda glared at her. 

They barely had time to eat before both of them were paged downstairs. 

“Damn, does neuro get paged that much?” Tainá asked.

“Normally, it’s mostly trauma and ortho, but today’s your lucky day!” Yolanda told her as they hurried downstairs. 

Once downstairs, they were people dealing with an agitated patient in an orange uniform, moving around violently. 

“Damn, what happened?” Yolanda asked as she and the neurosurgeon helped the others get the man under control. 

“Psychotic break, the officers over there said that he had been repeatedly banging his head on the wall before he stabbed and opened his leg with a scalpel,” Whitaker told them. 

“How the fuck did he get a scalpel?” The neurosurgeon asked, turning back to look at the officers who just shrugged. “Incompetent assholes,” She muttered under her breath as they continued to struggle with the patients. 

Right as they were about to enter the E.R. room where he was going to be treated, he managed to release his arm from one of the nurses’ grips, accidentally hitting the attending, making her fall, her head hitting the doorframe. 

“Shit. Dr Al, you’re okay?” Dana asked, helping her get up. 

“I’m fine. Go help them,” The attending dismissed, a hand on the back of her head. 

“Get her in a room!” The neurosurgeon told her as they finally managed to sedate the patient. “I’ll come check on her when I’m done with him.”

“That’s not necessary. I’m fi-,” Baran started.  

“Shut up and go. Dana, please.” The attending was shocked at the tone but followed as Dana guided her towards a room. 

Twenty minutes later, Tainá finally made her way to the attending who was watching her phone. When she heard the curtain opening, she sighed and put her phone down. 

“I have a job, you know. I can’t just sit there and wait!” Baran told her with what was supposed to be a glare, but those doe eyes were anything but menacing. 

“Yeah, and you also can’t pass out on the job, so shut up and let me examine you,” The neurosurgeon clapped back, taking the light out of her coat pocket and examining Baran’s eyes. 

“You really have got to stop telling me to shut up or cut me off for that matter,” The attending told her with a glare. 

Tainá chuckled, putting the light back in her pocket and taking Baran’s head into her hands, checking for any sign of bumps or fractures. “Or what?” 

“You’re annoying. Has anyone ever told you that, Dr Parahyba?” Baran asked her with a pointed look. 

“Tainá,” The surgeon corrected. “And, yes. Now, have you got any neurological history that might get triggered by a blow to the head?” She asked, focusing back on the task at hand, writing things down on her chart. 

She felt the woman freeze and hesitate for a second, so she put the file down, searching the woman’s eyes. “You can tell me. If you don’t want it written down, I won’t. But I really need to know to rule out any side effects to the medicine or future consequences of the blow.”

Baran hesitated before sighing. She rolled her shoulders back and looked at the neurosurgeon. “I had viral meningitis at age 5. I’ve had seizures ever since, but they have been rare since I got surgery.”

“Okay. When was your last one?” 

The attending met Tainá’s eyes. “Two weeks ago, on the fourth of July.” 

The surgeon nodded. “Do you know what triggered it?” 

“I had two,” Baran clarified, which made Tainá raise a brow. “It was my first day here, it was hot, there were a lot of cases, and I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. It was also my first time dealing with a pedes case since Afghanistan, so.” 

“Yeah, okay. Makes sense,” The neurosurgeon nodded. “Seizures can get triggered by those types of things. Have you talked to a neurophysician?” 

The attending nodded. “I was cleared to work and drive. I haven’t gone back behind the wheel since, but I’m okay. I haven’t had one since. You think this could trigger another one?” 

Sensing the masked worry in the other woman’s voice, Tainá looked up. “Oh, I’m not sure. You have a bump at the back of your head, nothing bad really, put some ice on it, but only a CT scan can tell us about the severity. ” 

“Can it wait until after my shift?” Baran asked. 

“It could, but it’s better if we do it now. You should put ice on that anyway, take a 20 min break. I could squeeze you in between patients so that you can go back to work earlier. Would that work for you?” Tainá explained.

“That’d be great. Thank you,” The attending said, her brown eyes tired. 

“Alright. I’ll ask a nurse to bring you an ice pack, and I’ll be back in twenty,” The surgeon told her. Still sensing the other woman’s worry, she put a hand on her knee. “You’ll be okay. Don’t worry.” 

On her way out, she ran into Dr Santos, whom she had gotten accustomed to thanks to Yolanda. 

“What are you still doing here?” The resident asked. 

“Checking on your attending,” Tainá simply told her. 

“Is she good?” 

“Yeah, just need to ice the bump and a quick CT scan,” She explained, dialling a number on her phone. “This Dr Parahyba, I need an urgent CT scan. Is there any way I can squeeze my patient in the next fifteen to twenty minutes?… Yes… Okay… That’s perfect, thank you.” 

Tainá put her phone back into her pocket, writing something on her chart. 

“How does it feel being back on the day shift?” Trinity asked her, typing away on the computer in front of her. 

“I fucking hate the E.D. during day shift, people always do dumb shit,” The neurosurgeon told her, still writing away on her chart. 

“Tell me about it,” Trinity nodded. 

Having finished writing down in Baran’s file, Tainá looked up only to see the woman out of the room. 

“I told you to stay put!” The neurosurgeon called. 

“I’m going to the bathroom. Should I also run that by you?” Baran asked her sarcastically, putting a hand in the air for emphasis, while the other one was holding the ice pack to the back of her head. 

“Yeah, actually,” Tainá told her as she got closer. “What if you pass out on the bathroom floor?” 

Baran rolled her eyes. “I’m going to the bathroom. Feel free to follow me if you’d like,” She said as she headed to the bathroom. 

“First of all, maybe take me on a date first,” This earned her a glare. “Second of all, five minutes tops or I’m bursting in.” 

“You’re so dramatic,” Baran muttered before disappearing inside the bathroom. 

Tainá smiled to herself before checking herself when Yolanda came up to her with a smirk. 

“What you smiling for?” The trauma surgeon asked. 

“I’m not,” The other woman told. “Shouldn’t you be up there taking care of the prisoner or some?” 

“Changing subjects, but okay. Emery’s dealing with him.”

“Wait, Walsh is up there?” Garcia nodded. “Double rotation?” She nodded again. “So we really got the dream team up there. I really mean Walsh and me, but you’re okay… I guess.”

Garcia laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll take that. Gotta go, but I’ll catch you tonight,” The trauma surgeon told her with a hand on her forearm before leaving. 

Right at this moment, the attending came out of the bathroom. “Fraternising much?” She said, taking some hand sanitiser before walking back to the room she was assigned to. 

“I was just about to come bursting in,” Tainá said, following her. “How’s your head?” She asked when they were back in the room. 

“I’m fine,” Baran told her, as she went to check on her phone. 

“No headache, nausea, nothing?” She questioned. The attending didn’t answer.  “Dr Al-Hashimi?” Still nothing, so Tainá went up to the woman, taking her phone away from her hands. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Baran asked, now looking at the neurosurgeon. 

“Did you really just shut me out right now?” The other curly-haired woman asked her. 

“I did not shut you out, I just told you I’m fine,” The attending explained, trying to get her phone back, but Tainá was taller than her, holding the woman’s phone out of reach. “Are you five? Give me my phone back.” 

The neurosurgeon went back to her stool and motioned for Baran to sit on the bed. “Sit down and answer me, and then I might consider giving you your phone back.”

Baran sighed and did as she was told. “I have a slight headache, no nausea or anything else. Happy?” 

“Very! I’ll give you some Tylenol, and I’ll come back for your CT in five,” Tainá said, getting up to grab the medicine and a cup of water. 

The attending took the medicine, and the neurosurgeon headed out. 

“Wait, my phone!” Baran called after her. 

“Close your eyes! I’ll be back before you know it.” 

The attending groaned in frustration, annoyed with the neurosurgeon. 

Nonetheless, Tainá was right because she barely had time to close her eyes before the neurosurgeon was back. 

“Okay, get up, Bambi. It’s time for your CT.” 

“Bambi, seriously?” Baran asked her, looking at her from the hospital bed.

“What?” Tainá shrugged. “Have you seen your eyes?” 

The attending shook her head with a smile, getting up. “What’s the food for?” She asked, motioning to the apple and Twix bar in the neurosurgeon’s hand. 

“After the CT. Gotta make sure you don’t faint because of an empty stomach.”

The two walked to the radiology department. 

“Okay, your gown is here. I’ll wait over there,” The surgeon said, motioning to a room next to the control room. 

Not even five minutes later, Baran came back out and headed towards the CT where a nurse was waiting.

“Wait, wait,” Tainá called, rushing behind Baran. The woman turned to her, confused, but the neurosurgeon just turned her around, taking her necklace off. “Wouldn’t want you to die on me.” 

“Thanks,” Baran told her as she lay down. 

Tainá went back to the control room to see the monitor. “Okay. Relax, now.” 

“It’s not my first time, Dr Dramatic,” Baran told her. 

“Okay, Bambi,” The surgeon smirked, knowing that it would annoy the attending.  

“So?” Baran asked, now back in her previous set of clothes. 

“You’re all good,” Tainá told her as she handed her the CT. 

“So, basically, you’ve wasted an hour of my shift,” Baran teased, looking at the CT. 

The neurosurgeon chuckled, elbowing the attending. “I hope to never be your doctor again, Dr Al-Hashimi.”

“Baran,” The attending corrected before putting her hand out. Tainá looked at her hand, confused. “My phone.” 

“Oh, right,” The woman said, searching her pocket before giving the attending her phone back. “Here.” 

“Thanks,” Baran smiled at her, her brown eyes now shed of their previous worry. 

“Oh, your apple!” Tainá remembered, giving it to her. 

“What about the Twix?” Baran said, taking the apple. 

“Greedy much?” The neurosurgeon joked, but the attending's eyes were truly irresistible, so she sighed, digging out the Twix and handing it to the woman. 

“Thank you very much,” Baran grinned.