when you and cassie arrive that morning, you can almost feel everyone staring as if you suddenly entered the emergency room holding hands with cassie.

do they know?!

"morning, angels." dana looks up at you, glasses slightly hanging too low. "you two drove here together?" she asks, eyeing you and cassie back and forth.

"no," cassie answers almost immediately. "saw her in the parking lot. why?"

"no reason."

you and cassie quickly glance at each other before parting ways. cassie follows abbot for the night handoffs while you take ellis' patients.

the shift is going tolerably well until it hit 3pm and you barely had anything. no sip of water, no snacks, no breaks. you've already handled three trauma patients and five from triage like a champ and now you're feeling the consequences of it all.

your legs are starting to cramp and your throat is starting to dry.

you feel a familiar touch on your lower back. "hey, you okay?" cassie's voice is like a siren call to you, you can't help but look up at her. "you look pale."

"i'm fine. i just need five minutes."

"that won't do." she drags you to the lounge. "stay here. i'll get you something to eat."

"cassie, you didn't have to."

"i want to."

she doesn't let you argue, bolts out quick as if she's responding to an emergency. she comes back faster than you can blink.

"ham and cheese sandwich, gatorade, and protein bar. chocolate, not the other thing. and i got a donut from the pantry." cassie says as she lays them out on the table one by one.

you chuckle, taking the sandwich. "this is a lot."

"you need it."

you take a bite and god, you are hungry. you feel it now.

"stop powering through your hunger and exhaustion, okay? take a break when you need it and for the love of god, don't forget to eat." cassie kisses the top of your head. "i'll cover for you."

"thank you, cass." you smile, cheeks puffy from the food. "you're the best."

"take care of yourself, angel." she gives you one last peck on the lips before heading back to the pitt.

cassie finds santos, whitaker, javadi, princess, and perlah on the security room, hovering over ahmad. "what's going on here?"

all of them quickly stop and turn around.

"just the woman of the hour!" princess pulls her in the office. "spill it, mckay."

"spill what?"

"the tea!"

"i didn't spill any tea," cassie says, brows furrowed in confusion.

javadi bites her lip to stop herself from laughing. santos sighs loudly. "mckay, we know you and y/n are dating."

"what?!"

"oh, come on. we saw it on the cctv!" perlah insists, tugging on cassie's arm. "when, where, and who confessed first?"

"that's highly personal."

"come on, mckay. we need to know who wins!" princess says excitedly.

"you were betting on us?!"

"i already lost the bet and the least you can do is let me know who won. when, where, and who gave in first, mckay?" santos asks again.

"fine," cassie exhales. "yesterday, her apartment, i-i did."