Frank made the decision for Robby while Robby was on sabbatical, and took himself out of Robby's ED. Al-Hashimi was more then happy to help Frank transfer out, to find a new hospital, her shoulders relaxing around him for the first time in Frank doesn't know how long, and he doesn't take it personally.
He doesn't tell anyone he's leaving, sending Dana flowers and a DoorDash from her favourite lunch place the day after he leaves, and Al-Hashimi sounds sincere when she tells Frank that she hopes to work with him in the future. The Not Here is unspoken
He transfers to the county hospital, the one that is always understaffed and underfunded, chewing doctors up and burning them out before spitting them out. It's rough, and meaner, and a place unto itself with a reputation. Frank doesn't know what to expect, he just knows there's no one Robby or anyone else at the Pitt really knows there, it's as much of a fresh start as he can get without moving out of state.
His department chief is large and intimidating, and runs the ED with a kind of lawless efficiency that would give Robby an aneurysm. Frank doesn't ask anything personal about Luka KovaÄŤ, having learned his lesson, and when Luka asks about Frank's addiction and leaving the Pitt, Frank finds himself telling the man everything, not hiding or backing away from anything.
Luka takes it with an attitude that's scarily similar to "to fuck up is to human" and Frank finds himself following Luka, taking everything the man gives him with greedy hands. Not in the way he did with Robby, never in the way he did with Robby, but because Luka saw a part of Frank no one did, and took all that unspent energy and unchecked ADD, all that need to help and learn and be the best, and fully let it loose on his ED.
The only time he would hold Frank back was when Frank was too close to the edge, not of hurting anyone else but himself, and would praise Frank with muttered, annoyed but fond croation and would correct him in a way that reminded Frank of Jack when Frank messed up.
Frank had to use Google Translate a lot and learned to swear in Croatian pretty early. He meets Luka's son, Joe, who takes one look at him and smirks, and Luka's ex-wife, Abby, who once calls him Carter, before apologising, and Frank rarely thinks of Robby or the Pitt anymore. He finishes his residency and doesn't leave.
He's Luka's junior attending now, their relationship steady and sharp, full of sarcasm and dark humor, and it's been close to three years since Frank left the Pitt, only to walk in one day and hear a familiar voice, a voice he didn't ever think to hear again. Only to find to familiar brown eyes that still haunted his dreams staring right at him, right through him, taking in every little change they can.