#aacou

March 27th, 2025

PTMC ED - 6:32 am

It's the morning again and it feels like you haven't slept for days. Probably cause in a way, you haven't. You get to the ED early most times and Dana is already there. You can see Abbot and Robby talking by the elevator too, great.

"What happened to your finger, dollface?" Right, the bandage.

"Blender blades vs. Me, the blender won." Just another night awake cooking when you should have been sleeping, the usual.

"Keep that finger out of trouble, okay? I don't wanna see you touching anything without gloves today."

"I bandaged pinky swear it." She lightly intertwines her finger with yours and leaves the hub to go about her day, when you look to where the attendings were standing, Robby is the only one remaining, looking at a tablet as he rubs his beard.

"Let me see that." There he is, that unmistakable voice now beside you. Damn him and his quiet steps.

"I'm fine." And I'm avoiding you, can't you read the room?

"Didn’t ask how you were, I said let me see that." He sets new bandages he apparently took from nowhere on the counter and grabs your hand already removing the bandages you wrapped up last night. How very rude and caring of him.

He doesn’t seem very pleased eyeing the red skin. "This is borderline infected."

"So, not infected." You look at his focused face as he tends to your hand and who would’ve thought he had this many freckles up close.

"Expect you to do a better job than this." Not fighting him on that this time.

"It's fine, it's just irritated, Abbot." He proceeds to clean your very minor cut, applying some ointment before bandaging it up again—more neatly than you did with your non dominant hand of course.

"Talk to me after you collapse from sepsis."

"You'll be the first I'll talk to when I wake up from my fever dreams." His top lip twitches at that but he keeps the serious expression.

"Keep that clean, change it again before you leave."

"Yes, sir." You salute him with your uninjured hand and he shakes his head at you, leaving with his usual down turned lips and pinched eyebrows. Figures.

PTMC ED - 7:07 pm

You were finishing up some charts when Robby asked you to follow him up to Trauma 1 for one last thing before you went home. He said Abbot asked for you specifically and knowing him and seeing the room full of people post procedure we would either ask you to run by some protocol since you weren't in the case or ask you to babysit the patient for a few minutes before he went up to the OR since you were done for the day anyways.

You saw Abbot leaning over the intubated patient once Robby moved away from you and whatever it was he wanted you didn’t get to know since the room went quiet if not for the constant equipment beeping when Abbot looked at you seeming surprised.

"What the fuck?" That should be your line, not his. Perlah leaves the room eyeing you with a worried face and Walsh and Robby turn to look at you after his reaction, now also seeming worried but more so intrigued by Abbot's reaction.

"What? I thought you asked for me?" What is it now?

"Robby, take this over." He proceeds to walk over to you as Robby gets in his place checking on the patient.

"Not like I have anything better to do, like leaving." Complaining is a day shift given right apparently.

Abbot doesn’t seem to give one shit about the case anymore, removing his surgical gown and gloves, steering you away from the Trauma Room by the shoulders with one hand, the other one shoved at your nape guiding your head down as we walks you to the closest empty room.

"What the hell?" In seconds he has you sitting in Room 22 like you're dying, and for what?

"Your nose is bleeding." And just like that the blood gets to your mouth making you make a face at the metallic taste, trying to push his hands away as he tries to shove tissues in your face.

"I can deal with it, your patient-"

"Robby's got it. Stop that with your hands, you're gonna bleed on the bandage." You allow his care after that.

You look down at yourself for a moment catching your now bloody scrubs and his partially bloody hands.

"Can you at least get some gloves on, I'm getting blood all over you."

"It's your blood sweetheart, I don't care." What the fuck, Abbot. Focus.

He wouldn’t lie and say he didn’t panic a little bit when he saw the red streak coming down your face when you got in the Trauma Room after Robby. He asked him to call you in to run the case by you after they stabilized the patient—also to ensure you'd listen and follow the other Attending in instead of making an excuse like you've been doing with him lately—feeling like it was a good learning case but he couldn't find you when the ambulance brought the patient in. He didn’t even remember what the case was about now that he had you squinting at him as he held your face with the tissues over your nose.

You sniff in making a displeased face. "Are you feeling any dizziness, pain?" Please don’t feel any dizziness or pain.

"I'm fine, you don't have to fuss over me." Too late for that, Trouble. "I get these sometimes because of the constant aircon."

"How often?" He's about to order labs on you, give him something.

"Not often enough to keep track. It's okay, I promise. See?" You push his hands down removing the the bloody tissues and the bleeding has already stopped.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thank you." You get up from the bed and he leans on it as you stop by the opened curtains. "Why did you call me in there for?"

"Nothing critical, you can go home if you'd like."

"Okay. I'm sorry about the blood."

"It's fine, don't apologize." Washing you away is the least of his worries.

March 29th, 2025 - PTMC Roof - 6:52 pm

Jack would absolutely say you've been purposely avoiding him. He’s trying to go out of his way to interact with you and you barely acknowledge him, when you do it is to usually leave him with an excuse to not work a case he suggests you assist, or to work on a different one someone else mentions.

He’s getting tired of all the 'I've got it', 'I took care of it' and 'I have to check on this' he's been hearing from you before you walk off to do something else. Seems like you were running on 'A moving target is harder to hit' logic and he fell for it every single time. He felt like you shared a good rhythm from your few night shifts and it seems all gone now in the little time you spent in days. His eyes still followed you around the ED the instances he didn’t go after you himself.

He thought you'd maybe pretend nothing happened with the way you tried to leave him sleeping in the on call room the other day. He woke up right before you so it was a waiting game to see who moved first. The thing is he was very comfortable and how he ended up holding you in his arms in his sleep wasn't really any of his business in that moment. So you not only acting like nothing happened but also avoiding him was starting to get him a little hurt, if not annoyed. That he could deal with.

He's actually surprised to find you on the roof one night before starting his shift.

"What are you doing up here in this cold?"

"Just some thinking." You eye him beside you with a neutral expression.

"That’s never good."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Did your nose act up again after that day?"

"Not another drop since." You push away from the railing starting to walk back towards the roof's access door.

"Where are you going?" Not like he wanted to make conversation and ask about your shift, or your week.

"Gonna try and sneak a visit to a patient in post op before shift change, I'll see you tomorrow."

March 30th, 2025

PTMC ED - 7:03 am

And then tomorrow came and you still barely gave him the time of day in the morning when you came in before he left. Except for one quick moment in the hub as he sat near where you finished charting for a minute.

"I think I forgot what it's like to not have a headache." You spoke either at Dana or no one in particular, he doubted it was intended to him at this point.

"She speaks." He tries to circle back to your usual banter but it doesn’t quite land.

"Don't sound so excited." You get up from your chair to look for a patient on the board and Dana seeing him quietly watching you decided it was time to rub it in.

"Do I need to put you two in get along scrubs? What's going on?"

"Nope." It's all you say before walking away.

"Not necessary." He's almost in need of a straight jacket himself by now with how much he's thinking himself into a hole to get you to talk to him like before again. As luck would have it he doesn’t need to think much almost twelve hours later.

PTMC ED - 6:39 pm

He's in early again and as the paramedics finish wheeling the gurney in he meets you trying to walk away from him in a hurry again.

"I want you in on this, it's a good learning case."

"I can't, I gotta get back to my patient it might be really serious. Maybe next time." And just like that you're gone again.

About twenty minutes later he comes out of the Trauma Room nursing a mountain of paper towels to his left hip, stopping by the hub to see if he can spot you anywhere. Nothing.

Dana is in her usual spot, squinting at something on a tablet before she looks up at him and by her face he's sure he's more pathetic looking than usual right now.

"What did you get yourself into this time?"

"It's a minor thing, where is open?"

"Try room 18. I'll get someone to help."

"No need, I've got this." Time to lick his wounds on his own again.

He stopped by the lockers for his bag and had just gotten everything he needed on the bed for the wound care when the curtains opened.

"What the hell?" There you are.

"It's nice seeing you too." He lowers the shirt he was removing, sitting on the bed instead.

"I had a patient call, they forgot their laptop here." Right.

"Environmental probably took it to lost and found."

"Oh." Don't look so disappointed, Trouble. You then seem to notice the bunched up bloody paper towels shoved on the side of his cargo pants. "What happened to you?"

"Surgical instrument shrapnel."

"Very funny." You don't seem to think so as you close the curtains back up walking closer to him and peeling the improvised bandage to take a look.

"The patient had a seizure before we started the procedure and ended up knocking out the surgical tray with everything, the scalpel clearly had an affinity for me." He actually removes his shirt now and you sit down on a rolling bench looking up at him like you're done with him already.

"You could have just lifted it up."

"There's blood on it, I have to change anyways. Bio hazard."

"Right. Wanna take off your pants too?" You get gloves on without even asking him if you can help.

"Buy me dinner first." You don't give his jokes much of a reaction either.

"Can you lay on the bed for me, at least?"

"I thought you'd never ask. But is all this really necessary?"

"You need stitches. If not for your comfort then for my back, Abbot. Can you do that?" He sure can, when you ask so nicely.

"Nice bedside manner, Doc."

"Learning from the best. I expect a nice patient score, by the way."

Well, since you're busy stuck waiting on the local anesthetic to work to stitch him up, it might be the time to talk to you without you running off again. Silver Linings.

Well, fuck seeing his freckled face from up close. His entire body is covered in freckles, and muscles. You're trying really hard to play it cool here but the closeness it's not helping, at all. There's a small but deep gash on the line of his hip and he even lowered his pants and side of his boxers for you. How thoughtful, Abbot. Fuck you.

"I wasn't asking you back there, you know that, right?" You look at his face and he dares raising his eyebrows at you.

"Excuse me? Do you really want to have this conversation right now as I'm about to stab you repeatedly with a needle?"

"Once again, mind your bedside manner, Trouble." That fucking nickname again.

"You're so frustrating."

"I wanted you on the case and you walked off."

"I had something urgent to get to."

"You got any problems with authority?" He has a death wish, it seems.

"Clearly not if I'm stitching up said authority."

He lets you work for a minute before speaking up again.

"What did you have?" You look at him again and he's still watching you.

"Postpartum mom came in complaining of back pain and fevers after getting a blood patch done with an anesthesiologist upstairs the other day after complications with her epidural."

"And?" Don't sound so invested. You continue working on him for a second focused on your sutures.

"She has an infection. I was waiting on labs and said anesthesiologist to grace us with his presence for a consult, he had just called me he was here. You might wanna complain with him, instead."

"Nah, I'll leave the complaining to you."

"Thought so. There, all done." You finish patching him up with a slight tap on the hip, gaining a low 'Ow' from him. Pity.

He appraises your work. "Thanks, Doc. No follow up care instructions?" He sits up now, standing as you get up from the bench removing your gloves.

"I'm sure you know them by heart at this point."

"They would still be nice to hear from you." Is he seriously flirting with you right now?

"Do you need a blood panel, the whole nine yards?" You avoid looking at him in all his shirtless glory focusing instead on discarding the used materials. Enough of his freckled chest, bulging biceps and stupid smirk.

"Nah, the scalpel was still sterile. I'm lucky like that." Luck doesn’t have anything to do with this.

"Your call. You want me to get you a shirt in the scrub machine?" Let's just cover you up in in the curtains maybe, anything goes at this point.

He fucking smirks shaking his head no. "And miss the opportunity of a walk of shame out there?"

"Oh, I'm sure you're very embarrassed about all this."

"Mortified." He leans down behind one side of the bed lifting up his camo print backpack. "My bag is already here."

"Okay." He's prepared like that. "Who's filling up the incident report?"

He fakes confusion at your question. "On what? Nothing happened. We can keep this between us."

"Right. Try to stay out of the way of the next flying sharp object you see." You open the corner of the curtain to leave the room for him to finish changing as he speaks at your back.

"And miss out on a moment like this?" Insufferable man.

April 2nd, 2025

PTMC ED - 6:39 pm

It's about to be your second day on the night shift and yesterday was a weird one again and Jack is pretty much done with your bullshit.

He saw you coming in earlier heading to the lockers like he wasn't even there when he was talking to Robby by the scrub machine. Then you vanished again.

Resorting to bug Dana about it he approaches the hub ready to ask about you.

"Hey, have you seen-

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence, but he's sure she knows exactly who he's referring to.

"Try asking Saint Anthony, we're too busy for me to find anyone today." Seems like Dana is done with him too.

He pretends to think it over. "She doesn’t work there, last time I checked."

"Ha ha, if you have time to joke around you go and look for her. Scram."

He didn’t see you with any patients and he already checked the roof. Only one place left.

PTMC On Call Room - 6:45 pm

There you are once he opens the on call room door, getting in and slowly closing it after himself. He leans on the door in case you try to escape again, looking at you folding a pair of scrubs in the dimly lit room into your bag, your back to him.

"You really need to learn how to lock doors."

You startle throwing a scrub shirt at him once you turn around.

"Don't sneak up on me like that I almost elbowed you in the ribs."

"I probably deserve it the way you been hiding from me."

"I'm not hiding."

'"Avoiding maybe, semantics."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Abbot." There you go with his surname again.

"That." He points at you returning the scrubs to your bag. "When it's not an excuse you just walk away. Most of the walls are glass here, I can see you turning around when you spot me."

"Dr. Abbot-

"Jack." He'll insist if he has to. "I think we're past that point, don't you?" He wanted you to call him by his actual name again. Like you did sleepy and soft the other day in this same room. When you forgot you were supposed to be mad at him for some reason and exhaustion took over. "We've seen each other crying and slept together, I think we're past the titles, no? You can call me Jack."

"We didn’t sleep- Can you say that any louder?"

"I'm sure I could. Did I do something?"

"You didn’t do anything." You continue on organizing your bag.

"Surely feels like it."

"Nothing happened, Jack. We're fine." There it is. Passive aggressive, but still there.

"Doesn’t seem like we are. So what was it?" You looked at the bed and not at him. He had his suspicions but that confirms it.

"Did you regret it?"

You shake your head still avoiding his gaze. "I actually slept better that day than in a long time."

"So did I. You don't have to embarrassed about it, I'm not."

You sit down on the bed and he does the same, still keeping some distance from you.

"I thought my snores bothered you?"

"You don't snore." You push his shoulder at that. Back to normal it seems.

"How's you hip healing?"

"Nicely, thanks to you. How about your hand?" You show him your now bandage free hand with a fresh new scar.

"Guess we're even now." He did give you stitches once too.

"What are you doing here?"

"Forgot some clothes after I napped the other day after a day shift."

You just sit in silence for a minute before he gets up offering his hand to you.

"You ready to head back out there?"

"Do I have a choice?" He shoulders your bag and you don't protest on your short walk back to the pitt before you see the contents of his scrub pocket once you step into the Emergency Department's bright lights once again.

"Is that my pen?"

"No idea." It is your pen.

"It has my name on it." You grab it from his pocket looking at him offended.

"Coincidence." More like petty revenge after you asked him to sign on something the other day leaving so fast he couldn't even give it back to you.

"Thief." Here we go again.

Next

Abbot cuts in again. "Probably caught the same bug in that lecture last week."

"The norovirus thing?" There was this whole mandated event they got picked to attend with doctors from all the hospitals in the area the week prior, guess it checks out.

"Ironic, I know." You laugh him after that.

"You guys can't even pretend to be worried?" Dana eyes you over her glasses.

"I'm sure they will live. Me? Not so much if you ask what I think you're going to ask."

"I'm gonna ask it anyway. Can you stay until I can bribe someone from days who's off today to come in? We're already understaffed as it is."

"When you ask so nicely." You slowly hit your head on the counter but Abbot sets his arm down on it so your forehead hits his hand instead the second time. You look at him annoyed he's stopping your attempt at a self inflicted work related injury. He doesn’t have much of a choice in leaving since Robby won't come in to relief his shift, guess you could stay too. "What's the good news?"

"I'll let Abbot deliver them to you once I know you're not gonna run away."

"Not fair."

"Go get some breakfast kid, morning rush will catch up to you soon."

You get up from your moping spot deciding the cafeteria food will have to do for now. "I'll have you know I'm not happy about this."

"Couldn't tell by your frown, sunshine. Go."

Five yours later and you're exhausted, the non NPO patients are receiving their lunch and you were just now able to sit down for five minutes. The morning rush was brutal and the cases were finally seeming to slow down by a miracle. You're yawning beside Dana after checking on your last few patients.

"What was up with those two, they have the same surname." She's eyeing the names of the two patients you saw earlier on the board above you.

"They’re twins. They're fine, just high out of their minds after eating too many gummies so they came in after getting paranoid. They're probably more alert than me right now though, god, I'm so tired, I just want to go home." She has to stand your whining after asking you to stay.

"Listen, things are slowing down for now but I can't exactly send you home in case more patients come in. The other day shift Attending is driving from out of town and I have an R2 who won't pick up the damn phone that was supposed to come in if we needed extra help."

"I need a nap."

"You and me both."

"Do you mind if I set up camp under the counter by your feet and sleep for five minutes?"

"So I trip over you and fall on my ass? Yeah, not happening, kid. Use one of the on call rooms."

"Will you call me if something comes up?"

"Yeah, yeah, go. Sleep some for me too, while you're at it."

"I will, thank you."

Jack doesn’t get much sleep normally, the police scanner keeps him company in his worse insomniac moments when he tries and fails to rest. Having to stay extra hours today is really getting to him by midday, he's not young anymore and as much as he tries to stay on top of things, getting poor sleep is really starting to affect him lately. Spending too many hours on his feet pressing his weight into his prosthetic isn't exactly doing him any favors, either.

Dana forces him to take a nap after he accidentally tips her energy drink to the floor and he reluctantly gives in, why the hell not. There aren't any urgent trauma patients and she can be scary when she wants to.

He sighs in relief after he takes off his shoe and then prosthetic leg sitting on a side chair, massaging his leg ready to move to the bed. The chair creaks under his weight as he gets up and supports himself to move and what he thought was a pile of blankets moves on the small mattress at the noise. He sees your loose hair and your confused face squinting at the dark trying to see who's in the room.

"Jack? Did I miss a call or something?" This is the first time you call him by his first name and it sounds like you've already been asleep for a while, maybe still not totally awake.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't know there was anyone here, the door was unlocked." You need to be more careful.

"Did you lock it?" Doesn’t seem like you care much.

"Yeah, but it's fine I'll leave you to it, I'll find another room."

"You can stay." You lower yourself down on the pillow again, not a care in the world.

"I don't want to bother you." He'll have to get the prosthetic back in place.

He hears you yawning and sees you moving to the corner of the bed by the wall. "You won’t, just stay quiet and sleep and let me sleep." Seems like that's your only priority right now, he can respect that.

He sits on the bed debating on how to move from there. "Just so you don't freak out in case you wake up first."

You interrupt him opening one eye. "You sleep naked and you have a tramp stamp?" He can still see your smirk in the dark.

"What?" That's one way to make him less nervous, Trouble. "No, I'm missing my right leg bellow my knee."

You dare to scoff at him closing your eye again. "That's way less exciting, doc."

"I'll keep that in mind, Trouble. My prosthetic is on the floor by the bed, don't trip on it."

"I'll do my best. Sorry if I move, not a quiet sleeper." You speak half into the pillow.

"You're good." He'll be on the outside of the bed anyways, you won't be able to fall past him. He finally lies down resting his back and getting a deep breath in before blacking out.

You don't know how much time passed after you found the on call room and got under the covers. Could be days with how disoriented you feel, you even remember hallucinating Abbot coming in at some point. Right.

Except you feel really warm, you open your eyes now facing the blank wall feeling an added weight against your back. The blankets were nowhere to be seen and you could feel a leg between yours, his nose quietly breathing at the side of your neck, stubble lightly scratching your nape and his soft shirt touching the exposed skin of your lower back where your scrub top lifted up. You move your neck now able to see a strong arm hugging your waist and if it wasn’t for him feeling like a furnace against you, you're sure you'd be feeling very warm yourself right now.

Still, you're warm from his body heat, mortified and weirdly actually very comfortable. Like you could sleep for another twelve hours if the outside of this room wasn’t the PTMC where you work and you weren’t pulling a double against your will where you ended up sleeping entangled with your Attending. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Calming yourself down you can feel the cadence of his heart beating against you where his chest touches your back, you close your eyes again breathing deeply which leads to noticing you can also smell him this close to you and it's good enough to get you moving, you have to get away from him before you say or do something stupid.

You try to escape his embrace opting for slowly sliding down the mattress as quietly as you can so you don't wake him up. You manage pretty well, still hearing his quiet breaths until you stand in the small space by the end of the bed and the wall, you're careful not to get tangled in the blankets that are on the floor, moving to the side of the bed so you can get your shoes back on and leave the room. Except you trip on something on the floor once you manage to get away from the tight corner, immediately feeling two steady and very warm hands holding the back of your upper arms before you can fall face first.

"Told you not to trip." His low voice sounds raspy at your back.

"And I said I'd do my best." I was busy thinking I hallucinated that, sorry. So much for not saying or doing something stupid.

"You okay?" He pulls you towards him getting you back to sitting on the damn bed. What are you doing, dude?

"Fine, you?"

"Could use more sleep."

"I'm sure you could." You get your shoes back on as Abbot sits up dealing with his prosthetic and a knock on the door startles you.

"You two in there?" You can hear Dana laughing through the door, great.

"Yeah." You say maybe too quietly.

"We'll be right out." Abbot answers for you both.

Back in central squinting at the bright lights of the ED you stop by a smirking Dana to ask for updates on leaving and finding a hole to hide forever.

"So, how was your nap?" Of course Abbot is right behind you again. Messy haired with an imprint of the pillow on his face, you probably look the same.

"It was fine." A 'no comment' would have sounded too suspicious, let's not feed the gossip circle, good thing Princess and Perlah are busy elsewhere.

"How about your nap?" She turns to Abbot who rests his stupid freckled thick arms on the counter beside you.

"Barely shut my eyes with those snores."

"I don't snore." How dare him?

"Yes, you do."

"At least I wasn't the one drooling on the pillow."

"Tell yourself that until you believe it, kid."

"Uh huh, should I restock the condoms in the side table? I'm the one who puts them there." Of course your favorite charge nurse would make things worse.

"Do people actually have sex in that bed?"

"You'd be surprised." 

"Gross, who's changing the sheets?"

"I would hope you would have if it was needed." Is the seriously scolding you right now?

"Will you quit it? How long was I out and can I leave yet?"

"About and hour, and yes you can. The resident that's actually filling in for Mohan is in triage right now so you're good to go. Just fill them in on your cases first."

"Ok, thank you. Please don’t ever ask me work extra hours ever again, cause I won't do it." She will and you'll do it anyways.

"Lying is a sin, kid."

"So it's the envy I'm feeling of Robby and Samira for being home right now. Did you check on them? They're okay?"

"They're fine. Already spoke about coming to work tomorrow."

"They're so alike, it's stupid."

Dana eyes Abbot now typing at his usual computer and back at you. "Tell me about it."

"Alright, I'm gonna go. Good luck holding down the fort."

"See you soon, dollface."

Jack is looking at you walking towards chairs when he’s startled by Dana setting a bunch of papers on the counter in front of him.

"Tell her the happy news yet?"

"Shit, no. Didn’t exactly have much time."

"Sure. The Attending is in Trauma 2 right now if that interests you, Dr. Abbot."

"Right." He gets up going to find his replacement so he can do the actual shift change and find you again.

He spots you sitting on the stairs not long after, typing away on your phone, he has the papers in hand and you're not exactly meeting his eyes so he decides to sit beside you on the steps.

"Ok, so I have good news and bad news." He tries to mimic Dana earlier and fails miserably.

"Why do people keep telling me that today?"

"Don't sound so excited."

"Sorry, I'm tired." You hide your face on your arms over your knees. "Good news first."

"As of next month, your transfer request to nights has officially been accepted. You just have to sign these and it's done."

You eye him suspiciously taking the papers.

"You can say no." He fakes offense at your hesitancy, smirking at you when you finally look at him.

"I didn't think I couldn't. What’s the catch?"

"Except for today and tomorrow which you now have off you'll have to work days for the rest of the month. They're understaffed and need the time to organize the schedule with other transfers."

"I think I can manage that with a healthy amount of complaining."

"Atta, girl. You're not forgetting anything?"

"I don't think so?" You face is still soft with sleep.

He reaches his pocked for the claw clip he picked up in the on call room side table, he recognized it as one of yours. You grab it from his hand hesitating a bit.

"I think I'm done with these for a minute after that MVA."

"Yeah, that was a sight to behold." You're back to avoiding looking at him, choosing to face the door instead. He heard you mention you take the bus home, the least he could do was give you a ride after today. He stands climbing down the last steps and stopping by the exit. "You need a ride home?"

You shake your head lightly. "It's okay, I'm meeting a friend from another floor for lunch. Might as well stay awake if I have to change my sleep schedule back to days for a bit. Thanks for offering, I'll see you next month, I guess."

April can't come soon enough.

Next

"Appreciate you too, thanks for worrying about me, I should be back tomorrow to work with my favorite charge nurse if all is well."

She helps you sit on the bed and looks at the small bump on your temple you don't let her poke at. "Shush, before I kick you out for coming in through here and not chairs."

"I have to take advantage of my badge somehow, come on." You say at the curtains after she closes them leaving you in Room 4.

Having watched part of the interaction from afar after finishing a case in Trauma 1, Jack gets back to charting in the hub as his patient gets admitted to surgery.

"She's not on the board, who's treating her?"

"Dr. Mohan is. Just vitals and a head CT, maybe some blood work. She can handle it."

"You know her?" He hasn’t seen you around before.

"Our new day shift R2, started a few days ago after New Year's, transfer."

"Bending the rules already?"

"You'd know. Though it's the first time she does it for herself."

January 8th 2025

It's not the first time Jack is met with someone kneeling over a patient after opening the doors of an ambulance—to be honest he's been that person himself once or twice—but the still surprising sight of a very bloody you over the unconscious man on the gurney wasn’t a bad one at all.

"What do you got for me?" By the look of things the paramedics didn’t mind you taking over, sticking to wheeling you in along the attending.

"Early forties patient got impaled through and through the hip with a rusty rebar, they panicked and removed it on the site before I got to him so I stopped the bleeding the best way I could until the ambulance got there."

"By shoving your fingers in the wound?" He hopes his pretend frustration as he shakes his head is able to hide how impressed he is.

"Oh, you know. My hands were clean and I thought why not get a free ambulance ride to work on my day off. Not a good spot for a tourniquet and shoving fabric in the wound wasn’t doing much for this end, thought I'd get creative. He was passing out on me, we were running out of time."

"You working the case?"

"I'll leave you to it, I'm getting kinda crampy holding in position like this, better not."

"Well, hold on tight, you get off on Trauma 2."

Dana eyes you over the gurney squinting to probably make sure she's not hallucinating.

"Hey Dana, thought I'd stop by."

"Not you again."

"Save a horse, ride an ambulance? Always happy to see you."

"Great, another ER cowboy. Just what we needed."

Enough distractions. "Is Walsh still down here?"

"Probably eating a sandwich in the break room, they just got here."

"Get her to Trauma 2."

"You've got it."

The nurses already had the room set and two units of whole blood ready to go before he could ask for them. Soon Walsh comes in mid chewing, gowning up and not at all phased at the sight of your fingers shoved in the bloody gash.

"Great, he's getting the stitches plus infection combo."

"Don't forget the tetanus shot on his way out."

"Noted."

He watches the interaction by one side of the room, so you two have met already too. After he carefully helps you down by the hips, avoiding disturbing your hand in the wound, they do the transfer and the paramedics leave with their gurney, the vitals aren't looking the best so they need to get you out of here and stabilize the patient. He twirls a scalpel in his hand ready to cut around the artery to repair it once they tell you to remove your hand.

"You'll lose a finger one of these days."

Walsh cuts in. "I'll reattach it to his ass." You both scoff at that.

"You get your hand out on three, got it?"

"No rush."

"I bet. One, two, three."

"Okay, my work here is done. Good luck, break a leg or mend a leg, whatever you say in surgery."

"Get out of here."

"Heard."

Walsh looks at him funny before they get to work.

You're standing near the hub counter talking to Dana by the time he comes out of the trauma room. He approaches you, standing with his hands behind his back appraising you for a second as he waits for you to finish your conversation, once you realize Perlah and Princess quieted their gossip down smiling at your direction you turn around noticing him.

"What's the verdict?" You have pretty eyes. Focus.

"We were able to mend the small tear on the femoral artery, X ray indicates the rebar only just scrapped the bone so he was lucky, all he got is with a cool scar and a tetanus shot. He’s still out so they took him to the ICU, but he'll make it."

"Great, hopefully no infection." He hadn't noticed the fading bruise on your temple before.

He leans down to sneak a better look at it and to almost whisper at you. "You want to do a hand swab to make sure?" You smile at that.

"I think he's good, he'll be on antibiotics anyways." You're still all bloody.

"Can I get you anything to change into?" That's a normal question, right? You're soaked in red.

"There should be something in my locker. I'm gonna go, enough chaos for the beginning of your night. Sorry."

"You're good, I'm just glad you're not on nights." That's a lie.

"Don't worry, I'll get there eventually!" He really hopes so.

"Can't wait." He just might ask Robby to trade you for a bit if he can spare.

He watches you head into the lockers until the sound of someone clearing their throat turns his attention back to the hub. Three nurses watching him right back with suspicious smirks.

"You're done staring at her?" Dana asks first, no hesitation behind her expectant face.

"I wasn't staring at her." He might have been, shit.

"He was gazing, Dana." Perlah chimes in from her seat.

"Longingly." Princess finishes it off.

Great, maybe he wasn’t very discreet. He was a bit amazed, it's all. "I thought nurses were always busy with us being understaffed and all."

"Don't push it, cowboy."

January 15th 2025

Once again walking into work off the clock through the ambulance bay this time with a not exactly hidden injury isn't exactly graceful but who are you trying to fool, the stubborn drop of blood falling from the half soaked dish towel haphazardly wrapped around your hand behind your back isn't very discreet and it definitely alerts whomever is not busy enough to notice your clumsiness and stupidity.

Dana is not impressed. "It's never good when you walk in through that door when you're off the clock. What did you do?"

"Why would I have done something? Maybe I just missed you and wanted to say hi."

"You could've come by with a cup of coffee or a snack to say hi. Not whatever bloody cloth you're hiding behind your back, splattering on my floor. Elevate that, you know better."

You obey. "Fine, I did something. I was actually trying to bake something nice to bring to work when it happened."

"I'll find someone to treat you, just don't get blood all over the floors. We're busy tonight, try not to stand on the way."

"Missed you too."

"This fucking kid."

"Abbot! Just who I wanted to see."

"Heard we were busy, I was just putting my stuff away."

"Walk with me for a second before Robby snatches you up. Do you feel like brushing up on your stitching abilities before handoffs? I don't have time for this."

"Do I ever. What do you got for me?" They head back to the hub expecting you to still be standing by the counter, maybe sitting on Dana's chair. Apparently not.

"Female, mid twenties, tendency to piss me off. Hand lac, enthusiastic as ever. Maybe not so much. Why are you on the floor, dollface?"

"Sorry I think my blood pressure dropped so I sat down before I could faint and get you on my ass for taking a place in the line for a CT."

"Clever girl."

"I try."

"How did you cut your hand?" He finally gets a word in.

"I was shamefully using a glass cup as a rolling pin."

"I take that back. You two met, right?"

"Briefly." What an introduction.

"Right, your ambulance ride adventure. Dr. Abbot will be treating you tonight if you can get off the floor. Up, come on."

"Like the tests?"

"Huh?" How much blood did you lose?

"The rapid tests. Abbott Labs."

"Oh, no. That's with two t's, I've only got the one."

"Shame, you'd be making bank with those."

"Yeah, poor me." He helps you up holding into your uninjured arm.

"We're out of rooms, can you sit in pedes? It's empty."

"Sure." He starts walking you along that direction.

"I'll get you a suture kit in a second. Try not to faint on your way there." Dana walks off to get the supplies.

"I'll do my best."

Once you're all set in pedes he cleans your cut, has you move your hand around and to check for any loss in motion. It's a little deep but no nerve damage or remaining pieces of glass, a few stitches and you'll be good as new. So he decides to make a bit of conversation as he sutures, you being around when he’s working is a rare thing, it's all.

"You know, with how bad this could have gotten with the glass shattering, you're pretty lucky there’s no nerve damage."

"Wasn’t planning on going into Surgery anyways, not a fan of elevators."

"I'm sure Walsh would love that."

"I like Walsh, she’s nice."

"Yeah, to you."

He sets the scissors down in the tray getting up from his rolling chair, discarding his gloves. "Keep that dry and clean as you work and get the bandage changed while you're still in the hospital tomorrow. Look for me if you can, we'll see how to go from there after a couple of days so that so you don't have any bulk under your gloves."

"Sounds good, thank you."

"And no more cups as a rolling pin."

"That was dumb, I know. In my defense I was sleep deprived and can't find the final box of kitchen stuff I have to unpack and I wanted to make cinnamon rolls to bring to work actually, but now they’re ruined by tiny shards of glass. Maybe next time."

January 20th 2025

You were standing outside in the cold ambulance bay by Dana's orders after she got the call they were sending in a couple of teenagers that super glued themselves together on their sides by the entirety of their arms and legs in an unauthorized slumber party stupid bet. You we're not looking forward to dissolving all that and calling their parents to deal with the aftermath so let's say the sight of a certain night shift Doctor approaching in his civilian clothes carrying an unconscious woman on his arms was a very welcome surprise.

He eyes you standing there in relief as you pull an empty gurney from inside the glass doors so he can get the patient comfortable.

"We must stop meeting like this." You say with a smile not believing at another coincidence encounter at work when you usually would miss each other due to scheduling. "What do you got for me?"

"Yeah, I know." He shakes his head at the other side of the gurney as you wheel in the patient. "Our patient here slipped on ice and hit her head pretty hard on the ground at the Park by the hospital. Though it be faster to walk back here than wait for an ambulance."

"Right, what’s a few blocks in the cold carrying someone else."

"Good cardio?" Right, he's in winter workout gear, great.

"She woke up for a minute but lost consciousness about 2 minutes ago. I need to bump her in the CT line."

You stop by the hub to check in with Dana where there's an empty bed. "Try Room 7 and alert the nurses on North to step in, Jesus why did you have to bring in more trouble?"

"Occupational hazard."

"Occupational hazard my ass, you're off tonight."

"Not anymore." He's staying, then.

"And you missy get back out there, the ambulance is supposed to be here any moment now." You almost escaped that one.

"Shit, sorry. I have a superglue mess to deal with. I'll check back here later, good luck."

You hear a "Seems like you need it more" as you close the door to Room 7.

It's a couple hours later when he finds you again charting on one of the smaller computer stations near central. He rests the side of his hip on the table near your chair, deciding now is the time to check in with you since you didn’t make it back to his first patient of the day after all.

"So, how was the superglue situation?" You only acknowledge him with a quick look before going back to typing.

"Sticky." Funny.

"How did the kids treat you?"

"Fine really, they were more embarrassed than anything. The parents on the other hand seemed more annoyed at me after one of them started having a mild allergic reaction to the only solvent that worked. They'll survive, no more sleepovers though. How's your patient doing?"

"She's mildly concussed, no bleeding which is good. She's awake now and on acetaminophen waiting for a bed upstairs for observation just in case."

"That's good. Did you want me in a case or?" Your give him your full attention for a moment before turning back to your computer.

"Oh no, I was wondering how your hand is doing? I asked you to look for me to change the bandage. You didn’t." You look away from the screen and into his face to better catch his fake scolding, seems like you know he's not actually mad at you.

"I didn't want to trouble you for something so small. I got the stitches out today myself, good as new."

"Let me see." You give him your previously injured hand and besides a little redness everything looks good so he let's it go.

"Whoever stitched you up did a really good job, there’s barely any scarring." The corner of your lip twitches as you continue typing, not really giving him much attention.

"Right, a little stingy though. He tended to it in Pedes and didn’t even get me a lollipop afterwards."

"How dare he?" Shit, how did he miss that?

"Exactly, no wonder the patient scores are so low in this hospital."

He decides to leave you be after that, there’s not much time left in your shift and you probably just want to go home already. Heading back to the hub to check on the board he stops by the counter still watching you for a second as up rub at your temples closing your eyes for a while before getting up and talking to Robby by BH, showing him something on a tablet. Robby looks back at him or behind him with a questioning look and then he feels Dana standing behind him.

"Why don't you get yourself busy, find a case and stop staring at the poor girl?"

"Wasn’t staring, just looking."

"Right."

"She was a little dry just now, did something happen?"

"Not that I'm aware, kid's probably tired. She said something about not getting much sleep. I think she used to work nights before the transfer.

"She's not doing well on days?"

"You thinking of stealing her already?

"Not an answer."

"You didn’t give me one either. Go check on your patients, Abbot."

"Yes ma'am."

January 29th 2025

One more hour of work and you can go home, try to sleep and exceed in failure. Things are slowing down and since you don't have much more to do you sit in the hub with Dana reading an article on your phone.

"It's so q word today. I'm kinda bored."

"So you chose to bug me about it? What can I do for you?

"Can I chew on one of your stress balls? I need enrichment."

"No, you cannot. You're not a dog or a teething baby. Go potty, stretch your legs, eat a stale donut in the break room, your pick."

"That's mean."

"Myrna incoming on your 6, there’s the cure for your boredom."

"I'll take it." Whatever works at this point.

Olsen finishes wheeling her up to the hub like he’s delivering a bomb, ready to dib. "Found her terrorizing chairs, I'm out."

"What can I do you today, Myrna? Kill any husbands lately?" You decide to step in before she manifests any complaints before you even begin accessing her.

"No offense sweet cheeks, but I want the beefy one."

"The beefy one?" Is she hallucinating?

"Jack Link's Beef Jerky over there." You follow her line of sight landing on the Doctor coming in early for his shift, approaching you with his bag resting on one shoulder held by an actually beefy arm—you'll give Myrna that—and a shit eating grin of someone that definitely heard your conversation.

"Oh my god." You can't help but laugh. "Dr. Abbot?"

"Myrna. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Thought I'd cheer up your night, Doc."

"Consider my night made. Let's find us a room."

"That's what I'm talking about." She has no shame.

"Why don't you go put your stuff away?" You look up to the board searching for an empty room. "I'll take her to Room 3."

"Thank you, I'll be right there."

You get her all set up in the room doing initial assessments and for now all she has is a high BP, you ask if anything else is bothering her but she refuses to answer, choosing to wait for Abbot.

After a quick round checking in with your previous patients you come back to Room 3 to check on Myrna, this time finding her preferred Doctor sat by her bed as she flirts the night away.

You stand by the open curtains making eye contact with Abbot. "Blink twice if you need help."

"I heard that." She's not too happy with you, figures.

"So you listen to us when we tell you not to do things, shocking!"

"You're a bad girl!" She points at you with her light green metallic nails.

"You're a worse one!"

Abbot watches the interaction with a quiet smile and crossed arms. Once again you'll give it to Myrna for the Jack Link's Beef Jerky comment, not daring to outright praise her for it.

"Alright, scream if you need help, I'm about to close up shop."

"Robby left already, you're good to go."

"Thanks. See you Myrna, hopefully not soon!" You turn out to go back to the hub, catching the end of their conversation as you leave.

"The gall of that kid!"

"She's done for the day, let her have this one."

You're standing by the hub, coat on and backpack in hand when Dana gets the call. An overturned truck hit a bus which in turn hit a few cars resulting in multiple casualties sent on the way of PTMC. You give up going home right away shoving your bag under the counter waiting for the MCI instructions. Lena texts Dana she’s not making it on time cause she’s stuck in traffic so the day shift nurse just tells her to go home and she'll handle it. Seems like you'll both pull a double.

You're outside putting on a sterile gown when you feel him tying it for you. He hands you a granola bar from the side pocket of his cargo pants right after, now standing by your side already gowned along a fluorescent vest.

"Eat that."

"I just ate."

"I need you strong on your feet later, I don't know how long this is gonna take."

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

He smiles at you as the first ambulance parks in the bay. "I guess we'll find out."

It takes hours to stabilize everyone, Walsh and other surgery residents came down to help and the ED is a mess by the time everyone makes to the OR for definitive care or the ICU. No losses which was great. It's almost 10pm when you have a break to order some food and sit down to rest. You and Dana decide to bite the bullet and stay the full shift in exchange for the next day off, it's not like you were going to sleep much at home anyways.

If it only was just the MCI cases you had to deal with. The chaos of a night shift didn’t compare to days and you reluctantly kind of missed it.

You sit beside Dana looking miserable for the last half hour before you get to go home.

"So what did you learn today?"

"To not say I'm bored cause the universe will send in a disaster very fast. Also Myrna might be a bad omen, a herald of chaos if you will."

"There you go. Any notes on our night Attending?"

"He's nice, very quick, practical. Surprisingly good posture."

"Really? You worked with him on a few cases, worked well from what I could watch and that's all you have to say about him?"

"Well he has a really nice a—

"Okay pack it up and go home, we're out of here."

"I was going to say arms."

"The hell you were." She pushes your chair making you do a 360.

Robby decided to show face, resting his hands on the counter as he eyes very tired you and Dana.

"Morning, Dana."

"Night Robby, night!"

She leaves central to talk to Lena since they exchanged shifts and the other Charge Nurse walked in straight to the staff lounge for coffee.

"Morning. How was your first night?" Your actual Attending decides to play nice when you're sleep deprived and he jumped ship yesterday.

"Nice of you to ask when you abandoned us last night, boss."

He shakes his head trying not to laugh at your misery. "There was no abandoning done, I simply left on time for once and couldn't make it back by the time I got the news."

"Semantics. I bet you're dying to know."

"Oh you bet. Spit it out."

"Okay, top of the night to you. After you graced us with your absence and we got the call and the rush of patients came in, we took care of that and everyone mostly went to surgery and the ICU afterwards, a few were minor injuries that already went home a few hours ago. Then more chaos."

Robby seems to enjoy your suffering by the look on his face.

"A pregnant lady came in through chairs and thought my lap was the best place to give birth when I knelt down to check her after she scream insisted the baby was coming out. It was. She might have named her after me, who knows."

"Oh you'd love that."

"I would not! Food poisoning vomit all over chairs after that, then bar fight broken nose and arm. Shellfish first allergic reaction, dog bite, fight bite. Slip and fall concussion, stitches and head CT combo, broken dick, defective air bag vs face sold to plastics expecting a hefty lawsuit I hope she wins and lastly your classic ruptured appendix straight to the OR." You're almost out of breath by the end of that.

"Oh, and Dr. Walsh says hi, and that you owe her 20 bucks for reasons unknown to me she refused to divulge." You're pretty sure they’re betting on something.

"Goddamn it." He hubs the side of his face already looking tired when he just came in.

"Yeah and those were just my cases, I'm exhausted."

"No, goddamn it my 20 bucks." Son of a bitch.

"You could at least pretend to care about how my night went."

"You did good, kid. Go home, get some sleep, I'll see you back here the day after tomorrow if I heard right."

"Yeah, right. All in a night’s work. Oh, also someone ate my yogurt so I'm gonna have to poison the next one I bring and see who perishes on shift first."

He shakes his head at you. "You're not gonna do that."

"Try and stop me, Dr. Robinavitch. Thank god Dana was here, she kept me company in the eye of the storm. Can I go home?"

"Why don't you ask your new boss?"

"Abbot?" He's standing by Room 6 talking to Langdon probably waiting on Robby for handoffs. You just tilt your head towards the ambulance bay doors and he understands.

"Go home."

"See you next time, don't miss me too much."

"I won't."

----------

Langdon leaves to find the other day shift residents for rounds so the Attendings remain watching you leave.

"Dana tells me you're thinking of stealing her for nights?"

"Maybe."

Jack doesn’t notice Robby watching him closely as he watches you leave as the the last glass door slides shut after you.

"How was she tonight?"

"She's great. Smart, quick, curious and she might hate my fucking guts after I had her stay in triage for a few not so great hours."

Robby nods at him. "Did you eat her yogurt?"

"No comment." He gave you a granola bar, you're definitely even.

Next

PTMC ED - 6:53 pm

They stand on a corner by the lockers as Shen syncs up the smartwatch now strapped to his wrist with his phone for him. His actual watch sitting inside his locker after over a decade of use with a few repairs here in there, maybe it could use a break for the night.

"I'm telling you dude, you'll like it and actually get yourself a smartwatch after this. You can even have this one if you want, I got the last upgrade a while back."

"I'm good with my watch. Thank you for this, though." Desperate times and all that.

"Of course, man. You're all set. You can either get a low volume notification like you just got a text or set it to notify you on your phone when it happens. You'll have a full day report on your phone later regardless."

"I'd rather see it on the screen right away in case I'm working on a patient, I want to be able to tell if it's something I'm actively doing."

John hands him his phone back once he's done setting it all up. "You've got it. Don't worry too much, you're a fit dude, I'm sure you're all good."

"I just want to make sure." Did he ever.

"Tell you what, a few years back earlier in my residency I did one of these tests cause I kept feeling agitated and turns out it was just too much caffeine. Now I only have four coffees a day."

"Four? How many were you having before?"

"A lot more than four."

A shoulder pat and an enthusiastic nod is all he gets from Shen as his senior resident leaves him standing there questioning his own caffeine intake. He finishes placing his belongings in his locker and quickly moves on to catch up with Robby for handoff rounds and his next case.

PTMC ED Central Work Area - 7:05 pm

Turns out the low volume alarm wasn’t that low when you work up close with everyone's personal space during procedures and transfers or just trying not to get in anyone's way charting in the hub. And he got the first one right when you came in, turning a few of the nearby nurses heads with the sound in a rare quiet moment.

"Oh, you got one of those now?" Of course you smile at him, or are you laughing at him already? It's hard to tell sometimes with the way you're always provoking him.

He locks the screen before you can see it. "Trying it out. It's Shen's."

You nod and move to get your backpack off, resting it on the floor by your legs so you can put your hair up to start your work day. "Cool. You good?" Another beep.

"Fine." He probably shouldn't tell you what he's been up to. More space for you to make fun of him.

"Okay. Moody." You been off for two shifts, what do you want from him?

He shakes his head and gestures to the board full of patients above. "Go put your stuff away, we could use some help around here."

"I'm on time, you're just early."

"Yeah right, go." Any excuse to boss you around.

"Did Dana leave already?"

"Staff room getting coffee. She's pulling a double."

"Thanks." You leave with your backpack and a suspicious smirk.

June 30th, 2025 - PTMC ED Central Work Area - 12:32 am

A quick charting break turns into a half bored and a quarter asleep Dana asking about your off days as she chews a midnight snack the two of you share.

"What did you get up to these past few days, dollface?"

"A whole bunch of nothing." Partially true.

"You really know how to have fun, kid." You usually can't mention the fun parts at work anyways.

"Don't I know it? You know how it is, groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. When I thought I had free time I passed out on the couch and woke up with a sore neck. And my laundry didn’t magically put itself away like it happened in my dream." There's another sound similar to the ones you heard earlier, when you look to Abbot's back he seems be checking his watch again.

"Better luck next time." You steal the last chip for that.

"Don't give me hope."

"Don't feed her delusions." He pokes fun at your domestic dreams from his computer station.

"Whatever. Did I miss anything interesting yesterday? Shen already gave me the details from the day before that."

Dana turns away to get rid of the now empty bag of chips and goes back to her computer leaving Abbot to answer your question.

"The usual. There was a small pile up that somehow all victims ended up being brought here, heard about a fight in chairs in the meantime we were taking care of that. Oh, and Dr. Ellis had a PNH diagnosis."

"Ooh, I gotta ask her about that later." You always miss something cool when you're not working.

Dana picks up the phone after half a ring after that and you internally flinch expecting something really bad. The shift was smooth sailing until now, not that you'd dare share that thought out loud.

"Oh, forgot to mention. Someone bought us donuts." Son of a bitch.

"Did you save me one?" Delusion again.

"What do you think?" Of course he didn’t.

The phone hits the hook again. Here we go. "MVA coming up, ETA 5 minutes, exposed radial fracture, bleeding contained. Alert patient."

You externally flinch this time. "I think I'd rather be knocked out for that."

He just shakes his head at you. Get a grip. "Paging ortho."

"Outside, come on." The gloves he hands you as he urges you to the ambulance bay are your size, as always.

PTMC ED - 3:27 am

Abbot closes the room 4 curtains a little too harshly after you exit under his arm coming out of a different case walking back to the hub, he just won't leave it be. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" His watch beeps again and you spot a flash of red before he shuts it back off, weird.

"So you've told me a few times, Dr. Abbot." He never misses an opportunity to do so, but it's been a while.

Dana pushes her glasses back up her nose bridge staring at the mess of you night shift doctors fighting at three something in the morning stressing her out. She's probably holding herself back from saying it's never the time but now it’s really pushing it. "Why are you two always bickering if you work so well together? Jesus, give me a break!"

"I don't know, Dana. We have our moments, I think he's been growing on me lately."

"Has he now?" She's not buying it.

"Like a rash." She scoffs into her coffee cup.

"You think you're so funny." His face twists to the side before he goes back to charting, staring back at the computer screen in front of him, still fuming.

"I can see you smiling, Abbot. That dimple doesn’t lie." You've got him.

You chart in silence for a minute, that is until he speaks again, low enough only you and Dana can hear him.

"You didn’t have to flirt with him."

Dana drags her glasses down to the tip of her nose, eyebrows raised as she turns to look at you over the lenses and then at him and back at you again without even moving her neck and you just shrug at her questioning expression.

"He threatened to sue you, I was just trying to calm him down, I didn't think he'd get the wrong idea. You're welcome by the way, one less file in your pile."

"Yeah, right. Thank you, 'sugar'. Was that what he called you?" And another beep from his watch as a red heart takes the small screen along with a few words you can't read from afar. Was that an elevated heart rate notification? It couldn't be. He seems angrier that he got it again now than mad at you. Huh. It's the fifth time today. Was he getting those because of you? There's no way that was the case. Well, just one way to test the theory.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter. He'll be discharged in a few hours and won't be your problem anymore. I'm taking my lunch break, either of you want anything from the break room?"

"No." A little dry, Abbot.

"No, thank you, dollface. Enjoy your food, I'll get you if anything comes up."

"Okay, thank you, Dana."

As you move away from the counter you walk around his computer quickly lowering your face close to his after looking around and checking if any of the staff is looking, the coast is clear for now. He reluctantly drags his eyes from the screen to you, he looks tired. "Nice to hear some of us still have manners."

You leave before he has the chance to answer and another beep follows your departure. Oh, you're gonna give him so much shit.

PTMC Roof - 4:14 am

The calm night breeze felt like a relief from the air con and bright lights from the ED, a moment of quiet away from all the equipment noises, rattling of gurney wheels and complaining happening downstairs.

Jack had gotten six alarms indicating an elevated heart rate so far. All of them during downtime moments, none during actively working on cases, taking stairs or anything like that. Maybe there is something actually wrong with him.

Standing by the railing he closes his eyes taking a deep breath before having to head back to the stale air and continuous noise in the pitt, maybe he's just stressed and in for a much needed vacation. God knows he hasn’t taken a break in years. He tries to take in his brief escape, the silence and the city lights in the distance. Deep breaths free of any disinfectant scent, that might help. Nope, another beep, what is it now?

He hears footsteps behind his back. "There you are." No use turning around, he knows exactly who it is.

"Are you done waiting for the bat signal tonight or not planning on getting back to work anytime soon?" Of course it's you.

"Just getting some air." Not that it was of any help today.

"I get why you like coming here so much, besides the quiet. The lights were starting to hurt my eyes and I feel like the hand sanitizer smell is forever ingrained inside my nose."

"Yeah." And other reasons.

"Are you okay?" Still a tinge of irony in your tone.

"Why do you ask?" Are you onto him?

"Cause you keep getting notified about your elevated heart rate. Should I be worried?" Fuck. You are.

"No. Not worried. I'm just trying to figure some things out. I already did some tests and my Cardiologist said everything was fine. Shen suggested I wear this stupid watch to see if I could catch what was making me tachy, in case it was because of something physical but no common denominator so far." Except maybe one.

"Do you trust your Doctor?"

"Yeah, I've been seeing him for a few years now."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon." The bite of irony still there. "I'll get back downstairs. You should head back soon too, Dana is getting worried."

"Just Dana?"

"I'm just the messenger."

You're definitely messing with him.

PTMC ED Pedes Room - 4:47 am

"Everything okay in there?" You let go of the curtain separating the room in two, heading towards the door quietly signaling for him to do the same. You stand close to him as to not raise your voice too much and bother the patient.

"Yeah. Five year old presenting food poisoning symptoms. Poor thing was dehydrated from not keeping anything down so he's on some fluids and was very happy to get electrolytes in the form of a popsicle. Him and mom will sleep for a bit until discharge in the morning." He quietly listens to you present the case with his hands behind his back.

A second goes by and be cleans his throat. "Okay, good job." Did he only come by to check on you? No negative feedback or witty remarks this time? Okay.

"Thanks."

PTMC ED Trauma 1 - 5:12 am

You were just sharing minor details of the current case with the last nurse that assisted you when you finally get Abbot alone again. The opposite door of where he stands discarding his gloves closes as the victim of a hit and run gets wheeled to the elevator straight to surgery for definitive care. The floor a mess of bloody footprints, gauze and used gloves, it wasn’t pretty. But the patient was alive and with a good chance at making it.

At the opportunity to prove a point once again, you approach him after discarding your bloody surgical gown, back to the usual scrubs. He did the same, dressed in cargo pants with a plain black fitted shirt.

"Come here a second." And he does, no questions asked, though still a little hesitant. Good boy, Abbot.

He looks a little tired but still alert. The lines of his face and gray of his hair highlighted by the stark white overhead lights, a drop of blood stains his cheek. Just a few more hours to go.

You grab a paper towel from the wall dispenser adding a little bit of hand sanitizer to the corner and take it to his face, wiping the blood away towards the corner of his jaw, folding the paper and doing it again to not leave any trace of red.

Looking into his eyes for a second you spot a question he's hesitating to ask. Right as you expect it happens again, the beep. Got you, Dr. Abbot.

"What are you doing?" The spell breaks and he steps back from you shutting down the stupid watch.

"There was blood on your face, I was just trying to help." You're smirking, you're definitely doing it on purpose.

You're toying with him, there’s no other alternative. "You know exactly what you're doing."

"I'm being nice to you, is that such a rare occurrence you have to be a dick about it?"

Right, being nice to him. No chance. "Why don't you go check on Ellis on triage for the rest of the shift?"

"Are you kidding me?" He can handle the rest of your patients that need monitoring if it means some time to think clearly. Since he can’t seem to do that with you around.

"Not even a little bit." You push the door and leave pissed at him, that he can take.

Exiting out of Trauma 1 after you he sees your firm steps as you grab a tablet from the charging station in the hub, walking off towards chairs.

Dana eyes you walking away until you're out of sight and turns back to him. "What's gotten into her?"

"I don't know."

"You're the boss, what did you do?" Taking sides, aren't we?

"Why is it something I did?" You both did something.

"When isn't it?" She's not buying it.

"When it's something she did."

"You two are hopeless." So it seems.

PTMC ED Staff Room - 5:47 am

Taking a moment to sit down for a second Jack finishes eating half a granola bar he found in his pocket. His leg is starting to ache and he just wants to go home to take a shower and sleep it off.

It just had to be you, hadn’t it? Even in the one controlled, or so he thought, interaction earlier where he was in charge purposely talking to you—after much thought on testing it himself when he was charting—his heartbeat raced and the fucking watch beeped.

You didn’t seem to notice it this time with all the sounds in the ED and him muffling the watch with his other hand behind his back.

All this bickering and provoking for what? For his heart to race in his chest every time he's around you like a fucking teenager, that's what. He's losing it. There weren't any more noticeable alterations with the Holter monitor during the shift he worked in your day off, and more than a handful the day you came to work, and now this. It is you.

Never mind working well together despite all of the pushing and pulling. You always know exactly how much you can argue and suggest as a second year resident so he doesn’t have to pull rank on you or scold you for doing too much. Then there are certain moments, working side by side closely, with steady hands brushing and quiet acquiesced instructions where you trust him fully. The stillness in the chaos when you hand him something before he asks for it and he trusts your assessments no questions asked. When you scoff at his dry humor whenever he says something stupid with a straight face and you share food with him and tell him to sit down a bit. You tell him it's because he is old but he knows it's because you know he's in pain. No stress, adrenaline or lack of sleep comes close to any of that.

And he's always watching you, it feels voyeuristic in a way how he does it sometimes but he can’t help it, Dana even caught him a couple of times. As the months went by he came to respect the way you work and think and carry yourself around the chaos of the ED, you're smart and kind and quick, confident and excited to learn. He can't help but stop and admire you for it, to try and pick your brain at any opportunity you give him to just talk without the need to fight him on anything.

He's always thinking about you outside of work too, and he couldn't exactly find an escape from you there either, not even in his sleep. He hopes his heart can take it. Then again maybe it's time to face it, he is losing his mind and you're giving him a fucking heart condition.

The door to the lounge opens and Shen comes in to prepare his possibly fourth cup of coffee of the day, who needs sleep anyways. He rests his hip on the counter as the coffee brews, looking right at him as he waits.

"Hey man, how's the experiment going so far?"

"Nine warnings and counting."

He seems surprised. "Shit, did you find your common denominator yet?" You could say that he did.

"Not really, like my doctor said it should be fine, so I think I'm just gonna trust that. It's a stressful job, just need a vacation probably."

"You and me both, I'll see you out there, boss." One more hour to go until Robby gets to work and he can leave and pretend this shift never happened.

PTMC ED Triage - 6:05 am

You help Parker move along some patients and talk between admission assessments, sometimes chairs isn't so bad, it's not as busy right now. You hold a baby as she checks on the mom who by the look of things might have appendicitis, impeccable timing really. The patient said the dad was parking the car and should be back soon, not that you mind holding the little one.

You walk back into central to find a vacant spot, parking the mom and baby in Room 11 giving her a moment to call her partner as you head back to triage with Parker as you wait for a surgery consult.

"So how did you spot the PNH?"

"The patient fainted but we couldn’t quite find a reason for it and she kept mentioning being tired even after a lot of sleep, she kept a good routine but still felt fatigued. We got labs right away after admission and they were all over the place so with the suspicion we kept her overnight for observation, repeated labs after she woke up and the dark urine sample confirmed it."

"Well, it's good you spotted it before she threw a clot or something worse."

"Yeah, she’s lucky she fainted and came in to get checked out." She gets closer to you lowering her voice. "Listen, did you notice Abbot is a little jumpy today?"

"He seemed fine in the cases I worked with him, why?"

"I don't know, he was looking over his shoulder a lot in the hub earlier like he was expecting someone or something."

"When was that?"

"It was four thirty something, you were probably in pedes with the food poisoning kid."

"Oh." He was looking out for you. So he already had his suspicions before the blood incident in Trauma 1. He knows you know. "No, I didn't notice. He’s probably fine."

——————

Park Bench across PTMC - 7:13 am

The night shift finally came to an end and after Robby clocked in for handoffs, Jack finally managed to leave the building and sit down in one of the park benches in the little square across the hospital to unwind before he gets to go home. Shen came along but already left, they stopped by a Café for an easy breakfast to go.

The sun is out, it's a cool morning, people are starting to commute to work but still fairly quiet. His half unzipped backpack sits by his feet as he waits for the next alarm to sound, and it does as you walk up to him mid letting your hair down. Back to your undershirt and tired expression, you smile at him all the same, beautiful as ever.

"Is that an actual alarm this time or are you just happy to see me?" Poor him.

"Yeah right, I'm done with this." He removes the cursed watch shoving it in is pack to give back to Shen as soon as possible next shift. Coming up with a peace offering in his hand.

"You didn’t actually have to get me a donut." It's just a distraction tactic, will you quit it?

"I stopped by that place you like with Shen, thought I'd get you one for yesterday." Will you let this go?

"Thank you. Did you find the granola bar I left in your pocket?" You take a big bite out of the donut you didn’t want, offering it to him next.

"You mean half of one? Yeah I did, thanks, sweetheart."

"I guess you won't be keeping the watch?" That damned smile again, now covered in sugar.

He shakes his head at your question, getting up so you can both walk back to his car. "Not a word on this."

"Come on, Jack." You push his shoulder and laugh again and he's sure that if he kept the damn watch on, it would be going off again.

"I think it's cute, it's like you have a crush." Did he ever.

"I'm not talking about this." That was humiliation enough for a day, let's change the topic. "How's your neck after passing out on my couch?"

"It's fine now, don't change the subject."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Who's in denial now?

"I'm glad your heart is healthy." He feels your hand squeezing his wrist where the watch left a fading imprint on his skin.

"Yeah, I bet you are." He has to find a way to get back at you somehow.

Finally giving in, here you are softly closing his door on the next day, his extra key still clutched in your hand along what is left of your shame and self control. You leave it all by his door, quietly walking towards his room's open door. Hours post shift and no sleep or rest in sight, just you missing him like the idiot you are. His apartment is dark, blackout blinds blocking the windows like the first time he brought you in after you slept in his car. Seems like it’s been forever since you got mad at him saying he was holding you hostage, you're the willing victim now.

Standing by his room's threshold, the little light coming from the street outside through a gap in the blinds leads you to an empty bed. You stand still, hip resting on the side of the door with crossed arms, right as he opens his bathroom door. Now both illuminated by the warm light behind him, lingering on opposite ends of the room.

Jack's gaze takes in your form, probably recognizing your old shirt that was previously his. It covers your naked upper thigh and it wasn’t exactly a peace offering but he could take it as one if he wanted to. They match the color of his boxers and he stops by the door mirroring you. He's supporting his weight on a pair of crutches, prosthetic already forgotten by the bed. The standstill lasts a few more seconds before you break the silence.

"Hi, Jack." He just shakes his head at your hesitant words, inhaling deeply before saying anything to you.

"That's all you have to say?" Low raspy voice either close to a laugh or an argument. You think for a second to apologize for running away from him on the roof, then you consider leaving or begging him to let you stay. He interrupts your thoughts with just a few words. "Just get on the bed, Trouble."

So you do, sitting and waiting for him to settle on his usual side as your eyes get used to the dark again once he turns off the light. As soon as his head hits his pillow yours rests on his naked chest and his arms all but strangle your waist. You press your lips to his sternum and he kisses your forehead slowly.

"I'm guessing you don't wanna talk about what happened?" You can feel his smile in his quiet words as he speaks into your skin, resting his face over your head.

"You would be right, for once." You agree and he hums, your face now shoved in his chest. "You're gonna break my ribs." Settling in better into his embrace you take in his fresh post shower scent and warm damp skin, his heart is racing under your ear.

"No, I won't." He speaks quietly into your hair, nuzzling your temple as you squeeze him back. "You're gonna run away from me again?" He whispers in a serious tone once you look up at him and you can't help but hide your face in the curve of his neck.

"No." How could you now? "Are you going to hold that against me forever?" You speak into his warm skin.

"I might." He affirms quietly, hand carefully running over your spine under your loose shirt, he leaves the raised fabric scrunched up over your naked back alone, choosing hold your face up to meet his again, and you mirror his stupid smirk. "You sure?"

You pretend to think for a second, smiling back at him. "I mean, I might. I'm not signing any napkins on it or anything."

He throws you on the other side of the bed without any warning and you laugh at the sudden movement, he flipped you over having his weight completely on top of you, smothering you into his mattress. "Unbelievable." He feigns offense, still pinning you in place for now. "You're not going anywhere, I won't let you."

Hours later you wake with the sound Jack's alarm, back to your initial position. He reaches over his bedside table to turn it off, going right back to studying you as your head rests over his chest, from what he's told you before and his current alert state you get the feeling he was doing it before you woke up. So why not tease him about it?

"You're staring." You whisper pulling his sheet between your faces covering his line of sight.

"I'm aware, let me have this." He grumbles with his low voice unused from sleep, pushing it back down.

"You got a crush on me or something?" You push it as he fixes your loose hair behind your ears, serious expression softening into a calmer one, taking away the previous furrow between his brows.

"Or something, yeah." He nods, dimples showing on his stubble covered cheeks.

You should really get up and get ready for work.

June 21st, 2025 - 6:37 am - PTMC ED

Right as you came in to the hospital Lupe left some contraband she found organizing old file boxes in triage with you before she went home. Now finally having a break basically almost twelve hours later you get John in Room 1 with you after your patient leaves so you can look at the mysterious plastic bag kept in your locker this whole shift.

"What is it again?" He sets his coffee on the side table next to the bed, sitting next to you ready to snoop in the hospital issued antique

"Allegedly a first aid kit from the 80's that got lost in file boxes all this time and should probably go to a museum section of the hospital and not our hand sanitizer grimy little hands but I know you love this shit."

"Aw, you care about my interests." He smiles pleased, squeezing your shoulders like he’s actually very happy you wanted to share the not that exciting discovery with him.

"You wanna do the honors?" You ask removing the metallic box from the plastic bag. It’s a squared tin with peeling white paint and a red cross on top, the inside contents probably ruined from all this time going unused in a drawer somewhere.

"Nah, you go ahead." Shen leans in curious to see whatever old things you two will fight over to keep.

You try to pry if open but it's stuck together, probably fault of the old paint or rust corroding the corners. "If I could just get it to fucking open."

"What are you two up to in here?" You hear Jack's voice once the curtains are quickly pulled open startling you as the lid finally separates from the box, a sharp jagged corner slices your pointer finger before it rattles into the floor along all the contents you were so curious about.

"Fuck!" You shake your hand before inspecting the damage as Shen quickly gets up from the bed to get everything on the floor back together before you two get in worse trouble in case someone needs the room. "Why did you barge in like that, Jack? What the hell."

He grabs your hand taking a look at your bloody finger as John steps backwards slowly like neither of you can see him.

Jack looks back at him. "Just go and dispose of that correctly before someone else gets hurt, man."

"Sorry, boss." He cringes at Abbot's back mouthing to you he'll shove everything in his own locker until you can look at it with him, closing the curtains back again.

You take your hand back wrapping your finger in a paper towel after getting off the bed, your escape quickly stopped.

"You stay." Jack sudden rough authoritative voice doesn’t leave any space for anything else.

"Am I in trouble?" You turn around finding him already gathering things to suture from a supply cart in the corner of the room.

"You are the trouble." He gestures for you to get on the bed so he can tend to your cut. "Three fucking stitches. What were you thinking dealing with a rusty old thing like that with your bare hands?"

"I deal with you all the time, I'll be fine." You roll your eyes climbing on the bed giving him your hand so he can clean it.

"This isn't funny, Trouble." You can tell he's holding back from smiling at your stupid joke, lips almost pouting to stop his dimple from telling on him.

"Then why are you smiling?" You would poke at the little dip on his cheek to piss him off further if he wasn't so focused on treating you.

He gets his face close to yours so you can tell he's not happy about this. "Cause I have a question for you I'm pretty sure will make you regret not taking this seriously, just give me a second here." He better not ask you to stay overtime.

You let him work quietly for a second before interrupting again, he's careful not to hurt you as he cleans the small wound. "Can't you just use some dermabond so we're done sooner?" His eyes lift back at you like he doesn’t believe you would ask that stupid of a question.

"Now why I am going to tell you that's not a good idea?" He discards the syringe he used to numb you up, rolling back in this bench while it takes effect. He crosses his arms and raises his chin at you, waiting for your answer like this was an actual case he was teaching you.

You realize your mistake at his disappointed look. "Cause it would trap in bacteria worsening the risk for infections, I knew that." You did know that, but being this close to him and watching his hands work on you doesn’t help.

"I know you do, and I know you're tired but you need to be more careful. Not that I mind taking care of you." Okay, never mind that part. "But how many times have you cut your hands just these past few months alone?"

"I've lost count, but no needle sticks so far. That has to count for something, right?" He gives up on scolding you getting ready to stitch you up. "Was that your question?"

He gives you the final stich, covering your small cut with a bandage quickly wrapping everything up and discarding all the used stuff in the trash before turning back to you smirking again. "No, that wasn’t it."

"Then what?" Spit it out, old man. His shit eating grin is starting to scare you.

"When was the last time you took a Tetanus shot?" He asks already knowing he's about to give you one anyways, whether you like it or not.

You immediately look upset, staring up at the ceiling like god could help you now but no divine intervention will stop him from administering you the shot.

"I don't know, a while ago." You almost whisper it knowing you can't lie to him, he can still hear you.

"Perfect time for a booster then, sweetheart." He leaves you scowling in the room for a second to grab the rest of the supplies he needs.

"You're not even going to pretend you're not enjoying this?" You ask once he returns with the little Tetanus shot glass vial and a new syringe and needle.

"Nope." He sets everything back on a disposable drape mat on the bed. "Left arm or right arm?"

"About that." You try to stall but he doesn’t have time for this.

"Take your pick, Trouble. Robby is gonna be here soon for shift change, I don't have all the time in the world, believe it or not."

You smile like you want to strangle him. "I'm sure you're very requested Dr. Abbot. Can't you just let me go with a slap on the wrist and some antibiotics? I got a painful lump on my arm that lasted days last time I got the shot, how am I supposed to work tomorrow with people bumping into my arm all shift to treat the patients?" You pout like there's still escaping him, cute.

"Well, there’s a solution for that." He shrugs turning around to better close the curtains.

"What would that be?" You look eager for once, bless your heart.

"Upper outer quadrant of the gluteus maximus." He smiles at your shocked expression, jaw dropping like he'd actually offended you. "As I'm also sure you know, being you're almost a third year resident and everything."

"You're not giving me a shot on my ass, how dare you?" You can try to negotiate with him all you want, he won't budge.

"It's either that or one of your arms, come on." The defeated look you give him is more angry than anything. "Don't get shy now, it's nothing I haven't seen before." He winks at you to piss you off further and you seem to consider suffocating him with the pillow on the hospital bed before walking over to the wall by one end of the curtain lest someone opens it, you tucked the other side behind a chair for visitors.

"I'm getting back at you for this, I hope you know that." You rest your head on your arm on the wall, waiting for him to get the shot ready.

"Sure you are, sweetheart." He approaches you from behind shielding the possible view from the other end of the curtain. "Lower your pants for me."

If looks could kill the one you gave him over your shoulder would definitely get him taken to the morgue straight from this room.

"I hate you." You utter before before doing as he says, untying your scrub pants and lowering them under your butt, pulling the side of your underwear up so he has the space clear to apply the shot.

"No, you don't." He kisses your temple before running a cotton pad on the injection site so he can finally be done with this. "These are cute, new pair?"

"Oh, shut up. How could I let you talk me into this?" You grumble into the wall.

The thing is you won't stop moving. "Stay still, I don't want to hurt you."

"Just do it please, get it over with."

"Stop squirming, I can't do it like this."

"My ass is literally out in a room with no door in the middle of work. This is just like one of those nightmares where you're walking around naked in school. Please just do it and don't let any of our coworkers see my butt." Fair.

"I will, just stop moving so much, Jesus." He has his hands on your skin ready to insert the needle on the right muscle.

Right as he's about to finally do it the other end of the curtain is ripped open by none other than Robby. "Hey Jack, when you have a minute can you-"

"ROBBY, WHAT THE FUCK." You nearly scream and he's pretty sure his body didn’t let Robby see anything but you still cover yourself like he did.

The dayshift Attending goes immediately beet red once he realizes what he walked into, taking a step back out of the room closing the curtains back up. Jack can't help but rest his head on your hair and laugh. You reach your uninjured hand back to slap the side of his thigh for it.

"Sorry, not here." Robby speaks from outside.

"I can see your feet under the curtains." You're annoyed and he can’t blame you.

"I didn't see anything, I'm sorry." He shoves his head back in the curtains with an apologetic pained smile.

"Oh my god, this is so embarrassing." You cry into the wall but Jack stops you from dramatically hitting your head on it with his hand.

"I'm sorry, I thought he was still stitching you up. Shen told me you two would be here."

"No harm done, Robinavitch." You say and Jack finally gets something out that's not a laugh. "We're almost done. You want to do handoffs?"

Robby just nods.

"Okay." You start walking over behind the bed for some dignity dragging Jack back with you by the wrist he's still holding the syringe up. "Since you're already here just stay there and hold the fucking curtain."

"I don't think I should." Robby tries to argue but you don't let him. Jack just watches the interaction trying not to laugh again, already in enough trouble with you as it is.

"I didn't ask. You sit in the cuck chair with your eyes closed and hold the fucking curtain so more people don't come in to the peep show, Robby."

He gives in, dropping to the chair with his head in his hands. "I'll have you know I'm very uncomfortable right now." He says to no one in particular.

"That makes three of us." Jack cuts in.

"Good, now you know how I feel." You lower your pants back down and Jack readies the spot for the shot again.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." He checks back and Robby still has his eyes closed, one hand holding the curtain as the other runs over his beard.

"Fill an HR complaint, Robby." You grumble right as Jack finally gives you the shot, startling slightly after his quick little 'Sorry'.

"All done." He pulls your pants back for you and you tie them in a rush.

"I think I might, more like a write up." Jack can tell Robby is watching your quiet interaction like he'd already expected it. Oh well, he's told Jack he was on to you both already anyways, and that was before the kiss.

"I'll give you the pen." You leave them both standing in the room like nothing happened.

June 22nd, 2025 - 7:15 am - PTMC ED

You're gossiping with Dana about your shift before you get to go home, Robby's running late and Jack is nowhere to be seen.

"Was it that bad?" She sips on her fresh coffee as you go on and on about the last few cases you had.

"It's not everyday you have to hold yourself back from telling a patient that they shouldn't worry about having brain eating amoeba cause it would've starved by now. I did very good actually so I hope the patient scores are stellar after that one." Probably won't be. "How does everyone else do it?

"I don't know kid, ask your Attending for some pointers. He's surprisingly good at that."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's keeping those 8% up there all by himself."

"He might be." She laughs as you keep turning on your chair. "Quit that, you're making me dizzy."

"Sorry." You laugh she stops you mid circle, half dizzy yourself. "He weaponizes his dimples, it's not fair."

"Don't be bitter, you're well liked too." She pushes you to the other side to undo the damage.

"Yeah, I just haven't been here long enough to affect the percentage. Just wait and see Dana, I'll get you that 9%."

She scoffs at your lack of hope. "Don't sell yourself short kid, you'll get us to at least a nice 10%."

"Your trust really inspires me." You get up, not dizzy anymore. Just wanting to find Jack to go home but Robby still hasn’t come in, you're just so tired. "Where is he, by the way?"

"Break room last I saw him. You two getting along well back in the nightshift?"

"We're fine." You're already leaving your seat to go find him at this point.

"Some would say more than fine." She smirks at you and you pray the hickeys on your neck aren't visible right now.

"What is that supposed to mean?" You know she’s on to you two but still pretend to be clueless about it.

"Oh, nothing." Good, let's keep the act up.

Jack is trying to set his spine back in place after a night on his feet pushing himself harder than he should have, maybe the break room wasn’t the best place but his resources were limited with all the rooms busy and Robby still late, so he allowed himself to lay on the ground for a second on an empty corner. He only hears the door opening from his spot on the floor before he feels someone looming over him. Not someone, you.

He removes his arm that was resting over his face to see you looking down at him

"Did you forget your life alert at home?" You complete the low blow by touching his hip with the tip of your sneaker.

Fuck him, you made him laugh. "Ha ha, you're so funny."

"Yes, I know. What are you doing on the floor?" You squat down beside him poking at his side.

"I'm straightening my back."

"Can't you do that on a bed?"

"Not really. You should try it, it's grounding."

"The ground is disgusting." He doesn’t give you more time to complain, pulling you to lay on top of him, holding you off the floor.

You seem to forget where you are, not protesting or pushing him away for once, just relaxing in his hold and hiding your face in his neck.

"I want to go home, I'm exhausted." You whisper right under his ear, and he adjusts you on top of him as a shiver runs down his tired spine. "Is your prosthetic hurting you?" You lift your head up to ask.

"No." That's not the issue here.

"Am I hurting you?" You really must be tired.

"Always." You give him a worn out smile he wishes he could kiss away. "Pretty sure you do it on purpose too. A life alert, really? I'm clearly in great shape to get up from here anytime I want."

"Sure you are, old man."

The door opens again and you immediately roll to the side falling between him and the wall. It gets quickly closed behind Dana and Robby again not before a quick "Never mind, this is clearly more important. Why would we even bother to ask." mumbled by the charge nurse as Robby eyed him with an 'I told you so' look if he ever seen one. Better it be them than anyone else in the department.

June 23rd, 2025 - PTMC ED - Trauma 1 - 6:12 pm

Robby requested you to work days for a week again—much to Jack's disappointment—so here he was coming in early to catch you long before his shift started. He even brought you food for a change, maybe you could eat together quickly on the roof before you left. After leaving his things in his locker he goes back to the hub to take a look around for you, Dana quickly points him towards the ongoing trauma knowing exactly who he was looking for.

"Need extra hands, brother?" He stopped by the door watching your back, apparently on suctioning duty for the time being. Robby and everyone else moved quickly around you

"No need. Though it would've been nice a few hours ago, busy day." Robby continues to work on the patient, suddenly calling your name and Jack watches as you flinch a little before you lift your head to the dayshift Attending, weird.

"Step closer, I'll guide you. We're gonna clamp here and you'll go around-"

"I don't think I can." You sound a little off so Jack gets closer to you, your hesitancy making him curious to see what you're all working on, you're usually excited at the chance to execute something new. "Can you hold this?" Suddenly you push the equipment in your hands to a student beside you, not before it drips blood all over your pants below the sterile gown you have on. She immediately goes back to working on the patient as you take a shaky step back and Jack picks up on what’s going on.

"What's wrong?" Robby looks from the patient back up at you right before you collapse back into Jack's chest. He catches you under your arms before you could reach the floor, turning you to the side so he can cradle you to his chest, lifting you in his grasp to carry you out of the room.

"Go on, I've got her." He can see everyone's eyes widening over their masks at the sight.

Robby nods going back to the procedure. "I'll be with you as soon as I can."

Jack pushes the door open with his back and you on his arms, being immediately met with a worried Dana removing your mask.

"What the hell is going on in that room?"

"Nothing good." He finally sees your whole face and you're a little pale, unfocused eyes opening slightly. "Hey, you okay?" He tries to rouse you up but you just frown and close your eyes again.

"Come on, we're free over at 22."

As soon as he sets you on the bed Dana is removing your gloves and bloody sterile gown and he asks her to get a hospital gown for you to change into once he goes over your vitals and initial assessments so you're not on your bloodied scrubs.

"Jack? Didn’t you just get here?" You open your eyes more alert this time, thank god.

"Sure did, honey. Just in time for me to catch you."

"Everything went dark." Your BP is on the lower side and with Robby telling him it was a busy shift he assumes you didn’t have much to eat or drink.

"Are you in any pain at all?"

"No, I think I'm okay."

"Can you do something for me?" He asks wiping your arm so Dana can get a blood sample.

"What's that?" You're still a bit confused, he grabs your finger to get your blood sugar.

"Yeah, definitely in your deathbed. You'd never be so compliant in a normal state."

"I'm fine, don't patronize me." Back to complaining once you suck on the little prick on your finger. Good, it's not that bad.

Dana leaves to take the sample to labs, quickly coming back with a juice box for you and he sits beside you on the bed.

"When did you last eat something, sweetheart?" He watches you sip the juice with a vacant look.

"Earlier today, you don't have to treat me like a kid."

"I'm treating you like your doctor, which I kind of am right now." He grabs your chin forcing you to look at him. "I'm worried about you, let me worry."

"I know, I'm sorry." You remove his hand from your face holding it for a second, giving a quick squeeze before letting go. "I promise I'm okay. I had breakfast before work, then we just got really busy and I didn't have much time for anything else, I barely even drank water."

"I need you to take care of yourself when I'm not here to remind you." He's rubbing your back now, he can tell you're upset.

"I know that." You wipe your hands over your face. "I barely slept too, that definitely didn’t help my case, I'm exhausted."

"If you want me to move to days with you that badly then just say it, you don’t have to become a patient. That's kind or harsh." The smile you give him rolling your eyes puts him more at ease, but he’s still a little nervous.

"Oh, please." You push him away and he sits back on the hospital bed beside you. "Like I chose this."

Robby knocks on the wall this time before opening the curtain and you hide your face on the side of his arm probably reminiscing of the Tetanus shot fiasco.

"Sorry." Robby smiles before raising a tablet with your lab results. "Glad you're okay, I'll be doing the honors of taking you away as patient seeing Jack is implicated."

"I'm not implicated." He insists trying to grab the device but Robby quickly moves it out of his grasp.

"You are, in my book." Robby squints at the screen for a second before nodding to himself. "Okay, nothing crazy."

"Nice bedside manner, Robinavitch." The color is returning to your cheeks and you are back to being a little mean so Jack's more relieved already.

"Right." His friend smiles before giving you your own chart. "My diagnostic is you didn’t eat anything all day, also assuming you didn’t sleep for whatever reason." Quick pause at that to stare Jack down. Robby knows. "And you're a tad anemic so I'll be prescribing you some supplements and rest so you can go back to nights after your surprise day off tomorrow. Is that better?"

"Yeah, the reason was you pulling me to days. You won’t need me for the rest of the week?" Jack would prefer you taking the week off but knowing you, you'd refuse even with sick days pending.

"I'll find someone else, I'd rather you sleep well and not collapse mid trauma again. I'm sure Jack can handle you on nights." Right, he sure could.

"Is the trauma patient okay?" You give Robby the tablet back, sitting back closer to Jack again.

"All good, he went up to the ICU just now." That's good, you'd probably worry about having done something wrong if that went badly. "Jack, a word outside?" What is it now?

Jack came back in no time, a bag of take out in hand and his backpack resting on his shoulder.

"Aw, you brought me food?" You make grabby hands at the paper bag but the keeps it out of your reach.

"Yeah, and that was before you passed out on me. My spidey senses are working overtime when it comes to you."

"Give me the food, Abbot."

"Abbot." He scoffs at his own name, raising his eyebrows exasperated at you. "You don’t get to call me that ever again, ever."

"Jack… give me the food."

"We're sharing it, and not before we talk."

"We are talking."

"I want you to promise me you'll take better care of yourself. I'm usually here for you to steal a granola bar or two but you need to eat and drink water when we’re not on the same shift." You know he brings extra just for you, usually going out of his way to get you coffee and remind you to drink water too. "You scared me today." He's not saying it lightly.

"I didn't mean to." You want to tease him for worrying about you but he really seems a little shaken up, it's sweet. "I'm usually more on top of things, I promise I do well when you’re not here too, today was just a fluke with the no food and sleep deprivation combo after being on my feet all day. And I brought food from home, I just didn’t have time to eat it."

"You make time, okay? You can't take care of anyone if you don't look after yourself first. You could have gotten hurt if you hit your head, and I know it happened before so don't even try to say I'm overreacting." His expression is still too serious for your liking.

"How do you know that?" What is he referring to?

"You had a bruise on your temple when we met." He grumbles almost to himself, probably shy to admit he noticed, breaking his usual eye contact to look at your hands side by side on the hospital bed. "I asked Dana about you a few days before, I saw you coming in."

"You remember that?" You smile at his unexpected bashful state. "I thought the ambulance ride part the most memorable bit."

"Yeah, you're hard to forget." Okay, you're the one who's bashful now. "I'm just asking you to be careful, okay?"

"I know, I will. You want me to pinky swear it?"

"Sure." He wraps your finger in his, bringing your hand to his mouth for a quick kiss over your last healing cut he stitched together the other day. "Let's get you out of that gown, you can wear my extra clothes."

"What, this scratchy snowflake printed fabric isn't doing it for you?"

"Don't get me wrong, you look cute. I just want you to be comfortable and Robby offered to take you home."

"It's fine, I can manage on my own."

"I don't want you to go by yourself, I'd take you but I have to stay to work." He helps you change into a pair of sweatpants tying them around your waist and a soft shirt. "Why don't you stay and sleep?"

"Here?"

"Yeah, go into our on call room, get settled and I'll take you home in the morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll check on you when I can."

"It's okay, I'll probably just crash after we eat."

"I know. I'll still check on you." If he insists.

He just stands there for a second looking a little lost. "Hey, come here." You pull him by his wrist and he stands in front of you still looking a little off. "I'm okay, I swear. Thank you for catching me."

You reach up to kiss his cheek, also giving him a quick peck on the side of his chin, and if you didn’t worry him on accident today you would definitely make fun of him for blushing. "You being nice worries me more." He whispers into your ear before kissing under it over one of the just about faded hickeys he left you with, once you embrace his waist his arms squeeze you tighter than they ever did in his sleep.

June 24th, 2025 - PTMC 7:07 am

You crash for the better part of the next twelve hours, nice and comfortable in Jack's clothes as the second best thing since you can't sleep with him this time. He opened the door slowly not to wake you but you've been awake for a few minutes now.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He stands beside the bed looking down at you still resting under the covers.

"Better. How was your shift, you ready to go?" He's looking a little worse for wear too, maybe you should go easy on him for a change.

"It was okay, I think you guys got the brunt of it. All done now. Did you sleep good?"

"It was okay." You repeat what he said not really having much to complain except it could've been better if he was with you, but you’ll live.

"Do you need anything?" Could he stop being so nice?

"Can you grab my socks for me please?" You left them in the chair by the door. You reach your hands to grab them from him but he flips the covers over your head and kneels on the bed to put them on for you. "Hey!" You muffled voice makes him laugh.

"Compression socks, tsk tsk. And you call me old?" He slides the rolled up sock over your foot and ankle and you feel a light kiss on your knee once he's done with the first one.

"Forgive me for preventing a clot. They’re very comfortable actually."

"It's kind hot if you think of them as stockings. Do you have them in black?" You remove the blanket from your head being met with his stupid smile.

"Don't make this weird, you pervert." He keeps smiling as he works.

"Too late. Up, come on." You push at his chest with one foot as he finishes with the other sock and he squeezes your ankle holding you still. "Don't get mean with me, I like it." This fucking infuriating man.

Back in the ED you stop by the hub when Dana calls you over once Robby steals Jack away for a last minute consult.

"How you feeling, kid?"

"Humiliated." You answer promptly.

She just scoffs at you. "You're fine, then."

"Just a bruised ego. Jack spared me any other ones, thankfully."

"For a change, huh?" She smirks at you, quickly going back to reading whatever is on the tablet on her hands.

"What?" You just woke up, couldn’t she give you a break for once?

"Oh, nothing." And she smiles again, scratching at her neck with her pen exactly where your hickeys were on yours. She fucking knows.

You clear your throat looking around for an exit. "You want anything from the vending machine?" Distract and divert.

"No thank you, just had breakfast."

"Okay, I just need a snack before I go home. Bye, I'll see you when I see you." She doesn’t let you leave so fast.

"Abbot checked on you a few times throughout his shift, I saw him coming back right when I came in early."

"He told me he would, but I was asleep by then."

"He's worried." She sets the tablet on the counter altogether, giving you her full attention even though you really don't want it right now.

"He's overreacting."

She gives you a sincere smile for once. "You'll give him a heart attack one of these days, kid."

"He's old, it won't be my fault."

June 25th, 2025 - Jack's Apartment - 5:23 pm

You're thankfully resting on his chest again, back to your joined sleep schedule mess of a deal. Took you only a day avoiding him this time around—for his benefit of course—he couldn't bear another week of you avoiding him at every chance you got like after you first shared a bed in the on call room months ago.

He thought maybe things would be a little stunted between you with how you left him on the roof after he finally kissed you but here you are surprising him yet again. Coming back to his room only in his shirt was a low blow he gladly accepted, he’ll take what he can get at this point. Not exactly talking about any next steps but not being in denial about your feelings any longer is definitely an advance, he'll continue to meet you where you're at if that's what you need. Doesn’t mean he won't give you trouble about it like you love doing to him.

"How can you breathe in there?" He's on his back with your upper body resting over his, your face shoved into his chest right in between his ribs.

You just shush him. "Don't ruin the moment."

Both of you are in that in between state not quite relaxed enough to go back to sleep but not alert enough to get up and do anything.

"I think there's an imprint of your nose on my sternum, and drool."

"Why did you have to bring that up, I'm your guest." You run your hand over the space your nose and mouth were in finding it dry, giving him an angry stare for making you move. Adorable really.

"My guests stay in my guest bedroom, sweetheart."

"I can leave if bothers you that much." You attempt to untangle yourself from him but he pulls you right back.

"You're not going anywhere."

"That's what I thought, you're too easy." You prop your hands under your chin over his sternum looking at him all quiet for a second.

"One of us has to be, apparently. You wanna quit staring at me?"

"Oh, so it's fine when you do it? You have pretty eyelashes." You reach a hand to run a finger under his left eye but he traps it in his own, taking it to his lips and kissing your wrist.

"That right, honey?"

"Yes, and I'm not staring." Sure, you're not.

"What are you doing then?"

"Just looking at you. You tend to do it a lot to me." He really does, he'll give you that. He’s not making things easy for you, though.

"I didn't think you'd mind, you've told me I have pretty eyes before, but you were this close to me then." He grabs at your waist dragging you forward on top of him so you're as close as possible, lips almost touching.

"You do, but if you want this to work you have got to stop bringing up shit I said when I was drunk." You touch your nose to his and maybe he's still asleep dreaming of a moment you'd give him the time of day.

"Giving out compliments too, you're going soft on me, Trouble." He tries to close in the little space between your mouths so he can kiss you again but you don't let him.

"Not a compliment, I just noticed them now cause you're not frowning." You smile big at his tired sigh before he flips you over on the bed again.

"That's more like you."

"Lipstick? Oh this is sweet, dollface. But I told you that-

"Your favorite shade has been discontinued, I know."

"Exactly, I've been wearing the same shade of red for as long as you've been alive I can't just change it."

"Yes you can! You can't just not wear red anymore. This is my favorite bougie brand and I did my research. It's the most similar shade to the one you liked, it's almost a dupe. Please at least try it on." Come on.

"You're so stubborn." She still gives in. "I don't have a mirror."

"I do!" You take one out of your pocket and hand it to her. "No excuses, go on." You watch her apply the lipstick perfectly.

"There! Are you happy?"

"So happy." You hug her and shake her side to side. "Now we're matching! Do you like it?"

"Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you it's real pretty."

"You look great! It can be your new shade."

"The packaging is cute too, my daughters are going to try and steal it from me. Thanks, kid. This is really sweet." She gives you an actual hug this time.

"Only for you, I'm glad you like it."

"Okay, now beat it. Go put your stuff away." She pushes you towards the lockers.

"Yes, ma'am."

Taking a detour to the staff room to leave a tray of heart shaped chocolate chip cookies for the night shift and remaining day shift workers to enjoy and eye the few other treats and decorations on the walls and the cork board mural. It's all really quite cute.

Heading for the lockers you put your backpack and coat away, doing a quick chocolate box exchange with Mel before she leaves for the day, also having a quick chat with Samira as she rushes in, gets her locker open to get sour candy for you, and gets a bag of her favorite lollipops in return. After that you check in with the remaining dayshift staff in what you can help with before they leave.

Getting back to central just to find Dana missing, you instead find Robby in her place so time to give her a break and pester him this time around. You park yourself next to him leaning on the counter.

"Any fun plans tonight, boss?"

"I told you not to call me that."

"Answer the question, Robinavitch."

He rubs his face already done with you. "No, no plans."

"Come on dude, go home and change then go out! There's still time to find a date."

"Yeah right, I don't really know about that. Don't call me dude either, it's weird, I'm your boss."

"Not anymore! And don't change the subject."

"Leave me alone! Where's Dana or Jack when I need you to bother them instead of me?"

"I don't know where Dana is and Jack is off tonight, you don’t get to run away this time."

He rests his forehead on the counter for a moment, still running away.

"Robby you're a sweet guy and you're hot, trust me, you'll find someone."

He pulls on the ends of his stethoscope looking up for help as if you would stop saying these things. "Kinda late for that right now. Maybe next year."

Dana comes back and rests her hip on the counter on Robby's opposite side as he turns his chair back around.

"You could always go to a bar that has a single's night, those are usually pretty fun."

"Ha! Or disastrously funny." Dana chimes in. "But hey, at least you'd have some gossip for us tomorrow."

"I'm glad my love life is entertaining for you two, but that's not happening."

"Oh come on, you're a great catch, someone will snatch you up in no time and you'll tell us all about it tomorrow, steamy details included." Dana is not letting it go either.

You laugh at his 'I'd rather be anywhere but here face.' "And you’re blushing, ok go on with your last round, I'm sure Myrna is around somewhere with a special gift just for you."

"God, please don’t let that be true."

"Go find someone to smooch, old man!"

"Stop it, you two! I'm just waiting for Shen so I can leave."

You and Dana take advantage of the poor man sitting down with to give each a kiss on his flushed cheeks. Leaving behind blurry red lipstick marks.

"Go get em, Cowboy. Shen's probably on his way. Finish up your stuff. I better get ready to leave too. Lena is getting coffee in the break room, gonna catch her up. You need anything, kid? A coffee?"

"I'm good, go ahead. I brought cookies, take some for the road."

"Will do."

You find a computer to work in the controlled chaos of shift change. People from the morning are leaving with silly smiles on their faces talking about plans and dates, it's sweet.

The central work area is adorned with a bunch of red and pink paper heart chains and bows. Courtesy of one bored Princess and Perlah during a rare break in a dayshift where they had time to do more than eat a snack and gossip. There's a big anatomically correct heart made of sticky notes with all the ED employees' names inside arrowed hearts in red glittery pen ink. Dana is still giving them a hard time over her wasted sticky notes but you saw her taking a picture of it and sending it to her daughters the other day.

A few flower arrangements can be seen around work stations and patient's rooms along stuffed animals. There's a few more rogue shiny red heart balloons floating around a corner after escaping the giant bunch a visitor had to gift his partner who took a fall on ice. Poor thing broke her wrist, she was all dolled up to meet him for their date too.

Suddenly Jack Abbot walks in removing his jacket, you can see him giving the decor a once over. Weird, he wasn’t supposed to be working today. As you turn around to grab a tablet and look back he vanishes.

Dana comes back from the break room and stands close to you with a cupcake in each hand. Someone else brought in more treats after you left the cookies in the lounge. She smudges icing on your nose before giving one to you.

"And I'm the one who pesters you."

"Shush, eat your treat."

"Where's Abbot? I could swear I just saw him."

"I know, me too. I think I'm starting to hallucinate him."

"Down here." You and Dana bend over the counter to see him finish tying his shoe crouched in front of the paper heart. He gets up and removes his backpack. 

"What’s up?"

"We should be asking that, weren't you off?"

"Last minute change of plans."

"You need to learn to take a break. Both of you!" She's ready to leave now.

"How would you survive without us?"

"With less grays!"

You pretend to think it over. "Overrated."

"It's a good look, come on!" Jack runs a hand through his hair as if offended.

"Whatever, I'm leaving, see you lovebirds tomorrow."

You watch her leave through the ambulance bay door, turning around to find Jack closer than before, now by your computer beside you.

"Happy Valentine's day." Smug bastard.

"Happy Valentine's day. I thought you weren't working today."

"I wasn't. I'm filling in for Shen."

"What's up with him?"

"He has a date."

"Oh, how sweet of you to step in for him."

"Yeah, I'm sweet like that."

"What’s the catch?"

"Nothing in it for me."

"Just out of the goodness of your heart?"

"What can I say? I'm a generous man and I'm feeling very romantic today."

"Very on theme." Him showing up has absolutely nothing to do with spending time with you, obviously.

"You look nice. I like the red lip." He smiles down at you, still standing too close for comfort for the middle of the ED.

"Robby is probably looking for you."

"Yeah, I bet he is." Like he cares. "I have something for you." Could he not.

"I said no-

"No heart shaped chocolates, and no flowers, I heard you." He then takes a golden box with a red bow from his bag giving it to you and you can't believe his smug smile.

"So you got me a chocolate easter bunny instead?"

"Happy easter?"

"Very cute, Jack Rabbot."

"I know I am."

"Uh huh."

"There's still icing on your nose, come here."

"It's fine, I can clean it."

Robby decides now is the time to come back as you push Jack's hands away from your face. His cheeks still have your kiss marks.

"Decided to work the Valentine's special, brother?"

"Covering for Shen last minute. Forgot to call you on my way here, sorry."

"That's alright, can we go over everything so I can leave in a bit?"

"Sure. Got lucky today huh?" Jack couldn't not give him shit for the red kisses.

"Not sure I follow." Jack points to his cheek and Robby rubs his hand on one side of his face noticing the lipstick smudge on his fingers.

"Oh, so that's why everyone was laughing at me back there. Thanks a lot, kid."

"You're so welcome, Robby."

"I'll be right back. Don't move." He's whisked away by a student before he gets to do handoffs with Jack, leaving you two alone once more.

Jack is back to flirting in no time. "So no kiss on the cheek for me?"

"Maybe later, if you’re lucky."

Jack has his hands over your eyes as he guides you out of the elevator as if where he's taking you is a surprise at all.

"Step into my office for a second, will you." He moves one hand as you both reach the last step and push the door open.

"There better not be a helicopter on this roof with a patient for me."

"There isn't. But, if you give me a minute and let me make some calls I can get one here if I lie about our blood supply or something and maybe they’ll take pity on us and fly us the scenic route out of here so we can escape the remaining work hours into the sunrise."

He removes his remaining hand over your eyes watching you take in the spread he set up in a picnic towel in a spot free from snow. Taking a lighter from his pocket he lights the half melted candle he took from the break room birthday stash placed on top of an unopened soda bottle.

"I can't believe you." You shake your head smiling at him.

"You didn’t say anything about a candlelit dinner with a view either."

"Jack!"

"This is the part where you say ‘Wow, this is so romantic you're so sweet, I don't deserve you!’"

"Shut up." You do shut him up with a kiss, seems like his luck found him after all.

"I got you something too." Now what would you have gotten him?

"What about the no presents deal?"

You tried dissuading his advances before learning you would be working tonight with a 'It's our first Valentine's, let's not make a big deal of it.' Which he promptly denied 'Technically is the second one, but okay.'

"I've been meaning to give it to you for months anyways but I kept forgetting."

He watches you take a paper card from your pocket and hand it to him. "You're lucky I had it in my bag for after work."

He smiles at your silly drawing of a gray rabbit in scrubs and a red heart. 'Dr. Jack Rabbot' written under it in black ink block letters in your hand writing he loves to make fun of you for, he's sure you make it extra bad just for him.

"Very funny, sweetheart."

"It's fitting, we got a theme going."

He opens it and sees the film strip shaped photos. You convinced him to get inside a photo booth during a congress trip to New York once but it didn't have the option of two copies so you took them and promised to make him one. Months passed and you didn’t fulfill your promise, until today. There's pictures of you two smiling, one of him frowning as you pretend to kiss his cheek and one of him smirking at you as you tried to come up with a pose before the next flash came in.

You two share a quick dinner on the roof and the chocolate bunny as dessert before you need to get back to work. Your initials have been etched along side his on the railing for a while now. Your red lipstick was gone by this point but you made sure to reapply and give him a pretty mark he could show off downstairs. He didn’t even mind Ellis making fun of him all remaining hours of the shift, or Dana giving him shit for it when she came in bright and early in the morning. He was in fact smug about it and left it on until he took you home at 7am.

Your names now side by side on the paper heart on the counter remained unnoticed for now.

Next

At least you were sitting down, legs folded to your chest held by your arms, your side resting on the short wall and your chin on the cold concrete ledge. You were making yourself so small he would’ve missed seeing you entirely if he didn’t have a feeling of exactly where you'd be. For now he will lie to himself for any sort of comfort as to avoid panicking or startling you into standing too fast and being in worse danger.

You've worked well together this far, bantered enough to where some unspoken limits were established, but this is the first time he gets to comfort you. He doesn’t know if you're the type to need a hug or for him to just stand there and keep you company until you decide the safe side is good enough for now. For the time being he's nervously set on default and what he does best in moments like this—for the good or bad of it—is rambling. If he has to get you to think 'What the fuck are you saying?' all the better, whatever works to get you out of your head and rid you of the awful thoughts that have your shoulders shaking as you cry with your face turned away from him.

The lack of snow didn’t stop him from getting his jacket from his locker and setting it on your back the best be could with you leaning on the wall.

"You're in my spot again." He sets his hands on the railing, standing as close as he could from your personal space from this side as to keep you from getting up until you've calmed down. He can spot his initials from a couple of days ago still etched in the bar.

He hears you sniff before you finally speak. "There's enough space, you need to learn how to share." You finally turn your face from the gray skies acknowledging him.

"What are you doing up here?" If you're so like him like he suspects it he knows, he still wants to hear you say it though.

"Just you know, calculating the survival risk." He looks down from the skyline back to you swiping a hand under your eyes with a sad smile. Joke all you want, for now it is better than your quiet crying.

"You should step back behind the railing, it's only funny when I stand there."

"I'm not gonna jump, Abbot." He knew that too, but it's still good to hear you say it.

"I know, but I'm not taking any chances."

Silence wraps itself around you again and he continues talking like the idiot he feels right now.

"Don't beat yourself up about this."

"She coded because of me, we almost lost her." You look up at him like he said something absurd.

"It's hard to know a barely conscious unaccompanied patient has a deathly allergy to a common medication we use everyday." That doesn’t change what happened but your tears still fall and you look away from him. He rests his head on his forearms for a second until you speak again.

"I found a sticker on her phone case after we stabilized her."

"We focus on resuscitating first and diagnosing later. You couldn’t have known. It was one mistake anyone else could have made if she wasn’t your patient. You're still learning."

"I almost killed her."

That's it, he's bending down to step over the railing and crouching down to face you fully now. You allow him the eye contact he initiated with a deep breath and tear clumped eyelashes.

"But you didn’t, you saved her life. You kept calm even once you realized your mistake and you followed protocol and got her back. That's what a great doctor should do. You did good today, I'm proud of you."

The tears seems to slow down for now, that's good.

"You don't have to say those things just to make me feel better." There's a barely there smile on your face now, he'll take it.

He feigns to think about it. "As your temporary Attending, I kind of do." And you scoff at him.

He smiles in defeat looking away from your sad eyes for a second before speaking again. "Okay. You were terrible, that was a disaster and you embarrassed me tonight. Better?"

For a few seconds he thinks he went a little too far. Until the wobbling in your chin he worried would turn into more tears gives space to a scoff and sad laugh. That’s a lot better than crying. He doesn’t like seeing you crying, he decides.

"A lot better, yeah. Thanks." Good, that's good.

"Keep up the bad work, Trouble."

"I'll do my worst." That's more like you.

"Now if you’re ready to get back downstairs, you're dehydrating on the spot and they’re having the newbies start all IVs this shift. You do not want to need fluids tonight, trust me."

He gets up offering you a hand to do the same and you accept it. Now back on the safe side holding a small pack of tissues he hands you without asking if you need them.

"I think I'll survive with some gatorade." That he can work with.

"Good, I'm buying. The vending machine on the ortho floor gets them colder than the one in the ER, come on." He points his head towards the door and you follow slowly, his jacket still on your shoulders.

He still can't seem to know when to shut up. "You know, do you want me to tell the patient to maybe get a tattoo about the allergy or something when she wakes up? Maybe a chest piece or some ink on the forehead?" Keep being stupid Jack, it's working.

"Don’t you dare." You give him your first real laugh of the night and he's happy for now.

"You're awful at this." You continue once in the elevator to ortho.

"Don't I know it, Robby basically told me to shut up last time I tried giving him a pep talk."

March 17th, 2025

Abbot is nowhere to be seen. It's close to 4am and the ED is calming down for the rare quiet stretch of hours where people wait until morning to come in for the not life threatening yet still urgent stuff.

You shared a tough case where not much could be done and the patient didn’t make it. After a moment of silence in the trauma room, things quieted down and you had to move on to another patient and he went on to assist Shen with something else across the ED. You take a look around and it seems like no one would miss you if you took a break. Abbot on the other hand, you already heard two or three people questioning his whereabouts, either needing help or seeming worried. Time to do something about it.

The elevator ride to the roof is spent thinking about how you're gonna do what he did for you the other day. You didn’t discuss it after, kind of dreaded it to be honest but he thankfully seemed to accept your distance as a sign not to bring it up. The doors open and you push the outside door knowing where he'd be standing.

You can do this. Get him back behind the railing to safety and downstairs where he can’t hit the floor at such a height. You've got this. It's just a shit day, cold air, and a seemingly out of breath panicking doctor borderline hyperventilating standing by the ledge.

He seems to feel your presence right away turning to you still struggling to take in a deep breath as you cross the railing standing next to him now.

"Do no ask me to name 5 of anything right now." His voice is hoarse like he’s been crying, his eyes are red like he did. He’s still making jokes thought, so that's good.

Not your usual approach anyways. You were more for a 'distract and confuse' sort of strategy.

"I won't. Can you sit with me?" You don't give him much of a choice holding onto his wrist as you sit down crossing your legs, making him sit too. You both rest your backs on the wall, staring back at the hospital instead of the skyline.

Jack is trying to catch his breath as you work on getting your shoelaces out of your beat up sneakers. You take deliberate deep breaths as to make him follow your lead without exactly telling him to.

"What are you doing?" Distract and confuse always works.

"I am distracting you." Honesty also helps, right?

"I should probably be in grippy socks right now and you're distracting me with your shoelaces?" Unserious again, you can manage that for now.

"Work with me here, Abbot. I'm assuming you don't want to talk about what happened back there?"

"You would be correct."

"We won't, then. Do you remember how to play cat's cradle?" He looks at you like you're insane.

"I, what? Fuck, yeah I remember how to play cat's cradle." He seems more confused yet struggling less to take in air by the second. Good, your strategy is working.

"Good, we're playing." It's not exactly an option. "And if you get it tangled you owe me new sneakers. These have been in the splash zone more than enough times."

You tie a knot loose enough to undo later and start the first pattern now sitting facing him extending your hands with the game towards him for his turn. He gently turns the pattern towards the inside, taking the string from your hands reversing it for you to change next and you try to make small talk in the meantime.

"I get why you're so possessive with your spot now. It's a great place to have a breakdown in the middle of the night."

"Don't I know it." He seems calmer now.

"It has nice view, too." You continue.

"The company isn't so bad either." He extends the game back to you again.

"Debatable." That earns you a bump of this shoulder on yours and a laugh, good.

"How long till someone comes find us?"

"Five minutes give or take, you're pretty popular in the ED, believe it or not."

The game continues for a few more rounds until you end up tangling it yourself out of his hands once the patterns get more and more complicated.

"We can share it for now." He looks at you seeming more like his usual self now, except for his pretty sad fucking honey green rainbow eyes.

"Okay."

You work on threading the shoelace back in place and getting up offering him your hand.

"You're forgetting one small detail."

"What?"

"We didn’t negotiate what I'd get if I won." Leave if to him to make this a competition.

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