The Last Day!
Day 7 - Free Day! - you can read below the cut or on AO3.
Just a short little ficlet today unfortunately
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Tags: fluff, brief mention of injury
Cassie shoulders open the door and yanks back the privacy curtain, grimacing at the sight in front of her.
“Jesus christ.” Cassie mumbles, mostly to herself, hurrying around to Baran’s bedside, hands fluttering around the now glued shut welt above her eyebrow.
She settles for gently turning Baran’s head from side to side to get a look at the damage, lip caught between her teeth as she looks.
“Did you hit your head? Perlah said you went down pretty hard.” And then her fingers moving softly into the curls on Baran’s head, already down from its clip whilst she was being examined before Cassie got here.
“I’m okay, Cass,” Baran tells her, even as she lets Cassie slowly move her head this way and that. “I’ve been checked over, Samira just wants me sat in here for a little while longer to be sure.”
“You should go home,” Cassie says, and when Baran opens her mouth adds, “I know you won’t. But you should.“
And Baran attempts to roll her eyes in fond exasperation, winces when it irritates the swelling sat above the left one.
Cassie who has finally finished her own examination, has taken one of Baran’s hands in both of her own, idly playing with Baran’s fingers as she watched her with attentive eyes.
“It was an accident, these things happen.” Baran assures her, and it was an accident. They had been assessing a patient who was in and out of consciousness and someone had pressed on what was apparently a very tender spot on his abdomen. That had been enough to jar him to thrash, an elbow flying out and catching Baran right above her eye.
Cassie knows this, having been given the rundown by Perlah when she was finally told that her girlfriend was currently sat in North 3 having taken a hell of a blow to the face.
“No seizures since it happened right?” Cassie asks, using her foot to snag a stool and wheel it over so she can sit by Baran’s bed.
“No, I’m fine, just a bit sore where he caught me, nothing a couple of ibuprofen can’t solve.” Baran smiles, ignoring the way it makes her face ache a little. “You’re very sweet to worry.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cassie laughs now, “Dana’s never going to let me live it down with the way I ran in here.”
And not for the first time in their relationship, Baran’s heart warms because Cassie cares for her so freely, loves her loudly without being overbearing.
She just gets Baran in a way that she’s not sure she’s experienced before. Knows how to manage her anxieties before Baran’s even realised they’re there a lot of the time, is always on the look out to take little bits of stress away from Baran’s day to day responsibilities when she can. Cassie seems to genuinely find unending joy in just existing around her, even if that’s just the pair of them sleepily watching some TV post-shift until one of the inevitably dozes off and has to be coaxed to bed by the other.
And Baran knows trying to convince Cassie she doesn’t need taking care of tonight won’t work. Cassie’s default state seems to be a drive to take care of Baran. She’ll inevitably drive them home and open Baran’s car door for her. She’ll insist on running Baran a bath, and they’ll probably end up eating the leftovers from Baran’s cooking yesterday. She’ll kiss Baran softly and squeeze her waist in that little possessive way that always makes the attending’s stomach flip.
She wasn’t sure a love like this would truly exist for her. Sure she had loved her ex, but not like this, not this all consuming thing, and never so certain in it all.
Cassie presses her lips to the back of Baran’s hand.
“You tell me or someone if you feel worse.” She tells Baran seriously, squeezes Baran’s hand, and then lighter, “Try to stay out of trouble until the end of the day, yeah?”
“Well I never go looking for trouble in the first place.” Baran offers as Cassie stands up, eyes the glue holding her skin closed once more with an appraising eye.
“Careful baby, you sound an awful lot like Santos.” Cassie teases, “I gotta get back to work,” and then whiplash from teasing to impossibly tender, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Cass, I’ll be back out there in no time, don’t worry too much.”
And Cassie winks at her in response and Baran knows she’ll worry anyway. Because she would to if roles were reverse as she watches Cassie tug the curtain back round to cut her off from the hustle of the ED beyond.
