#melissaking

Day 2 of The Pitt.

Melissa King walks through the sliding doors of the emergency department, humming along to her hype playlist with her backpack in tow. She passes by Dana, Princess, and Perlah - having their pre-shift debrief. The three women cordially smile at Melissa and she responds with a small smile.

“Morning, Dr. King!” Matteo chirps, waving goodbye as his shift finally ends. Due to staff shortage, Gloria Underwood has asked some of the nurses to extend shifts - even after yesterday’s rollercoaster. Melissa waves goodbye then turns left to the locker room.

She sets her backpack inside her still bare locker. She turns her head around to check if she’s alone. She is. ”I’m a savage, classy, bougie, ratchet, sassy, moody, nasty,” she recites her daily affirmation. She deeply exhales and closes her locker. On her way out, she sees Frank Langdon’s locker slightly open. She takes a pause and decides to fully close the locker door - an act of niceness for her mentor.

Melissa King is on the floor of the ED along with the other doctors. She sees Whitaker murmuring some things under his breath. She notices Santos scratching her arm. She sees Jaavadi turning her head around, 360-degrees if she can, as if searching for something… probably Dr. Mohan. Dr. Robby and Dr. Collins are walking towards them - the latter carrying a chart and scribbling notes with her pen.

“Good morning. Welcome to The Pitt.” Dr. Robby opens the morning shift. He commends everyone for yesterday’s handling of events and reiterates that being in the ED means not knowing what is to come. He tells everyone to be prepared. The morning pep talk concludes with Dana leading the charge.

“28 year-old patient, female, been vomiting for hours with burning fever.” Mohan strings Whitaker along and they grab the chart of the patient.

Melissa looks around to check for Dr. Langdon. She does not see him. She realizes she has not seen him since a leg of yesterday’s shift. She wonders if he has called in sick. “The flu is all around these days,” she thinks to herself.

“King!” Her thoughts halt when she hears Dr. Robby call her name. She walks towards him. “Aside from your own cases, you’ll shadow me today.” Why? Dr. Robby is an attending. Why should Mel shadow him instead of Dr. Langdon? Also, where is Dr. Langdon?

“Do you have any questions, King?” Dr. Robby asks. “Where is Dr. Langdon?” Melissa finally says. “He’s currently on leave.” Dr. Robby says curtly. The attending does not expound and Melissa does not further probe. She wants to know why Dr. Langdon is on leave but the ED is now swarming with patients. Maybe she could ask later.

----

Melissa is in the breakroom. She stands idly, waiting for Princess to get her pick of the salad bowls on the dining table. It takes the nurse a few moments to finally settle between one with the quinoa and one with the rainbow pasta. Princess goes with the latter. Melissa takes whatever bowl she sees first and pulls a chair. She has around ten minutes to sneak in a meal.

Melissa enjoy the meal by herself when she hears Langdon’s name mentioned by Perlah.

“Alam niya bang pinaalis si Dr. Langdon kahapon?” (Does she know that Dr. Langdon was asked to leave yesterday?) Perlah says before taking in a bite of her lunch.

“Parang hindi pa. Wala pa yatang nagsasabi.” (Seems unlikely. No one has told her yet.) Princess replies.

Princess and Perlah are conversing in Tagalog again so Melissa cannot really understand what is it about. But she is curious because the two nurses would glance at her from time to time.

“Pero deserve niya naman ‘yun. Isipin mo, nagnakaw daw ng drugs.” (But he deserves it. He stole drugs.) Perlah comments and Princess nods in agreement.

Drugs? Langdon? Is this still the same conversation? Melissa puts down her fork and opens her mouth. Nothing comes out. She is not one to participate in idle gossip.

“What do you mean Dr. Langdon and drugs?” She blurts out and the two nurses are surprised. They tell her what happened - that Santos told Robby of her suspicions and that drugs were discovered with Langdon and that Robby asked Langdon to leave.

It takes Melissa some time to absorb what she just learned. Dr. Langdon, as brief as they interacted yesterday, just did not seem like the type. He was nice to her. He told her he learned from her. He commended her sensitivity and valued it. But he did sweat a lot. But that is still not the point. Addiction is not a straightforward thing. She does not condone it but at the same time, she knows that there are reasons behind it. She needs to know the reasons - but not now.

Mel pulls through her second shift with Langdon in the back of her head. She will get her answers, hopefully sooner than later.

----

Rumors in The Pitt say that Dr. Frank Langdon is now in rehab. The doctor entered rehab a week after the incident and has now been in the program for around three weeks. Mel knows of this. Rehab is different from a care facility like one that Becca is in but Mel knows that it might get lonely. After learning from Dana the rehab center where Frank is at, she decides to visit him on her day off.

To see him again. To ask how he’s been. To probably get answers. But really, to be near him.

It has been more than a month of her being in The Pitt and to her, the most memorable day was still her first, the one where she worked beside Dr. Frank Langdon.

----

Frank heads to the lounge when the aid tells him about his visitor. It’s Thursday. He thinks to himself. Usually, Abby visits on Mondays and with the kids on Saturdays.

It hasn’t been a smooth ride with Abby the past months and getting the dog did not really help. Now, he is in rehab, being treated for his addiction, and Abby is trying her best to keep the family together. For the kids. For what once was. But Frank knows that the marriage is over once he gets out of rehab. It just wasn’t that best of a fit. He is still grateful that she is still there to support him to some extent.

Frank sees a familiar image when he gets to the lounge. He sees neatly braided hair on a slim woman. He is kind of surprised. Dr. Melissa King? Why would his one-day trainee visit him?

Frank stands behind Mel and clears his throat. She squeaks. “Oh, god. Dr. King, I’m sorry.” He apologizes. Mel holds her hand up, gesturing it’s alright. He leads them to sit down on one of the tables. They sit across each other.

“Dr. King, what brings you here?” Frank asks. He is indeed curious. No one from The Pitt has visited him the past month. He knows how it will be once he gets back to working - agreeing to Dr. Robby’s terms for his reinstatement. He will come in the floor with darting stares all over him and he would have to swallow his snarkiness and he will not have his charm to fall back on. That will be some of the consequences of his addiction. But that will be dealt with two months from now. He tries to stay in the present so here he is, again, across Mel.

“I… uh… I…” Melissa stutters. How can she say that she wants to see him, to ask how he’s been, and to get answers (probably)? She starts drumming her fingers on the table. She averts his gaze and looks down. She takes a breath. “I wanted to see how you were.”

Frank smiles. Frank gives her a genuine smile, albeit half-lipped. His blue eyes are on her and Melissa feels his gaze on her a tad bit deeper. “Thank you for visiting me.”

True to who they are, Frank opens the conversation. He tells her of the situation. He is in rehab, has been there for almost a month and will continue to be there two months from now. After that, he would need to pee in a cup. He tells her about Dr. Robby’s demands and that he has agreed to them because being a doctor is all he is and that despite the shit he did, he does want to save lives.

Melissa takes it all in, nodding her head along the way. It’s just nice to see Dr. Langdon again. She knows that she has taken a liking to him and she sees how he is determined to overcome this. She doesn’t want to pry but she does want to know the reason why.

“Why?” Melissa asks. “Only if you’re comfortable. Only if it’s alright. I don’t want to pry.”

“My least problematic trainee and her sensitivity.” Frank lets out a wider but gentler smile. Melissa feels another soft gaze land upon her, this time she tries her best to hold it for longer.

“I don’t want to make any excuses. I made this mistake and it cost me a lot. It has cost me my job, my relationships…” Frank heaves, “The pandemic was so hard to deal with. And this was my demon.”

“I understand,” Melissa softly replies. She does understand. She was in her internship during the pandemic and was in the frontlines when it came to treating patients, dealing with loved ones, and making sure those who couldn’t make it would not be alone when they leave. She understands how it must have felt for someone like Frank to deal with all those. She understands that people deal with grief and trauma differently.

“But I’m trying to get better. I will be better.” Frank says. “I have to. I don’t want to lose my family… I mean what’s left of it. I don’t want to lose my license and my job… what’s left of that too. I have hurt so much people and at the same time, I was also hurting myself.”

Melissa didn’t think much and just grabbed his hand on the table. She held both of them in hers and repeated how she understood.

“I know I asked this but I just want to know. Why did you visit me?” Frank asks.

Melissa leans back and removes her hands on his. She still feels the ghost of his skin under her palms. She fidgets in her seats and puts both of her hands, neatly on her lap.

“I know that places like these could make people feel lonely. There is a sense of banishment that one feels. And it might help you… even just a little bit… to feel less lonely.”

It hits Frank - what Mel has said. To feel less lonely. Here he is, being comforted by his colleague, his trainee, a woman so sensitive and pure that she has thought of him. He agrees with Mel. It is indeed lonely. There is a sense of banishment. That’s the thing with addiction: the addict feels everything once the crutches are removed. Instead of being able to stand alone, he ends up sprawled on the floor unable to do so. Only there is no one around him to help and it feels like he is covered in shit and shame.

Mel says goodbye. She has to pick up Becca. They stand up and Frank walks her to the reception. Frank holds his right hand up and his left hand points to it. Mel doesn’t get the reference.

“High-five?” Frank hints and Mel slightly jumps to give him one.

“I’ll see you next week, Dr. Langdon!” Mel chirps.

Mel disappears past through the doors. Frank still feels the warmth left by her hands and her palm. Mel is right. Her visiting… makes him feel less lonely.

----

It is Thursday again. Mel’s goodbye words of “see you next week” keeps on echoing in Frank’s brain. He knows that it is only half-true for her to visit him. After all, she also has responsibilities outside The Pitt. He doesn’t have high hopes but it would be very lovely if she does visit him again.