#pittbroke

Your brother had a bad shift. You should go see him.

Emery hadn't needed to know any other details. She had gotten dressed and given her wife a kiss. She grabbed leftovers from their cookout shoving them in a bag. Get him something to eat. Lend an ear if he wants to vent. Drive him home if he's too tired. That was the game plan. Hopefully in and out before someone suggested she stay to help.

After getting there it had taken some looking around to find him. She'd found her older brother in Pedes with the lights dimmed soothing a baby. She shuts the door behind herself to keep the room quiet. "Don't get too attached or you'll take the kid home." She jokes quietly as she makes her way over.

[ michael ]: You've got awful timing, Michael.

[ michael ]: Let me get my leg back on, and I'll be right there.

[ SMS ; ROBBY. ]: i’d be offended if you chose anyone else to call

[ SMS ; ROBBY. ]: you know i’ll always pick up, even if i’m runnin around

PROMPTS FOR WORKAHOLIC CHARACTERS WHO PUSH THEMSELVES TOO HARD / @pittbroke

she assumes he means it LITERALLY, considering she almost took a spill. there's a part of her that considers the man may also mean it figuratively. as in — maybe you need create healthy boundaries with work because you're heading towards a fiery burnout ! — or . . . maybe he actually does mean it in a literal sense. at least that's what andrea hoped for. her family already thought she worked too much. the last thing she needed was to hear it at work too.

" oh, " capitulates from the slack of her lips, teeth scraping sharp against her arcing throat & curling something hot & urgent down to the shift of her feet in the sheets. cassie's nails scrabble & then catch purchase in the coarse, short strands as the sandpaper scratch of stubble roams over the sensitive flicker of her pulse point. one heel plants against the mattress, the other crooks his calf as they shift together, rolling & rocking.

" ---- oh, " dawns somewhere between the fluttering bat of her lashes & the traipsing path robby's nose makes under her jawline. " ---- hey! "

a bright admonishment of laughter has her with both palms angling into his broad-winged shoulders & wedging him away. it does little more than to separate them far enough that when robby's hips push back in that it hits harder, stutters the protest off her tongue.

" you can call it that. " cassie's hands are busy rethreading the auburn strands from the nape of her neck into a loose braid. they're alone in near the lockers. she's still half in street attire, black scrubs swallowed by a utility jacket & bag slouched onto the bench next to her knee. her mouth pulls in lieu of a shrug, barely flinching before she's back to business.

coat looped into the hook in her cubby, name badge clamped to the front scrub pocket.

she looks at up at him, a swift appraisal. " i wasn't planning on making it weird, if that's what you're worried about. " she bends to tie a loose knot at her laces, doubling up on it.

doctor mckay lands like a shallow, glancing blow. deflection is a fine sport for some & she's practiced at playing at it just as well as he is. she meets that parry head on. mild smile complacent across her features, defiantly holding the barrier between professionalism & whatever it is that defines their relationship, she looks at him straight in the eyes.

" well, that was a transparent dodge. "

cassie lets the comment steep. she tucks an arm over the other, crossing them over her chest. the appraising glance set upon him is one that speaks for itself.

mckay doesn't have to call bullshit to call bullshit.

" i'm gonna let you hide behind your paperwork, but yeah. MDM documented on all of my cases awaiting your attestation. " she tips her chin up at the track board, where her patients are shaded either ready for discharge or ready for admit, boarding while they wait for beds upstairs.

fatigue deepens the trenches of worry lines catching the corners of her mouth, shades the hollows under her eyes a smudge darker. it's the part of the shift where staring into the gleaming screen with a cursor blinking steadily in wait of a note starts to fuzz at the edges.

hand poised on the mouse, index finger stalled, mckay twists to meet his gaze. the twitch of a smile ghosts her lips. " i know. "