#pittcaptain

The change was palpable, maybe not to anyone else but she'd watched it. In the seven months since Pittfest, since the rumored breakdown in pedes things had changed. Even more so since he'd purchased the motorcycle a few months ago.

Sometimes she felt a little crazy, like she was the only one that noticed. There were signs again today, he was more.. erratic was maybe was not the right word. The moments replayed in her head like watching a football play back even though technically she was starring at a chart for the patient she'd been with just before. The way he'd looked when she had said something about having no ties and his face had done this weird thing... something like regret or anguish maybe?

location. ED | circa. 2017 | asked by @pittcaptain

New hobby. Kind of. One could argue that he was just coming home. He had finished his clearance to be a swat physician recently and had been called on a mission that had gone a bit sour. A drug den that needed raiding, guys inside started shooting in sprays. 3 officers downed : 2 stabilized, 1 dead on scene.

Jack had managed to intubate one of them while under fire. Old instincts had taken over as he had been working, using his own body to cover the fallen cop. He had hoped into the ambulance and accompanied his patients to the hospital where he gave the run down of injury and status. On the guy he had bagged and was ventilated, he stopped at the trauma bay.

Only then did he notice that he was bleeding from his arms. Bullet had passed through, where exactly was to be determined, shoulder, arm, clavicle. It did not phase him as much as Robby. In fact he scoffed at it. "Ah I did not even notice...damn..." he let someone take over while he was walking to join Robby. "But I did not die. " he pointed out.

He looked up at his friend and frowned. He realized at that moment that they didn't not see this the same way. "I'm fine. Pretty sure it went through..." he moved his shoulder a bit. "Or not." he grimaced. "Look, I was just doing my job, I wasn't planning on dying, you wouldn't let that happen anyway, pretty sure you'd have a screaming match with the Reaper itself."

Jack paused, clearly Robby was not finding that situation funny, nor was he in the same mood as Jack, who seemed to just have gone to the fair. He look at the patient, they had him settled. He was not needed here. "You can take care of it yourself, I'll follow you, just keep it off the books man, I don't want the paper work with police...we can just pretend if it's still in there, that this guy had it huh ?"

It'd been a little too easy to fall back into a rhythm in Pittsburgh. After Robby left, she'd helped Baran weather the inevitable shake-up of the department with as much grace as she possibly could. All the while, slowly shifting from maintaining to comfortably living at Robby's place. At first, she'd been a little hesitant to accept his offer of staying in his home while he was on sabbatical. It'd seemed like a surefire way to blur the lines between business and pleasure friendliness, but the deep shadows that darkened Robby's eyes and the way worry and fear had etched their way into his features, there was no way she could possibly say no.

Not when he was going on a trip he wasn't entirely certain he wanted to come back from. Whether that meant back to the Pitt or back at all, she figured she could hopefully play some sort of incentive to get him at least back to his home. Fuck the hospital, if he was done with that, it was well deserved, but she just wanted him to come back safe. So, she sent him pictures of the plants she'd tended, asked questions about the books on his bookshelves, and shared anecdotes about his neighbors while he was on the road. Little pieces of life that had nothing to do with the hospital that had clearly taken too much from him.

She'd just shut off the vacuum when the sound of keys working the door open mingled through the music and sent a ripple of excitement through her. She's quick to turn the music down, jogging towards the opening door with a grin on her lips. "Welcome home!" She beamed, throwing her arms around his waist. "I'm so glad you're back!"

There were few things in life that Weylen truly didn't find enjoyable. People were often a middle ground however, today not so much. There's no telling how or when exactly the banana peel had ended up in the middle of the hallway between the trauma bays and the elevators. But it's victim was sudden.

He'd had his eyes on the tablet that had been handed to him by one of the newer residents as they argued. That was another issue entirely, which he'd deal with after. Right now he was sprawled out on the floor with a groan, he the banana peels victim.

Sometimes after a shift in the ED or in surgeries all night the night shift did what the night shift does best. They had fun.

Today it was rollie chair jousting, you could blame Brooklynn 99 for the idea what they hadn't expected was him to hear them as he was going to the roof. He had spectacular timing just enough to see the Willow's run against one of the Night Shift Nurses and she squeaked as she fell back off the chair and was flat on her back laughing and looked up. There's no look of worry on if she's in trouble, because even if she is at least it was fun.

The last thing she wanted to do was blow up both of their careers because she was selfish.

But she was back, and the feeling of being the new kid in school crawled through her. She hadn't kept up with anyone from the Pitt. It was shitty, and she'd hated dodging the phone calls and text messages, but it was too messy to explain why she left, and there were too many holes in her story that would've been too easy to figure out. Jessica figured a little pinch of discomfort was worth the anonymity. Even if the pinch was more like a constant knot in her stomach.

When Baran called, though, she couldn't really say no to coming to assist. It wasn't Baran's fault that she didn't mention Robby. Didn't share that he was the chief attending she was going to cover for who was going on sabbatical. It wasn't like Jessica had ever mentioned him to her; it just made sense that her friend would call on her when she began putting her plan together to whip the Pitt into shape. She'd worked there for a time; she and Baran worked well together, so why not?

The blood draining from Jessica's face when she heard Dr. Michael Robinavitch's voice fill the ER seemed to be a telltale sign, but one the redhead wasn't going to get into. Not when the day seemed destined to be a shit show, universe deciding to bring back the past notwithstanding. Instead, the day is spent navigating patients and a cyberattack and a seemingly toxic-adjacent workplace environment that leaves Jessica on edge. Back when she was a med student, she'd never considered Robby the type to take on chief attending. It was too much pressure that she couldn't have ever anticipated him agreeing to.

She supposed that's why he was going on sabbatical. Between the pressure and the way the air around him turned to static when he walked by, it was obvious there was something wrong, and it yanked at Jessica's heart. Which was why, once the charts were settled and the night shift was up in full swing, she'd perched herself against Robby's bike in the ambulance bay. She wanted to talk to him, to see him before he went off on whatever trip he'd planned for his sabbatical. Idly, she scrolled through her phone, catching up on missed notifications as she waited for the attending to decide he could finally take his leave. The sound of the doors opening called her attention up from the screen, and a soft smile pulled at her features. "Hey, Robby. It's been a minute."

@pittcaptain said : send  ‘rest’ for my muse to help your muse relax after a long day.

It's funny. She's never really had someone to come home to, at least not after she left Pittsburgh the first time. The relationships she'd had were of the "We'll catch up later" type, and really, she was okay with that for the most part. With the travelling she was doing with MSF, it was hard to try and keep something concrete going. Understanding the transitory nature of the connections made just made things easier in the long run.

Then, Robby'd left. His turn to take on the world, even if it wasn't for as long as she'd been gone. His apartment had become a quiet place to rest, even if there was an ever-lingering string of worry plucked tight in her chest when the key he'd given her slid into the door; that bad news would make this place a shrine to the man she'd loved and lost.

But she didn't.

Instead, he'd come back to her in one piece. Instead, he was waiting for her when she was done with the handover and the short walk that it took to come home. A feeling that put a little bit of a hop in her step, even after her twelve hours turned into fifteen thanks to a last-minute trauma that'd required all hands on deck.

She's grimey and disheveled as she comes into the house, her smile tired and relieved when he rounds the corner to greet her. His smile is easier these days, even if his brows furrow as he takes her in. I must really look like shit. The thought makes her chuckle against his lips because even if she looked as rough as she felt, clearly she's been missed all the same.

A soft greeting is exchanged as she's gently guided through the hall towards their bedroom. It's an old routine they've found themselves reviving. Before, when they'd worked side-by-side, they'd come back to his place and shed the pieces of their day together and stand beneath the showerhead for god only knows how long, just letting the sensation of the water rinse away everything they'd experienced.

Now, his healer's hands gently coax her arms up or brace her as her scrubs are abandoned, delicately undo the fraying braids and massage through the waves, sending chills across her skin. The bathroom's filled with steam by the time they step under the water, moving like a pair of magnets, that thread shared between them gently tugging one to follow when the other moved even just a few steps away.

The water does wonders for her tired muscles, but the gentle way Michael's fingers drew across her skin, through her hair, the familiar lullaby of his heartbeat beneath her head as she rested against his chest, settles her in ways she couldn't even really begin to describe. In all the chaos of her life, all the terrible and all the good, she's never had this. The safety that came with quiet understanding and unspoken concern.

Robby - Main

Send “✉” for a text that WASN’T SENT. [sms:boss man] Robby, you're scaring me. We talked at shift change, and you had this look...Sometimes I see the same thing in the mirror. Can we please meet up?

[unsent]

[sms:bossman] Hey drinks on your off day?

Send “☎” for a RUSHED text. [sms:boss man] the pittrats are acting out again! scurrying around instead of shadowing like they're supposed to.

Send “#” for a RANDOM text. [sms:boss man] hey, do you do blind dates?

Send “$” for an ACCIDENTAL text. [sms:boss man] Pops, I've got a sticky note you're going to want to see!

Send “♀” for a HEARTBREAKING text. [sms:boss man] Hey boss man, can you hep me switch my days for a couple of shifts? My brother broke into my apartment. Weylen took care of him, but I just need a few days off...i'm so sorry I'm just real shaken up.