After a long week of double shifts and then babysitting all night for other people in the apartment building, the last place you wanted to be was the emergency room. It was late, it was crowded, you were still in your stained uniform from work, smelling of wine and a spilled plate of gravy, and your two-year-old decided for the first time she couldn’t fall asleep on your lap. 

   It hadn’t been the plan to be here at all. After your average 3 hours of rest, you woke up with a painful headache. The lights of the bathroom had felt like knives stabbing your eyes, but you pushed past it. You dressed yourself in your uniform and did your hair and makeup and simply gulped down three Advils dry before tucking the bottle into your purse. In a rush you grabbed the prepacked diaper bag for Ali, your daughter, and dropped her off at your neighbors so you could get to work. 

   The headache didn’t go away as your day went on. The stupid fancy restaurant you waited tables at felt too loud, too hot,  and too crowded. You tried your best to keep up, but the insistent stabbing behind your eyes had a shake in your hands. A step just far enough behind that tips suffered. Didn’t get a lady her wine fast enough, an old man blamed you for the mess up on his stupid fancy appetizer, and your manager insisted you needed to be upselling a lot more than you were. Every so often, when the headache made your stomach turn and you had to take a moment to breathe, you'd throw back another few Advil to push the pain back to a dull throb you could work though. 

   By the time your double was over and you were cut, it wasn’t just a headache. You were nauseous, and light headed, but you finally decided to go to the hospital when you had picked Ali up and trying to get her ready for bed and your vision suddenly had black dots swimming around your vision and you were throwing up into the sink. 

   So you made the long track to the closest hospital. The bus ride felt longer than it was, Ali giggling and trying to slip from your lap to play while you kept a tight hold on her, while also desperately trying to keep your nausea down. 

   “I know, baby, I know,” you mumbled softly to your daughter. Somewhere around the one hour mark of sitting, Ali had decided this was no longer a fun game and was ready to go home and go to bed. You bounced her gently, shifting your hold on her regularly to try and keep her from disturbing the people around you. While you knew no one was enjoying themselves in the ER, you didn’t need to make it worse with a fussy toddler accidentally kicking them. You had already received harsh looks when Ali had cried loudly for a few moments. 

   You were in the process of trying to coax Ali into taking a drink from her sippy cup before you were called back. You mumbled a quiet ‘thank god’ and followed the nurse back to a little area.

  The man showed you a spot to sit as you once again changed your grip on Ali while he sat down in a rolling chair in front of you. 

   “Hello, I’m Dana and I’m gonna be looking over you today, you are the patient, right? Not this cutie,” The blond woman cooed softly to Ali who quickly hid her face in your chest. 

   “Just me, thank god,” you said quietly. You suddenly felt much more aware of how you were feeling. The lights were twice as bright, and you were just realizing how hot you felt. 

   The nurse, Dana, chuckled at your words as she brought a blood pressure cuff to your arm, careful to avoid getting it caught on Ali. “I get that, I've got a little girl myself and there is nothing worse than having to take care of a sick toddler. So, what brought you in today, hun?”

   You shifted a bit as the cuff tightened around your arm. “I woke up this morning with a headache; it hasn’t gone away, and I started to get dizzy and nauseous; I threw up right before deciding to come in.” You explained as Dana worked around you. 

   “Have you taken anything for it?”

   “I’ve been taking Advil every so often; it would dull the pain enough to keep working,” you explained. When Dana didn’t respond immediately, you glanced up at her to see her staring at your blood pressure. 

   “...I’m going to do a manual blood pressure test,” she informed you while getting the new cuff strapped on. You raised an eyebrow but didn’t question her yet. \

   “How much Advil are you taking at a time?” 

   “Three,” you stated immediately. “I think it technically says two, but I have always taken three-”

   “How often?” Her question was a bit firmer this time as she scribbled something down. 

   “Um… I’m not sure, every few hours, I guess?” you offered. 

   “Every few hours since this morning?”

   You nodded and watched as Dana stuck her head out to speak to someone before sitting next to you again. 

   “I’m going to draw some blood, and we are going to get you back to a room,” she began to explain. “It might get overwhelming for a bit, but we are going to start treatment for an overdose, which will include an IV and-”

   “Wait, wait, what are you- overdose? I didn’t- I didn’t take anything!” You quickly spoke, your hold tightening around Ali, who whined in her half-asleep position on your lap. Dana’s eyes softened at the clear panic on your face. Once the blood was taken, her hands rested over your own. 

   “y/n, no one is accusing you of anything. However, given how much Advil you said you've taken in the past 24 hours, it would explain some of your symptoms. The nausea, fever, and your blood pressure is very low, so we need to start fluids to try and get it through your system without causing more issues.” You could see something moving before the curtain was pulled back, and a gurney was in front of you. 

   “I- it's just a headache!” You quickly said, trying to push through the pounding in your head. “I- I’m really fine- please don’t take Ali!” You could feel the panic coursing through your veins. The word overdose plays over and over again in your head. What if they think you're on drugs? They take kids for that- were you going to take Ali because you were stupid enough to take too much fucking Advil?!

   “Y/n? Y/n, I need you to look at me.” Dana's voice pulled you out of your mind, making you realize how blurred your vision was. You blinked a few times, and when it finally cleared up, you found yourself looking up at the ceiling with Dana’s head over you. “Y/n, take a deep breath. I know you are overwhelmed, and this is a lot, but you still need to breathe. I have your daughter right here. No one is taking her from you, just keeping her safe while you rest.” 

   Dana’s words were helping you calm a bit, but you still felt like shit. Unfortunately, you didn’t have any option but to trust the nurse, as there was a slight pinch of the IV being put in, a flash of pain as something was pushed into your veins, and you were asleep. 

****************************

   Robby wasn’t sure about this whole night shift shit. Sure, he had done a rotation on night shift, and med school had included plenty of late nights, but he liked working the day shift. He knew the flow, knew what to expect to an extent, and that's where Adamson was. 

   Robby didn’t think he would ever be used to being in charge of the ED fully, used to Adamson being there to somewhat guide or check on Robby’s work, but that was why he had been moved to the night shift in the first place. Adamson had made it clear he wanted to mentor Robby to take over the job one day, but to do that, he apparently needed more experience being the boss, so he was quickly moved to be the main attending on the night shift instead of a glorified assistant on the day shift.

   If he thought he lived off of coffee before, now it was probably all that followed through his brain. He just wasn’t built for the night shift; he couldn’t get himself to sleep much during the day and struggled on days off. The only upside was that hospital management was never up his ass like they were to whoever was attending on shift that day. Also, the people weren't half bad; somehow, they seemed to hold less stress than the day shift. Dana was certainly becoming a breath of fresh air- and was walking towards him with a kid?

   “What-” Robby started to ask as he set his coffee down on the nurses' station.

   “Her mom is in North 7, came in complaining of a day-long headache, nausea, and dizziness. After a quick examination, the fever was elevated, and blood pressure was low. After explaining that she's been taking Advil like candy all day-”

   “You think an overdose,” Robby finished as he shifted his stance, rubbing his hands together and mentally trying to think of the next steps. There were the normal protocols for any sort of OD, but the fact that there was a child involved made things a bit more complex. 

   Robby shifts himself to look towards North 7. “You’re the one who did the exam?”

   Dana nodded before Robby continued. “Okay, so what are you thinking?”

   Dana hesitated a bit as she shifted the now sleeping two-year-old. “I think… she's an overworked mom who didn’t realize how much medicine she was taking.”

   “You don't think-”

   “No. She was genuinely shocked that she was being fully treated, panicked pretty badly, and was worried about her daughter.” 

   “Emergency contact?”

   “Nothing on file.”

   Robby ran a hand over his face with a deep breath. “Okay… did you send a blood test and-”

   “And started an IV, yes, I know how to do my job,” Dana rolled her eyes. 

   “Okay… I’ll check up once she's more with it. The residents have it until then,” he glanced at the little girl. “She needs to go to-” 

   “Yeah, yeah. Talk to Kiara and get the little one settled. I told you, I know my job, Robinavitch.”

   Robby raised his hands with mock surrender. “Never doubting you.” He started to walk past to check on things before turning to look at Dana. “And you shouldn’t be the one sitting with the kid all night, I need you running things.” 

   “God knows you won't run it,” Dana shot back, though there was a smile on each of their faces. 

*************************

   Waking up was rough. Your body hadn’t relaxed this much in sleep in years. Your nervous system wasn’t waiting for an early-morning alarm; you didn’t have Ali pressed to your side because she decided she didn’t want to sleep in her toddler bed again, you were able to just sleep.

   But of course it couldn’t last that long. 

   Within minutes of waking up you were given water from a younger nurse while they fiddled with your IV. Ali was brought back to your room with a coloring book and some crayons someone had gotten her, and within an hour the door opened and in stepped a tall man. 

   When you say tall you mean tall, at least six feet. He had a jacket over his scrubs, and as he rubbed some sanitizer into his hands as he sat down. On a chair next to your bed. “Hello, my name is Dr. Robinavitch, you can call me Dr Robby. I am the attending physician here tonight,” he introduced. 

   “Um… hi?” You weren't totally sure what you were supposed to say to him. “I… am I okay?”

   You were surprised to see the softening of his eyes at your quiet question. Not that his expression had been harsh or unkind, but it was like he was processing the slight worry in your voice. 

   “Right now we are administering liquids and electrolytes through the IV. You came in incredibly dehydrated, exhausted, and overdosing on Advil.” He spoke slowly, not necessarily judging, but making it clear it was a serious problem. 

   “I didn’t mean to.” The words came out quickly and Robby lifted an eyebrow at the comment. “The overdose!” you clarified quickly. “I’m not like… getting high or something, I just didn’t keep track of my intake all day. I didn’t wait long enough between doses like I thought I did!” your throat felt like it was going to swell up in your panic. 

   “Hold on, slow down. No one is accusing you of drug usage.” He let his words set in before speaking again. “Your tox screen didn’t show anything harmful, and Advil isn’t exactly big on the streets.” A small smile broke through your face at his joke, him smiling right back. Before speaking again. “We just want to check that everything is okay at home.”

   “I- what?” The smile left your face quickly at his question. “What does that mean?”

   “You were extremely dehydrated. You told our nurse you worked all day, you were exhausted, you brought your daughter with you and have no emergency contact. And most of the time when someone comes in with an overdose to an over the counter pain medication its for-”

   “I didn’t try to kill myself!” Your words were quick and harsh, almost offended that he would even suggest that you would do something like that.

   Robby took a small breath before speaking again. “I’m not saying you did. I’m simply stating what we typically see. What do you do for work, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

   You hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m a server,” you said quietly. Robby nodded as he busied himself with your IV, more so to get his eyes off of you to make you more comfortable while you talked. 

   “What does your schedule usually look like?”

   “It’s shift based, so it changes. I usually work doubles too.” You fiddled with the IV in your hand while glancing over at Ali to make sure she was still okay. For being two she was honestly behaving very well, which you were grateful for. When she was in a bad mood, everyone knew about it.

   You were pulled back to your conversation when a large hand settled over your own, causing your eyes to snap up. Robby’s hand was warm over your own as he removed it from your IV. 

   “Leave it be,” he said quietly. “It’s already going to be sore, but it will be a lot worse if you accidentally pull it out.”

   Your eyes were on his own as he spoke for only a second before you were looking back down at your lap. “Am I in trouble?”

   “Why would you be in trouble?” He asked carefully. 

   You shrugged a bit. “It… it feels like I’m about to be scolded,” you admitted softly. “Like I did something wrong and now I’m here and now someone is about to yank Ali away from me-”

   “No one is pushing for you to lose your daughter,” Robby clarified. “We are mandatory reporters; if we thought she wasn’t safe, she would not be in here with you right now. This conversation is about your treatment and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

   “I’ll keep track of my Advil better.” Your simple words had a soft smile on his face, but he shook his head. 

   “That is not the only problem here. Do you have a support system? What do you do on days off? Are you taking care of yourself?” His questions caught you off guard a bit, and he realized that quickly. “We just want to make sure you’re resting. Are there any other adults helping you with Ali?”

   You were immediately shaking your head. “We have some neighbors who watch when I work, but it's just us. And we’re fine.”

   Robby nodded. “And your days off?”

   “Is this really necessary?” you asked, a bit annoyed with him. 

   “I suppose not,” Robby nodded. “But you still have to stay for a few more hours to be observed, and I think just a conversation with our social worker could be beneficial to make sure you don’t end up here again.” He stood up from where he was. “I’ll let you rest. Some of the interns may come in to check vitals, and I’ll be through to check every so often.”

***********************

   The rest of the night was long and boring. Ali moved to sit on the bed between your legs, finally sleeping for a few hours. People came in and out, checked your vitals before leaving you alone again. You slept some, but not a lot. The social worker even came in for a bit to talk. It was short; you clearly were not being very open to any ‘help’ she was offering, but she was still kind. Listened to the bits you shared and didn’t pry for more. She ended up leaving you with a few pamphlets, but that was it. 

   The person who came through the most was Dr. Robby. 

   He would come in and check your vitals even though someone else had just done it. He brought an extra blanket to Ali, brought a kids' book he had ‘found’ from some other time a kid had been there, brought a few snacks for both of you, and finally, came with your discharge papers. 

   “Okay,” he began as he sat down. “You are responding well to the treatment, so you are free to go, but there are a few stipulations.” He flashed a small smile, making you smile back. 

   “And what would those be?”

   “You need to rest for a few days, but I can already tell you will be going back to work too early,” damn, he read you well, “so I’m suggesting only two days off before going back. But you have to come back in a week to get another IV just in case. You can come in whenever you like. I’ll leave a note, so if you come when I’m not working, they’ll still know what you need.” You let the silence sit for a moment to make sure he wasn’t going to say anything else. 

   “Is that it?”

   “That's it,” he nodded. “But do me a favor,”

   “What?” you asked with a slightly bigger smile. 

   “Buy yourself a water bottle, a nice big one. I don’t want to see you again because you aren’t drinking water.”

   You scoffed a bit at his words. “Are you going to buy me one? I’ll stick to the free cups I get at work.” You meant it in a playful tone, and while he did smile, you could see it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Before you could even get your mouth open to apologize, he grabbed the now signed papers. 

   “A nurse will grab your things, and you guys can be on your way. Have a good day,” he bent a bit to look at Ali. “And you take care of mommy, yeah?”

   The still tired girl nodded as best she could. “Take care.. Mama..” She yawned before promptly going back to sleep on your leg. 

   After that, Robby left quickly, and you were able to get dressed to leave. Just as you got the diaper bag and lifted Ali, the door slid open, and in stepped Dana.

   “All ready to go in here?” She asked with a soft smile. You nidded as you shifted Ali to your hip. 

   “Yes, thank you for everything last night, I really appreciate it.”

   “No need to thank us, it's our job,” Dana said. “Though it is nice to hear,” She winked at Ali, making her giggle. “Here's the last of the papers, and a sucker,” she handed the sucker to you, but Ali quickly plucked it away from you to start trying to pull the wrapper off. “And a little parting present for mom,” Dana handed over a silver water bottle. 

   You frowned down at it before glancing at her. “The ER gives out water bottles?”

   “Not normally,” she confirmed. “But I was given strict orders.” You flipped the bottle in your hand, finding the hospital's logo on the front of it. You didn’t say anything for a long moment, debating handing it right back, but you had denied so much help already, and it was just a water bottle, so…

   “Okay. Thank you.” 

******************************

   Robby was knee deep in charting when a voice pulled him out of it. 

   “You look like shit.”

   Robby let out a breath before turning around fully to look at Jack. “What, no good morning? No ‘how was your shift?’ nothing?”

   “Please, you're fine. I mean, you actually had time to answer texts last night.” Jack leaned against the nurses' station next to Robby, shifting his weight back and forth on his legs. 

   “Why are you even here this early? Still have an hour left till handoff,” Robby turned back to the computer. Jack didn’t respond as he leaned over Robby’s shoulder to look at the screen.

   “This is confidential information,” Robby recalled, though Jack just grunted. Quiet settled over them as Robby kept typing.

   “They don’t tell you about all the paperwork you have to do as an attending,” Robby finally gets a chuckle out of Jack as he steps back for Robby to stand. 

   “They absolutely do, it's like lesson number one.”

   “Laugh now,” Robby points his finger at Jack. “But in like two months you’ll be doing all that shit too, Dr. Abbot.”

   Jack just shook his head. “Na, brother. You’ll be doing a hell of a lot more once you take over for Adamson. Then I can laugh at you again.” He smacked Robby's shoulder a bit, but his hand stayed resting there, fingers curling a bit but not digging in. 

   “Your favorite patient is heading out.” Dana’s voice cuts through as she walks over to the two. Robby’s eyes immediately float over to where you had been, finding you walking to the exit with Ali in one arm, and the bag and water bottle in the other. He heard Jack say something but he wasn’t 100% sure what it was because you chose that moment to glance up, your eyes meeting for a moment. You held up the water bottle, mouthed a thank you, and were gone. 

   “Should I be jealous?” Jack's words finally brought Robby back. For a moment he frowned before finding Jack and Dana’s clearly amused faces. 

   “Haha, real funny.”

   “Im just saying, Dana said you were all over the pretty mom who came in-”

   “I was not all over her!” Robby quickly defended. “I checked on her.”

   “And you gave her a gift,” Jack continued like Robby hadn’t even spoken. “And then made like… serious eye contact across the ED. It’s only been three months, Robinavitch, are you already drifting away?”

   “Shut up,” Robby rolled his eyes. 

   “I don’t see a ring!” he called out teasingly.