Work Text:
Melissa King returned to Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center's ER for her first rotation on 3 year. She feels the nerves but also the excitement. She knows more now and is hopeful to demonstrate all she has learned and be more confident. She is also hoping that Dr. Langdon is still working in the ER. So with no further ado she leaves her things in the break room and walks out into the hustle and bustle of the busy ER.
Dana quickly assigns her to run triage, so it's not until noon when she is pulled back for board rounds that Dr. Frank Langdon sees her. He smiles back softly when she looks around the group nervously.
Dr. Langdon immediately gets pulled to a trauma - a daycare bus was involved in an MVA. He calls for her to join him. She immediately jumps into chest compressions, but he replaces her with a nurse in order to have her place the IO. They work the code for an hour but it ends with a death and not a save.
For the rest of the shift, she feels more on edge. She is having to fake connection with patients and is demonstrating more of her nervous tics. He keeps her presenting her patients to him all day so no one else notices her off her game.
At the end of the shift, she manages to sneak away into the stairwell to decompress for a moment. But he finds her within a couple of minutes. His memory conjured up her in the breakroom with a dog after a code on her last rotation. He sits on the step next to her and breaks the silence with, “Today has been a very difficult shift. I'm going to go out for a drink to decompress, and you should come with me.”
She's startled by the invite. We're not friends. She wrings her hands and clears her throat.
He decides that he's pushed too hard for social connection and doesn't want her to outright reject the offer. “Look, just think about it. I've got to go wrap up some hand offs.” He stands and bounds away full of his usual energy.
She stares at the lava lamp on her phone screen a little longer before noticing it is time to call her sister. Normally her sister lives with her and attends a day program for adults with high support autism but this month her shifts are too erratic so she's in a facility for respite care. They tell each other it's been a good day. Her sister asks if she has found someone to kiss yet; she chuckles and says not yet.
When she gets to the locker room, Frank is dressed down into jeans and a dark henley leaning against a bank of lockers. He doesn't speak but looks at her with a soft question in his eyes. There is no one else in the room to hear her say, “I think going out for a bit would be good.” She grabs her clothing from the locker and scurries off to the bathroom to change.
Leaving the hospital she's on edge and nervous, afraid someone will see them and get the wrong idea. He strolls beside her with hands stuffed in jean pockets. Outside the doors, when she starts to relax some, he speaks to her unspoken fear, “ You know, this isn't breaking any rules. You aren't ‘my student’.” She blushes and nods.
“So where do you live?” he asks. She looks up at him somewhat startled. He clarifies, “I don't want to pick a place for drinks that's across town from where you'll need to be.”
She nods, “Lawrenceville.”
“Do you need to get your car?” he queries as they stroll into the parking garage.
She blushes. “I use the trains and busses to get here.”
He smiles disarmingly. “Mind if I drive us tonight?”
“That sounds good.”
“I think Church Brew Works would be a decent spot for drinks and dinner if you're hungry. Have you been there?” He starts the car and pulls out of the parking garage.
She shakes her head. “I don't really get out much. My sister doesn't love being around crowds of people.” Gosh I sound so lame.
He nods understandingly. “It must be a challenge taking care of her. She's lucky to have a sibling that cares so much.”
She smiles softly and looks down. “Well I wouldn't know how to be any different. We are twins, so we've been together literally our whole lives.”
He thinks about how different her childhood must have been with her sister’s high support needs. He finds it amazing that she has been able to do as much as she has. “What was that like for you growing up?” he blurts.
She smiles wistfully. “It was great. We always had each other. We played together. Mom and dad spent a lot of time with us making sure we had diverse experiences and lots of one on one and family time. We had some similar interests. She is really smart and gets hyper focused on things, so she taught me a lot.” She realizes she is rambling and they've arrived at the bar, which happens to be in an old church building.
He opens the door and leads her inside. “It might be a bit irreverent but I think it is an awesome way to preserve the architecture,” he gestures to the original stained glass window.
She nods, looking around at the long tables where pews used to be.
They grab menus while standing in line a take a few minutes to decide what to have. She stares at the beer menu anxiously. How do you choose? I didn't even know beer came in so many options. I can't tell him I haven't drank or he'll think I'm just some immature child.
“So, know what you want?”
She blushes. “For food yes. There are too many options for drinks.”
“I've been here before and have yet to have a beer I didn't like.”
“Great!,” she says faking enthusiasm. “How about you order me whatever you're getting?”
He raises a brow but proceeds to order her a sour beer for her just like he does for himself with their meals. After getting the beers, they walk to a quieter back table he selects.
She sips on the summer tasting pale liquid and finds she quite likes it. He's got good taste.
He tries to keep the conversation light and neutral. “Tell me why you chose medicine as a career.”
She tells him about her twin sister's autism being hard for her middle class non-medical parents to navigate. She doesn't want other families to feel alone or ill prepared. She wants patients like her sister to have a place they feel safe and comfortable and to be respected. She is quite sure that her psychiatric residency will allow her to create that space.
She excuses herself to go the bathroom before food arrives. When she gets back food and barrel aged amber beers have arrived.
She sits and tentatively sips at the autumn colored liquid. She's pleasantly surprised by the smokey woody flavors.
They slip into easy conversation that he leads. She tells him that her sister loves nature so they hike frequently. He trail runs and mountain bikes several of the same trails. He says he tries to work out daily. She talks about rowing in college and doing some yoga now. She says that's harder now because her sister prefers quiet nights at home. They're currently watching documentaries about wildlife but she sneaks in a little Grey's Anatomy for fun. He watches mostly action movies and plays some video games (which he tries to convince her is skill building for procedures).
They finish eating. He asks if she'd be up for bread pudding for dessert. She readily agrees with sparkles in her eyes. He goes to order and comes back with milk stouts for them both.
“Where is your sister tonight?”
She looks down, embarrassed to have failed. “She's in a respite care facility because the ER rotation hours don't allow for me to get a consistent caregiver.”
He is shocked that she is trying to complete residency with the crazy 80 hour work weeks and be the solo caregiver for her twin sister with high support autism. “Where are your parents?” he blurts. I need to get better at keeping some of the thoughts in.
“Mom died from an aggressive pheochromocytoma. Dad drank himself into cirrhosis after.”
“Damn… I'm sorry I brought that up today. This was supposed to be a light and easy night for you to relax after today. But for what it's worth, you are phenomenal.”
She looks up and meets his sincere blue eyes. She is pleased to see no hesitation or doubt. She smiles geninuely. Then her unhelpful brain reminds her she knows nothing about him because she has been talking about herself all night. She racks her brain to come up with something to ask and settles quickly on his child and wife, but then feels guilty for her attraction and taking him away. “Oh no, it's late. I must be taking you away from your family.”
“Don't worry about it. It's not my weekend with Tanner and Conner,” he says full of false calm and confidence.
She quirks an eyebrow not quite processing what he's said.
He touches the finger where his wedding ring used to sit absentmindedly. “Abby and I got divorced about 6 months ago.”
“I'm sorry,” she says looking utterly devastated. I can't believe I was stupid enough to not notice his ring has been missing all day.
“It's alright. We're figuring it out. Most days I know this is best for both of us. She couldn't handle the schedule and resented the job taking me away from home. And no amount of money was going to solve that emptiness for her.”
She usually hates touch but he feels close and comfortable, so before she consciously realizes what she's doing she reaches across the table and takes his hand.
They sit together looking at their joined hands for a minute. He looks up and meets her eyes. “Ready to get out of here?”
She nods nervously but allows him to lead her out of the restaurant without releasing her hand. Outside she stumbles and he catches her placing his hand against her low back. She giggles and apologizes for feeling off balance. She's drunk. I just got Mel drunk off three beers, he thinks.
In the car she reaches for his hand resting on the center console and he allows her to run her fingertips over his calluses and interlace their fingers as he follows the GPS navigation to her address.
The drive seems too short. She's not ready for the night to end, but she's never asked a guy in before and her slow brain is struggling to figure out how. Then he's opening her door and offering his hand to lead her up the steps of the old row house. She slips her key into the door and it swings open. She turns intending to ask him to stay, but he speaks first, “I had a good night. We should do this again. But right now you need to go inside, take a couple of ibuprofen, and go to bed.” She nods, enters the house, and leans against the door wondering what she did wrong to make him leave when she could've sworn his eyes said he wanted to stay.