Work Text:
There were certain things in the ED that didn’t tend to bode well. Someone saying it was quiet that day, a strange lull in trauma cases that had everyone on edge, the red phone on the charge desk ringing… but the one that truly made people’s ears prick up was Dana raising her voice.
Mel looked up from the laceration she was closing when it happened, tuning into the part of the conversation she could hear from Central 6.
“What do you mean, ‘a horse’?” Dana asked, making heads turn all around her. “How the heck did that happen? Jesus fucking christ?! And what do you want me to do about it?” There was a pause as she listened. “Well, good luck with that. Keep me posted.”
Mel watched Dana took a sweeping look around the ED before power walking after Robby to catch up with him.
“What was that about?”
Mel looked up at her patient who had been listening too.
“I really don’t know.” She admitted. “I’m sure they have it covered though. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get distracted.” And with that she focused on her stitches again.
There was a buzz to the ED soon though, the way it sometimes happened when some high entertainment gossip was going around.
Until recently, Mel hadn’t really been looped into what she thought of as a bit of a game of telephone. Rumours tended to spread like wildfire down here, and for a group of people who excelled at accurately documenting their patients’ cases, beat by beat, down to the smallest detail, the rumour mill tended to generate some wild additions to the stories going around.
Mel was pretty sure at least a few people tended to have fun with adding additional details.
“Did you hear about the horse yet?” Trinity asked excitedly when Mel came to sit down at the computer next to hers a while later.
“I heard something about a horse. What’s going on?”
Trinity leaned over the divider of their work stations. “There’s a horse! Loose in the hospital.”
Mel paused her typing mid-word, looking up at her. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“I’m not, it’s up on the fifth floor!”
“How would that even hap-?”
“Doctor Santos, if you have time to gossip you have time for a case. South 20, shoulder dislocation.”
Trinity’s eyes lit up. “On it!” She was gone before Mel could get her answer.
“Apparently they managed to shoo it out of paediatrics.” She overheard a little while later.
“Shouldn’t animal control be here by now?”
“I don’t know, you’d think, right?”
It wasn’t until she managed to catch Frank out in the ambulance bay waiting for a patient that Mel actually dared to ask about it explicitly.
“Dr. Langdon.” She hesitated. ”Is there… a horse, loose in the hospital?”
He frowned, looking her over, contemplating, trying to read if she was joking. “I’m pretty sure that’s just a bit by a comedian, no?”
“Oh, oh okay. That makes sense.” Mel shook her head. Oh, they got her good, that was silly. Of course, there was some pop culture reference she had missed. There was an uncomfortable pang in the pit of her stomach, of course she’d fall for that. “I don’t always get them, jokes, bits.” She shrugged, trying to shake the embarrassment.
“Sometimes they just aren’t funny.” Frank assured her.
But as soon as they started treating their new patient in Trauma 2, the bit picked up again.
“Call the OR, we need someone down here.”
“They won’t be able to send anyone until they get the horse out.”
Frank froze for a moment, looking at Princess incredulously. “That’s not funny.”
“I know it isn’t. I’ll see if we can get ortho to lend us one of their operating rooms.” And with that she was gone, and Mel and Frank looked at each other, confounded.
Stripping off their single-use gowns after ortho had come to take their patient, they found themselves shoulder to shoulder in the hallway, looking out into the busy ED.
“Hey, Perlah, is there actually a horse?” Frank asked when he caught her eye.
“Well, there wasn’t meant to be anymore. They had a guy here who was meant to take it, but he's a code tan now?” She gave a shrug, arms spread wide in confusion.
Frank turned back to Mel. “If this is a bit, everyone's really committed to it.” He said quietly.
They weren’t the only confused parties in the room though.
Dennis came up to them, with a suspicious look on his face. “Is there… a horse upstairs?”
“We’ve narrowed it down to there either really being a horse, or everyone reacting very oddly to a pop culture moment from a few years ago.” Mel informed him.
“Right… right.” Dennis shook his head, heading over to the charge desk to pick up another patient.
Frank found her again a few minutes later, holding up his phone for her, screen open to a news page. ‘Equine visitor confounds PTMC’, the headline read. “There really is a horse.” Frank whispered excitedly. “And apparently it kicked the guy who came to get it. Santos is treating him in North 1.”
“What? Is he okay?”
“Yeah, I mean, he will be.” Frank lowered his voice. “But he has a huge horse shoe imprint right here.” He mimed the outline on his chest. “Fell backwards, hit his head.”
“You two, less horsing around, more seeing patients.” Dana scolded them.
“On it.” Frank left her at her workstation, a spring in his step she hadn’t seen since a few therapy dogs had stopped by to visit patients last week.
Her patients started asking her for updates about the horse, apparently videos and photos had started circulating around the internet by now and one young man with road rash showed her some. It was a beautiful horse, almost completely white and absolutely massive.
And finally, there was some context to the story too. Apparently it had been brought in as a favour from the mayor to a former police chief who was being treated upstairs in oncology and might not make it back to the ranch the horse was usually housed in. No one had quite anticipated the chaos that would follow.
It was all anyone could talk about at this point. Where the horse was and what it was doing.
Garcia was sending Trinity updates every few minutes, and Trinity would read them out to anyone within range.
“The horse used the elevator?”
“How the fuck did it do that?!”
“Holy shit, it’s just above us now!”
That was when the noises started.
Clickity clack, just above their heads, moving up and down the corridors one floor above them.
Patients started requesting to see the horse and seemed bitterly disappointed whenever they had to be told the horse wasn’t a therapy animal and they weren’t sure it was friendly.
“Our patient satisfaction score’s down 20% today.” Robby groaned, resting his elbows on the charge desk next to where Dennis was going through some x-rays, burying his face in his hands.
“Okay, this is ridiculous.” Dennis said, putting the tablet back into its charging station.
“I know.” Robby sighed, but Dennis was already gone.
Pleased, Robby watched as Dennis pulled some stuff out of a storage container in the corridor and then headed for the elevator.
"Well played, Robinavitch." Dana told him.
Five minutes later, the charge desk phone rang.
“Holy smokes, he did it.” Dana whispered. “Give me two minutes.” She hung up the phone.
“Everybody, all hands on deck! Clear the corridors, every bed and every chair needs out of the way from the elevator to the ambulance bay. Fast, come on, chop chop, move it!”
There was a mad scramble as the corridor was cleared entirely.
“Okay, now everyone on that side of the room. No loud noises. No sudden movements!” Dana instructed when the coast was clear.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Mel whispered to Frank who had found a spot next to her against one of the patient beds. He could only shake his head.
In the very odd, near-complete silence of the ED, the Ding of the elevator arriving sounded louder than it ever had to her. And then.
Click clack, click clack.
The sound of the collective ED staff taking a breath was the only thing that greeted Dennis, who was leading the horse by some kind of handmade harness out of ace bandages. The videos and photos didn’t do the sheer size of the animal justice. It was huge. And apparently it was completely happy to follow Dennis who was coaxing it along, leading it through the ED and towards the ambulance bay.
The moment they cleared the threshold, people started whispering in amazement.
“Holy shit.” Frank whispered. “That thing’s huge!”
Some people followed them outside to have a look at what was happening, but Robby clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
“Okay, so we clearly owe Dr. Whitaker a huge round of applause, but let’s save that for when there’s no frightened animals around. Everyone, get back to your patients. We are in contact with animal control and I think someone’s trying to reach the people who usually board this horse, we don’t know where they went after they dropped it off.”
“That was amazing work, man.”
Dennis was getting his fists bumped and shoulder clapped in appreciation when he came back, assuring everyone the horse was safely tied up outside.
“Did you have horses growing up?” Trinity asked Dennis when they were huddling around the central hub a while later.
“No, just cows. But horses aren’t that different. I mean, they are, but they’re big and smart and they like it when you talk to them so…” Dennis shrugged.
“What about you?” Trinity focused in on Victoria. “You look like you’d be a horse girl.”
“Oh, no. I mean, I had a few riding lessons when I was little, but I didn’t stick with it.”
“What about you, Mel? More of a unicorn gal? Or do horses count.”
“My sister’s had a few sessions of equine therapy, and she quite enjoyed them. I find horses a bit unpredictable myself.” Mel admitted.
Trinity pursed her lips and Mel tilted her head to try and figure out what answer she had been hoping for. She had been really invested in the horse saga.
Mel decided to turn the question around. “What about you? Do you like horses?”
“I’m not a horse girl!” She protested, picking up a tablet rather quickly and leaving and leaving them behind like they were no longer worth their time. “Gotta go check on my patients.”
Mel exchanged a glance with Victoria, whose eyes had lit up brightly.
“Oh she’s totally a horse girl.” Victoria grinned.
“Hey Mel, wanna feed the horse with me?” Frank asked a little while later, a Tupperware container of his lunch in his hand, one section of the container seemingly dedicated to just carrots and cucumber sticks.
“The horse is still there?”
“Yeah, apparently the transport vehicle had some kind of issue? Come on, you need a break. I need a break. The horse needs carrot.”
They weren’t the first people with a similar idea. Dana was standing by the horse when they came out, sharing her cut-up apple with the animal and talking to it softly. The ace bandages had been replaced with a proper bridle, which had gotten lost in the initial chaos and had since been found again. The bridle was tied to a sturdy tree and the horse seemed pretty calm.
“They should get us one of these every week.” She said when they approached. “People have been coming out here for a pick-me-up all afternoon.”
“Horse doesn’t mind then?” Frank asked, opening his container and offering it to Mel so she could take a piece of carrot. She did, holding it but hanging back.
“Nah, she’s sweet, now that she’s outside. I put out a call to all ambulances to turn off the sirens down the street, she’s been calm.” Dana stroked the horse’s head fondly. “Okay, girl, they need me in there, you be good.” She warned the horse.
“No chicken.” She warned Langdon, tapping his lunch container in warning.
“I wasn’t gonna give the horse any of the chicken.”
Dana gave him a shrug. “Just saying.”
Mel smiled, shaking her head, watching as Frank offered the horse piece of carrot on his flat palm, still looking a bit affronted, but too occupied with the horse now to bristle at it. The horse seemed immediately amiable, taking the carrot with gusto, but gently. Frank was beaming at it, that true bright smile that made it impossible not to smile as well.
“You know, horses technically stand on what we’d think of as our fingertips… if you… you know, assign every leg segment according to our anatomy.” She wasn’t sure where that came from, but it was out of her mouth in a heartbeat.
“That’s mildly upsetting to think about.” He chuckled, amusedly addressing the horse. “Did you know that? Nah, you don’t have to know that kind of stuff, you're a horse.” The horse, for all its apparent earlier rage at being inside, seemed utterly calm now, allowing him to pet it.
“Here, you try.” He coaxed Mel closer.
“Okay, yeah.” She moved into the space he made for her, offering the horse a piece of carrot the way he had done, with the same result, a bit too much contact on the descend, but a delicate grab otherwise.
“You can pet her here, she seems to like that.” Frank instructed her, guiding her hand over the bridge of its nose.
“Do you know how to ride?” She asked, stepping back after a moment, but leaning against the tree to watch Frank with the horse a bit longer. There was something about watching him with this huge animal, all gentle and at ease.
“Oh yeah! I used to work as a cowboy during summers.” It came out fast and smooth.
Mel frowned, trying to decipher if he was joking and he looked back at her with a wide open expression.
“Good one.” Mel decided after a moment.
“Or is it?”
They looked at each other for a bit longer before his face gave way to a bright smile.
“I’m joking.” He admitted. “Maybe in my dreams though.”
“I’m buying you a cowboy hat for Christmas.” Mel told him in a deadpan. And it was his turn to figure out if he was joking.
Dr. Abbot arrived back at the hospital at 5 PM, well over an hour before his usual start time.
“Where’re you hiding the horse?” He asked, leaning over the charge desk to look at Dana gleefully.
She laughed. “Out by the ambulance bay, you can fight Dr. Santos for a turn with it.”
“Ah darn, she could take me down. I’ll need back-up then.” He grinned, turning his head to look at Dr. Mohan who had been innocently reviewing her patient's chart until she felt his eyes on her.
“Oh no, I saw the horse when Whitaker brought it out. I don’t need to-“
“Come on, live a little.” Jack nodded his head towards the ambulance bay. “Five minutes?” He bargained.
She held his gaze for a moment, then locked her screen and reluctantly got up from her workstation. “Fine. Five minutes.”
“Oh, she’s a beauty!” Jack exclaimed happily, beaming from ear to ear when he saw the horse outside.
“No more food, everyone’s been feeding her their lunches.” Trinity warned them, extricating her fingers from the mane she had been braiding into neat sections. She took one look at the two of them before ducking out, winking at Samira on her way back in.
“You ever think about veterinary medicine?” Jack asked, approaching the horse, soft and steady.
“No.” Samira laughed. “Did you?”
The horse stepped a little closer to him, following his hand for pets, and Jack indulged it, allowing the huge creature to press its face into his chest. “Only when I was a little boy. Turns out I actually don’t really like getting bitten, so that was a no-go in the end.”
“Good to know.” It came out absentmindedly, almost dreamy, her eyes focused on the way the horse was nuzzling him.
“Is it?” Jack asked.
“Huh.”
“No, nothing. What about riding? Have been on a horse?”
“Oh no. No. I mean, maybe when I was really little, I think there’s a photo somewhere, but I don’t remember it.”
Jack beckoned her closer and she followed, stroking the side of the horse’s neck while it nuzzled at him.
“You have a way with it.” She noted.
“I find them very soothing.” Jack admitted, his voice appropriately quiet for how close he was to the horse’s ears. “Did quite a bit of equine therapy when I got back. Some riding lessons. Was the only way I could go fast for a bit while my leg was healing, getting used to the prosthesis.”
Their fingertips brushed on the side of the horse’s jaw.
“I always thought I’d get to it. You know, it’s one of the those things you’re meant to do? Hot air balloon, horseback riding, one of those romantic helicopter flights around a city. I just don’t know when people do that kind of thing.”
“Let’s go horseback riding next month. I’ll find a place, take one of the same days off.” Jack quickly looked away, back at the horse. “If you want to.” He added softly.
In the setting sun, the flush on his cheeks looked even more appealing than it did under the usual fluorescent lights. “I’d like that.”
Animal control had been called off, now that contact with the stable owners had been re-established, but they seemed to have a lot of trouble getting another transport container out to Pittsburgh.
Dennis couldn’t quite stomach leaving the horse alone, so when Robby came off his shift at 8 PM after hand-overs and helping out with some last bits and bobs, he found his intern still outside with the horse, sitting under the tree she was tied to and allowing her to nuzzle at his head.
“What’s the word on our girl here?”
“Well, we learned her name is Willow, and that her owners are very stressed but the stable is having some technical difficulties with picking her up, so….” Dennis looked at his watch. “I’m starting to contemplate asking physio if I can borrow a yoga mat or something.”
“You’re not sleeping here.”
“I’d rather sleep here than have Mr. Wagner worry any more.”
“Mr. Wagner?”
Dennis pointed up and Robby followed his gaze to see a man sitting at the window, looking down at them somewhere higher up, probably oncology, if Robby remembered the reason he was here correctly. “He’s been really stressed. Someone from Onco brought him down earlier so he could still see her. It was nice. But… now he’s just worried she won’t make it home okay.”
“Well, what does a horse need? Just a place to stand?”
“Some hay would be good, water.” Robby came a bit closer, petting the side of her neck and looking down at Dennis.
“I mean… if everyone’s okay with it. I do have a garage, if you think she can fit in one of those without knocking my motorcycle over.”
“You’d let me bring her there?”
“Sure, yeah, why not, it’s not too far.”
“You mean it?” Dennis stood up, looking so excited that Robby couldn’t bring himself to back out, even though he was slightly regretting the offer already.
“Really.” He agreed.
“Oh my god, you’re amazing, okay, yes. Let me just go inside, tell Mr. Wagner and call the stable back. I’ll be right out.” And with that, he was gone, leaving Robby with the horse.
Willow looked after him. “I know, girl.” Robby assured her. “He’s the best, isn’t he?”
Dennis didn’t make him wait long though, coming back out in his street clothes and a huge smile on his face. “Okay, it’s all settled, everyone’s okay with it. I let Dr. Abbot know we’re taking Willow to yours.”
Robby managed to only wince internally at that.
“So I think if you’re ready, we’re ready to go?” Dennis asked, eyes shining in the moonlight.
“I’m yeah, sure, I’m ready to go.”
“Okay great.”
Robby watched as he undid the knot in the bridle that had kept Willow tethered to the tree until now. And then, in one smooth motion, so fast it looked completely effortless, swung himself up onto the horse’s bare back, settling in smoothly.
Robby had to think about closing his mouth to do it.
“Right.” Dennis reached down for him from where he towered above Robby on horseback now.
“Oh no, I couldn’t, I’ll walk with you.”
“It’s alright, she’s huge, she can take us both for a few minutes, she’s used to it, I checked.”
“I don’t even know-“
“Look, I’ll tense my foot, you step on it like a step and I’ll pull you up. It’s easy.”
Robby hesitated, but Dennis was looking down at him, completely confident and steady, offering his hand.
“Alright.” It came out as a giggle, he couldn’t help it. He took Dennis’s hand, and Dennis did as he promised, offering his own foot as a step, but Robby felt like he barely touched it. This absurd man pulled him up onto that horse behind him with such ease, it felt like gravity didn’t exist for a moment.
“See, easy.” Dennis beamed. “Now hold on to my waist, tight.”
Robby could only be grateful for the darkness that hid the flush of his cheeks when he did as he was told, scooting in close until his front was pressed against his back. He held on tight as Dennis gave the horse some kind of command to start moving.
“You good there, Robby?” Jack asked the next morning when Robby came in to relieve him, sounding far too amused.
Robby could feel Jack’s eyes on him, taking in the stiffness in his movements. “Yeah, just sore from yesterday.”
“Oh yeah? From the horse, or from the cowboy?”