Chapter Text
July 4th, 2026
Brendon “The Shark” Park almost never lingers after a shift, safe for the exception of paperwork that needs to be done or a patient that needs a final check in, and even then it’s a stretch to expect him to stay. The hospital doors slide open, the noise quieting as he walks forward, never looking back knowing whatever happens inside, stays there.
That's his rule.
It always works.
Until he hears the soft purr of a cat, he turns his head, looking for the sound. Finally spotting a girl in scrubs near the bus stop, crouched down feeding a cat. A small grey, clearly underweight cat. He assumes it must be a stray. Park slows, staring at her.
Emma Nolan, though he doesn’t know her name yet, breaks a piece of bread and holds it out to the cat, who cautiously approaches. Park realizes the cat isn’t nearly as cautious as it should be, he wonders if she’s done this before.
But he sees the way she feeds it, a way that's deliberate, calculated. The kind of control he witnesses in himself in the OR.
A bus pulls up with the hiss of brakes. She stands up brushing her hands on her scrub pants. Glancing at the cat one last time before boarding it.
She doesn’t notice him.
Good. He thinks.
He turns away continuing to his car, thinking forgetting about her would be easy.
It isn’t.
August 2nd, 2026.
“We need an Ortho consult in bay three” Robby pages out.
Minutes later, Dr. Park arrives.
The ER is loud in a way the OR never is, it’s messy, unpredictable, he has never been a fan.
He steps into bay three, and pauses. He notices the same girl from the bus stop, her hair in a bun this time, no curls framing her face. She’s supporting the patient's arm, murmuring something to him.
Whittaker starts speaking, “19 year old, fell off a cheer pyramid, broke her arm and hit her head”
Park nods his head, inspecting her arm, “looks like a clean break, but we’ll confirm with imaging”
Park moves to inspect and before saying anything, Emma adjusts her grip, anticipating what he’ll do. Santos notices the subtle movement murmuring to Whittaker “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Focus” Park barks out.
Santos lifts her hands in a mock surrender. But Emma doesn’t react at all, keeping the same grip she had before.
“We’re going to immobilise her arm before imaging” Park says, quieter this time, he gives a pointed look to the patient “Try not to move”
The patient nods, and Emma adjusts again, supporting just below the fracture, having yet to mutter a word.
“Hold here” he speaks to Emma, then lifts his head noticing she’s already placed her hands there.
The alignment goes smoother, much smoother than it usually does in an ER setting.
When they finish the patient finally exhales “Thank you” she whispers
“You did good” Emma replies
Park steps back, removing his gloves and just watches the interaction. Emma stands up to start putting things away and cleaning up the bay.
Park steps out and finds Robby.
“X-ray will confirm, but it should be straightforward” His shark persona finally comes back and he finds himself collected.
Robby tablet in hand responds “Transports on the way”
Park nods once, and his gaze shifts back to her.
She still hasn’t looked at him directly, not once.
Santos leans closer to Whittaker who’s leaning against the nurse station, “I’m telling you, that” she points “was so weird”
Whittaker huffs. “You think everything’s weird”
“No” she insists. “That was-did you see that? She moved before he even-
“I saw” Whittaker cuts in. “And so did he”
They both glance down the hallway to the elevator finding him waiting for it to open.
Garca catches him upstairs “How’d it go?”
“It was smooth" he responds casually
Garcia side eyes him “Heard from my little birdie your nurse knew what to do before you even spoke”
He says nothing, continuing to walk down the hall to pick up his charts.
“She’s new, you know?” Garcia prompts
He huffs, “Keep talking to me about her and you’ll find yourself without a surgical team Garcia.”
She turns on her heel and down the hall before his sentence even finishes.
Back in the ER, Santos approaches Emma
“What?” Emma asks, looking at her
“Where’d you learn that?” Santos asks
Emma looks at her curiously "learn what?”
“The mind reading thing” she answers gesturing the the empty space
Emma pauses, briefly, then shrugs “I watch”
Whittaker laughs, “Yeah” she mutters “That”ll go great with shark”
Shark? Emma asks herself.
Though she doesn’t respond to Santos, instead glancing down the hallway where Park disappeared.
Then get back to work.