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She should have been out of that hospital long ago.
After all, it was the Fourth of July. And she still had no plans.
Mel King will remember this day for a long, long time.
Deposition, her sister in the hospital, and this confession. Mel King still couldn’t believe that Becca had been hiding her relationship from her for the past few months.
She tried to find a sensible explanation, that Becca didn’t want to worry her. Mel was still ashamed of letting her emotions get the better of her. She wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible so she could go to her sister and apologize.
But not so fast. First, she had to take care of the boy with the breathing problems and update patient charts, because the system started working again.
“Hey, Doctor King,” one of the nurses accosted Melissa. “Have you seen Doctor Langdon?”
“No, why?” she answered. Mel hadn’t seen him for a while, so she started to get a little worried too.
“Doctor Shen just wanted to talk about this boy’s results,” woman said. “Before Langdon goes home to celebrate.”
“I’ll find him.”
Frank Langdon wanted this day to be over.
Conflict with Trinity Santos, Robby’s dissatisfaction with Frank’s return to PTMC, the suspicious looks from his coworkers, and many unspoken words. And on top of that there are problems in the marriage.
Ever since he got back from rehab, Abby had been acting completely different. Well, what could he expect when he’d screwed up practically everything. He will never forget the day she threatened him with divorce.
“Hey Abby, it’s me. Frank,” Langdon sighed. “I’ll probably come pick up the kids later, I have to stay longer at the hospital. Call me when you can, okay?” he said, and then pressed the red button on the phone screen.
Tanner and Penny were supposed to spend this weekend with Langdon. He even planned what they would do together. Frank wanted to show them the new neighborhood where he now lives. But apparently, Abby had other plans for that.
Why does she make this difficult for me?
When they decided to separate, Abby swore to Langdon that she wouldn’t limit his contact with their children.
Well...
Langdon was furious.
If he could turn back time, he definitely would. He would undo everything that had happened ten months ago. He wouldn’t lose the trust of the others. For Robby, he would still be the best resident and… friend. And his family… his family would still be happy.
He looked up again, hopefully, as if Abby had suddenly called or texted back. But he only stared at the photo of Penny and Tanner smiling. He missed them.
He heard the sound of the break room door opening.
“Doctor Langdon?” Melissa King asked shyly. She entered and gently closed the door. “Are you OK?”
He wanted everything to be OK.
But Mel King’s presence made him want to open up. To her. She alone made this day bearable. Frank Langdon wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he liked having her around.
“Yeah,” answered. “I’m just kind of…” He hesitated for a moment. “I’m wondering if I’m really ready to be back here.”
When he showed up in the morning, he was sure. He was sure he was ready to come back. But not now.
“Of course, you are,” Mel said.
Frank nodded negatively. “Ten months is a long time.” He kept staring at one point, refusing to look into Mel’s eyes. “I almost killed that kid with an intubation. Didn’t ever occur to me to check for pneumothorax.”
“There wasn’t any trauma to indicate…”
“I should have caught it,” Frank looked at her.
They both felt the tension in the room growing. Mel took a deep breath. She finally decided to talk about her deposition. Someone had once told her she couldn’t keep negative emotions bottled up.
“You know,” she said, reaching for the chair next to her. “I had a deposition today and all the lawyers questions made me like…” Mel said these words with difficulty. “Like, I was a really bad doctor.”
You’re not a bad doctor, Mel.
He looked at her, again.
For a moment, he forgot about himself, about Abby, about the hospital, about everything. What she said hit him harder than he expected. He frowned slightly, something protective flickering in his expression. He recognized that feeling all too well. All this doubt, the guilt, the way one moment could make you question everything.
“We don’t always get everything right the first time,” Mel continued. “You would have caught the collapsed lung. And it may take a minute, but you would have saved him.”
Mel was right, but Frank couldn’t admit it to himself. Her words lingered, uncomfortably close to hope. Something he wasn’t sure he deserved yet.
Frank let out a quiet breath. “I’m not sure Robby would agree with you,” he said quietly. “He’s riding me all day.”
“Robby’s leaving,” Mel looked at Frank. “For three months.”
Three months? Langdon was surprised because he had known Robby for a few years and knew that the man wouldn’t last a day without work.
“You know with Robby gone,” she said as if nothing had happened. “I don’t really want you to leave either.”
She needed him. Mel King really needed Frank Langdon.
For a second, he wasn’t sure if he had heard her right. No one had said something like that to him in a long time, not without expectation, not without disappointment trailing behind it.
Something tightened in his chest. It wasn’t the sharp, suffocating kind he had grown used to, but something unfamiliar. Something warmer.
Mel shifted slightly. “That which does not kill me makes me stronger”
How did he know these words? Suddenly he remembered. “Friedrich Nietzsche?”
Mel’s face suddenly showed a look of confusion. But after a moment, she nodded. “Yeah, Nietzsche, yeah.” She immediately blushed. “Not Kelly Clarkson.”
Of course, she wouldn’t admit to Frank that she was thinking of that Kelly Clarkson song. Every time she felt down, she listened to it like an uplifting mantra.
But Frank noticed her confusion. He had a feeling she was referring to that song after all.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips, the first genuine one that day.
Mel huffed out a quiet breath, somewhere between embarrassment and relief.
Frank studied her for a moment longer, the earlier conversation still lingering in his mind. Then his expression shifted, concern slipping through.
“Hey,” he said more gently. “Are you okay? I mean… really.”
Mel’s posture stiffened just a little, like the question caught her off guard. But she didn’t shut down this time.
“It’s about Becca,” Mel admitted quietly. “I tried to call her, but she rejects my calls every time.”
“You were too harsh on her.”
“I know… and now I feel terribly ashamed of it. Really ashamed.”
Frank nodded slowly, listening, really listening.
“I simply understood that she was afraid of my reaction,” Mel wiped a tear running down her cheek with the back of her hand. “You know, when we were little, Becca used to tell me she had a feeling I’d be the first to find the one on the white horse,” she laughed quietly. “Now my little sister was the first to find the one.”
“I thought you were twins.”
“Because we are! But Becca is five minutes younger.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“Give yourself and her time. This is a difficult situation for both of you,” he said. “Someone once told me that after the storm there’s always sunshine. Don’t worry, Mel.”
His voice was quiet, steady. It wrapped around her like something safe, something she didn’t realize she needed until that moment.
Mel let out a soft breath, her shoulders lowering just a little. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s not,” Frank admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it won’t get better.”
She looked at Frank. There was something different in his eyes now. Less guarded. As if this time he wasn’t trying to hide behind the weight of all his mistakes.
“And you?” she asked gently. “Do you believe that? That it gets better?”
Frank hesitated.
For a second, the old doubt flickered across his face.
“I think…” he started slowly, “I think I’m trying to.”
Mel’s lips curved into a faint, fragile smile. “Yeah.”
Silence fell between them again. It felt… close. Like something intimate.
Langdon didn’t look away this time.
He held her gaze, as if trying to memorize it how her eyes softened when she wasn’t overthinking, how for a brief moment she stopped worrying about everything.
There was something in the way he was looking at her now. It made her heart skip, just slightly, enough to make her aware of it.
And he noticed it too.
Not the exact moment her heartbeat changed, but the shift. The way her breathing slowed. The way she stopped fidgeting. He had the impression that with him, she just… was.
For a long moment, he simply memorized her. The softness in her expression, the faint flush still lingering on her cheeks, the way her eyes seemed warmer now.
And dangerously easy to get lost in.
Something tightened in his chest again, but not like before. Not the guilt. Not the regret. This was different.
This was want.
He wanted her.
It caught him off guard.
He hadn’t allowed himself to feel anything like that in months. Not after everything with Abby. Not after rehab. Not after all…
Mel.
Sitting too close, looking at him like he wasn’t a failure. Like he was still… worth.
Frank swallowed hard, his gaze dropping for just a second–to her lips, then back to her eyes.
Too close. They were too close. And neither of them moved.
The space between them felt fragile, as if it like might disappear if either of them breathed too sharply. The world outside faded into a distant hum.
Frank became acutely aware of everything at once.
Fuck, he was still married.
And then, before he could overthink it–before he could stop himself.
Fuck it.
His hand moved. Slowly. Carefully.
His fingers brushed against hers, tentative at first, like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed. Like he expected her to pull away.
She didn’t.
Instead, Mel’s gaze dropped for a split second to where their hands touched. There was a flicker of surprise on her face, then something softer.
Her fingers curled just slightly against his.
Not fully. Not confidently.
But enough.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Mel felt heat rise to her cheeks, a faint blush she couldn’t quite control. She was surprised by how natural it felt, and at the same time, how much it affected her.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Not here. Not now.
And yet… She didn’t pull away either.
Frank noticed the blush immediately. The way she avoided his eyes for just a second, the way her lips parted like she wanted to say something but couldn’t quite find the words.
It made something in him soften.
He gave her hand the smallest, almost imperceptible squeeze, gentle, grounding, like reassurance rather than anything else.
“I…” Mel started, then let out a quiet, slightly nervous breath. “I should… go.”
There was a hint of a smile in her voice.
Frank huffed out a soft breath, something close to a laugh. “No,” he admitted.
He didn’t let go. Not immediately.
Instead, his thumb brushed lightly against her knuckles. Once, absentmindedly, like he was trying to memorize the feeling before it slipped away.
Then, slowly he pulled his hand back.
She lifted her gaze back to him, a little more composed now, but something had changed. Something quiet and unspoken lingered between them.
Neither of them addressed it.
Not directly.
“I really should get back,” she said softly, though she didn’t move right away. “Patient charts don’t scan themselves.” She stood up. She was still... She couldn’t even find the right emotion to describe it. But she remembered something. “Um, Doctor Langdon?”
“Yes, Mel?”
“Chen was looking for you, it’s about that kid.”
“Yeah,” Frank nodded. “I’ll find him.”
But neither of them moved.
For a second longer, they just were there. Caught in that in-between moment, where everything felt possible and impossible at the same time.
Mel stepped back first, just a small step.
Frank watched her, something unreadable in his expression.
“Hey,” he said quietly, just before she turned to leave. “Mel?”
She looked back at him. “Yes, Frank?”
“Are you doing anything after your shift?”
She wanted to lie and say she already had plans, but she wasn’t going to do that in front of him.
“Umm, no,” Mel answered shyly.
“Don’t want to watch the fireworks? The rooftop has the best view.”
Her lips curved into a small, genuine smile.
“Yes,” she said. “Sure!”
“So after 9 p.m. at the lockers?”
Mel nodded. Then she turned and walked out.
And Frank stayed there for a second longer, staring at the door she had just closed–already missing the warmth of her hand.