Chapter Text
It had been a relatively tame night in the PTMC Emergency Department. Jack didn’t, however, say this aloud during handover with dayshift. Shen may not believe in jinxes, but Abbot preferred not to tempt fate. It was a sentiment he shared with Ellis. So, when Shen had the audacity to say to Robby, “It’s been a pretty quiet night for us” during handover, Jack and Ellis exchanged an exasperated look with one another.
“Man, how many times do we have to tell you to stop saying that shit?!” Ellis asked him, an incredulous look on her face.
“If day shift ends up swamped enough that Robby’s late to watch the game tonight, I’m breaking into his laptop to schedule you on every major holiday for the next year.” Abbot grumbled.
“Well first of all the pens have been having a shitty season anyway-“
“Not the point”
“And second, if you know how to get into Robby’s laptop, it raises some pretty serious questions about hospital cybersecurity.”
“He doesn’t” Robby interjected.
“Brother I know your social security number, you think I don’t know your password?”
“How the fuck do you know my social security number?!”
“A man has to keep some secrets” Jack said, punctuating it with a wink.
“Are you two gonna get on with handoff or are you gonna keep night shift hanging around all day?” Dana yelled from where she and Lena were doing their own handoff at central.
Robby sighed. “We’re coming back to this conversation.” Then he led the group to the board, getting into the rhythm of shift change.
Going over the cases from the previous night didn’t take much longer than 30 minutes. Patients were handed off, critical cases gone over, and things were wrapping up for Jack and the night crawlers. Most folks headed out. Of course, the other shoe had to drop before Jack had made his exit.
“Medic 4 inbound with a priority trauma alert, head wound with an LOC, 3 minutes out!” Dana hollered from where she’d just hung up the phone.
Jack hadn’t gotten a chance to take a moment with Robby one on one yet, he preferred to check in on a personal level with him before he headed out, so he decided to stay and lend a hand before leaving.
“Nothing like a good head wound to wrap up the day” he said to Robby, heading out to the ambulance bay with him to wait.
“You’re good to head out, you know, I can handle this.”
“I know” Jack shrugged, giving Robby a sincere look.
He grinned, shaking his head, “Alright but you know what they say, the longer you stay, the longer you stay…”
There was a moment of quiet, then, that they enjoyed together in the cool late autumn air. The mornings weren’t yet cold enough that waiting outside was a test of endurance, like they so often were in the dead of winter. It served more so as an anchor, waking Robby up for the day, and giving Jack a bit of last lap energy.
The sirens became audible then as the ambulance came over the hill and pulled into the bay.
The doors opened up and Robby moved in. “What’ve we got?”
The EMT’s gave the rundown as they unloaded the patient and began to head in.
“36-year-old male, unwitnessed fall from scaffolding at a construction site. Unknown downtime, found unresponsive by coworkers. Open fracture to the left radius/ulna with bone protrusion. Secondary injuries deferred to trauma assessment due to altered mental status.”
They entered through the bay doors and Robby briefly interrupted to get Dana’s attention.
“What’s open?”
“Trauma 2!”
The patient looked a bit more worn for wear than one might expect for his age, with deep lines around his eyes even expressionless as it was now. His clothes were broken in, showing years of wear and tear. He had a high-vis vest with a construction company logo over his now one sleeved flannel shirt, both of which were marred by large blood stains on the left side. Underneath a dressing, the bone in his lower arm stuck out through the skin, the limb violently twisted.
The EMTs continued the rundown as they headed toward the trauma bay.
“Initial GCS was 3. There’s been some improvement, now responding to painful stimuli with a GCS of 8. Pupils are equal and reactive. Airway is patent on high-flow O2. Lower left extremity has been splinted and dressed, distal pulses are present and intact. Large-bore IV established, fluids running.”
As they wrapped up their handoff, the man began to stir a bit, his head beginning to move and hands slightly clenching.
“Santos, McKay, you’re with us!” Robby waved them over as they crossed into trauma two, then turned back to the EMTs, “Alright, we got it from here. Thanks.”
Jack and Robby fell into tandem almost instantly. Effortlessly taking turns teaching the residents and passing off tasks to others in the room. As they worked to get the patient assessed and prepared for the scans he would need, Jack found himself relaxing into a rhythm he so rarely got to enjoy with Robby.
Maybe it was the flow state he was in that made his reaction time a bit slower than usual as the man jolted up, screaming.
“Get the fuck off of me!” His eyes were wide and he instantly took the posture of a prey animal in a wide open field.
Robby stepped forward, hands up in a placating gesture. “Sir, you’re alright, you’re in the PTMC Emergency Department, we’re here to help.” Jack got with the program then, moving to Robby’s side, hands held up in a similar position.
“Back the fuck up!!” The man said, going to push himself back on the gurney. A scream erupted violently from him as he put weight onto his left arm, suddenly being made aware of his injury, not through sight but through the adamant and painful protests of his nerve endings.
Robby subtly motioned for the others in the room to take a step back with a tilt of his head. Without having to speak out loud, he, Perlah, and Jack exchanged looks that communicated “Restraints, chemical and physical”. She moved almost instantly to draw the drugs necessary to sedate the man, and Abbot stepped back to get the hard restraints. This series of interactions happened in the space of only a moment. Robby spoke again, trying to calm the situation verbally, hoping they wouldn’t have to escalate.
“Sir, nobody is going to hurt you, you have an open fracture on your left arm, you were found unconscious, we need to-“ Robby was cut off.
“What did you do to me?!” The man was hyperventilating, looking away from the open wound he’d been staring at to scan the room, eyes flicking quickly around. Suddenly, without warning, he lurched toward a tray, grabbing a pair of Curved Kelly Scissors. In the same motion he moved onto his feet toward Robby and swung forward, leaving a gash of his left palm. “What the fuck did you DO to me?!!”
Jack threw himself forward then, reaching to grab the man by the shoulder. Were he thinking more clearly, he probably would’ve chosen a safer way to intervene. Something about seeing Robby in danger, however, seemed to make him a little bit stupid.
The man whipped around, attention shifting to the owner of the hand touching him. He swung the scissors around along with him, bringing them forward where they plunged straight into Jack Abbot’s neck.