Work Text:
It was just one of those days. Frank had known from the moment he’d nearly taken a header off the toilet that he wouldn’t be getting anywhere near patients today. He’d texted Robby right away, hoping to hide away with Abby and the kids the rest of the day. Preferably mostly horizontal, or at least well supported.
But Robby couldn’t find anyone to cover, so he’d suggested what they had done in the past- Frank would come into work but stay outside the treatment rooms, there for the junior residents and medical students. They’d come to him with treatment plans on the easier cases, the ones he was confident he didn’t need to put his hands on.
Which is how he ended up staring at Santos from the rolling office chair as she stared right back at him.
“Are you going to present the case to me?” he eventually asked her, getting uncomfortable. He knew this was part of her game, to stare at him, make him sweat until he lost his nerve. But he wasn’t going to let that happen. “Or are you just going to stand there and waste my time?”
She tilted her head. “Why does Robby keep you around?”
“What?”
The tablet in her hands lit up as she tapped her finger against it absentmindedly. “You’re not even working on patients today. You’re sitting out here in this chair like a tossed away puppy.” She raised her eyebrows in a challenge.
Don’t say anything you’ll regret. His chin tipped to his chest for a moment and he sighed. He would not stoop to her level…no matter how badly he wanted to. “Dr. Santos, do you have a patient to present?”
“What does he see in you?” She was still staring directly at him. “All I see is an addict who can’t even do his job because he’s nodding off.”
Anger curled through his chest but his head dropped once again.
“I’m sorry, should I get Narcan?”
That was it. Frank hauled himself upright and stared back at her. They were now eye level. Santos had a hard expression on her face, but all Frank saw was red. “You’ve got it wrong. And it doesn’t matter what Robby sees in me, because you won’t be around long enough to find out!” His voice, which started as a low growl, ended in a holler.
“Hey, uh, Dr. Langdon?”
Frank turned quickly to se Whittaker staring at him, a little worried looking.
“Dr. Robby told me to check in with you about a patient?” Whittaker looked between Santos and Langdon. “Is- I could come back later?”
Frank turned back to Santos. “We’re done here. Come and find me when you have an actual case to present.” He turned his back on her in a dismissal, and tried to look less like he wanted to murder someone. “Whatcha got for me there, farm boy?”
Whittaker, to his credit, only hesitated momentarily before continuing. “13-year-old female with right wrist pain. Mild tachycardia, elevated BP, normal temp. Minor swelling and redness, initially diagnosed as cellulitis. She just finished a course of amoxicillin but no change.”
Frank’s chin hit his chest again and he huffed in annoyance. Right, that was why he was sitting down before. Not wanting to make it obvious that he wanted support, he leaned against the desk. “Any past medical history?”
“She sprained her wrist 3 weeks ago, and the pain started then and just got worse.” With a quick finger swipe, Whittaker pulled up a series of x-rays. “Her x-rays are normal.”
“Huh.” This was a much more interesting case than most on the board. He had seen it up there too, teenage female with wrist pain, but he’d barely glanced at it. “How is her range of motion?”
“She’s not able to move it herself much, but I can manipulate it to full range.” He paused. “She’s in a lot of pain and it seems disproportionate to the initial injury, or even potential cellulitis.”
Frank pushed off from the desk, annoyance prickling at him as his chin dropped to his chest again. He took a moment to think. “Okay, this is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna get a coffee, sit down, and go over all her notes.” He looked towards Whittaker with raised eyebrows. If he couldn’t actually see any patients, he sure as hell was going to get deep into a medical mystery. “Sound good?”
“Yeah, sure.” Whittaker sounded almost relieved at how excited Frank was about the case. “Dr. Robby was busy with the STEMI, but he said you loved weird medical cases.”
They started off towards the break room. “There’s rarely a true medical mystery, you know?” Thinking about medical mysteries always put a pep into his step. “If you dig deep enough, you can almost always figure it out. That’s why I hate diagnoses of exclusion.”
“Like fibromyalgia.”
“Exactly!” Frank was perking up, argument with Santos disappearing from his mind. “These patients are suffering, and doctors say, well you don’t have this, so I’ll just diagnose you with this catch all disorder.” Movement at the end of the corridor caught his eye.
Whittaker nodded along. “Right. And there’s usually not really any good treatments for those diagnoses.”
“Right!” Was that Santos at the end of the hall, giving him a weird smile? “Their doctors just give them an SSRI and tell them to drink more water and exercise more.” What did she have in her hand? “Which, as the case studies will tell you, doesn’t help that much.”
As they got closer, Frank could tell it was indeed Santos, and she was holding something. As he and Whittaker neared her, Santos gave him a big grin.
“Dr. Langon!” she called as they approached. “You wanted Narcan, right?” And she held it out towards him.
Red hot anger exploded in his chest and he felt his head tip forward again. Except this time, it wasn’t just his head, it was his whole upper body. In the half second he had before he went face first into the hallway floor, Frank cursed out every god he had ever heard of.