Chapter Text
Melissa King 7:00 AM
The routine of walking through the doors of PTMC has now become mindless to Mel, unlike a year ago on her first day. She can remember how overwhelmed with excitement she was, it was nerve racking but so thrilling all at the same time.
She was a complete rookie, and was overly aware of the fact.
But look at her now, much more confident. Walking into the ER feels like coming home.
“Good morning Lupe!” Mel says waving through the glass while walking through the double doors.
Lupe replies with a smile.
As she makes her way through the familiar halls her eyes wander. Looking for something.
She doesn’t know what she’s looking for but either way, she doesn’t find it.
Immediately Dana has her pick up a case of a 34 year old man who had his foot run over by a kid on an electric scooter.
Santos found the situation much funnier than Mel did.
Melissa King is an efficient doctor, so although the man has a very unpleasant attitude towards her, she smiles and effectively treats the man and gets him discharged as soon as she can.
After that, her day takes off as it usually does. Patient after patient she gets into a sort of autopilot after the first hour or two.
This morning seems a bit longer than usual though.
Mel is a reasonably emotional person. She tries her best not to get any attachment to patients but she is only human. Each patient brings in a new sort of chaos, she truly does see something new every day.
The ER has very little stability, one minute she is treating a simple cough and the next she has to shock somebody back to life. But there is a reason she says ‘very little stability’ and not none-
The thought is cut off before it can finish.
“Doctor King! I’ve been looking for you!” Somebody from behind her says.
Mel releases a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Unconsciously, her shoulders drop and her face untenses, the air feels lighter now. Everyday she can count on Doctor Langdon’s greeting in the morning, she has unknowingly become so accustomed to it that she feels it's hard to start her day without it.
“Have you been hiding from me Mel?” The familiar chuckle says while gently placing a hand on her back. She turns around and is met with the soft smile of Frank Langdon.
“Why would I do that?” Mel replies with genuine curiosity. As she says this her eyes find his eyes and she gazes into them, watching them watch her.
“You tell me, I couldn’t find you all morning.” Frank says.
He was looking for her all morning? The ER is busy, it’s not too unusual for them not to talk until now. Mel is confused,
“Huh? Did you need me?”
“Uh not for anything specific” Langdon moves on with a shrug and begins talking about patients.
But Mel doesn’t move on. She lingers on the thought. Why would he look for her if he didn’t need her for anything? I guess they are friends now, that must be what friends do. She begins thinking back, she realizes that she looks for him too.
They’re friends. Mel takes a liking to that thought. She snaps back to reality and hears what Langdon is saying,
“-and now Robby is mad at me and I’m stuck in triage again. Can you believe this?? I really thought me and him would be over this by now.”
Langdon runs a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. As a senior resident his skills should be put in other places, Robby keeping him in triage is almost like a slap in the face.
“Well triage isn’t that bad. I don’t mind it” Mel adds, trying to brighten up the situation.
“Then maybe you should stop by later, you know I could always use some of your help.”
“Oh-okay! Totally!” Mel is flattered by the sentiment. Friends, friends spend time with each other, she repeats in her head.
There’s a pause.
This is where the conversation ends.
What do friends do at the end of conversations? She knows how Santos would end a conversation. Santos is a friend.
Mel’s hand clenches into a fist. She sticks it out between them. And almost immediately regrets it.
Langdon glances down at her hand, and instead of matching it, he taps his open palm against her fist.
“Turkey.”
Mel is very confused.
“Turkey?”
Langdon’s smile falters almost immediately.
“Sorry—it’s just this thing my daughter does. I—never mind.”
He promptly shoves his hands into his pockets, offering her a quick, slightly flustered smile before walking off.
Mel watches him go, still a little confused.
…Turkey?
She smiles anyway.
—------------------------------------------
Mel tries to focus on her next patient, and the next, and the one after that.
She’s had friends before, lots of friends. At least she’s pretty sure she has. Whitaker, Mohan, Santos, they are all her friends too. So why is it different now?
She doesn’t like that she is questioning herself right now. What even is a friend? What are the qualifications? Are there even any? She knows she is overthinking this but she can’t help herself.
Unfortunately she gets snapped back after she accidentally paper cuts her arm with the results from a patient's head CT.
With a sigh Mel pulls out a chair and begins charting for her last patient. Her fingers hover over the keyboard. She manages one sentence before getting pulled right back into the spiral.
She presses her lips together, shaking the thought away as she begins typing again.
Friends spend time together.
And he did ask her to stop by.
12:00 PM
Mel finds herself just outside triage before she fully realizes she’s walked there.
She could use a little break anyways. No harm in just going to help out a bit. Right?
“Hey Mel! What are you doing over here?” Mel jumps a bit from the unexpected sound. But when she looks up she is met with Doctor Mckay.
“Oh hi! I’m just coming to help out- if that’s alright with you!” She doesn’t think Mckay would mind but it's always better to be safe than sorry, at least that’s what Mel believes.
Cassie releases a comforting chuckle, “Of course! We could always use some extra hands. You wanna follow me?”
“Well I’m actually supposed to go help out Doctor Langdon. But uh- thank you.”
“Langdon, huh?...Hm okay yeah no problem!” Cassie smirks and pats Mel’s shoulder before walking away.
As she walks away Mel starts looking around for Langdon. She walks through the hallway a bit.
She doesn’t have to look for long.
“There you are.”
The voice comes from her left.
Mel turns, and there he is, already watching her. His head slightly nods to a patient in a chair next to him, “Perfect timing. I was actually planning to take this patient to a bed.”
Mel quickly shuffles next to Langdon.
“I thought Robby stuck you in triage?”
“Well yes but this patient needs to get a bed asap. And if Robby gets upset at me for helping a patient then so be it.” Langdon's nonchalant attitude towards going against orders makes her a bit uneasy, but she trusts him.
They both turn towards the patient,
“Hello ma’am, this is doctor King, she is going to be joining me in treating you, would you like to follow me back here?” He gestures behind him and they walk the woman back into an ER bed.
Once they arrived, the old woman untucks her arm out of her jacket to reveal the blood drenched cloth wrapped around her hand.
“Doctor King, this is Betty, she cut her hand with a kitchen knife while chopping up some vegetables.”
Betty smiles at the two, “It’s really no big deal. My husband dragged me here but I really am okay.”
Mel takes a seat and gently lifts the woman’s hand closer to herself, “I think your husband did the right thing by bringing you here ma’am. May I take off the cloth?”
“Of course sweetie, do whatever you have to do. I just want to get back home.”
Mel peels the cloth away, and both of them freeze.The cut is deeper than either of them expected.
Blood immediately wells, spilling over her hand.
Langdon takes a seat next to Mel, unintentionally in sync they say,
“Well, it does-
“Luckily, it seems-
They both awkwardly freeze and the old woman giggles. Langdon seems to find this amusing too and stares at Mel with a smile that can only be described as a quiet adoration.
Mel silently nods to signal that he may talk first.
“As me and doctor King were saying, Betty the cut does seem a bit harsh but we will be able to fix you up. You luckily avoided any arteries, tendons, and ligaments. So we will give you some stitches and hopefully get you back home soon.”
“Thank you very much doctors,” Betty replies.
Mel goes to clean the cut, her gloves instantly become covered in blood, she can feel it begin to run down her wrist past the gloves, warm against her skin. She internally sighs knowing this will require quite a bit of clean up.
After the cut is successfully disinfected, the woman’s blood has already gotten all over Mel’s forearms.
Langdon scoots forward next to Mel and says, “I can take over now, thank you doctor King”
Mel backs up and allows him to begin the process of stitches. Just like Mel, Langdon also unfortunately gets himself a bit bloodied.
But unlike Mel, Langdon is much more carefree about it and somehow it also gets onto his scrubs and managed to smudge it onto various parts of himself. What's the point of wearing gloves if you’re going to get it everywhere anyways? Mel thinks to herself.
“Hold still for me Bet-” Langdon mutters, shifting closer.
The needle slips, nicking his finger. Mel notices, she instinctively reaches out to help but stops herself.
“Damnit,” he breathes under his breath.
Betty’s eyes widening with a motherly care, “Oh no, are you okay sweetheart?” Langdon registers her worry and softly responds,
“Nothing to worry about ma’am, I’m almost done here anyways”
Langdon finishes up swiftly as usual. He leans back, stretching his arms.
Mel tries not to notice how his shirt lifts slightly, or how well-built his arms are.
But she’s only human.
“All done,” he says, offering Betty a small, reassuring smile. “We’ll get you wrapped up and you should be good to go.”
Betty lets out a relieved sigh, flexing her fingers slightly.
“Oh good, thank you! You two are angels. I hate hospitals…”
She trails off. Her smile falters, something uneasy replacing it.
“I’m so sorry, dears. I should have mentioned something earlier.”
She hesitates.
“I have HIV.”
The room goes perfectly still for a second. Langdon has a blank stare in his eyes. One that confuses Mel. She doesn’t understand why this feels more serious than necessary.
“Okay,” he says. Almost performatively calm.
Mel wonders why his tone feels different. She thinks…
Her eyes drop. They drop to her arm. The blood. The paper cut. The paper cut that’s now surrounded by blood.
Oh.