Chapter Text
Frank would like to say that with everything he had seen in the Pitt, nothing would ever surprise him, but that was proven false as he closed his locker and saw Mel and Santos entering the area with their arms linked together. He noticed that Santos looked tired, but Mel was, of course, all sunshine and smiles. They were talking in hushed voices as they walked in, and then Mel met his eyes. “Good morning, Dr. Langdon.”
“Good morning, Mel,” he answered back with what was probably a goofy-looking grin. As his gaze shifted over to Santos, his expression became flat, and with a small pause, he acknowledged her, “Dr. Santos.” He watched Santos roll her eyes and look at him like he made her sick. He guessed her opinion of him had certainly not changed overnight. He remembered that Dr. Al Hashimi had encouraged him to work it out with her; he guessed that was something he needed to work on today, especially if she and Mel were now friends.
As he walked away to join the day shift group for morning hand-offs, he wondered what Mel and Santos could have possibly had to talk about. If he had to pick two people in the Pitt who seemed so diametrically opposed, it would be those two. The perfect example was their responses to his attempt to make amends. Mel had been stoic and sweet, telling him that he had never let her down. She had been so excited to work with him and asked him not to leave. It all had resulted in Frank walking into work, looking for her golden-blonde braid and bright smile, as if they were a lifeline.
Santos, on the other hand, had not accepted his apology. Not that he really blamed her. He had been an asshole to her, yelled at her in front of her coworkers, and sought to discredit her with Robby. None of it had been personal; she had just been too aware, and she had noticed everything that he had been trying to hide. His fear had consumed him that day, causing him to act out. He recalled what Santos had said when he attempted to apologize, that she wanted him to tell people the truth of what he had done, that he had stolen drugs and gotten kicked out of the ED. That was the truth that only a select few seemed to know.
He felt that familiar coil of fear rise in him as he thought about Santos and Mel. When he had apologized to Mel, he had admitted his addiction, but he had not fully come clean about the events of that day, 10 months ago. She had been remarkably understanding when he admitted his addiction, but would her response change if she knew all the gory details? Would she look at him in disgust if she knew the truth? Would she no longer want him to teach her, want to be his friend? He had to admit that the idea of Mel avoiding him hurt a lot. He assured himself that it was just because she had been so supportive, while everyone else looked at him like he was a pariah. He sighed and resolved that there was nothing he could really do in this situation but try to keep his head down and do the work.
The day shift doctors and nurses gathered for morning rounds with Dr. Shen and Dr. Ellis, ready to collect the patients from the night shift crew. Mel had walked up to the group with Santos on one side and Whitaker on the other. He found himself standing on the outer edge of the group, thinking he could just settle into the background. “Just need a nice, calm, drama-free day,” he thought. He watched as Mel broke away from Santos and Whitaker and came to stand beside him.
She leaned toward him and whispered, “I’m glad you came back.”
Frank could not stop the smile from coming back as he leaned down to whisper, “Me too.” Of course, that smile faltered a little when he looked up and saw that his eyes met Santos’ and her eyes looked like they would like to see him burned at the stake.
…
Santos would never say it aloud, but she was definitely still reeling from all the events of the previous day as she had walked into the Pitt that morning. Hell, if you had suggested to her even two days ago that she would have spent an evening singing karaoke with Dr. Melissa King and ended up crashing on her couch, she would have asked you what drugs you had consumed. In one pivotal day, she had seemingly lost her situationship with Garcia, her best friend/roommate had disappeared to the boonies to play Farmer’s Only with Amy, the widow and her baby…again, and the one attending that she trusted was off on his motorcycle, who knows where, and she had no idea when he was coming back.
She remembered how she had woken up on Mel’s couch to the sounds of Mel getting ready for work. The sounds of a fridge opening and closing from the kitchen area. She found that Mel had washed and folded her scrubs. They were sitting on the coffee table waiting for her. How on earth had she found time to do that? Santos had barely been awake when Mel had offered to bring her back to her apartment to crash. Not to say she was ungrateful, it would definitely be better if she showed up for her shift today in clean scrubs instead of smelling like the sweat and exhaustion of the previous shift. As she sat up, Mel walked into the living room with a smile. “I was just about to come wake you up. I’m pretty much ready to go if you want to take a quick shower and change.”
“You washed my scrubs?”
“Yeah, I threw them in the washer after you went to sleep and then put them in the dryer when I woke up.”
“It’s 6:00 AM!” Santos responded, “Did you even have time to sleep?”
Mel looked down sheepishly, “I never really need much sleep. I’m lucky to get 4-5 hours a night.”
Santos just shook her head and wondered what planet Mel King came from, but supposed she should just be happy to have someone who would do her laundry for her when she passed out. “You’ll make someone a great wife someday, Mel,” she chuckled as she headed for the bathroom to shower and prepare for the day.
About 20 minutes later, after a very quick shower and a change back into her freshly clean scrubs. Mel had driven them both to work in Santos’ car. “Do you not have a car, Mel?” she asked. Remembering how the night before, Santos had been the one to drive them to the karaoke bar.
“No, I usually take the bus,” Mel answered. “I had a car in med school, but it was a clunker, and when it died, I figured I could wait until after my residency to replace it. Most of my money goes to paying for my sister’s care and my student loan debt. You wouldn’t believe how expensive it is for an adult residential facility that specializes in independent living for people with autism and disabilities.” She suddenly stopped and looked over at Santos.
“Why did you stop talking?” she asked.
“I tend to ramble, and people stop listening,” Mel answered flatly. “I wasn’t sure if I was talking too much.”
Santos found that her brain began to remember all the times she had been short with her over the last 10 months, cutting her off or walking away when she was speaking. Suddenly, she felt like a giant asshole. “You’re not talking too much,” she had assured her. “I promise, I will tell you if that happens.”
She noticed that as Mel returned her focus to the road, she had a big smile and continued. “I had a lot of fun last night. I’m glad we can be friends.”
“Me too,” Santos had responded, with not even a touch of sarcasm.
Seeing just how happy Mel was in the morning was still a bit jarring. As someone who struggled to remember a time in her life where someone would have described her the way she saw Mel, it was almost unnerving. Honestly, though, it was a little refreshing to see someone who did not look like they were walking into a literal pit as they crossed into the employee area of the PTMC emergency department. She had linked her arm with Mel’s as they walked in, and her only response had been to smile.
Of course, any residual happiness that she was absorbing by being in Melissa King’s orbit was in jeopardy when the first face they saw in the locker area was Langdon. She heard Mel’s bright and cheerful voice beside her call out, “Good Morning, Dr. Langdon.”
Santos could not stop herself from rolling her eyes as Langdon had smiled right back at her and wished her a good morning, but when his expression went flat as he turned to acknowledge her, she had not expected anything else. If anything, part of her wondered if the only reason he bothered was that she was linked arm in arm with Little Miss Sunshine. Whitaker walked up as Langdon moved away and also seemed genuinely surprised at Santos’ new friendship.
As Mel moved to open her locker and put away her backpack, Santos turned to Whitaker, “How’s the farm, Huckleberry?” Whitaker just mumbled that it was fine and continued putting away his stuff. As the three of them had joined the group for morning rounds, Whitaker stood beside Santos silently, and she watched as Mel walked away to stand by Langdon. What was the deal with those two? She wondered. She could see that they were leaning towards each other, talking in whispers. Did Langdon tell Mel about why he had been absent all these months? She tried to put him out of her mind and focus as Shen and Ellis rattled off the current status and pending treatments for the patients coming onto her service. Yeah, today was going to be another long day…she could feel it.
…
A few hours into the day, Santos would admit that this new friendship with Mel did have some big benefits. Not only was Mel a good doctor, but she was more than willing to present patients to the Senior Resident, aka Dr. Fuckface himself. When Trinity had wanted to present a case regarding Dyspnea and back pain in a 24-year-old man to Dr. Al Hashimi, and she was busy, she had asked Mel for her opinion. Then, when Mel had reviewed the differential with her and agreed with her assessment, she had presented it to Dr. Langdon while Santos stood by silently. “Good work, Dr. Santos,” he had commented at the end as he walked away. There was probably something a little wrong with her that she almost wanted him to argue with her, fight her; this kicked puppy thing was throwing her off. She tried to shrug it off and focus; she had enough to worry about with keeping up on her charts. She was back to using Dr. Hashimi’s generative AI app, but still had to spend time checking and reviewing it for errors. She did not know how Mel seemed to be finished and ready to leave every shift, right after the hand-offs to the night shift were completed.
She saw Mel typing away at a workstation and pulled up a chair next to her to start reviewing charts. While she read through the AI-generated responses, Mel asked her how her day was going. “Uhh, I’m doing ok. Just glad I have not had to see Garcia yet.”
“Ohhh, so… problems with you two?”
Santos laughed and realized Mel definitely did not have this girl talk thing down. “Yeah, I guess we just wanted different things.”
“I’m sorry,” Mel said softly. “That must be hard.”
Santos was starting to feel that old discomfort with her emotions. It was on the tip of her tongue to throw out a sassy, sarcastic comment. It was almost instinctual for her to deflect away from anything real and sensitive about herself. She had learned from a young age that her emotions could be seen as weakness. Unwanted, the memory of Garcia’s comment in the stairwell played in her mind. ‘Maybe you’re a pariah, because you don’t play well with others.’ Well, this was her chance to change that. It did not hurt that it was almost impossible to imagine being an asshole to Mel; she had been nothing but sweet to her over the last 24 hours. “It’s ok, thanks for coming with me last night to take my mind off it.” She clicked away with the changes to the chart for the patient in North 10. “This is why you and I need to get out there on the apps.” She looked over to see Mel smile.
“I don’t know how much luck I will have; I have never been very good at talking about myself.” When Santos raised her eyebrow, to her credit, Mel laughed. “I mean, I can talk, but I haven’t allowed myself to really think about what I like or what I want in a long time.” She leaned in closer and continued, “You know I told you yesterday about the patient who was hitting on me, that turned out to be a criminal. He asked me what I like to do for fun, and the only thing I could come up with was to spend time with my sister and what she likes to do for fun, like Kennywood and the Zoo.”
“Well, you work on your profile, and I will take a look at it.” She encouraged. “I mean, I may not be able to give the male perspective, but a lesbian perspective has gotta be better than nothing.”
Mel’s face looked a little wary, but she did not reject the idea outright. Santos considered asking Mel about Langdon, just to be interrupted by Dana assigning her a new patient.
Mel watched Trinity walk away with Joy falling in step behind her and thought about what a difference a day seemed to make around here.
…
Langdon had to admit that his confidence had greatly improved from the previous shift. It did not stop the day from dragging on, and he found his eyes watching for Mel and Santos as he worked his way around the department. He knew that he should probably try to have a follow-up conversation with Santos today. Dr. Al Hashimi had found him at one point that morning to ask if he had a chance to clear the air with her yet. He wanted to have at least made another attempt before she had the chance to ask again. As he was finishing up a patient discharge and walking toward the hub, he happened to find himself coming up behind Mel and Santos. He considered walking around them and waiting for a better time, when he could potentially catch Santos by herself, when he heard Santos mention his name. “What do you see in Langdon?” Santos asked.
Mel looked a little caught off guard by the question. “What do you mean?”
“I’m just saying it seems like you get along really well with him. You always look happy to see him. Which surprises me because he is an asshole.”
Mel looked down, “Oh well, he hasn’t been an asshole to me.” The curse word had been spoken in a whisper. “He listened to me and has been nice. He offered to show me how he did that cervical reduction yesterday.”
Santos shook her head, “Fair enough, I guess.” She leaned in and continued, “Just be careful around him.”
Frank felt his spine stiffen and a spike of anger at hearing her tell Mel to be wary of him. To be fair, it was probably not bad advice. He knew that he did not deserve Mel’s defense of him; she had only known him for 2 shifts. Despite knowing he did not deserve it, he appreciated it all the same. He gave a small, audible cough to alert them of his presence and saw Mel and Santos turn quickly. Santos gave him a petulant look of disgust and mumbled something about checking on labs for her patient in South 9 before walking away. Mel gave him another small smile as Santos walked away. He decided to take advantage of the moment alone with Mel and fell into step beside her as she walked. “How is your day going?”
“Oh, um, pretty good,” she answered. “How about you?”
“A lot better than yesterday,” he admitted. “So, you and Santos are hanging out now?”
She looked up at him and answered, “Well, yesterday was pretty rough, and after you left, they came down and told me I have to do my deposition again. Trinity saw me getting upset, and she invited me out to karaoke with her. It was fun.” He could not picture Mel and Santos singing karaoke together. “She stayed over at my apartment last night. So, we came in together this morning.”
“Karaoke with Santos?” he laughed. “I can’t imagine what song you chose to sing.”
“Oh, just one of Nietzsche’s greatest hits, Stronger.”
“That was a joke,” he chuckled. “A good one. I’m impressed, Dr. King.” They had both stopped walking as they approached the hub and he watched as she sat at one of the workstations to catch up on her charts. “I’m sorry about the deposition,” he said as he came to stand at the counter near her. “That seems excessive to have you do it again.”
“I’m trying to not think about it,” she sighed. “I’m just always so scared that someone will question my abilities as a doctor. I have given up so much to do this; it’s all I have ever wanted to do.” She looked up again and met his eyes, smiling as she found that he was just standing there listening to her. Then, as if a cloud had descended over her, he watched as she squeezed her arms tight to her body and looked away from him.
It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to help. He had to be crazy. Between working, NA meetings, random piss tests, and trying to see his wife and kids, he certainly did not need to take on any extra tasks. But, he could not deny that, as he saw the smile slide from her face and the way she squeezed her arms tight to her body, that he wanted to help. His thoughts were interrupted as Dana called out for an incoming trauma. “Want to join this with me?” he asked her. Suddenly, the smile was back, and she followed him out to the ambulance bay.
…
Mel sat in the break room and knew that she should go home. It was past 8:00 PM, and there was no reason for her to stay, her charts were done, and her cases had been handed off to the night shift. She pulled out her phone and saw the icon for the Hinge app that Santos had downloaded on her phone the night before. Then she clicked on the Notes app and started making a checklist
Things to do for myself
- Make new friends and spend time outside work
- Find a local event that interests me and attend
- Watch a movie that I want to see, with or without Becca
- Go on a Date
She paused and thought of Becca, and how in their face time during her first day, she had urged Mel to find someone to kiss, before adding number 5.
5. Find someone to kiss
She closed the app and stood up. She considered calling Becca, but she was not sure if she was ready to have that talk yet. She knew ultimately her response to the Adam situation was not the right one. It was still second nature for her to see Becca as someone who needed her help and protection, not as an independent sister. Maybe, if she could do more for herself and get some mental space, she would be better able to handle the changing dynamic.
The air was still warm as she walked out into the ambulance bay and started off towards the bus stop around the corner. She pulled her AirPods from her pocket and started to put them in her ears for the walk when she felt a hand grab her arm. The shock caused her to spin away, and she was certain she was about to crash into the sidewalk when a strong pair of hands caught her and held her up.
“Oh man, sorry I didn’t mean to scare you,” Frank called out. Her hands were still down at her sides, while he held her arms. She stood up straight and looked down at his hands. He followed her gaze and quickly let go. “I called your name, you must not have heard me. Where are you going?”
"I’m heading home,” she responded with a bit of confusion. “Oh no, did I forget something?”
“No, I was on my way to my car, and I saw you walk past the garage. Where did you park?”
“Oh-, I uh - don’t have a car right now. I usually take the bus. The bus stop is around the corner from here.”
“Not tonight, you’re not. I can take you home.”
“Oh, no, really, that’s really nice of you, but I’m sure you need to get home.”
Frank thought about the comment; it was true, he could rush home. He could let her take the bus just like she probably had every night for the last 10 months when he was not around to play white knight. Something about rushing home to spend silent hours with Abby while they continued not to talk about anything important did not sound all that appealing. “I promise, it’s fine. You can’t live that far away. Let me take you home.”
Mel realized this was a fight she probably would not win, and honestly, the idea of being able to get home in 10 minutes instead of 30 on a city bus sounded too good to pass up. It also did not hurt that she would be driven home by the object of her silly little schoolgirl crush. “Ok, thank you.”
Mel followed him into the garage, thinking about what kind of car he drove. The black SUV looked comfortable. As she slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt, she took note of the two car seats in the back. ‘That’s right,’ she thought. ‘You are giddy about a married man with two small children driving you home. How silly.’
Frank started the car and asked for her address to put into his GPS. She did not know what to say; luckily, Frank was the first to speak. “So, no Becca tonight?”
“Not tonight, she is spending most nights at the facility, but I usually pick her up on Fridays for movie night.”
“What kind of movies do you like to watch?”
Oh, if only she could answer that question, what kind of movies did she like? She found herself giving the standard answer when asked this question. “When it’s a movie night with Becca, she usually likes to watch the same ones over and over. She is recently very obsessed with Elf.” She looked down at her hands as they gathered in her lap. “I think I should probably make a list of movies to watch when I’m by myself. I’m sure there are so many good movies I have not seen.”
“I could probably suggest some classics, I mean, you have to see the Rocky movies, or they might kick you out of Pennsylvania.”
Her hands moved from her lap, and she smiled again. “Even I have seen Rocky.”
“I guess I will have to give you a list of my favorites to get you started.” Mel’s eyes rose and met his gaze.
The silence crept back between them, but Mel was brave enough to be the one to break it this time. “I meant to ask you about a patient from yesterday. Did you work on the re-enactors from Fort Pitt?”
“Yeah. I told them how my parents used to take me there when I was a kid. It was very cool. Reminds me that I need to take Tanner and Penny at some point.”
“You like history?” she said with surprise. Somehow, she had imagined him as an athletic type.
“Big history nerd here, do I not seem like the type?”
“Me too,” he could see the excitement on her face. “I had been asking about the re-enactors yesterday. I was asking McKay and Santos if they knew who had treated them. I was going to ask about how often they get together. I mean, it sounds silly, but I took a school trip when I was little to Colonial Williamsburg, and it was a lot of fun.” The conversation came to a halt as he pulled up to Mel’s apartment building. “This is me. Thank you again for the ride.”
Frank craned his neck to take in the three-floor apartment building on what seemed like a nice, quiet little street. “Hey, wait,” he called as she had started to open the door. “Give me your phone.” She unlocked her phone and handed it to him. “I’m going to put my number in here. Text me if you ever need a ride.” She then heard his phone ping with a text notification. “Now, I have your number too.”
Mel just hoped that if she was blushing, it was not easy to see in the dark car. As she took her phone back, she saw that he had made his contact “Captain Scurvy 🦜.” She smiled and said, “Good Night, Captain Scurvy,” as she exited the car. She had thought that once the door had closed behind her, he would pull away, ready to get home to his wife and kids, but as she entered the building and made her way upstairs, she saw that it was only after she turned on the light in her living room that his car pulled away from the curb.
…
After a hot shower, she was dressed in her comfortable oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts. Her hair was falling in loose, soft waves past her shoulders. She sat in her bed and pulled out her phone and knew she should focus on her list, but instead just found herself staring at the new Captain Scurvy contact in her phone. She swiped away and opened the Hinge app. So, Trinity had said she would help her if she worked on her profile. Mel found herself answering the questions on the profile page. The first sections were easy, basic information that she was able to fill out quickly. The only one that gave her pause was when it asked about what she was looking for/relationship intent. She settled for looking for a committed relationship/boyfriend.
Then there was a section where she was supposed to pick some prompts to answer. She found herself answering the one about her ideal Sunday, describing lying around in her pajamas reading a book, and thought this is lame. ‘Maybe I need Santos’ help more than I thought.’
She finally went through her camera roll and found a picture from her first day at the Pitt, before she had left her apartment that morning, she had taken a selfie. She posted the picture now and took a second to look at her profile. Yeah, this was not going to work. No hot, eligible guy was clicking on this page. She then took in what she was wearing now. She was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled to her chest. She grabbed the phone and opened her camera, snapping a picture of herself smiling with her hair down. You could see her legs in front of her with the way she was seated. She studied the picture and decided that this was the one, at least for now. She saved her work and then put the phone aside and decided to try to get some sleep
…