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“hey socks? i thought you said you had a surgery tonight.”
you could hear footsteps come up and a presence behind you on your left.
the kids in the wing loved spencer, but more specifically, his socks. always different colours or patterns, he always had something interesting going on.
“i do, the last time i checked. i’ve been waiting for nathan glover to wake up before i go into the OR though.”
his focus was entirely on the board but yours was entirely on him.
he didn’t seem to care, nor notice but what he would let you know was that your lingering gaze was reciprocated.
you wouldn’t say this about anymore else — actually it wasn’t that you wouldn’t say this about anyone else, but instead it was only applicable to him — but somehow the artificial, fluorescent lights made him look even better. better sleep deprived, better tired, even better now at 1:32 am.
“don’t worry about it. if he doesn’t wake up before then, i’ll stay with him.”
“you’d do that?” his eyes lit up.
“yea, of course. it’d be my honour looking after him.”
“you really don’t know how much it means to me,” he smiled a slightly crooked smile that sat perfectly on his face. his hands went to play with each other. “i could pay you back sometime — with coffee or dinner maybe?”
“i’d love that,” you could feel a heat rise to your cheeks as you looked back up at him. “so so much.”
“cool- awesome!- just, uh, text me,” he shoots finger guns at you as he walked away. spencer could feel the pink rushing to his cheeks as he sped away, embarrassed to be caught with a face full of blush.
your heart fluttered and for a second you thought it might’ve grown wings and risen from your chest.
but your heart’s plan to rise and fly away was shot down by the growing commotion in the hallway.
derek came barreling down the hallway, stopping when he saw you.
“y/n, we got a kid with a leg that might need to be amputated — we need you right now.”
shit shit shit shit.
you looked around frantically for one of the nurses on duty. “emma! could you look after the patient in room 334 and page me when he wakes up?”
she gave you a nod and you joined derek in jogging down the hall.
“what happened?”
he hurried along and you tried your best to stay on the side of him.
“kid sneaked out to see her girlfriend, fell out the window and broke her leg.”
you sighed. “she’s lucky she didn’t break more, falling from a window.”
“lucky maybe if it wasn’t on the ground floor.”
nurses whizzed past you and your idea of a slow night was ruined. the nurse that came along with you handed you a clipboard full of notes and medical history.
“contusions, fracture,” you muttered under your breath. “derek, did you know about this?”
“about what?”
you showed him the chart, his eyes went wide.
“we gotta tell reid. he’s gonna wanna get in on this too.”
•••
doctor spencer reid, MD, was enjoying a coffee and still basking in the victory of his half arranged coffee date with the pediatric surgeon of his dreams when he received the page. he muttered a curse to himself under his breath before springing to his feet, leaving the coffee to drift to thermal equilibrium.
his long legs hadn’t let him down yet and didn’t now when he bounded through the lobby and into OR prep room. washing his hands and putting on all his individual protective layers, spencer rushed into the OR.
“what’s the emergency?”
slightly out of breath, dr spencer reid, MD, met your eyes.
"i thought you were watching nathan," he trailed off slightly, a bit confused-like.
derek, hands deep in bethany mills' leg, responded. "reid, we needed them and now we need you. i gotta realign the bone, we don't have much time. she was unconscious when the parents found her, she probably passed out from pain. but there's more..."
spencer rushed besides him to the table. "'more'?"
"she has osteoporosis. her bones are extremely weak, we discovered another benign stable fracture on one side of her pelvic bone. we had to bring in the portable x-ray machine,"
"bring me the rod!" derek's voice boomed in the medium sized room, nurses rushing forward with a rolling table with a metal rod and other instruments.
“what do you need my help for then?”
you grabbed him by the shoulders, the sudden contact surprising him a bit.
“reid, you quite literally memorized every single page of every single medical textbook you’ve ever read. you’re the most knowledgeable person on paper that we have. and honestly, my favourite pediatric surgeon -- and i'm a tiny bit worried about dr. frankenstein over there."
“i needs some hands over here!”
your head whipped around from derek back to spencer again, squeamish under your gaze.
“socks, are you ready to dig around in this teenagers leg with me?”
•••
the clock besides bethany mills’ hospital bed read 6:44am.
the room was quiet, birds chirping to signal the coming day outside. the sun peaked over the horizon of virginia, reflecting off the mirrored glass buildings.
bethany was alright. you, derek and reid had time to fix both of her fractures and had instructed her parents to go pick up the prescription of whatever bone strengthening meds the doctors in the pediatric wing had given them.
you watched over her hospital bed, a calm kind of quiet resting on your face.
the slight chill throughout the hospital sent a sudden breeze of cold that seemingly came from nowhere. you crossed your arms over your chest in an effort to barricade the chilly wind from yourself.
a yelp escaped you when a sudden touch on your shoulder alerted you to another's presence.
“sorry-,” reid withdrew his hand, “i just came to see how bethany was doing and to tell you that nathan woke up.”
he seemed proud, his smile wide and dopey. god, he was too cute.
“i’m glad to hear that. i was just waiting for bethany’s parents to get back.”
his hand came to the back of his neck, a small blush forming on his cheeks.
“so, about that date…”