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The shift at the PTMC had been gurelling, the Pitt had been packed with people. Robby and Collins had been bitchy all day, Frank was still gone, Dana was on vacation, replaced by Antonia, a nice, but not as motherly charge nurse. Santos was getting on her nerves, Whittaker had gotten an ungodly amount of bodily fluids on him during the shift, Javadi was the only one that seemed to be in a normal mood that day. Cassie’s ankle monitor had kept going off what felt like every half hour, Mohan was quicker than usual, but still too slow for such a busy day.
Patients had been shouting at her all day, one had tried to throw poop at her, one had tried to pee on her, someone had spit her in the face, someone else tried to bite her, the same patient had bitten her later on in the shift. Luckily the bite had not been deep, it had not even breached the skin, but still. People dying, hysterical parents, it was all just horrible and then shift change came. The saving grace of the day, shift change, the thing she had been looking forward to since around lunch time. Even shift change had not gone smoothly, it had taken forever and had been delayed, instead of leaving the Pitt at seven like she had planned to, she had left the Pitt at nine thirty. To put it lightly the day had been shit and she felt like she might actually break down if anything else happened.
Now leaning against the closed door of her apartment she closed her eyes, dreading to glance at the laundry basket by the door, she would have to get the washing done sooner rather than later, Jack probably too tried to do anything except fall into bed and sleep like a rock after the double shift he pulled due to severe understaffing in the ED. Though as she pried her eyes open she glanced at the laundry basket, it was empty, the feeling of relief and adoration for her partner settling in her stomach as she began to peel off the scrubs. Putting the dirty clothes into the bin she slowly moved into the kitchen, the soft smell of spices floating over to her. Jack stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, his arms folded over his chest as he stared at the pot sitting on the stove.
“Jack?” she muttered softly, it was chilly when she was only walking around in her underwear, but she really did not want to go to the bedroom at that moment. She wanted to check what he was doing before she got dressed.
“Hm?” he looked up from the pot, a soft expression on his face. Juno lay by his foot, beside the crutches, the malinois looking at her with big brown eyes, his ears turned in her direction. “Hey, baby,” a soft smile on his lips, the deep creases beneath his eyes showing that he probably had not slept after coming home from the double shift.
“Hey,” she stepped into the kitchen, Juno’s tail beginning to wag as he looked at her, like he wanted to charge at her and jump into her arms.
“Go,” Jack said softly, she knew that it was directed at Juno who got up right away, beginning to lick her legs as she stepped towards the sink to wash her hands. “I guess I should not ask how the shift was?” Jack asked softly as he ran a hand down her back.
Shaking her head she hummed softly, drying her hands and beginning to scratch the fur behind the dog’s ears.
“Please don’t,” she muttered as she looked into the pot, it looked like the eggplant tikka masala Jack loved to make, the smell heavenly as she finally felt how bone tired she was. Pressing a quick kiss to Jack’s lips she sighed.
“Go shower,” Jack hummed as he kissed her shoulder, his eyes finding the imprint of teeth on her arm as she hummed softly. Juno followed her into the bathroom, the tapping of his paws relaxing.
She was not sure how long it took her to shower and get dressed but by the time she walked back into the kitchen, Juno still following her, Jack had plated the food and taken a seat at the kitchen table. Falling into the chair she scooted forward a bit, making some room for the malinois, patting the space behind her the dog jumped onto the chair, putting his head on her shoulder.
“You know you are spoiling him,” Jack mumbled as he began eating the food, a spoon loaded with food going into his mouth as he looked at her with a fond expression.
“I know, but my back hurts and he is so warm and cuddly,” she mumbled softly as she nuzzled her head into the fur of the dog who simply pushed back gently. Jack hummed at that, continuing to chew as she also started to eat.
“You didn’t sleep,” it was a simple observation, simply pointing it out to him as they ate together.
“Woke up every half an hour or so,” Jack muttered, “Thought I might be productive if I can’t sleep” he hummed softly as he stared at his plate.
“What did you do?” she asked, knowing that sometimes it was good for Jack to tell her what he did around the house, to make his inner voice shut up, the voice that kept telling him that he was not productive enough, not good enough.
“Did the laundry, changed the bedding, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, mopped, went out for a run with Juno, made dinner,” he paused, “made a second dinner because I brought the couple next door the first dinner,” he sighed. The couple next door just had a baby and they were massively overwhelmed, she thought that it was sweet that Jack brought them something. “Helped Rose-Marie carry up the groceries to her apartment and had some tea with her,” Jack recounted the events of the day, “Oh and the kids from 78?” he sounded unsure if the two children were actually from apartment 78, but she nodded, knowing exactly who he was referring to. “They came by and wanted to pet Juno”
She nodded, a small smile on her lips as she imagined Juno laying on his mat, the two boys sitting beside him, carefully scratching behind his ears. Their mother was always very careful when it came to Juno and dogs in general, but the two boys loved dogs more than anything. The first time the twin brothers had spotted Jack, her and Juno they had practically ripped themselves from their mother’s hands and had stormed towards them, still asking politely if it was okay to pet Juno.
As she ate she nodded, smiling as Juno simply continued to rest his head on her shoulder, not fuzzing around. Jack looked like he was about to fall asleep over his plate as he looked a bit sad.
“Rose-Marie told me that her son died last weekend,” Jack sounded a bit chocked. It made her want to cry, they had met Rose-Marie’s son a few times, a nice man about Jack’s age, healthy and fit.
“Oh no! How horrible! Does she need anything?” she asked, trying to keep her calm. It was hard being confronted with your own mortality in your job, but when you come home and are confronted with it again it is much worse.
“She told me that it would be nice if we might take her along on our walks with Juno, she is thinking about getting a dog herself. Told her that she should not get a malinois, but she said that she already knew that she wanted a miniature pinscher, a breed she and her late husband had owned back in the day,” Jack looked like he was about to start crying as he put the spoon on the now empty plate.
“He just had a heart attack,” he sounded so disconcerted that it broke her heart, “Out of nowhere, in the middle of the night, his wife said that he didn’t think anything of it, that he just went back to sleep and didn’t wake up again the next morning.” Jack’s hands were shaking slightly.
“Jack,” her voice was kind, but firm. “You are spiraling again,” it was an observation, just like it had been when she had told him that he had not slept. Her therapist had told her that it was important for her to tell Jack these things outright. “You haven’t slept in over 36 hours and you are exhausted,” she spoke softly.
“I know, it’s just-” he cut himself off, “You are right,” he ran his hands over his face, an exhausted goran leaving his lips. Juno jumped off the chair, walking around the table, starting lick Jack’s arms.
“You are right, big boy,” Jack hummed, his hands finding the soft fur of the dog, gently scratching his neck.
“Hey!” she sounded fake hurt, laughing softly as she finished her food, picking up both her’s and Jack’s plates to put them in the dishwasher.
“You know I wasn’t talking about you,” Jack huffed, sounding fake annoyed as he got up from his seat. She turned around to look at him for a long moment. Carefully wrapping her hands around his face she began smoothing out the lines of worry from his cheeks and forehead.
“I love you,” she whispered softly as she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. Jack wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer, her hands leaving his face to wrap around his middle.
“I love you too,” he muttered, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck, pressing a soft kiss to the skin there. For a moment they stayed like this, arms wrapped around each other. Standing in silence as they felt each other’s warmth. Her hair was still wet from the shower she took, Jack smelled like the unscented soap and his shampoo, the clothes smelling like the laundry detergent they had been using for the entire time they had lived together.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” she muttered softly. Letting go of Jack, taking his hand as they walked towards the bedroom together. Juno followed them as they turned off the lights in the entire apartment. Finally after what felt like hours they climbed into bed together, the room was cool, Jack hating it if it was too warm. She also slept better if the room was on the colder side, climbing into bed and under the blanket she let out a low sigh of relief as the light fabric hit her tired body, closing her eyes for a moment. Jack snuggled into the blanket behind her, his arm wrapped around her waist as he gently pressed a few kisses to her neck. As she opened her eyes again she saw Juno sitting in front of her, his head tilted to the side.
“Yeah, come on, Juno,” she patted the mattress, the malinois jumping onto the bed, curling up against her stomach, letting out a content huff as he put his head on her thigh.
“That dog loves you a lot more than me,” Jack muttered, a soft laugh escaped her. Jack had been the one who had the idea to get a dog, he had been the one to pick out Juno from the litter, name him and they had trained the dog together, though for some odd reason Juno had taken a better liking to her than to her partner.
“Maybe we need to get a second dog,” she hummed as she turned her head slightly, looking into Jack’s eyes.
“Good idea, what breed are you thinking?” Jack hummed as he pressed a few gentle kisses to her lips.
“Not sure, what about a German shepard or maybe a flat coated retriever?” she suggested. Knowing that Jack would want to go for another high energy breed.
“Oh, a flat coated sounds good, but I think if we want a second dog we should think about getting a bigger place,” he hummed as he gently brushed some hair from her face.
“Jack, we have been talking about getting a bigger place for ages. I think that should be a commitment we make before a second dog,” she raised her brow at him, agreeing with his statement.
They had wanted to buy a house together and if they decided to get a second dog they might look for one with a bigger backyard than they originally intended.
“I am still not over that farmhouse we looked at,” Jack muttered as he pressed a kiss to her neck.
“Yeah, me neither, but we would have to drive almost two hours to work every day for that,” she hummed softly, trying to keep herself from falling asleep while they talked, her eyelids heavy.
“Yeah, maybe we can find something closer to work,” he hummed in agreement as he nuzzled his face into her neck, for a few moments she tried to keep herself awake in case Jack wanted to continue the discussion.
“Love you, sleep well,” she muttered softly as she felt herself drifting off to sleep. The feeling of her two favourite boys close to her is the best feeling she could have ever hoped for. Gentle tufts of breath hitting her neck.
“Love you too,” Jack murmured as she felt his body going heavy behind her. Juno lifting his head from her legs, simply rolling himself tighter, snuggling against her stomach, another content sigh coming from him.
As she laid there, drifting off to sleep, she knew that no matter how bad the next day might be, the moment she came home to her boys everything would be okay again.