Work Text:
Dana slid a cold bottle of water, a little carton of orange juice, and a plate of toast across the workstation.
“You look like shit.”
“Ever the charmer, Dana.”
It was 3am and Jack had been flagging all shift. When he’d walked through the doors of the Pitt at the beginning of shift, ghostly pale, dark circles around his eyes like bruises, Dana had made a mental note to keep an eye. Since then, he’d been quiet and grumpy, working on autopilot it seemed, flitting about between patients with a well-practiced but laboured ease. She’d caught the residents giving him concerned glances as he sniffled and coughed through trauma calls. Twice now she’d caught him slumped over with his head on the desk of the nurses station, eyes squeezed shut. That’s the exact state she found him in now.
“You’re gonna eat this, and drink that, and then take forty-five in the lounge,” she insisted. “I’ll be timing you.”
“Forty-five? I have to get this guy with the appy up to the OR.”
“He’s obviously a surgical patient, let Walsh take it.”
“You know she’s not gonna accept him without a full workup.” Jack rose from his curled over position, blinking blearily against the harsh fluorescent lights of the ER. He swiped a hand under his runny nose and dug the heel of his hand into his eye.
“Not feeling so hot, huh?”
Jack’s response was an unintelligible grumble.
“You boys are going to be the death of me,” Dana sighed, “Robby know you’re sick?”
“No, came on today. I didn’t catch him during changeover.”
“Why are you even on? You’re in no fit state to work.”
“I’m fine-”
“You are decidedly not fine. You’re exhausted, nose is running like a faucet, being short with the interns-”
“It’s a cold-”
“Don’t start a fight you can’t win,” Dana gave him a stern look over the rim of his glasses, “I’m a nurse, you can’t hide an upper respiratory tract infection from me.”
Jack blinked dumbly.
“Come on,” she urged, “up.”
Dana grabbed him by the arm and forced him to stand, forcing the bottle of water and orange juice into his empty hands.
“I can’t just take a forty-five minute break in the middle of shift,” Jack protested, but followed her lead as she pulled him towards the lounge by the arm.
“I’m not gonna say the ‘q’ word, but we’re doing okay so far,” Dana countered, nodding up at the admittedly (and rarely) under-control board. “We can lose you for a little while you take a nap, you’re not that indispensible,” she bumped his shoulder with hers, winking.
Jack huffed a laugh and shook his head, smiling bashfully.
Dana ushered him into the lounge and onto the couch there, turning out some of the lights and placing the toast within his reach. She took the water and juice from him and opened them both, pressing the plastic straw into the juice carton and holding it up to his face like a mom coaxing a petulant toddler.
“I’ll be right back,” she squeezed his shoulder comfortingly, nudging the toast towards him. “Make a start on that, and don’t you dare go anywhere.”
Jack rolled his eyes but relented, taking a tentative sip of juice. “Yes, ma’am.”
She quickly retrieved a blanket and pillow from the linen store, stopping a handful of the rest of the staff on her way to let them know the lounge was out of bounds for the forseeable. When she returned, Jack was nibbling tentatively at the corner of a piece of toast, wearing an unsure and mildly nauseous expression on his face.
“Having a problem getting that down?”
“Just not hungry.”
“Alright, honey,” Dana took the plate from him and got to work setting up the pillow and blanket. “Here you go.”
He shuffled back and lay down on his side, shoes and scrubs and all, letting her drape the blanket over him as he sniffled wetly.
“Okay?” Dana smiled at him, tucking the blanket over his shoulders as he curled his fingers around it.
“Yeah,” he replied drowsily. His eyes were already drooping, but he found the energy to meet hers and gift her a grateful look. “Thank you.”
She held up a timer on her phone. Forty-five minutes, as promised. Jack scoffed, sleepily digging a knuckle into his eye as he yawned.
“No less than that,” she commanded, “and don’t even think about trying to sneak out. I have eyes everywhere.”
“Mmkay,” Jack sighed, eyes slipping closed, unable to defeat Charge Nurse Evans’ persistence.
“Get some rest. I’ll hand off that appendix to Shen,” she whispered, knowing he wouldn’t be able to fully rest until he knew his patients would be dealt with.
Dana brushed his hair back from his forehead briefly, before leaving him in peace, trusting the buzzing of the overhead lights and distant beeping of alarms lull him to sleep.