Chapter Text
When the police came back to speak to her, Dr. Langdon had insisted on being in the room. It was a relief to have someone in her corner, someone who clearly understood her. He’d shooed them away as best he could, gave her as much time to decompress and process as possible. But they had questions they needed to ask. She’d have to do her best to answer.
He’d found her, the officers at his back, when they were no longer willing to wait. They’d all four walked solemnly into the family room, Langdon’s hand hovering, not touching, behind her back, guiding her. It was reassuring, but it did strike her as odd. She’d known him all of 12 hours, maybe, nearly a year ago. She’d all but given up on the thought he’d ever come back. But here he was, and it was like he’d never left. There was no reason for his presence to be so reassuring as it was. But it was. These kinds of things very rarely came natural to her. She wondered what rumors were going to spiral about them. She’d all but jumped into his arms at his arrival, and Perlah had squeezed her shoulder when he’d explained away their inside joke. Him insisting on checking her over, and now hovering over her during the police questioning. She wasn’t so naive as people might assume, and she was sure there’d be some rumors. It didn’t matter. She had bigger fish to fry.
The police had told her to go over everything, everything he’d said, everything she’d said, every interaction. She didn’t want to, slightly embarrassed about it all. She searched her mind for the conversation before beginning.
“Um.” She began. She’d skip over rounds, nervous that they’d question why Dr. Langdon had been taken off the case. “He was pretty chatty,” She ran her nails across the fold of her palm, in quick circles, around and around, “He talked about his mom,” She said, pausing, waiting for follow up questions.
“What did he say, exactly, if you can, about her ?” Officer Underhill asked. Mel wondered if he’d ever read the Hobbit. Overhill and Underhill. It sounded like a Hobbit name.
“He said my hair was a pretty color, like she had. And that she wore glasses like me. And that she died when he was 9.” She told them. She could feel Langdon’s eyes looking at her. “He also said he didn’t drink coffee, but that was after he asked me if I drank coffee and I said no. I don't know if that helps at all. He said he liked Boba Tea. ” She said. The cops took notes, nodding their heads, but didn’t speak. “Um. Then I had to see another patient, and when I came back, he asked what I liked to do outside of work. He didn’t say anything else about himself. Then you guys came in and he took off.” She nodded, folding her hands tightly in her lap, indicating that she was done talking.
“How’s your head, by the way,” Officer Freeman asked, when she’d finished writing.
“Dr. Langdon checked me out.” She said. He’d sat quietly next to her, listening intently. He sat a little straighter when she mentioned his name.
“She’ll be okay, long term. One hell of a goose egg, though. And I’ll be monitoring her for any signs of an incoming migraine. Light sensitivity, nausea, that sort of thing.” He said. She looked up at the ceiling, counting the tiles. She was ready for this conversation to be over. She hoped they wouldn’t mention going to court again, “Look at her. Rolling her eyes at me. Doctors are the worst patients.” He continued.
“I’m not rolling my eyes-“ She began to protest, before catching the smile on his face. He was teasing her. Ok. Now she did feel like rolling her eyes. They asked her more questions, about his injury, her treatment of it, the severity of it. Unfortunately he probably wouldn’t need to seek medical attention elsewhere. Eventually, they stopped asking questions, closed their notebooks and stood.
“We’ll let you two know when we catch the guy, alright ?” Said Underhill. Mel nodded, and Langdon stood from his spot next to her. He stretched, arms above his head, and the sliver of skin that was exposed when his hem rode up was right at her eyeline. That’s the only reason she looked. The patch of hair she could just make out wasn’t enticing at all. When his shirt came down and her eyes found his face, he was looking at her.
“You okay ?” He asked, holding a hand out to her. She took it gingerly and he pulled her to her feet. She nodded, pulling her arms to her chest, wrists crossed and hands clasped.
“I don’t like going to court.” She said.
“Me either,” He said. She looked at him, puzzled, before he spoke again. “I’m- don’t tell anyone else, but, I’m in the middle of getting divorced.” He said.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Her arms loosened against her. She untangled herself to gently put a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She said. It was partially true. She was sorry her new friend was going through something so upsetting. A sneaking, deceitful,shameful part of her lit up with a spark of hope, but she quickly extinguished that. It was a bad thing to feel. She was learning a lot about her friend Dr. Langdon today. “I had to- When my parents died, I had to fight pretty hard to keep Becca with me,” Her hand was off his arm again, snaking its way back to its prior position. “They wanted to put her in a state run home, I was 19, so I guess they felt she’d be holding me back, or something.” She chewed her lip as she paused, thinking about her deposition, thinking about Liam, the cops, going to a courthouse again. “It just makes me anxious.” She said. He nodded along, listening.
“You wanna sit in the break room for a bit, grab a snack ?” He asked, leading her out of the family room and pausing at the break room door. She chewed her finger nail for a moment before shaking her head.
“No, I really just. I’d like to get back to work, I think.” He nodded, then his eyes flitted over her shoulder, she turned to see Santos coming up behind her.
“Hey ! Mel…” She trailed off, undoubtedly looking for a comedic way to finish her name, “Melisma. That’s not a good one, anyway, uh,” She paused, and Mel’s stomach twisted up in knots. Something about the way Santos was looking at her meant bad news. Was it about her deposition, one of her patients ? Something was wrong. “Your sisters here, I think.” She said, stepping to the side, gesturing towards chairs.
“Becca ?” She said. She hadn’t even thought to worry about this. She started walking with Santos and Langdon on either side.
“Rebecca King, 28 year old female with autism,” Santos said. Mel nodded.
“Becca.” She said. That was Becca.
“She’s ok,” Santos reassured, “A sprain or something, I think, low on triage but it’s family, so Donnie’s bringing her in.” Mel nodded. Good. The waiting room was awful even for neurotypical people, loud and crowded and filled with unpleasant sights, sounds and occasionally smells. Becca was with Donnie, not sitting out in that sensory hell. And non emergent. Good.
“I’ve got her,” Langdon said, and Mel realized she’d taken hold of his arm, rather tightly. She loosened her grip. “Did you tell Robby ?” He asked. Santos shook her head.
“I got Mel first.” She said. There was something strange in her demeanor, talking to Langdon. Mel didn’t really care to place it. “I’ll go tell him now.” She said, all but scampering off. Mel watched her go until they crossed into the west section of the ER, and she saw Donnie and Becca. They were standing beside the wall of photos honoring those lost to Covid, and Mel was running before she could stop herself. Her long strides quickly turned to short quick ones, speed walking, so not to surprise or startle her sister.
“Hey. Becca.” She called, when she knew she was close enough. Her sister was smiling, cradling one arm with the other, but smiling.
“Hey Mel !” She returned the greeting, raising one arm for a hug. Mel quickly hugged her sister, pulling back to look at her fully. Langdon was by her side, now.
“What happened ?” She asked, voice shrill in a way it only ever was when someone she loved was hurt.
“We were doing basketball in gym and I fell. It’s mostly ok I think, but they wanted me to come get an X-Ray. And I’d get to see you !” She said, holding the injured wrist out towards Mel. “You have nice coworkers,” Becca said, smiling at Donnie.
“Yea.” Mel agreed.
“Donnie was showing me his baby. She’s very cute.”
“Thank you, Donnie.” Mel said. She often felt she didn’t really fit in with her coworkers, but right now she adored them. She couldn’t be more grateful.
“Anytime, Mel. You can’t technically treat her, on account of she’s family, so who’s it gonna be ?” He asked. Mel’s hand was reaching back towards Langdon before her brain had fully caught up.
“Dr. Langdon.” She said, almost automatically.
“Kinda figured, I think Central 9’s open, but talk to Dana first, alright.” He said, nodding towards the nurses station. Mel nodded and Becca waved as Donnie went back out to triage. The three of them met Dana at the nurses station.
“Who’s this lovely young lady ?” She asked.
“My sister Becca, she fell playing basketball, needs an X-Ray.” Mel explained. “Dr. Langdon’s treating her.” Dana nodded, making a strange face at Langdon. Like she knew something Mel didn’t.
“You can take central 9,” She said, “Let me know if you girls need anything.” Someone called her name, and she was gone. Mel led her sister towards the empty room, Langdon chatting with her amicably.
“I was never good at basketball, I like hockey.” Mel heard him say.
“I don’t like to watch sports, but we play them sometimes,” Becca said. “We don’t play them by the real rules, usually we have our own just for fun.” Langdon nodded along, and Mel’s heart constricted strangely in her chest, like it always did when he was nice. He stepped quickly, pulling in front of Mel to open the door for them. Mel sat on the stool, gesturing for Becca to sit on the bed. Langdon closed the door behind him, shutting off the lights as well. For the second time today, or maybe the third or fourth, who was keeping count, Mel felt fluttery inside. She was trying to squash some of these butterflies, but they were multiplying at an alarming rate.
“Okay, Becca,” Mel said, “This is Dr. Langdon, he’s going to take a look at your wrist, since i’m not allowed to,”
“You like him ?” Becca asked, eyeing Langdon only a little bit suspiciously.
“Yes.” Mel said, maybe too quickly, “He’s a very good doctor. I wouldn’t pick a bad doctor for you.” Becca presented her injured arm towards Langdon, who stepped closer to take a look.
“Is it alright if I touch your arm, Becca ?” He asked. She nodded and he gently examined her wrist. He asked her to wiggle fingers and whether she could feel this and that and if she could hold her chart. Mel watched him, his hair flopping down over his forehead, his lips pulled tightly into a thin line, his tongue just barely peeking out. Becca made a face once or twice, wincing slightly, before trying to catch Mel’s eye. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Mel did not respond, and Becca had the nerve to laugh.
“What’s so funny ?” Langdon asked, lifting his eyes from her wrist.
“You’re just very handsome.” Becca said. Mel loved her sister. Her awful, awful sister. She did. Sometimes she needed to remind herself of this fact.
“Thank you.” He said, smiling with his perfect teeth. “Why is that funny ?” He asked. Becca looked at Mel. Mel sighed. Judging by the twinkle in Becca’s eyes, she was going to say something Mel wouldn’t necessarily approve of.
“You’re Mel’s type.” She declared. Mel’s face was surely red as a stop sign.
“My What ?” She exclaimed, “My Type ? Becca I don’t have a type.” Next time she was injured Becca was being sent to Presby.
“He looks just like Chris Pine, and you said he was so handsome when we watched the Princess Diaries 2.” Becca explained. Mel couldn’t argue that. It was true, she did say it.
“Still.” Mel argued. Her cheeks were painfully warm, and her heart was pounding.
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled, which really wasn’t helping. “I’ll always accept a compliment.” He bounced on the balls of his feet, “Anyway, you’ll need an X-Ray, but I’m pretty sure it’s a minor sprain. I’ll grab a splint, and some tylenol for the pain,” He nodded towards Mel, who walked with him towards the door. He was smiling, bouncing giddily.
“I’ll go grab the splint and put the order in for the X-Ray, I’ll tell them it’s family,” He said. He was still smiling. It was the most smiling she’d seen from him all day, “I really do have to get back out to triage,” He deflated a little bit, before winking at her. “I’ll see you around, though.” Then he was gone. Mel’s face might be a new shade of red, one previously unknown to man. She turned to her sister slowly, feet otherwise rooted to their spot.
“I get to pick the movie tonight.” She said, voice stern. She held up one finger, pointing at her sister, the other hand balled and resting against her hip.
“You’re not mad at me.” Becca said, still smiling infuriatingly.
“We’re not watching Elf.” She said.
“Okay. You can pick Lilo and Stitch.” Becca conceded, laughing.
“I might even pick a different movie.” Mel threatened.
“The Lion King.” Becca guessed. “Or Lady and The Tramp.” Mel sat on her stool, spinning around dramatically, turning her back on her sister and crossing her arms. She did not want to admit she was as predictable as she was. But Becca had taken the words out of her mouth. After a few seconds, Mel spun again, turning back to face her sister.
“What’s getting an X-Ray like ?” Becca asked. Mel explained the process to Becca.
“That doesn’t sound scary.” Becca said. Mel shook her head.
“It’s not.” She shook her head, “They probably won’t let me go up with you though. But they’ll take you all the way there and tell you what to do, it’ll be easy.” She assured. Becca nodded.
When they came to take her for her X-Ray, Mel wandered out of the room behind her, and waved as she was wheeled away. She closed her eyes tightly, manually shrinking the pit that was growing in her stomach whenever her sister was away. She’d be ok. She was fine.
“So.” Santos’ said, Mel turned to find her directly behind her. “You missed a pretty cool fasciotomy.” She said. Mel hummed, scanning the room for something to do. “But,” Santos said, stepping into Mel’s line of sight again, “I have a foreign body removal I'd be willing to give you.” Mel’s eyebrows cinched together.
“What part of the body is the foreign object in ?” She asked. Santos rolled her eyes.
“I’ll give you three guesses.” She smiled. Mel frowned.
“No thanks. I’ll find something on the board.” Mel tried to step around her, but once again, Santos stepped into her line of sight.
“How’s your sister ?” She asked.
“She’s good. Just a sprain, Dr. Langdon took care of it.” Mel wasn’t sure what Santos was trying to get from her, she had a feeling there was an ulterior motive of some sort, but she couldn’t quite catch it.
“Yea, I noticed. You and Langdon seem pretty close, huh.” The words sounded like a question, but her inflection made it sound more like a statement, “What’s the deal with you two ?” She asked.
“Deal ?” Mel brought one finger to her mouth to chew on. She didn’t like this conversation. “There’s no deal. He's my friend. We’re friends.” Mel wanted to get back to work.
“Did you guys see each other outside of work ? While he was away ?” She asked. Oh. Mel suddenly noticed Princess sitting not far off at the nurses station. She’d predicted rumors may spread about her closeness with Langdon, Santos was looking for intel. Mel shook her head.
“No.” She said.
“So it was just that one shift, like a year ago.” Santos continued.
“Ten months ago.” Mel corrected. “I’d like to get back to work, please.” Mel said, trying to step away. Santos put her hands up, smiling.
“Right, right. I don’t mean to interrogate you Mel-on.” She said, stepping away.
“Melon ?” Mel asked.
“It was supposed to be like felon, since you were talking to the cops. Didn’t really work out, ignore it.” Santos shot off some finger guns before turning on her heel and trotting away. She hadn’t taken two steps towards the board before Dr. Robby was stepping towards her.
“Dr. King,” He started, voice just a bit too loud for how near he stood, “Heard your sister was here.” He said, hand cradling the back of his neck, “and that you took quite a spill.” He continued. Mel nodded.
“Technically I was pushed.” She corrected.
“Bad day for the King sisters, huh.” She nodded again. She didn’t want to brush Robby off, but she did want to get back to work.
“It wasn’t so bad. Dr. Langdon helped Becca, which was really nice.” Maybe she could help break the ice that was still between the two men, chilling Dr. Robby’s demeanor towards him so much, “He’s getting a shining patient satisfaction score from her, I’m pretty sure.” She smiled brightly at her attending. “He checked me out, too, after I fell, and cleared me to get back to work, if I wanted,” She gestured towards the board behind him, “Which I want to.” She said, trying to step around him. He took a step back, staying in front of her as she tried to move forward.
“He’s been very attentive towards you today,” He said. Mel crinkled her brow. Santos gossiping with Princess and Perlah was common place, it was to be expected, but Dr. Robby implying there might be something going on was a touch too far for Mel, today.
“I suppose.” She snapped, taking a large step around him and not stopping until she was at the nurses station looking up at the screen board. She felt like a teenager, bickering with her father, which made her very sad. She was having a bad day as it is, and now no one seemed to want to leave her be.
“All I meant was-“ He started, at her side yet again.
“Dr. Robby, please.” She said, with more desperation than she’d intended, “I’m fine.” She’d said it a hundred times today already, and it’d been a lie every single one of them. She needed to get back to work. Something to take her mind off the looming deposition, off of Becca getting an X-Ray, off of every other awful thing happening today. “I just want to get back to work.” Her voice sounded tired, even to her own ears, and Robby must’ve seen it in her eyes, because he smiled softly at her. Sometimes he did remind her of her father. Her eyes started to sting, just a little bit, and she really hoped he couldn’t see any tears welling up.
“Yea, ok.” He leaned towards her, clapping a large hand on her shoulder before walking off. She looked back up at the board, trying to find something that she could do. Perlah handed her a plastic water bottle, smiling at her.
“Thank you.” She said softly. As much as they gossiped she did like Perlah and Princess. They were nice. After a minute reading the board, she found something interesting enough to distract her but, hopefully, not so long that she’d have to hand off before leaving for her deposition. She headed happily towards North 3.