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February 14th, 2026 - Valentine's Day
A metallic red heart shaped balloon floats around the ambulance bay when you come in escaping the cold. Even when working the usual night shift you still make sure to come in early when you can to compensate for the lack of time to pester Dana, it's what you miss most about days and she knows it but won’t admit to missing you too. She's finishing a phone call when you stop by the over decorated counter in central.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Dana. I have a gift for you."
"Is it a raise?"
"Nope, not a raise. Though that'd be nice, wouldn’t it?"
"Then I don't want it, kid."
If your first challenge of the day is getting her to accept your present, so be it.
"Don't be rude. I got you something nice!"
She seems to revaluate and curiosity wins her over. "Alright, what is it?
You hand her the little red paper bag and she immediately digs in to find her mystery present.
"Lipstick? Oh this is sweet, dollface. But I told you that-
"Your favorite shade has been discontinued, I know."
"Exactly, I've been wearing the same shade of red for as long as you've been alive I can't just change it."
"Yes you can! You can't just not wear red anymore. This is my favorite bougie brand and I did my research. It's the most similar shade to the one you liked, it's almost a dupe. Please at least try it on." Come on.
"You're so stubborn." She still gives in. "I don't have a mirror."
"I do!" You take one out of your pocket and hand it to her. "No excuses, go on." You watch her apply the lipstick perfectly.
"There! Are you happy?"
"So happy." You hug her and shake her side to side. "Now we're matching! Do you like it?"
"Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you it's real pretty."
"You look great! It can be your new shade."
"The packaging is cute too, my daughters are going to try and steal it from me. Thanks, kid. This is really sweet." She gives you an actual hug this time.
"Only for you, I'm glad you like it."
"Okay, now beat it. Go put your stuff away." She pushes you towards the lockers.
"Yes, ma'am."
Taking a detour to the staff room to leave a tray of heart shaped chocolate chip cookies for the night shift and remaining day shift workers to enjoy and eye the few other treats and decorations on the walls and the cork board mural. It's all really quite cute.
Heading for the lockers you put your backpack and coat away, doing a quick chocolate box exchange with Mel before she leaves for the day, also having a quick chat with Samira as she rushes in, gets her locker open to get sour candy for you, and gets a bag of her favorite lollipops in return. After that you check in with the remaining dayshift staff in what you can help with before they leave.
Getting back to central just to find Dana missing, you instead find Robby in her place so time to give her a break and pester him this time around. You park yourself next to him leaning on the counter.
"Any fun plans tonight, boss?"
"I told you not to call me that."
"Answer the question, Robinavitch."
He rubs his face already done with you. "No, no plans."
"Come on dude, go home and change then go out! There's still time to find a date."
"Yeah right, I don't really know about that. Don't call me dude either, it's weird, I'm your boss."
"Not anymore! And don't change the subject."
"Leave me alone! Where's Dana or Jack when I need you to bother them instead of me?"
"I don't know where Dana is and Jack is off tonight, you don’t get to run away this time."
He rests his forehead on the counter for a moment, still running away.
"Robby you're a sweet guy and you're hot, trust me, you'll find someone."
He pulls on the ends of his stethoscope looking up for help as if you would stop saying these things. "Kinda late for that right now. Maybe next year."
Dana comes back and rests her hip on the counter on Robby's opposite side as he turns his chair back around.
"You could always go to a bar that has a single's night, those are usually pretty fun."
"Ha! Or disastrously funny." Dana chimes in. "But hey, at least you'd have some gossip for us tomorrow."
"I'm glad my love life is entertaining for you two, but that's not happening."
"Oh come on, you're a great catch, someone will snatch you up in no time and you'll tell us all about it tomorrow, steamy details included." Dana is not letting it go either.
You laugh at his 'I'd rather be anywhere but here face.' "And you’re blushing, ok go on with your last round, I'm sure Myrna is around somewhere with a special gift just for you."
"God, please don’t let that be true."
"Go find someone to smooch, old man!"
"Stop it, you two! I'm just waiting for Shen so I can leave."
You and Dana take advantage of the poor man sitting down with to give each a kiss on his flushed cheeks. Leaving behind blurry red lipstick marks.
"Go get em, Cowboy. Shen's probably on his way. Finish up your stuff. I better get ready to leave too. Lena is getting coffee in the break room, gonna catch her up. You need anything, kid? A coffee?"
"I'm good, go ahead. I brought cookies, take some for the road."
"Will do."
You find a computer to work in the controlled chaos of shift change. People from the morning are leaving with silly smiles on their faces talking about plans and dates, it's sweet.
The central work area is adorned with a bunch of red and pink paper heart chains and bows. Courtesy of one bored Princess and Perlah during a rare break in a dayshift where they had time to do more than eat a snack and gossip. There's a big anatomically correct heart made of sticky notes with all the ED employees' names inside arrowed hearts in red glittery pen ink. Dana is still giving them a hard time over her wasted sticky notes but you saw her taking a picture of it and sending it to her daughters the other day.
A few flower arrangements can be seen around work stations and patient's rooms along stuffed animals. There's a few more rogue shiny red heart balloons floating around a corner after escaping the giant bunch a visitor had to gift his partner who took a fall on ice. Poor thing broke her wrist, she was all dolled up to meet him for their date too.
Suddenly Jack Abbot walks in removing his jacket, you can see him giving the decor a once over. Weird, he wasn’t supposed to be working today. As you turn around to grab a tablet and look back he vanishes.
Dana comes back from the break room and stands close to you with a cupcake in each hand. Someone else brought in more treats after you left the cookies in the lounge. She smudges icing on your nose before giving one to you.
"And I'm the one who pesters you."
"Shush, eat your treat."
"Where's Abbot? I could swear I just saw him."
"I know, me too. I think I'm starting to hallucinate him."
"Down here." You and Dana bend over the counter to see him finish tying his shoe crouched in front of the paper heart. He gets up and removes his backpack.
"What’s up?"
"We should be asking that, weren't you off?"
"Last minute change of plans."
"You need to learn to take a break. Both of you!" She's ready to leave now.
"How would you survive without us?"
"With less grays!"
You pretend to think it over. "Overrated."
"It's a good look, come on!" Jack runs a hand through his hair as if offended.
"Whatever, I'm leaving, see you lovebirds tomorrow."
You watch her leave through the ambulance bay door, turning around to find Jack closer than before, now by your computer beside you.
"Happy Valentine's day." Smug bastard.
"Happy Valentine's day. I thought you weren't working today."
"I wasn't. I'm filling in for Shen."
"What's up with him?"
"He has a date."
"Oh, how sweet of you to step in for him."
"Yeah, I'm sweet like that."
"What’s the catch?"
"Nothing in it for me."
"Just out of the goodness of your heart?"
"What can I say? I'm a generous man and I'm feeling very romantic today."
"Very on theme." Him showing up has absolutely nothing to do with spending time with you, obviously.
"You look nice. I like the red lip." He smiles down at you, still standing too close for comfort for the middle of the ED.
"Robby is probably looking for you."
"Yeah, I bet he is." Like he cares. "I have something for you." Could he not.
"I said no-
"No heart shaped chocolates, and no flowers, I heard you." He then takes a golden box with a red bow from his bag giving it to you and you can't believe his smug smile.
"So you got me a chocolate easter bunny instead?"
"Happy easter?"
"Very cute, Jack Rabbot."
"I know I am."
"Uh huh."
"There's still icing on your nose, come here."
"It's fine, I can clean it."
Robby decides now is the time to come back as you push Jack's hands away from your face. His cheeks still have your kiss marks.
"Decided to work the Valentine's special, brother?"
"Covering for Shen last minute. Forgot to call you on my way here, sorry."
"That's alright, can we go over everything so I can leave in a bit?"
"Sure. Got lucky today huh?" Jack couldn't not give him shit for the red kisses.
"Not sure I follow." Jack points to his cheek and Robby rubs his hand on one side of his face noticing the lipstick smudge on his fingers.
"Oh, so that's why everyone was laughing at me back there. Thanks a lot, kid."
"You're so welcome, Robby."
"I'll be right back. Don't move." He's whisked away by a student before he gets to do handoffs with Jack, leaving you two alone once more.
Jack is back to flirting in no time. "So no kiss on the cheek for me?"
"Maybe later, if you’re lucky."
Jack has his hands over your eyes as he guides you out of the elevator as if where he's taking you is a surprise at all.
"Step into my office for a second will you." He moves one hand as you both reach the last step and push the door open.
"There better not be a helicopter on this roof with a patient for me."
"There isn't. But, if you give me a minute and let me make some calls I can get one here if I lie about our blood supply or something and maybe they’ll take pity on us and fly us the scenic route out of here so we can escape the remaining work hours into the sunrise."
He removes his remaining hand over your eyes watching you take in the spread he set up in a picnic towel in a spot free from snow. Taking a lighter from his pocket he lights the half melted candle he took from the break room birthday stash placed on top of an unopened soda bottle.
"I can't believe you." You shake your head smiling at him.
"You didn’t say anything about a candlelit dinner with a view either."
"Jack!"
"This is the part where you say ‘Wow, this is so romantic you're so sweet, I don't deserve you!’"
"Shut up." You do shut him up with a kiss, seems like his luck found him after all.
"I got you something too." Now what would you have gotten him?
"What about the no presents deal?"
You tried dissuading his advances before learning you would be working tonight with a 'It's our first Valentine's, let's not make a big deal of it.' Which he promptly denied 'Technically is the second one, but okay.'
"I've been meaning to give it to you for months anyways but I kept forgetting."
He watches you take a paper card from your pocket and hand it to him. "You're lucky I had it in my bag for after work."
He smiles at your silly drawing of a gray rabbit in scrubs and a red heart. 'Dr. Jack Rabbot' written under it in black ink block letters in your hand writing he loves to make fun of you for, he's sure you make it extra bad just for him.
"Very funny, sweetheart."
"It's fitting, we got a theme going."
He opens it and sees the film strip shaped photos. You convinced him to get inside a photo booth during a congress trip to New York once but it didn't have the option of two copies so you took them and promised to make him one. Months passed and you didn’t fulfill your promise, until today. There's pictures of you two smiling, one of him frowning as you pretend to kiss his cheek and one of him smirking at you as you tried to come up with a pose before the next flash came in.
You two share a quick dinner on the roof and the chocolate bunny as dessert before you need to get back to work. Your initials have been along side his on the railing for a while now. Your red lipstick was gone by that point but you made sure to reapply and give him a pretty mark he could show off downstairs. He didn’t even mind Ellis making fun of him all remaining hours of the shift, or Dana giving him shit for it when she came in bright and early in the morning. He was in fact smug about it and left it on until he took you home at 7am.
Your names now side by side on the paper heart on the counter remained unnoticed for now.