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“How was your date?” Frank smiles, walking up beside you at the lockers.
“Just another guy.” You huff, shutting your locker.
“Seriously? That’s like your sixth bad date in a month.” He smiles, rubbing your back for a soft moment.
“Modern men suck.” You huff. “I haven’t had a guy take me home in months, and I haven’t even enjoyed a date in forever. I’m getting sick of it.”
“Maybe you’ve just got to give it some time.” You nod with a sigh, pulling your stethoscope around your neck.
“God forbid a girl wants a good night.” You snort, making him laugh as you walk up to the hub.
“My two favorite peas in a pod, morning.” You both smile at Dana, looking over the board. “Trauma ETA in three minutes, I want you two on it.” You nod in sync, moving to gown up. Frank ties yours gently, savoring the quick moment to be close to you.
“Can we get drinks tonight? Are you still off tomorrow?” He nods as you step into the ambulance bay.
“Course.” You smile at him, listening to the sirens creep closer.
“How was dropping the kids off with Abby?”
“Awful. She was being an ass. Made a scene and went through their bags to make sure there were no benzos.” Your jaw drops as you look at the taller man.
“Are you serious? In front of Tanner and Penny?”
“Mhmm. Cried in my car.” He shakes his head gently, making you reach out to squeeze his hand.
“That’s awful, Frank, I’m so sorry…” He shrugs softly.
“My fault.” You shoot him an empathetic glance as the ambulance rolls up, meeting the paramedics.
The two of you work on the trauma like a dance, moving around each other and picking up the pieces the other couldn’t find. Al-Hashimi watches in silence with a smile, having no reason to comment. The two of you work so efficiently that she gives you an approving nod before leaving the room. You strip your gloves, watching the nurses roll the patient out. “Have you been feeling better without Robby around?”
“It eases the stress. Feels good to have Al-Hashimi at least believe in me.” You smile, rubbing his shoulder.
“Drinks cannot come fast enough, huh?” He cracks a smile, following you back into the light.
❣︎
The lights and sounds of the bar swallow the two of you, breaths of relief leaving you simultaneously. You order an espresso martini, Frank a whiskey on the rocks. You sit beside each other, knees brushing together with a familiar warmth. Neither of you needed to talk, letting the space speak for itself. Frank’s shoulders finally drop, the adrenaline wearing off, his mind drifting back to the morning with Abby. “Maybe I am nothing more than just some drug addict.” He says quietly, making your head snap in his direction.
“Frank… No…” He buries his head in his hands.
“She’s scaring my kids away from me. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Show them how much you love and care for them. You wouldn’t be crying if they didn’t matter this much to you.” You soothe, grabbing one of his hands to squeeze it softly.
“I’m worried they’ll hate me forever.” He looks over at you softly.
“They won’t. Promise. Not with how much you love them. They’ll see it. Promise.” He nods, swiping a tear away from his eyes. He downs the rest of his whiskey as you finish off your martini. “Want to go dance? Like old times?”
“I don’t think I’ve gotten a chance to dance since I went to rehab.”
“Then let's change that, huh?” You grin, grabbing Frank’s hands and pulling him into the movement of the dancefloor. You laugh together, bodies moving in sloppy motions, a far cry from the precision of your medical work. He finally smiles, letting you pull him around with silly dance moves. You watch the stress slowly leave his body, finally taking a breath.
❣︎
“Maybe I’m dying.” The patient smiles as you look over his chart, making you raise a brow.
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve got a beautiful angel taking care of me.” You turn to the man, smiling awkwardly as you take the BP cuff off.
“Thanks for the compliment.” You mutter, reading his stats. You don’t miss the way he reaches for you, taking a step back, letting your shoulders relax as the door opens behind you, Frank’s cologne filling you sense.
“Shit. Guess I’m not going to heaven.” The man scoffs, making Frank’s brows furrow.
“I’m sorry?”
“Well, I was being treated by a gorgeous angel, but then an ugly man walked in. Guess this isn’t heaven.” Frank snorts gently.
“She’s still an angel,” Frank mutters, looking over the man's chart.
“Then why don’t you get out of here? Leave me with her.” He grins sleezily.
“I’m alright, thanks. I’m her superior, and I need to be in to supervise her.” You give Frank an appreciative smile, moving to clean the man’s wound.
“Even your hands are perfect.” He smiles. You smile politely in response, feeling Frank move up behind you, a soft hand against your back as he watches you begin the sutures.
“Not too tight.” He whispers the breath, hitting your ear and making you roll your shoulders.
“No railroad tracks…” You echo his words. The bubble of intimacy is broken as the man tightly grabs your wrist and yanks you into his space. You gasp before being roughly yanked into Frank’s chest, the man’s hand being ripped from your grip. You whimper as you feel the needle you were suturing in digging into the soft skin of your forearm. Frank’s blue eyes glance down at you frantically, pulling you out of the room.
“Robby! Grab Ahmad and get in there! Please! Dana! What’s open?” She points to a room, and Frank shuts the door behind the two of you, sitting you down. “You ok?”
“Really hurts.” You say suqietly, making him nod.
“We screened his blood, but we’ve still got to do a test, ok? You ok if I fix you up?”
“Don’t want anyone else.” You sniffle, wiping your eyes with your good hand. Frank glances up at you, blue eyes full of gentleness.
“Alright. Can I pull it out without numbing?” You nod, watching him pull on gloves and grab a pair of tweezers. He grabs the needle and gently wiggles it out. You shut your eyes with a soft whine as he drops it onto the tray. “You ok?”
“Just rinse it out, please.” He nods softly, grabbing the saline rinse and gently cleaning out your wound.
“Look at me…” He whispers, setting the syringe down, eyes meeting your tearful ones. “You’re ok… you’re safe.” He gently places a badaid over your room. The moment the movement was over, you surged into his arms, pulling him into a tight hug as you began to cry. Your body shakes against his as he cups the back of your head and wraps his other arm around your middle. “You’re safe… you’re alright.” He whispers.
“Frank…” You sniffle, making him nod and look down at you.
“You’re ok…”
“I want to go home.” He nods.
“Can I go talk to Dana and Robby? You ok to stay here?” You nod, squeezing him softly before letting him go and slipping back into the business of the ER.
“Is she ok?” Robby asks gently.
“Needle stick. I’ll grab her labs, but she wants to get out of here.” Robby sighs gently and nods.
“And I’m assuming you want to go home with her.” Frank nods gently.
“I call Shen in a bit earlier, so you two can go. Make sure you grab some blood before you go and send it up to the lab.” He nods before slipping back into the room and pulling you back into his arms as you sigh shakily.
“I gotta draw your blood, and then I can take you home, ok?” You nod, looking up at him, chin on his chest. He smiles endearingly, thumb brushing along your jaw
“I’m ok.”
“You sure?”
“...No.” He laughs along with you, sitting you back down and tying a tourniquet around your arm, and gently drawing your blood. You gently trace the lines of his face with your gaze. His brows were pinched in a barely hidden panic, adrenaline still pumping from pulling the other man off of you. “Frank…”
‘Hm.”
“I’m ok…” He nods, squeezing your hand, watching the bile fill with your blood. “I mean it…”
“Do you want to come back to my place? I can pick Tanner and Penny up early, and we can all hang out. I know they miss their favorite ‘aunt’.” You nod.
“That would be wonderful.” He sighs, gently removing the needle and pressing gauze against your elbow before wrapping it.
❣︎
Two small bodies crash into yours, making you laugh and fall backwards as two big smiles look over you. Both kids had gotten Frank’s eyes, watching you just as intently as he did. “Hi!”
“Hello!” Penny squeals excitedly, playing with your hair.
“Let's get up and get in the car so we can go home, ok?” Both nod as Frank helps you up, a hand grazing your side and making your stomach flutter. You help wrestle the kids into their car seats before moving into the passenger seat beside Frank. The drive is quick, Tanner and Penny happily talking about their days, and Frank playing along.
“You feeling ok?” He asks gently, pulling you close by your sides as Penny and Tanner move to put their backpacks away. You can feel heat creep across your face as you silently nod. He looks at you intently with a gentle nod, pulling you in and kissing your forehead, choosing not to comment on the warmth.
“Daddy!” He parts from you, facing the two little faces.
“Yes, Tanner?”
“Penny and I decide we want pizza,” Tanner says proudly.
“Sounds good to me.” Both kids squeal happily, making you smile. Penny runs up to grab your hand and pull you towards the playroom, Tanner hot on your heels. Frank watches the three of you play from the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, as affection fills his chest. His fear from watching you be grabbed earlier was slowly starting to fade as he watched you glance up to smile at him. “I’m going to order pizza, then shower quickly, if you don’t mind.”
“Sounds good, but only if I can shower after.”
“I’ll put some extra towels on the counter.”
❣︎
You sat, curled up against Frank’s side on the couch, a shared plate of pizza on your lap, and Tanner and Penny sat on the floor watching an episode of Bluey. “Thank you for today.” You whisper.
“Always. What kind of … friend would I be to let you get hurt?” His pause makes something cave in your chest. Your eyes drift up to meet his, filled with a deep affection. You take one glance at the kids to make sure they’re distracted before leaning up to press a gentle kiss against his lips. You pull back, watching him blush and smile. “That guy made me really jealous today, y’know?”
“Really?” You whisper, making him nod.
“Called you an angel. You’re only my angel. Only my angel.” He smiles, leaving to kiss you again.
“That’s so corny!” You giggle, leaning closer.
“So what? You love that kind of thing?”
“Daddy? Why are you kissing her?” You both freeze, turning to face the kids and their wide, sauce-covered smiles.