Chapter Text
Dennis is leaned against one of the ed walls, out of the way but is plain sight , he doesn’t intend to be there long. it's rare he works into the night, even with becoming a resident hes stayed on the day shift, working with irritable patients isn't as bad when it's daylight. There's a certain kind of chaos that envelopes the er after 12. A kind he's come to hate.
Maybe its the winter nights that turn patients angry, maybe its the amount of unhoused that come in dead at arrival that makes the nurses more on edge, or maybe, its the accidents. crashes, drug usage, and attacks. Of all kinds of horrors that have been seen during the day shift, however they seem heavier without the warmth of the sun afterwards. Jack says that he likes the moon, that the heat would make him more irritated at the patients, at the loss. But Dennis also thinks he thrives on chaos.
Whatever the case, Dennis doesn't like the nightshift, especially when its the involuntary kind. Sure he can head home any time he wants, hes not forced to stay and help. But a seven person pile up is really hard to walk away from, knowing he can help.
one older woman. She came in stable, had the least of the injuries, a broken leg and slight concussion.
A young man and his son. His son was in the car seat, more shell shocked than anything, his father suffered three broken ribs and two fractures. Dennis had to call his wife, he fought off tears as she screamed and cried.
The fourth was a woman, late thirties. She caused the wreck and died on impact. Likely intoxicated. They're still waiting on her tests. Mel took that phone call, only the lady's sister was listed, she answered and seemed un-surprised. Mel said that she thinks that's worse than tears.
The next was a group of teens no older than 17 each of them, one girl suffered a head injury, and a broken arm, one boy got burn scars and lost a limb from the car exploding while the paramedics were pulling him out. The worst of the injuries. And finally the other girl passed away on the way to the er, she bled out from being impaled by a pole from a sign that fell during the crash.
By the time the clock had hit three every part of Dennis ached, a type of fatigue that roots deep in your bones and seems to sink into their marrow.
He leaned against the wall after having talked to one of the teens moms. She was pissed, Dennis doesnt blame her, her son was in a crash and is currently in a coma, any mom would be pissed.
He stands there for a moment catching his breath, trying to ignore the pain behind his eyes, he can feel the headache forming. After what he thought was only a minute or two, jack walks over, his shoulders steady, his back straight despite the obvious fatigue dennis sees in his eyes. “Hey, what's taking so long?” he said firmly, not mean, never mean just steady, holding a sense of importance. He knows the weight of his words, his place. Dennis looks a bit confused, because he is. He's only stood here for a second in an attempt to dull the ache in his bones
“Kid, you were supposed to go talk with Blake's wife.” he said calmly, clearly seeing the confusion on his face since he felt the need to elaborate. “The young man.. With his son” the clarification clears his head “no! I know, I mean.. Uh” he said quickly taking a second to calm himself down "I've only been here a moment.” Jack is now the one to look confused, its a rare sight for Dennis, all the times he's worked with Jack he's always been so sure of himself, positive and fully understanding. “Whiatker, youve stood here for nearly twenty minutes”
Dennis swallowed the shock before it could reach his face, shit. It doesn't feel that way. The ache in his bones still there as if he only stood there for mere seconds, his head feeling like someone is standing behind him squeezing his head.
Quickly he stands straight “oh, uh right i must've lost track of time”he said heading towards the room where blake is being held, he can feel the concerned stare from dr abbot as he does, but he ignores it, so he lost track of time, its not uncommon to zone out within noise and chaos of the ed. Hes seen it a lot, across every spectrum of people in here, its a given effect.
Standing outside of the room for a moment he presses the heel of his palm into his eyes trying to get the squeezing to stop, taking a long breath he steps in, giving a gentle greeting to the wife sitting there her husband laying in the hospital bed. She's still crying, holding her son.
He's only in there a moment explaining the young man's injuries, and the procedures they're taking to help.
Stepping out after awhile he gently shuts the door behind him, sighing quietly, abbot walks over again, clearly the concern in his eyes convinced him to come back over and speak to him again, it nearly irritates him, the pity radiating off of him as he stands there for a second before speaking “how is she?” he asks gently, his irritation fizzling away immediately, what a selfish thought thinking abbot came over just for him.
“Shes okay.. Tired, and hurting but relieved he'll make it” he said quickly glancing back down at the clipboard he holds in his hand reading over the injuries over again, the eighth time hes done it since it was handed to him as he stepped in. his eyes flick over it “good-” jack begins being cut off by a loud clink of the clipboard hitting the floor. His eyes go down to the clipboard, then back up to Dennis who is standing there his hand hovering in the air. He looks like he didn't mean to drop it.
Its not the first time tonight, hes been clumsy since he got here for his regular shift, dropping pens, bumping into things as if they hadn't been there at all, each bump or mistake seems to piss Dennis off more and more.
Robby told him to keep an eye on the kid, he didn't think anything was actually wrong, robby tends to be dramatic when it comes to whitaker. But now he's beginning to think Robby was right. maybe something is wrong. He knows that whitaker tends to be clumsy, but this much is a lot even for him.
Whitaker kneels, grabbing the clipboard from the floor before standing to look at Jack, sighing a bit mumbling an apology with barely concealed annoyance at his clumsiness. “Its alright kid, that happening often?” he asks, willing to see if pushing will give him answers or make dennis pull back. Dennis nods “yeah, i guess since i got here this morning” jack hums taking the clipboard from Whitaker's loose hold, “how about a break?” he offers, Dennis feels panic curl beneath his ribs “no, im fine, just a bit more clumsy then usual” he doesn't want to be pushed aside, doesn't want to be seen as a weak kid. But dennis knows it wasn't actually a question.
Jack, obviously sends him to the break room anyway, a steady hand on his back leading him through the chaos of the ED. stepping into the break room jack shuts the door behind them, the noise of the ed fading as he does, dennis relents as always the moment jack tells him to do something. He pulls up a chair sitting down with a groan, the ache in his bones not relenting as he does. He sees something in the corner of his eye, for some reason he panics, he knows logically that it's Jack. He never left the room. And yet he still jolts like someone dangerous had crept in. jacks movements to the fridge stop immediately, his hands curling at his sides.
Damn it he feels like an idiot. Obviously its just jack he pinches the bridge of his nose. Seriously why is he acting like this. Jack’s concern clearly only worsens as he stares. His expression pinched “kid..?” he said slowly as if dennis would flee “sorry, forgot you were in here for a moment”
Jumpy. Jack notes to himself. And forgetful..
He hums continuing his movements to the fridge grabbing one of the communal waters, walking back over to dennis, the fridge swinging shut behind him. Offering it him dennis takes the water, fuck his hands are cold. He nearly pulls his hand back at the shock of it against his warm hands.
Dennis takes a sip downing nearly half the bottle, he never realizes how thirsty he is until he gets water, “thank you” he remembers to say after his long drink of water. He feels the energy that he had seeping from him, his shift is not over yet. So he shouldn't get comfy.
Jack pulls up a chair beside him sitting down with a slight groan. Dennis just stares past him as if hes not there. Jack is half tempted to say something, but he doesn't want to startle him again. He already felt bad for scaring him in the first place, besides he doesn't mind sitting in silence. Not with dennis at least.
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The rest of dennis’s shift seems to drag on, realistically its no more then an hour and a half, but it feels like another twelve. Walking on his acing feet, his headache only getting worse beneath the fluorescent lights and the beeping of the ER.
He wants to sleep more than anything, but sleep has done nothing but evade him for the last four days. Hes managed to doze off for minutes at a time before being startled awake by either a nightmare or even the slightest noise.
So its safe to say he's nowhere near excited to get home, after all the lack of activity will do nothing but give him time to focus on the dull ache in his bones and the squeezing around his head. But working another shift will definitely set off more alarms in Jack's mind, not to mention Robby's. No way they’d figure it out. So he heads to the lockers grabbing his coat, and bag before shutting it, nearly jumping out of his skin when he sees a coat hung on the wall. Shit, again?
He's done that more than once this past couple of days, its forced him to fold all of his laundry to prevent heart attacks while hes laying awake in bed at night. He doesn't mind, it gave him a distraction from his pain.
Walking out he heads towards the bus top, its not far from where the ambulance bay is, likely a three minute walk. The rising of the sun nearly makes him turn around, its worse then the fluorescent lighting and it makes his headache feel like the person squeezing his head decided to take a hammer to it instead. But he ignores it, its likely because he was in there for nearly a whole day. From seven to five the next morning. Rubbing his eyes he walks quickly, cutting through the park to the blue shaded bus stop. Sitting on the bench that is still cold from the night, not yet heated by the sun.
Hes sat there for what feels like hours, but the sun doesn't rise any further, and the clouds have only moved an inch by the time the bus pulled up, he steps in scanning his bus pass and walking through the crowd of people, sitting down on free seat. The people are loud, and the squeak of buses breaks louder. Each time the bus pulls to a harsh stop hes pushed into a metal railing, the woman whos sat beside him only pushing the metal farther into his ribs. He feels irritation bubbling as she does, its not her fault everyone is moving slightly forward, pressing against railings or other people.
And yet as it happens again, her arm digging into his as she tries to brace herself he gets mad “lady cant you stop!” he said harshly, he doesn't mean it. He regrets it the moment it leaves his mouth. The slight shock, then the justified anger. Before he could manage an apology she stands up and moves to hang onto a poll. A much larger man takes her place. He sits there silently as the man now presses into him at each stop, his arms much less forgiving than women’s as they press into Dennis's. This has to be his punishment for speaking to her like that, so he doesn't even try to move.
Finally reaching his stop he stands rubbing his arm, he can already feel the bruises forming from the weight being pushed against him. Stepping off the bus he walks to his and trinity’s apartment building, taking the elevator up to their floor. Thankfully without incident. Using his key he quietly unlocks the door, and steps in. kicking off his shoes he turns the knob of the door to shut it to prevent the click of the door.
Trinity is fast asleep, it being her day off she always sleeps in until at least ten. She'd be pissed if he woke her at six.
He takes off his coat putting it on the hook, only missing the hook twice before it finally lands. He creeps down the hall, avoiding the floor boards that he knows creak. Holding his breath as he passes trin’s door as if the sound of it will wake her. Stepping into his room he shuts the door slowly to prevent the creek he's been meaning to fix.
Maybe he’ll do that once she's up if sleep still decides to evade him. Grabbing pajamas hes washed nearly four times without wearing them for something to do, putting them on he groans as he flops onto his bed sighing quietly as he slowly gets through the pain of his bad straightening out properly after hours and hours. He scrubs a hand down his face and dares to close his eyes, the house silent except for the sound of his fan, and the slight sound of cars outside his window.
For a moment he feels like he may actually fall asleep, he feels like hes being weighed down by the drag of sleep, his muscles finally not aching after days of doing so, and it feels less like someone is squeezing his head hoping it'll pop.
Hes, home. Or what once was his home. The familiar smell of grass fills his senses before he could catch up. A chill runs up his spine as he looks around. He's in the mud, the night he left. His father running after him through the forests he knows better than anyone due to the countless nights he's slept in them. He's covered in mud, weaving through thick branches and dodging animals that his father simply seems to forcefully break through. “Damn it, Whitaker!!” his fathers voice seems to ring around the entire world, shaking the ground beneath him and sending the birds fleeing. It only makes him run faster. The cold air burning his lungs as he leaps across the creak he and his brothers used to play in, back when he was accepted. He was seen as the devil. Back when love was unconditional and pain was a word that he hadn't fully comprehended yet. Freezing water laps at his feet as he lands in it. His father does not dare go through the waters, standing at the other side as Dennis forces his way out of the freezing waters. He looks back at his father who is staring with barely contained rage, his mothers voice calling out deeper into the woods for him. He runs out and farther from the only home he's known. His father calls after him “dont you come crawlin’ back then!” his fathers voice is rough as he shouts “demon!”
Suddenly hes shoots up from bed, pain coursing through him as if in his blood stream, he presses the heels of his palms into his eyes trying to force away the stinging behind them. Same dream. Everytime. He glances at the digital clock sat on his bedside. Barely an hour.. Better then last time. He stands up ignoring the pain in his feet. He needs something- anything to get rid of the threat of tears. Trinity is still asleep, its only 7:33 after all.
Walking to his door he opens it slowly walking out to the living room, hes cleaned everything in this house twice since he's stopped being able to sleep properly a few days ago. Watched damn near every show he's even had a mild interest in, read every medical book and journal in this place damn near four times. He's up constantly, he might as well do something useful.
He's done errands he's put off since getting to Pittsburg, paid the bills Trinity would let him, packed lunches for the foreseeable future, gotten groceries, finished charting, and he even has begun working out. He's effectively out of things to do.
Sitting on the couch he thinks for awhile, he could go on a run, hes been told jack does it, and jack seems put together. Plus it has plenty of health bonuses.
Thats all the convincing he needs, getting up he changes into sweats, too tired to look for shorts he doubts fit him anymore, and a tank top before putting on his shoes and leaves
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Trinity wakes up at damn near nine. Still too early. She sits up and yawns, man she's missed sleeping in, sure she gets a day off once a week, and yet she always forgets how much she adores sleep. Climbing out of bed she stretches, fixing her sleep shorts and untangles her shirt from around her. May as well make breakfast, she doubts whitaker ate when he got back, shell wake him force him to eat then send him back to bed. He needs to gain some weight, she hates seeing him so skinny
Even if he looks healthier then when she met him, lately he's definitely losing some weight. Walking out she carefully sneaks past Dennis's room, no need to wake him yet. He's probably dead on his feet. Two shifts in a row. She nearly feels bad.
Walking to the kitchen she brews a pot of coffee, setting her favorite mug beneath the spout before grabbing out Dennis's mug she got him as a gift, it says “huckleberry” on it in purple lettering, a lucky ross find that she absolutely had to buy, it was funny to watch him groan and grumble about how he hates it, and yet he uses it every morning.
She grabs a tea bag and begins to boil water on low, she never used to keep tea until he moved in and requested it, weirdo. She hates hot, unsweet tea. And yet he seems to love it.
With the water boiling and her coffee pouring into her mug she opens the newly filled fridge, grabbing bacon, eggs, frozen hashbrowns and cheese. Shutting the fridge she reached over and grabbed tortillas, something filling and simple. Breakfast burritos.
She begins with making the bacon, as it cooks she grabs her now filled cup of coffee taking a few sips until there's room to add milk and caramel creamer “thank you huckberry” she murmurs to herself as she pulls it out.
Taking a sip of her sweet concoction she adds ice before setting it down to flip the bacon, giving the other side some time to cook she puts the frozen hashbrowns in the now preheated oven- once the bacon is done she puts the grease in their old coffee can- before starting on the scrambled eggs in the same pan. Letting that cook she uses the stove top to warm the tortillas. She forgot how much work it is to cook on her own, normally she and Dennis are crammed in their tiny kitchen cooking together while talking about, well anything and everything.
She's just realizing they haven't done that in nearly a week, snapping her out of her thoughts is the smell of a burning tortilla, “shit” she curses herself tugging it off the stove top huffing a bit at the waist before tossing it. Actually paying close attention as she puts a new one on.
Finally she assembles them. Cheese, hashbrown, egg and chopped up bacon bits, then she rolls it.
She's glad she put the heat on low because as shes finished the water is boiling, she purs it into the huckleberry mug precariously before putting the tea bag in.
And dishes are his job. She thought happily to herself, when he gets up properly, of course.
She's not evil.
Walking down the hall with much less caution she knocks on his door, not expecting as answer before ceremoniously opening it “ohh! Huckleberry!” she said loudly spreading her arms out “the best roommate made breakfast!” she said, opening her eyes to an empty room. Her arms fall to her side as she frowns a bit, no way he's still at work.. Right? Walking to her room she grabs her phone. She should call him. Just in case. She can put his food in the microwave for him. Scrolling she finds his contact
Calling it she waits as it rings for longer the usual before there's an answer.
“Y-yes” she heard a raspy voice say. That didn't sound like Dennis, she checked the contact, nope definitely him.. “Huckleberry” she said quietly “yeah?” the voice answered. Now that she really listened, it definitely was him, even if his voice was as if someone took a chainsaw to his throat. “Oh, uh. Where are you?” she asked, risking sounding desperate with her tone. So maybe she really wanted to spend breakfast with him, even a sleepy him, she missed them hanging out. Besides wherever he was it was too quiet to be in the ER. “i went out on a run, im nearly back” he said simply, since when did he go on runs?
“Alright, well i made breakfast. And made you your gross ass tea” she huffs “sounds like you need it” she teased, and got back a slight huff of amusement over the line. “Okay, ill be there soon, thanks trin” he said calmly. She nearly smiles at the nickname. “You better, i wont reheat your food if it gets cold” she said hanging up.
Setting her phone on the bed she grins, score! She gets to have breakfast with Dennis again. Finally she's been wanting to tell him all about how annoying Garcia has been during work.