Work Text:
Frank had been in rehab for the last 10 months, he was tired. Abby had brought the kids to see him once a week. He missed them. He missed his house, his bed, his job, his freedom.
Everyone probably hated him, Abby certainly did, so did Robby, Mel did too… probably. And he really didn't like the idea of Mel hating him, she had been so proud of him, so happy to be around him. And when he showed back up at work after getting back she was so happy to see him. She said she didn't hate him, he didn't believe her.
The night he got home he and Abby had gotten into an argument, it was small, he just wanted to sleep, she wanted him to hang out with her. Since then they argued a lot, he knew she didn't like him, hated him even, but he loved her. He ignored when she got home late from work on Friday's, how she was always on her phone but never let him see, he ignored when he had seen a hickey on her shoulder he didn't put there.
He started staying at work late, later than he did before. And Mel noticed. She didn't know why, but she noticed, and she noticed the day he wasn't wearing his wedding ring.
“Dr. Langdon!” She said happily as he came into work. She had been charting at the nurses station when he came in. She looked up at him as he leaned his hip against the table beside where she was working. Favoring talking to him than the work she was supposed to be doing.
“Are you doing anything after work?” He asked, running a hand through his hair which he did when nervous. He didn't know why he asked, he told himself he was just curious what she did on a Friday night after work.
That surprised Mel as she just looked at him for a moment before responding “not unless Santos is dragging me to a club with the others again.”
“You go clubbing? With Santos?” He asked, genuinely surprised. Mel wasn't the type of girl to go clubbing, was she? Did he even know her well enough to know?
“Well, no. It was only once, she dragged me, Whitaker, and Javadi to a club, she said we needed to ‘get over crushes’.”
“Huh.” Frank said, not knowing what to say after that.
“Do you want to go somewhere…with me, after work?” Frank blurts out, knowing he sounded like an idiot. Why would he just blurt that out? Where would he even take her? What if she said no? Was he asking her on a date right now? Why'd he even say that?
“Sure.” Mel responds, a smile on her face as she looks up at Frank. That sweet smile that made Frank's stomach do flips. He wanted her to smile all the time. She looked so pretty when she smiled.
“Where are we going?” She asks which made him snap out of it, right where were they going?
“We could go get drinks, or go to a restaurant, or we could just drive around and talk.” he offers, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he talks.
“We could drive and talk.” Mel says simply realizing that he had no idea what to do.
Frank nods and offers her a smile before getting back to work, although his mind was on her the whole day.
He was married, he had to stop thinking about Mel like this, how pretty she was when she smiled, how pretty she looked when she rambled on slow days, how much he wanted her to be happy, how happy she made him.
Mel made him feel happy, comfortable, and made him feel like all he wanted to do was make her happy. He never felt that way with Abby, sure she made him happy but her happiness wasn't the only thing he wanted, not like this. He finally let himself think about how his wife had been acting, how she was most likely cheating, how it probably started when he was in rehab. He couldn't blame her, but damn did that make him feel terrible. That's when he decided that he wouldn't feel bad for spending time with Mel, even if this wasn't a date.
At the end of their shift he waited in the break room, on his phone, leaning against the lockers as he waited for Mel. She smiled when she saw him and grabbed her things.
“Ready to go?” Frank asked as he put his phone away.
“Yeah, let me just grab my bag, Dr. Langdon.” She said as she opened her locker.
“You can call me frank.” He told her, he knew this wasn't the first time he'd told her to call him his name. No matter how many times he told her she could she just continued to call him that, Dr. Langdon. It was too professional, made him feel like he had to tell her what to do, made it feel like they barely knew each other.
“Alright, frank.” She says as she looks at him, bag in hand. That made his heart beat faster and his stomach flip. Why did he enjoy hearing her say his name so much, it was just his name. God frank, get it together.
He nods making sure she had everything before walking side by side to his car. Her shoulder brushed against his as they walked through the dark parking lot.
“How was work?” He asked as he looked over at her as they walked.
She sighed. “Long.”
“Most days are. Did anything interesting happen?” He responds as they get to the car and he unlocked it, sitting in the driver's seat as she slid into the passengers seat.
“Well, I woke up late.” She starts as he turns the car on and backs out of his parking spot.
“And I had to take Becca to the care facility before heading to work so I was even more late.” Mel rambles as she leans back against the seat as they drive.
“Damn, sounds hectic even before your shift starts.” Frank responds, just letting her talk. His arm rests across the back of the seats as he drives with one hand.
“It was.” Mel says as she looks over at him. “And at work I had like 3 patients flirt with me, which I was not ready for that early in the morning.”
Frank clenches his jaw slightly as she talks, the idea of someone flirting with her was not something he liked. Frank knew he was a jealous person, he'd been jealous when people flirted with Abby in the past. But something was different about this, something that felt personal, like he wanted to fight whoever it was flirting with Mel, perfect, sweet, adorable Mel. Frank snapped out of it when he felt Mel holding his hand. He glances at her and she smiles at him as she holds his hand in hers.
“What do you like to do after work?” He asked as he squeezed her hand.
“I don't have much time after work, I usually just eat something and then sleep.” Mel says as she squeezes his hand back.
“What do you do on your days off?”
“I watch movies with Becca. And I read.” Mel says with a smile as Frank starts rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.
“Sounds fun.” He says with a smile.
“It is. What do you do outside work?” Mel asks as she looks at him.
“Not much, sleep mostly, take my kids places, get in arguments with my wife.”
“What do you argue about?” Mel asks as she slowly takes her hand from his, remembering he does have a wife and she shouldn't be sitting there holding his hand like she was dating him when he had a wife and kids waiting at home.
“Why'd you take your hand back?” Langdon asked with a slight pout, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his.
“Oh I just-”
“My wife? You don't have to stop touching me just because of her.” Frank says quickly before realizing that sounded bad. “It's just holding hands and um…don't worry about her, she-she doesn't mind.” Frank tries to say but just stutters over himself.
“Doesn't mind or Doesn't know?” Mel asked hesitantly, not wanting the answer, or more accurately, Doesn't want the answer to be as bad as she thinks it was. She didn't want to help him cheat, she doesn't want to be guilty for breaking up a marriage, a family.
“It's complicated mel.” Frank says, almost begging for her to understand. He looks at her face while they're stopped at a stoplight and sees the look on her face.
“You're not doing anything wrong, Mel. I promise.” He says softly as he puts a hand on her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her skin softly.
“I believe you.” Mel says softly as she looks back at him.
Frank thought she was so pretty like that, looking at him with soft eyes and a slight blush on her cheeks. He really was in love with her.
Frank clears his throat as he pulls his hand away and focuses on driving again, the car becoming quiet, comfortably quiet. Mel reaches for his hand again, holding it softly, and he smiles at the touch, caressing the skin of her hand again, soothing and rhythmic before he pauses for a moment.
Was that his wife's car? Parked at a bar? He slows down and turns into the parking lot. Ya, that was totally his wife's car.
“Why are we stopping at a bar?” Mel asks, clearly confused as Frank parks the car nearby his wife's.
“Oh um, sorry I…” Frank thinks for an excuse, and Mel lets him. “That is my wife's car, and I wanted to see who she was with.” he explains as he looks over at Mel who just looks back at him.
“Are we going inside or waiting out here?” Mel asks, understanding.
“Well we could go in, if you want, but I was just planning on sitting here for a moment to see who she came out with.” He says as he runs his free hand through his hair.
“Ok.” Mel says with a smile as she unbuckles her seat belt and slides over so she was sitting close to him, cuddling up to his side, thank god for bench seats in old cars.
Frank smiles, silently thanking her for understanding without him having to embarrass himself with a stuttering mess of an explanation. He wraps an arm around her and she closes her eyes.
His arm tightens around Mel when he sees his wife walk out of the bar with some guy, just some random guy, they were laughing, smiling. He was jealous, a little upset even, as if he wasn't sitting there doing the same thing as her.
He watches as his wife kisses this guy and they get in her car. He can see them making out before driving off and he just buries his face in Mel's hair, it all hitting him at once.
“Are you ok?” Mel asks as she leans into him more.
“Ya, just tired.”
“Want to come to my place for the night? Becca's home but I'm sure she's in bed by now.” Mel says as she looks up at him and he looks back at her.
“Not to um…just like a sleepover!” Mel clarifies after a moment, realizing that might sound a lot worse than she meant.
“Ya, a sleepover sounds nice.” He says softly, not wanting to let her go.
After a few minutes he lets go and she slides back to the passenger's seat, buckling her seat belt as he starts the car again.
They quietly drive to her apartment, except for Mel giving him instructions. Once they get to the apartment building they get out and she lets him in, showing him around the apartment weakly before leading him to her room.
She changed into pajamas in the bathroom before coming to lay beside him and he couldn't help but stare at her in her comfortable clothes. It wasn't anything fancy, just sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt, but something about it was so intimate, so nice.
“I can sleep on the couch.” He tells her as she lays beside him on the bed.
“Why would you do that? You're fine here.” Mel says, leaning over him to put her glasses down on the bedside table, her hair falling over frank. He liked the sight of her with her hair down too, it was nice, she looked pretty with her hair down, and she looked pretty without her glasses.
“Ok.” He says softly, far too busy admiring her as she looks at him with a smile before laying down. Frank watches her, she looks so comfortable, tucked to his side, a soft smile on her face as she sleeps. He slowly wraps his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shoulder.
When Frank wakes up he's laying on her chest, her arms around him. When he tries to sit up she whines slightly in her sleep, not wanting him to go which causes him to smile as he just settles beside her, she nestled back into his side as if searching for heat as soon as he moves, which causes a slight chuckle before he checks his phone, his face immediately drops as he sees all the texts his wife left. He buries his face in Mel's hair as he reads the texts.
“Where are you?”
“Are you still working?”
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
“Are you even coming home tonight?”
He sighs and sends a quick text to her, feeling almost guilty for worrying her, but not guilty for how he's about to lie to her.
“Ya sorry, i fell asleep at work, I'll probably be home tonight it was just a long night.”
He reads it twice before sending it before turning his phone off and turning his attention back to Mel who was starting to stir awake.
“Good morning.” He says softly, his voice rough with sleep.
“Morning.” She mumbles as she looks up at him through her hair, which he softly pushes out of her face to look at her a moment before grabbing her glasses and placing them on her face.
They smile at each other for a moment just admiring each other before Mel slowly gets up.
“Do you want breakfast? I can make pancakes.”
“Pancakes sound nice.”