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Triage was already too loud.
Phones ringing. Monitors beeping. Someone calling for labs across the room. The steady rush of people moving in and out of curtained spaces. It was the kind of shift where the emergency department never seemed to inhale. Just one long exhale of noise and urgency.
Mel King had learned to function inside that chaos a long time ago, though it drained her.
Across the room, Frank Langdon thrived in it.
Frank stood near Trauma Two, sleeves pushed up and gloves snapped on, leaning over a gurney while explaining something to a resident. His voice carried easily through the noise.
Mel tried not to watch him.
She failed, like usual.
“King.”
Mel blinked, snapping back to the present.
An unfamiliar nurse pushed a chart toward her. “Incoming trauma. Two minutes out.”
Mel nodded automatically. “What’ve we got?”
“Construction site accident. Fall with possible crush injury.”
The ambulance doors burst open less than a minute later.
Everything moved at once.
The paramedics rolled the stretcher in, voices overlapping as they gave report. Someone called for imaging. Someone else started pulling equipment closer. Mel stepped forward to help transfer the patient to the trauma bed.
“On three,” someone said.
“One, two–,”
The patient shifted suddenly. Not deliberately. Just pain and panic and confusion all at once.
The movement knocked a metal tray sideways. Instruments clattered to the floor. Someone cursed. Another person stepped back too quickly. And always the support, Frank was suddenly right there, moving to steady the situation before it spiraled.
Mel barely registered the moment it happened.
A flash of movement. A sharp crack of metal against tile. The cart had toppled over and the patients bed was out of control as he flailed.
Frank’s breath catching, quiet but unmistakable.
By the time Mel looked up, Frank had already stepped back from the bed, one hand pressed hard against his side as he tried to disappear into the chaos.
As he wanted, no one else seemed to notice.
Frank was good at that. Working through things without making them anyone else’s problem, that’s how he had gotten himself into trouble before, Mel had learned.
But now Mel knew him well enough to pick him out in a room.
“Langdon,” Mel said sharply.
Frank glanced up with wide eyes, clearly hoping he hadn’t been seen.
“It's nothing,” he said immediately.
Mel didn’t even bother pretending to believe that.
Frank’s hands which would have usually been up in mock arrest were still firmly pressed against his hip.
Suddenly the noise of the ER felt very far away.
“Sit down,” Mel said.
Frank exhaled through a small, reluctant smile.
“Mel,” he said lightly, “we’re a little busy for that.”
Mel was already pulling off her own gloves.
“Sit,” she repeated.
This time it wasn’t a suggestion.
Realising that he wasn’t winning this battle, Frank turned towards the ER. A wheelchair was behind him before he could do anything about it. Small hands in front of him, ushering him down.
Frank started, “I don’t need-”
“Don’t be silly,” Mel was flitting around, immediately at the handles of the wheelchair and pushing all six foot of him into the ER with relative ease. “You were struggling to keep steady, we don’t want you collapsing onto Robby. He would definitely have something to say about that.”
Frank cracked a grin at that, the laughter bubbling up in his throat being shut down by the pain in his side. He could feel Mel’s eyes on him, her expression a mixture of amusement plus that concerned look she got sometimes. Eyebrows tilted up and forehead creased.
Her expression shut him up right away. They were near silent on their trek across the floor, both intending to bring the least amount of attention to the other.
Mel whispered to Dana and before he knew it, Frank was whisked into an empty side room. Not the usual choice. By the crumbs on the side table, someone must have been kicked out from a lunch break.
She seemed able to tell what was on his mind again, quickly apologising.
“Sorry– We have no rooms free– and, well. You’re not gonna report me are you?”
Though she said it with a smile on her face, her voice sounded so genuine that Frank rushed to reassure her. “Of course not! No. Thank you, really. But I don’t need special treatment.”
“Good, cause I don’t give it,” Mel parroted Robby easily, but they both knew that wasn’t true. Mel would have waited for a senior to take charge if any other resident had gotten hurt. She was sure in her abilities, yes, but unless the most senior in a room she was happy following a lead.
Not with Frank though.
“Yeah right,” Frank laughed again, unable to hide the wince of pain it brought out of him this time.
All humour gone from the situation at the sight of his pain, Mel’s face dropped into a professional expression.
“Langdon, can you move up onto the couch for me?”
“Frank, please,” He grunted while following her instruction, “I’m a patient right now it seems.”
Mel nodded in agreement, wheeling over a small stool to sit beside Frank.
“Correct, you are,” she said, “And so as a Doctor asking a patient– Not a colleague asking another very stubborn colleague– How do you feel?”
“I feel fine, I swear. The gurney just bumped into me a bit,” Mel stared at him hard, and he corrected himself with a sigh, “A bit hard. But really, nothing to worry about, I’ll probably just bruise.”
“You know the rules even better than I do, Frank,” Mel said, “Workplace injury, proper one over.”
He groaned in defeat, his head hitting the soft cushion behind him.
“Alright, alright. One thing first though.”
“What?” Mel tilted her head to the side.
How endearing. Frank had to bite his cheek to stop himself from grinning, she looked like his labradoodle.
“It’s a bit bright in here, can you turn the lights off, Doctor King?”
Obvious as always with his small actions of care. Still, it was sweet. Mel obliged him, getting up to blanket them in low light (you could not get away from the bright lights outside, but the difference was literally night and day).
“That okay for you Frank?”
“Perfect.”
They grinned at each other, Mel’s shoulders were finally able to relax in the dark after being right up to her ears for eight hours and a half. Usually she had to wait until she was home to get this respite. But Frank was kind, and he was one of the few people who not only listened to Mel talk about her eccentricities, but actively followed up and tried to accommodate her. Doctor Robby might side-eye him a lot more than she thought he deserved, but if Frank were to move up the ranks to become an attending in a different city, he would be really good at it. Excellent even.
“Hey, do you need me to roll up my shirt?”
Frank’s voice pulled her back into the present. She nodded, “Please. If it hurts, you can lift yourself up with your arms a bit and I can help.”
Though Frank still had a too generous amount of pride to admit it verbally, it did hurt. If Mel noticed, she didn’t say anything. Just patiently waited as he brought his elbows underneath his torso and lifted his upper half an inch off the couch.
Without waiting to long and risking Frank being in too much pain, Mel rolled up his shirt up until his ribs, leaving it bunched up just under his pectorals.
“Jesus!” She gasped in shock.
“What? Is it bad?” He looked down as he lay back onto the couch. It certainly hadn’t felt that bad to Frank. It hurt like a bitch, but he hadn’t thought there would be any broken skin; that he was right about, so Mel’s reaction was odd. He looked up at her with a knitted brow.
The last thing he had expected was for her to blurt out, “I didn’t think you’d be so hairy.”
Immediately she slapped her hand to her agape mouth in mortification.
Frank simply raised an eyebrow, “You’ve thought about it?”
If Mel turned any more red, he feared she would self combust. Her hands came off her mouth to be placed between them where she apologised in a wild panic.
“I’m just kidding, sorry Mel,” He laughed lightly, careful to not upset his bruised side as well as to not embarrass his friend.
Cheeks still flushed bright red, she returned to her work with as much dignity as she could sacrifice.
“Um, sorry,” She said, “I just didn’t expect it. Your arms aren’t hairy and then–” Realising she could very quickly dig herself right back into that hole, she instead pressed down on the forming bruise, distracting him with a sharp pain. If she had a sadistic smile on her lips, it was between her and God.
“Fuck, that stings,” Frank gritted his teeth as Mel palpated his left side. It was warm where her hands lingered, but that would be mostly from the rush of blood pooling under his skin. No point looking into it.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Mel sent him a sympathetic glance, “The good news is that it didn’t hit any ribs, though we probably would have known that from you being able to lift yourself up. Any nausea?”
“Only cause it’s almost the full moon,” Frank said, “I start craving meat around then and sometimes I get so bloodthirsty I–”
“Funny,” Mel’s voice was flat and mature, but her squinted eyes gave away her amusement, “Answer the question please?”
Frank grumbled, “Once you would have struggled to get that joke, and then laughed very hard when you figured it out. What happened to that Mel?”
She rolled her eyes and palpated his bruise again– not that it needed it.
“Fine! Fine! I do feel a bit sick.”
“Thought so.”
Mel smiled, very pleased with herself, as she wrote in her notes.
With not much else to do, Frank just watched her. It had been about six months since his return to the ER. If he thought that one shift and ten months away had made their friendship weirdly close, it was nothing compared to now.
It was nothing crazy. Mel was still busy with Becca, but if her sister happened to stay later to hang out with her good friends, why shouldn’t Mel?
He had said such to her once after a shift.
Mel had stared at him with that funny head tilt of hers, like she was trying to figure out if the answer was in one of her medical school textbooks.
“We’re good friends?” Mel asked finally, a small smile quirking her lips.
Frank had maimed horror and offence, his hand going up to clutch at his heart like he had been stabbed. The greatest betrayal.
“I wouldn’t want to hang with you after work if we weren’t good friends, Mel! Don’t think so little of me!”
“I don’t! I just thought you were being a good mentor!”
“You know more than me at this point, you may as well teach me!”
At that, Mel had gasped dramatically in such a similar way to Frank that he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. His friend followed suit, snorting as she leaned her head back in her chair. Perlah and Princess side eyed them from the other table in the staffroom.
“Your heart rate is getting a bit high, you feeling more nauseous?” Mel prompted him, and Frank jumped.
“Ah– Sorry, no. Just zoned out,” his cheeks must be a bit flushed from the blood rushing to his face, but if Mel noticed, she didn’t say. She was always perfectly professional like that.
“Bruised kidney then?”
She pressed her lips together in thought.
“Hmm… Yes, I think so. But we won’t know until we test your urine.”
“Yay, pissing on the clock.” Frank muttered.
“You’ll have to stay here until we get your test back, you know the drill. I’ll get you a sample bottle and a privacy curtain so we can–”
“Nope!” Frank said abruptly, his cheeks definitely red now, “I’ll get Mateo to help, thanks Mel.”
After that mishap, Frank had no issues with patients– probably because he was a man, if he was honest. But he took pride in his track record all the same.
No issues with patients, no issues with Robby… Some issues with Mel. Not issues. Mel wouldn’t think anything was amiss, or at least he hoped not. Everyone at work thought he was still married, as he intended when he came back in after rehab and slipped on the gold band he had forgone for at least two months at that point.
He had to tell them eventually. Falling hard and fast for your straight-laced coworker didn’t sound the best if they thought he was still married.
Frank had done everything to avoid it. Day one was hard, and his recently divorced, emotional, post-rehab brain made him a tad too overjoyed to know that one person had waited for his return. He thought that would be it, he’d get a little crush and then after she found out how much of a nightmare he was to work with, she would get snappy, and it would stop.
He should have known better than to think anything less than perfection from Melissa King.
The bruised kidney healed up easily, but even with the bruise gone he still felt her hands on his skin. Her hands pressing on the mark and making him gasp; her own gasp as she saw his bare stomach.
Frank shook his head. He was acting like a pervert.
Basically, the crush did not go away. And it was getting a little out of hand.
“Are we still good for pizza next week, Doctor Langdon?” Mel asked in passing, handing him a chart for his next patient.
Since treating Becca, he would get pizza with the twins every month or two. It was good for him, and he liked Becca a lot. It wasn’t as good for his heart, but he thought it was better than getting back into benzos so– you pick your battles.
“Of course, Becca back in for a checkup?”
“Yup! Can you let her know the plans are still on? She’ll get–”
“She’ll get stressed out not knowing for certain, I’ve got it,” Frank saluted her, and resigned himself to the set room before he could embarrass himself further.
“Becca!” Frank greeted the elder King sister (by 14 minutes) with a wave. She waved back, her shoulders relaxing as he turned the white overhead light off.
“Hi Frank! Pizza–”
“It’s still on, Becca,” he chuckled sheepishly, side eyeing Perlah. Straight to business then, “Another UTI?”
It seemed that Becca was one of the unfortunate women to be cursed with recurring UTIs. It had become routine to the point that Mel wouldn’t be completely shitting herself when her sister came in randomly, she knew Frank could get her sorted. But Becca had made him promise that he wouldn’t tell Mel about her boyfriend. He agreed in exchange for a very awkward lesson on proper etiquette on sex, cleanliness, and peeing afterwards.
Which means to say, it wasn’t their fault that the infections kept cropping up.
On cue, Becca sighed, “Yep.”
Frank nodded sympathetically, “Well, then I’m not gonna keep you in this miserable place for a second longer. I’ll get you a prescription of antibiotics written up right now.”
Enough time had passed that he could sign off prescriptions alone again, thank God. Two moments of stereotypical messy Doctor handwriting and he was handing the slip of paper to Becca.
“That’s you all sorted then. You’re free to go, I’ll see you next week.”
“Do you not want to invite your Wife?”
What? Frank frowned. His hand was still reaching out to hand Becca her prescription, and as she took it from him, he followed her gaze. To his wedding band.
Becca was folding the paper up and zipping it into her coat pocket as she continued speaking. She obviously wasn’t aware what can of worms she had opened up.
“I haven’t met her yet, but Mel says she is very pretty, and that she stuck by you during rehab. Plus, she’s married to you, so she must be cool.”
Frank gulped. He still hadn’t quite figured out what to say. Yes, Abby is very pretty, but he couldn’t see her that way anymore now that a certain awkward blonde was in his life. Yes, she stuck by him. Until they realised it was the dopamine hits keeping them steady. The last one… That was just very nice of Becca to say. He made a very stupid decision and put his hand on her knee.
“Can you keep a secret from your sister, Becca?”
He almost felt guilty when he saw Becca squirm, and retracted his hand. Physical touch, shit, “Sorry, forget I said anything.”
“No, I can keep a secret.”
Frank nodded slowly, “Okay… Pinky swear?”
They bonded their secret in salt and sweat, and Frank let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding onto.
“I’m divorced.”
Becca blinked.
“Since a couple of months into rehab,” Frank continued, rambling on in panic, “I’ve been wearing the ring to stop the questions at work– I have enough on my plate. I shouldn’t even be unloading this onto you, God this is so unprofessional–”
A King sister through and through, Becca patted his knee back and grinned at him, “Thank you for telling me, your secret is safe.”
Frank smiled with relief. Instead of folic acid, their mother must have taken fucking sunlight in a pill.
It was a weekend where Frank wasn’t working when he got a phone-call from Mel. He would have been embarrassed by how excited it made him to see a stupid photo of the twins pop up on his phone, but he was alone in his apartment with no one to see and judge. So what if he grinned from ear to ear as he slid his thumb across the screen.
“What the hell are you doing stressing out Becca?”
Frank almost fell backwards from the volume of her yell. Usually he would have to turn his volume up because she had a habit of putting her phone on speaker while she did other things. Now, it may have cost him his hearing. Not that he cared at this moment.
“What?” he asked, wincing at how stupid he sounded.
He could hear Mel taking a deep breath over the phone before speaking again, “You told her to ‘keep a secret’ and now she’s beating herself up because she accidently let it slip. You know she overthinks things like that!”
“Wait, she let it slip?” Frank’s blood went cold.
“That you’re divorced? Yeah? She thinks you’re never going to talk to her again.”
“Of course I’ll talk to her again,” Frank said immediately, but he couldn’t stop himself there, “Is that… Is that all you’re worried about?” he winced again. Shit job.
“Yes,” Mel said coldly, “Apologise to her as soon as you can please, she’s really upset.”
He was already shoving his boots on while his phone was clamped between his ear and his shoulder, “I’m on my way, I’ll be there in twenty.”
Becca was already outside her and Mel’s apartment when Frank pulled up. She was sat on a bench he had helped them make the month prior, her eyes a bit puffy. When she looked up and made eye contact with Frank, they welled up again.
“I’m so sorry Frank! I broke our pinky promise, I messed up!”
As much as it upset him to see Becca like that, Frank calmly took a seat beside her and nudged her shoulder gently. He gave her the chance to move away, and she turned her head to look at him with bleary eyes.
“Hey, you did nothing wrong. I shouldn’t have asked that of you. I’m the sorry one.”
She shook her head, “You haven’t said a word about my secret, but I betrayed you!”
Frank wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the scenario.
“You betrayed no one Becca, I was just a coward who unloaded all my stressors on you, and that wasn’t fair. I’m so sorry,” He took a deep breath, “Can I tell you why I have been wearing my wedding ring since the divorce?”
Becca wiped at her glasses and looked back up at him, “You already told me, it was to keep Dr Robby off your back.”
“Did I say that?” Frank raised an eyebrow, “Well. Yes, that is one of the reasons. But I had another one too.”
“... Does this one have to be a secret?”
He shook his head. Technically it did, but only for a couple minutes after their conversation, so no point confusing everyone.
“I wanted to keep myself accountable. I was… catching feelings for another coworker. And keeping the ring on gave me an out, I couldn’t get lost in the moment.”
Becca blinked behind her frames, the last of her tears trickling away.
“You had a crush on someone else while married?” Her eyes were starting to squint, doubt setting in.
“No, no. Not until after the divorce. Though I knew her before the divorce– in passing.”
“Mel?”
Frank smiled down at his hands, “Yeah. Mel.”
Both of them sat on the bench in a comfortable silence, their eyes wet.
“She’s really mad at me, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. You should tell her now.”
“I wish I had the balls you have, Becs,” Frank murmured, his heart rate speeding up at the meer thought of explaining everything to Mel. He stood up and rustled Becca’s hair, sending her a quiet thank you before welcoming himself into the house and knocking on the first door to his left. Mel’s bedroom– she went in there when she needed to be alone, neither of the twins were allowed in each other's room.
“Um,” He started, clearing his throat, “Can I come in?”
One moment. Two moments. And then a very quiet voice could be heard through the door.
“Yeah.”
Melissa King’s room was exactly like Frank had imagined it, which he had. A modest size for her budget, but pretty expertly organized. She had told him once that she used feng shui to guarantee the best placement of furniture.
Neutral colours, greys and blacks like their uniforms. But pops of yellow. No overhead light on, just a couple of well placed lamps, some of them cute and decorative.
Beside her bed was an almost finished bubble tea. On the bed was the woman herself. She plucked the drink off of her nightstand and chewed at the straw, looking at Frank like he was a predator who entered her den. He sat cross-legged immediately, and that seemed to do the trick. Mel put the drink back on her side table and pressed her lips together.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you over the phone, Frank.”
This time, Frank did let himself laugh. It was so abrupt it made Mel jump.
“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, I deserved it,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief, “You barely even yelled.”
She sat with that for a moment, “Well, I’m still sorry. I got too protective over Becca. Have you apologised?”
He grinned, “Best friends again.”
“That’s good at least.”
Still closed off. Frank stood up and perched on the end of her bed. Her eyes widened a tad, but she didn’t tell him to move, so he sat comfortably.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why did you tell her and not me?” Mel blurted out, “I mean, we are good friends right? You’ve known me… Longer. Why didn’t you trust me?”
“I would trust you with anything. Especially my life, Doctor King.” Frank said softly, “But I didn’t trust myself enough to tell you. I still don’t, but I have come to terms with it.”
Brown eyes still wide, they were looking wet like Becca’s had just a couple moments ago.
“Is it because of when I sorted your bruise and stuff? Cause I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I misspoke–”
“Mel, Mel,” Frank put his hand out to calm them both, “I didn’t tell you about my divorce because I have feelings for you. And I didn’t want to take advantage of our positions, or our friendship.”
His heart was in her hands. She sat there, quivering from the chill in the air. Her tongue poked out from between her lips to wet them.
“What?”
“I told you as clearly as I could Mel,” Frank laughed and hung his head, “I’m mortified here.”
“You like me?” Mel pointed to herself, looking the image of poor Whitaker.
“Desperately,” Frank put his head in his hands, “I thought keeping up the Wife pretence would calm how much I like you, but it just complicated things.”
It went silent as he lowered his head. He didn’t want to look at her while she rejected him, it would kill him to know that he had made her uncomfortable. The bed shifted under his weight and he readied himself.
“Frank.” Her soft, deep voice came from his right.
He looked up, and she stood beside him, a hand out and a shaky smile on her pretty face.
“I wish you had told me.” She murmured, inviting him to stand.
“I know, I was a coward–”
“Cause I thought I was pining for a married man, and that was killing me.”
Frank looked properly at her from his full height. The view he saw her from, day in and day out. From there he could see the fear open in her face. She always wore her emotions on her face, but only this time was he fighting back a grin at her wet eyes.
“I thought I was an evil, awful person,” Mel said, a tear slipping down her cheek. She rubbed it away, her nose turning red, “I was spending so much time with you, taking you away from your Wife. From your kids.”
“I never chose you over them,” Frank stated firmly.
Mel nodded, “Good.”
Another silence fell over them. Even with a red nose and tears rolling down her cheeks, she was the most beautiful person Frank had ever seen.
“Is it okay that I’m ecstatic?” He leaned in and whispered.
Mel hiccuped out a laugh, shaking her head, “No! No… I’m happy too. Just, overwhelmed.”
“Tell me what you need, I’ll step back.”
“If I don’t get to kiss you I think I’ll explode.”
Frank’s mouth opened, and his pupils dilated. A master of restraint, famously; he took her face between his hands, rubbing away her tears as he leaned down and kissed her. It was just a peck, but the smell of her, the feeling of her– Mel drove him crazy. He could have died happy where he sat. And then Mel bit his lip.
He pulled away.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me! –”
Frank Langdon kissed her like a man starved, which he was. Maybe the full moon explained his hunger. He opened his mouth against Mel’s, tasting the noises she made. She still had tears in her eyes, happy ones, as he could feel her smile against his lips.
Before long, their legs got sore and Frank sat down. Mel followed suit and straddled him, which made him nearly pass out.
“Frank,” She panted against his lips, her own eyes blown into dark brown pools.
“Whatever you want, I want everything,” Frank chased her lips, desperate for her. He thought nothing could bring him out of this moment ever again, until he felt his shirt ride up an inch. A warm hand against his side.
“I um,” Mel pulled back and Frank could only stare at her reddening face with stars in his eyes. Her hand reached further up into his shirt.
“I love the hair.” She whispered, kissing him again.