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It started with an innocent assumption by a nurse new to the night shift. Robby had just finished the round-up for the day shift and was giving a brief rundown of his cases, happy to hand them over and go home, when she approached the pair with an apologetic clearing of her throat.
"Excuse me, Dr Abbot?"
"Yeah?"
"Your husband is here in the waiting room." Robby's eyebrows immediately shot sky high at the statement, Shen choking on his sip of coffee, getting whacked in the back by Parker, who shushed him.
"He's not hurt or anything, says he just needs to pick up a car seat..."
Jack kept his expression perfectly neutral, nodding as she spoke. "Can you bring him back? I just need to finish up..."
"Sure." She chirped brightly, moving swiftly, while Robbie shot Jack a look.
"Really? This is revenge for the thing, isn't it?"
"Your goddamn right it is, Robinavitch." Jack concurred, moving to look past Parker and Ellis, with a devilish twinkle in his eye. "You two say nothing."
"What's in it for us?" Shen asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jack cocked his head. "You do have patients, Dr Shen..."
"Not a word, got it." Parker nodded, Shen, pretending to zip his mouth shut and throw away the lock just as Frank strolled into the Pitt, following the new nurse with an unamused look on his face. He didn't greet the others as he stared Jack down, the older man smirking. "Really, Jack?"
"Hey, Baby." Jack's voice was smooth, betraying nothing. "You need the car seat?"
"You know I do you, deranged old man."
"I don't know." Robby chipped in, moving to stand next to Jack with a sigh, "It doesn't sound like you need it too badly."
Frank rocked back on his heels and gave a careless shrug. "Okay, just let me text Dana, she can keep Bea overnight after all...."
Jack's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Robby turned to Jack. "We need a third car seat."
"You wouldn't dare." Jack challenged.
Now it was Frank's turn to smirk, ignoring the small fluttering in his stomach. "You know I will. No car seat, no baby, and you can go and pick her up tomorrow afternoon instead."
Shen opened his mouth and quickly shut it, looking at Parker, who was trying so hard to keep quiet. ".....You're a monster," Jack concluded. "Fine, but only because I don't trust Dana with my kid."
Robby blinked at the statement. "You trust her with your life but not to keep Bee Gee overnight? She raised two daughters to adulthood, and your kid?"
Jack levelled Robby with a look. "I barely trust you with my baby, and we've been dating for twenty years, and please, we all know I'm her favourite." Parker dug deep into her pocket with a sigh, handing a folded up ten dollar bill to Shen, laying it in his outstretched hand.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The new nurse looked horrified. "I thought..."
Frank smiled at her, "It's okay, seriously. Word of warning, though, keep your guard up about Abbot, the man is weird."
"Hey."
"No, that's true."
"He has you there, boss."
"Shen, Ellis, get to work." Jack snapped without any real heat. "You're lucky you're pretty." Jack muttered, "I'll get the damn car seat." Frank smiled at Robby victoriously until the other man spoke,
"You know you're never living this down."
"Shit."
Frank found out Robby was indeed right three days later, right at morning hand off, the man walking into the Pitt with Bea in his arms, her fever too high, too fast, and crying in pain. "Oh shit, Langdon," Cassie greeted him, looking from him to Bea, clearly in pain. "Hey, McKay, fever spike of 103.1, slight wheeze, someone dosed and dropped their kid at daycare with Flu A. Found out after they got sent home, again."
"Son of a bitch." Cassie muttered darkly. "Come on back, middle of hand off”, she reminded him, earning a terse nod, while Bea continued to fuss, spotting Jack and Robby. Cassie called out. "Hey, Robby, your husband is here."
Both men's attention snapped to Cassie, to find Frank standing there, with a grimace, and Bea now trying to squirm out of his arms, reaching for Robby, who reached the pair just a fraction before Jack.
"Pretty sure it's Flu A. She was up at 6:00 already fussing, took her temperature 100.5, spiked half an hour later, here we are."
"Fuck." Jack muttered.
"Shhhh," Robby comforted Bea. "I've got you, sweet girl. Hey, I got you." He crooned.
"Javadi, Whitaker, with me," Jack ordered, the trio making their way to Pedes, Jesse jogging after them.
"What?" He asked, stepping past Jack, "I'm her favourite."
"You two, out," Cassie ordered Jack and Robbie to walk into the room.
"Yeah, not leaving." Jack folded his arms and planted his feet. Robby shook his head in agreement, still holding Bea, who was taking shaky breaths, her tears finally subsiding. Any other time, Frank would roll his eyes, but instead, he took a deep breath, moving to take Bea from Robby, the man reluctantly letting go.
"You are on shift, Robby, you can check in as much as you need; let McKay and the others do their job. Jack, can you go back to the house and grab the actual diaper bag?" Jack's eyes drifted to the emergency diaper bag Frank kept in the back of his SUV.
"Sure, I'm coming straight back."
"And into an on-call room to get some sleep," Frank ordered.
Victoria and Dennis listened while Victoria placed the pulse ox on Bea's foot, and Dennis took her temperature. "Don't look at me," Cassie directed at the unhappy-looking Robby, "he's your husband."
Dennis blinked in surprise, and Victoria's eyes got impossibly large at the statement. "...but I thought Bea was Dr Abbot's baby...?" She let out before she could stop herself.
Frank groaned low and deep, still holding Bea and sitting on the bed. "I'm not married to either one of them." He informed the room dryly, "and Bea is my baby."
"He lies." Jack retorted, giving a kiss to Bea's head. "Twenty minutes tops." He promised.
"If you get into an accident on your way to or from here," Frank promised darkly. "I really will marry Jesse."
Jesse looked up with a shrug. "I'm free on Sunday."
"....Princess is here," Robby warned/threatened Frank once Jack left.
Cassie, who was ordering Dennis and Victoria on what was needed, stopped to look over at Robby and Frank, "Oh, she knows. There's a betting pool on who Frank is actually married too. It's up to 200 dollars.
"What?" Dennis asked in surprise, nearly dropping the IV bag.