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Why, oh why, did Ogilvie have to switch to the night shift? Y/n had been excited at the prospect of teaching a new med student. She always was. Especially compared to the other residents? They were always throwing the new interns and med students her way so they wouldn’t have to deal with them.
Plus, she was a good teacher. Patient. Encouraging. Kind. Something her husband, Jack, always admired about her. They both were very invested in keeping up good morale. Working the night shift was hellish, but the Abbot’s always made sure everyone was getting through okay. From Jack calling the crew ‘The Nightcrawlers’ (something Gloria from HR couldn’t stand). To her, packing on-the-go snacks for everyone (god forbid, someone passed out on them). They worked together to keep the cogs in the machine oiled and running.
Robby had texted them that the night shift was going to be gaining new hands, which was always good news. She had hoped that they’d get the new nurse, Emma, or even the girl with the photographic memory, Joy…
But instead, she walked down the hallway with Ogilvie hot on her trail. And he never. Stopped. Talking.
“I mean, my first day here was during the cyber attack last month. So I feel like that really prepared me for the worst possible scenario.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that coughed out of her. He tilted his head, confused.
“Well, this is the night shift. Whatever you’ve been seeing during the day? Double it. Make it weirder. Make it worse.” She said, crossing her arms as she walked, “Because if someone is dragging themselves to the ER in the middle of the night? There’s gotta be a hell of a good reason to.”
She walked him to the patient board, just as Jack walked by. He looked as handsome as always in his black scrubs. And he looked the most awake- used to staying up all night.
“Well, take a look at our new night crawler!” He eyed him up and down with a friendly smile.
Jack hadn’t interacted with him much on the day shift. He had seen him around, but nothing more than getting the day shift case handoffs. In his opinion? The guy looked like he’d work well on the night shift. Seemed eager. Seemed like a student his wife could mold.
Ogilvie scrunched his face, “Huh?”
She chuckled. His confusion was understandable.
“Sorry, that’s just the term of endearment my husband likes to call us night shifters.”
His eyes widened, “Wait- you’re married?”
“Ever wondered why I go by Dr. Y/n and not my last name? Things would get quite confusing with two Dr. Abbot’s.”
He nodded, “Right. That makes sense. Well, Dr. Y/n and Dr. Abbot, I am excited to learn all that I can today.”
Jack nodded in respect. “I like that attitude.”
Shen walked up to them, having just clocked in, coffee tray in hand. “Y/n! My favorite Abbot.”
Jack gave him a done look while his wife laughed and took her coffee from him.
“Got your favorite.” Shen continued, “Iced vanilla latte with the strawberry syrup.”
“I don’t like that you have my wife’s coffee order memorized.” Jack joked, pointing a finger. “Ogilvie, this is Shen. He will get you a coffee if you survive until the next shift. In the meantime, we have free coffee in the break room.”
She snorted at Jack volun-telling Shen to get Ogilvie coffee next shift. Shen hung his head down, but nodded in agreement.
“Dr. Abbot, can I get your second opinion on my patient in West 13?” He asked
“Catch me up?” He looked over to his wife and Ogilvie, “Good luck. Don’t break any legs.”
He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes with a blush.
“Love you.” He said, walking away
She waved him off, “Yeah. Yeah.”
Jack turned around, “I saiiiid I love you.”
“I love you too. Go away!” She said through a beaming grin.
He smiled and turned back around, listening to Shen as they walked towards the west wing. She watched him walk away, feeling warm and happy-
“Does HR know about your relationship?” Ogilvie asked
That snapped her back to reality. She nodded.
“Bit of a personal question, but it makes sense to ask.” She decided to turn it into a teaching lesson, “Yes, they do know. But that’s cause Jack and I were married before I transferred over to this hospital. I would highly not recommend dating in the workplace, okay?”
Ogilvie nodded, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not that stupid.”
Her smile turned into more of a grimace at the slight insult.
She smacked her lips. “Okay! Well. Let’s go to the patient board, shall we?”
They walked up to the patient board and looked up. Ogilvie drummed his hands on the counter.
“My record for intubations in one shift is two. I’d like to see if I can get to three-”
“Hey. We don’t wish for intubations, okay?” She said, her nerves already going a little haywire around this kid, “It’s bad juju. Now, why don’t we check on Mrs. Starker in South 20 with the intense sunburn?”
Ogilvie stood up straight, “No, what about Mr. Banks with the headache. Could be a stroke-”
“Or mild dehydration. Mrs. Starker came in first. They have the same level of priority, and we can’t let people wait.”
She started walking, not taking his ‘suggestion’. He reluctantly followed.
“Damn it. I was really hoping to get to do a burr hole-”
She shot him a look, “What did I just say about wishing?”
He shut up, and a little ball of guilt began to build. She didn’t like being strict with the students. Making mistakes was a usual part of this process. Hell, it felt like she had made every mistake possible when she was an intern. But this kid was a talker.
Ogilvie’s behavior got old… VERY quickly. Halfway through the shift, her eyebags were heavier than usual, and she had less patience when responding to questions and requests… Especially because Ogilvie wanted to do every single procedure with little to no experience.
They walked up to North 4, where a patient they had done blood work on was waiting. The patient, Ms. Cade, was experiencing easy bruising, weakness, fatigue, and dizziness after fainting at a party. She had a gut feeling that it’d be due to disordered eating, and with the low vitamin levels, she was nearly confirmed correct. After briefing her thoughts to Ogilvie, she felt ready to get Ms. Cade the help she needed. They just needed to be gentle with the conversation.
She opened the curtain, “Hi, Ms. Cade. We’re back. How are you feeling?”
The woman wore a bulky sweater and sweatpants. She held her arms across her chest as she lay back. She looked to be around her early 20s. Around the same age as Ogilvie.
“Tired… It’s cold in here.” She said, gently.
“I know, right. I always pack a hoodie in my bag.” She related as she sat down on the spinning stool. Ogilvie stood right behind her.
“I’m always cold.”
She nodded slowly, “I’m sorry about that.”
Suddenly, Ogilvie butted in, “That’s probably due to the malnutrition we found. Your metabolism is slower, which means less heat production.”
Both she and Ms. Cade froze. The patient looked to Ogilvie-
“My metabolism is slowed?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that-” She started, trying to repair the damage.
“Is it? Because when you starve your body, it goes into starvation mode and holds onto the fat, slowing your metabolism. It’s pretty cut and dry.”
Ms. Cade’s eyes started to water, “What do you mean? I’m not burning anything? I-I’ve just been on a diet for a bit. I’m working really hard because I have a pageant coming up.”
Y/n tried to speak again, “Ms. Cade, I’d like for you to speak to a member of our amazing psych and nutrition team. They can explain how to help you feel less cold and dizzy-”
“What is there to explain? Ms. Cade, you just need to eat more.”
“OGILVIE.” Her voice was shrill as she stood up, the rolling stool shifting.
The room completely stilled.
From outside the curtains, Jack froze, overhearing his wife’s snapping tone. Boy, did he feel sorry for the kid now. Ellis raised her brows, looking over at him. She gave him a side eye and leaned in.
“I don’t think I’ve heard her get that angry before.” She said in a hushed tone
Jack nodded, filling out a lab order. “It’s rareeee.”
“Should you go check on her?”
He took a deep breath and shook his head in a ‘I don’t know’.
“I will. Probably not… immediately, since she’s still in mama bear mode.”
“Whatever it is, you'd better side with her.” Ellis chuckled, “Happy wife. Happy life. I’d like to see you alive next shift.”
Jack chuckled and finished signing off the order. He looked up at his friend.
“Pretty easy when your wife’s always right.”
“Correct answer,” Ellis said
They both chuckled at that, and he shrugged, a small smile on his face at the thought.
“It’s just true.”
Y/n dragged Ogilvie to an empty room on the opposite wing. She shut the door and dragged her hands down her face. Ogilvie looked at her, arms crossed defensively. The nurses' station got a perfect view through the glass door and window.
“I’m confused on why we stopped-”
“Because, Ogilvie, I had told you that Ms. Cade likely had an eating disorder, and you told her she was holding onto fat and prescribed her to eat more.”
He slowly nodded, “Yeah, because it’s the simple solution-”
“Oh, my god. If it were simple, she wouldn’t be in here!” She barked, “Did it not cross your mind that she already knows?”
He threw his hands up, frustrated. “I’m just confused on how someone could be so-”
“Do not finish that sentence.” She threatened, “I need you to shut the fuck up and learn some empathy really quick if you’re gonna survive working with me.”
“It’s not that I’m unempathetic. I just don’t understand why someone would do that when all she needs to do-”
“STOP. OGILVIE.” She laughed in disbelief, “FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, STOP AND FUCKING LISTEN.”
He finally stopped, putting his hands down to his sides. The guy towered over her, but she was much, much more intense, giving the illusion that she could take him on in a fight.
“I don’t give a shit if you don’t understand. Do I understand why people come in here, with gunshot wounds or overdosing, or with glue on their skin or household items in their stomachs? NO. But I still show up to be someone who understands. Not just human Google.” She explained, “You are an MS4, and I need you to knock yourself down a fucking peg before dishing out fucking advice.”
Her eyes started to water. Fuck. This always happened when she got angry. Her throat tightened, and it felt like she had choked out the last sentence.
Ogilvie looked to her, “Did I hit something personal for you?”
“You really need to learn what is and isn’t your business.” She stormed out, wiping her eyes.
Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. She hiccuped, tears threatening to spill. She pushed her tongue to the roof of her mouth and squeezed her thumb in a fist. Something she had taught herself back when she was a med student. It started to work as she could take a wavering breath.
Ellis saw her and stood up from her work station, “Hey, hey, hey, you okay?”
“Someone take Ogilvie and teach him the Pyxis.” Her voice cracked, “Got a patient in South 19 that has a prescription needing to be filled.”
Her shoes squeaked as she walked as briskly as possible. Ellis followed, a worried look struck across her face. This wasn’t typical behavior of her.
“What happened?”
“If Abbot asks, I’m going for some fresh air.” She called out, not answering, “I’ll be back in five to check on my patient in North 4.”
The night chill was striking this time of year. It made her want to go back inside, but she also just wanted to go home. She leaned against the brick of the ambulance bay. It was quiet, though with her belief in superstitions, she wouldn’t say that out loud. If she breathed in hard enough, the scent of Dana’s cigarette breaks still lingered.
She took a wavering breath and stretched her back. Maybe she was just grumpy due to her back pain? She had been standing for a long time… Then she thought about it a little harder, and nope… it was definitely Ogilvie.
She had only been standing outside for a minute or so when Jack came out, head turning both ways to look for her. Once he spotted her to the side, he put one hand in his pocket.
“So… New student hasn’t become the master?” He scratched the back of his neck.
She didn’t look at him.
“I want him transferred back to day shift.”
“C’mon. It’s his first night. Besides, unfortunately, we gotta ask Robby.”
He walked over and leaned on the wall next to her. She was quiet. Instead of her usual smile, she had a faraway look. A small pout on her face, but not the kind he liked to see when he was teasing her… This was a real frown. A holding-it-together frown.
“What happened? Talk to me. I know that it’s something about not listening because our walls aren’t soundproof.”
If she started talking, she was gonna cry. But she couldn’t just… not tell him. Not only because he was her husband. But because he was her attending, who should know what’s going on in his ED.
“We had a patient who showed clear signs of disordered eating. I briefed him on that theory. He then proceeded to tell the patient to eat more and talked about how her metabolism is probably lowered.”
He leaned his shoulder against the wall to face her more, “You’re fucking kidding me.”
She ran her hands over her face. Shaking her head, she let out a frustrated groan.
“No. No, I’m unfortunately not. He still doesn’t understand where he went wrong because I couldn’t keep my cool.” She said, her voice softened, “And I- I could’ve maybe taught him the proper way to go about this, but I just got so heated. And he’s been like this all night-”
Her voice started to crack again. Jack pulled her in for a hug immediately. They usually strayed away from too much physical touch at work. But right now, he couldn’t help it.
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. But the valiant effort was wasted as tears slid down anyway.
“Sorry. I’m just frustrated.” She exhaled.
He kissed her forehead, “Don’t be sorry. I’ll take over teaching him for the rest of the shift, okay? I’ll talk with him…”
“Thanks.” She pulled back and wiped her face with her palms.
He wiped the remaining tear residue with his thumb.
“Hey. We got a few more hours. Then we’ll be home. New TV episode to put on. Got ice cream in the fridge.” He gentled her.
She nodded. That was true. There was a silver lining beyond the horizon.
She got back to work and immediately headed to North 4 to firstly apologize, and then try to have a much more compassionate conversation with her.
Meanwhile, Jack walked back in, scanning the floor for Ogilvie. He spotted the tall guy standing with Ellis by the Pyxis. He walked over, and Ogilvie straightened up a little at his presence. Jack tried to keep it neutral.
“Showing the kid the Pyxis?”
Ogilvie nodded, “I’ve used it before. But Ellis was telling me how the code to access it changes at a certain time.”
“That’s right.” He crossed his arms, “Ogilvie, you’re gonna be working with Dr. Ellis and I for the rest of the shift.”
His shoulders slumped. “Is this about my disagreement with Dr. Y/n?”
“No, it’s about ‘variety being the spice of life’ as Dr. Shen likes to say.” Abbot said, “Though, if I were you, I would stay out of her way for the rest of the night.”
“May I say, I believe Dr. Y/n to be a tad too emotional to be senior residen-”
“No, you may not say that,” Abbot said through gritted teeth.
Ellis’s eyes widened, “Kid, I know you did not just say that about his wife.”
“It’s just a statement from what I’ve observed. To be a doctor, you should be logical and to the point-”
Jack laughed in his face. He was starting to see why his wife got so frustrated, and she had somehow managed to work with him for hours by this point.
“To be a doctor, you have to be aware. Something that you’re clearly still working on.” He said, “Come with me, Mr. Garfield has food poisoning and needs an IV.”
“South 20? Right? Tense abdominal signs from the convulsions, extreme vomiting, and sweat from the exertion causing him to dehydrate.”
Abbot pursed his lips and slowly nodded, “Sounds like you know what I’m talking about. Go grab the bedpan in case his vomiting comes out the other side.”
“On it.” He nodded and left.
Ellis closed the drawer to the Pyxis and started bagging up a medication. She started to laugh to herself.
“Kids got balls. And they’re gonna get chopped if he keeps running his mouth.” She looked at him, “Looks like you and the missus swapped good cop bad cop routine today.”
It was true. Usually, his wife was the one much more patient and professional with students. Distracting them with tasks to do instead of getting mad. But now, Jack had to be the one to do that today… Even though he wanted to tell the guy to shut his fucking mouth.
“Well, we can’t both be bad cop, and maybe this is an exercise in restraint.”
“From killing him?” Ellis stapled the bag shut.
Jack just nodded and left to go find Ogilvie.
Their shift was almost over, and Jack was indeed getting tired of Ogilvie. He let him do an emergency intubation and let him watch a crike. The guy had no tact, but he was clearly eager to learn and try new procedures, which was the opposite of many med students. He had to give him props for at least being brave enough to ask and try.
After finishing up their (hopefully) last patient of the night, Ogilvie approached Jack as they watched their trauma patient get rolled out of the room.
“Dr. Abbot? Can I ask you something about your wife?”
“Is she single? Fuck no.” Jack joked, then looked to him, “It depends. Are you gonna claim she shouldn’t be a doctor again?”
“I-I didn’t mean to come across like that.”
“Well, you did. Shoot.”
Ogilvie swallowed and nodded, gathering the courage to ask. “Why does she take the approach she does? I feel that if I were a patient here, I’d want the most factually based answer to my question.”
“You’re not everyone. Here, look.” Abbot said, gesturing him out of the room.
They both stepped out of the trauma bay and out to the hallway. Waiting on a stretcher in the hall was an abandoned little girl. The entire floor knew about it. Mother came in to bring her seven-year-old daughter with the flu. Next thing they knew… the mother had vanished. The cops were called, but they were waiting on social services, hoping that the mother may return.
Y/n sat on the stretcher next to her, holding a few different toys. Some Barbies and alphabet blocks from the pediatric waiting room. She played with the little girl, and the girl’s laugh reverberated down the hallway.
Jack’s heart warmed at the sight, but he broke through to explain to Ogilvie.
“Do you want to be the person to tell that little girl her mother isn’t coming back?”
Ogilvie swallowed, “If I had to be.”
Jack shook his head, “Now… imagine you told her. She starts sobbing for her mother. Loudly. Not stopping for hours in the middle of this whole ED. It’s a shit storm… and then her mom comes back. She fell asleep in the car because she’s exhausted with two sick kids. You’ve made everything worse for no reason.”
They continued to watch her. The little girl held out one of the Barbies and a tiny dress that went with her. She took it and helped her change Barbie's clothes. Ogilvie started to nod, understanding.
“There are a lot of moments where you need to be straight to the point. But at the same time… you need to be aware of every word that comes out of your mouth. Every way that your sentence can be misconstrued, changed, or misunderstood.” Jack explained, “It’s better not only for the patient… but for everyone on the floor. Capiche?”
Ogilvie nodded, “Capiche.”
“Awesome. Finish your charts and go to bed, dude.” He said
The med student nodded, eyebags deep. “Yes. Yes. Thank you.”
Jack and Y/n walked out of their shift together. The sun rose on the horizon, painting the sky a lazy orange and pink. They walked through the parking lot, a heavy trudge in their footsteps. They did it. The shift was finally-
“Dr. Y/n!” Ogilvie’s voice came from behind them.
She sighed and grimaced. She was too damn tired for this. But… she turned around anyway.
“Yes, Ogilvie? You should be fast asleep by now.”
The tall med student rocked back and forth on his heels, “I’m sorry. For the way I handled Ms. Cade. You were right. I should’ve been more careful. An upset patient is beneficial to no one, and I really should’ve figured that out by now-”
“It’s okay.” She said, feeling like a weight was off her shoulders, “You’ll do better next time. You’re a smart med student. You’ll figure it out.”
“Thank you. Good night or-” He looked out at the sunrise, “I guess, good morning to you both.”
Ogilvie walked away. The couple looked at each other with soft smiles. Part of them wanted to laugh. The guy had a lot to learn. But he was too genuine in his apology for either of them to be mean about it.
Jack reached down to hold her hand, “I’ll talk to Robby about switching him back.”
She shook her head, “Let’s give it a week, okay? He’s clearly learned a lot in his first night shift.”
“Oh?” He smiled
“A week. If he’s not better, boot him back to day before I go insane.”
They laughed, and they walked over to Jack’s Jeep. He opened the passenger door for her, but she paused before she got in.
“You did a good job teaching today.” She said, “Thank you for taking over.”
She rubbed her hands up his chest and rested them over his shoulders.
“Anytime, sweetheart. You may be the best teaching resident, but even the best teachers aren’t completely invincible to…”
“Eager students.”
“Eager. Yes. That’s the word we are going to use.”
They laughed again, and he leaned down and kissed her. Both of their shoulders laxed. The touch was a soothing balm over the rough night they had just had.
“Drive-thru breakfast. Then sleeping alllllll day. How’s that sound?” He murmured against her lips before kissing her again.
She pulled back, “That would be perfect.”
“Earlier, Ellis said, ' Happy wife, happy life.’”
“And what’d you say back?”
“That it’s easy when my wife’s always right.”
She smiled, and it spread contagiously to him as well.
“Knew you’d like that.” He nudged her nose with the side of his index finger. He gave her lips a peck, “Now, c’mon. Breakfast is waiting.”