Chapter Text
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November 2026
Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center
Thanksgiving
Thursday Morning 7:15a
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Langdon, McKay, Santos and Whitaker scattered around the relatively quiet nurses station waiting for rounds to start.
Mel, who Langdon hadn’t seen the past two days they were both scheduled off, was also supposed to be working but still wasn’t there.
The senior resident pulled out his phone, checked his text message thread with Mel and reread the last four texts. All ones he sent her that had gone unanswered.
Tuesday 11:31a
“Can I stop by and see you?”
Wednesday 2:50p
“Mel, I really want to talk.”
Thursday 6:14a
“Are you still working today?”
Thursday 7:05a
“Where are you? Are you OK?”
Langdon put his phone in the pocket of his scrubs, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples.
McKay made her way over to where he stood. “You look tired.”
“I am.”
“Kids keep you up last night?”
“No I just had a lot on my mind and couldn’t really sleep.” Langdon took a sip of his Red Bull. “Tanner and Penny are with Abby in Akron.”
“For Thanksgiving?”
He nodded. “Her parents live out there.”
McKay put her hoodie on and zipped it up. “Is that why you volunteered to work today? Since she has this holiday with the kids?”
Langdon downed the rest of his energy drink and tossed the empty can into the trash. “Yeah. Beats staying home alone.”
“I hear ya. It’s why I’m here today too.”
McKay looked down at his bare left ring finger. “So how have things been going between you and Abby, post divorce? I feel like you haven’t really talked about it much.”
He picked up his stethoscope and placed it around his neck. “Things were a bit rocky at first. But Abby and I are in a good place now. And the kids have adjusted well and seem to be a lot happier. Since going back and forth between two homes is better than being stuck under one with two parents who are fighting all the time.”
“It definitely is.” McKay said agreeing.
“Abby’s really happy these days too now that she’s got this new boyfriend.”
She raised her brows in surprise. “Oh yeah?”
Langdon nodded. “A venture capitalist she met through her divorce lawyer.”
“I honestly have no idea what a venture capitalist actually does all day, aside from somehow making an absurd amount of money.“
“That he does.”
“Have you met him yet?”
“Yeah and in addition to being very rich he is also very nice.” Langdon admitted. “And Tanner and Penny both like him. So it’s all good.”
McKay nodded and asked, “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You said your kids are happy and your ex is happy.” She pointed out. “Are you happy? With how your life in general is going these days?”
Langdon stayed silent for a long time before finally whispering, “I’m not unhappy.”
He didn’t elaborate further and McKay wondered about his choice of words. But she felt as though she had pried into his personal life enough so she just quietly nodded and let the conversation end there.
Just then Santos, who was bickering with Whitaker on the other side of the nurses station, motioned for her to come over.
“Looks like those two are in need of a mediator.”
Langdon nodded and watched as McKay walked off to where the roommates were.
About a minute later he felt his phone vibrate.
He hastily pulled it out but sighed when he saw the Happy Thanksgiving GIF from his mom who, along with his dad, was spending the holiday with his sister and her family in Florida.
Langdon replied, put his phone back into his pocket and began making his way over to where McKay, Santos, and Whitaker, who’d been joined by Ellis, Crus and Toomarian, all stood.
Toomarian checked the time on her watch and then looked over at Robby and Shen, who were talking to each other by the triage entrance.
“Why haven’t we started rounds yet?” She asked. “Is someone from day shift still not here?”
“Mel.” McKay told the intern.
“She usually comes in early.” Whitaker noted. “I’m surprised she’s late.”
Ellis furrowed her eyebrows. “Yeah it’s not like her. Makes me wonder if something happened.”
Ellis, McKay, Whitaker, Crus, and Toomarian all turned and stared at Langdon.
“What?”
“You and Mel are tight.” Crus pointed out.
“If anyone would know where she is it’d be you.” Ellis added.
“Well I don’t know.” A flustered Langdon admitted as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been texting her but she hasn’t answered—“
“Mel got into a fender bender earlier this morning.” Santos said, cutting him off. “But she’s OK and she should be here any second.”
Less than a minute later they saw Mel hurrying into the emergency room. She said something to Robby and Shen and then headed into the locker room to change into her scrubs.
The attendings made their way to the residents.
Shen took a sip of his iced coffee. “Alright everybody. Let’s get this change of shift started.”
They nodded and McKay, Ellis, Whitaker, Crus, and Toomarian followed Robby and Shen to C1.
Langdon and Santos stayed behind.
“How do you know what’s going on with Mel?”
“I texted her and asked.” She said to him in a cold, icy tone. “Mel’s not ignoring MY messages. Just yours. I wonder why?”
Santos stood glaring at him for a few more moments and then began making her way over to C1 with the others.
Langdon sighed and followed her.
Mel joined the group a few minutes later and once all of the ER patients had been reassigned and everyone began going their separate ways, Langdon pulled Mel aside.
He stared at her softly; with concern in his eyes. “I heard about the accident. Are you alright?”
She adjusted her glasses and nodded.
“How’s your car? Are you going to need a ride home? If you do I can bring you and—“
“I don’t. My car’s fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine.”
When Mel started to walk off he gently placed a hand on her arm to stop her.
“Can we go somewhere and talk?” He asked hopefully. “Please. Just give me five minutes.”
“No.” She said firmly. “I have patients I need to check on.” Mel hurried off around the corner.
Langdon laced his hands together, placed them onto the top of his head and closed his eyes. “Fuck.”
Dana, who had been standing nearby and heard their exchange, walked over to him.
“I’ve never seen Mel blow you off like that.” The charge nurse crossed her arms over her chest. “What the hell did you do?”
“Something I really wish I could take back.” Langdon sighed and muttered under his breath, “But can’t.”
Dana frowned as she watched him slowly make his way over to triage.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
1:00p
Because most of the Pitt’s cases that Thanksgiving morning weren’t trauma related and hadn’t required the presence of more than one senior resident, Mel and Langdon had few reasons to interact and for the most part didn’t. It wasn’t until that afternoon did the two doctors find themselves working a case together.
Both had been nearby when they witnessed a teen Whitaker and one of the ED’s new student doctors was treating go into cardiac arrest.
Mel and Langdon, along with Donnie and Emma, went to assist. It was touch and go for a bit but they were able to stabilize the young man.
He was quickly brought up to cardiology for further evaluation and treatment and once he was settled the group started to disperse to work on other patients. But Langdon noticed that Mel didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the room so he lingered behind as well.
Langdon took off the gloves he had been wearing, threw them out and tried to think of what he wanted to say to her but now that the moment was here he found himself struggling to come up with the right words.
“Nice work.” Was all the fourth year resident managed to initially squeak out.
Mel made her way to the sink. “You too.”
“It feels like I haven’t seen you today.” Langdon said as his eyes fixated on her. “And that the last time we really talked was ages ago. Even though it’s only been a couple of days.”
“I know.”
“I’ve missed you.” He added.
Mel quietly washed her hands and reached for a paper towel to dry them.
Once she finished she made her way over to him. “I’m sorry I was short with you earlier. And that I never responded to your text messages.”
“I completely understand why you didn’t.”
Mel stared down at the trauma room floor and fiddled around with her hands.
Langdon took a deep breath and blew out slowly. “What happened on Monday night in the ambulance bay was—“
He stopped when he saw Jesse enter the room.
Langdon rubbed his temples and said to the nurse, “We’re trying to have a conversation.” His words came out a bit harsher than the resident intended, but he hated having his first real opportunity to talk to Mel interrupted.
Jesse raised a brow at him. “Is it about a patient?” He asked, matching his tone. “Because that’s what I came in here to talk to Mel about.”
Before Langdon could say anything she told him, “I should get back to work.“
He watched her and Jesse exit the trauma room. Langdon then ran his hands through his hair, leaned up against the wall, and closed his eyes.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
2:30p
Santos headed to the nurses station and plopped down at one of the computers to try to catch up on some charting.
As she did she noticed Langdon standing by the board, reading over a radiology report.
Soon after logging in Santos felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, read over the text message in her head and made a face.
McKay, who was waiting nearby for a gastroenterology fellow to come give their opinion on a case she was working, asked, “Everything OK?”
“The girl I’ve been seeing, Vanessa, asked if we could turn our date this Saturday night into a double date with her cousin.” Santos set her phone down. “He just moved to Pittsburgh from Indianapolis this past Monday for work and doesn’t know anyone here except her. And she asked if he could tag along on our date—“
“So he isn’t spending his first weekend in town alone?” McKay deduced.
“Yeah and I’m fine with that. It’s just she’s hoping to set him up with a girl he might actually really like and will want to see again. But all of her straight female friends are in relationships so she’s asking ME to find someone.”
McKay smirked.
Santos picked her phone back up and began scrolling through her contacts. “I’ve met Tyler and he’s a nice, good looking guy but I have no idea who to ask to go on a date with him. Especially this last minute.”
Just then a lightbulb went off in her head. “Mel.”
McKay’s eyes widened in surprise.
“They have things in common.” Santos explained. “He’s a substitute history teacher; she loves history. He doesn’t drink or smoke; she doesn’t drink or smoke. They’re both twins too.”
“He has a twin?”
She nodded. “A brother. Back in Indiana.”
Santos held up a photo of Tyler from Instagram. “This is him.”
McKay looked at the tall, hazel eyed young man with short, light brown hair and an athletic build. “You’re right. He is very good looking.”
Santos took out her hair tie, which had been loose and falling out. “I’ll do Mel’s hair and makeup like I sometimes do when we go out to karaoke together.” She redid her ponytail. “Tyler’s jaw is gonna drop when he sees her.“
“IF he sees her.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re assuming Mel wants to go on this date but she might not. For one reason or another.” McKay subtly motioned to Langdon.
Santos discreetly shifted her gaze to where the blue eyed resident, who she’d forgotten was nearby, lingered by the board; staring at her. It was then she realized he was within earshot and likely overheard their entire conversation.
Just then Mel, who’d been talking to Caleb and Javadi outside of C4, started walking their way.
“I guess we’re about to find out if she does.” Santos told McKay. She then called out to her, “Melancholy.”
Mel stopped and pointed at herself. “Me?”
“Yes I’m talking to you.” Santos chuckled. “You’re off Saturday, right? Got any plans?”
Mel removed her glasses and wiped them off. “Well, I was thinking of maybe asking Becca if she wanted to go see a movie.” The blonde sighed and put her glasses back on. “But she usually hangs out with Adam on Saturdays—“
“So how about going on a double date with me, my girlfriend and her cousin, Tyler?”
Mel began to stutter. “A umm…d—date?“
“Yeah.” Santos showed her the same photo she showed McKay. “He just moved to Pittsburgh and Vanessa wanted to introduce him to someone he might really like.” She explained. “And I immediately thought of you.”
Mel smiled softly and blushed. “You did?”
Santos nodded. “I did. Because the two of you have things in common. He’s a substitute history teacher and I know how much you love history. He’s also a twin. Just like you.”
Her eyes lip up but then dimmed a bit as she admitted, “I’ve umm…never actually…b—been on a date. So I’m not really…s—sure what to do.”
Santos assumed Mel hadn’t dated much over the years but she was a bit surprised to hear her say she’d never been on a date.
“All you have to do is just show up and be yourself.” She told her as reassuringly as possible; not wanting the fear of the unknown to scare her off. “And if you two don’t hit it off it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to see him again.”
Mel nodded.
“So what do you say?”
As Mel quietly thought the idea over, her gaze drifted to Langdon and the two briefly locked eyes. But she eventually looked back at the brunette and told her, “I want to go.”
A pleasantly surprised Santos grinned. “OK great. I’ll talk to Vanessa and let you know when and where we’re going soon.”
Mel nodded and started making her way towards the elevators.
A few moments later Santos and McKay observed a frustrated looking Langdon fling his tablet down roughly by one of the computers. He then sighed, glanced over at Santos, and began making his way to the break room.
“He’s been a real ray of sunshine today.” Princess said to Perlah in Tagalog as the two walked by on their way to turn over a room.
“It looks like Langdon didn’t like hearing that Mel’s going on a date.” McKay commented.
“He’s only pissed off because he likes the attention she gives him and he knows if her and Tyler end up hitting it off he’s going to lose it.” Santos said very matter of factly.
McKay frowned a bit but didn’t respond.
“I’m so glad Mel agreed to go on this date.” Santos picked up where she left off on her chart. “And that she’s finally decided to let it go.“
“It being her crush on Langdon?”
“Yeah. Because it’s not healthy for her to spend her life pining after someone who doesn’t look at her the way she looks at him.”
McKay stood staring at her in a way that made Santos think she had more to say on the topic.
“You disagree?”
“Well I agree it’s not healthy to do that.”
“But?” Santos asked, knowing one was coming.
“The way Langdon will just randomly stare at Mel. All the little things he goes out of his way to do for her. How he’s always looking for her and wanting to be around her. How I’m pretty sure he was about to have a mini panic attack when he didn’t know where she was this morning. He has never, in all the time I’ve known him, acted that way with anyone else here. Only her. And it really makes me think he’s got a thing for her too.”
Santos stopped typing and crossed her arms over chest. “If Langdon has feelings for Mel why hasn’t he done anything about it? The man has been clean for almost a year and got divorced nearly four months ago so it’s not like it’d be a bad look if he were to start dating her. But he hasn’t bothered to make a move. Why is that?”
McKay adjusted the stethoscope around her neck. “He might only just now be realizing he likes her. Which wouldn’t be surprising. Langdon was married for years and I know from experience it takes some divorced people time to figure out who they are on their own and what they want in life and a new partner. Especially one who was in rehab not that long ago.”
Santos rolled her eyes. “You’re always giving that dude the benefit of the doubt.”
“And I think your indifference towards him is affecting how you’re looking at this whole thing.”
Santos stood up. “Look, Langdon and I aren’t friends but I’m not actively trying to stick it to him either. Not anymore, anyways. And Mel has become a friend. One I want to see happy. So if there really was something between the two of them, I wouldn’t try to sabotage that. I’m just not convinced there’s feelings on his end. Not after he…” She let her voice trail off.
McKay raised a brow at her. “Not after he what? What were you going to say?”
“Nothing. Forget it.”
Just then Dr. Thompson, the gastroenterology fellow McKay had been waiting for, came out of one of the elevators and approached her. “Whatcha got?”
McKay let Santos’ slip of the tongue go and turned her attention to her colleague from upstairs. “A possible case of diverticulitis.”
Her and Thompson left to go see her patient while Santos sat back down and tried to quickly finish up her chart.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Langdon sat at the table in the empty break room, absentmindedly spinning his phone.
A few minutes later Whitaker, who spotted the resident as he passed by, made his way inside.
“Dr. Robby still hasn’t gotten back from his meeting at the uptown clinic yet and I need somebody to sign off on this discharge.” The intern handed him the tablet he was holding.
Langdon checked everything over and was about to sign but stopped when he spotted something that caught his eye.
“This is one of Mel’s patients. Why are you handling the discharge?” He asked curiously.
“She’s about to start her flow diversion.”
Langdon stared blankly at him.
“Dr. Conley asked Mel if she wanted to scrub in on it since she was the one who spotted the patient’s aneurysm when he came into the ER two weeks ago.” Whitaker explained. “Dr. Robby okayed it before he left for his meeting.”
“Oh.” Langdon said, frowning. “I umm…hadn’t heard about the flow diversion.”
Whitaker just shrugged awkwardly.
Langdon electronically signed off on the discharge and gave the tablet back to Whitaker. “Did Mel ask you to look after all her patients?”
“Half of them. McKay’s taking the rest.”
“OK. Well if it feels like it’s too much to handle let me know. I can help—“
“We should be good.” The intern said, cutting him off. “They’re pretty straightforward cases.”
Once Whitaker exited the break room Langdon slumped down in his seat with a dejected look on his face, staring aimlessly off into space.
His mind eventually began to drift back. Back to Monday. Back to the night in the ambulance bay.