Chapter Text
"Shen, I need you to help me plan a murder."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You finally killing Robby? Cool."
"Shen?"
Frank looked over at the clearly offended Jack, and back to Shen, who was looking back at Frank like he had just asked him something dull and mundane. "Yes, Shen, no, I'm not killing Robby."
"Of course not," Shen nodded, "that would be too obvious, who doesn't want to kill Robby some days? I'm in."
Park didn't look up from her charting, "Damn, I thought I was going to win that bet with Garcia."
"No one is killing Robby," Jack commanded with a frown, still slightly offended that Frank, who was on the night shift for the week, didn't ask him to help plan a murder. He was great at planning murders, or at least that is what he was told by the book club he had found himself part of.
"Booo." Shen let out.
"I'll pay you five bucks to follow that up with 'you whore.'" Parker looked up at Jack with a smirk, and Frank dropped his head. "Plus, with Robby out of the way, there's no one to stop you from bringing Frank here to the night shift full-time.
"No."
"Sold." Jack agreed, nodding with a smirk at Frank, who levelled him with a look.
"You still have the problem of Dennis...." Shen pointed out, his words turning Jack's smirk into a look of calculation. "I mean, unless we plan a double murder."
"No one is murdering anyone," Frank pointed out with a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My grandmother and her friends at their retirement village are big into murder mysteries, and my grandma always wanted to have a murder mystery party, so I'm planning one for her 85th birthday."
This brought the conversation to a halt, as three sets of eyes turned to face Frank.
"Okay, that's really sweet," Parker admitted gruffly.
"I still vote we murder Robby to make my life easier in the long term, but I can get on board with this." Shen nodded along, and Jack's calculating look turned into one of contemplation.
"Is this for Helen or Beth?"
Jack had met both of Frank's grandmothers more than once over the years, the two very different women raising Frank way more than his parents had. Both of Frank's parents wanted Frank, but didn't know at all what to do with him or how to interact with him once he was born, and both were too involved with their work to truly try. "Because that means two very different murders."
"How different?" Shen's brows furrowed slightly.
"Think Jessica Fletcher for one, and the other is very much Jack Reacher." It was the only way Frank could figure out how to explain the difference between his grandmother's tastes without going into detail. "Also, Helen has blue hair." He doesn't know quite why he volunteered that information.
"Like, typical old lady blue?" Parker questioned, frowning slightly, unable to imagine Frank with grandmothers that looked anything other than an older Emily Gilmore.
"No," Frank shook his head. "No, aquamarine. She said she wanted to live it up a bit before she kicked it."
"She's the Reacher fan." Jack supplied.
"Huh."
"Did not see that coming."
"No one does." Frank sighed, "So, anyways, need you to help me plan a murder, and no, not Robby....or Dennis."
"Fiiiiiine," Jack answered, "still offended you asked Shen and not me." He grumbled.
"And this would be why." Shen pointed out, tipping his empty Dunkin' cup at his boss.
With that, they go back to work. The night shift is quiet in a way that means that they're still busy, but there's not a sense of impending doom with how easy it is. Those are the nights that are far worse than the crazy ones; the calm before the storm always brings with it a sense of dread. Frank isn't expecting his phone to buzz, not once but three times in a row, the man pulling it out of his pocket scrubs only to be greeted by a series of messages from Dennis and Robby.
R: "Why is Jack texting me? I'm lucky I'm the obvious choice?"
R: "Also, he sent me a gif of Jessica Fletcher with no context."
D: "Any reason Jack is sending vaguely threatening texts to Robby?"
R: "Why is Jack texting me that you're entering your hot widow era?!"
D: "Don't know what Jack is planning, but I think it's giving Robby an aneurysm."
J: "Frankie, don't tell them anything."
Frank pocketed his phone, with a roll of his eyes, still not sure how he ended up in a group chat with Robby, Dennis, and Jack of all people. Everyone knew that Robby and Jack had something, and it was a pretty badly kept secret that Dennis and Robby were definitely something, but Frank had no idea what the three of them had going on, nor was he sure he wanted to. He also had no idea when he started to get roped into things between the three of them either.
D: "That's it, you're never going to the night shift ever again."
Frank's brows furrowed in confusion when he read Dennis' last text a couple of hours later.
F: "?"
R: "Ever."
J: "He's mine now, you're not getting him back."
Frank could only stare, looking up from his phone where he stood outside a patient's room, across the hub to look at Jack, who was in a similar mirrored position, the older man just shooting him a wink, and walking off.
By the time the shift change came and the day shift and night shift bled together, Frank had managed to put everything on the back burner until he saw Robby and Dennis walk towards him, and felt Jack mosey up beside him, with a smug expression.
"What did you do?"
"What the hell do you mean, you and Frank are married?"
Robby greeted Jack with a glare, as Dennis wrapped two hands around Frank's shoulders and pulled the taller man to his side with embarrassing ease. Frank couldn't tell if it was all the new muscle Dennis had since he started helping Amy with the farm, or Frank really just needed to start working out again. He probably needed to start working out again. Frank slowly looked at Jack who winked at him.
"I mean, it's pretty obvious," Jack stated. "When a man and a man love each other very much-"
"That's sex, Jack." Parker pointed out dryly as she walked past towards the exit.
Frank rolled his eyes, finally putting the pieces together. "Seriously, Jack?"
"What, a heart attack is almost as good as a murder, less clean up too." Jack smiled, "Plus, you look hot in black, baby."
Frank just shook his head. "And this is why I ask Shen for help."
"Help with what?" Robby's scowl turned into a frown, and Dennis' strong hands were still on Frank's shoulders, giving a little squeeze.
"Shen?" Dennis made a face in pure offence. Jack gave an unamused grunt.
"That's what I said," he complained.