Chapter Text
Some Thursday in May, 8pm
Allergy Season - Rachael Jenkins
The first time Jack Abbot met the new orthopedic surgeon on call had been a Thursday, a night shift starting out like every other shift in the emergency department at PMTC: with chaos.
"That's a very broken bone," Trinity Santos muttered to herself, running next to a freshly brought in patient, "Or should I say bones?"
Jack Abbot, hurrying alongside her, almost rolled his eyes. "Is this what they call a medical diagnosis nowadays?"
She gave him a short look, clearly debating on biting back, but looked too tired for it. No wonder, Jack thought to himself, her shift had been over a while ago. But because the hospital, and especially interns, where always behind on charting, or, well, everything, no one ever made it out on time.
"Three is free!" Dana, in charge as per usual, yelled over the buzz of the emergency department. Jack only raised one arm in acknowledgement. Once inside, he looked expectantly at both Trinity and Ellis Parker, who had been busy gloving up. Nurses hurried around them to hook the patient up to all necessary monitors, the noises a steady reminder where they were.
"What are we thinking?"
Trinity, reeling off knowledge and hypotheses, leaned in to press against the patient's ribs. And raised her brows.
"His ribs are not where they're supposed to be, they are-….oh shit," she said when his monitors started to peep loudly, "I think they're puncturing his organs."
Ellis raised both her brows and gave him a look. "I heard Ortho has a new emergency specialist, wanna give her a try? She's on call."
Not the biggest fan of calling in other doctors to the sacred halls of the ED, Jack huffed. "Fine, give her a try."
☆ ☆ ☆
Sipping on the surprisingly nice cappuccino from the hospital's cafeteria, Dr. Charlotte Jones tried summarizing how the last riding accident had presented.
"Lovely death machines," she muttered to herself, finalizing her chart on the 16-year-old that had broken her arm in three places just to vow to be back in the saddle two weeks later. Teenagers, the orthopedic surgeon thought to herself, crazy teenagers.
"How much hip replacements have you done last year?" her colleague Samantha Torres asked, giving her a suggestive look. Charlotte looked up from her charting and grinned. She had been here for a total of six weeks, but Samantha had become a fast friend.
"Are you trying to pass the sweet Mrs Miller from 240 to me?"
The brunette doctor shrugged. "I'm trying to get out a little early today. Niece's birthday."
Charlotte hummed. "Sure, I will be here for a few more hours. But you owe me," she huffed in fake frustration, "You'll get the next hip. Or broken elbow. I don't like elbows."
The other woman chuckled. "Does anyone?"
Before Charlotte could answer, her pager went off, and she raised her brows at the number. That was a first. "That's the ED, right?"
She showed it to Samantha. The brunette looked as surprised as she did. "Yeah, that's Parker's code. Maybe I'll come with you," a slow grin spread over her lips, "Just to make sure you'll find your way."
Charlotte rolled her eyes playfully. She was almost certain she had seen Samantha talking to Ellis Parker earlier, before Ellis' shift had even started. Why she had been around this early, the orthopedic surgeon didn't know, but the sparkle in Samantha's eyes was enough indication.
"I would hate to get lost," she said, grabbing her pad and coffee, "It's an emergency after all."
Jack only had to wait three minutes for the orthopedic surgeon to show up, a woman in her mid-thirties. If he had to guess, of course, since he hadn't seen around before. Her blonde hair was braided to be out of the way, and she was almost tall enough to look directly into his eyes. A confident enough step and eyes that immediately assessed the room told him she had plenty of experience. Good.
"You paged?" she looked around, giving him a court nod. If he hadn't been trying to seize her up, he would've noticed Torres behind her giving Ellis a smile warm enough to bring up the room temperature a couple of degrees.
"I would like you to look at the man's ribs," Jack said, gesturing to the patient's right side, "I don't think moving him into imaging is a good idea in his state. I'm afraid something will move further into his organs."
She nodded along to his explanation and the following medical information Santos gave her, while putting on gloves and moved towards the man in the middle of the room.
"We're ignoring the bone coming out of his leg for now, I'm assuming?" the orthopedic surgeon asked, her tone still slightly amused. Jack hummed a yes. The continuous nervous beeping in the background irked him enough to move closer to her, eager to do something for the patient.
"Charlotte Jones, by the way," the blonde said in his direction, "I don't think we've met before."
He chuckled and before he knew what he was doing, the next words slipped out of his mouth. "I think I would remember. Jack Abbot."
Her lips twitched, and he could feel Santos giving him an irritated look. Or maybe she was just tired.
"Would you now, Dr Abbot…," Charlotte started but stopped abruptly when her fingers landed on the spot where the patient's rib was supposed to be. She pushed slightly against the torn skin and the beeping increased.
"Good call to page us, Dr Parker," she said in their general direction, "Try to get imaging here as fast as possible, but we can't move him anywhere. I will check the rib as much as possible without cutting him half open, and Dr Torres can take the knee situation if you agree. We're here now, after all."
Jack gave her a court nod.
"We could both probably use a hand, want to do it yourself or leave it to Dr Parker and-…sorry, what's your name?" Charlotte, her hand still on the patient, looked at Santos.
"Santos. Trinity Santos, I mean," the other woman said, "I'm up for it."
The orthopedic surgeon took a second to look at the intern. "How long have you been here? In hours?"
A slight brush crept over Santos' face that Jack had learned to read as something between defense, anger and embarrassment.
"I'll stay as well," he jumped in, "Santos is used to the hours."
Charlotte only gave back a half-convinced noise, but accepted his call. Her voice now void of the earlier honeyed charm, she ordered everything she needed, stepped back and let one of the nurses hand her a body cover.
"Let's see where that rib went," she said in his general direction, and went to work.
☆ ☆ ☆
A Saturday in late May, 9pm
In the kitchen - Renee Rapp / Hesitate - Hazlett, OSKA
Weekend shifts were bad, always. People had too much time on the weekends, or maybe, that was a slight jealousy speaking, not the he ever really used much of his free time for anything other than more work, or, gardening, or going to the gym. Oh well, and therapy. Still, weekends were bad, especially when people paired alcohol with free time, football, and partying.
A group of five questionably intoxicated middle-aged men had made it into the emergency room, primarily because they had broken a bunch of bones and were bleeding on the floor. When a long blond braid flurried through his vision, he realized someone had paged ortho again before he had gotten the chance. Probably Ellis. It was always Ellis, flirting with ortho whenever she could, even though the object of her desire was, from what Jack could tell, never on call. But apparently Charlotte Jones was.
"Is she new?" came the voice of his friend and colleague Michael Rabinovich, Robby, from the right. Jack let his eyes rest on her for a second too long before he answered.
"Yes, she's the specialist for emergencies in ortho. And apparently on call when we are."
Robby grinned. "So you met her?"
Jack raised his brows at him when he heard the unmistakable suggestion in his voice.
"Yes, on a case a couple of weeks ago. Fished out a missing rib from a tiny incision. It was impressive."
"Ah," was all Robby said. Jack tried not to let it rile him up. That had been all, he hadn't seen her since, and had only thought a handful of times if he would ever see her again. The normal amount of thinking of a stranger, he told himself.
They watched as Yolanda Garcia and her held down a man and plopped his shoulder back into his socket. Garcia, giving her a short nod, her face as closed off as ever, left her to it. When the man leaned over into Charlotte's face, who was busy with taping up his shoulder, it was clearly visible when his alcohol breath met her nose. She gave him a stern look and said something that only made him grin lopsidedly. Jack, feeling some compassion, walked over, leaving the chuckling Robby behind. He would probably, definitely, hear about this later. When he was in earshot, he understood the look Charlotte had given the man twice her size.
"You're such a…pr-hmmmmm," he needed to swallow, probably his own spit. "Pretty doctor. Why don't ya wanna…go out with me?" finally came out, and Jack raised his brows.
"Because I don't want to. Lean back," she gave back, annoyance coloring her voice. For Charlotte's sake, or for her ability to work, Jack decided to intervene.
"Tried to play football?"
The eye's of the patient snapped up with a drunk delay and he could see Charlotte taking note of his appearance with half a glance. A lot less enthusiastic about him than about the pretty doctor, the patient shrugged. And hissed in pain.
"I'm not an orthopedic surgeon but I wouldn't do that with a shoulder injury."
The man made a rather grumpy noise and looked up at him. "You're-…," he breathed in deeply to collect himself, "ruining my changes with the pretty doctor."
Jack looked down on him, adopting Charlotte's earlier stern look.
"The pretty doctor is busy, and does not want to go out with you. This is an emergency room, not speed dating. Let her work, or I will tape your shoulder," he said softly, ignoring the snorting nurse Princess walking by, definitely having heard the pretty doctor part. She heard too much anyway. He saw Charlotte give him a short look before focussing on the tape again, her ear slightly pinker than before.
"Fine," the patient said, "Sorry."
The blonde surgeon sighed and pressed the last bit of tape into place. "Apology accepted. No movement for the next two weeks, and this is a prescription for some pain meds. If you get dizzy, or your pain becomes worse, come back. I'm sure Dr. Abbot here will be glad to help out."
Heaving himself into a standing position, the patient took the prescription from her. He would've leaned in closer, but Jack was quicker, moving in between the two.
"And call a taxi. No driving, obviously."
A rough nod and two drunk eyes trying for an angry look were his result, but the patient finally started walking away.
"I wasn't aware you're offering bodyguard services," he more felt than heard Charlotte, realizing he was standing way too close to her. Clearing his throat, he stepped back a little, only to look into amused, and unfairly beautiful eyes.
"Only for pretty doctors," he muttered, cocking his head at her. The laugh that escaped her made him shortly forget he was standing in a booked and busy emergency room, visible to all his colleagues.
"I have at least four more of these drunk mishaps, I'm sure there will be someone for you in the mix as well," she offered, letting her eyes wander over his face. For the first time since meeting her, he had a few seconds to actually take in her face when it wasn't behind a mask, or accompanied by a bloody overall. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of deep hazel, a few freckles making their way across her nose and her cheekbones. Charlotte Jones looked like pure sunshine and for a few moments, Jack Abbot couldn't look away.
"I think I'm good," he gave back roughly, trying for nonchalant. It wasn't working. Princess, walking over a second time, snorted again. When Charlotte smiled and looked after the nurse, he had to pull himself together not to keep staring. So much for nonchalance, Abbot.
"Incoming trauma, five minutes!" Princess, now back at her station, yelled out, and Charlotte let the smile slip off her face.
"I'll see you later, maybe?" she asked, and he imagined a small hopefulness into her voice.
He nodded. "Counting on it."
With that, the blonde surgeon took her leave, her ears still the slightest shade of pink. Robby walked past him, finally a backpack on his shoulders.
"Have a fun night with your pretty doctor," he mumbled into his ear and Jack knew he would never hear the end of it.
At three in the morning, Charlotte leaned against the kitchen aisle in the break room, closing her eyes for a second. All she smelled was alcohol, and it almost made her vomit.
"Fucking weekend shift," she muttered to herself, taking a sip of coffee. And pulled a face.
"Yeah, weekends are the worst," she heard Ellis Parker come in, giving her a merciful look, "But I'd say Fridays take the cake. Saturday is a close second."
The two woman looked out through the glass, seeing an intern struggling and somehow winning the battle with three kids jumping around an exhausted looking mother's bed.
"How do you even do it? Working here, I mean?"
Ellis gave her one of her famous half-smirks. "Hate to break it to you, princess, you work here, too."
For the second time today, a true laugh pearled from Charlotte's lips. She felt her heart warm at the other woman, the camaraderie lifting something of the darkness of the day.
"Technically, I only work on call for you people."
Ellis rolled her eyes good-heartedly and grabbed a sandwich from the fridge, took three big bites and slipped it into her pocket. "I don't know, to be honest. Feels weird if nothing is buzzing all the time. It's probably an addiction to stress, but who really cares."
Charlotte hummed, giving her a long look. "At least you are honest."
The other woman shrugged. "I mean, why ortho? Do you like breaking things? Or is it the need for fixing things that got you into it?"
Momentary silence settled between them and Ellis allowed herself another big bite from the sandwich. And another one, finishing it off. She gave a proud smile.
"I wasn't delicate enough for brain surgery," Charlotte admitted with a rueful smile, "And the heart freaked me out. Mine hurt after every surgery I observed. So yeah, I like fixing things we need for movement. And I don't think my nervous system could do the ED all day long."
That wasn't the whole truth, but she didn't need to know that. Not yet. Not after two months of being here. Another hum from Ellis. Both watched Jack come closer to the door, his eyes locking in with Ellis.
"You're doing a good job despite the nervous system, but take some time if you need it," the other woman said when the door opened, "Dr Abbot here will gladly give you one of the donuts I saw him smuggle in earlier to give you a little boost."
With a wicked grin, Ellis grabbed the door he had opened to step into the kitchen. "Give her a donut old man, I like her. I want to keep her."
Jack rolled his eyes and before Charlotte had a good reply, the door closed behind her and silence settled over the kitchen. With slow, deliberate movements, he went to the fridge, pulled out a brown bag, opened it and held up a pink donut with sprinkles. With a bit of hesitation, Charlotte took the donut. Jack stared into the bag for a few more seconds before deciding on a powdered one.
"Eat. It will make the coffee more drinkable."
She obeyed, bit into it and had to hold back a straight up moan. As if he knew, Jack smirked before doing the same.
"Ellis wasn't lying, these are good," she muttered in between the donut and coffee. They finished the treat in silence. Three in the morning was a weird time, Charlotte decided. It was an honest time, one that washed away all pretentious ideas of having it together.
"First you play the knight in shining armor, now you feed me," she started, giving Jack a long look, "You don't even know me."
The look he gave her pierced marrow and bone and for a second, Charlotte felt like he gave her a glimpse into what he was really like underneath the smirks and nonchalance. Then the smirk was back and it felt like she might've just imagined the other version.
"You're the pretty doctor, is that not enough?"
For the third time, Charlotte laughed out loud and the rough laugh from Jack shot right through the same place his eyes had seconds before.
"You shallow, shallow man, Dr Abbot."
Their laughter died down and he looked at her again, amusement still sparkling in his eyes.
"I respect the way you break bones, is that better?" he continued, cocking his head at her, "It's always good to have someone like you around."
The blonde shook her head and finished her coffee. "I'll let you know which reason I prefer when we meet again."
Before he could give her a comeback, the door was opened, a stressed looking Ellis poking her head in.
"Hate to interrupt whatever this is, but could we have your bone breaking abilities for one more case?"
Pulling herself together from the break the universe had granted her, she nodded and followed the other two out of the kitchen.