Chapter Text
It was a known fact in the Pitt that the infamous Dr Brendon Park.
Was notorious for being intimidating.
Piercing eyes, a sharpness to his movements, biting words.
Blunt and lacking any softness.
Teeth bared.
Living up to his namesake.
The Shark of PTMC.
If ever there was a time he was called down.
Med students and interns alike would scatter. Escaping the wrath of his path if it were possible.
Only for some poor student to be on the receiving end of the Shark’s pointed look. As he asked with a harshness that honestly should be reviewed by HR…
But he was the best of the best.
No one could deny that.
Even if his social skills could use a little softening.
Not that anyone would tell that to his face. In fear he would simply bite back, “Do you want me to save lives or do you want me to make tea and bake a cake for you? Cause I don’t have time for both”
The only other person to ever be on par with him.
Was you.
The attending that was kind to everyone who worked with you.
You, who was fair tempered. Humorous and light hearted. Direct when necessary.
Forthright whenever patients overstepped boundaries.
You were an aspiration to all the med students and interns that passed through the Pitt.
You had a tenderness to your approach.
One they assumed had been garnered from your years being a mother to three.
A fact that you loved to talk about when time allowed. Speaking sweetly about your three little sweethearts.
There were your two girls, Frankie and Finn. Your two fraternal twin girls who were polar opposites to each other. Acting like day and night.
Where one was sunshine incarnate, as the other was pensive as the glistening moonlight.
But they tried their best to mimic one another despite not being identical.
They were witty and intensely curious in their own way. Bright eyed and in your opinion behaved a lot like their father, opinionated and forthright.
You also had your eldest son, Lenny.
Considerate and kindhearted, who was often compared to your own self. He loved watching out for his younger sisters, helping guide them.
Such as the best way to get out of trouble...
They were the apples of your eye.
And filled your heart with immense joy. It was clear you were overwhelmed by a happy home life. With a supportive husband by your side.
One that, come to think of it, you’d never mentioned him by name?
Too busy rambling on about what your kids had gotten up to. Asking Cassie for advice every now and again, considering her son Harrison was a few years older.
Hearing about your home life was always a little bit of a bright spot. And humorous as you retold stories of what they had gotten up to.
Even if it was a little chaotic. You wouldn’t change them.
You were thoughtful with everyone in the ER. Paying attention to their questions and concerns.
Remembering little details. Asking about how they were. An open hand for if times became difficult or they simply needed an open ear.
Lightening the mood when things became heavy. Or simply being by their side, quiet and reassuring.
Though as it appeared to everyone else.
The only person who didn’t afford your kindness.
Was Park the Shark.
For one reason or another it appeared as though you and Park were sworn enemies. Always locked in a battle of wits every time you crossed paths.
As you retorted dryly.
Face plastered with a smugness that only seemed to appear as Park entered the ER.
It was rare and only on occasion. Whenever he came down. Stern as he crossed the threshold into the trauma bays. Eyes analytical and observant. Straight to the point. You often gravitated towards him whenever he appeared.
It was always a spectacle.
If not at least a little satisfying to watch you go toe-to-toe with PTMC’s Shark.
There was a feistiness that his presence seemed to elicit from you.
As you muttered with folded arms, shaking your head as he’d respond with the bluntness of a rusted saw.
“Oh, fuck off,” you’d huff.
Clicking your tongue if he ever insulted a med student while in your presence, “Don’t be such a prick”
Shaking your head with a sarcastic quip, “Could you be any more tactless”
Passing phrases that you simply slipped into the conversation whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Insults and retorts that made everyone hold their breaths.
Lying in wait for Shark to retaliate. To shoot you a stone cold glare. Before ripping you a new one.
But the retaliation never comes.
No matter how harsh your retorts are. Or how many times you tell him to piss off.
He only rolls his eyes. Simply biting his tongue in exasperation. Never once snapping at you.
This isn’t to say you’re always abrasive towards him. Just most times. Enough times for everyone in the ER to believe you hated the man.
And no one would blame you if you did. It just felt as though you didn’t really have a reason to.
Park was never outright rude to you. Never dismissive towards you. If anything he seemed. Nice?
It was puzzling for many.
Most swept the interactions under the rug.
Simply passing it off as Shark knowing when he was beat. When it was best to let things slide. Knowing better than to attack you with his brusque nature.
Never realising how your words lacked bite as you directed them to him.
Only ever focusing on the content. And never the delivery. Or the glint in your eyes when you crossed paths.
Until one day.
Joy, the new med student, simply asks outright. Abrupt as Park finishes a consult, after you had once again thrown a quippy remark his way.
“Aren’t you going to retaliate? Dr L/N literally just called you an asshole,” the question fell out of her. “You’ve yelled at me for less. Surely this goes against all of HR’s policies”
She had said the very words that were on everyone’s mind.
The very question no one had ever dared broach before.
Park simply raises a brow. Lips pulled taut, at her question. Letting out a huff. His eyes darted to meet yours.
A deadpanned expression crossing his features.
Is she serious?
While you bite your lip, holding back the laugh threatens to bubble out. Until it eventually succeeds, the laughter echoing brightly and freely around the room.
Thankfully the patient before you was sedated. Otherwise who knows how unprofessional this would come across to them.
The sound of laughter bubbling out of you, catches everyone in the room off guard. Freezing them in place.
While Park only sighs, shaking his head as a small chuckle escapes him.
Only furthering their confusion.
They felt like they were having a stroke.
Had the world turned on its head? What the fuck was happening right now?
The Park the Shark.
Infamous for his steely, cold demeanor.
Was laughing?
What had the world come to.
Perhaps it was the apocalypse, the end of the world, aliens had finally decided to invade Earth…
All of which seemed far more likely than witnessing Shark laugh.
Eventually you catch your breath, wheezing slightly as you muster out, “He has no right in telling me off, not when I birthed his three kids”
“You’re the one that wanted a big family,” He remarked.
Your lip quirks into a knowing smirk, teasing and light hearted as you retorted, “I distinctly remember that being you who said that”
All of the words that come from the two of you only leave the people in the room further left in a pitt of confusion.
“What the fuck?” Santos had muttered beneath her breath.
“He’s my husband”
“She’s my wife”
You had stated at the same time. As you add, brows furrowing in thought, “I’m sure I’ve mentioned him before?”
“No you have not! We were not picturing Shark when you said your husband was considerate and kind?”
You shrug, stifling your laugh. “He is considerate and kind when he wants to be”
Blinking in realisation, turning to Park, “Also, did you remember to pick up Finn’s soccer cleats?”
He nods, “Of course I did, they’re in the car for her”
“Good,” You nod with a bright smile, “Thank you”
“You know I’d do anything for you,” he murmurs, as you slide into the space beside him. Pressing a chaste kiss to the side of your head.
You pat his back, catching his lips with yours as you lean up. Before clapping your hands, “Ok. Let’s not hold you up any further, I’ll see you later, handsome,” You winked.
A quirk of his lips, as they curve into a smile. Fond. Appreciative.
“Love you”
As the others around you murmur.
“I think I preferred when they hated each other,” Santos commented.
While Whitaker responded, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, “I feel like my head is about to combust”
Moving back through the ER, as the trauma room is cleared. You are trailed behind by a flock of med students and nurses, all wanting to know how it was possible that you.
You, who was always so considerate and kind hearted.
Was married to Park the Shark?
It made no sense to them.
“How long have you been married?” Mohan asked.
While Princess added, “Forget that, how long have you been together?”
You replied as you moved to complete some charting, “Married for 9 years, almost 10 next month” pulling out the chain that always hung around your neck, tucked beneath your scrubs. As a pair of rings dip low pulling the chain down, one of which had a beautiful light blue diamond sparkling brightly. “We’ve known each other for well over 15 years, met through some mutual friends from med school”
“Has he always been like this?-” Javadi begins, failing to reach an apt description for Park.
“Like?” you raised a brow.
“So Shark like?” Jesse interjected, as Javadi snapped her fingers in agreement with the description.
“I mean kind of. But only as menacing as a whale shark to me,” you grin.
He had been brash when you first met. But the sharpness of his attitude had eroded and softened over time. You wouldn’t be with him otherwise.
And he knew that if he didn’t change.
You might’ve slipped from his grasp.
“So you have three kids together?” Langdon questions. Also intrigued by the news of your relationship.
Nodding with prideful glee, “Lenny, Frankie and Finn”
“Finn?” Cassie grinned, “That doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Park’s nicknamed Shark does it?”
“Well. Maybe” You replied.
“....All three might be influenced by that fact actually”
“No”
“How did you manage that?”
“How did you get him to agree!?”
“I feel like everything I’ve ever known about you is a lie…in the best way possible”
A flood of questions only managed to bog you down further.
“Does anyone here know the movie Shark Tale?” you always chuckled to yourself each time you were reminded as to what led you to your children’s names.
The group around you murmured with faint acknowledgement of the movie, “Lenny and Frankie are sharks in the movie, so it felt fitting, and well, Finn is pretty self explanatory”
It had started as a little inside joke. Just for yourself.
Not even Brendon had caught on to the theme.
Simply excited and so in love with you.
Lenny.
You had softly spoken the name, whispered to the tiny little baby boy in your arms. Testing how it felt to slip from your tongue.
In your eyes it was the perfect name for your first child. You had hooked Brendon into picking the name by explaining how it meant to be brave as a lion.
So Brendon couldn’t resist.
Not when you whispered that name with such reverence.
And then in the lead up to your due date, throughout your secondary pregnancy. As he stayed by your side closely. Attentive and dutiful towards you.
Taking care of everything. Evenings after he’d put Lenny to sleep, he’d sit on the couch gently rubbing your feet.
You would talk aloud about the names you liked for your twin girls.
Frankie
That was one that had caught his attention.
You did always love the song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli. So he simply assumed that was where the name came from.
It simply helped that it was derived from the name Francesca, meaning to be free. Independent. And if that wasn’t something he wished for his baby girl. He didn’t know what else there was to hope for.
And he was none the wiser.
To the fact that those names had been derived from a film. One that was unhinged and hilarious.
One that had sharks called Lenny and Frankie.
He had no idea his children were going to be named after sharks….
Well.
Not until you insisted on the name Finn.
That was the very name when you knew the jig would be up.
The moment you would finally have to reveal. Brendon Park’s kids’ names were all Shark themed…
But in that moment where you suggested the name.
And he had no right to go against you.
Not when you had just gone through 10 hours of labour to birth the twins….
Not that he even considered arguing with you over it. Finding the inside joke equally amusing.
He simply sighed with a small smile, kissing your head sweetly, in your arms the little bundle of endless possibility and within his own arms wrapped neatly was Frankie.
Murmuring softly, “Whatever you wish, love”
He might be brash and blunt with everyone else.
But for you.
And your three little kids.
He was as soft and pliable as playdough.
Even as you teased him relentlessly at work. Putting him in his place, just as you had done all those years ago. When you had first met.
Unafraid and bold.
It was what had made him fall in love with you after all.
He was so fucking grateful for you.
And if it meant naming your kids Shark themed names.
Then he would do whatever it took to keep that bright smile upon your face.
To be able to love and to hold you tightly.
As you kissed him softly.
Loving him tenderly.
You were his home.
Reeling him back to you.
You had him, hook, line and sinker.
And that was perfectly fine by him.