Chapter Text
The 4th of July shift would potentially go down in history as one of the worst shifts ever seen at PMTC, beaten only by the Pittfest shooting 10 months ago. So when Victoria Javadi woke up on July 5th she had high hopes for a shift that was at the very least reasonably normal. A shift where she would be paired with Dr McKay and could spend the day learning from her favourite coworker.
Which is why when Dr Al-Hashimi confirmed exactly that with the blissful sentence of “Javadi and McKay, you're on triage”, and McKay leaned over to whisper “dream team” giving her a small nudge with her elbow Javadi really believed today would be better.
The morning started off incredibly routine and honestly a little boring but never in her life would she ever use the Q word. She glanced at the clock - 10:23 - and so far all they had treated was 2 burn victims in the form of two teenage boys who had access to leftover fireworks, a sprained ankle, dehydration and hand vs car door. On the plus side this had allowed her lots of downtime with McKay, which she would take over patient care any day of the week. Today's topic of conversation was, naturally, a debrief of yesterday.
“i know we probably don't want to dwell on the past but how are you holding up kid?, Yesterday was a bit of a shit show” McKay asked quietly, glancing in Victoria’s direction before focusing back on her charts.
“Alright i suppose,” Javadi responded with a small shrug of her shoulders “i don’t think i’ve fully processed it all yet, everyone was just so angry and today is an added layer of weird because we don't have Robby around” She took a brief pause before adding in a marginally lower voice “And don’t call me kid”
“What was that? Sorry I swear I was listening” McKay said with a small soft smile that made Victoria feel immediately guilty about being snappy.
“I just asked if we could drop the kid nickname, you know on account of the whole being young thing - it just feels a bit patronising” Victoria deliberately avoided eye contact with the older woman during this request, terrified she would take offense to it. But, as always McKzy responded with complete understanding
“Oh!, of course,” she replied quickly. “Honestly im not even sure what came over me, nicknames aren't even my thing” she laughed softly and something in Victoria’s stomach flipped at the noise.
By 11:00 they had a young woman come in with bruises that looked suspiciously human made but were claimed to be “falling whilst rock climbing", the two shared a knowing look before turning their attention back to the 25 year old. “Okay sweetie” McKay began and Victoria noted the term of endearment immediately but stayed quiet. This was a sensitive topic and the girl deserved a kind presence.
“Can you tell us where you were climbing? And how far do you think you fell?”
The woman was clearly prepared for the second question, responding with a quick “10 feet or so maybe” but stumbled over the first “Uh… it was an outdoor park, Brace? Or Borsche? I can’t really remember”
“Did you hit your head at all?” Victoria chipped in, which earned her a questioning look from McKay she couldn’t quite place
“No,No, just whacked my body a few times on the way down and wanted to be sure nothing was too bad internally” she replied with a slight frown and eyes on the floor. Another glance between the two medical professionals before McKay leaned closer to the woman, reached a hand out to rest on her knee and said in a tone so gentle that Victoria had to strain to hear it
“Sweetheart if you need to tell us anything else, any details that could help us help you so we don't get anymore rockclimbing injuries in the future, we’re here to listen” A quick tap on the knee her hand was resting on and another kind smile before she moved away. “There’s nothing else, I promise” Was the dissapointing reply, “Please if i could just get home so nobody worries about where i am that would be great”
“Okay Honey”
There it was again Victoria thought, three nicknames in one conversation. She made notes on the computer as she watched McKay try her best with the woman, did her imaging and patched her up before reluctantly discharging her. Victoria shook her head slightly as she scolded herself. That woman was in a horrible situation and needed as much compassion as she could get, far be it be for Victoria to get a little nitpicky about nicknames.
At 12:33 McKay and Javadi were huddled in the corner sharing a box of Heroes during their 10 minute mandated break. McKay was automatically handing Javadi all the Bounty’s with a quiet “I know they’re your favourites” that made Javadi flush and duck her head slightly. Their little was bubble popped when the new Nurse - ‘Emma?’ Javadi believed rounded the corner with a slightly panicked look on her face
“Oh hey hun” McKay greeted and Victoria head snapped round so quickly she swore she gave herself whiplash.
“Dana is looking for you” Emma responded in a pitch higher than usual which meant this was serious. “I am slightly scared of her so the sooner the better” Emma continued and McKay let out a small chuckle before getting to her feet with a loud sigh.
She reached down for Javadi to help haul her up with an accompanying “Party’s over kid” The look and roll of the eyes that Javadi shot her must have registered because she sucked in a quick breath and winced ”Sorry Sorry, won’t happen again” before holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. Javadi just followed McKay and Emma down to central, but not without overhearing NcKay asking “So how is your second day going Doll”
‘You have got to be kidding me’ was all Javadi could think - so much for nicknames not being McKay’s ‘thing’ she mused with an ugly feeling beginning to curl in her chest.