Chapter Text
Robby was lounging on the couch in his pyjama bottoms and old sleep tee shirt, watching television and eating toast when the door knocked.
He got up and pulled the door open to find a frazzled looking Jack Abbot still in his scrubs.
"Jack. Hey, you alright?" Robby asked, knowing the pair didn't have any plans, especially any this early. In fact, this was the first time they'd seen each other for more than thirty minutes at work in two weeks.
"Hey man. I hope you don't have company? Sorry I just called over..."
Robby sighed lightly, Jack even sounded exhausted.
"I have company now." He said, opening the door a little further.
"Shit. Sorry. I should have texted..."
Robby laughed. "No, Jack. I meant you, idiot."
Jack adjusted the weight of his backpack on his shoulder. "Oh. Right. Fuck I'm wiped."
"Get in." Robby commanded, already walking towards the kitchen.
Jack tossed his backpack,.closed the door and followed him, dragging his leg a little.
"Coffee? Tea?... Beer?" He added lightly, it may be breakfast time to normal people but Jack was on nights after all.
"Coffee, thanks. What the hell, I'm not sleeping well anyway."
Robby started the coffee machine on the counter. "How come you're not sleeping? Want to talk about it?"
Jack scrubbed his face with his hands. He looked a little grey in the skin now that Robby isn't seeing him under the artificial lights of the PTMC. Robby didn't love that.
"It's nothing." Jack shrugged, leaning against the counter. "Been having fucking nightmares about being on tour again. IEDs, whatever."
Robby grabbed milk from the fridge. "Have you been seeing your therapist?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah, brother. I don't know what's brought this up, these memories and flashbacks...But... whatever, it's fine. That's not why I'm here."
Robby crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't like the dismissive attitude Jack had about his wellbeing, but decided to let him continue without further comment.
"Well that's concerning before 08:00am." Robby joked nervously. "Something happen at work?"
"Yeah." Jack sighed. "Had a two vehicle MVC about midnight. Three casualties. But that wasn't the issue. The issue was that two of the med students got in a fight..."
"What the fuck?" Robby exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose, already dreading the paper work and the meetings. "Who?" He asked already knowing.
"Martinez and Brown."
"Fuck." Robby hissed. "Verbal or...?"
"Physical." Jack said. "Henderson had to separate them, all because of who got to place the chest tube; apparently it escalated from bitching to a scrap in seconds. I was in trauma one with the driver of the other car, I didn't know anything until I heard all the yelling, saw security."
"Fucking med students." Robby commented, angry. "The patient?"
Jack sighed. "PEA arrest."
"Fuck!" Robby grunted.
"Toomarian came and swapped out with me for five minutes while I assisted Henderson, I did the decompression while Crus was on the chest. It was a hairy five minutes. Once we'd stabilised all three patients, I tore into them, sent them both home. Which obviously left us stretched thin, it was a long ass night. I just wanted to warn you, I know you're off for a couple of days... Or were off... Gloria will be on the war path with HR and yeah, shit, I'm sorry man."
Robby gritted his teeth and sighed. "Not your fault, I appreciate the heads up. No wonder you look exhausted."
"Yeah." Jack sighed. "Fuckin' med students. They've been beefing and arguing for weeks, but I didn't see this coming."
Robby agreed and then poured some milk into Jack's coffee, offered him something to eat.
"I'm good, but thank you." Jack said, he took the coffee and followed Robby back to the living room. "I'll get out of your hair soon."
"You literally just got here."
Jack snorted, took a drink from his mug and set it carefully on the coffee table. He dropped onto the couch beside him.
Well, dropped was generous.
He sort of collapsed. His hip bumped Robby's thigh on the way down, and he muttered an immediate, "Sorry."
"You're good."
Jack shifted, grimacing as he adjusted himself.
"Leg's killing me."
He admitted, eyes closed.
"Take it off."
"No. It's fine."
"Jack."
"It's fine."
"Take the fucking leg off."
Jack opened one eye.
Robby gave him his best chief look.
After a moment Jack sighed dramatically.
"You're a bully."
"Yep."
"Abusing your position."
"Absolutely."
Still grumbling, Jack rolled up his scrub trousers and began unfastening the prosthetic. By the time he'd worked the socket free and peeled off the liner, his shoulders had dropped a good two inches.
The relief on his face was immediate.
"There he is," Robby said, draining the last of his own mug.
"Shut up."
"Feel better?"
Jack let his head fall back against the couch cushions.
"Yeah."
The answer came out as little more than a sigh.
"Yeah, that's better." He admitted, sounding beat.
Robby reached for the remote.
"What are we watching?" Jack asked.
"Honestly?"
"That's never a good start."
"I have no idea."
Jack laughed.
"You don't know?"
"It was the news ten minutes ago. Then some documentary. Then I think a cooking show."
"A thrilling morning."
"Thank you."
"Riveting television."
"Glad you appreciate culture when you're here."
Jack chuckled again, the sound seemed softer than usual.
Tired. His drink was getting cold on the coffee table.
Everything about him looked tired.
The shadows beneath his eyes. The grey cast to his skin. The way he was practically melting into the cushions.
Robby had seen Jack exhausted before. They all got exhausted on the job. But this felt different. Maybe it was the few weeks of little contact, or maybe it was the fact that Jack was in his home instead of under fluorescent hospital lights. Either way, seeing him like this twisted something unpleasant in Robby's chest.
Robby didn't like it. Hated that Jack was having flashbacks from his time in the military. Admittedly their schedules hadn't synced up recently, life outside work and their conflicting ED shifts had left them with little to no time to hang out. He hated feeling like he'd missed something.
But they fell into easy conversation after that.
Work gossip. Hospital politics. The med students again. Some asshole politician Jack had seen falling asleep during a meeting that was viral online.
The kind of aimless conversation that happened when two people had known each other for years and neither felt any pressure to fill the silence.
Halfway through explaining the documentary he'd watched before bed, Robby felt Jack's shoulder bump lightly against his own.
He didn't think anything of it.
A minute later it happened again.
Then Jack's head dipped.
The movement was quick enough that Robby almost missed it.
Jack jerked awake immediately.
"Wow. Sorry."
Robby frowned.
"For what?"
"I think I actually fell asleep there for a second."
"You've been awake for twenty-something hours."
"Still rude, man."
Robby snorted.
Jack rubbed his face.
"Maybe I should head home."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
He made absolutely no move to stand up, his tired eyes staring blankly ahead at the TV.
Neither of them mentioned it.
Another few minutes passed.
Eventually his shoulder settled against Robby's and stayed there.
This time he didn't pull away.
Robby kept talking.
Not because he expected Jack to answer anymore.
Mostly because the sound seemed to be keeping him relaxed. The realisation made something warm unfurl in Robby's chest.
Then, midway through a sentence, he heard a faint snuffle, glanced sideways to find Jack was properly asleep.
His head was tipped against Robby's shoulder, mouth slightly open, coffee cold and abandoned on the table.
For a moment Robby simply stared.
The exhaustion on Jack's face hadn't disappeared in sleep, but it had softened. All the tension he usually carried seemed to have drained out of him.
Robby couldn't remember the last time he'd seen him look this peaceful.
Carefully, he reached for the throw blanket draped over the back of the couch. The movement made him shift.
Jack immediately followed with him, still unconscious.
He just sort of... flopped further into him and nuzzled him with his nose.
Heat flashed unexpectedly through his chest.
Jack didn't even know he'd done it, it was an entirely innocent move but Robby's heart and brain were having a hard time syncing up.
Robby froze as Jack shifted his weight.
Jack let out a small sleepy sigh and settled with his cheek against Robby's upper arm.
Apparently that was comfortable enough for him.
Well. That was a problem. Because now Robby couldn't move.
Not without waking him.
Not without seeing those dark circles under his eyes again.
He didn't want that, not after hearing about the nightmares coming back.
Robby looked down at him.
Then at the blanket. Then back at Jack.
"Oh, screw it." He whispered.
He awkwardly grabbed then threw the blanket over both of them. Jack didn't stir.
Carefully, Robby adjusted his position until Jack's head rested more comfortably against his shoulder.
The apartment was quiet apart from the low murmur of the television and the hum of the refrigerator.
And Jack was just heavy against him. In the best way.
Robby couldn't remember the last time somebody had fallen asleep against him. It felt strangely grounding. He didn't know why that mattered so much to him, but it did.
Like some part of his brain that was usually running at full speed had finally eased off the gas, letting him stop too. It was nice. It was more than nice.
Without really thinking about it, Robby brushed a unruly curl away from Jack's forehead. He knew the movement was strangely intimate and he should probably stop.
Instead he rested his hand on Jack's shoulder, ostensibly to keep him falling off the couch.
Minutes slipped by.
Maybe thirty, could have been more.
At one point Jack hummed softly in his sleep.
"Okay... sorry."
Robby blinked and slowed the rhythmic movement of his hand on Jack's shoulder. When did he start that?
He laughed quietly when he realized it was just sleep-talking.
"Shh." He soothed in a whisper, wanting to let Jack get some more rest, and gently resumed circling his hand over Jack's shoulder.
Jack remained entirely unconscious.
Eventually Robby found himself relaxing too. The warmth from Jack was ridiculous. The man ran like a furnace.
Somewhere along the line Robby's eyes drifted closed.
Just for a minute. At least, that's what he thought.
The next thing he knew, something jolted against him and he woke with a start.
Jack was moving. Disoriented and blinking rapidly.
Robby looked down and immediately realized things had escalated considerably.
At some point they'd both shifted.
Jack was completely sprawled across his chest. Robby's arms wrapped around him.
Neither of them had any idea how they'd gotten there.
Jack blinked.
Looked down.
Looked up.
"What the hell?"
Robby barked out a laugh.
"Good morning."
Jack stared at him for another second before groaning and pushing himself almost upright.
"Oh shit, Robby."
"It's fine."
"No, it's not."
"It is."
"I came over here, stole your couch, fell asleep on you..."
"You make it sound criminal."
Jack rubbed both hands over his face.
"I'm a disaster, man. Can't be trusted to stay awake."
Robby sat up too, immediately noticing the loss of warmth beside him.
The room felt strangely colder. He wished his brain had kept that observation to itself.
"You were exhausted." He reasoned, and then more quietly. "I didn't want you to stay awake."
Jack rubbed his eyes.
"You looked like you died yesterday when you turned up here. I'm not mad that you found rest here."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Jack huffed out a laugh.
The awkwardness eased a little.
A glance at his watch made him suddenly sit straighter, Jack's eyes bulged.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"What?"
Jack held up his wrist.
"It's ten past eleven."
Robby blinked. "No way. How the hell did I end up falling asleep that long? I only got up at seven."
"I swear."
For a second they simply stared at each other.
Three hours.
Jack shook his head slowly.
"What?" Robby asked, watching something slide over Jack's expression.
Jack looked down at the watch again and then back to him.
A faint, surprised smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I can't remember the last time I slept that long."
The confession seemed to catch him off guard as much as it did Robby.
His smile faded into something quieter, something almost embarrassed.
"Guess I needed it."
"Yeah." Robby said gently. "You definitely did."
Jack looked away.
Robby watched him for a second, something nagging at him. Then he shrugged and said it.
"You can do it again."
Jack frowned.
"What?"
"Come over. Here."
Robby gestured vaguely around the apartment.
"Sleep. Hang out. Whatever."
Jack stared at him.
"You're serious?"
"Yeah. Why not? Jack, you said yourself you're having flash backs or nightmares. If hanging out here distracted you enough to sleep for once then I want you to come here whenever you'd like."
His words came out easier than they should have, like his brain was always looking for an excuse to be around Jack.
Robby leaned back into the couch.
"Beats having you wandering around half-dead. Plus, it's selfish really. I need my right hand man running the ED at night like the well oiled machine he already commands. This benefits me too."
For a moment Jack didn't say anything.
Something softened in his expression
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
A small smile appeared. Genuine this time.
"Thanks, brother." He said. "I might take you up on that. It's been...yeah, it's been a struggle recently."
Robby ignored the strange little feeling that settled in his chest at the sight of Jack's relieved face.
"No problem."
Neither of them mentioned that it had been the best sleep either of them had gotten in weeks.