Chapter Text
He should be home. Not some dingy bar on the other side of town. Home. Tucking the kids into bed, kissing Abby good night, going to sleep with her laying on his chest.
But the truth is, even if he were home, none of those things would happen.
He left the hospital way past the end of shift, so by the time he got home the kids would already be asleep. As for Abby, he doesn't really want to see her, knowing the inevitable fight that'll start as soon as he walks through the door. So the more he pushes going home, the better. It’s not like she’ll notice either way, seeing as he’s been sleeping in the guest bedroom for the past few weeks.
So, he’s at some dingy bar staring at nothing in particular when the door chimes as a customer walks in. A blonde woman, wearing a simple black dress and her hair up in a bun. Once she makes her way to the bar Frank goes breathless as he sees the defined muscles of her back.
When she sits down her hands go to her head. He can see the way she relaxes as she releases the tension from her scalp, golden hair cascading down her shoulders.
The bartender’s voice grabs his attention.
“Straight tequila? Really? You are going to be sorry in the morning”
She smiles at him “Probably. But I start a new job in a couple days, so keep them coming please” she responds as she raises her glass, a nervous glint in her eyes.
He is transfixed, his drink long forgotten, all he can do now is watch her. Suddenly, he is overcome with the insane need to make his way to her, and before he knows it, he’s right beside her ordering another glass of scotch (who cares if the one he left at his table is still full? She doesn’t need to know)
Frank is not this kind of man. Really, he isn’t. Growing up he didn’t really get any attention from girls, not until college, when he joined the lacrosse team out of boredom and discovered most girls could be wooed by blue eyes and a little bit of muscle. But even then, he was hopelessly terrible at flirting, the endless pit of energy in him and his constant rambling exasperating any girl he talked to.
It took him about eight months to ask Abby out, and on the day he finally dared he was a bundle of nerves, stumbling over every word with a very noticeable flush on his cheeks. To this day he still has no idea why on earth she said yes.
All this to say, he’s not the kind of man who picks up women at bars.
But he can’t not talk to her, so…
“Is this a good place to hang out?”
She looks at him, startled by his presence “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been here before”
He gives his best smile “You know what, I haven’t either. Even though I’ve lived here for nearly five years I still feel like a newcomer sometimes, you know?” he says as he sits down. She’s not looking at him, eyes trained on her glass. “Ah, you’re ignoring me”
“I’m… trying to?” she answers, unsure of herself. And for another man, this should be his cue to leave, but Frank, ever the overachiever (and a bit of a prick), can’t let her go.
“You shouldn’t ignore me”
That response seems to surprise her, as she raises her eyebrow and lets out a small almost-laugh “Why not?”
“Because I’m someone you need to know to love”
This time she flashes a smile, and Frank can’t remember the last time he felt so good about himself.
“So if I know you, I’ll love you?”
“Oh yes”
“You really like yourself, huh?” she responds, with a cheeky grin. Then, her eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe she actually said that out loud.
“Just hiding my pain.” The sound of her laughter, as soft as it may be, drowns out all the other thoughts swimming incessantly in his head. “So what’s your story?”
She looks at him, and he can see in those beautiful brown eyes how carefully she contemplates her answer “I don’t have a story. I’m just a girl in a bar.”
“I’m just a guy in a bar”
She raises her glass to him like she did to the bartender, he follows suit. Frank takes a sip of scotch, wishing the burning on his throat felt half as good as a pill of librium would.
As he looks into her eyes, and the soft smile adorning her lips, he’s convinced that it was a good thing he took off his wedding band before he went to talk to her.
{..}
Mel makes her way through the busy looking ED, excitement covering every inch of her body. This is it, what she’s been looking for ever since her mom died: a fresh start. A chance to start anew, away from the pitying eyes everyone gave her back in Ohio.
The past few years have been filled with uncertainty; running around, shortly settling anywhere that would welcome her and Becca. But as she looks around, she feels peace at the knowledge that this will be home for a long while. Finally, she sees a familiar face; the doctor she quickly met when she came over to sign her contract. The head of the department.
“Dr. Robinavitch? Melissa King, I will be joining you today. I just came from two months at the VA” she can hear all the emotion dripping from her voice.
“Hey, welcome to The Pitt” he says as they shake hands. “Up, down, release" she repeats the motion as her father once taught her. Hears his voice in her ear like a mantra.
“This is Dr. Jack Abbot” motioning to the man in front of them.
She beams at them “Nice to meet you. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here”
“Talk to me at the end of the day” he has a cynical look on his face. He reminds her of some of the patients she would see at the VA – the same rugged attitude she’s gotten very acquainted with. But his words, ominous as they are, don’t bring her down, she’s pretty sure nothing can.
She follows Dr. Robinavitch while everyone gathers for rounds, going through the motions of introductions and explanations when a woman interrupts him.
“We’ve got two traumas from the T. Five minutes out” she turns around, so she can put a face to the voice and freezes once she sees a pair of bright, blue eyes.
The same blue eyes she’s been thinking of for the past two days. The ones that practically ran away from her apartment once he realized daylight had arrived.
Everything around her fades, Dr. Robinavitch’s voice is ringing unintelligibly in her ears and her heart is beating so fast she’s sure she’s about to pass out. Which would be a horrible thing to happen on her first day. She should be paying attention to whatever it is he’s saying, it’s probably incredibly important, but she cannot focus – not with him standing less than 5 meters away from her.
She pulls her eyes away from him, desperately trying to seem normal, and not like she knows what her senior resident, Dr. Langdon, looks naked. He recognizes her, she can tell by the way his gaze constantly finds hers, even though his face remains perfectly neutral.
All through morning rounds she can feel his presence all around her, his voice and aroma hunting her with every step she takes. He somehow looks better than that day at the bar – more lively and confident. He seems to absolutely adore his job, and carries himself in a way that makes it clear he’s a good doctor and knows it.
All her instincts tell her to turn away and ignore him forever, but watching him makes her itch to learn from him – to follow his lead. So, she hopes they can just forget about it – not talk about tequila or bars or the fact that there seems to be a wedding ring on his finger. Which would make her a cheater and there’s nothing worse than that particular realization.