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Emma Nolan doesn't mean to jump to conclusions. But when she came to the Pitt, she kind of missed the timing to ask some personal questions, so conclusions had to be made. The nurses, she learns, are a good source of information — they often go by unnoticed, but if one of them overhears something, chances are it's in the group chat within the next hours. Emma catches on most of their home lives relatively early: Dana loves her kids and is sworn enemies with her mother-in-law, Princess is single except for that one on-off-situationship with a radiologist upstairs, and Lena is unhappily married to her second husband.
The nurses, however, are also a great source for gossip. Unfortunately, Emma seems to have missed the moment in life where kids are taught not to believe everything they are told. She was probably busy writing her letter to Santa.
It always takes her a while to figure out if Dana is being dead serious or deeply sarcastic, or if Princess' suggestions are to be interpreted as a joke. Safe to say Emma has had her fair share of faux pas with coworkers, like when Whitaker got picked up by a lady with a kid and she told him his son looks just like him. (Dr. Santos still finds this hilarious.)
After that, Emma refrained from openly assuming or listening too much to what is said in the group chat. She makes a promise to herself to not congratulate any colleagues on engagements or babies or whatnot until she isn't a hundred percent sure of what she is saying. Three months have gone by, and she still isn't quite sure if Matteo and Victoria are a thing, or why Dr. Garcia and Dr. Santos are both looking at each like they want to equally kill and fuck each other.
But Emma is a hundred percent certain that Dr. Langdon and Dr. King are married.
Well, maybe ninety-nine percent.
No one has explicitly confirmed or denied it, but while Emma might be naive, blind she is not.
Every time Dr. Langdon and Dr. King share a shift — which is basically all of them — she sees them arrive and leave in the same car. If one works day and the other night, you can expect the latter one to bring in a drink and snack for the other. But them not working together is a rarity. They share most cases, Emma notices when she checks the board, their names never far from each other.
Of course that alone doesn't mean they are married. They could just carpool. Like to surprise to other. Enjoy each others company.
But Dr. Langdon and Dr. King are close. Not just friendship-wise or emotionally, checking in regularly to make sure the other is okay or to tell them about a crazy trauma patient the other missed. They are close physically.
Personal space seems to be a foreign concept to the two. They are standing side by side, elbows touching, or face to face, no room for another person to get in between. More than once, Emma catches them in the break room, sitting on the couch, her knee in his lap ("Sorry!", she says then, quickly hurrying out again, "Didn't mean to interrupt!") or just in the middle of the hallway, her presenting him a case, his hand absentmindedly playing around with the end of her braid.
Emma is always a bit hypnotized by them, fascinated by how casually intimate they are — not borderline annoying like those PDA-obsessed couples in school, but like they are just comfortable to let their guard down around each other and forget the chaos around them.
There is a time where Emma doubts herself. She notices that Dr. Langdon wears a ring, and Dr. King does not. But then Dr. King compliments Emma's jewelry.
"Is that a ring made out of a spoon?" Dr. King asks excitedly, and Emma smiles, happy that she noticed.
"Yes. I did a workshop a few weeks ago!" She tells her. "Do you like jewelry? You rarely wear any."
Dr. King looks at her bare hands. "Oh, I do, sometimes. But I have some, uh, sensory issues, and I don't want it to get in the way in case of an emergency."
That makes total sense to Emma.
Then, at another day, Dr. Langdon excuses himself mid conversation with the words, "Sorry, I've gotta speak to my wife about something." And Emma watches him walk away, catching up with Dr. King by North 6 before walking out with her into the ambulance bay.
So when Princess and Perlah make a bet if Dr. Langdon and Dr. King have done it in the supply closet room, Emma smiles knowingly and adds, "I think they prefer the break room", and the other nurses laugh along.
Yes, Emma is positive she jumped to the right conclusion with this one.
It's a regular Thursday day shift when Mel — they've moved on from the formalities, but Emma still likes to call her Dr. King when referring to her in the work space — comes out of Trauma One, stops her and asks if she's seen Dr. Langdon.
"Oh, I think I saw him in South last… Should I give him a message when I see him?"
"Yes, please, just… tell him to meet me outside. It's about th—" She shakes her head lightly, taking off her gloves. "It's private. Nothing bad! I just need to talk to him."
"Of course, yeah. I'll let him know."
Emma abandons her original task of bringing that one patient his fourth sandwich of the day, and instead goes on the (to her personally much more important and interesting) side quest of finding Dr. Langdon. He is with a patient in South 14, and she peaks in through the window, giving him a little wave. In typical Dr.-Langdon-fashion, he raises his eyebrows, but doesn't make her wait for long.
"What's up?" He asks, closing the door behind him. "I know I miss lunch a lot, but you don't need to bring me a sandwich."
"What? Oh! That's not for you." Emma looks from him to the packaged ham-and-cheese sandwich in her hands, and back up at him. Since this is obviously private matter, Emma decides to let go of the formalities for once. "Your wife was looking for you," she says, smiling.
All ease and calmness falls from Dr. Langdon's face; he seems to go a little pale. "She is?"
She figures he's worried. "Nothing bad happened! She's waiting outside in the ambulance bay. She just said she needed to speak to you."
He rubs his face and pulls out his phone. "Okay. Thanks." He jogs off.
Emma smiles to herself. It's very adorable how much he cares about her. She sets off to deliver the sandwich, then returns to the Hub. She is filling out some paperwork when she notices two people approaching her.
Dr. Langdon and Dr. King appear by her side. Mel looks a bit at unease, hands clasped together in front of her, while Dr. Langdon has his arm behind her, propped up at the counter, thumb nudging Mel's side.
"Hey, Emma. Can we talk to you for a second?" Mel asks, lips pressed together.
"Yeah, of course!" Emma looks back and forth between them with anticipation.
Dr. Langdon clears his throat and bents a little closer. "Why did you tell me my wife was here when Mel asked to see me?"
She feels her eyes grow wide and her heart sink. "But…" She glances at Dr. Langdon's thumb, which he seems to notice as well in that moment, and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. Slowly, she gestures back and forth between them. "But you…"
"Have you been telling people we're married?"
Emma gets the impression she understood something very wrong. "No, of course not! What do you mean telling people? Are you not —?"
Simultaneously, Dr. Langdon and Dr. King shake their heads and answer, "No!"
Somebody laughs. They look to the desks where Dr. Santos rolls around on her chair, gleefully clapping her hands. "Ha! I bet 30 dollars on Assumed To Be Married Before Thanksgiving!"
Opposite her, Joy crosses her arms, a smug smile on her face. "Jokes on you. I bet 20 on Assumed To Be Married In October, and another 10 that it'd be our sweet summer child here who says it. No offense," she adds in Emma's direction.
Dr. Santos stops spinning.
Emma wants to get swallowed by the floor. Well, so do Dr. Langdon and Dr. King, judging by their faces. The two exchange a look. Mel turns to Joy and Dr. Santos.
"You… you bet on us?"
"Yep," Joy says, not one bit ashamed. She picks up a notebook. "While we're at it… Have you two by any chance had sex in the break room?"