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“Mel, I-“
Mel turns to Frank and grits her teeth, grabbing his wrist “Not here” She pulls him to a storage room and closes the door. She doesn’t care if anybody saw her dragging him. This is bigger than stares and whispers in Tagalog.
“You don’t say that to Becca.”
His shoulders go up to his ears “All I said is she should get a job at the center. And she agreed with me. Believe me, I am trying but I just don’t understand why that bothers you so much.”
“Frank. My parents told me to take care of her. All my life, I had to take care of Becca. At school, at the park, even when family came to visit so they wouldn’t overwhelm her. When mom died, I was the only thing Becca had. I promised myself to take care of her, that includes expenses.”
“That’s the thing, Mel. She’s not making any money of her own. You give her an allowance for Christ’s sake. That’s money you could use to, I don’t know, pay rent, go out, or God forbid, buy yourself something you want. Seriously, Abby, I-“
He pauses, not able to finish the sentence after what he just said. He mutters, “Fuck” and looks to the ground as she looks at him with disbelief. She scoffs and opens the door to leave.
He tries to get her to stay, but she turns back and says, “I am not your ex-wife. And we are at work, which means we will talk about this later, Dr. Langdon.” He stays in the storage room, watching her leave and kicking himself for saying that. Why the fuck did he have to say that?
Some hours pass and whenever Mel sees him, even if it’s across the room, and he has his back to her, she turns on her heels and does literally anything else, just to not have to be near him.
How could he say that? It was just her name, sure, but it hurt like hell. Was she really acting like his ex-wife? Did he compare the two? Was this how he used to argue with her? How long until he decides it’s not worth it and breaks up with her?
Frank goes to take a breather at the far end of the ambulance bay so no one sees him, not even the security cameras. Robby suggested it, more like forced him, after he snapped at Javadi.
He’s not sure how to come back from this, if it’s even possible. He could’ve tried to play it off, could’ve chosen to have this argument later, not at work.
He grabs the packet of cigarettes Dana gave him this morning to not have the temptation. He thinks screw it, grabs one, and puts it in his mouth. He can’t bring himself to light it, though, since Mel hates the smell.
He’s too concentrated on thinking of a way to apologize to Mel, he barely even registers the man walking toward him before he feels a sharp pain on his side, enough to make him fall back.
The man lets him fall to the ground, and says, “You killed my daughter. This is karma, doctor,” then steps over him and walks away.
Frank touches his side and now understands what it was. He recognized the man. His daughter had coded no less than two hours ago. Right after his argument with Mel. Frank really did try his best to give the girl the best treatment possible. Now, he’s not sure how true this is.
He can’t think about this now. He has to get help.
Frank grabs his phone and dials the number of the first person he thinks of.
Mel.
It immediately goes to voicemail. He tries again. Same thing. By the third time, Frank knows he has to call someone else.
His vision is starting to falter, he’s quickly losing blood, and he’s started to feel cold. He dials the red phone and when Dana answers, he has just enough energy left to say, straining his voice, “Help me“ before going unconscious.
Thankfully Dana recognizes that voice, and her heart drops. Had she not recognized it, she would’ve just hung up and complained about prank calls. She tries to get more information out of Frank, at least to know where he is so she can find him, but he’s not answering.
She first runs toward triage. He’s not there. Then feels stupid for not asking the one person who definitely knows where he is.
Mel is in South 15, dealing with a sprained ankle when Dana bursts in.
“Dr. King, have you seen Dr. Langdon?”
Mel gives her a look of indifference.
“No, I haven’t.”
Dana’s about to tell her that something happened, something she herself doesn’t even know, when Ahmad walks in and gets her out of the room.
“I checked the security cameras. He went out to the ambulance bay.”
Ahmad barely finishes his sentence when Dana rushes past him and out the ambulance bay. She looks around but sees no sight of Frank. She’s about to give up when she sees blood coming out from behind the bushes.
She tells Ahmad to get a gurney and call Robby, then runs toward Frank. She kneels down next to him, almost puking at the sight of the guy she treats like a son, his pale body and blood gushing out his side.
Robby runs outside with the gurney and takes it in for a second. The man he once considered a friend and now has an estranged relationship with, laying in a pool of his own blood. He almost looks dead.
Robby asks Dana if she can feel a pulse. She quickly puts her fingers on his neck, and the world stops for a second. Whatever happens from here will change everything.
She feels a faint pulse and almost cries out from relief. She looks back at Robby and nods. From there, Robby takes the lead.
Mel is walking toward the hub still steaming from the argument, hoping more patients will help get her mind off of how mad she is. Frank tried calling her. She can’t even see him right now, much less listen to his voice.
How could he think she’s not good enough to care for Becca? And how could she agree with him? How can the two most important people in her life go against her in something like this?
Mel turns her head at the ambulance bay doors opening and sees a gurney coming in. Robby’s body is blocking her view of the person on the gurney. He’s intubating while Dana is on the other side, saying “Come on kid. Stay with us” She feels bad for Dana. It’s probably someone she knows.
Robby’s body moves a little, enough for Mel to see the person’s arm. She thinks nothing of it at first. That is until she lays eyes on a bracelet she recognizes.
Her sister made that bracelet.
Mel runs toward the trauma room, grabbing gloves on the way. She enters and freezes at the sight of Frank covered in blood and unconscious.
She immediately moves to his side, the one that doesn’t have a knife sticking out, grabs his hand and pulls it to her chest as her other hand moves to get his hair away from his eyes. He always hated those stray hairs and constantly made a show of it.
Whenever he was near Mel, even before they got together, he would dramatically sigh, causing the hair to move. It made her smile, which in turn made him smile, and they would just look at each other with grins on their face. Mel wonders how she could ever doubt he had feelings for her.
They finally got together 4 months ago, after 2 years of friendship, which makes that 2 years of yearning.
They were watching hockey at his place. (Mel was never really a fan of it, but watching Frank get so excited over it made it worth the 2 and a half hours of seeing aggressive men run after a puck.)
He turned to her during a commercial break and just spilled his guts. Told her how much he liked her, how incredible and important she is to his life, and how he just couldn’t hide his feelings any longer. Mel voiced her concerns, how it’s always been her and Becca, that they were a package deal, and that simple fact usually scares men away. But not Frank.
He simply smiled, grabbed her hand, promised her he would never leave and made it his mission to prove it to her every day.
She gets pulled out of the memory to the sound of a steady beep. It takes her a few seconds to realize what’s happening.
Frank Langdon, the love of her life, the one who promised would never leave her, is flatlining.
She quickly drops his hand to start compressions. Robby tells her she should leave, take a breather, but Mel is solely focused on Frank.
She raises her hands to let Perlah put gel on his chest for the defibrillator, then continues compressions until Jessie yells “Clear!”
She looks at the monitor with raised hands, hoping to catch any difference. When there isn’t any, she restarts compressions. This time, she looks at him and gets mad, even more than she was before.
“How could you do this to me, Frank Langdon? You promised you wouldn’t leave! That was the deal! Don’t you dare break that promise over some stupid argument!”
She hears Jessie yell out “Clear!” once more. She watches the monitor again. No change.
Tears start to fill her eyes as she restarts compressions.
“Frank, I need you to keep fighting! Fight for your kids to have a father! Fight for this hospital to have the best doctor it’s ever seen! Fight for me. Please!”
Jessie yells “Clear!” Mel knows that if it doesn’t work this time, Frank will have broken his promise.
It feels like an eternity goes by waiting for a change, but there’s finally a heartbeat. Just in time for Garcia to walk in.
She assesses the situation quickly, then asks for help getting him to an OR. She feels like she could break down right here, seeing her best friend since med school bleeding out. But she doesn’t. Because what pretty boy needs right now is a surgeon. And there’s no one better than her to take on the job.
Mel is left alone as Frank gets wheeled to the OR. She doesn’t know what to do. She thinks if she asked Frank what she should do right now, he would say to take a break. So she does exactly that.
Just as Mel sits down on the floor of the break room, her phone rings. She doesn’t even think to check who it is before picking up. Dana’s voice startles her.
“Hello, my name is Dana Evans. I am the charge nurse at PTMC. I have you listed as Frank Langdon’s emergency contact, but it seems he forgot to write down your name.”
“Dana?”
Dana’s eyes widen as she recognizes the voice.
“Mel? Where are you?”
“In the breakroom.”
Dana hangs up and goes directly to the break room.
As she walks in, she sees Mel curled up on the floor, knees to her chest. She raises her head, and Dana can see her teary eyes.
“Oh, honey” she coos, before sitting down beside her and pulling her into a hug.
Mel would usually flinch at the contact. Right now, it’s the thing that allows her to fully break down.
Dana says some encouraging words as Mel’s tears stain her scrub top.
Once her breathing slows down, she raises her head to look at Dana. “He- he called me. I just assumed he wanted to keep arguing… and I was pissed… so I let it go to voicemail. If I’d answered it- if I hadn’t been so stupid-“
“You were mad at him. There’s no way you could’ve known what happened to him.”
Mel raises her voice “But there was a way! I could’ve answered the fucking phone.”
Dana says sternly, “Mel. I need you to listen to me. It’s. Not. Your. Fault. You know he doesn’t want you to beat yourself up over this.”
Mel whispers, “You’re right.”
Dana stands up and says, “You two make a good couple. I’m glad you finally stopped being blind to each other’s feelings. How long have you been together?”
Mel smiles at Dana’s words, “Four months”
Dana chuckles. “Good for you.” She leaves the break room, making sure to turn the lights off on the way. (Mel was so out of it, she didn’t even register them being on.)
A few minutes later, Trinity enters the room. They stay in a comfortable silence, neither of them knowing what to say.
It’s Trinity who breaks the silence, “I don’t know what you see in him. But you’re happy. And that makes me happy.”
Mel smiles, “Thank you. I am… most of the time”
Trinity chuckles, “That’s why being a lesbian is better. Men suck.”
She hopes this would make her smile, maybe chuckle a little. Instead, Mel just gets really quiet and stares at her hands. She says, “I- I don’t know what to feel.”
Trinity grabs a chair and sits across from her. “What do you mean?”
Mel takes a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. “I was worried out of my mind when I found out. Still am. But… we were arguing in the morning over something that happened yesterday, and he said something that… didn’t feel good.”
Trinity jaw tightens, “If that son of a bitch insulted you-“
“He didn’t insult me. We were arguing because he told Becca to get a job. And today… he called me Abby.”
Trinity stays quiet for a minute. Then says, “How- how did he tell her to get a job? Did he yell? Did she get defensive?”
“… No. He just… talked firmly. And- and she agreed.”
Trinity nods, understanding what the problem had been. She says, “I mean, calling your girlfriend by your ex-wife’s name during an argument is bad. But it seems like, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, he didn’t have bad intentions. Didn’t Becca say she wanted more independence?”
Mel nods.
“It just seems like Langdon wants to give her that and let you have some extra money. Probably to spend on him.”
This draws a chuckle out of Mel. Santos continues, “I’m just saying, he wants the best for you both… and you should kick him in the nuts for calling you Abby.”
They start laughing but stop as Robby knocks on the door and says, “Dr. Santos. Your patient in central 6 needs you.”
Trinity leaves the breakroom. Robby leans on the doorway and says, “You have two weeks time off to take care of Langdon.”
Mel nods. “Do I-“
He interrupts her by saying, “Just go upstairs. We already got someone to cover for you,” then leaves when someone calls him.
Mel smiles and gets up, then goes upstairs. As soon as the elevator doors open, she sees Garcia waiting for the elevator. Before she can even ask, Garcia says, “He’s okay. Still pretty out of it but I think he’ll wake up in an hour or two. He’s in room 304.”
Mel breathes a sigh of relief.
She runs to the room and finds Frank sleeping. She immediately goes to grab his hand and sit down next to him. She whispers, “You were right. Becca needs independence. But you better get ready to beg for forgiveness.”
As fatigue washes over her, she rests her head on top of his arm and starts drifting off to sleep.
Mel is awakened by a hand rubbing her back. She lifts her head and looks at Frank, seeing an ashamed look on his face.
He says, “I’m sorry, baby. I was a jerk, and that name just slipped out, and it was horrible. I understand if you haven’t forgiven me, and if you want, I can tell Becca not to get a job. Just please-“
He’s interrupted by her lips crashing into his. When they pull apart, she whispers, “You scared me. You’re not allowed to do that ever again, do you hear me?” Frank nods. She says, “And I’m sorry. I feel so bad for not answering your call. You needed me, and I wasn’t there for you.”
Frank grabs her face with both hands and says, “Hey. Don’t do that. You didn’t even know what was happening. Please, don’t blame yourself.”
She says, almost imperceptibly, “Okay.”
He moves to give her space to get on the bed. As she does, he wraps his arm around her shoulders, and she rests her head against his chest.
She says, “You know, Santos recommended I should kick you in the nuts.”
Frank chuckles, “Why am I not surprised?”
Mel lifts her head to look at him, “That was after she defended you.”
Frank raises his eyebrows, “Okay, now I’m surprised.”