Archive of Our Own

As opposed to what some would think, Mel didn’t really love working on chairs. She never protested when she was assigned to go, and of course understood very clearly the importance this part of the job entailed. But, to be an emergency medicine doctor is to be, frankly, an adrenaline junkie – which doesn’t really pair well with working chairs.

Her first ED rotation happened when she was an MS3, she fell in love immediately. When she told Dr. Mckenzie, after careful consideration, that she wanted to pursue emergency medicine; he had called her “too soft” for any emergency department. Professors and peers alike thought that Mel would crumble at the pressure and intensity of an ER.

But none of that ever mattered, because the ER is where she thrived. She could make sense of the chaos that reigned, and it moved so quickly it never let her be alone with her thoughts, not for a moment. And even if that could be overwhelming at times, it’s one of the things Mel found most comforting. Being able to let go of the worries and anxieties that placate her head in order to focus on the patient at hand was the only thing that got her through her mother’s death.

So, for someone that sometimes feels like she needs all that chaos almost as much as air, triaging patients all day wasn’t exactly fun.

However, she could recognize that today she needed it. As soon as she woke up, she could feel the heaviness of her limbs and the fatigue that would surely follow her through the day – something that’s been happening quite often lately (an unfortunate side effect of waking up at 1am for snacks).

So, by the time everyone was gathering up for morning rounds she volunteered to cover chairs for the day. As she left with one of the medical students a pair of blue eyes caught hers, slight worry permeating them. She just gave him a little smile, which seemed to calm the tension in his shoulders.

She hadn’t really seen much of him that day, only being able to catch him if she was taking a patient in. But Frank took full advantage of every second he could get; talking her ear off before Dana would remind her to go back, delicately tugging at the end of her braid when she had to leave, giving her a truly broken hearted look whenever she crossed the ED doors.

And so the day went on, slowly. Luckily or unluckily (anyone’s guess really) it had been a very slow day. Just patients with the flu, a few cuts and falls, nothing too hard. Mel was working on autopilot, quick and efficient; so much so, that a few of her coworkers popped in for a second to marvel at how seemingly empty the waiting room looked.

Now, it’s not even close to noon, and Mel is hungry, which never really happens when she’s working. It’s always Frank the one that reminds her to eat, or, now that he’s an attending, out right orders her to take a lunch break (always quietly though, neither of them would want to deal with that particular HR nightmare). She’s thinking about a truly delicious chicken parm he’d made last night when she calls in the next patient.

A young woman, complaining of abdominal pain. Mel goes through the normal questions, methodically checking every box and taking notes that end-of-shift Mel will be extremely grateful for.

“Any chance you could be pregnant?” When she looks up, the girl has a thoughtful look on her face.

“I don’t know” she answers with a frown.

“When was your last period?” Mel asks

“I’m not sure” she seems surprised she can’t remember.

“What were you doing the last time you had to deal with tampons?” Mel’s been in this situation a lot of times over the years, patients that don’t remember menstruation cycles, medicines, or even surgeries they’ve had – she finds that questions like these always seem to jog their memories. Not for this girl though, she looks as lost as she did moments ago.

“Maybe it was St. Patrick’s day, and your friends invited you to a pub crawl but thinking of the taste of beer and peanuts made you sick – and you thought ‘huh, must be the hormones’ because you actually really like peanuts” Mel offers with a gentle smile.

Santos had begged during that entire shift, but the mere thought of going from one place to the other and so many people around her while on her period made her want to crawl out of her skin.

The patient lets out a laugh “Oh my god, yeah! I ate like four cupcakes with truly horrendous green frosting. But that was a while ago. I guess I had mine again around Easter, ‘cause I was all over the marshmallow peeps” she smiles at Mel “this totally works!”

A while ago.

Mel looked to the corner of the computer, May 2nd. St. Patrick’s had been more than a month ago. She froze in front of the screen.

“Doctor?” the patient’s voice snapped her back into reality. She finished the check up and sent her back to the waiting room while her labs came back. As soon as she was gone Mel opened her period tracker app, only to be met with a huge empty space that spanned six weeks.

She quickly ran through the events of the past six weeks, trying to remember when – no, if her period came: she and Becca went to a concert, then there was Tanner’s soccer tournament, Penny’s dance recital, Abbot’s birthday.

Nothing.

Okay, okay, let’s not panic, maybe it was later. So she kept going: she and Samira went to a pottery class; the paper that she’s been working on with Dr. Al-Hashimi was sent to be peer reviewed; Frank’s parents had come to visit; Trinity broke up with her last girlfriend and got back together with Garcia; Jesse had a baby.

Still nothing.

Then, everything starts falling into place: how sensitive she’s been lately, the weird cravings that won’t go away, losing her appetite as soon as she smells food, the exhaustion that hits her before she’s even started her day.

She’s a doctor, how didn’t she even notice?

Before fully succumbing to panic Trinity pops in “Yo, Melanite, relief team’s here. Go before I make a run for it”

Mel raised an eyebrow at her “What’d you do?” knowing there’s no way in hell Trinity Santos would ever volunteer to be on triage.

“I may or may not have screamed at a patient’s parents” she answered with a shrug “it was 100% warranted though”

“I’m sure it was” she quipped back. Ok, this is good, the fast-paced environment of the ED will surely let her forget about this, and leave the panic for later.

She makes her way through the department, thankful for the change of pace. She’s quickly looking at the board when Robby calls for her as they wheel someone into Trauma 2. The patient is a pregnant woman, 30 weeks along, seizing due to eclampsia.

How’s that for forgetting?

Thankfully, they’re able to stabilize her quickly and send her straight to OB.

Before she can get too in her head, a resident shows up, asking for help on a case. A 5-year-old girl with intense abdominal pain and vomiting. Then, her next patient is 2 months old with a severe diaper rash. And the next one is a newborn that won’t stop crying. It’s like this the whole day, as if the universe said “today, I won’t let you ignore”.

Luckily, she was granted a reprieve from all this, and her day had continued with little to note. She’s quietly charting, taking her time when she hears Robby call her name as he wheels a patient into a trauma room. A young man who got hit by a car riding his motorcycle.

Now, Mel is not a squeamish person, and she’s been a doctor for a long time now so nearly nothing can get to her now. But as she walks into the room and sees the patient’s femur sticking out of his leg she has to swallow the nausea going up her throat. She works quietly from then on, fearing that even opening her mouth will make it come back.

They work on him for a while, treating complication after complication until he’s finally stable enough to be sent up for surgery. Once the room is empty Mel simply stands there, nausea and exhaustion and anxiety hitting her all at once.

She leaves the room in a hurry, not paying attention to anything else happening around her, which causes her to crash against another body.

“Woah, watch it Barbie” Mel raises her head at the words, already knowing who that voice belongs to. She’s wearing the same smug, stoic look she always has, but something in her gaze softens once she sees Mel’s face “You okay King?”

Before she can get any words out she runs to the restroom, unable to keep it down any longer. When she’s done and able to breathe normally she hears a soft knock on the door of the stall “Mel? You there?”

She rises to her feet and opens the door, a worried Yolanda Garcia on the other side. Well, this is new. “I’m fine” she chokes out, Garcia shoots her an unimpressed look before it goes back to worried.

“Seriously, I’m fine. It’s just a little vomit, come on” but Garcia won’t budge. Not that Mel expected her to – she’s got that way about her, never showing care with words but never leaving when someone needs her.

“Listen, if you need to leave I’ll go get Lang-”

“No!” Garcia raises her eyebrows at Mel’s reaction, completely taken aback.

“I -” she takes a deep breath, trying to figure out what to say to her when an idea pops in her head. “Can you do me a favour?”

She tilts her head at Mel’s words “What?”

“Can you do me a favour?” she repeats the words slowly, aware of the fact that she probably sounds like a crazy person.

“You can’t just say that, it sounds ominous as fuck” she crosses her arms before adding “But, yeah. Of course”

“You can’t tell Frank”

She shakes her head “I won’t”

“I mean it Yolanda, do not tell him”

“I won’t but you gotta tell me what this is about” She looks at Mel, analyzing her. Then, realization strikes; her eyes go down to Mel’s abdomen and back up. Her brown eyes open wide and a smile threatens to appear “Holy fuck Barbie, are you-?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I don’t know. Not yet, not really. I mean, I’m fairly sure. I missed my period, I’m nauseous, and tired and -” her breath runs out “I’m not sure though”

Yolanda looks at her watch “Okay. Meet me by the elevator in five minutes”

Mel simply nods, amazed at the fact that she understood her so easily.

Luckily, the ER seemed to be under control, which means she wouldn’t be missed if she took a little break. As promised, five minutes after that (and after brushing her teeth) Yolanda is waiting for her by the elevator. They go up to the surgical floor and into one of the on call rooms, thankfully empty.

“Okay, I gotta be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve done this” the brunette says before tying a glove around Mel’s arm.

Mel simply laughs “Oh, I seemed to have found the mighty Dr. Garcia’s weakness”

Yolanda raises an eyebrow “Snarky today, huh King?”

“I have my moments” the blonde answers with a little smile.

“Well, it’s true what they say” Mel frowns, confused “That married couples start acting like each other”

They both laugh and then fall into a comfortable silence until Yolanda breaks it “I’m obviously not telling him, but why are you not telling him?”

“I just… want to wait until I’m sure, I guess” Yolanda just hums, unconvinced by her answer but she won’t press any further. Mel would normally appreciate that and not mention anything else, but she’s too nervous to keep it in “I’m just nervous? I think. I mean, we haven’t really talked about it much. I mean, of course we have talked about it – it would’ve been insane to get married without checking if we were on the same page. But that was a bit ago, and I wasn’t exactly sure of what I wanted at the time. And Frank just said ‘I want whatever you want’ which honestly wasn’t helpful at all”

She’s rambling, so concentrated on the storm in her head she didn’t flinch when Yolanda stuck the needle in her arm.

“And I wanted to revisit the subject, actually talk about it at length, you know? Because I - I like planning and being ready for things like these, but…” she trails off, unsure of what to say next.

“But?” Yolanda urges her to continue as she takes the needle out.

“I’m, uh, still… processing? I realized literally less than six hours ago. And I’ve been freaking out ever since” Mel looks to the ground, feeling entirely too vulnerable under her gaze.

“Well, for now, maybe don’t freak out. Not until you’re sure” she gestures to the little vial of blood on her side “I’ll put a rush on these, text you when I get the results”

She stands up and makes her way to the door. Before she opens it she turns to Mel “Now go, ER Ken is probably going crazy ‘cause he can’t find you”

{...}

As soon as the elevator doors open she sees him again “Hey! There you are!” as if he hadn’t seen her all day. As if he doesn’t see her every day.

Seeing him makes it all the more real, the weight of the possibility heavy on her chest.

She knows Frank would be an excellent father, he already is. Would she?

Mel gives him a tight smile “Were you looking for me?”

She feels how he examines her, obviously knowing something’s off. He’s always been good at that, even when they first met “It’s almost three. You wanna go get lunch?”

She simply nods and makes her way to the break room, knowing he’s following behind. He takes both their lunches out of the fridge and puts them in the microwave as she sits down in one of the tables there. The exhaustion hasn’t really gone away, but she can really feel it now, once she’s awarded a moment to rest. She’s acting weird, she knows she is; and she knows he knows, but right now she doesn’t really have the energy to care much about that. All she can care about right now is getting a text from Garcia.

As soon as she senses the smell of her lunch she chokes out a gag, nausea hitting her in a rush. Second time today – it’s like the awareness of the situation has reminded her body that this is a thing that’s supposed to happen. Maybe supposed to happen.

“You okay?” a hand immediately goes to cradle her face. As she leans into his touch she considers if she should tell him, she decides against it – not wanting to have this conversation at their place of work, when everyone can come in at any time. Besides, she’s not even sure yet.

“Yeah, just tired” she smiles softly. As she looks into his eyes, all worries melt away. “I missed you” the words escape her mouth without permission, and she feels sheepish under his gaze.

“Me too sweetheart” his hand leaves her face and Mel pouts at the loss of contact. The sight makes him laugh “now eat, Melissa. You barely touched your breakfast”

They eat in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company when an intern comes in (her name is Tara, and she reminds Mel of Javadi – they both have very expressive eyes) “Sorry, Dr. Langdon?” she seems nervous to interrupt “Little Ryan’s parents are here, they wanna talk to you”

“Are they in the family room?” the young doctor nods “Tell them I’ll be right there” then she turns to Frank “see you later?”

He nods and gives her a wink when she goes away. And just like that, her body is less tense. Whatever happens, she knows that as long as she has Frank at her side, it’ll be okay.

{..}

6:49pm
Dr. Yolanda Garcia (PTMC): Labs are up. Same on call room in five?

6:52pm
ER Barbie: Busy with hand-off. I’ll text you as soon as we’re done.

7:05pm
ER Barbie: Done. You still there?

7:06pm
Dr. Yolanda Garcia (PTMC): Yep

7:06pm
ER Barbie: Ok, I'll be right there.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Mel flinched when she heard a voice next to her. Frank looked at her, confused at her reaction.

“Uh, yeah. I just - uh, wait for me? I wanna go up to the SCU, check on a patient from earlier” he doesn’t buy it, she can tell. From the moment they met he’s been able to read her like a book, so this doesn’t surprise her; what does surprise her is the fact that he just lets it go, though she can tell he’s worried and her heart breaks at his sad eyes.

She takes his hand and presses a kiss to his knuckles, the action visibly calming him down. She looks into his eyes, wordlessly expressing everything she doesn’t have the words to say right now. The rest of the world doesn’t matter, only Frank.

The moment is broken when Trinity comes in, fake gagging at the scene in front of her “Boo. Get a room losers”

She snaps back, and goes to the elevator, leaving them both by the lockers bickering like children. Something they tend to do pretty much every time they see each other. In the loneliness of the small box she starts feeling restless, her hand shaking when she knocks on the door of the room.

When Garcia (now out of her scrubs) opens the door Mel is surprised to see she has a paper report in her hand. She closes the door.

“I haven’t read it, but I asked if they could print it out, in case you wanna keep it or something” her tone, even if neutral, contained all the nervousness they both felt.

Silence settles between them, heavy with anticipation. Yolanda extends the hand holding the envelope out to Mel, but she doesn’t move, completely overwhelmed.

She takes a deep breath and shakes her head, as if trying to clear her mind. She took it with shaking hands, she froze halfway through unfolding it, and her eyes snapped back to the woman in front of her.

“Say something” her voice is surprisingly calm.

“Excuse me?” surprise and amusement covering her face.

Mel starts tapping her fingers against her thigh, too nervous to look “Say something, anything. I need to, like, get out of my head. So, distract me for a minute please?”

“Uum, okay” she looks up to the ceiling, thinking of what to say “Today I took a huge mass out of a woman’s abdomen. It turned out to be a teratoma, about 15cm large, weighed almost two pounds and it had three eyes. It was insanely cool”

Mel lets out a laugh, if Frank were here he’d make a joke about this being the thing Yo thinks would calm a person. And it weirdly worked. A warm feeling settled in Mel’s chest at her friend’s care; not many years ago the thought of anyone going out of their way for her like this was unimaginable. The thought of it being Yolanda Garcia would’ve left 2025 Mel completely stunned.

She unfolds the paper carefully, and reads it even more so. The words on the page make her eyes water and a shaky gasp escapes from her mouth, which is frozen in a very wide smile. She can hear herself muttering something but has no idea what the words are. When she looks up she finds her friend’s eyes are glassy as well.

“Oh my god. Yoli, are you crying?” Mel mutters, the syllables broken up by her tears.

Yolanda turns away, avoiding Mel’s eye “What? No, shut up” chuckling at her very poor attempt to lie.

“I’m pregnant” Mel whispers, like she’s testing how the words sound coming from her mouth.

“Yeah”

“I’m having a baby” her hands instinctively go down to her belly and her smile grows even though she didn’t think it possible “We’re having a baby!” Mel says before throwing herself at Yolanda.

Mel doesn’t really do hugs, and neither does Yolanda, but now it feels appropriate. No, not appropriate: right, familiar. And Mel can’t help but cry at the contact, at how happy and loved she feels right now.

When they break apart, both with eyes red and puffy, Garcia clears her throat before she cleans her face and says “If you ever tell Langdon about this I’ll kill you”

The blonde simply smiles “I won’t”

Suddenly, a devilish smile forms on her face “The man either has fantastic swimmers or the ability to make women play fast and loose with their birth control, because he’s going three for fucking three on the accidentally knocked up department”

Mel snorts “God, you’re gonna tease him so much about this”

“You’ve got no idea”

They both laugh, loudly and heartily, and when it dies down Mel speaks “Thank you, Yolanda. Really”

In response the curly haired woman just shrugs “Don’t even mention it, Sunshine”

On the car ride home, while Mel planned how to break the news to Frank, she thought back on the events of the day, and realized how lucky she and her baby are to have so many people who care about them.