Chapter Text
Nothing was going right for Mel this morning. It had started when she forgot to wash her intended outfit the day before, then continued when she used the wrong hair tie (the thick one that knocks against her back each time she walks, instead of the thin one which she hardly feels at all). By the time she cobbled together breakfast and got herself out the door, she was running five minutes behind schedule—which normally would have been fine, except her car’s gas light chose that moment to blink on.
Just perfect.
She dialled the hospital at the gas station, phone tucked between her shoulder and her cheek as she placed the nozzle and fumbled around for her wallet.
Lateness was not something Mel tolerated for herself. She arrived precisely ten to fifteen minutes early for every shift or appointment without exception or fail. No earlier and certainly no later. Today, she would be closer to twelve minutes late clocking in for her shift.
Mel’s heartbeat thundered in her ears as she stared intently at the final red light blocking her from pulling into the hospital’s parking lot. If being late wasn’t enough, both of her preferred parking spaces were occupied. In fact, on further inspection, the entire lot was full.
“Fuck.” She slammed her palms against the steering wheel. The traffic light blinked green and for a moment she didn’t move, although she muttered some unsavoury things at the car horns sprouting up behind her. Since Mel didn’t require the accessible parking spaces, she had no reason for preferring one over another except for the fact that at PTMC, she had only ever parked in one of three spaces—under the oak tree, by the bush, or in the large space at the far corner of the lot. Now she’d have to find somewhere to parallel park, and damn if she wasn’t mentally prepared for that. She’d also be seventeen minutes late, at the very least.
Flexing her grip on the steering wheel, Mel sucked in a deep breath and forced herself to exhale slowly, letting the tension bleed out of her limbs. It did little to comfort her mind, but driving while agitated was never a good idea. Still, she turned down the side street with more force than strictly necessary.
“It’s okay. You’ve parallel parked before. You will parallel park again. You can do this,” she muttered to herself, somewhat unconvincingly. “Everything will be fine. Being twelve minutes late does not make me incompetent. You told them you were going to be late, and they said it was okay. This is not a pattern of behaviour.”
They always felt like lies, these things she told herself. Her and Becca had been alone for years, yet it only took one mistake to send her floundering in the ocean. But it was fine. After this shift, she’d have a whole three days off to recover, in the form of rotting in solitude on the couch in her now silent apartment. She only had to get through today.
Any hopes of entering the hospital unnoticed were dashed the moment she stomped through the ambulance bay doors.
“What’s up, Malfeasance? You’re late today.” Trinity’s attention snagged on her immediately, voice rising above the hospital’s din, undoubtedly catching the attention of everyone nearby. Mel shut her eyes and gripped the straps of her backpack tighter. She didn’t have the patience for this today, but she and Trinity had been good lately. It wouldn’t do to be rude.
“I caught a train,” she answered, short and to the point. “Something came up and I left my house half an hour later than I usually do. But I notified the hospital earlier and it’s fine.”
“Okay, just asking. You’re usually early and all.” Trinity’s voice took on a tone of being miffed. What there was to be miffed about, Mel had no idea.
“Sorry, I’m just stressed. I don’t like being late.” She shook her head and paused in front of Santos’s workstation. “You don’t think the new attending will mind, do you?” The last time she walked in late was only a few months ago. While Doctor Abbot hadn’t voiced displeasure in so many words, his look of disapproval was unmistakable. Doctor Robby never seemed to mind people walking in a few minutes late here and there, but he wasn’t on-shift today (and wouldn’t be for the next three months, if the email memo was to be trusted).
“Al-Hashimi? Nah, she loves you.” Trinity waved her off and went back to charting. “Me, on the other hand…” she pulled a face.
“I- okay.” Mel paused. Did Trinity want her to keep talking or leave her alone? It was hard to tell with her. One moment she’d be short and standoffish, the next she’d be inviting Mel to karaoke.
Becca told her that the repeated attempts to reach out were probably a sign of loneliness. In reality, Trinity probably saw Mel’s repeated (and failed) attempts to make friends and decided to make Mel her charity case. She didn’t know quite how to feel about that. In the past, she would have welcomed any form of companionship, but talking with Langdon had planted a nugget of hope that maybe there were people who could understand her without the normal person act she maintained. Perhaps she didn’t need Trinity’s charity.
Then again, karaoke night had been fun.
Mel had been cautious at first. After all, she and Santos didn’t know each other well and there was a terrifying open nature to letting loose in karaoke.
But Trinity hadn’t seemed to mind her hesitance, and by the end of that first night, she and Trinity were belting out lyrics, only slightly tone-deaf and in passable synchrony. It was already a couple of weeks ago, but the moment when Trinity yanked out her hair tie remains clear in her memory. She’d also draped her arm over Mel’s shoulders as they left. Mel had had too much leftover energy to be bothered by the sudden onslaught of physical contact, and it only took a few seconds before she relaxed and let her gait sway in line with Trinity’s. Mel ended up driving her home, and that was that.
Nothing much had changed since, and Trinity retained her love of calling Mel strange nicknames, but smalltalk seemed to come easier lately. It was a tenuous and unconventional friendship by all accounts, but with Becca spending increasingly less time in her life, maybe befriending Trinity Santos would end up for the better.