Chapter Text
Mel stood in front of the nurses' station in the middle of the Pitt, her eyes scanning the board, seeing if there was another patient for her to pick up. Well, theoretically, she was scanning the board. In reality, her eyes had glazed over, and she was standing here with the intent of looking busy so she could have one moment of peace, or as much peace as one could get in the Pitt.
It had been a long, grueling week in the hospital. She had worked five back-to-back days of 12-hour shifts. And it wasn’t like she got to go home and relax at the end of the day either. Mel had to pick up Becca, cook dinner, and maintain some semblance of cleanliness in their house. Once she was sure Becca was in bed and sound asleep, she should have been able to sleep herself, but of course, that was not how Mel’s brain works. She needed at least an hour to decompress from being “on” all day with her patients, co-workers, and sister. That left her getting too few hours of sleep, working too much, and feeling like there weren’t enough hours in the day. She knew that she required less sleep than the average person, but this week really took a toll on her.
But it was finally Friday. She had to continually remind herself of this fact throughout this shift. After working a horrible 60-hour week, she had managed to arrange her schedule so she had the whole weekend off, a rare privilege for residents.
Mel had carefully planned her weekend to be full of fun things both she and Becca would enjoy, plus time to decompress from the stressful week. She had even run her plans by her therapist, who had been encouraging Mel to find things to do outside of work and being a caregiver. Her therapist had said that she was proud of Mel for making time for herself. Mel’s cheeks heated at the thought of someone being proud of her, especially since she had omitted her work schedule and the fact that Becca would be joining her for all of the activities from the version of the plans that she shared with her therapist.
“You feeling okay?”
A voice beside her broke Mel from her zoned-out trance. She blinked her eyes in rapid succession to clear the blurriness away. “Huh? What? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Mel replied quickly, her mind taking a few seconds to catch up to her surroundings. She flashed a quick smile at Langdon, who had posed the initial question. “Are you okay?” she shot back.
Langdon tilted his head, clearly not believing that she was fine. “I’m good. You look a little flushed. Are you sure you’re good?” Frank questioned.
“Really, I’m fine. Good even,” Mel rambled back, “Just a little tired. Looking forward to getting off.” She took off her glasses and wiped the lenses on the edge of her scrub top before sliding them back onto her face. .
Frank leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk in front of them. “Any big plans for when you get off?”
Mel sighed, a slight smile tracing her lips as she thought about her plans. “I’m picking up Becca from the center, and then we’re going out to eat, as we always do on Fridays. Becca will probably want pizza with extra cheese.” She held up her index finger to emphasize the point, remembering the one time she got the normal amount of cheese on their pizza and the meltdown that ensued. After that incident, Mel swore to herself that she would never make that mistake again. “Then I’m planning on putting ELF on for Becca and taking a bath. I’ll probably read or maybe play on the Switch while I do that. After that, Becca and I will go to bed, and I’m sleeping in in the morning because I have the whole weekend off. So yes, big plans. I’m sorry I’m rambling. You probably didn’t want to know all of that information.” Mel wrung her hands together nervously, mentally scolding herself for getting so carried away.
Frank nudged her with his elbow. “You know I don’t mind when you ramble. It sounds like a relaxing weekend you have planned there,” he smiled.
Mel nodded timidly. She paused a few seconds before remembering that she should probably ask him about his plans for when he gets off. “What about you? What are you doing when you get off?”
Frank let out a heavy sigh. He dropped his head down between his shoulders. “I have been volun-told by HR that I need to take the entire weekend off too. Apparently, I have been picking up more shifts than they consider healthy.” He made air quotes with his fingers around the word "healthy".
“Oh,” Mel said, biting her lip nervously. She was thrilled when she managed to get this weekend off. She was working through reasons in her mind why he wouldn’t be glad to have the time off when he turned around, leaning his back against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest. This movement snapped Mel out of her thoughts and directed her attention to the distressed look on his face.
When Frank’s eyes connected with Mel’s, he continued speaking. “You know HR has been up my ass since I came back from rehab, and I get it. I’m a liability. They don’t want me to relapse.” He quickly added, “Which I’m not, by the way. I just-” He cut his sentence short, looking up at the plain white ceiling tiles as if the rest of his sentence was up there.
Mel took half a step closer to him, feeling the need to comfort him in some way. She fidgeted with the stethoscope hanging around her neck, waiting for him to continue.
Without moving his eyes from the ceiling, Langdon continued, “It’s the first weekend since-, yeah, that I’m not working and don’t have the kids. It’s just hard.” He mumbled the last sentence, not wanting to be seen as vulnerable in the middle of their busy emergency department.
And there it is, Mel thought. She knew Frank had gotten a divorce from his wife, Abby, a few months ago. From what she understood, it wasn’t a mutual decision. Frank had wanted to stay married to Abby and work through their issues after his addiction had come to light, and they did for a while until Abby had had enough. Frank was devastated when Abby gave him the divorce papers. Mel remembered that week clearly. Frank showed up to work each day with bloodshot eyes, dark circles under his eyes, and a short temper. This behavior was so out of the norm for him that Robby cornered him and accused him of relapsing. The yelling match that ensued after that accusation was explosive, with Frank unintentionally airing all his dirty laundry to the entire ED staff. This conversation had occurred near their lockers but was loud enough to be heard throughout the emergency department.
“I’m sorry,” Mel replied.
Frank’s head snapped back down to meet her eyes. “What are you sorry for? It’s my own fault I’m in this situation. You have nothing to feel bad about,” he said protectively.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just sorry you’re going through this.”
He laughed at her response. “Mel King,” he smiled, “You are too good for this world. Don’t ever change.”
“You know,” Mel quickly changed the subject, feeling uncomfortable with the compliment, “Becca and I are planning on going to the Ren Faire at the park tomorrow. You are welcome to join us if you need the distraction. I know this is short notice and it doesn’t give you very much time to put a costume together, but maybe that can be your distraction tonight. You’d be surprised what kind of costume you can come up with at the thrift store. Becca and I have been planning our costumes for weeks. I’d actually really like it if you would join us, but no pressure if that’s not your thing.” Mel took a deep breath after her minor rant. She really needs to get a hold on this whole rambling thing. There was something about Frank that made her a little nervous leading to rambling when she spoke to him. She took this pause to examine Frank’s face. She could see the wheels turning in his head as he considered this proposal.
Mel rocked back and forth on her feet, questioning if she had overstepped with this offer. Maybe he didn’t want to see his co-workers outside of work. Would being around families at the Ren Faire be hard on him? She didn’t want to make this weekend harder on him than it already was.
Her spiraling thoughts were cut short by Frank saying, “You know, I think I have something that might work.”
“Have you been to a Ren Faire before?” Mel asked as her thoughts wandered to why he would have a costume for the Ren Faire already.
He shook his head. “This will be my first. What time are you going? I can meet you there.”
“Um, around 10 but it might be better if we drive together. The parking situation can be a little tricky,” Mel answered, quickly thinking through the logistics in her head.
“Sounds good,” Frank smiled, “Text me your address. I’ll be there at 9:30 on the dot. I know how much being late stresses Becca out. I’ll bring donuts too. Text me your and Becca’s favorite type of donuts. She still likes OJ, right? No pulp.”
Mel quickly nodded, impressed by his memory of Becca’s juice of choice. “Yeah, no pulp.”
“Perfect,” Frank said as he pushed away from the counter. “I’m really looking forward to this. You’re a really great friend, Mel. Anyway, it’s six o’clock. Time to get out of here before we get sucked in on another case. Enjoy your big plans tonight. See you at 9:30 in the morning.”
Before Mel had a chance to respond, Frank was walking back to his locker with a new pep in his step. She was left standing there feeling confused as to why Frank calling her his friend left an odd ache in her chest. Of course they were friends. They worked together and had inside jokes. She chalked it up to this week's exhaustion messing with her emotions.
She didn’t give herself a chance to overthink her feelings before grabbing her favorite pen off the counter and following him to the lockers. Mel punched her code into her top-row locker and grabbed her jacket and backpack. She couldn’t help but notice that Frank was already out the door. Mel let out a sigh, shaking off the exhaustion and mentally preparing herself to be the fun, bubbly sister for when she got to the center to pick up Becca. A small smile graced her face as she badged out for the day. She was already feeling the relief of the weekend as she stepped out into the ambulance bay.