Chapter Text
7 am. Handover time. Jack stood next to Robby. His loving husband. Who was about to leave him for 3 months. He was still slightly pissed off about that. Jack loves his husband, but 3 months?! God it was going to be hard and he knew it. All that house, all alone. Jack was in therapy and was doing good. I mean as good as any ER doctor who used to be a field medic in the middle east who still was a field medic for a swat team could be. Robby was his lifeline and he worried what it was going to be like with him gone. “Are you at least going anywhere cool?”
“Wyoming is cool”
“No. No it’s not. There’s nothing but killer grizzly bears and sharp curved roads”
“There’s more than just that.”
“Oh yeah like what?”
Robby thought for a moment, and a moment too long apparently
“See. Can’t even think about anything else that good cause there’s nothing else.”
“I’m going to other places as well.”
“Still nowhere cool” he mumbled under his breath. They’ve had this talk a thousand times before now.
“Dr. Rob- oh or Dr. Abbot I need an opinion in south 2.” Whitaker stood in front of them both.
Robby had taken a liking to Dennis. Okay a bit more than a liking but what did that matter.
Jack had known all about it, because most nights if Robby wasn’t talking about the road trip he was talking about Dennis.
“I can go” Jack and Robby said at the same time looking at each other
Jack looked to him “You got it Robby- I’m heading out anyways”
Robby nodded and followed Dennis
Dennis showed him the patient who had a delayed reaction in the hand when pricked. Robby told him to call neuro and then got a call from Abbot. He left the room and answered “Miss me already?”
“You wish. No but I was going to say you should invite Dennis to dinner tonight.”
“Why?”
“I don’t really know. I mean maybe just so I can see you blush the whole night”
“I’ll think about it”
“Come on he already had dinner that one night- he seemed to get close to admitting he likes you”
“Jack we are not talking about this while I’m at work”
“Just think about it. I’ll make chicken tacos” and on that note Jack ended the call.
Robby went through the rest of the day as normal but he couldn’t get Jack’s voice out of his head. Throughout the day he did his normal stuff. Helped patients, helped his students and of course, touched Dennis whenever he could. Sure it was only a shoulder touch or a waist redirection here or there but it mattered. Robby liked the kid and he wanted to see how Dennis responded to it by dropping subtle hints. Towards the end of the day he pulled Dennis aside “Hey- quick question for you”
“Yes Dr. Robby?” Dennis followed where he led.
“Did you want to have dinner tonight again? Jack has been asking” Robby said quietly so only he could hear
Dennis smiled and nodded “Sure. What time?”
“You just wanna come over after work? You can shower at mine if you need to”
Dennis nodded “Yeah- I’ll see you then” Dennis had been over once or twice now for dinner. So this was nothing new. Dennis could tell that Robby had been flirting with him but he was still unsure. First off he’s an attending. Second, he's married to the other attending. So yeah. Unsure was the only word he could find.
Dennis wandered into his last patient's room after all his charting had been done. A 46 year old male, with a history of schizophrenic behavior but no diagnosis, came in off the street for acting disruptive. He felt bad for this guy so he wanted to give him a little warning that he would be leaving before some random new doctor came in.“Hello sir, just in here to give you a once over before my coworkers take your case over for the night.” He said with a tired smile. The man looked at him with a weird look in his eye, one that hadn’t been there earlier in the day. Within a second Dennis was on the ground being pinned by this much larger man. Dennis knew how to fight though from years of working on a farm with multiple brothers, so he instantly punched him square in the face. Dennis kicked hard at his balls causing the man to get off of him as he yelled “HULA HOOP!” as loud as he could. The man's face was bleeding from his nose from the punch Dennis gave him. Dennis moved to stand up and glanced away for one second to see who was coming in the room as he got punched hard in the ribs throwing him backwards into a wall. He slid against it onto his ass.
Santos was the first in the room and she took one look at the situation before grabbing scissors from a medical cart and arming herself with them, she got in between the patient and Dennis.
Dana came next, with her signature move now, after another kick to the guys balls to ensure he didn’t try and fight back she stabbed him with a syringe of Versed and lowered him to the ground.
Santos looked Dennis up and down “Holy fuck huckleberry. What the hell happened?” she was still holding the scissors unknowingly
Dennis rubbed his head and looked at everyone outside now “Trin please put the scissors down before you stab me on accident”
She chuckled awkwardly and did as asked
Robby burst in clearing the path. “What the hell is going on in here?” he glanced around at everyone. From Dana with the now unconscious patient to Santos and then to Dennis on the ground with blood more visible than it should be.
Dana looked at Robby “Code hula hoop. We did what was necessary” she got up from the guy and walked out as security came in to move him to the bed and handcuff him
Robby let her pass knowing they would have a talk later about this. Or he wouldn't cause he was due to leave any day now for his trip. He knelt down to Dennis, “Are you okay Whitaker?”
He nodded “Yeah- yeah nothing to major” he tried to sit up more and winced
“Okay lets get you in north 3 I’ll check you out. Everyone else is free to finish charting and leave”
Everyone went back to their jobs leaving Santos, Whitaker and Robby alone.
Robby looked at her “That includes you Dr. Santos. Whitaker will be in fine hands”
“I’ll stay and help you get him up, he may be small but he’s still like 180 lbs” she said stubbornly
Robby got under one arm as Santos did the other. There was no use in arguing with her, especially when Dennis sat bleeding. They got him up and into the other room.
Santos looked between the two of them not moving from the room as Robby opened a cart of medical supplies.
“Santo’s go, finish charting and leave. Whitaker will be just fine.”
Dennis looked at her, his cheek now becoming slightly blue “I’ll be fine Trin. I’ll text you when I’m out of here. I was going to go to a friends house tonight anyways so”
She looked between them “A friend's house? After you just got into a brawl with a guy 100lbs heavier than you?”
Dennis nodded “It’s nothing serious. I can walk and talk just fine” he said with pleading eyes saying ‘don't push it please’
She rolled her eyes and walked out “Text me. I need updates every hour”
“I’ll give you one every 4 if you're lucky”
And with that Robby and Dennis were alone. Robby closed the door and the blinds, giving them privacy. “Wanna take your shirt off?”
“Take me to dinner first damn” Whitaker joked as he attempted to but winced heavily when he moved his arms
“I mean I technically did already. And I invited you tonight as well” He walked in front of him and grabbed the hem of his shirt
Dennis watched him and nodded allowing him to take the shirt off
Robby moved slowly as he took it off and put it on the chair beside them “So, what exactly happened in there?”
“I walked in to tell him I was leaving for the day, he has a history of schizophrenic episodes but no diagnosis so no meds to help. I felt bad so I wanted to make the transition from me to another doctor as easy as I could. Next thing you know I was on the ground pinned by him.”
“And that’s all?” Robby gently inspected his ribs where hard bruising was already showing up
“Is that a question as my attending or as my doctor?”
“Doctor”
“I punched him in the nose, then kicked him in the balls to get him off me. He had punched me in the ribs after that. I think Dana came in next or Santos- and one of them sedated him. Vision went blurry for a moment when I hit the wall so couldn’t really tell” He was being completely truthful
Robby thought for a minute as he looked at his bleeding knuckles, small laceration on the back of the head and cheek and what he was positive was a broken rib. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“What, you don’t think I could handle myself?”
Robby started to clean his cheek wound “Well not that but you weigh like nothing and he was at least 100 lbs heavier than you”
Dennis winced a bit at the sting from the cut “I grew up on a farm and had 3 older brothers who bullied me for fun. You learn how to fight quickly” he laughed a bit from the memory
Robby finished cleaning and securing the cheek wound moving to the back of his neck “It’s impressive”
He smiled and looked down to give Robby more room to work with
Robby knew he was touching Dennis more than he needed to right now. His one hand on his wound cleaning but the other holding his head steady. But Dennis didn’t seem to mind.
After the head wound he stepped back taking his gloves off “You have a broken rib, we could do xr-ays to confirm but I’m rather positive of it”
Dennis shook his head “No need. I trust you. Dinner still on?” he asked hopefully.
Robby smirked at him “Of course. Honestly you need to take the next week at least to recover from the broken rib.” It was then Robby had a brilliant idea. “Hey- how would you feel about house sitting for me while I’m gone”
“House sitting? Are you forgetting you have a husband or lives with you?”
“Oh no I know he’s there. He’s actually who I’m worried about. He’s in therapy and all that, and he’s doing really good now, but I worry. He can be a ticking time bomb sometimes and I’ve always been there to crack him before he blows himself up. I’m gonna be gone for 3 months, Den. He’s never been alone for that long since we’ve been together”
“Robby you’re making him sound like a toddler”
“Don’t tell him I said that then. But the point still stands. I don’t want to come home to a broken down husband when he’s been working so hard to fix himself. And he loves a good project.”
“A project? Calling Dr.Abbot a toddler and me a project. You are on a roll” Dennis teased as he got his shirt back on very slowly and painfully.
“Once again you know what I mean. You have a broken rib and a head lac you can’t clean yourself. He loves to help. And sometimes he needs some help too.” he said the last part softly
Dennis looked at him “fine. But only cause I don’t want to get an infection on my head lac and die” he slowly got off the bed
Robby went over to help him
“I can walk Robby, I got punched not shot”
“I know but I can still help”
“What will the other residents think?”
“Since when do I care what they think”
“What will your husband think?” Dennis asked, really pushing the limits of whatever they were doing, but also testing the water.
Robby smirked, his hand going to Dennis’s lower back “I think he would love to watch this”
Dennis smiled and let himself be walked to his truck by Robby. But instead Robby walked him to his car. “My trucks the other way Robby”
“Dennis we’re outside the hospital, you can call me Michael. Especially if you will be living at my house”
“Okay. Well Michael my truck is on the other side of the lot.”
“I know”
“So why are we walking this way”
“Cause I’m driving you home. You think I was going to let you drive home with a fresh head wound and broken ribs?”
“I mean I’ve driven with a concussion before. It’s not hard if you just squint”
Robby opened the passenger door “Just get in Whitaker”
“This looks like you’re kidnapping me Dr. Robby”
“Whitaker”
“And where’s my bag?”
“Already in the back, I had Dana run them both out”
“Fine, I'll get in. But only cause I have a headache starting”
Robby rolled his eyes and got in the car. He started to drive back to his house, which happened to be like 15 mins away. Once there they were greeted by Jack leaning on the front porch.
Jack came down and opened Dennis’s door “Holy shit. What happened to you?” He helped Dennis get out of the car.
Dennis stood wincing softly. “Oh nothing much. Just a normal day”
Once fully standing Jack did a very touchy once over of Dennis, being very doctorish and wanting to make sure he was okay
“What don’t trust my work?” Robby said closing his door
“Well not really if Whitaker is coming over looking like a semi truck hit him” He kept glancing all over him. He then turned Dennis around forcefully to examine the blood streak that ran down his neck from the head lac.
“Dr. Abbot, I'm really okay. It was just a little fight”
“I wouldn’t call it little, guy was like twice his size” Robby stated as he walked in the house
Dennis and Jack were still outside. “Call me Jack, you know that by now”
“Okay. Jack. I’m fine, and you can look me over once we’re inside if you really want to check Michaels work.”
Jack smirked hearing Robby's first name spoken. The first sign that Dennis truly was special. Robby didn’t let anyone but Jack call him that.