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He’s been meaning to find ways to spend more time with her.
She has a fascinating brain, an intrinsic kindness and warmth and when she lets her guard down she can also be really funny. Plus she is beautiful in a way that feels unfair sometimes. Especially when he looks up in the middle of a trauma and her hair is falling from her clawclip while she does compressions or bags an airway or is maneuvering an ultrasound wand for a FAST exam. No one has any business looking that pretty in the middle of a catastrophe but she manages it by virtue of her relentless competence and dedication.
So yes, sue him. He, Dr. Jack Abbot, had noticed Dr. Samira Mohan and wanted more. Something that had not happened since he had lost his wife years earlier.
He just never expected that spending time with Samira would mean doing time with Samira.
They are in a holding cell at the precinct closest to PTMC and are waiting for the officers to come back with more information than what they’d been told on the way in. Sitting side by side in the back of a cop car had felt almost romantic. Almost. If only it weren’t for the still manic glint in Mohan’s eyes.
Looking at her now, as she sat on a bench with her eyes closed, she seemed to be a little bit calmer. He hoped that was the case because the past hour and a half he’d seen a different side of her and while saying he was uninterested now was a lie, he could admit he was worried about her. It was why he attempted to intervene. Which is what landed him in the cell right next to her in the first place.
Robby came back from his Sabbatical and he seemed to be doing better. The time away had softened his harshness, taken the edge off. At least superficially. But in the week since he had been back it seemed he was intent on two things: doubling down on his disdain for Samira and riding increasingly risky rides on his motorcycle. Al Hashimi’s mandate to have two attendings present at every shift meant that Jack had been on days the past week and gotten a first hand show to this. He had also seen how it had been chipping away at Samira day by day.
So really, it was not necessarily surprising that she had snapped. Not after the week she’d had and then the last straw had been earlier when two hours before shift ended, as she was finishing up with a pediatric case and his anxious parents, Robby had walked by and said.
“Well, look at you, Mohan. If geriatrics doesn’t pan out for you maybe you still have a shot in pediatrics. At the very least I’ll be able to get on the road on time tonight.”
Jack could feel the air being sucked out of the ED. He tried to step in but Samira got to Robby first and started ripping into him. She talked about his misogyny and his preferential treatment of male residents and how he also seemed to have some internalized racism he needed to work through as well as resentment to people he considered to be more intelligent than him. She laid into him about his unconscious biases about the worthiness and rigor of other specialties in medicine. She went on to say how he was putting himself and others at risk with his stupid bike. She had eviscerated him so thoroughly and she had done it all without raising her voice. She’d just quietly and intensely been hissing at him while she walked him backwards towards the ambulance bay. The two of them had ended up outside, Jack close on their heels in case he needed to step in.
Robby paled. Then he went red, almost purple and yelled at Samira that if she was unhappy with his leadership style she could have asked for a transfer. As he stormed back into the Pitt Samira yelled:
“What leadership style, you incongruous ASS!”
Her eyes had taken on the same manic look she’d had after the Pittfest MCI. As he took a step towards her Samira looked to her right. And there is where she saw it. Robby’s prized motorcycle. She ran up to it and shoved it with an impressive and unexpected show of strength. The bike fell and a crash could be heard as something broke. But she was not done, stepping on the handles until they twisted and stomping on the other mirror until it broke. Jack stepped forward to try to get her off the bike when the patrol car came into view. Before he knew it they were both cuffed and in the back of the car and headed to be booked.
He was still somewhat in shock when they processed both of them and then shoved them into the small holding cell to await further instructions.
Now, as some time had passed he wondered how to best proceed.
He heard a sniffle.
“I’m so sorry, Dr. Abbot.I don’t know what got into me. He has just been so unbearable to me this past week and now I got you into this whole mess and I’m probably going to be losing my license and I’m gonna get fired. Oh god, I hope they don’t fire you as well, you were only trying to stop me.” Samira was properly crying now.
Ah. Seemed the adrenaline had finally worn off.
“Mohan, hey. Look at me. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you, ok? We’ll deal with this together, but I have a feeling everything will work out in the end.”
“HOW?!”
“You leave that to me.”
Ten minutes later a police officer came and told Jack to go with him. Dana and Robby were there and Robby was looking chastened, not angry. Dana looked like she was in charge. Which she was, of course. They explained the situation to him and he was relieved.
Robby would not be pressing charges. It seemed that when he went in not only Dana but several other of the doctors and nurses on shift had staged an intervention and told him that Mohan was right, that he was being an asshole to her and that he was lucky she hadn’t reported him to the board by now. They also all told him how it was a good thing his bike was out of commission and how he should really stop being an idiot about it and please for the love of all that is holy go to therapy.
Jack was relieved that he was not going to have to pull in the favors he was already organizing in his mind to get Mohan out scott free. Told Robby and Dana to leave and that he would take care of Samira.
“Mhm.. I’m sure you will, Abbot.” Dana said with a wink before leaving, Robby on her heels.
Jack went up to the officer in charge and took care of everything necessary so that they both could leave while a second officer went to retrieve Samira.
When she saw him she ran over and hugged him, whispering thanks for getting her out. Before he explained anything he decided to, impulsively, enjoy the hug and return it for a bit.
“Thank you so much, I have no clue what you did, Dr. Abbot, but they told me I can go home.”
“No need to thank me, Mohan. Thank Dana and the rest of the crew at the Pitt. Apparently they all got into it with Robby after we left and told him they were on your side and agreed with you and convinced him not to press charges.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Come on, I’ll drive you home. Dana dropped off my car here when they came to square everything away. I have all our belongings.”
“What is in the envelope?”
“Oh, I asked for these as a little souvenir of our adventures.”
She peeked in. It was their mugshots.
“Oh my god! Oh this is so embarrassing I look completely insane!”
“Eh, I think you looked good, Mohan. Who knew revenge would suit you so well.”
“I look psychotic. I look deranged, Dr. Abbot. Oh god, I toppled his bike, didn’t I? I did not even know I was strong enough to do that.”
“Yeah, that sure was something, Dr. Mohan.” And it had been. Jack had not been able to stop her at that moment because he’d been stunned and a little bit aroused if he was being honest.
He forced himself to swallow spit as his mind took a turn to lewder territories, a deep red blush staining his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears..
Samira noticed.
“Oh, is that something you’re into, Dr. Abbot?”
His head snapped toward her. She was looking at him with faux innocence in her eyes, but the beginnings of a sly smirk on her lips were there.. Oh she was definitely going to be trouble.
“Please, Mohan. Call me Jack if you’re going to be talking about my kinks in public.”
Samira blushed but didn’t back down, maintaining eye contact with him.
He held his hand out expecting her to place the envelope back. Instead, she held on to the envelope and placed her hand in his. His eyebrows rose in surprise but then almost immediately relaxed and a smile broke out on his face. She couldn’t help but match his expression, a strange giddiness taking over the both of them.
“Ok. Jack it is.”
