Chapter Text
It was one of those shifts that felt brutal not because of how intense one would have expected it to be, but because of how painfully slow it had felt. The day had been almost too calm to be true, with a relatively low amount of blood and tears that had been shed. A few boarders, that had been handed off by the graveyard crew, were patients mostly in need of monitoring. No mass casualties, no freak accidents or assaults for an entire working day.
Laura felt rather illusive about the course of events until the very moment her attending, Dr. Montgomery Adamson, permitted her to clock out. She picked up her backpack from under the charge nurse’s desk, as an intern she didn’t have her own locker yet because her storage issue was at the very bottom of admin's to-do list. One would think that she’d have one by now, considering it had been nearly 5 months since she’d started the job. Before she got pulled in for another case by one of the night shift residents, Laura left through the ambulance bay doors with hope that she’d bump into Dana, in case she hadn’t already gone home.
She decided she’d wait for a bit, catch herself a moment to just be. A cool breeze tickled her nostrils and sent a shiver down her spine, reminding her that she should’ve brought her scarf with her, and the thrifted bomber jacket didn’t do much in terms of protection against Pittsburgh weather. The fire hose cabinet’s metal door showed her a reflection of herself, a rather distorted yet coherent image of a short statured woman with her hair surprisingly held together by a single rubber-band. Laura crossed the gap to get a better look at herself as she pushed her glasses up her nose.
The neon “EMERGENCY” sign above the entrance washed a hue of red over her skin. She gently pressed around a pimple that had sprouted in the corner of her forehead, making a dull throb radiate from the spot as she did so. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head, telling her that her facial blemishes were because of all the coffee and chocolate she was drinking and eating, and the chronic lack of sleep, increased her body heat and caused the acne to go haywire. Remembering the older woman’s words made her frown, because coffee was a lifeline, chocolate was a pleasure, and sleep was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
“Heading home?”
The voice behind her made her jump. Jack Abbot, a fellow R1, stood a good distance behind her, legs apart, hands in jacket pockets and an awfully small beanie that barely covered his ears. Laura straightened her back before facing him.
Jack looked a lot more at ease than she felt. She’d spent most of the day on the ready, her muscles coiled just enough to spring into action so that nothing caught her off guard. 15 hours of anticipation had taken their toll.
“If I can walk. I might just take one of the on-call beds if I don’t feel like moving in the next 2 minutes. You?”
“I was going to grab a bite to eat, driving starving is as bad as driving drunk or drowsy.”
Laura nodded in agreement. She was about to wish him well and rid herself of his presence, but the growl from her abdomen interrupted her. She winced as Jack smirked lightly.
“Wanna join me? I was going to go to the diner that opened up across from here, then circle back to my car.”
“I’m good. I was waiting for Dana, and Robby looked a little wrecked after Adamson went off on him, thought I’d check in.”
“Dana’s fiancé picked her up and Robby’s doing a double shift.”
“Adamson’s not going to like him any better if he runs himself into the ground.”
“That’s what I said,” he jabbed a thumb in the direction of the diner, “so you coming or not? You look like you’re going to keel over, I’ll even give you a ride home after.”
“Uhh… I’m not telling you where I live.”
It wasn’t that she believed he was of strange intentions, Laura just didn’t know him well enough to sit alone with him in his car for all but 20 minutes. Jack didn’t seem offended at all, if anything, he found her caution reasonable and mildly amusing.
“That’s fair.”
He turned on his heel and started down the street towards the crosswalk, and Laura, who took a solid second to realize she was supposed to go with, waddled after him in a hurry. He slowed his pace to match hers, he’d noticed she was almost jogging to keep up with him. They stood by the edge of the road in awkward silence then continued on their way when the walk sign turned green and rain started to drizzle faintly from the sky.
The diner Jack led her to was a relatively new establishment that had sprouted up maybe a couple weeks ago. The chimes jingled as he held the door open for her to pass through. The hall was dimly lit with no customers save for themselves. Laura settled into a chair while Jack shrugged his puffer off and tossed it over the back of the seat across from her before sitting down.
The light static of the drizzle had been replaced by the erratic pitter-patter of raindrops and the bang of the odd hail stone against the roof of a car. Laura mentally thanked the Maker for getting her indoors in time.
A waiter approached them and handed them a menu card each before turning to leave, but Jack already knew what he wanted. A classic American cheeseburger. Laura asked for the same, minus the caramelized onions and tomatoes, with a side of fries. Jack seemed almost offended by her choice. The waiter nodded and meandered off without writing anything down.
When he was out of earshot, Jack crossed his arms against the table and leaned a little forward. “No onions? I get no tomatoes, they’re slimy and wet, but no onions?”
“What are you so distraught about, you’re not the one eating it?”
Laura hadn’t snapped but her tone gave Jack the idea that she wasn’t in the mood for small talk. She just needed to fill up on the very sort of nourishment they warned their patients against indulging in.
The waiter reappeared with a jug of water and a pair of glasses in a tray. Laura stared into space as the youth did his job and left them alone again. Jack opened his mouth to speak again, but before the tremor of his cords could produce a single wave of sound, Laura put her head down in her folded arms, and like that she remained until the food arrived.
She let him take a bite and only then did she grab a napkin and wrap it around a half of the massive burger to keep the juices from dripping down her sleeves. As she sunk her teeth in, Laura nudged the plate of fries to the middle of the round table. Jack glanced at her before picking a singular fry for himself.
For a little while, it was just two tired interns recovering the calories they’d burnt through the last 15 hours. Laura inhaled half of the burger within seconds, then slowed to a steady chew having regained the remainder of her consciousness and the twinkle in her eye.
“Thanks by the way.”
Jack swallowed a mouthful. “For what?”
“Suggesting this. I don’t think I would’ve made it home in this weather or an empty stomach.”
“You still planning on walking home?”
“I should be able to if the rain slows.”
“Hey, my offer still stands, I’m not of nefarious purpose and I’ll try wiping your address from my memory, but I can’t promise anything.”
“I appreciate it. Thanks.” She sipped water from her glass, “I didn’t mean to make it out that you're of the wrong sort when I said I didn’t want you knowing where I live.”
“You were being cautious. You have to be.”
“You don’t think 5 months of working the same shift is enough to get comfortable around each other?”
“Plus the 4 years of med school.”
“Those don’t count, we exchanged emails for a week to work on a psychology presentation, after which we never spoke to each other, until I bumped into you sometime in year three and apologised, then there was that time your last day of your cardiology rotation was my first day of the same.”
He answered her initial question. “It’s not necessary. I mean those emails were strictly business, then we just exchanged greetings, we didn’t exactly get to know each other. ”
Since the two of them were now somewhat satiated, conversation didn’t feel like a task. Jack didn’t feel the need to talk just because, and Laura looked less bilious. She asked Jack about Robby’s latest dilemmas, he’d befriended her almost instantly the day they’d met, but she knew he’d particularly bonded with Jack.
“He’s constantly trying to figure out where he stands, in the department and just generally in terms of what we all think of him.” Jack mused, twirling a fry in the air.
“That sounds like a nice way of saying he’s insecure.”
“I’m not saying he’s insecure, it’s just that- hold on, I’m not sure I’m supposed to say this.”
“That he’s an orphan and was raised by his grandmother?”
“Yeah, that. He’s just trying to find his people.”
After a beat, Laura fired the first personal question. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Your people. Where ya from?” She clocked his caught-off-guard expression, “Come on Abbot, I thought we’re breaking the ice here.”
“Only child. No family in the area, born and bred in the Pitt. You?”
“Native New Yorker, had an accent, mom shamed it out of me because I apparently sounded like a 5 year old working at a pizzeria that was actually a front for mob activities.”
Jack smiled. “That so?”
“Yep. Divorced parents, an emotionally constipated stepdad and a pair of elder twin brothers.”
“Youngest child. Must’ve been nice.”
There was a flash of something grim, Jack didn’t have time to define, move across Laura’s face but the micro expression was gone as fast as it had come. Laura scoffed and played it off instinctively.
“You can’t say much as an only child. Must’ve been lonely.”
“I made do.”
The ice had officially melted. The drawbridges hadn’t been lowered completely, but it was a start. Each still stood by their own castles, guarding their truths like their lives depended on it, because they did.