Chapter Text
Frank Langdon has been through some shit- much of it being of his own doing. Rehab. Nearly losing his job and his medical license. He thought he was through the worst of it. He thought that he’d weathered the storm- that he and Abby were on good footing. He was wrong.
It was an ordinary Thursday evening- he checked his phone as he got ready to leave The Pitt. A couple missed calls- a message from his Mom and a text from Abby. He opened the message and he stopped. Stared at it for several moments, re-read it more times than he should need to, to make sense of it.
‘You don’t have a home left to come back to.’ The last line. His chest ached. They were past this, they’d decided to not get a divorce and as he re-read the message he felt anger swell in his heart. She accused him of cheating- accused him of dragging her along with him when he said he was better. When he said he wouldn't hurt her again- when he said that he was going to be a better man for his family and for her. Who the hell could he possibly think she’d cheated on him with?
He did the ill advised thing and called her. He wouldn’t fight the divorce- he’d sign whatever was necessary. He’d put her and the kids through enough and if she was done- he wasn’t going to keep her from going. But he needed to know who she thought had come into his life that he’d risk it all for.
“Frank- I said I didn’t want to speak to you- I made it very clear–”
“Just tell me who, Abby. I…I’m not cheating- I wouldn’t put you and the kids through that–”
“Horseshit, Frank. You have all the documentation in your email account. I prefer that all correspondence from now on goes through our lawyers.”
A dial tone- she’d hung up on him. He didn’t blame her for that and he jumped over to his email. He pulled up the first document and his heart dropped through his stomach. Mel. It was a series of pictures of him and Mel talking in the staff parking lot. It had been a truly horrible day and he’d given her a hug to try to help her to settle, regulate. It had worked and, apparently, whoever Abby hired to follow him and had latched on to the two of them being together. But this felt excessive for one hug.
He opened each piece of evidence and forced himself to keep his temper. He knew he was not with Mel. He knew that all of this was innocent- two colleagues who were friends and depended on each other. Hell- he’d even told Abby of the one time he’d gone over to Mel’s to help her with a broken dishwasher. She’d dropped him off at Mel’s because one of their cars was in the shop and then Mel drove him back. He didn’t fucking understand this, but he knew what he needed to do and it hurt. If he was going to be able to build a case that her allegations weren’t true- he had to ice out Mel. And he was too much of a coward to tell her.
“Dr. Langdon!” Mel called as he brushed past her- eyes down- dead set on getting out of there. She saw him pause for half a moment but then barrelled on. She hugged her arms around herself as the pain settled. What had she done? She thought they were friends- it seemed like he wanted to be her friend and now he barely talked to her. Barely looked at her. Obviously- she’d done something. She couldn’t even try to apologize for it because he wouldn’t talk to her for more than a few seconds and that was only when cases required it.
She felt the familiar rejection- something she’d experienced more than her fair share of in her life. Someone she thought was a friend who suddenly wasn’t. Who suddenly pulled away and she was left trying to figure out what she might have done. Many times- when they told her- it was that she was annoying- annoying to the point that they just ignored her and hoped she’d go away. She thought that Langdon might be different- had hoped it even- obviously not. Obviously, she was annoying Mel to him as well.
“Don’t take it personally, Dr. King. He’s going through it with his wife- she kicked him out. He won’t really say much more about it, but I imagine the divorce proceedings are stressful,” Dana settled next to her and she squeezed her hands.
Divorce? She thought that everything was good with Langdon and Abby- it had been a couple of months ago when she’d met her. What had happened? From everything she’d seen of Langdon- he’d been doing good with his marriage and balancing being back at work. And why would that mean he’d shut her out so soundly? Maybe she’d never been his friend at all.
He settled at a station and started his charting. Or he should have been charting- instead he was staring at the back of Mel’s head. She was folding in on herself- pulling up walls with everyone in The Pitt and he knew he was the cause of it. Her limited support system in The Pitt was now non-existent and he knew that her sister was pushing for space to be independent. Mel had never felt more alone and he was partially to blame.
Robby had pulled him aside to ask what the fuck was going on and he’d broken. He’d showed him everything and told him that he didn’t expect him to believe him- but he’d never cheated on Abby. Mel was a friend, but any interaction he had with her could cause problems and he didn’t want for Abby to come after her. Robby had listened and said that if had been anyone- aside from Mel- he might believe it. He knew hands down that Mel didn’t have it in her to wreck a marriage.
And for Mel’s sake, as much as his own, he had to stay away for just a little while longer. He’d handed over all of his text records, call logs, financial statements- everything to prove that he wasn’t unfaithful. The judge had looked at the evidence on both sides and ruled there was not enough evidence of infidelity- he still wouldn’t fight the divorce. Abby would never feel confident in him again and he did not want his children to grow up in a household where their parents hated each other.
Abby had apologized. She’d said that she had just seen red with the things that Frank was willing to do for Mel that he’d never done for her. That sentence had hit hard- he didn’t see that he treated Mel like she was special. However, the more he got called out at work for not talking to her- the more he realized that he might not be the most objective when it came to her and how he felt about her. And now, now he needed to keep the allegations away for long enough for the divorce to go through. Which meant holding her at arm’s length. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
The first few weeks- she’d tried to interact with him, tried to start conversations even when he just ignored her. He’d seen the day that she realized he wasn’t going to talk to her about non-medical things anymore. He’d watched the sadness start to descend on her then. He knew he was an asshole for this- he was an absolute asshole for this. He also knew that if he had told her why that she would have gone to Abby and told her it wasn’t true. Abby wouldn’t have been able to hear it or believe it and the idea of Abby hurting Mel made him feel sick.
The day she stopped meeting his eyes- he almost broke. He almost told her everything that was happening and begged for her forgiveness. He knew Dana had told her about the divorce- told her to not take it personally. He’d not told her that Mel was part of the reason the divorce was happening- even though it was soundly Abby’s inability to trust him that was the most to blame.
When she started actively walking out of any room he entered- he’d gone to the locker room and screamed at the top of his lungs for a solid minute. It was the day before the judge threw out the infidelity claim and Abby finally took a look at everything herself. But the damage was done. He doubted that Mel King would ever trust him again. He certainly didn’t deserve her trust after he had done this- but he fucking craved it. He missed her. He truly missed her.
*************
The weeks’ passed- spring turned to summer. He signed the paperwork for his divorce in the heart of summer. And still he waited to explain to Mel. Still he kept distance. Until a chilly November evening he walked into work for his night shift with a weight off his shoulders. It was time. It was time to try to fix things with Mel. He fucking needed to try to salvage what he could with Mel. To explain to her what had happened and why he had iced her out and apologize for all of it. He didn’t expect that he’d ever have her trust again, but she deserved to know what had happened. And that it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with his fucking need to protect her. A need that he had only realized after he had been unable to do it anymore.
“Hey, Mel.”
She didn’t even acknowledge him as she dropped her lunch off in the fridge. It was the first time in months he’d tried to start a conversation with her- he didn’t expect her to respond. What he hated to see was that she hastily wiped at her eyes even as she continued away from him. Fuck. How was he ever going to explain all of this?
“Did you hear? Langdon’s divorce finally went through. I heard from Garcia- who heard from Santos that Robby confronted him about what was going on- why he’d suddenly started ignoring his favorite resident. And Langdon lost it because his wife had accused him of cheating- with Melancholia over there- which obviously he wasn’t. Have you seen her? And him? No way. Only good thing was that she stopped following him around like a lost puppy. Finally realized her place.”
Emery Walsh’s voice carried through the ER- it was a calm night- something that rarely happened. And to pass the hours- the gossip had started. Mel stayed out of it, like normal, but tonight was different. Tonight she heard her name and she tried to tune it out- but she’d already heard too much. Langdon’s wife thought they were having an affair? What the fuck?
She started to interject- to say that that was ridiculous but the words that came out of Emery’s mouth were just cruel. She felt eyes on her and her cheeks went hot- she needed to get out of here, get some space to clear her head. It wasn’t the first time she’d been treated this way and she knew that giving these sorts of women a reaction would only encourage more of the behavior.
“Shut your fucking mouth, Walsh. And pass on to Garcia the next time she wants to talk shit about my life- she can come straight to me to get the full story.” She’d never heard Langdon this mad, but she kept moving. She heard his voice drop to a whisper, but she didn’t try to catch it. Outside- in the cold- she needed something to properly numb her. That conversation had left her completely overwhelmed and it was only a handful of sentences. And a handful of sentences directly aimed at hurting her.
She stared out- looking for lights. A case would be welcome right now- anything would be welcome right now to pull her out of her mind. To give her something to focus on other than the pain she felt in her body.
“She’s a jealous bitch, Mel.” Parker Ellis settled next to her- they’d become friendly over the last couple of years. Partially from the malpractice case, but mostly because Ellis was one of the few people that would listen to her and not roll her eyes. They were definitely an odd pair when it came to friendship, but she appreciated it after Langdon had disappeared from her life. “Did you hear what Langdon said?”
“Yeah- he told her to shut her mouth.”
“There was that- and about you?”
“No- I…he said something about me?”
“Look- I know he’s been an ass. I know he just started ignoring you one day and that is a real shitty thing to do- but…maybe…maybe hear him out if he tries to talk to you now. I’m not saying forgive him for being a fucking asshole- but I just think there’s more to the story than you know. Maybe let him tell you.”