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It's been a month and a half since the PittFest shooting. Yolanda flinches every time she remembers that day. The carnage has sunk into her bones. They may have only lost six people on the day in the ED, but they lost another ten in ORs, including some under her own knife. It hurts every time she loses a patient.
All of that sucks, plus the way Langdon vanished under mysterious circumstances when the handsome new intern claimed he was stealing drugs. She couldn't believe that he was stealing drugs. Langdon was an asshole but he would never do that. And she misses him. No one else is quite as quick or fun to play with downstairs in the ED.
Really though, the worst part of that whole day was what happened with Santos. She'd had such a great vibe with the new intern, and then the intern's accusation against Langdon and Yolanda's response wrecked it. She does feel bad about her response. She should have at least heard her out so she could have reassured her properly that Langdon was doing no such thing. But now, Santos won't meet her eye. It's almost like she'd shrunk into herself.
Yolanda can admit to herself that despite all of that, she still wants Santos. Badly. It should probably concern her that she is sadder about that then about the horror of PittFest. But PittFest feels far away. Santos is right there. Still looking wildly attractive, and every once in a while she can see the spark of the girl who came in and caught her eye that first day. But Santos since is spooked by her presence, she's never going to say yes to Yolanda now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's been a long day. Yolanda is exhausted, but she's down in the ED for yet another surgical consult. It really is a wonder that they got along before she'd arrived— the other surgeons hate coming down for consults. It does give her an opportunity to see Santos, though. And while she doesn't respond, Yolanda still tries to offer some special opportunities to Santos. She accepts them, but there's no flirting back, not like there was on the first day.
Santos is in the trauma room, responding quickly to Robby's questions. Her fingers are nimble and quick as she obeys the instructions she's being given. Idly, Yolanda wonders what else her fingers can do. As soon as she notices she thought, she redirects her attention to the situation at hand, even though it's hard. She can just feel in her gut that Dr. Santos would be very skilled and she wants to confirm that.
Yolanda is able to focus well enough to determine that the angry patient isn't going to need surgery. She's ready to head back upstairs when she feels a sharp point enter her arm. She goes absolutely still, heart thrumming in her throat. Jesse pulls the needle out immediately, but she knows the damage is done.
"Santos!" barks Robby. "Get Dr. Garcia checked out, yeah?"
Wordlessly, Santos guides her out of the trauma room into the room Dana points out. Yolanda takes an internal check of her body and doesn't find anything out of the norm. Breathing, walking, arm use, all fine. A good sign.
"What happened?" Yolanda asks.
Santos looks up from where she's examining the puncture wound. "The patient ripped out the needle Jesse had inserted so we could take blood for labs and flung it. It happened to stick into you." She lets out a breath. "It looks okay, but I'll draw labs so we can check for any issues and we'll check his bloodwork too to make sure there's nothing concerning." Santos pulls out a needle and inserts it to take Yolanda's blood.
"I'm pretty unlucky around you and sharp objects," Yolanda quips now that her worst fears have been alleviated. Santos grimaces and opens her mouth, presumably to apologize before Yolanda cuts her off. "You never did make it up to me with that cocktail."
Santos' head snaps up and she stares at Yolanda. "You were serious about that? Even after—" her voice trails off.
Yolanda nods. "Sure was. When are you free, Santos?"
Santos wets her lips before responding. She glances down and takes a minute to collect herself and finish drawing the blood. When she's finished putting the bandage on, she finally speaks. "Uh, sure. Tonight?" She chews her lip.
Yolanda sits up and gently cradles Santos' cheek. "Tonight. Hope you brought something cute to change into."