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Jack is all about building team camaraderie and giving their students a sense of family when they may be miles and miles away from home. He often hosts movie nights, game nights, and dinners for both the day and night shifts. Movie nights are his favorite, they give him the chance to show the younger doctors that they can have a life outside of the ER and that not everyday is going to be straight out of a war zone. Plus, there is no guilt in eating junk food. Today, they will be watching Jurassic Park and eating pizza. The living room is crowded with bodies and bowls holding various different snacks. The table is covered in pizza boxes and desserts that the ‘kids’ brought. The pittlings are sprawled out on blankets on the floor and the couches. Jack dims the lights before sitting down on the couch, taking his leg off, so he can get comfortable. As the opening notes of Jurassic Park play through the speakers, Jack is beaming. “Classic” he whispers as he pops a piece of popcorn into his mouth. “Kids, this is a perfect film. No notes”
Robby is sitting beside him with a beer balanced on his knee. He’s humming noncommittally. He enjoys movie nights, but he just came off an 18 hour shift and isn’t feeling up to listening to his students make jokes about his age. He had learned the hard way that he should keep the fact that he saw this movie twice in theaters to himself.
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Mel’s eyes light up when the first dinosaur comes on the screen. “Oh my god.” She turns over her shoulder from where she is sitting on the floor to look at the ER Dads. “Dr. Robby, did you see this movie when it first came out?” It’s a harmless question, Robby knows she doesn’t mean anything by it. She’s just curious, but the rest of the group will feed off of this question.
Robby sighs, knowing exactly how the rest of the night is going to go. “Yes” the dam has been opened.
“Wow” Javadi says with awe.
“What was it like? You know seeing dinosaurs for the first time?” Santos says taking a sip of her water.
Robby shots her a look. “They weren’t real”
Samira snorts and Whitaker leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “Okay, but were movies in black and white then”
Robby opens his mouth before closing it quickly. He is going to choose patience in this moment. “The movie came out in 1993”
Santos perks up. “So, during the Great Depression? I’ve always wondered what the Great Depression was like, can you tell me about it?”
“That was the 1930s Santos” Robby says deadpan.
Jack, who Robby is finding to be a traitor at the moment, grins at him. “Time is relative, babe”
Robby slowly turns to look at him. “Don’t” he bites out
Jack laughs as he slides an arm around Robby’s shoulder. “I’m just saying, you did use a stone tablet as your first prescription pad”
The groups chuckles at Jack’s joke.
A velociraptor runs across the screen and Javadi, who has really become her own person since yelling at her mom during the MCI, doesn’t look over at Robby, just talks out loud. “Dr. Robby did you ever ride one those?”
“Uphill” Mel adds. “Both ways”
“In the snow” Samira says without turning to look at Robby.
Robby takes a long sip of his beer.
A T-rex flashes across the screen and all the younger doctors lose it. What’s so funny about a T-rex? Whitaker turns to Robby. “Hey, Dr. Robby. What was it like to live alongside them? Like was that your neighbor?
“That’s it.” Robby mutters “ Are you guys even watching the movie?” He asks the group, to which no one responds. Of course, they often do not answer the questions he asks while at work, so why would it be different here.
Jack starts to shake as he tries to contain his laughter. “Be nice you guys” He says, even though he isn’t helping the situation at all. “He remembers a time before CGI. Before streaming. Before…”
“Jack” Robby warns
“…before Wi-Fi” Jack finishes, giving Robby a smile.
The group erupts in laughter. Robby stares straight ahead at the screen, jaw tense. He is trying to remind himself that he likes these people and they are good doctors. This is suppose to be fun and Jack is allowed to occasionally be insufferable.
Santos leans back against the couch. “So what was it like growing up with the dinosaurs? Like were they friendly?”
Robby finally snaps. “I am kind enough to open my home to you, children and this is how you are going to treat me?” Robby takes a deep breath. “Also, I am only 52”
Jack jumps in before any of the pittlings can. “Actually, I’m kind enough to open our home up to them. You would rather not engage with the people we work with.” This earns him an eye roll from Robby.
Santos blinks, trying to gauge if she should keep pushing her boss’s buttons. She decides yes. “Oh. Wow. You look great for your age”
“That’s not the compliment you think it is”
Jack squeezes Robby’s shoulder affectionately. “See? Timeless” He says pressing a kiss to Robby’s cheek
Robby glares at him. “You’re sleeping on the couch tonight”
Jack smiles back at him and shrugs. “Worth it”
Robby wasn’t even able to focus on the chaos unfolding on the screen in the form of overturned jeeps, echoing screams, and dinosaurs running everywhere ripping people to shreds. His attention is divided between his husband’s smug expression and the endless stream of increasingly ridiculous questions being thrown his way.
“Did you have a pet raptor?”
“Were fossils, just like…..fresh bones?”
“Did you invent medicine?”
“Okay, that one is offensive” Robby says sharply. “Also, you are all doctors and should know who invented medicine”
The room quiets for a second, allowing for the movie to be heard without voices overlapping it. Jack senses the shift. “Alright, Alright” he says holding his hands up. “Let’s ease up a little. We wouldn’t want Robby going full T-rex on us”
Robby stands quickly. His sudden movement startles everyone. He stops after a few steps. “I’m getting another beer” He says tightly. “And when I come back, if anyone asks me about rotary phones, horse-drawn buggies, or if I had a personal relationship with John Hammond, movie night is over.”
There is a beat of silence before Javadi whispers to Whitaker. “Who is John Hammond?”
Robby points at the screen without turning around. “Exactly. None of you are actually watching the movie”
Robby disappeared into the kitchen, muttering under his breath about respect and how he should be asleep and how he can’t even have peace in his own home.
Jack watches him go, sensing that the group’s amusement is fading due to Robby’s mood, he turns to the group and claps his hands together lightly. “So....fun fact, Robby actually did see this in theaters” He says with a smile
The groans are immediate and loud enough that Robby hears them in the kitchen”
“JACK” Robby yells back. Jack laughs loud and unapologetic. This is what movie night is all about, having a good time and building a team environment.