Chapter Text
June 1st
6:55 P.M.
Dennis pulled on his shirt and tossed his soiled scrubs into a nearby hamper. He slung his backpack over his shoulder as he closed his locker.
He walked through the familiar maze of hallways that led him back into the emergency department. As he approached the heavy doorway, he pulled his PTMC ID from his pocket and tapped it lightly against the badge reader.
Dr. Dennis Whittaker, MD
As soon as he pulled open the door, the muffled noises from the hallway turned into the typical loud chaos of a Friday night in The Pitt.
Trinity Santos locked eyes with Dennis. She was still in her street clothes and was talking to Dr. Ellis.
Dennis loitered around the nurses station until she was done talking. After another minute or so, she smiled and thanked Dr. Ellis before walking over to him.
“Sneaking out early?”
“Five minutes isn’t that early,” Dennis emphasized. “And, anyways, you’re not even in your scrubs yet so guess who’s about to be five minutes late?”
Santos rolled her eyes and gently bumped his shoulder with hers. She looked up at the TV display with the list of admitted patients and the patients waiting to be seen.
“Looks like day shift has been slacking since I got volun-told to do nights,” she smiled at Dennis teasingly.
“Hey, at least you get to see more of Dr. Garcia now that she's on nights.”
Dennis has been living with Santos for many months now. He had to learn pretty quickly how to match his best friend’s energy. Also, he knew Santos has been harboring a crush on Dr. Yolanda Garcia since their first ever shift together.
“Shush,” Santos bumped Dennis again, only a little harder this time. Dennis laughed.
“Speaking of crushes, where’s your boyfriend?” Santos looked over her shoulder and naturally lowered her voice, “Are you going home with him tonight?”
“Yeah. I’ll be at his place until Monday.”
Robby and Dennis have been together for seven months now. It started when Robby found out that Dennis was blowing men at a truck stop after work every night to pay off his student loans. Robby was kind enough to offer Dennis a job helping him fix up his cottage. Once they were at Robby’s cottage, their relationship transformed into something Dennis still wasn’t quite sure how to name. He knew it was love… but it somehow felt more than that. Life with Robby is everything. Dennis knows it will always be him. He wants to marry Robby someday if Robby wants that. Based on their recent conversations about the future after Dennis’s graduation, Dennis was confident Robby wanted him forever too.
After getting together, they both agreed that they were not going to tell anyone about their relationship until after Dennis graduated. They have surprisingly done a very good job at keeping it a secret so far. It was very common for gossip to spread like wildfire around the emergency department. He and Robby have been incredibly careful. Dennis appreciated just how serious Robby has been about protecting Dennis’s ability to become a doctor.
Santos, Abbot, and Dana were the only people that knew.
Santos and Abbot knew right away because Dennis and Robby told them after their first weekend together at Robby’s cottage.
Dana found out about a week later when Robby pulled her into the behavioral health room.
”Are you out of your damn mind?” Dana asked Robby with a tone that oozed with disappointment over the doctor’s life choices.
“I know what you’re going to say but I swear this is different,” Robby pleaded with her. “He means the world to me, Dana.”
Dana studied Robby for almost a minute before letting her hands rest on her hips as she sighed deeply.
“Don’t hurt him,” she said. Dana had a tendency to stare into your soul if you let her.
“Never,” Robby replied with every ounce of conviction he had. He felt the familiar sting of tears in his eyes.
Dana seemed to soften as she continued to stare. “He needs to graduate before this gets out of hand.”
“I know,” Robby agreed, “That’s why I’m asking for your help.”
Since then, Dana has helped them tremendously. There hasn’t been any gossip since they got together and they thank the nurse for her efforts. Dana was great about letting them work on some cases together, but she mostly strategically separated them enough when she could so that there was less risk of them slipping up and letting rumors start.
Dana is a godsend.
Dennis thought back to the first day he worked with Dana after hers and Robby’s conversation. When asking Dana what room he needed to check on next, Dana steered him towards Room 2 with a hand on his shoulder.
Once they got to the doorway, she lightly squeezed him and whispered, “I can see how much he loves you. I’ll always think you’re too good for him, but I see the way you look at him too. I’m here if you ever need anything.” Dana winked with a smirk before turning and walking away.
Dennis smiled at the memory.
Dr. Jack Abbot appeared behind Santos and Dennis with a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Looks like we are going to be popular tonight,” he said to the two of them.
Santos turned to Abbot and gestured at Dennis. “This one here worked the day shift and gets to go home.”
“Lucky you,” Abbot said to Dennis. There was a subtle double meaning under his words that only Denis could understand. Lucky for you, you get to go home with your boyfriend.
Dennis smiled at that, “Lucky me.” He turned his head and scanned the emergency room.
“Where’s Robby?”
Abbot pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “I just saw him arguing with Gloria near triage. Typical.”
“She’s been on his ass about ‘positive patient reviews’ again,” Dennis rolled his eyes. Robby was a damn good doctor even if their chief medical officer was skeptical.
Abbot shook his head, irritated. “You’d think she’d remember what it was like working down here.”
Just then, Robby charged through the triage doors looking annoyed. When he saw Dennis, Santos, and Abbot standing together, his expression lightened.
“You two better hurry and get into your scrubs. Gloria is in rare form tonight,” Robby said as he approached.
“Aye aye, Captain!” Santos saluted sarcastically and grinned at Dennis as she walked away.
Abbot stayed a bit longer.
“I can see the look on your face,” Abbot said to Robby, “Gloria asked you to stay late, didn’t she?”
Robby nodded and looked apologetically at Dennis.
“She wants me to teach some interns how to intubate a patient,” Robby said, “I might have to be here at least another hour.”
Robby continued, “They’re not even doctors. They’re interns from the billing department. Something about watching an intubation ‘will help them better understand what they are billing to the insurance.’ It’s bullshit.”
“That’s okay,” Dennis was disappointed but understood. “I can walk back to our place and pick up some take-out on the way home.”
Robby’s heart fluttered as he caught Dennis calling his apartment “our” place.
Abbot noticed too and stared at Robby. Chill with the heart eyes, old man... his eyes said.
Robby glared back at Abbot before looking at Dennis.
“That sounds perfect,” Robby said to the young doctor.
Dennis waved goodbye to them as he pulled his backpack straps tighter to him with his hands. He turned and made his way to the fire exit stairwell near triage.
Dennis waited for Robby there so they could properly kiss goodbye. It was a system they had for times when one of them had to stay later.
As Robby watched Dennis walk away, Abbot stood in front of him with his arms crossed.
“What?” Robby could feel the lecture coming.
“You’ve been slipping up more and more since he graduated,” Abbot observed.
Robby nodded in response but kept his head down.
“Technically, we agreed to this until graduation. It’s been over a month now. I feel like it’s time we can start being more obvious. Don’t you think?”
Abbot sighed at his best friend. “I don’t know, man. I want that for you both. I’m just worried that the wrong person will find out and report both of you to the licensing board.”
“Who do you think will? Everyone on both of our shifts won’t care. Most will be happy for us, I hope.”
Abbot thought about it. “I don’t think it will be any of us. You know there’s dozens of doctors from upstairs that come down here for consults. We don’t know everyone. Some asshole could catch wind about you two and decide they don’t like either of you and report it.”
“You’re right,” Robby said and he hated it. He was tired of keeping secrets and he knew Dennis was too. “It’s just hard…”
Abbot leaned forward until Robby finally looked up. When Robby made eye contact with Abbot, his best friend smiled at him.
“Just give it a little bit longer, at least. Maybe we can think of a plan in the meantime.”
“Thanks, Jack,” Robby said and he meant it. He was always looking out for Robby and it meant the world to him.
Abbot straightened when he heard Gloria talking to someone nearby.
“That’s my cue to hit the lockers. I’m sure I’m late.” Abbot said. He patted Robby’s shoulder as he walked past him and headed towards the break area.
Robby beelined his way to the stairwell where he knew Dennis would be waiting. Luckily Gloria didn’t stop him again.
As soon as he walked through the heavy door to the cement stairwell, he felt a hand grab him and pull him in.
Robby laughed as Dennis pulled Robby close to him until Dennis’s back was against the wall.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Robby said quietly. He knew Dennis must have already checked to make sure no one was upstairs.
“That’s okay. Long day. Just wanted to kiss you before I go,” Dennis said, sounding needy and wanton.
It’s moments like these that really impress Robby about how hard he and Dennis work to keep their hands off each other all day.
It wasn’t like Robby thought they were going to openly make out in the emergency department once everyone knew about them, but it would be nice to at least be able to at act like they care about each other when working.
“Good, I wanted to kiss you too,” Robby said. He held Dennis’s cheek with his hand before leaning in and placing a slow, chaste kiss on Dennis’s mouth.
Dennis deepened their kiss and hummed with satisfaction.
Robby felt arousal stir low in his belly at the feeling of Dennis flush against him.
“I’ll be home soon,” Robby said as he pulled away. His mouth was still very close to Dennis’s. “Where are you getting take-out?”
“I was thinking about the Mexican place you took me to last week. Los Mejores.”
“Ooh, sounds good. I’ll text you my order when I get a chance.” Robby was looking forward to a quiet evening with Dennis.
“Chicken Flautas with rice. Side of chips and salsa,” Dennis said. He kissed Robby’s nose and cheek playfully.
Robby smiled warmly, “Good memory. I’m thinking this training thing should only take an hour tops.”
“You better be getting overtime,” Dennis’s eyebrows bunched up with frustration, “They can’t keep taking advantage of you like this.”
Robby shook his head lovingly at the younger doctor. Dennis cared so much about him. Since they started dating, he has been very adamant about Robby setting more boundaries with PTMC. Slowly but surely, Robby was learning but clearly still struggled at times. Like right now.
“I told Gloria I better see the extra pay on my next check,” Robby said. He wanted Dennis to be proud of him for advocating for himself.
Dennis looked excited about it. “Good!”
Robby wrapped his arms around the younger doctor.
“I love you.”
Dennis squeezed Robby’s back and inhaled deeply against his chest.
“I love you too,” Dennis said, his voice muffled in Robby’s shirt.
“I’ll see you soon. Be careful,” Robby said.
Dennis waved as he moved around Robby and opened the stairwell door.
Robby gave him a minute head start before he opened the door and made his way back into the emergency department.
7:20 P.M.
Robby kept getting stopped by people on his way to the teaching room to meet with the interns.
One of the people he ran into was Santos.
He was checking on his comatose patient in Room 4 when Santos stepped in casually.
“Heard you got roped into more teaching tonight,” Santos said as she let the door close softly behind her.
“You heard right,” Robby said as he signed off on his note and clicked the “x” in the corner of the computer screen.
When Robby turned to look at her, Santos was looking at him expectantly.
“Stealing my bestie from me again this weekend, I see.”
Robby smiled apologetically, “Guilty as charged.”
“You know, at this point, he might as well move in with you. My spare room is basically his storage unit nowadays.”
Robby’s smile faded. “I’m sorry–”
“Don’t be,” Santos laughed, “I’m just fucking with you a little. I do miss my huckleberry, but I can see how happy you make him. I’m surprised you haven’t asked him to move in yet.”
“It’s been on my mind, trust me,” Robby said, “It would be extra hard to keep things under wraps if we were walking in together every shift.”
Santos nodded in agreement, “True. Well, hopefully that can change soon. For both of your sakes.”
Robby looked at his comatose patient.
“Is she yours now?”
“Yes. No need to give me the rundown. Javadi told me everything at shift change. I’ll look over your notes too, of course.”
Robby nodded. He smiled back at her as he went to leave the room.
“Thanks again, Trin,” he said.
They have been on a first name basis for a few months now. Robby eventually started calling his doctors by their first names once they got comfortable with each other. It was also a mutual respect thing in his mind. Usually calling someone by their title was considered respect. To him, first names were reserved for the people he called friends, which at this point, was most of his staff.
Robby called her Trinity for the first time when she and Dennis invited Robby over for a movie night.
Of course, Robby felt old as shit as these two doctors in their twenties threw popcorn at each other while forcing Robby to watch the Twilight series. Robby acted like he had a tough shell on the outside most days, but boy did those two know how to break him down to his core self.
By the end of the movie night, Robby was throwing popcorn at Trinity and laughing along with them.
Robby felt something in his chest loosen at the memory.
7:30 P.M.
“Okay, so... I’ve been told you are all here staying late tonight because you want to shadow an intubation. First, I’ll give you a tour of the department. After that, we can come back here and I can show you how it works with this dummy right here.”
Robby gave the pale, squishy dummy a firm slap. The group of interns looked slightly disappointed. Gloria asked him earlier to have the interns shadow him as he did a real intubation. Robby refused. Most intubations on a Friday night in the emergency department were done out of urgency… not some scheduled surgery. If she wants the interns to see an actual intubation, they can wait until Monday and do it with whoever the Attending is.
Robby turned and led the way to the emergency department. The triage nurses giggled to each other as they watched Robby walk by with a gaggle of 20 year olds following him.
“This is the nurses station,” Robby said as he gestured to the large square counters that surrounded a group of desks.
He looked and saw Dana sitting at her desk. He paused his tour and leaned over the counter.
“You better not be working a double,” he said with concern clear in his voice.
Dana looked up at him and with a teasing glare, “Leave me alone, Professor.” Her eyes pointed to the group of interns behind him.
She looked back at Robby who was still waiting for her to explain herself. “I’m working a 16 because I’m going on vacation next week.”
“Take me with you next time,” Robby was glad she was finally able to get out of town. She’d been daydreaming about tropical islands all spring.
“In your dreams,” Dana winked and turned back to her work on the computer screen.
Robby faced the group again.
“Anyways… Nurses are the most important part of this emergency department. They are actual angels–”
Robby heard “Ya damn right we are” behind him from one of the older nurses. He grinned.
“The screen above me is our current list of patients. They–”
Robby was cut off again, only this time by Dr. Shen shouting near the ambulance entrance.
“Where’s Dr. Robby?!”
That didn’t sound good.
Robby put his hand up to the interns to signal he will be right back. They stared at him blankly. Dana stood up from her chair to hear what was happening.
As Robby approached, he tried to comprehend why Shen was so panicked.
Shen grabbed a nearby CNA and said “Find Dr. Abbot and Dr. Garcia too.”
When he turned to look at Robby, his face looked stricken.
“It’s Dennis.”
Robby shook his head. “He was just here not long ago.” He didn’t understand.
“The EMS guy, Scott, recognized him... Dr. Robby, Dennis got hit by a drunk driver. EMS said they are en route. We've got three minutes.”
Robby shook his head again. Why would Shen say that? The man wasn’t making any sense. Dennis was just here. He was probably at Los Mejores waiting for their take out still.
7:35 P.M.
Shen recognized the way Robby stared at him. Shen had seen that look on patient’s family members before. It was denial and shock interwoven as one.
Before he could say anything else to Robby, Abbot and Garcia appeared.
“What’s going on?” Garcia looked at him and Robby.
“Dennis is en route via EMS. He was hit by a drunk driver according to Scott. The police have the driver cuffed and are bringing him in to be evaluated too. We also have an elderly woman with a lac to her shoulder that must have been hit as well.”
“Shit. Garcia, ask Dana if Trauma One is open,” Dr. Abbot said. He turned to Shen, “Go with her and prep the room with everything. Grab whoever else you can.”
Shen nodded and quickly followed behind Garcia. Similar to the night of Pittfest, Abbot always knew how to handle high stress situations.
Normally, Robby could too… Shen hoped he was okay.
7:37 P.M.
“Robby, I need you to listen to me,” Abbot said as he grabbed and pinched the pressure points on Robby’s shoulders.
It seemed to snap him out of it a little bit but Robby’s eyes still looked far away. “What?”
“Get it together, Robby,” Abbot said sternly. Robby wasn’t used to him being so serious towards him like this.
“Dennis needs you!”
That seemed to be enough to do it.
Robby blinked and nodded his head. “Okay. Okay, yeah,” Robby looked around the room. Nurses and doctors started standing around the nurses station, all of them worried.
Robby turned to them.
“We’ve got at least three people coming in,” he said to the group of some familiar faces and some newer ones. Most of his team had gone home. The interns were still standing around.
“One will be escorted by police. Another will be a woman with a lac. One is…” Robby’s voice cracked, “Dr. Dennis Whittaker. He and the woman were hit by a drunk driver.”
It felt like the air was sucked out of the room.
Santos charged through the doorway from the stairwell. She must have been upstairs doing a consultation. By the look of devastation on her face, Robby presumed someone already told her.
He shook his head at her in mutual disbelief. This isn't happening, right?
Robby was at a loss for words. Abbot noticed and stepped in, “Dr. Ellis, pick your team. You’ll be with the driver in Room 6. Dr. Shen, you’ll be with the woman in room 7. Pick your team and hurry. I’ll be assisting Dr. Robby with Dennis.”
Abbot looked at Santos.
“Don’t you dare tell me that I should sit this out,” she practically hissed at him.
Abbot shook his head. He couldn’t stop her from being there for Dennis even if he tried. Same with Robby.
“Get a chest tube just in case,” Abbot said, “EMS didn’t give us Dennis’s status.”
She nodded curtly and ran to the medical equipment room.
The emergency department was so quiet that Robby could hear the ambulance sirens approaching from inside. It buzzed in his head with a sick, twisted rhythm.
Abbot grabbed Robby and pulled him towards the doorway. A nurse handed Abbot and Robby the familiar white, scratchy surgery gowns reserved for seriously injured patients.
They put them on silently as Robby heard the ambulance get louder on approach.
Before the ambulance could even come to a stop, The two men sprinted out of the automatic doors and into the ambulance bay.