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Frank could feel it. He could feel her avoiding him unless it was absolutely necessary.
And that drove him up a wall.
Did he spend at least three months of rehab being mad at Trinity?
Yes.
Did he also spend that time wondering how she somehow clocked him on her first day at the job when his other coworkers couldn’t-when Robby didn’t see it- and was also mad at her for that?
Most definitely.
But he got clean, he got his job back (a fucking miracle), and he’s calm now. Super calm.
Totally not mentally torturing himself over the fact that Robby hated him, he wasn’t sure if anyone else missed him in general (besides Mel), and…he felt like he was suddenly out of place. Everything was familiar, but not.
Between the Santos problem and the Robby problem…he would rather go with the first one.
But it was like Trinity developed spidey senses for when he was approaching, because suddenly she was headed the other way. If she had to talk to him for patient reasons, she managed to leave the second the purpose of the conversation was over.
Frank had to…trap her. Somehow.
He got his stroke of luck when he was passing by the staff lounge and, with a glance, found her with her back turned to the door, pouring herself coffee. Like he was suddenly superhuman, he sped in, slamming the door behind him, standing in front of it like a guard dog.
Trinity startled in surprise at the sound, whirling around, pausing when she saw it was him. She set the pot down, clearing her throat.
“Dr. Langdon. Can I help you?”
His eyes narrowed. “Santos. You aren’t allowed to leave until we get to talk.”
“I’m not sure what there is to talk about-”
“Just shut up and let me finish.”
The words came out harsher than he meant them to, but he didn’t take them back.
Trinity didn’t flinch. She just paused, then slowly folded her arms across her chest, leaning back against the counter. She didn’t look defensive, aggressive.
She was just waiting.
That almost pissed him off more.
“Look,” he said, voice lower now. “I was an asshole to you ten months ago. For reasons I don’t have to spell out for you.”
Her gaze sharpened slightly, but she didn’t interrupt.
“And…” He swallowed. The word felt heavy, foreign. “I’m sorry.”
The silence that followed was unbearable. Trinity studied him in a way that felt uncomfortably precise. Like she was dissecting the apology, testing it for sincerity, for cracks, for a performance.
Finally, she spoke.
“I figured it out because I had a friend of mine in college who went through a benzos addiction.”
Oh.
Oh.
Frank swallowed, running a hand through his brunette hair. “Uh-what happened?”
“He died because he cut me off and didn’t go to rehab,” she said flatly, before swallowing and briefly averting her gaze.
“Look. I-I never wanted to get you in trouble. Believe it or not.”
Frank didn’t know what to say to that.
“What the hell are you talking about? I mean, you literally went to Robby-”
“Because I was concerned about you. I was-I was concerned that you would eventually slip up and hurt someone,” Trinity snapped back, jaw tense.
“I honestly thought Robby was going to give you a slap on the wrist. I felt like it was my fault for the longest time.”
“It wasn’t,” he murmured, without realizing it at first.
Silence fell. Trinity raised an eyebrow.
“There is no way in hell you weren’t mad at me at first,” she scoffed, taking a sip from her mug.
“I was fucking furious. It took me a solid three months to not be,” he murmured. “But you reporting me to Robby allowed me to start over. My personal life is shit… but I should thank you.”
Trinity slowly nodded, smirking slightly.
“So what? Was I stop number 1,000 on the Frank Langdon apology tour?”
“You were spot number three, actually,” Frank muttered, eyes narrowing slightly as he peered at her.
“Uh-Louie. He was first. Then Mel.”
“Good choices. Mel seemed very happy.”
“Yeah. She was. And… I have a lot more…stops.”
Suddenly, he felt at ease, like… they were old friends.
“And when’s Dr. Robby coming up?”
His expression darkened. “When he can stand to look me in the eye.”
“Mhm. You know, I kinda missed having you around. This place was missing your snarkiness and assholery,” Trinity responded dryly, though smiling.
He just scoffed, but couldn’t help but smile back. “Yeah. Glad to be back.”
“Well, Dr. Langdon, if you can stop holding me hostage, I have a specific patient of mine to check on,” Santos drawled, finishing her coffee before approaching the door.
“Wait. This means we’re good?” Frank asked carefully, eyes analyzing.
She took a moment to reply, before shrugging.
“Sure, man. I honestly don’t hold grudges if someone did the work to fix themselves.”
Okay. Frank could work with that.
He slowly nodded, stepping aside, opening the door for her.
“Alright. See you around, Dr. Santos.”
“Right back at you.” She stepped out, before pausing, turning to face him.
“For the record, Dr. Robby is kind of terrible at judging if anyone is actually listening to him or not, but I heard him whisper about eight months ago that he missed you to Dana.”
And then she was gone, padding down the hall.
Leaving Frank to stare after her, with just one question in his head.
Robby missed him?