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Tonight was as normal and usual as a shift in the Pitt could be.
Sick toddlers screamed bloody murder in chairs, drunks slept wherever they could, and Shen was unperturbed by it all. Even when a gnarly trauma had rolled in, Shen had barely blinked. This was the usual, what he was trained to do.
What did make him pause was the text he got from Frank.
What’s your Dunkin order?
Lena caught how Shen paused and narrowed his eyes at his phone. “What’s up?” she asked, leaning forwards to try and sneak a peak at his phone. “Booty call?”
Shen smirked, shaking his head. He quickly typed out his usual iced coffee order. “Just Langdon.” He pocketed his phone and looked up at the board. “Has ortho been down to see the guy in central 9 yet?”
“Of course not. You know they take their sweet time.” Lena lifted her chin at Shen. “The better question is, why is Langdon texting you at 2am?”
A door from a nearby room swung open, letting out the sound of a wailing woman. “Shen!” Ellis called. “Could use some help here!”
Shen smiled at Lena as he started walking backwards to the room Ellis was calling from. “Wanted to know my coffee order.”
Twenty minutes and the usual amount of chaos later, Lena was on the phone with ortho again when the door from chairs opened, and in walked Frank Langdon. One hand held a fresh iced coffee and the other held a bloody towel to the back of his head.
“Langdon!” Lena hung up quickly on ortho- it wasn’t like they were helpful about when they would be down anyways -and rushed over to him. She tutted as she looked at him, his white shirt covered in blood.
He gave her a wry smile and shrugged. “Shoulda seen the other guy,” he joked.
Lena grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to the hub, shoving him down in the chair she had previously been sitting in. “What other guy?” she asked as she snapped on gloves, then pulled the towel away from the back of his head. There was a large gash, still bleeding. “That’s gonna need staples.”
“Hence the iced coffee.” Frank looked around the department, putting the drink down on the counter. “Where is Shen, anyways? I texted him when I pulled into the parking lot. I was hoping to avoid-”
“Avoid me seeing you?” Lena asked as she prodded the cut.
Frank winced in pain. “Not avoid you…I just didn’t want to worry you.”
“Well, you showing up covered in blood does worry me.” Lena guided his hand with the towel back to holding pressure against the cut. “Now what happened? Was there actually another guy?”
There was a clatter down the hall, and Frank looked over, pursing his lips. “Just a bit of blunt force trauma,” he said rather evasively.
The clatter turned out to be a toddler who had escaped his mother’s arms and was running down the hall, knocking over everything as he went. A new med student, one Frank had not met yet, was running after them, as was the parent of said toddler. Lena tapped Frank on the shoulder to capture his attention. “Blunt force trauma?” she repeated. “You’re not playing down a skull fracture, are you?”
“No skull fracture, scouts honour.” Frank looked away from Lena. He seemed somewhat embarrassed by the whole situation. “I…may have bashed my head against the post of the bed.”
“Ooh, I see.” Lena smirked at Frank. “It’s 2am, the kids are asleep, you have a headboard related injury…”
Red crept up Frank’s neck and settled on his cheeks. “Lena!” he protested. “I wasn’t- that’s not-”
Lena held up her hands. “Hey, I’m not judging. I’ve seen a lot of things in my time here. A lot of things.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he groaned.
“I’m not going there,” he said, voice pitched higher than normal. “And it wasn’t- this is not a sex thing.” His head jolted back in a tic and he groaned again. “It was that.”
“That?”
Frank’s neck ticced again. “That,” he said, “the neck tic. I was sitting up in bed, reading on my phone- an article Shen sent, by the way, so I blame him for all of this -and I ticced and bashed the back of my head off the post of the bed.”
Lena tutted again. “And why were you reading an article at 2am when you have a 7am shift?”
“I got sucked into an article hole,” he said with a sigh. “You know, when you look at one thing and it reminds you of another thing and then next thing you know, it’s been three hours and you didn’t even notice the time passing.”
“Ah, the ADHD strikes again.” As Lena said this, Shen came around the corner, chatting with Ellis. “Shen!” Lena waved the man over.
“Hey, Frank.” Shen looked at the coffee on the counter as he walked over towards the pair, Ellis heading back off towards other patients. “That coffee for me?”
“Disgustingly sweet, just how you like it.” Frank frowned as Shen picked up the drink and took a sip. “How don’t you have diabetes already?”
Shen shrugged. “Good genetics.” He looked over at Lena. “Any open rooms for us?”
“North 4 just finished getting turned over.”
Frank stood up, grimacing at the feeling of his bloody shirt shifting on his shoulders. “North 4 it is.”
“So,” Shen started as he set up the supplies for stapling Frank’s head. “You didn’t change shirts before coming in.”
Frank squinted, confused. “My head was bleeding everywhere,” he said. “You think I should have changed shirts? I mean sure, it’s not comfy…but I would have bleed on another shirt and had to get blood out of two shirts then.”
Since it was a superficial head wound, Shen was going to staple it together. It was faster and easier for everyone involved. “But you did stop to get me a coffee.”
“Well yeah. I wasn’t going to show up and demand quick treatment without some sort of bribe.”
“I’m just wondering what the people at Dunkin thought.” Shen was ready to start. “You ready?”
“One second.” Frank held up a hand as he twisted his head sideways, backwards, then sniffed. “Okay, go quick before I need to do that again.”
Three thunks of the stapler and three winces from Frank.
Shen dropped the stapler back onto the instrument tray. He opened up some antibiotic ointment and applied it to the now-closed wound with a sterile cotton applicator. “You know the drill. Careful when washing your hair, get them removed in 7-10 days.”
“Gonna be a bitch to sleep with the cut where it is.” Frank cracked his neck and looked backwards at Shen. “I went through the drive through at Dunkin and purposely kept the interior lights off. I think the lady working noticed though, because she was all cheery at first and definitely not after she looked at me.”
Shen smiled and shook his head as he cleaned up the medical supplies. “I hope she didn’t call the police on you.”
“Oh god I hope not.” Grabbing his jacket, Frank stood up and stretched. He glanced down at his watch and sighed. “Think my boss will let me come in a little late tomorrow? Uh, today?”
“Take a picture of the board with your name on it before you get officially discharged.”
“Ooh, crafty, I like it.” Frank grinned at Shen. “Pull at his heart strings, that is sure to work.”
Even though Shen and Frank rarely worked shifts together, Shen had gotten to know the younger, more excitable resident through various work events. He looked tired, but, Shen reasoned, it could be the hour. “I could write you a doctor’s note, let your boss know you need some time off.”
Frank snorted. “Robby would take one look at your note and think it was a joke.”
The pair headed out of North 4, back towards central where Lena was. She gave the pair a smile as they approached. “Got you a present,” she said to Frank.
He visibly perked up. “Ooh, is it a Redbull? Dana seems to make those come out of nowhere like magic.”
“A Redbull?” Shen looked over at Frank with a raised eyebrow, grabbing his iced coffee off the counter. “We were just talking about you needing more sleep before your shift in 4 hours.”
Lena shook her head. “Definitely not a Redbull, and even better.” She held up her phone. “Already got you switched with McKay so you’re doing midshift tomorrow. She was more than happy to take early so she can see her kid at his soccer game tomorrow.”
“Lena, you’re amazing.” Frank let his shoulder drop. “I don’t know how charge nurses do it. You’re like wizards at all things organizational and nursing.” He looked over at Shen. “Guess I won’t see you at handover then.”
“Hopefully you get some sleep before your kids wake up and jump on you.” Shen took a gulp of his mostly sugar iced coffee. “If you’re awake at breakfast time, make Abby something good, cause I know she’s the one doing the laundry and getting the blood out of your shirt.”
“And the pillow, the sheets, the quilt, the blankets, this towel…I think I got some on the bedroom rug too.” At least Frank had the decency to look somewhat remorseful. “I should stop by Dunkin on the way home and pick up some doughnuts for her and the kids to wake up to.”
“Good idea.” Shen gave him a pat on the shoulder. “But go to your locker and change your shirt first. Don’t need to scare the coffee lady again.”