Work Text:
Mel sighed as she took a seat on the curb in the ambulance bay. Her deposition was over, but her anxiety certainly still clung to her, weighing her down until every small movement felt like pulling herself through pudding. She didn’t understand how Dr. Ellis could be so calm after her deposition—she said she was going to sleep. Mel didn’t think she would sleep again for at least three days, not until her body decided to put her to sleep against her brain’s will, and she didn’t think she would move out of bed for at least twenty-four hours. But until then, Mel’s anxiety would control her limbs and her heart, she was sure of it.
…And on top of her deposition giving her anxiety, there was Becca. Being treated by Dr. Langdon.
She had no doubt that Dr. Langdon would be excellent with Becca. He was patient, gentle, and he cared so much. There was no one else that Mel could imagine being happy to let take care of Becca. Still, her mind raced with everything that could possibly be wrong with her sister. Every option seemed worse than the rest, and Mel spiraled until her brain threw the worst options possible at her. She couldn’t lose Becca. Mel didn’t think she could go on without Becca.
“Hey, thought I’d find you out here,” came Dr. Langdon’s voice, and Mel jumped up to her feet.
“Hi,” she managed out, but the pressure behind her eyes wanted to pour down her face. Langdon watched her for a moment, concerned, his brows furrowed together and that look of his trained on her eyes. “H-How’s, um…”
“Becca’s doing fine,” he said slowly, and Mel sighed in relief. “It’s just a UTI, so she’s got some antibiotics, and I told her to make sure she’s drinking plenty of water.”
“She doesn’t really like just plain water,” Mel said sheepishly. Langdon snickered, and he nodded.
“Yeah, she mentioned that,” he said. “She’s gonna be okay, Mel.”
“Thank you,” Mel said. She wanted to reach out and hug him, but Mel didn’t know if that was okay. Under most circumstances, she didn’t even like touch that much. She avoided brushes and grabs as much as possible, which was difficult in the ER, and the most touch that she initiated was a high-five when she got excited. A hug was so much more, and it felt so much bigger, and normally Mel hated it… But that morning, bright and far-too-early, she nearly hugged Langdon. She settled for grabbing hold of his arm, but she wanted to hug him tightly… And here in the afternoon, she wanted to hug him again.
“You know…” Langdon started, and Mel watched him squirm for a moment. He even blushed, that little cute smile of his worming its way onto his face. “Becca mentioned something else,” he said, and all of Mel’s alarm bells went off.
“What?” she asked, standing up straighter and wringing her hands together. “What is it?”
“She said, uh…” Langdon gave a nervous little giggle, his smile stuck to his face. “Apparently you’ve said lots of nice things about me?”
…Well it was Mel’s turn to blush brightly. “Oh!” she squeaked out. “She said that, did she?”
Mel was not above fighting her sister. Did Becca seriously tattle about her crush to her crush?
“She did,” Langdon said. The nervousness seemed to melt away for a moment; he stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall. “So…what kind of things have you been telling her about me?” he asked.
“Ah—um, i-it’s noth-nothing, really, uh…” Mel wanted to crawl in a hole. She didn’t expect to do this, but he looked so shy and sweet, and that little piece of hair that always fell in his face hung right over his eye, and if Mel wanted, she was sure he would let her smooth it back into the rest—
She cleared her throat and gave a nervous little laugh. “Um…I’ve told her about what a good teacher you are, and how kind you were on my first day here…” she said. “And I told her about the Captain Scurvy joke…”
Langdon gasped, a mock betrayal on his face that made Mel laugh. “You told her our joke?” he asked, appalled.
“I was trying to tell her that you’re funny!” Mel insisted, giggling. “A-and I told her how you kept sending me on breaks…”
“Those were for your own good,” Langdon said, rolling his eyes.
“And I just…” Mel shrugged. There wasn’t much more she could say that wouldn’t be suspicious. “Told her how nice you were…” She couldn’t mention how she told Becca about how pretty his eyes were or how tall he was or how his smile made her belly fill with butterflies. She couldn’t mention how she told Becca about how she felt so excited whenever he came back during the MCI or how he helped her and how there was nothing more that she wanted than to get his number so that they could talk and become friends outside of work.
“Well, at least you didn’t tell her that I, like, pick my nose or have terrible dandruff,” Langdon said.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Mel fussed, and he snickered.
“It would explain why she was so surprised by my hair…” he said. “If she thought I had dandruff or something, then it’d be a surprise to come in and meet me—”
“I didn’t tell her about your hair…” Mel said, though that was a lie. She mentioned it a few times, especially that little piece in front of his eyes…
“Is it not nice enough to mention?” he asked, and Mel’s eyes grew wide as saucers.
“It’s nice!” she said, her cooling face immediately heating once more. She huffed, and she reached up to move the strands out of his eyes. “Your hair is very nice!”
She took a step back and only realized then what she did. “Uh—”
Langdon blushed so brightly as well, staring at the ground with a shy smile that melted Mel entirely. “Oh…” he managed out, giggling.
Mel wanted to explain. She wanted to apologize. She wanted to open her mouth and say anything, but she froze, and before she could utter a single sound, an ambulance pulled up.
“Uh—talk later—uh, fireworks?” Langdon said, stuttering as he made his way over to the ambulance.
“Yeah, fireworks…” Mel managed out.
“Becca said something about ice cream, too. There’s a little ice cream place not that far away, so maybe…?”
“That sounds good,” Mel said with a nod. The back of the ambulance opened up, and they had to put their plans aside.
“What do we got here?” Langdon asked. His little blush, his little smile, all of it faded away as he put on that strong, smart doctor mode. Mel nodded to herself as she listened about their barbecue-gone-wrong patient.
She couldn’t help but think about ice cream, though. She hoped that with some ice cream to focus on, Becca wouldn’t tattle about anything else.