Work Text:
After a grueling few hours, Dennis finally had a second to eat and catch up on his studies. With a deep sigh, he finally sank into a chair in the break room, picking up a sandwich as he sat. He took a bite as he looked over his notes, trying to focus on the words.
As he reviewed his notes, he didn’t notice as the door was pushed open and Dr. Robby walked in, “Really good work today, Doctor.”
Whitaker looked up at him, holding the new badge that declared him a doctor. With a slight hum, he accepted the badge. “Oh wow. You know you can call me Whitiker,” he stated, slightly perturbed at being called Doctor by someone he admired.
Robby retorted with a “Not a chance, you earned it.” Dennis felt his cheeks flush with pride at the compliment. Robby’s “I'm proud of you, we all are” sent him soaring.
He let out a breathless thanks and beamed up at the physician. “Busy day,” Robby stated. Dennis replied with an affirmation. “So, you’re a very empathetic soul,” He started.
“Yeah, I'd like to think--” Dennis was cut off with an emphatic “I'm not finished yet.” Robby's face twisted into a stern expression, harsh and sharp. “And you want to be there for all your patients”.
Dennis glanced down before meeting His eyes with a strong “Don’t you?”
Robby let out a sharp shush. Shutting down Whitaker’s sudden confidence. Letting out a meek sorry, he shrank into himself.
“So, this relationship that you're having with this woman ...um, the widow of the burn victim who died last year,” Robby harshly continued. Dennis interjects with, “Amy. Did Santos tell you?”
Robby quelled him with a look, “I understand you’re helping her out,” and Whitaker cut in with “Yeah, on the farm. I grew up on one, and Amy's-- Mrs. Miller is getting pressure to sell, so I'm just helping out.” He quickly tried to justify his growing kinship with Amy.
“What about her friends and family?” Robby continued with words coming out quicker with a hard edge to them.
Dennis didn’t know how to justify his growing involvement, so he responded with the truth that they were around and supporting her, but she was mostly relying on him.
“I'm sure she's really grateful for everything that you do, but it's important to have boundaries,” he asserted, driving the point home with his gruff tone.
Dennis replayed the word boundaries, something that was almost nonexistent between them, and now Robby was reprimanding him about his relationships outside of work. A spark of irritation ignited in his chest.
Suddenly Robby's whole expression changed, body relaxing and tone lightning. He looked like he was struck with an epiphany as he softly uttered: “Hey, you want to do me a favor?”
With those words, the spark of indignation was snuffed out, and a curious, “yeah,” was softly spoken.
“You want to house-sit for me while I'm gone? You'd actually be helping me out, and you could save some money on rent.” Robby’s easy reply came.
Denis was in disbelief, unable to believe that Robby had really offered him access to his home. “Are you being serious?” A disbelieving chuckle escaped.
“No smoking, no parties, no pets, no babies, yours or anybody else's.” He continued, and Dennis declared he had no baby. Robby's, “No, but she does,” snapped into the air.
Robby carried on with “I was going to ask Abbot, but he does nude yoga at sunrise, and I don't think some of my elderly neighbors would survive seeing that.” The statement startled Dennis, his mind briefly drifting to how Dr. Abott would look doing it.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he quickly responded to Dr. Robby’s offer with a “Yeah. Yeah, t-that would be amazing-- the house-sitting, not seeing Abbot's naked yoga.” His words came out with a stutter mind still stick on Dr. Abbot's habit of naked yoga.
Then Dr. Robby's final quip made his stomach sink, “If I don't come back, you've got a swinging bachelor pad.”
His thoughts ground to a halt. White noise buzzing in his ear, the last sentence played on repeat in his head. “If I don’t come back” is a normal sentence. One that anybody else could utter, and it would not faze him. But here was Dr. Robby, a man he had seen at his lowest, joking about his death like it was a predetermined event.
Alarm bells rang in his ear, goosebumps erupting on his body. Those words did not sound like a joke but a premonition of what was to come.
He didn’t even truly hear the rest of Robby's words, “Come find me before you leave. I'll give you my keys and the security code.” His mind running a mile a minute.
He sat there half finish sandwich in hand appetite completely gone, and those words stuck in a loop in his head. With his mind on autopilot, he quickly made his way out of the room and tried to occupy his mind with work.
Case after case passed through his hand, work efficient but absent-minded. His mind kept drifting back to Robby. He tried to console himself that he was catastrophizing things and Robby's inopportune joke was just that a joke, but he could not shake the feeling that Robby was settling his affairs.
He could see the concerned looks Dana was sending him, trying to catch his eye. He zipped from room to room, trying to keep his mind and hands busy with work.
With every new thought about Robby, he kept getting worked up. The thought of Robby leaving on his motorcycle and leaving his empty house did not sit well.
He tried to placate himself, saying that Abbott or Dana would understand Robby better, and he had no reason to be worried. But the thought would not leave his head.
With every new spiraling thought, he kept on getting angrier about the situation, unable to control it, and all he could think about was Robby riding away on his stupid motorcycle.
The same motorcycle that would take Robby away from them, the one that would take him away from Pittsburgh or take his life, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Except maybe that would be what saved him. If Robby didn't have his motorcycle anymore, he wouldn't be able to leave. And he would have to stay and be safe.
He looked across the pit, staring at the emergency exit that led to Robby's motorcycle. With every growing minute, the thought seemed to stick in his mind.
If the motorcycle didn't work. Robby would stay, and he would have to find another way to leave. At least this way, he wouldn't be a smear on the pavement. At least he would be safe.
The thought of destroying the motorcycle terrified him. He could get fired for this, or he could save a life. He slowly inched towards the emergency exit, looking at it as if it were his saving grace.
He was stopped by Dana, who watched him gaze longingly at the emergency exit. She misunderstood his thoughts. “Hun, if you gotta go take a cigarette break, just take it. No need to worry.” She tried to reassure him.
It seemed like the universe itself was telling him to go through with the idea. With his sad eyes, he glanced up at Dana, begging a cigarette and a lighter from her. He made a quick detour towards maintenance and made his way outside to Robby's motorcycle.
Standing in front of the death trap, he glared at it. This was the root of all of it. He set the small toolbox to the side and lit his cigarette.
With a trembling hand, he opened a toolbox and got ready to work. With a large inhale of the cigarette, the smoke filled his lungs as he tried to drown out his beating heart and blood rushing through his ears.
He first took off the wheels and started to disassemble the body of the motorcycle. The work was nostalgic in a way, as he always worked on the vehicles at his family's farm.
First, he removed the outer shell, then started to disassemble the parts in the middle, taking apart the engine and leaving it to the side. He worked mechanically, shoulders drooping and relaxing as each screw came undone.
He worked fast and efficiently, taking apart the motorcycle in a matter of minutes. When he was satisfied and assured that Robby would not be able to put the bike back together, he set the tools to the side.
He looked down at the disassembled bike that lay at his feet and grabbed all the parts and rearranged them into a mockery of what the bike once was.
With a final drag from his cigarette, he snuffed it out underneath his shoe and stood back to admire his work.
Feeling satisfied with what he had done, he quickly took the tools up again and made his way speedily towards the hospital. His work was now done, and Robby would be safe.
He'd like to see how Robby now planned to never come back without ever leaving on his bike.
Strolling back into the pit, now refreshed and relaxed, Dana looked at him with a nod of approval. The cigarette break had worked.
Picking up a new chart, he settled back into the rhythm of the fast-paced work and smiled at his next patient.
He was too engrossed in his work to notice the buzz his coworkers were making. He didn't even stop to see what they were saying, only picking up pieces of the gossip as he went.
From what he understood, someone had destroyed Robby's bike, and they didn't know who it was. There were his bets taking place, trying to guess who the perpetrator was.
Abbott seemed to have the highest growing BET rate, with everyone deciding that his background in the military made him capable of it.
He saw money exchanging hands as he saw the gossip grow. He felt a spike of paranoia, of thinking everybody would think of him, but as he looked at the board, his name was not even on it.
Letting out a huff of laughter, he was assured that he was not even a suspect of the crime. He continued working, leaving the buzz of the background to die. As he picked up another chart.
His concentration was once again broken as Trinity ran up to him with an excited look on her face. “Dennis, you would not believe what happened. Someone destroyed Robby's bike and just left it there like a statement piece.” Trinity's excited voice rang.
“Everyone's betting on Abbott doing it because he would be the one most likely not wanting Robby to leave her sabbatical.” She continued with a giddy giggle. “I'm about to place my bet, and with that, we'll be able to go out for drinks with you.” Dennis didn't even look up from his chart as he let a small smirk slide onto his face, Satisfaction. Growing on his face.
“Why do you have that look on your face? You know, the one where you're really... Ohh. Ohh, OK. I'm going to place my bet now.”
Trinity calmly strolled to the board and quickly wrote down Dennis's name and placed her bet. Everybody looked up to see what her bat would be and laughed as they saw Denny's name.
While most believed that tennis was capable of doing it. Did not think that he would actually do it. Not with the way Dennis looked at Doctor Robby with eyes full of admiration. His readiness to help with whatever was needed.
They applauded Trinity's tenacity, but they knew she wasn't going to win. After all, who would believe that sweet Dennis, who has heart eyes for Robby, would be capable of doing it?
Trinity couldn't care less, after all, she was about to go get a nice dinner and a couple of drinks with her best friend. This would take her mind off Garcia.
As Dennis' shift came too close, he finished off his start and made his way towards his locker. There, he caught up with Doctor Robby as he gave him his security codes and his keys.
Doctor Robby's final farewell seemed bittersweet. And Dennis knew for a fact that he would see Robby again, whether he liked it or not.
He quickly made his way outside, trying to catch a ride off of Trinity. As he asked her for a ride to Dr. Robby’s House. He would be long gone before Robby found out who messed with his bike.
Robby thought Dennis left too quickly, but it was probably the best. After all, he couldn’t let his feelings take Dennis’s life. With a final run around the pit, he solemnly said goodbye to everyone, as if it were his last goodbye.
As he made his way out, he caught up with Abbott and made his way towards his bike.
He was about to say his final goodbye to Jack when he caught a glimpse of something on the ground. Turning his gaze to whatever it was, he looked down and saw his bike in pieces.
Anger surged through him. How could anybody do this to his bike? How could he escape? How could his plan fail this badly?
He bent down and reached for what was left of his handlebars, seeing a small note stuck between the bars. As he pulled it out, he saw a small mouse drawn on it. And his anger evaporated.
Behind him, Jack was laughing hysterically. He could not stand up from laughing so hard. Every time he tried to calm down, he caught another glance at Robby's face and fell into another fit of laughter.
“Only you, brother. Only this would happen to you,” he hysterically stated. Robby sighed and stood up. “Think I can catch a ride with you? I need to go home and deal with a little mouse.” Jack burst into another peal of laughter as he agreed. They both headed towards his car.
As they pulled into his driveway, there Dennis stood on his porch smoking another cigarette. Dennis stared Robby straight in the eye as he said, “I knew you'd come back.”