Work Text:
Genya - Senior resident
Genya is busy listening to Dr. Morozov’s instructions when it happens. Thankfully, she is able to clock the exact second Aleksander watches his ex-wife walk through the ER all battered and bruised. She swears she has never seen a reaction like this from him, ever. The Fold is chaotic by nature and Dr. Morozov’s philosophy has always been to never give into the chaos.
Unless his ex-wife is involved of course.
“Saints alive,” he exclaims, running away from their station and towards a bloodied Alina. From afar, Genya watches as his hands gently cup Alina’s face. “What happened?”
His worry echoes around the ER. Patients, nurses, residents, students, and visitors seem to stand still. All eyes, Genya realizes, are on Alina and Aleksander.
“Breathe,” he says. Voice softer, gentler. Still, Genya can hear how worried he is. “Just breathe, solnishka.”
“I…” Alina tries to speak, but she’s clearly too disoriented to do so. Genya has never seen Alina like this, it’s almost heartbreaking. She and Dr. Morozov have led the Fold through many things, including the pandemic. They are always in charge and in control, working in sync as a team—which often made Genya wonder about the reasons their marriage didn’t work. “I’m okay.”
Genya watches as Aleksander shakes his head at her words. He doesn’t press Alina to say anything else, instead, he wraps his arm around Alina’s waist and slowly starts to guide her to her station. Genya’s eyes are unable to leave the pair, especially as she realizes how much Alina is leaning on Aleksander. This is a level of intimacy Genya has never seen between the exes.
Aleksander helps Alina sit down; his hand switching from her waist to her hands, steadying her. Their hands remained linked as he kneels in front of his ex-wife. Neither of them wears a wedding ring, but a light trick makes Genya do a double take.
“Alinochka, look at me,” Aleksander pleads to his ex-wife. Worry and rage mix in his voice. “Who did this to you?”
Genya stops watching; she can’t keep looking. It feels wrong. This is a private moment turned into a spectacle. She needs to do something.
“Everyone,” she says, projecting her voice so that the staff listens to her. “Let’s get back to work. Our patients need us.”
Aleksander - Senior attending physician
Let it be known that Dr. Aleksander Morozov is using every bit of self control to stay in his spot instead of going after the bastard who assaulted Alina. His Alina. The mother of his children.
Their children. Saints. He has to call them and let them know what happened. He knows they will be reacting like he did, maybe even worse.
“I’m okay, Sasha,” Alina says, taking him out of his train of thought. “ Really.”
He arches an eyebrow. She never wants to be the center of attention, she prefers to move the strings of the Fold and make sure the chaos doesn't consume them. The fact that all eyes were on them until Genya stepped up is more than enough. Aleksander knows her, he knows her so well it’s almost painful. She wants to pretend like everything is fine when it’s clearly not. Well, he let her do what she wanted during their marriage and eventual divorce; he won’t let her do that anymore.
“I need to do a checkup,” he says, looking at her. She opens her mouth to reply, but he doesn’t let her. “If you refuse I’m going to ask Tolya for help, and you don’t want to turn this into a circus. Right?”
She grumbles, crossing her arms and looking away from him. Aleksander still makes eye contact with Tolya, just so the security guard is aware he might need his help.
“It’s not a big deal,” Alina says, looking at him. “Just a lot of blood.”
“Let us determine that,” Ivan says, appearing from out of nowhere. Aleksander is thankful for the man’s seemingly perfect timing. That way Aleksander doesn’t have to play the ‘I am the father of your kids’ card. “This is not a battle you’re going to win, Starkova.”
She exhales at the sight of her work nemesis and nods. “Fine. Do what you must.”
Ivan starts with the questions—did you fall, any headache, any double vision—as Aleksander puts on his gloves to examine Alina. His hands don’t tremble as he brings out his light and examines her pupils and her nose, nor do they tremble as he cups her face before applying pressure around her eyes.
It is a testament to years of experience and learning how to cope under pressure. It’s the same skill he was thankful to have when they welcomed their three kids into the world and he was tasked with helping her through the delivery and then cutting their umbilical cords.
He and Alina are connected in so many ways, he gets even more mad at what happened. If he can’t protect the mother of his children at their place of work, then he is powerless.
“Pupils are equal and reactive. EOM is intact. No septal hematoma. Tender at the nasion. CT head and maxillofacial,” he tells her, his voice leaving no room for argument.
His ex-wife still tries. “Is that really necessary?”
He can almost feel Ivan roll his eyes. “I'll give them a heads up,” the man says, leaving them alone at her station.
“You have at least one facial fracture. With the headache and the fall, I want to rule out anything intracranial,” he explains to Alina.
“What if I just take a painkiller and leave it at that?” Alina counteroffers. Aleksander shakes his head.
“You’re getting that CT and by the time you’re done I’ll have the kids here to keep you company.”
Zoya - Second-year resident
She didn’t mind having Wylan stick around after his rocky start at the beginning of the shift. The kid is clearly smart and eager to learn. But Zoya didn’t sign up to answer questions about Alina and Dr. Morozov, not to a twink who is 20 years old and will move to a different hospital to continue his rotation.
“You’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Zoya tells Wylan as they grab bandages for their current patient. “This happened on hospital grounds while Alina was on shift. We are underfunded and overworked and now we’re assaulted? And then the fucking chief medical officer comes here and harrasses Dr. Morozov for speedier processes?”
Wylan looks at her with eyes as wide as saucers. She wonders if his parents never warned him about what the job entailed and she feels bad, because her rage is at the corporates who want more money and results while giving them crumbs.
“I know this isn’t how you expected your first day to go but,” she shrugs as she checks they have everything to go back to their patient, “this is how the work goes. Also,” she turns to face him while giving him a stern look, “we don’t gossip about Dr. Morozov and Alina. It’s in poor taste.”
Tolya - Security guard
Tolya catches Zoya’s gaze, both of them nodding in acknowledgement. He watches her and the medical student who fainted earlier go before addressing both Nina and Inej.
“Zoya is on the bet,” he tells the duo, who share a couple of comments in rapid fire Kerch. Everyone hates when they do that but Tolya loves he can secretly understand. “Who else do we have?”
“Us three, Zoya, Genya, Jesper, and that poor guy, the one who keeps spilling things and needs to change uniforms,” Inej says.
“Ugh, Matthias? I need him to strut around the ER with nothing but his underwear,” Nina muses out loud. Tolya rolls his eyes. Nina always loves to thirst over the newbies, he still remembers how she was when Hane was around.
“Count me in as well,” Marie, their ward clerk, says as she approaches them. “If today doesn’t make them get together again, I don’t know what will.”
Tolya nods, knowing everyone else in the ER is thinking the same thing.
Mila - Eldest daughter of Dr. Aleksander Morozov and head nurse Alina Starkova (Pre-med student)
Mila Starkova Morozova hates the color white—it’s not even a real color, Marina—hates people who shame others for their food preferences, hates when the weather changes abruptly, and hates driving. Driving being the thing she hates the most. She loves walking and using her bike and even enjoys public transport. If she must use a car then she has to be the passenger princess.
Not today.
“And who did it?” Lev is asking from his seat.
“Yes? Did papa catch him? Is the hospital doing something?” Marina says from her co-pilot seat.
Well, maybe Mila hated not having answers to important questions above all the other things she hated.
“Papa didn’t say. What’s important is that mama is okay and no one else got hurt,” Mila says, turning on her signal so she can finally enter the parking lot.
“But mama got hurt,” Lev points out and Mila has to swallow. If her papa is not planning to go on a manhunt for this person then she will make the plans herself. Whoever this asshole is, they will regret it.
“And the person who did it will deal with the consequences,” Mila replies, once she is parked. She turns to look at her brother and then her sister. “But right now we’re here to try and cheer up mama, okay?”
Both Lev and Mila nod and after grabbing their things, they make their way to the Fold. It is easy to spot their parents, who seem like they’re in the middle of an argument; but thankfully, they stop whatever they’re doing the second Lev announces himself.
“MAMA!”
“You didn’t have to come here. I’m fine!” mama says, while hugging Lev and then Marina. “It looks worse than it feels,” she insists before pressing a kiss to Mila’s cheek. Her younger brother doesn’t seem to care, gluing himself to their mama’s side.
“We definitely did have to come,” Mila says. Her papa places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. She can tell how pleased he is with that answer.
“I’m okay, I swear! But,” her mama says, pressing kisses to Lev and Marina’s foreheads. “I won’t complain about some healing hugs.”
“How about you get settled and Mila and I go and get lunch?” her papa says and Mila appreciates the opening. It is only when she is alone with her papa that she can ask all the questions that go through her head.
“Who did it?” she asks the second they leave the ER.
“An angry patient, his name is Malyen Oretsev. Your mother put him in his place an hour before he assaulted her. It’s on camera,” her dad explains. She can see how shaken he is so she grabs his arm and leans against him. He presses a kiss to her hair.
“Is mama pressing charges?”
Her papa sighs. “We are… working on it. I hope she will and we have everything to proceed if she wants to.”
“The CT scans?”
“All good. Nothing intracranial,” he says. If this was another patient, papa would be asking her all sorts of questions to check her knowledge but not in this case. “Thankfully just bruising and pain. She should be home but you know her. Thank you for picking up your siblings, Milochka.”
“Of course, papa,” she says, stopping their walk before they reach the canteen.
She and her siblings spent the previous night at his place. He made them all oatmeal for breakfast before dropping Marina and Lev at school. He drove to the ER before letting her take the car so she could make her morning class. He was happy to have spent the night with them, even happier to share a morning routine with all of them. The man in front of her does not resemble the one who waved goodbye at her this morning. Sure, his hair is still graying and there are permanent bags under his eyes but he is no longer happy. He is furious and worried and trying to take the weight of it all. She knows because she is his daughter. She carries the same weight on her shoulders.
“Are you okay, papa?” she asks because he did not take the hit, but he might as well.
It takes him a couple of seconds to answer and Mila can tell he’s fighting back tears. “I couldn’t protect her. What if something worse happened? What if she had been with you or your siblings? I…”
Mila sighs. The thing she hates the most in this world is the fact that, despite how much love her parents have for each other, they still couldn’t make it work.
Nadia - Social worker
“Did you see? They brought the kids,” Marie whispers to Nadia as they make their way to the canteen.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Nadia replies, shaking her head.
“They never have the kids over, they always have them away from this mess,” Marie reasons. “It has to mean something.”
Nadie is acutely aware it means one of their own was assaulted at their place of work, which means none of them are safe and they are using this silly bet to cope with the situation. She doesn’t say that out loud, of course. She can’t add to the stress everyone is feeling at this moment.
And she has to admit, she is interested to see where things will go from here with Alina and Aleksander’s relationship. However, she will not participate on the bet, these are her colleagues after all. There are kids involved, for Saints’ sake!
“Well, I hope they get together,” Marie continues. “I found a new costume I want Grishy to try and…”
“Sorry Marie,” Nadia cuts her friend as she spots their chief medical officer. “I see Tatiana and I think it’s important to talk to her about what happened.”
Surprisingly, Marie stops her rambling about her cat and narrows her eyes at Tatiana. “Let’s tear that bitch a new one. If she thinks we’re going to keep quiet as she demands and demands but doesn’t protect us, she’s sorely mistaken.”
Nadia beams at Marie and they both make their ways towards Tatiana Lanstova. She won’t know what hit her.
Jesper - Nurse
“You did great, Van Eck,” Jesper tells Wylan as they exit the room where Wylan sutured a patient and also corrected a misgendering error on her medical record. That spoke volumes to Jesper, who already thought Wylan was sweet on the eyes but clearly was sweet in other ways.
Dr. Nanazyalensky chuckles as she passes by and Jesper curses himself for almost missing the blush in Wylan’s cheeks.
“Thanks. It was nothing though.”
Jesper shakes his head. “Not nothing. Not everyone would’ve cared about her medical records being right. She’s going to remember this.”
“I…” Wylan starts to say but he’s interrupted by two kids.
“Hey! You!” says the youngest of the Starkov-Morozov clan, Lev, strutting towards them with so much attitude Jesper can’t believe the boy is only 15. He is Alina’s son through and through. “We want in!”
Jesper smirks. It seems like the ER secrets don’t stay secrets for long. Still, he plays coy. “What are you talking about?”
“We know you’re betting on mama and papa, and we want in!” says the girl, who he assumes is Marina Starkova Morozova, since her older sister seems to be with Alina at her station.
“You’re betting?” Wylan asks, horrified. Jesper thinks he’s extremely cute and the thought of corrupting him a bit is something he’ll enjoy thoroughly.
“Yes,” Jesper shrugs, watching as the kids grin with excitement.
“But… That’s not… how dare…” Wylan tries and fails to properly speak, which causes everyone to laugh.
“Relax, it’s just harmless fun to take off the edge from today,” Jesper says, elbowing Wylan playfully. There are several other ways they could have fun but Jesper is aware minors are around. “You two want in, kids?”
Marina and Lev share a glance and nod. “Saints yes!”
Alina - Charge nurse
Alina Starkova is a good nurse; she has always been. The love she has for her job and her profession can only be rivaled by the love she feels for her kids and the love she once had for her ex-husband.
Her work is hard but she has always excelled because she is fucking good. She was an excellent student, tackling nursing school even while pregnant and juggling her duties while early in her marriage. She is capable, she is skilled, she is empathic, she is damn great. But still, there are days when all she wants to do is quit her job and hug her kids and never have to deal with the Fold.
The day she gets punched is one of those days. But it didn’t start like that. It started as some days do; with her alone, because the kids spent the night with their father, seven floors down from her apartment. She ignored the wave of sadness that hit her before grabbing her things to go to work. Work was always the same chaotic mess she had learned to embrace. Putting assholes in their places was part of the job, but she didn’t think Malyen Oretsev would be any different. She didn’t think he would hit her.
“Ready to go?” her ex-husband asks her, taking off his gloves as they leave one of their patients in the capable hands of the night shift team. She waves goodbye to Dr. Kaminsky, always happy to see him.
She looks at Aleksander before replying. Despite what she pretends, she is deeply thankful for him and how he has always put her first. The divorce wasn’t his idea and although he signed the papers, she knows he did it for her sake and for their kids sake. How many horror stories has she heard over the years about ex-husbands becoming vindictive? How many times has she been told she’s lucky to have such a good relationship with him?
“Thank you,” Alina tells Aleksander as they walk towards their stations. “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but don’t think I’m not thankful.”
Aleksander nods. “It’s the least I can do, Alina.”
It is not his fault she got punched, but he is responsible for the ER. Not being able to protect her, of all people, is something that weighs on him.
“And you’re too stubborn to leave so I had to give you the VIP treatment,” he says, clearly trying to joke.
Alina hates to laugh, it hurts a bit much, but she can’t help it. “Considering the dude punched me because he was fed up about waiting too long, it’s too funny I got the VIP treatment.”
It’s clearly the wrong thing to say, because his face falls immediately. “Alina…”
“I’ll press charges,” she says. Not to cut him off but because she means it. The looks on her kids' faces were too much for her to bear. She needs to do it for them, so they see it’s important to fight back.
“You will?” he asks. The surprise is unmistakable on his face.
“After I saw the kids I realized it’s important. I couldn’t bear the thought of something like this happening to them and… If they did nothing I would be so mad at them.”
“I’ll walk with you to the station, you won’t have to do this alone,” Aleksander says to her, looking straight into her eyes. Alina lets herself get lost in his gaze for a second before remembering where they are.
“Yeah. That sounds nice, thank you,” she says, looking away from him. She starts to grab her things, focusing on anything other than Aleksander.
Aleksander doesn’t push, instead he beckons Mila from their little staff room and tells her to pick up the car. Marina and Lev try to stay behind just so they can keep walking around the ER but Aleksander quickly tells them to follow their sister. She smiles, watching them go.
“Are you sure you still want to come in tomorrow?” Aleksander asks, grabbing his backpack.
“Let’s see how the night goes,” she says. A compromise, if she ever saw one. He nods, grabbing her purse. While she can carry her things, she won’t fight him on this.
“Okay. That sounds like a plan,” he tells her. “Do you want to have the kids tonight?”
Alina is busy getting into her jacket, but he turns to look at him. “It’s your night with them.” She knows he hates not having the kids, because she feels the same when they are not with her. That’s why she will not take him on his offer.
“You need them. Let them spend the night at yours,” he says, shrugging.
He clearly doesn’t expect her to fight him on this, because he starts waving goodbye to their coworkers. Alina follows suit, but almost in auto-pilot. As she walks around the ER with Aleksander by her side she remembers how their son asked if his father could spend the night with them—just to keep an eye on you, mama. The comment made her laugh, because her youngest is not shy in his quest to get her and Aleksander back together.
Maybe, maybe, Lev is right about wanting Aleksander to spend the night.
“Hey,” Alina says once they are out of the ER. She can see Mila, Marina and Lev waiting by Aleksander’s car, but when her ex turns to look at her, all she can focus on is the man she loved so much she thought she couldn’t live without him.
Has she been living all these years?
“What if you spent the night with us?” She takes his hand and despite the twelve years of divorce, Sasha intertwines his fingers with hers like it’s second nature.
He looks her straight into the eyes when he answers. “I’d be my honor, Alinochka.”
fin