Chapter Text
Dennis sprawled out in the bed of Trinity's guest room. He was not entirely sure how it had come to this point; the whole day had been a complete mess. Dennis tells himself to stop thinking about it, shaking his head. Despite everything aching, he pushed himself off the bed to get on his knees to pray.
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Trinity bursts into his room, yelling, "Huckleberry, this is the third time your fucking alarm went off!"
Dennis startled awake, hair standing in every direction possible."Sorry, sorry, I'll turn it off!" He scrambled to his phone, turning it off with a heavy sigh.
She knitted her brows as she looked him up and down. "Did you sleep like that?" she asked, nodding to him, hunched over the bed.
"Uh, guess I was too tired to make it fully into bed", Dennis mumbled while hastily getting up and almost tumbling back to the ground. Trinity puffs out a laugh before leaving. Dennis groans, his legs sore from kneeling all night. He rubs the remaining sleep from his eyes and pats over to his backpack to fish out his scrubs, which he hastily stuffed in there from the night before, hoping they won't be too wrinkled. After brushing his teeth, he goes to the kitchen, and it already smells like instant coffee. Trinity stood in the small open kitchen, impatiently tapping her fingers on the counter. He sat down at the kitchen aisle and looked around, really taking in the apartment. While the living room was also relatively small, its interior was kept modest, with a well-worn couch, a mismatched coffee table, and some mostly empty bookshelves. Dennis was pulled away from looking around by the clatter of a bowl hitting the counter. Trinity pushed over some cereal.
"Eat", she said, stuffing a full spoon in her mouth.
"Are you sure? I could just eat at the hosp-"
She held up a hand, stopping him. She swallowed her cereal. "Huckleberry, you're eating, who knows if there is even any food left at the hospital?" she insisted before stuffing another spoon in her mouth while staring at him. "Okay," he sighs and eats, feeling a bit guilty but also happy that he doesn't have to eat in secret. After he's done, Trinity takes their bowls and puts them in the sink, then fills their thermos flasks with coffee. Dennis studied her a bit more before getting up and walking over to the shoe rack to put on his shoes. After lacing both, he got back up. Trinity already appeared in front of him, almost giving him a heartache, and he held his chest.
"You get the pink one," she smirked as she shoved the flask into his hands. "Let's go."
They walked to the parking lot, stopping in front of her Toyota. Dennis already regretted going with Trinity, mumbling a prayer, she punched his shoulder.
“Don't disrespect her like that,” she huffed.
It was far from new, the red paint was peeling off, and it looked like it could fall in on itself any minute now, making unnatural sounds as she drove, "Huckleberry, you've got a driver's license?" She shortly glanced at him before redirecting her attention to the street.
"Yes-"
"Good, then you can drive me around when I'm drunk or bored!" She laughed, taking a sip of her coffee. Dennis didn't get to mention that he mostly just drove tractors back at home. He held his backpack tight, relieved that the trip to the hospital wasn't long for the sake of the car and probably his safety. Getting out and heavily shutting the car doors, they both walked into the ER.
They were greeted by the painfully bright lights and the full waiting room, but it was thankfully not overflowing yet. Both clocked in for work as they entered the central area. It was the usual chaos: machines beeping, pagers buzzing, and nurses scurrying around, trying to handle multiple tasks at once.
Dana looked up from her computer, “Morning, kids, you're fit to work?” She asked warmly, looking over her glasses.
“Of course we are,” Trinity announced confidently while Denniy gave her a side eye. For some reason, she looked in way better condition than Dennis, whose eye bags were even more pronounced than before, and he looked paler, with his wrinkled scrubs. “Morning, Dana,” Dennis nods before putting his stuff in the locker room. As he comes back out, he instantly notices Dr. Robby, looking at a chart, pushing his glasses up and down, scowling. Dennis is startled to see that Dr. Robby was in such a state, his hair a mess, his eyes puffy, and his scrubs disheveled.
So he didn't go home after what happened yesterday.
Dennis wonders if he's even allowed to work in such a condition. He walks back over to the nurse's station. Trinity is still looking at the board, tapping her fingers on the counter, trying to find something of her interest, and Dana is charting, or at least tries to while handling multiple things at once. Dennis leans against the countertop, pretending to search the board for interesting cases, “Dana, do you think Dr. Robby should still be working? he doesn't look that well”, he inquired, trying not to sound too bothered. She gave him a look that he couldn't quite decipher.
“Don't ask me, that stubborn prick, " he said he slept a bit and is good to go”, she sighs, answering the buzzing phone afterwards. Trinity nudged his side, smiling slyly.
Oh, this can't be good, he thought, rubbing his neck as she turned to him, propping herself against the counter. “So, Huckleberry, how about you check on him if you're sooo worried”, she teased. Dr. Robby could already be heard snapping at people. Dana looks briefly between them, “don't get ripped apart,” she adds over the phone, turning away while Trinity pats his back in mock sympathy, knowing he's most likely getting chewed up.
Dennis takes a deep breath before walking over. Dr. Robby studies the patient's chart, frowning as he massages his temples. He looks up as he hears footsteps nearing, raising his eyebrows.
“Is someone dying or in a critical state?”
“No-”
“Then what do you want, Whitaker?” Dr. Robby snapped, Dennis flinched.
Focusing on his fidgety fingers, Dennis hesitantly asked, "I just wanted to make sure, you're really okay with working right now?” cringing internally at how meek he sounded. Dr. Robby took a deep breath, “I'm okay, you're not the first to ask, and I bet you have enough patients to take care of, and I'm not one of them, so go, Whitaker.” Stuffing his hands in his pocket with the chart under his arm, he strode off. Dennis frowns as he keeps watching him till he rounds a corner.
Dennis tends to his patients, trying not to be bothered by Dr. Robby's behavior, which is incredibly hard if he keeps snapping and shouting at everyone in the background. Dennis hates shouting; it always reminds him of home. He shakes his head, trying to keep his focus. It worked nicely; Dennis blended everything out and concentrated on his work. After a while, he noticed that the ER was quieter than before. He looked up, but he couldn't hear Dr. Robby shouting anymore. The resident's eyes darted around, trying to find him, excusing himself from the patient as soon as he was done, and walking over to the nurses' station. Dennis didn't know why he even cared so much, maybe because of Dr. Robby's breakdown the day before?
Trinity stood at the counter with a chart, clearly forgotten as she kept ogling someone. “Are you seeing some supermodel? Your eyes are about to fall out”, Dennis laughed, standing next to her, snapping her back to reality, following where her sight was just now, it landed on Dr. Garcia. He just made an “oh” sound. Trinity's head snapped to him, flushed. “Don't tell anyone!” She whispered dangerously, shoulders tense, but only earned a raised eyebrow. “I thought it was no secret that you're a lesbian, and the way you're looking at Dr. Garcia makes it quite obvious.”
“Well, yes, but she doesn't have to know, it's only our second shift here after all,” she tried to argue, biting her lower lip. Dennis threw his hands up in mock surrender. “I'll keep my mouth shut.” Trinity huffs, her shoulders relaxing. “Anyway, what do you want?” she asks, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Don't be like that,” he half-heartedly shoved her.
“Have you seen Dr. Robby? It's suddenly so quiet”.
Trinity just noticed, too, looking around. “Hm, maybe he went crying because he kicked out Langdon”, she scoffs, turning back to Dennis. “Why do you care? I didn't think you liked dilfs”. He almost choked on his spit after hearing that. “Excuse me, it's just a normal concern that I have for everyone”, he sputtered, feeling his cheeks grow hot. Her mouth turned up into a confident smile, crossing her arms. The girl was just about to speak,
“Incoming!” Dana shouted as two EMTs came in with the gurney. “Trauma One,” another nurse shouted. Dennis and Trinity hastily snapped on their gloves as they stepped into the pathway of the gurney.
“What we've got?” Dennis asked tensely, assessing the wounds as much as possible.
"Male, mid-20s, unrestrained driver in a head-on collision. Found trapped; twenty-minute extrication. GCS was 8 at the scene, dropped to 6 en route. We’ve got a blown right pupil!" The EMTs answered as they entered the trauma room.
“Okay, one, two, three!” Dennis counted, transferring the patient to the bed. Trinity has already started cutting off the bloodied clothes. Frowning, “Did you try to intubate?” She asked, her voice pitched, eyes flickering to the EMT.
"Tried twice, difficult airway due to facial trauma. We’re bagging him with a 100% O2 mask for now. BP is soft at 90 over 60, heart rate 130." One responded.
Dennis pressed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate, “Trinity, get the ultrasound, we'll need a FAST scan, now!”
"Where’s the attending? Where’s Robby? He was supposed to lead this." Nurse Jesse stressed, looking around.
“Shit, if I knew, just get someone to help with this!” Trinity bellowed, trying to stop the bleeding from the lacerations.
The room was a blur of blood and instruments, the monitors kept on beeping, while everyone was scurrying around to help. Dr. Garcia ducks into the bay, tense, her eyes darted towards Santos, “What we've got?”
Dennis sweated, hunched over the patient.
“Diminished breath sounds on the right. Trachea looks midline for now, but he’s fighting the bag." he kept on working, silently praying that he won't mess up.Trinity bit her lower lip as she pressed the ultrasound probe to the abdomen, looking at the monitor, her eyebrows furrowed.
“He's bleeding internally!”, she stated, “And where the fuck is Dr. Robby?” She continued to fret.
"Focus on the patient, Santos! If Robby’s gone AWOL, we'll deal with it later—prep for a chest tube. Dennis, you’re up. " Don't miss," Dr. Garcia reprimanded, crossing her arms.
Dennis grips the scalpel, his hand trembling slightly. He glances at the door, hoping that somehow Dr. Robby rushes in and takes over. His locks stick damp to his face as he places the scalpel.
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“This was way too stressful”, Dennis sighed, stretching his arms.
Trinity huffs, “Considering the things we did yesterday, you were way too chicken out”.
Both of their scrubs were bloody as they made their way towards the scrub dispenser.
“As if you weren't stressed, I saw how stiff you were back there”, he teased, nudging her. Trinity's eyes were playful as she watched him struggle with the dispenser.
“By the way, if you find Dr. Robby, please hit him”, Trinity snorts.
Dennis rolled his eyes. “Sure, sure.”
After changing into new scrubs, he started looking around the ER. It's hard to find anyone with all this constant flurry of people; the first place he looked was peds.
Of course, he isn't here.
Dennis sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. The resident turned around and was about to go to the break room, coffee might have lured the doctor out. On the way, he looked down the hall and saw a light flickering, his brows knitted together in confusion since it's mainly used for storage or opened for mass casualties. He ran his hand through his hair, looking around the ER before deciding to walk down the hallway.