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Jack Abbot was miserable.
Well, not in the miserable version that he’d been a few years before, when his wife passed.
Back then, he just drowned himself in work and didn't even care to do anything else that made him... him.
Parker had met Pen, his late wife, on various occasions. She saw how the man worshiped the ground that woman walked in and, damn, it used to be so sweet to watch those two together.
It was only expected that Jack would suffer, would mourn, would be miserable. And that he did for more time than Parker could bear to watch, and then he started bouncing back, until he was as close to the him from before as he used to be.
But, no, this was a weirder albeit once again understanding level of miserableness.
From what Parker could pinpoint—kind of a lot, especially considering the years when they shared nights on the Emergency Department, beers in the park after pulling a double, a cup of coffee on the diner down the street, or an excellent meal at his place (where she crashed more times than she could count during said years, even if she still hadn’t asked the brand of the mattress in his guest room)—most things about him were the same.
Jack was still a great doctor. He was still a charming man, good-looking even—although Parker didn’t want to hang a lot in the adjectives section so she’d remember how her honest to god mother would describe her boss. His silver curls were still styled up just right so that it didn't look like he took the time he actually did in the mirror. He still bore his usual cargo pants, and that damn black t-shirt that she was almost sure he bought one size down. He still pulled fucking weird hours at the hospital and his damn super-hero size gig. He was still alright in every way that matters—except for the part in which he was miserable.
The thing was, said miserableness had a name, a face, and a badge to the Emergency Department: Samira Mohan or, as Jack would describe, "one of the best doctors out here".
Parker noticed.
Jack's eyes always lingered on Samira's face for a little while longer. He'd mentioned more than a few times that a night shift case would be a great match for Samira's research, and when they worked together it was damn weird being in the same place (for what she understood Walsh calling to complain after Pittfest). He talked about Samira with the same pride he talked about her or Shen—both having been his mentees for so many years. And he was so intense about her, it brought a memory of a version of Jack she didn't think she'd live to see again.
At this point, Parker could bet they exchanged at least a hundred studies, if not more—all of them with handwritten notes on its margins, that they exchanged like freaks. She was curious about how much he paid on gas, since he'd always fold himself over so he could drive Samira home (even when hers was on the other side of town from his place). Or coffee, since he bought some for everyone whenever the senior resident was on nights. Or on the chai Samira liked and was always miraculously refilled on the break room.
Hell, even being the main night shift attending, Jack didn't even bother to take day shifts anymore—her and John called it his Samira time. Ahmad had a whole betting pool on the "will they, won't they" involving those two going on for more than a while now, although things didn't really seem to be going anywhere
But something happened at the Fourth of July. Something she had no clue about, but did something with the dynamic those two usually had. Parker knew he came in early during his "day job", but things were already weird when she arrived a few hours later. She tried Princess, Perlah, even the new nurse with the big eyes and the cute curly hair—Emma, wasn't it?—but not a soul knew what had gone on.
She could've sworn she saw him holding Samira's hand on the other day, when he asked about one of her patients that had just gotten back to the ED. Parker heard him mentioning the name of the new Thai place to Samira once, an Italian bistro after, and even a Brazilian churrascaria. But Samira just didn't seem to pick it up—and Parker was so sure she saw the resident blushing after Jack commented on her new set of earrings, which she was sure she didn't use to wear.
But there was only so much pining one could watch without wanting to do something about it. So she did, just because she could, and she knew exactly who could help. And damn if she wasn't willing to pay to see his reaction.
"Earth for Jack Abbot", Parker called as she noticed her boss' concentration drifting as he watched Samira talking with a patient from the Hub, pretending to chart something while doing so. Well, at least she could say she was also doing this for herself, to make her own life a little easier. "I'm setting you up on a blind date", she said, and that seemed to take up his attention.
"You're what?"
"You, someone you don't know, a date"
"I think I'm a little bit old for that, Parker", Jack said, his eyes once again going to the woman with her curly hair pinned in a white clip. "And since when do I need your help with dates? I've been doing my own thing since before you were born, kiddo"
"So, tell me... how's your love life?"
"Parker Ellis", he warned, startling Santos, whom she hadn't even seen sitting on the other side.
"Just sayin', old man. And it isn't really me, I'm just delivering Dana's message. She said that there's a friend of hers she wanted you to go out with", she explained, putting her hands up in surrender while exiting her place to go check on the patient on Room 10. "Poor woman, having to deal with that grumpy ass of yours", Parker whispered, leaning on his workstation for a second.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
"Yours too", she answered, blinking at him. "You're going on that date whether you like it or not", the attending added on a higher note, as she coincidently passed the room Samira was in, and the resident almost snapped her neck from how fast she turned it in Parker's direction.
Samira was being weird.
Weirder than usual, or a new kind of weird, if Dana counted the times that kid had a social interaction for anything that wasn’t medical—or Robby—related. The second one being kind of medical related as well. It wasn't as if this place was known for his well-adjusted people anyway, but Dana wouldn't have it any other way.
Still, Samira was weird, and she was keeping track. Hell, she had to, or else this hospital wouldn’t be up and running for the people upstairs to fuck up with.
Dana was sure it had something to do with the Fourth of July, even if she didn't know exactly why or how it happened, and it also had something to do with one Jack Abbot. The only clue she had was Robby asking if "Mohan and Abbot are a thing" a few days after cutting his sabbatical short. When she asked back about why the hell he was asking that, the man had the nerve to say it was "nothing". No wonder why the ED chief wasn't on Ahmed's betting board about those two.
But something was going on. Or, well, someone was finally noticing the old idiot that had been pining after her for so long. It was a funny thing to see unfold, especially when she heard Samira point out how "Abbot was fitter than most guys his age". As if she needed to picture her coworker in his birthday suit again.
Other than that, she noticed a change in Samira. She seemed more open to people, less laser-focused on just doing the job for as long as she could and going home to... well, from what she knew there wasn't really a lot for the kid to be going home to, because the resident was making her title count. But she hadn't been like that for a while, at least Dana was almost sure some days she wasn't hanging around for medical reasons.
One day, she asked Dana for advice on dealing with her mother—and the house she was seemingly selling so that she could go off on a cruise with her boyfriend (good for her, Dana thought while hearing it, and she almost said it out loud, had she not seen the sadness on Samira's eyes). On Mother Mary, Dana had never heard Samira telling so much about herself, even if it was for a few minutes over bad crackers and that damn good chai Abbot always bought. She felt her own heart breaking when the kid said "she was probably not built for love"—if only she knew.
As the days passed, Dana almost jumped when she heard Samira laugh at a bad joke Santos had made. And she was still mad at Ogilvie for not letting her pretend to look for something on the break room's cabinet while Samira was talking to Javadi about the reason she made her choice to specialize on Emergency Medicine. Even Cassie was shocked when Mohab told her that she wanted to try her crossfit class.
There were other things too. She noticed Samira started using a curl routine that Emma had apparently teach her. Dana couldn't help but laugh when she heard Abbot telling Samira she was "rocking those new earrings", that she knew she started wearing just the other weekend.
Few days later, Samira approached Dana to ask if she should speak with Robby about a fellowship opportunity at PTMC. She mentioned Abbot had suggested that she'd apply, but she wasn't really sure if she should try to stay at PTMC, but, in Samira's own words, the attending told her that "any hospital that didn't want her in their staff would be a bad one". Dana wanted to punch Robby right in the nuts just from the insecurity she could feel emanating from the resident.
From the last she'd heard, Samira was already set on staying in Pittsburgh for reasons unknown. Funny thing was that, not long after, Dana heard the old man asking around about places to rent near the hospital. "For a friend" his ass.
It was when she heard from Parker that she'd seen the two holding hands that she knew something had to be done about those two. That kid, that woman, had a heart of gold, and should be using it for more than just her patients. Her friend wasn't that bad either, and as this was her circus, and she had to understand why each monkey was acting the way they were, and what did she have to do so that they went back to their normal moods, Dana knew just the right thing to do.
"You mind if I set you up with someone, kid?", Dana asked as Samira sat next to her to chart.
"Huh?"
"A blind date. There's this friend of mine that's going back into dating, a nice guy", she explained. "I think it would do you some good, you know?"
"I—well, I haven't been on a date in..."
"A long time", she completed. "Uh-huh, me either, kid. The only difference is that I'm married, and you're not—not that you're losing anything, by the way. I just think it could be a good distraction from... everything we talked about".
"Yeah? I... yeah, I could use a distraction. I think", she answered and, honestly, Dana was surprised she accepted it that easier. And she told her so. "There was this guy. I thought that—I actually have no clue why I even thought that he wanted something with me", she added, smiling as she shook her head.
"Anyone I know?", Dana asked raising her eyebrow and looking at Samira over her glasses, but Samira just brushed her off. "You need help hiding a body, you know you can just tell me, alright?"
"It's not his fault, really", she answered, scrunching her nose. "So, it's gonna be good to get distracted", Samira added.
"I remember how fun it was to tidy yourself up, buy a new dress, go to a place you haven't before. Having someone with you is a plus. And I think you'll like this guy", the nurse said. "He’s a little bit older than you. Got any problem with that, kid?", Dana asked, just to be sure.
"Nah, it's ok. But I might need some extra help with that new dress part, because I don't think I have bought something other than t-shirts and jeans in a little while", Samira told her.
"Oh, I know just the person for you", she answered, getting up. "Lemme just grab Emma and you two can find something online the way I know you kids like doing".
And there it was.
If Samira was being honest with herself, she wasn't really looking forward to this date. She should probably call the guy and just cancel the whole thing, but she didn't even have his phone number. She only knew the date was happening because Dana checked in to see if her dress had arrived and told her the detail on where they would be going tonight.
If Samira was being really honest with herself, the reason she didn't want to go on this date was because her heart wasn't in it. It was stuck with the man she apparently had more than just a crush in,e4 and had no idea what to do about. Especially because said man who was also going on a date tonight.
"You're happy, right?", she had asked Jack after hearing Parker mention his date, and he just nodded. Probably thinking she's a damn weirdo. "Good. That's good".
"And you're happy too, right?", he asked back, to which she weakly said yes. It was so weird to lie to someone she was so used to be brutally honest with, one of the few people she always could.
At least Dana was right about the tidying up part. She might not be meeting the person she wanted to, but at least she was looking good. Better than she remembers in... forever. She just hoped the makeup she used wasn't expired after so long, and it was not the time to calculate how long it had been since she bought them during her college years—not that she even used it back then. Well, she might as well buy some new ones later, because, well, she could.
It was almost weird looking at herself in the mirror, her brown curls framing her manicured face. The dress she chose with Emma wasn't indecent in any way, but it had a much deeper neckline than anything Samira would be wearing at six o'clock on a normal day. “It's a wild card,” the new nurse said, convincing her that she would be able to wear that dress on at least ten other occasions—and that, after that, it had basically paid for itself.
Her heels were a little old, sensible enough that she could trust her barely rested ankles after pulling a double. And, at this point, she could almost say she was experimenting with jewerly, pairing long silver earrings with rings that her mother had forgotten on her last trip to Pittsburgh.
She could almost hear her father's voice telling her she looks just like her mother.
Jack Abbot was never one to be nervous for a date, but there seemed to have something in the air today.
Probably the fact that the woman he wanted to take for a date was already going on a date tonight—which made him snippy to the point that Shen had even asked if he was sure it would be a good idea to even go on a date in this mood, but he just brushed him off.
"You're happy, right?", she had asked him after Parker mentioned his date, and he just nodded, not even having the heart to fully lie. "Good. That's good".
"And you're happy too, right?", he asked back, to which she murmured yes. He didn't know how, but he was sure none of them was telling the truth.
He could not have everything, and he had to deal with it as a grown man, not like a fucking asshole as he had been for last night entire shift. The fact that Samira Mohan didn't want to date him didn't meant she also wouldn't want to date someone else. Someone that was probably younger, a leg heavier and a whole lot of trauma lighter. It was the right choice. It was also the right choice to just accept that he would continue to treat her as God's gift to Earth, because he was sure she was.
Wrong was what he was doing, going on a date with a woman when he has another in his head, all the way to his heart. It wasn't as if he could deny anything to Dana anyway.
He tried to pretend not to notice any trace of sadness in the pair of hazel eyes that stared back at him in the mirror. It wouldn't do him any good.
The dimly lit italian bistro picked for the date was gorgeous. At least from the outside, where Samira waited a minute before entering to meet her date.
She was doing this, huh. Going out there, building a life, trying out new things. That was probably what the butterflies in her stomach her about, she thought as she entered the place.
"Welcome to Nino's", the auburn-haired hostess said, smiling. "How can I help you tonight?"
"Evans, table for two".
"Table 11. Nice choice! Follow me, please", the woman said before she started leading her into the next room where most of the tables were located.
"Do you happen to know the name of the man I'm meeting? Sorry, that's weird—it's just that it's a blind date. And I've never done this before, but I think I should know his name at this point, shouldn't I?", she rambled, not even noticing the people in the room nor the fact that the hostess was stopping a few steps ahead.
"Samira?", she heard the familiar voice and looked up, her brown eyes meeting the hazel ones she had just dreamed about a few hours before. "It's you? You're the friend Dana and Parker set me up with?", Jack asked, getting up, and Samira just stared at him for more than just a second, knowing that a line was just forming between her eyebrows.
"Oh, you two know each other!", the hostess said. "Well, nice dinner. If you'll excuse me, your waiter will be here in a minute", she added, not seeming to want to be caught up in whatever this was.
"If this—if you're not comfortable with this, I can leave", he told Samira, who was seemingly frozen in place, too stunned to even try to get a word out. "I didn't know what those two were up to. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable in any way, and I'm sorry for this. Fuck, I don't know what I'm gonna do about those two. This was so out of line, Samira. I am so sorry", he continued. "I—I'll leave. Do you want me to take you to your place. No, sorry. Do you want me to call you an Uber or something?". Jack Abbot was rambling—she'd never seen him do that. And he was blushing.
Samira was pretty sure she had just been transported to an alternate reality, because Jack Abbot was right in front of her. Jack Abbot, M.D., Night Shift Attending of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center was waiting for her. For a day. And he was still rambling about how sorry he was and how she was going to get home. Jack Abbot. Her Jack Abbot.
It was only then that Samira realized she had not uttered a single word.
"Jack", she said, weakly, too weakly, so he didn't even hear it over his own freaking out. "No, Jack. Stop", Samira said, probably sounding meaner than she intended to, which startled him enough so that he did stop talking. That, or the fact that she was now holding his hand. "It's ok".
"Is it? Samira, you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. This isn't—this wasn't supposed to be like this."
"It's ok, Jack. If anything, I'm glad it's you."
"You're glad?", he asked, looking so confused it was even funny. It was cute. Not that a man nearing fifty would probably enjoy being called cute. But it was.
"I am", she answered, smiling as her eyes traced the lines in his face.
"Samira, are you—"
"I don't think I'd ever heard you saying my name before. It was always doctor Mohan. And everyone calls me Samira. Even Robby"
"It's—", he started, before being interrupted by the waiter, a tall man wearing a polished blue vest, white button-down shirt, and matching blue pants. In a second, they dropped eachother's hand as if they were caught doing something they shouldn't.
"Sorry, sir, ma'am, is everything ok with the table? If you'd like to, we can see if there is another option that's more comfortable for the two of you."
"Oh, no", Samira answered.
"No, no. I'm sorry", Jack continued. "Let's just sit, ok?", he said, pulling the chair for Samira before going to the other side. "You like wine? Or would you like something else?", Jack asked, going to touch her hand again.
"Yes, red. Please", she answered, her cheeks going the same color she had just voiced while Jack traced patterns on the back of her right hand with his left one.
"What about you, sir?", the waiter asked.
"I'll have what she's having. Your best bottle, please."
"Special occasion?", Samira asked, laughing again at the absurdity of the situation.
"I think they just put us together. On a date", he said, staring at their joint hands. His expression was so loving, his disbelief so sweet, and Samira was sure she was mirroring it all, while she also looked at where he drew on her hand with invisible ink.
"Well, are you happy?"
"More than happy, you?"
"Me too, Jack."
Just as their waiter came to bring their wine, Samira's and Jack's phones vibrated on the table, both with the same message.
"Thanks for buying us beers", said the text from Parker, followed by a selfie of her and Dana on the bar the staff usually hang out when they weren't too tired after their shifts.
"Can I bet on having a next date?", Jack aked as they both stopped laughing.
"Oh, you must really be crazy about me."
"I am, Samira. I am", he said, bringing her hand to his mouth so he could place a kiss on it before grabbing the menu so they could pick what they were having for the night.