Work Text:
1. Shift End
Jack was in a good mood, as good a mood as he could get after a nightshift on a full moon. At least it wasn’t Halloween, that was next month and because he wasn’t the kind of man to leave his team down a captain, he’d be there with his night crawlers through whatever that holiday had to offer. Now though, he was beginning handoff with Shen and Mohan. Ellis was finishing up with a patient in South-10 and a quick look in Chairs showed it hadn’t quite started filling up yet. His team had put in a good graft to treat and clear triage despite the multiple patients with altered mental statuses, the multi-vehicle incident started by a stalled food truck and the patients with a multitude of bizarre injuries.
He nodded to Langdon, as the resident came over. “How’d your last patient wind up?”
“Admitted to ortho for surgery,” Langdon said, yawning. “I am not used to working a double.”
“Your body’ll get used to it, it takes time. And I wanted to say thanks for staying to help out.” Jack squeezed Frank on the shoulder as the resident yawned again.
Langdon nodded. “It wasn’t a problem, I have today off anyway.”
“You got any plans?” asked Mel, appearing at Langdon’s side.
Frank smiled. “I have a playset to build and journals to read.”
“Then you’ll be back tomorrow?”
“Yeah, tomorrow, how is it going to be Friday already?”
Jack watched the two residents interact - whatever their bond was, the honesty and compassion in it was tangible. It reminded him of what lay at the base of his relationship with Robby but recently, scrap that, for the last year or so, things hadn’t been the same. Jack saw his best friend, his brother-in-arms coming over to the hub. He clapped his hands. “Let’s get this handoff underway.”
2. Disagreements of Care
Jack was hanging around at the hub as the nurses swapped notes from nightshift to dayshift. Robby was already in, putting his belongings in the lockers and they were about to begin handoff. He was about to walk over to his friend when Dr. King appeared in front of him. He stood his ground even though she was standing pretty close and waited.
“Is Dr. Langdon here yet?” she asked, a small frown on her face.
Jack shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen him.”
“It’s 7:45am, he should be here already,” Mel said, obvious concern in her voice.
Robby joined them now, harsh lines of indifference betraying what he was about to say. “If Langdon can’t handle the job, then we don’t need him. The shift will be fine without him. We had 10 months Langdon free, what’s another shift?”
Dr. King balled her hands into fists and her face reddened with disbelief? Frustration? Jack wasn’t sure. She shook her head and went to join Ellis and Santos.
Jack turned to Robby. “You think maybe we should call Langdon, find out if he’s on his way? I’ve never known him to be late, any shift that I’ve worked with him. Don’t you want to make sure everything’s ok?”
“No, you know what I think about him working here. If he can’t make the effort to let us know he’s running late or not coming in then…”
“Go on, say it,” Jack said as Robby’s sentence trailed off.
“Then I’m right about not wanting him here.”
Dana, the linchpin of The Pitt was watching them. She gave Jack a reassuring smile. “I’ll call him.”
“Thanks Dana.” Jack focused back on Robby. “Let’s get this done so I can get out of here. I don’t want to be around you right now.” With that said, Jack walked off and joined his residents. Jack wasn’t sure exactly what it was like for Langdon working on the day shift but he did know that the doctor was starting to show the signs of wear and tear from whatever mistreatment Robby was throwing his way.
3. Sinking Feeling
Twelve hours wasn’t enough to dispel Jack’s frustration with Robby. He walked back into the ED hoping to see Langdon finishing out with the dayshift but he couldn’t see him anywhere. He spotted Dana talking something through with Emma. He mouthed Langdon’s name at her. Dana shrugged and shook her head. The sinking feeling in his belly began to fall towards the floor.
As soon as he saw Dr. King leaving a patient’s room he took her to one side. “Have you heard from Dr. Langdon?”
Dr. King bit her lip and shook her head. “No, I tried to call him and Dana tried and we tried again and Donnie and Perlah tried too but all the calls went through to voicemail and then we filled his voicemail and that was halfway through the shift. Javadhi’s going to come with me to check on his apartment.”
“Ok.” Jack pulled one of his cards out of his pocket and held it out to Mel. “You call me with what you find.”
“I will Dr. Abbot.”
After that and the handover and Robby disappearing before Jack could get one sentence out to him because there was an incoming trauma, Jack got down to work. It was 11.13pm when Dr. King called. Langdon wasn’t home, she’d said and his neighbours hadn’t seen him. The sinking feeling was now a burning one. Something was seriously wrong. He’d told Lena to call neighbouring hospitals to see if Langdon had been brought in as a patient. Then, he made a call to the police and reported his concerns. They told him to call back when 48 hours had arrived. All that done, Jack knuckled down and focused on the patients.
4. Sick with Worry
At the end of the night, as the dayshift arrived again, Jack could feel the tension in the air of the ED. Every staff member was muttering about Langdon. So many of them thought the worst of him; some of that had to be filtering down from Robby. A handful were sympathetic but had tapped out on being able to add more worries to their plate. The small number remaining were beside themselves with worry.
Mel, Dana and her valiant nurses and Shen and Ellis were talking about going out in search of Langdon. As if any of them knew where to start looking. Jack had been fighting thoughts of it being too late since the moment he’d seen Dr. King and Javadhi leaving twelve hours ago.
Jack took a deep breath and walked over to the hub.
5. Incoming Trauma
They had called the police again and steps were being taken. Jack was still in the ED with Shen and Ellis, the nightshift having headed out and the dayshift already underway. Then Dana called out, “Incoming trauma, male, early-30s, multiple blunt and sharp force trauma injuries, unconscious at the scene, coded once on the way but they got him back, 2 minutes out.”
“Robby’s still upstairs with Gloria, do you want me to take this one boss?” asked Shen. The doctor was still in his scrubs, ready to jump back in.
Jack acknowledged Dana with a nod. “Shen will take them to Trauma-1. McKay and Mohan you can assist.”
Shen went out to the ambulance bay to meet the ambulance. McKay and Mohan waited near the doors for the paramedics and the gurney to come in. Jack heard the sirens as Robby walked through the ED.
“What’s going on?” Robby asked.
“Incoming, male, 30s, assault, coded once on the way,” Jack said, shortening the details Dana had called out.
Jack heard the sirens switch off as the ambulance pulled up outside. Two paramedics came in wheeling along a gurney with blood dripping off the sides. Shen wasn’t following them. Where was he? McKay and Mohan moved forward and stopped. That’s when Jack knew, even before Dana said, “Frank, oh my god. Oh my god, it’s Frank.”
+1
The ED froze in Jack’s eyes like someone had paused a movie then everyone began to move on fast forward. The paramedics were listing off what they’d found at the scene, their assessment, their treatment of the patient, of Langdon, of Frank. Robby wasn’t moving beside him.
Ellis had reached Frank first, then Dana and they were taking the gurney towards Trauma-1. Shen had come into the ED then, face locked in shock. Jack caught the door into Trauma-1 before it closed. He knew how to do this. He had to do this otherwise Langdon would die. He still might die, he’d coded once already. The paramedics were saying Frank had been found three blocks from the hospital. If he hadn’t gotten home Thursday morning… Jack couldn’t think about that now. His worry didn’t serve Langdon or their colleagues.
They moved Langdon to a bed, checking vitals, attaching leads, carrying out scans. Jack moved around his team as they called out results and checked for injuries. There were no signs of head trauma, blood loss was the most likely cause of Langdon’s unconsciousness. They were giving him blood, surgery was on their way - Garcia was going to rage at this - they were holding Langdon’s life in their hands and they weren’t going to let go.
The moment Garcia came into the room was the first time since the ambulance had arrived that Jack saw Robby. He was watching everything from outside the glass with Dana. There was only one word to describe the look of anguish that had overtaken Robby’s face. It was devastation. It was like the look on his face when anyone mentioned Dr. Adamson. If he lost Langdon, if they lost Langdon, Jack wasn’t sure Robby could survive that. He looked away and dove back in as Frank’s blood pressure bottomed out.