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"You've never seen Jack really angry," they all said. "You'd know if he was mad."
Trinity, over her four months working in the emergency department of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, has never seen Dr. Jack Abbot get mad. And based on what she's heard from everyone else, this seems to be a good thing.
"You forget he was a combat medic," as Perlah had said.
Princess added, "I thought my ex was scary, but then I saw Abbot when someone took the last donut in the break room." This, of course, dissolved into giggles between the two nurses.
Jokes aside, it's common knowledge among the residents of the Pitt that Abbot is not one to get angry very often.
"When Jack does get angry, well...you'd better hope it's not at you." That's what Cassie had to say about the matter.
This surprised Trinity when she heard it. Dr. McKay is someone Trinity really looks up to the Pitt, mostly because of how calm she stays in emergency situations. So hearing her say, with an almost reverence in her voice, that she fears Abbot's mad side, made Trinity truly wonder how bad it could really be.
After all, Trinity has worked with Abbot many times. After she began working nights, the man took a liking to her for her skill and her guts. Jack Abbot appreciated guts in his ER. And after the Reboa during the MCI, Trinity proved she had enough dumb courage to spare.
In working with him, Abbot has shown himself to be the calmest, and most level headed doctor Trinity has ever met. His personality closely mirrors her own, a stubborn mix of being guarded and brushing things off with the use of dry sarcasm and deflection. But he's proven himself to be very loyal too.
Trinity has worked equal parts with the day shift and the night. Don't get her wrong, she thinks Dr. Robby is the best suited person for the head physician role, but she finds that he -- even if it's unknowingly -- still holds a bit of the grudge because of Frank Langdon. Trinity has a bit of a reputation with the day shift crowd, and that makes her less likely to be taught and brought in on new cases. Boil it down, Trinity is under the impression that she learns more during the night shift than the day.
She also appreciates the comradery she experiences. There's not completion during the night shift, and there's a sense of loyalty. As much as she knows Dr. Robby is a good leader, he wouldn't go out of his way to purchase coffee for all the shift like Abbot did after an incredibly hectic night shift. Plus, Jack is the most knowledgeable person Trinity has ever met, even outside of the medical world. And he's always willing to share, and not judge for asking questions.
But there's always a lingering question in the back of Trinity's mind. Why does everyone make such a big deal over Abbot losing his temper? He's definitely warranted a crash out, after everything he's been through, but he never does. He's calm and stoic, all the time.
This question was in the back of Trinity's mind as she clocked in for her night shift on a random Tuesday in August. It was extremely hot outside, and Trinity was already sweating. Trinity smiled at Dana at her desk as she walked through. Dana was a welcome addition to the night shift, having decided to move to it to shake up her day.
After placing her things in her locker, Trinity went to the case board to see what the selection currently was. As she was looking up, someone placed a water bottle down next to her.
"Remember to stay hydrated Santos. Heat stroke is no joke," said Abbot, materializing next to her. "I'm warning the whole team tonight."
Trinity snorted a laugh. "Did you mean to rhyme or is that just an accident from a theater kid backtory?"
Jack just raised an eyebrow and walked away.
This made Trinity laugh again. "No need to be embarrassed Abbot, I had one too." Trinity swears she saw a faint smile from him. That's a win the the Pitt book. Especially because she has a contest with Ellis and Shen to see who can get Abbot to smile more.
She heard the sounds of an incoming trauma patient. So, Trinity scrubbed in and joined Shen and Ellis in the trauma room.
As she was working on securing the airway, she said, "got another tally on the slight smile category."
"Dude, how'd you manage that? Especially during this heat?" Asked Ellis.
"Made a theater kid joke. Which I think is just confirmation that he was, in fact, a theater kid."
The trauma went well, and the patient was wheeled off to recover. The next few hours went pretty normally, at least by Pitt standards. She saw the usual concoction of the night shift: drunks, falls, crashes, and of course the mix of completely random cases. It wouldn't be the night shift without crazy occurrences and stories.
By 3 am, Trinity had 20 minutes until her break. She figured she would take one of the easier cases so she could make her break on time. After perusing the board, she selected a trip and fall victim, here for a small head injury. By the looks of it, she would be dealing with a standard concussion check. She'd run through the symptoms and probably prescribe a CT scan, where the patient would be passed along and no longer the ER's jurisdiction.
She grabbed a tablet and pulled the curtain back. He was a man in his mid fifty's. He didn't look intoxicated, and seemed to be talking normally.
"Sir, my name is Dr. Santos and I'll be your doctor this evening." Said Trinity, smiling politely. "Can you describe what happened to me?"
The man grunted an affirmative. "Was stopping by a gas station with my truck. I'm a truck driver. I got down, and tripped over something. Hit my head real hard. My buddy drove here."
Trinity noted down the incident and then ran through a list of symptoms. The man responded that he was only having about half of them.
"Sir, I'm going to shine this in your eyes, then ask you to follow the light. Is that alright?"
He nodded, and so Trinity shined her pen light. The man seemed to have a normal reaction time.
"Okay Sir, it seems like the chances of a concussion are low. But, just to be safe I'm going to put you on the list for a CT scan."
The man stood up, and Trinity walked out with him. "It should be about a 30 minute wait, you can return to the waiting area in the meantime."
They were in the hall now, near the charting desks and the case board. The man paused.
"You mean I have to wait even more?" He clarified. He seemed mad about the wait. Trinity got this often, as the ER is almost always understaffed.
"I'm sorry about the wait Sir," Trinity said. "We have a few higher risk cases that need to be ahead of you in the line."
Trinity doesn't have a good memory of what happened next. The man yelled something about how being put last was unacceptable.
Something to be aware of is that this was a big man. Over 6 feet in height, and clearly works out. By comparison, Trinity is 5 foot 3.
Trinity tried to calm the man down, but it didn't work. Out of her peripheral vision, Trinity saw Dana coming over, alerted by the noise. Dana is a very talented situation diffuser, so Trinity figured this would soon be over.
But, before she could get a word out, the man raised his hand. He looked like he was just going to run his hand through his hair, but that's not what happened.
Trinity felt the sting on her cheek very briefly. It was overshadowed by the pain that rebounded through her skull when her head slammed into the wall. The noise of the ER, usually loud and fast paced, quieted to a ringing inside her ears. Trinity saw blurbs and shapes moving through her heavily blurred vision.
She felt her body hit the floor, and her eyes trained up to the bright, errie ceiling lights.
Meanwhile, Dana was trying to hold the man back from causing more problems.
That's when a voice sounded from the door of a trauma room.
"Get your hands off my doctors." He was deathly calm. It was Abbot. He walked over. The man had stopped his struggles.
"I said, get your hands off my doctors." Jack repeated. "If you don't, I'll see to it that security hauls you out onto your ass and that you're never let back into this ER again."
The man opened his mouth, attempting a retaliation, but Jack cut him off. "No one lays a hand on my team, you hear me?"
Security arrived then, and hauled the man off. Dana crouched down next to Trinity, and moved her head forward.
"Hey babygirl, can you hear me?"
Trinity's response was a faint groan. "The lights hurts." She mumbled.
"Shhh, I know baby but you gotta keep your eyes open, just for a few minutes. I know it hurts but you can do it." Dana supported Trinity's head as a stretcher was brought over.
Trinity barely registered being lifted up onto it. Then, she drifted off into blissful unconsciousness.
°°°°
When Trinity woke up, it was to the sound of steadily beeping monitors. Her head pounded and vision still swam a bit.
She pried open her eyes and saw sunlight filtering through the window. That meant she was unconscious through the rest of her shift. She groaned softly.
"If you manage to still be hurting on pain meds, I'll be impressed."
Trinity turned her head and found Abbot sitting in a chair.
"Why're you still here?" Her words slurred just a bit, and her throat was very dry. She coughed after that, the sound of which was scratchy like sandpaper.
Jack stood up and offered her a small sip of water. "Paperwork." He stated simply. "Plus someone had to update Robby on what happened."
He paused for a moment. "And one of my doctors was unconscious with a concussion. I don't leave my team like that." He stated this so simply, like he was reciting a menu order. "Dana is still here too." He added.
Trinity must have looked surprised, because Jack continued. "You have people who care about you in this ER Trinity, you should know that. I'm proud to call you my mentee." Jack spoke this in a gruff voice, but she knew he ment it.
Dana returned with a blanket for Trinity. She expressed how happy she was that Trinity was awake, then promptly launched into a nurse tirade about how she needed to stay off her feet because of her concussion. When she left, Trinity stopped Jack for a moment before he could as well.
"You know, I didn't think you were capable of getting truly mad." She said.
He smiled, something seen very rarely. "You better get better soon Santos, we're going to miss your fire." He then smirked. "Oh and by the way, you better not add that smile to your tally with Ellis and Shen." Then, Jack walked out, laughing
"You knew about that?!?"