Chapter Text
Dennis
Dennis Whitaker sat in the break room in silence, staring at the door that his mentor, Dr. Robby just walked out of. He was there, frozen in his seat and reflecting on the conversation he just had where Dr. Robby asked him to house sit. Simple enough, right? And yet, it sent chills down his spine as he heard the man say “If I don’t come back.”
What did he mean “If I don’t come back?” A part of Dennis wished that it just meant that Dr. Robby would be retiring, but deep down he knew exactly what he meant.
Despite his best efforts, Dennis had developed feelings for Robby. Whether it was romantic or something else, he never could actually figure it out, but he had grown to truly care for him. He’d like to think Robby cared for him back, especially with everything that had happened with Langdon, he knew that he had slowly become the new favorite over the course of 10 months. They’d even started hanging out periodically outside of work on their days off. It was nice, seeing Robby in a much more relaxed state, but every now and then he would pause and say concerning things in such a nonchalant manner that Dennis never knew how to react.
But this? Giving him the house to look after and saying he could keep it if he doesn’t come back? This was no longer something that Dennis could ignore. He had to tell someone, do something. He had no proof of anything, but he had a gut feeling, and that was something Robby said to always follow.
He knew that he had been sitting looking shell-shocked a little too long now, and he didn’t want people asking why. His heart and mind racing, he knew exactly who he needed to talk to: Dr. Jack Abbot. That was an extra pro that hanging out with Robby occasionally brought, and that was Abbot also being there. At first, Abbot was not happy with him being around, but as time passed, he slowly warmed up to him and they began to actually get along. Dennis wouldn’t say they’re best friends or anything, but perhaps a budding friendship was happening?
No matter what their relationship was, Dennis knew that Abbot understood and cared for Robby the most out of anyone. They’ve known each other for decades, and were practically inseparable if they were not on opposite shifts. If anyone knew what to do, it would be him.
Dennis jumped up and ran out into the chaos of the Pitt, people running all around trying to find their clipboards and test results all on paper, wishing the shift would just end already. He scanned the room, looking for Dana and finds her talking to some of the runners going up to the lab. He quickly ran over to her, waiting for her to finish before talking to her.
“Be back in 5 minutes, no dilly-dallying, alright? We don’t have time for you to be slow.” She turned to look at Dennis, looking calm yet feeling the effects of the chaos around them.
“What can I help you with, Dr. Whitaker?” She smiled, looking down at his new nametag.
Smiling back, he responded “Do you know if Dr. Abbot has left yet? I need to talk to him.”
“I think he just started walking over to the ambulance bay, you’ll probably still be able to catch him.”
“Thanks.” Dennis started rushing to the bay, before being stopped by Dana
“Hey! Is everything ok?” A look of concern covered her face
“I hope so.” He quickly responded before heading towards the bay again.
Going through the doors, he saw the back of Abbot’s head and his military bag over his shoulder.
“Dr. Abbot! Dr. Abbot!” He yelled out
Abbot stopped walking, but didn’t turn around, head looking to the ground.
“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that…we need to talk.”
Abbot continued standing frozen in place.
“It’s about Robby.”
Slowly, he finally started to turn around, locking eyes with Dennis.
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Jack
Fourth of July sucked ass.
Despite being a military guy, it was never his favorite holiday, too hot and too many stupid people doing stupid stuff, and this year was no different. Jack had already dealt with so much and the day had barely started, with his friend on SWAT getting gravely injured, the hospital going completely analog, and helping a patient, Howard, get treated with kindness and respect that he deserved. Once Howard had gone up for surgery, Jack finally felt at ease enough to go home to sleep just a couple of hours before having to come back for night shift. However, when he talked to Robby before heading out, everything changed.
Robby couldn’t even look him in the eyes when saying goodbye, and that filled Jack with a dread he couldn’t explain. He knew that Robby was struggling, but never just how much despite his best efforts to tell him that he would always be there for him. Something about saying goodbye for this sabbatical…it didn’t feel right. Abbot wanted to do something, anything to help, but he knew that realistically, he didn’t have much that he could do, not yet anyway.
Jack was slowly walking out of the hospital, sore, tired, and mind racing when he suddenly heard someone call out his name. Upon hearing it the second time, he realized it was Dennis Whitaker.
He didn’t mind Whitaker, in fact he had grown to like having him around at times, just not all the time. The kid’s got to have friends his own age too, not just 2 old guys with way too much trauma.
So when he heard his voice, heard how scared he sounded, he knew something was wrong.
“It’s about Robby.”
He turned around and looked straight into Whitaker’s eyes, chills spreading throughout his entire body.
“He…he said something to me that’s really concerning and I don’t know what to do about it. He’s going to be gone in a few hours for his sabbatical, and if I don’t at least try to do something, I will never forgive myself if…”
Jack slowly started walking towards Whitaker.
“If what, Whitaker?”
“I…don’t even want to say it.”
Jack noticed that tears were starting to well up in the kid’s eyes, and he immediately understood.
“Let’s go to the break room and talk.”
“No! I mean, I don’t want him to see us talking.”
“Ok, there’s a bench just around the corner here, we can sit there so we won’t be seen.”
Jack led Whitaker to the bench where they sat on opposite sides, Whitaker’s leg bouncing in anxiety. Jack started to lift his pants leg up to take off his prosthetic just for a moment, as it was deeply sore from everything that had occurred that morning. Rubbing his leg, he turned to look at Whitaker, who couldn’t make eye contact with him, but in a different way than what Robby had done moments earlier.
“Whitaker, we don’t have a lot of time here. What do you want to tell me?”
He stopped shaking his leg and instead began fidgeting with his hands, looking down into his lap.
“Robby talked to me a little while ago, he asked me to house sit while he’s gone on sabbatical.”
“Was that all?”
“No…he said more. He…he told me that I’ll get a bachelor pad if he doesn’t come back. Which I know doesn’t sound too bad, but something about it felt different, it felt wrong. I’m scared that he has something more planned for his sabbatical, that he wants to…” Whitaker slowly looked up at Jack, tears still welling in his eyes, face getting ever so slightly rosy from the heat and emotion.
Sadness enveloped Jack. He had suspected things, had heard small comments here and there, but never wanted it to be confirmed. How could Robby be thinking this way? Did he really think that there was no other way out except that? He began to feel guilt, for why didn’t he do something sooner? Instead of blocking the comments he knew Robby was making, brushing them off as just things you say after a particularly bad shift, why didn’t he fight more to get Robby a therapist?
Before he could begin to spiral in what-ifs, Jack began to put his prosthetic back on before looking back at Whitaker with a newfound fire and adrenaline to save his best friend. There was silence between the two men, but an understanding of what would need to be done next.
“Thank you for telling me this, kid. To tell you the truth, Robby has said some similar things to me today too, but I didn’t have the courage to talk to someone else about it like you are right now. I thought I could figure it out on my own, but in situations like this, you need someone to lean on and to help. We are going to be that for each other, and this is not going to be easy, are you okay with that?”
Dennis nodded.
“Ok. As much as we’d like him to, Robby isn’t just going to listen to what we have to say. His mind seems to be already made up, and if we just approach him, I’m not exactly sure how he would react, and that’s terrifying. We are going to have to do this officially, but as quietly as possible. Robby is a proud man, and I don’t want to take away his dignity, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to go upstairs and talk to Caleb in psych. He’s a friend of mine and Robby’s and will want to help and will do so quickly and quietly. We are going to get a petition, are you familiar with that process?”
“I think so? I’ve never had to deal with something like this.”
“That’s ok. I’ll talk you through it as we go…this is not going to be pretty, no matter how hard we try to make it as smooth as possible. Robby is going to be pissed, and I’m not sure he’ll forgive us for it, at least not for a while. I know that I can handle that, watching Robby crash and scream and hate me even if just for a little while, are you positive you can?”
Jack wasn’t much for physical touch, but he found himself reaching out a hand to Whitaker’s fidgeting hands to hopefully bring a sense of calm and reassurance, even though he himself wasn’t too sure about everything either. Not yet.
“If it means helping him, then yes.”
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Dennis
Dennis was relieved that Abbot agreed to speak with him before leaving, but devastated to hear that Robby had said the same concerning messages to him. His heart raced and broke at the idea of losing his mentor, his friend. Luckily, Abbot was a whole lot better at regulating his emotions than he was.
Abbot had begun explaining their plan of getting a petition for Robby, and that made his blood run cold. They both knew that Robby wouldn’t go down without a fight, but if a fight meant him staying alive, that was ok with Dennis.
Throughout this whole talk, he had been wildly fidgeting his hands and didn’t even notice until he felt a warmth placed over them. Looking down, he saw it was Abbot’s hand. He was shocked, as he couldn’t recall the last time Abbot had touched him outside of the occasional bro-hug or fist bump. This was different, calmer. It was nice, and he wished it was under different circumstances. He looked back up at Abbot, listening for what was next.
“I’m going to head upstairs from a side entrance, but you need to go back inside and act like everything is normal, ok? Don’t have this freaked out look on your face that you currently have, and don’t talk to Robby any differently than you do already. He’s smart, and he’ll be able to figure out if something’s up. Just focus on your patients, and I’ll text you when it’s time for the next step, ok? Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I can.”
“Good. I’ll talk to you soon.” Dennis watched as Abbot got up and walked around to a different side of the hospital. He took a deep breath and started heading his way back into the pitt, trying to prepare for the absolute shit show the rest of this shift would bring.