Work Text:
The day the hospital released their budget allocation for 2027 was a joyous day. The board had finally decided to invest in staffing again for the first time since the great hiring freeze in 2024. Not only did they approve the budget for another full-time attending position in the ED, as well as two more day and two more night RNs, but there was a rumour going around that the hospital was finally reopening the eight floor. The prospect of being able to pass patients up the chain for care quicker had everyone in a celebratory mood, and the impact of the floor reopening was felt immediately when it finally happened a few months later.
It was amazing, truly, how much easier the day got when there were more people around to bear the weight of care.
It wasn’t until a couple of days into the eight floor’s official re-opening that the one and only downside started to register: There was nowhere to go anymore.
The eight floor had been an unspoken safe zone, a no man’s land that served a lot of purposes for a lot of people. It had been Whitaker’s home for a few months when he’d had nowhere to go, it had been the place for staff to crash if home was just too far away after a long shift, it was where party supplies could be stored out of anyone’s way, where no one would come bother you if you needed a real hard cry.
Most importantly, it was where people went to hide for a quick nap during double shifts when the triage exam beds were in use.
And now there was nowhere to go.
The triage exam beds 1 and 2 became a point of contention, because most days they needed the beds to see patients, but on the busiest of days, especially now, during flu season, when so many doctors and nurses were out sick - and as a result the remaining staff had to pull double shifts to maintain coverage - Dana started to put her foot down, keeping those beds clear to allow the already overtaxed staff a chance at refuge to keep them going.
Mel had always maintained she didn’t need a lot of sleep, but even she was starting to approach her limits after three weeks without a full day off and more doubles than she was technically allowed to pull. At this point, time had become a mere construct, she was either working, or asleep, there was no spare time left for anything else.
Tiptoeing into the triage exam room, she found one of the two beds already occupied. Whitaker, dead asleep, he had already been there this morning when she had come to work, so Mel had no idea what his schedule was right now, but judging by the dark circles under his eyes, it was nothing less than gruelling.
She took her shoes off, put her glasses on one of the supply carts, and slid into the second bed, the one closer to the door, as silently as she could manage, holding back a groan of relief as her spine decompressed in the new position.
Dana was giving her an hour. It felt like an indescribable luxury, a whole hour in the dark to recharge, before she needed to be back to support the night shift.
Only two more days, she told herself. Shen was meant to be back tomorrow night, and rumour had it McKay was coming back to work tomorrow morning, and Dr. Al-Hashimi was due back the day after that. Mel would finally be able to take two days off to recharge. It felt like a distant dream at this point, but for now, she had a soft pillow and a horizontal surface. Her brain turned off the second she managed to bundle herself into the blanket, giving in to the sweet silence.
The quiet “Oh shit, sorry” almost completely passed her by a few minutes later, and she would have probably slept right through it if it had been anyone else’s voice.
“Dr. Langdon?” She asked sleepily, trying to blink her eyes open to see his silhouette in the doorway. “Do they need me?” It came out jumbled, but he understood her.
“No, no, go back to sleep. I’ll find somewhere else.”
Oh. Mel felt a pang of sympathy. He wouldn’t find another bed, there was nowhere to go anymore. She’d been in his shoes a few times during the last week, desperate for a nap and finding this room already completely occupied.
It was probably a testament to how tired she was, all sense of decorum gone, but they both needed to sleep.
“Do you want to share? We’ll both fit.”
“What?” He closed the door quietly, tiptoeing over to her and crouching down at eye level.
Mel untucked the blanket from under her body and lifted it up in a silent invitation.
“Are you sure?”
“We’ve still got twelve hours left, we both need to sleep.” She reasoned, trying to ignore the way her heart was pounding at the prospect.
“Oh my god, thank you.” Langdon sounded so relieved. “Where do you want me?”
“You have to be little spoon, I can’t stand being breathed on.”
“Deal.”
He took his shoes off and Mel scooted further back on the bed to give him space. It was a squeeze, but he slotted into the other half of the bed neatly, scooting down to share her pillow.
She handed him the edge of the blanket, and there was an awkward shuffle between them to rearrange it so it would cover both of them.
It left no room between them, her face no more than an inch or two from the space between his shoulder blades, her knees slotted in right behind his.
“Do you have enough space?” He whispered. “Not falling off?”
Maybe she should have put up the rails of the bed, but she had been too out of it to even think that far, besides, the sound of the rails snapping into place would have definitely woken Whitaker up if their whispers hadn’t yet.
“Should be fine.” Mel whispered, despite the mild sense of doom from the mattress running out behind her.
There was a long moment in which his body didn’t move, his ribcage oddly still and an awful unkind part of Mel’s brain that had been trained on rejection, on people trying to be her friend and regretting it, told her that he was already regretting agreeing to this arrangement, even if it meant nothing.
“You’re not breathing.” She didn’t really mean to say it, but her body had tensed now, and she was so damn tired.
He huffed out a breath, almost like a little laugh, turning his head just a bit, not enough to see her, but enough for her to make out his profile, enough for his whisper to carry.
“You said you’d be big spoon.” He told her.
“I am?”
He made a face she couldn’t read. Even in good lighting with her glasses on, she’d have never been able to read what he had in mind, it wouldn’t have occurred to her. Langdon’s hand moved under the blanket, patting at her aimlessly for a moment until he found her arm.
Mel’s breath caught in her chest as he tugged it around his waist, keeping a hold of it against the centre of his chest, effectively inviting her to sag against his back, to really slot herself against him.
Langdon was so warm, all of him was warm, his fingers wrapped around her wrist, the expanse of his back, now pressed against her front like he was her own personal space heater.
“That okay?” He asked.
“Uh, yeah, m-hm.” Was all she could squeeze out.
She could smell his skin, his deodorant and the very slightest traces of sweat after an already long shift, the smell of detergent still clung to his scrubs, as did the ever-present smell of disinfectant residue that permanently stuck to all of them. Mel allowed herself to scoot in close, their bodies now pressed together from the tip of her nose to where one of her socked feet slotted in between his ankles.
It felt good. Safe and warm and comforting in a way she wouldn’t have expected. No demands, no judgement, just a shared space in the middle of what felt like a never-ending storm.
He sagged, his body finally relaxing, and Mel wasn’t sure if it was a response to her body giving in first, or if he had just run out of steam, but she found that she loved the weight of him pressing back into her, trusting her.
If this had been any other day, she’d have been wide awake, cataloguing every sensation of this moment. But here, at the brink of exhaustion, her body gave in, plunging her into a deep sleep.
The reprieve felt no longer than a heartbeat.
The overhead lights turned on, and she buried her nose into the warmth in front of her on instinct, hiding from it. Mel didn’t even register what was happening until she heard Dana’s voice.
“Hey, you two, we need you back out there, that was well more than an hour. Sorry! Do either of you know where Mel is?”
Holy shit, Dana didn’t see her.
The memory of Langdon climbing into bed with her hit her all at once, shaking her wide awake. She could feel his heart beating in his chest where her wrist was still pressed against his sternum, her grip on him tightening on instinct, the blankets and his body shielding her from view entirely.
“No, sorry.” Langdon lied smoothly. “I’ll text her, don’t worry.”
“Okay, see that you do. We need all the hands we can get.”
Mel didn’t move, didn’t even dare breathe until she heard the door to the room close.
Langdon snorted, giving her hand a squeeze before letting go of it and sitting up.
“Not a word, Whitaker.” Langdon said, with no particular heat to it.
Mel felt her cheeks turn red. They hadn’t even done anything but sleep.
“Hey, I’m not - people gotta nap.” Was all he said, and Mel was grateful for his calm, not for the first time.
“Here.”
“Huh?” She looked up to see Langdon standing over her, holding something out to her. Oh, her glasses.
“Thank you.” Mel put them on, looking around the all too bright room and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
Langdon and Whitaker both looked as tired as she felt, but Langdon looked much more chipper.
Whitaker was already in his shoes, heading out. “See you out there.” He said, closing the door behind himself.
Langdon was on one knee, tying his shoelaces. “10 out of 10 nap.” He told her, grinning up at her. A tight knot in her chest relaxed, the part that worried she had fucked up by offering, that things would be weird now, that he’d pull away like people did so often, re-establish distance, like they were scared she might cling to them.
“Likewise.” She agreed, not ready to move yet, still trying to sort out her wits, digest the way her chest still felt all warm.
His shoes all fixed, he stood up, but instead of heading to the door, he came to a halt right there, right in front of her. He looked flushed, dishevelled, his hair a mess, but she didn’t dare reach up to fix it for him. For a moment, he wouldn’t look at her, and it made her want to apologise again, but then he put his hands into his pocket, eyes finding hers.
“I-that was nice… for me.”
There was an unspoken question there and Mel nodded. “You’re a good nap partner.” She agreed.
His face broke into a smile and he rolled his weight backwards and forwards on his feet, still not leaving.
“Maybe we could do it again sometime? No, I mean, hold on, no that didn’t come out right.”
“If we ever run out of beds again, I don’t mind sharing again.” Mel told him.
“Right, yes. Yes. That’s what I meant.” He paused like he was going to say something else, his face weirdly more flushed now than it had been before. “I’ll see you out there?”
“Yes.” She agreed, relieved. It had been fine, it had all been fine, they’d had a good nap, it wasn’t weird, he wasn’t regretting it, that was good, that was excellent that was-
Langdon had stopped with his hand on the door handle.
“I didn’t mean napping here.” He said, pulling her out of her head.
“What?”
“I wanted to ask if maybe, whenever we finally get days off again, you’d want to do something outside of work? Dinner, a movie, anything at all. And I didn’t meant to imply we’d end up in a bed. Just…this was nice, and I …. I really like you, Mel. I really do…. Please say something?”
The world had turned into molasses for a moment there, and Mel hadn’t realised just how long she had been quiet… maybe it hadn’t been long, maybe it was just that his mind was going a million miles an hour.
“Like a … date?”
He nodded. “Like a date.”
There were a hundred reasons to say no. But he wasn’t breathing, and Mel’s whole body was still warm from sharing space with his, and he was looking at her with wide tired eyes, hopeful and visibly losing his nerve.
“I’d like that.” It was the only truth here.
He had braced himself, and she only realised when his shoulder’s sagged. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” She nodded, more determined now.
“Okay, okay, awesome, yes! Okay. Okay, I’ll see you out there.” He ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him quietly. She could still see his silhouette through the drawn blinds though, could see him clutch his chest for a moment before walking away.
Holy shit.
She took a minute to compose herself, to fix her braid, to get her shoes on before joining her coworkers again.
“Dr. Langdon?” Mel asked when she found him at the hub, elbows on the counter, trying to pick a case.
He looked at her, eyes lighting up. “Hey.” He beamed at her so brightly it made her brave.
“Since it’s still a few days before we can take any time off… I thought maybe we could continue our nap after the shift? At my place. Sleep, just to sleep. I do want that dinner and movie.”
Langdon’s smile turned dazzling. “That sounds genuinely amazing.”
“Okay.” Mel felt a shiver of excitement and maybe relief run down her spine. “It’s a date. How do you feel about the shoulder dislocation in N2?”
“I love a dislocated shoulder.”
“Let’s go.”