Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Emma hung up the phone with a huff. “Hey, can we page someone from pediatrics? It sounds like we have a kid with a ruptured appendix coming in.” 

The nurse leaning on the ER desk nodded and grabbed the phone to dial the number. Emma looked around the (thankfully) calm Emergency Room of Edgewater General Hospital. The last thing she wanted to do was be covering the pit for some extra money, but she was on the brink of going crazy from living in that tiny hotel room. 

She took a deep breath and pulled on her white lab coat, taking a second to fix the collar before walking out to the ambulance bay to meet the incoming patient. Emma stood there in the cold for a few minutes alone until there was the telltale sound of alarms as the ambulance pulled into the bay. 

“What do we have?” She said, pushing up her sleeves as the paramedics jumped out of the ambulance to open the doors. 

“Nine-year-old female with a ruptured appendix, she’s in Sinus Tach, blood pressure is 98/64.” The EMT called out the numbers while he unloaded the bed with a little girl squirming in pain. 

A distressed teenager jumped out of the rig and followed the bed, “her name is Casey Hammond. She said she had a stomach ache and then started puking, and I didn’t know what to do. I’m just the babysitter. I called her parents, but they’re in a movie, and I didn’t know what else to do.” 

Emma looked up from Casey and gave the teenager a small smile, “you did the right thing. Just keep calling the parents, and we’re going to help Casey out.” She squeezed Casey’s hand, “you hear that? It’s going to be okay.” 

Casey let out a groan and a fresh stream of tears. “It hurts.” 

“I know it does,” Emma was doing her best to talk as she walked the bed into the pit. “Is it okay if I touch your belly to see what’s wrong?” 

Casey nodded, and the babysitter took her small hand in hers. Emma started the abdomen palpitations and winced in sympathy when Casey let out a cry. She looked up at the nurse who was putting in Casey’s IV, “it’s ruptured. We need to prep an OR now. And where’s that peds doctor?” 

“Right behind you,” a voice called out behind Emma. 

Emma looked over her shoulder and felt her heart stutter in her chest. This pediatrics doctor was the most beautiful person Emma had ever seen before in her life — and that’s saying something; she once did an entire rotation in dermatology. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and the sleeves of her lab coat were effortlessly cuffed, and the moment she looked up from the chart at Emma with those brown eyes, Emma knew she was a goner. 

“Casey, I’m Dr. Greene. We’re going to take really good care of you.” Her voice was comforting as she gave Casey the same checks that Emma had. She looked up at Emma and dropped her voice, “are they prepping—”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too long until they’re ready for us,” Emma said, checking the IV. “I wanted to get her into a CT just to see exactly what we’re dealing with.” 

Dr. Greene nodded and turned back to Casey, “Casey, how long has it been hurting like this?” 

“I don’t know.” Casey’s voice was small and pained. Emma saw a lot of difficult things as a surgeon, but nothing ever affected her quite as much as seeing a kid in pain. 

The babysitter spoke up, rubbing Casey’s arm a little to try and help calm her down. “She said she had a stomach ache earlier today. I thought it was just from lunch and had her lie down.” 

“When was that?” Dr. Greene asked. Emma could see that she was doing the same mental math that Emma was doing. They both knew how quickly a ruptured appendix could go south if not treated right away. 

“Like, noon, I think,” the babysitter said. She was terrified, and her stress was rubbing off on Casey, who burst into full-on sobs.  

“What’s your name?” Dr. Greene stood up and glanced at the nurse on the phone, who motioned that the OR was ready. 

“Hannah.” 

“Okay, Hannah, I’m going to need you to go to the waiting room. One of the nurses will show you where it is. Keep calling her parents and let them know we have to take Casey in for surgery. You did the right thing.” Dr. Greene squeezed Hannah’s shoulder before Casey’s bed was surrounded by surgical interns and nurses. 

Emma went to Casey’s left side and held her hand while they sped walked her down the hall to the elevators to get to the third floor. Dr. Greene split off to head to the scrub room while Emma held Casey’s hand and helped the OR team transfer her onto the operating table. Casey had an iron-grip on her hand until they put her under anesthesia, and Emma gently slipped her hand out of Casey’s before dashing off to the scrub room. 

Dr. Greene had just finished scrubbing in and stood there as Emma walked in, pulling her hair up into her favorite scrub cap. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.” 

“Oh— yeah, it’s my first week,” Emma said, counting to herself as she washed her hands. It was a habit she picked up in medical school that quickly became a ritual. “I’m Emma Nolan. I’m the new General Surgery Attending.” 

Dr. Greene nodded for a moment as she watched Emma clean her nails. “Alyssa Greene, Pediatric Surgery. But then again, you probably knew that part.” 

“Yeah, the whole you coming when I called for a peds consult kind of tipped me off,” Emma couldn’t help but smile as she focused on the nail brush. “Thanks for coming so fast. I know these night shifts kind of suck. I’m sorry if I woke you up or anything.” 

Alyssa waved away the apology, “you’re fine. I had just finished a quick nap when I got the page. It was perfect timing.” 

Emma looked up from her handwashing ritual, “I’m glad to hear it.” 

“Yeah.” Alyssa just stood there for a moment. Both doctors looked at each other, almost sizing the other up. “I’ll see you in there, Dr. Nolan.” 

“Sounds good. I’m almost done,” Emma said. She finished off off her count to 150 and took a deep breath in, and let it out. “Let’s go save a life,” she whispered. 

“I really hate when we can’t do this laparoscopically,” Alyssa huffed from behind her mask as she assessed the damage the appendix had done. 

“We didn’t know how bad it was; this is going to be better in the long run,” Emma said. She threw a few extra stitches to her end of the appendix and was waiting on Alyssa, who focused on the surrounding area. 

“I know. It would have just been easier for her to heal, and she wouldn’t have a big scar on her stomach.” She sighed, turning her attention toward the appendix where she stitched off her end in a matter of seconds. “I hate having to see these kids just sit in a hospital bed for longer than they have to.” 

“I get that,” Emma said. Her peds rotations back in her residency were mainly spent monitoring post-op patients rather than cutting, which meant she always had a deck of cards in her coat pocket in case a kid was bored and wanted to play Go-Fish or something. They always did, and Emma quickly became the Go-Fish Champion of the peds wing.

They worked in silence for a few minutes until Alyssa looked up at Emma, “wait. You were covering the pit for a night shift on your first week?” 

“Uh— yeah. Why?” Emma shifted her weight between her feet. 

“Nothing — it’s just, your first week. Either you’re a major overachiever, and you want the chief to like you, or you’re a glutton for punishment and don’t like sleeping.” Alyssa’s eyes studied Emma from across the operating table. 

Emma just shook her head a little with a chuckle. “It’s a little bit of A, and a lotta bit of I’m-looking-for-a-place-but-need-enough-for-a-downpayment.” 

Alyssa flashed her a knowing look and sympathetic nod, “Ahh, the ‘apartment panic.’ I’m very familiar.” 

“If I have to stay in that hotel room for another week, I’m going to lose it.” 

“I don’t blame you. Hotel air is so dry.” Alyssa’s eyes had a sparkle in them. If that was from her smiling under her mask or the operating room’s lights, Emma couldn’t tell. But she wanted Alyssa to keep looking at her like that. 

“So dry!” Emma laughed a little. “I’ve gone through more lotion in the past week than I did all last month.” 

“Not to mention, you can’t sleep with anyone because taking someone to a hotel screams ‘I’m cheating on my husband!’ and that’s a turnoff for most people.” Alyssa shrugged, not noticing Emma gawking at her like she grew a second head. 

“I— uh— yeah. I guess? I haven’t really had time to go out, let alone go on a date,” Emma mumbled. 

“But there’s no husband?” Alyssa asked innocently, watching Emma’s every move. 

Emma held back a laugh. “Not at all. Why?” 

“I just like knowing who’s single and who’s not. It makes it easier to know who to call for a girls’ night.” Alyssa hummed and double-checked her work, “can I get a 15 blade? I think we’re ready to take the appendix out.” They both cut, and Alyssa lifted the appendix out of the cavity. 

“Saline, please. We just have to clean this out, and I think we’re good to close.” Emma said, half thinking out loud, half talking to the surgical team. 

They worked, yet again, in comfortable silence—only the heart monitor beeping steadily and the ventilator breathing for Casey. Emma didn’t mind when Alyssa double-checked then triple-checked their work before giving the nod to close up. 

There was unspoken chemistry in the way they worked. It was like Emma knew all of Alyssa’s next moves before she made them, and the same went for Alyssa. She cut the final suture, and they both let out a breath. 

“Let’s go update the family,” Alyssa said, rolling her neck from side to side. They scrubbed out and headed to the waiting room where Hannah was sitting with two anxious adults. Alyssa put on a dazzling smile that knocked the breath out of Emma’s chest. “Mr. and Mrs. Hammond?” 

They both stood up, and Hannah leaned forward in the chair. Emma could already see the dark circles forming around her eyes. It was well after 3 a.m., and she commiserated with the babysitter. “Yes? Is Casey okay? What happened?” 

Alyssa motioned for them to sit down, and she and Emma slid onto the sofa across from them. “I’m Dr. Greene, and this is Dr. Nolan. Casey’s appendix ruptured, so we had to remove it and ensure that no bacteria made its way into her intestines. The surgery went very well, and they’re moving Casey to Post-Op now. She’ll be coming off of the anesthesia, so she’ll be groggy, but we can take you all back there now to see her.” 

The Hammonds jumped out of their seats and followed Alyssa towards the Pediatric wing. Emma stayed behind with Hannah, who was looking at her with red eyes. “Are you okay?” 

Hannah sniffed and shrugged. “I was so worried, and then they just kept going over every second that I was with Hannah today, and it’s been a long night.” 

Emma just nodded and put her arm around Hannah’s shoulder. “You did the right thing. Hell, you did way better than I would have at your age. I know it’s a lot to deal with right now, but you should be proud of yourself. You saved her life.” 

“No, I didn’t. I should have gotten her in earlier. I should have seen that something was wrong.” Hannah broke into full-on tears and buried her face into Emma’s shoulder. “I was so scared.” 

They stood in the middle of the hall, Emma holding a sobbing Hannah while she whispered how well Hannah did over and over again. It took a few minutes for Hannah to calm down and catch her breath, and Emma pulled a tissue out of her coat pocket and handed it to her. Emma glanced down the hall where Alyssa watched her curiously. She and Hannah walked side-by-side to Casey’s room. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hammond were holding her hand as Casey came to. Casey’s tired face lit up when Hannah walked into the room with Emma. “Hannah!” Her voice was soft and scratchy, but the excitement in it was evident. 

“Hey, Case! How’re you feeling?” Hannah asked with a watery smile, and Emma gently nudged her toward the bed. 

“Fuzzy,” Casey mumbled before she fell back asleep. Hannah looked back at Emma in a panic. 

Emma just smiled, “she’ll be in and out like that for a little bit. It’s important that she gets her rest so she can heal. Luckily, kids usually heal faster than adults, so I’m hopeful that she can be back home in a week. But, she still has to take it easy—no MMA fighting or pro-wrestling.” 

The Hammonds and Hannah all laughed and Emma could feel the tension in the room dissolve. Emma felt a hand on her upper back, and Alyssa appeared next to her with a smile. “We can bring in cots for all of you if you want to stay with Casey tonight.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Hammond nodded, not taking their eyes off of their sleeping daughter. Hannah shifted uncomfortably and looked up at Emma. “I think I want to go home.” She looked at Mrs. Hammond with pleading eyes, “can I see Casey tomorrow?” 

“Of course you can. Do you need me to drive you home?” Mrs. Hammond said, reaching over Casey to put a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. 

Hannah shook her head, “it’s okay. I can order an Uber or something.” 

“Okay, let us know when you’re home safe.” Mr. Hammond said with a nod. Hannah gave them a wave and left the room, with Emma and Alyssa close behind. 

“Hannah,” Alyssa jogged to catch up with Hannah before she could get too far. “I don’t trust any Ubers that are out driving this late — it’s the sketchy hours. My shift is over in 20, and I can drive you home if you want.” 

Hannah’s face split into a smile, and she nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Greene.” 

Alyssa shrugged, “of course. Let me just finish these charts and change; then we’ll be good to go.” Hannah made herself comfortable in one of the hallway chairs as Emma and Alyssa walked to the nurses’ station. “It was nice working with you today, Emma.” 

“The feeling’s mutual,” Emma said, trying hard to hide her blush. “I’ll see you around?” 

Emma only made it a few steps down the hall when Alyssa called out to her, “Emma?”

“Yeah?” Emma turned to look back at Alyssa, who somehow managed to look like an angel even after an 8 hour night shift. 

“My neighbor is moving out. If you haven’t found a place yet, I can put in a good word with my landlord.” 

Emma couldn’t help but smile at how nervous Alyssa looked, “I’d like that.”

“Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

“See you tomorrow, Dr. Greene.”

Chapter Text

Emma ran to the fourth-floor nurses’ station at a full sprint. She had just gotten out of a colectomy when Shelby came into the scrub room in a panic. All the neonatal surgeon had to say was “it’s Alyssa” to send Emma into a run. 

Deep down, she knew that this was coming. They had talked about this case — about Joey — for a while now. Their bar nights had turned into wine nights at Emma’s apartment, and for the past three weeks, all Alyssa has been able to talk about was Joey. 

Joey. The five-year-old with a stage IV, inoperable neuroblastoma. 

Alyssa watched as the cancer spread from his adrenal glands to his bones to his liver and slowly swallow him whole. 

The entire hospital was in on his treatment plan. Emma had spent hours in meetings trying to help figure out how to save this boy’s life, but no matter what they did, it just came back angrier than ever. 

So, the second Shelby made eye contact with her and said that Alyssa needed her, Emma was off like a shot. Ever since that appendectomy months ago, Emma and Alyssa had been practically inseparable. Of course, that came with rumors that spread through the hospital like wildfire that they were sleeping together — but they weren’t. Alyssa was Emma’s person. 

She skidded on the tiles to avoid crashing into the group of surgeons, nurses, and interns that were huddled around the nurses’ station with sad faces. Emma could see Alyssa and the social worker sitting together in the office with Joey’s parents.  

The entire group winced as Joey’s mother, Darrienne, let out a wail that quickly turned into full-blown sobs. Everyone standing around Emma had lost a patient before, but it never failed to sting when they lost another one. 

“I don’t know how she does this,” Barry, the Head of the Cardio Surgery Program, muttered to Trent, the Head of Neuro. “It’s hard when they’re adults — but kids.” 

Trent nodded solemnly as he watched Alyssa through the window. One of the Ortho Residents, Kaylee, was trying not to cry as her boyfriend and fellow surgical resident, Nick, held her from behind. Nearly everyone who had worked on Joey’s treatment plan was there, silently supporting both Joey’s parents and Alyssa from a distance. 

The interns scattered when they heard the clicking of Dr. Allen — the terrifying head of Plastic Surgery — and her husband and Chief of Surgery, Dr. Hawkins. Dee Dee stood stoically by Angie, the Trauma Department Head, as Chief Hawkins walked into the room. 

The hall filled with the sounds of crying for the few seconds that the door was open, but it hit the group like a punch to the gut. Emma caught Alyssa’s eye for a second, but Alyssa quickly looked away and back to Joey’s parents. Hawkins put a hand on her shoulder, and she gave a small nod before getting up out of her chair. Alyssa said something to the family before walking out of the office and straight into Emma’s arms. 

“It’s okay,” Emma whispered into Alyssa’s hair as she felt tears against her neck. 

The other doctors watched on for a moment before giving Emma a nod. Kaylee and Shelby helped guide them to an on-call room. The minute the door shut behind them, leaving the two doctors alone, Alyssa crumpled to the floor in a heap. Emma slid down the door onto the floor next to Alyssa and watched her cry. 

Half of Alyssa’s hair had fallen out of her regular ponytail, so Emma pulled the hair tie and let brown locks fall around Alyssa’s face. She looked up at Emma with bloodshot eyes. “I can’t believe I lost him.” 

Emma shushed her and pulled her onto her lap for a hug. “‘Lys, this wasn’t on you. You did everything you could to make him as comfortable as possible.” 

“I could have done more. I should have done more—” 

Emma pulled Alyssa away from her body so she could look into her eyes. “What else could you have done? Cure cancer?” 

“We could’ve put him on a stronger chemo treatment. Or taken the risk and went in for the liver.” Emma could practically see the gears turning in Alyssa’s fried brain as she tried to come up with different courses of action. 

“Hey,” Emma gently pushed a lock of hair out of Alyssa’s eyes. “We already talked about this. Everyone agreed that we did the best we could for Joey. This is on all of us — not just you.” 

Alyssa let out a tiny whimper at Joey’s name. “I just can’t stop thinking about him and his parents and the tiny coffin. Oh god, the tiny coffin. And his sister. She’s only seven. We pinky promised that I’d help him.” 

“And you did.” Emma rubbed Alyssa’s arm to try and comfort her. “You can’t stay in this mental spiral. You’ll make yourself crazy.” 

“I don’t know how to stop thinking about it — about him,” Alyssa said softly, leaning into Emma’s touch. “I need you to distract me.”

They were comfortable with each other. Hell, most of their wine nights ended with them cuddling in Emma’s bed. But it had never gone past innocent, friendly snuggling. That’s why Emma surprised even herself when she leaned forward and kissed Alyssa. 

She pulled away quickly, fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—” She was cut off by Alyssa pulling her in for another kiss. A deeper one. 

It was a scramble to get up off the floor and to the bed. Lab coats and scrub tops hit the tile floor before Alyssa’s knees hit the bed, and they fell onto the bed. 

Emma pulled away to breathe, trying hard to get some sort of oxygen flowing to her brain. Alyssa took this as an invitation to press smoldering kisses on Emma’s jaw and down her neck. “‘Lys, are you sure?” 

Alyssa stopped what she was doing and looked up at the blonde, “yeah. Yeah, I’m sure. Please, Emma, help me.” 

Emma stayed there for a second, frozen in time, hovering over her best friend. A few inches stood between everything staying the way it was and things changing forever. There was no turning back if they crossed this line. And then she looked into Alyssa’s eyes, and she knew she would do anything for her — even if it meant they could never go back to their friendship the way that it was. 

So she closed the distance between them and smiled into the kiss. 

Alyssa was asleep, naked, next to an equally naked Emma. The only difference was that Emma was awake and staring at the ceiling of the on-call room. 

The sex was great. Of course, it was great. It was Alyssa Greene. She didn’t do things half-way. She was an overachiever. Apparently, that applied to the bedroom as well as the OR. 

Emma laid there, trying to figure out what to do. Did she wake up Alyssa, who clearly needed the sleep so they could talk? Or did she slip out, and they would never speak of this again? She turned her head to look at the sleeping doctor and sighed. She looked so peaceful like this, and the last thing Emma wanted to do was wake her up. 

Sure enough, the universe decided for her. Emma’s pager went off, and she scrambled to silence it before it could wake Alyssa. Emma read the message and sighed, “fuck.” She redressed in a matter of seconds, although she couldn’t quite tell if she was wearing her navy scrub top or Alyssa’s. Then again — they’re identical, so it didn’t matter too much. 

She gave one last look at Alyssa’s sleeping form and left the room, running down the hall toward the pit. 

“I’m here,” Emma huffed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. “What’s up?” 

Angie looked at her curiously for a moment before filling her in. “We have a car crash coming in. Nothing too bad from the sounds of it, but I wanted you here just in case.” 

Kaylee handed them both trauma gowns, and they gloved up while they stood side by side in the ambulance bay. “How is she?” Kaylee asked, leaning over to get a look at Emma. 

Emma shrugged, “she’s okay. Sleeping now, which is good because I don’t think she slept at all in the past few weeks.” 

“And her sleeping soundly doesn’t have anything to do with that hickey on your neck?” Angie teased with a smile as Emma smacked her hand against her neck. 

“Oh, god. Oh god, is it bad?” Emma asked, tilting her head to the side so a snickering Angie and Kaylee could get a better look and the trail of marks going up and down the side of her neck. 

Angie waved off the question. “Put your hair down, and it’ll be fine.” 

“I didn’t know you two were— how long has this been going on?” Kaylee was a notorious gossip and usually knew about things before anyone else in the hospital. 

Emma shrugged. “It hasn’t. I mean, I like her. Who wouldn’t? She’s Alyssa. She’s like the perfect woman. But she’s also my best friend, and I didn’t want to ruin that, and—” the piercing rings of sirens cut her off mid-thought. 

“What do we got?” Angie called out as the ambulance came to a halt in front of them. 

“A truck t-boned her car. 43-year-old female, BP is 155/93. She had an elevated heart rate in the field, but it’s calmed down. Multiple contusions along the ribcage and what looks to be a broken femur.” The paramedic called everything out as they rolled the woman into Trauma Room 3. 

“Ma’am, I’m Dr. Dickinson, and these are Doctors Nolan and Klien. We’re going to take care of you. What’s your name?” Angie somehow managed to walk the fine line of being a badass trauma surgeon and a soft, kind caretaker that never failed to make patients feel at ease. 

“Haley Normand,” the woman gasped out as they transferred her from the gurney to the hospital bed. 

“Alright, Haley,” Angie said with a smile. “We’re going to run some tests and get you something for the pain. Dr. Klein is going to check out that leg.” 

Kaylee started checking out the damage and looked up at Angie. “I need an x-ray, but it feels like her femur is shattered, and she has a dislocated patella.” 

“What does that mean?” Haley groaned between clenched teeth. 

“Pretty much your knee is dislocated. It’s going to hurt, but we can reset it and fix that femur in the OR.” Kaylee said with a smile and an excited look at Emma. If there was anything Kaylee loved, it was broken bones — the more pieces, the better. 

Emma was busy with the ultrasound and checking the deep purple bruises forming along Haley’s side. “We need to get her into a CT.” 

Angie nodded, checking Haley’s vitals one more time. “Alright, someone call radiology and let them know we’re coming.” A nurse ran to the phone to make the call while the three surgeons got the bed ready to move. 

Five hours later, Emma made her way back to the on-call room and peeked in. Alyssa wasn’t there. “Damnit, where are you?” She whispered to herself and the missing Alyssa Greene. Emma had just finished her shift, and she knew that the Chief gave Alyssa the rest of the day off after that talk with Joey’s parents — he was a good guy like that. 

Emma tried not to think about it too much as she drove home. Still, her heart was pounding in her chest when she stood in front of Alyssa’s door. She took a breath. And knocked. 

The door opened, and Alyssa stood there in a long t-shirt and a bad case of bed head. “Hey.” 

Emma held onto the strap of her messenger bag like it was her one lifeline to this earth. “Hey. I’m sorry about— uh. I got paged.” 

Alyssa shook her head, “it’s fine. Did they… uh— did they make it?” 

“Yeah. Yeah. Her femur was completely shattered, but she’ll be fine.” Emma studied Alyssa’s face. She looked less tired, but she still had that hint of sadness in her eyes. “Are you okay?” 

“I will be,” Alyssa shrugged and stepped to the side so Emma could come in. “I— can we talk?” 

“Yeah. Of course, we can talk.” Emma took a breath and walked into the apartment, letting the door click shut behind her.

Chapter Text

“Nick, I swear to god!” Kaylee shouted at her boyfriend for what felt like the twentieth time that morning. “You can’t just say stuff like that about a patient. It’s unprofessional and rude.”

“Babe! It’s fine!” Nick ran his hand through his hair, trying to play it off like it was nothing. “It’s a joke. And a damn funny one at that.” 

“His hand was in a meat grinder! You can’t make ground beef jokes to his face!” She pushed his shoulder out of frustration, but he just kept smiling at her like he didn’t see what was wrong. “He was terrified and in pain, and you made it worse.” 

Nick just waved her off, “it’s okay! The guy turned out alright. No harm. No foul.” 

Kaylee just stood there and blinked at the trauma resident. “I can’t believe you. God, I can’t believe you!” 

They both tensed at the terrifying sound of heels clicking on the tile floors. “What’d he do this time, Klein?” Dee Dee asked, not looking up from the chart that was handed to her. 

Kaylee looked back at the space where Nick was standing just seconds before. She sighed and turned to the plastic surgeon. “He called a patient ‘Ground Beef’ to his face.” 

Dee Dee’s eyebrow slowly raised, followed by the rest of her face to look up at Kaylee. “Ground Beef? Is that the meat grinder guy?” 

“Yes, ma’am. And I told him how not okay it is and how unprofessional and—” 

Dee Dee cut her off with a raised hand. “Klien.” 

“Yes, ma’am?” 

“I like you,” Dee Dee said nonchalantly. The thing is, Dee Dee Allen never gave compliments. Kaylee stood there stunned. “You’re a smart surgeon. Sure, you’re a carpenter, but you have good instincts, and you’re quick on your feet. If you apply yourself to the medicine and not worry about stupid boys like Boomer — you could be amazing.” 

“I—” Kaylee felt like the floor dropped out from underneath her. “Thank you, Dr. Allen.” 

Dee Dee threw her a wink and headed off towards the elevators. “Boys like him are a dime a dozen. You’re a star. Set your standards higher than Boomer. Trust me.” 

The elevator door dinged open, and Shelby stepped out, smiling at Dee Dee. She scanned the space, and her eyes lit up when she saw Kaylee standing at the nurses’ station. “Kaylee! I need your help.” 

“What’s up?” Kaylee stuffed her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. 

“I’ve got a mother that’s about 36 weeks along with OI,” Shelby said, walking with Kaylee towards the cafeteria. 

“Brittle Bone? Have you checked the baby?” 

Shelby nodded, “yeah. And she has it.” 

Kaylee held the door open for Shelby to walk into the cafeteria before her. “So, why do you need me?” 

Shelby flashed her a dazzling smile and rocked forward on her toes, “you are going to help me cure it.” 

Kaylee stood there, jaw on the floor. “I— excuse me?” 

“You’re going to help me cure it,” Shelby said. It wasn’t a question or a request. It was a fact. 

She left Kaylee standing there while she grabbed a tray and picked out a salad. She exchanged pleasantries with the lunch lady, Kathy. Shelby had delivered both of Kathy’s kids — she didn’t usually do non-surgical deliveries. But she made an exception for Kathy. She was sweet and stashed Shelby’s chocolate for her — just in case of a bad day, so Shelby made an exception for a friend. By the time she had paid and grabbed silverware, Kaylee had seemingly processed what she had said. 

“How are we going to cure a fetus’s Brittle Bone Disease?” She looked at Shelby in awe, like she was the second coming or something. “I’ve never heard of that happening. Is that even possible?” 

Shelby shrugged like it was the most common thing ever. “We’re going to make it possible. You, me, and the magic of stem cells.” 

“You’re amazing, do you know that?” Kaylee felt like she was looking at Shelby with brand new eyes. “You’re so confident, and you’re professional and mature.” 

Her eyebrows furrowed together as she sipped on her water. “Is that rare?” 

Kaylee just laughed, “in my life, yeah.” 

Shelby put her water bottle down on the table and leaned towards Kaylee as if she was telling her some huge secret. “Well, if you do this with me, then it won’t be as rare, will it?”

Shelby’s smile was dazzling, and for the first time in a long time, Kaylee felt butterflies flit around her stomach. The problem was, Kaylee didn’t know if they were thanks to the promise of a badass medical breakthrough or the surgeon sitting across the table smiling at her. 

“Well then, I guess we’re doing this.” 

“How are you so good at that?” Alyssa asked Emma indecorously. 

Emma shrugged, “it’s all in the wrist.” 

“No, I’m serious,” Alyssa was practically glowing in the lights. “I have never seen anyone throw that many sutures that fast.” 

“The kid’s bowel was completely perfed; I had to move fast. The longer it was leaking, the greater the risk of infection.” Emma dried her hands off after finishing her scrub out routine. 

“How are you so humble?” Alyssa looked at Emma like all she wanted was to kiss her in the scrub room — in front of the OR staff who was turning over the operating room. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t, not after their talk a few nights ago. 

Outside of work, they could be themselves. They could be Emma and Alyssa, newly dating, still in that honeymoon phase where they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off of each other. But in the hospital and around their colleagues — that was a different story. Within the walls of Edgewater General, they were just Dr. Greene and Dr. Nolan. Two very professional surgeons who tried very hard not to pull each other into the nearest on-call room. 

Emma shrugged again as they walked out of the scrub room towards the elevator. It was lunchtime, and they both had worked up an appetite. “I don’t see the point of having a big ego.” 

“You’re a surgeon. You save lives every single day. An ego and a god complex pretty much come with the job.” 

“I just like helping. I’m a helper.” Emma pressed the button and smiled a little at how Alyssa looked at her as they waited for the elevator. The doors opened, and they stepped in. Both women were secretly relieved that there was no one in there with them. 

“I love that about you,” Alyssa said softly, relishing in the warm smile Emma gave her. “Emma?” 

“Alyssa?” 

“Thank you.” 

Emma turned to face her, confused. “For what?” 

“For being you,” Alyssa took a step closer to Emma. Her eyes flickered down to the blonde’s lips and back up to her eyes. 

Emma instinctually leaned forward. She couldn’t help but smirk at the way Alyssa’s breath caught in her throat. “I could say the same thing.” 

Alyssa got a mischievous glint in her eye. “Or we could not say anything for a little while.” 

Emma’s eyebrow raised slowly, “Dr. Greene, they have cameras in the elevators.” 

“You’re no fun,” Alyssa whined.

“You’re the one who said ‘no sexytime in the hospital.’ We’re just coworkers.” She leaned in with a devious smile, “but the minute we get home, I know more than a few ways you can make it up to me.” 

That elicited a whimper from Alyssa, and they both stepped back from each other as the door dinged open again. “When do you get off?” 

Emma dropped her voice to barely a whisper, “I think that depends on you.” She sped off towards the cafeteria, leaving a flustered Alyssa stuck to her spot in the elevator. 

Shelly’s, the bar right across the street from the hospital, bustled with activity. A mix of patient families, med students, doctors, and the occasional lush all crowded around the bar where Sheldon, the owner and main bartender, mixed drinks. 

Shelby and Kaylee sat at one of the tall tables by the worn dartboard. Kaylee had her forehead against the table and was muttering something Shelby couldn’t quite understand. 

“You know it’s easier to have a conversation if you’re looking at me, right?” Shelby took another sip of her martini. 

Kaylee lifted her head to look at Shelby like it was a gargantuan task. “I just don’t understand how he’s going to be a doctor. He makes jokes, is straight-up rude, and it’s not like he has any sort of bedside manner.” 

“Then why are you dating him?” Shelby played with the olive in her drink as Kaylee opened and closed her mouth like a bewildered fish. 

“I— I don’t know,” she said, downing her drink. “I need more alcohol. Shots?” 

Shelby laughed and shrugged, “sure.” 

Kaylee made her way through the crowd to the bar, where Sheldon handed her two tequila shots with a wink. She grabbed them and weaved in between groups of dancing interns back to her table where Shelby was talking with a tall man with fancy har. Kaylee set the drinks down and looked between the man and a visually uncomfortable Shelby. 

“Hi, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” Kaylee gave him a sickly sweet smile and stuck out her hand. “I’m Kaylee.” 

He had a smile that screamed ‘slimy,’ and he took Kaylee’s hand and kissed the back of it. Kaylee had to hold back from gagging. “And are you a doctor too, Kaylee?” 

“Yes, I am.” She shared a look with Shelby. “And you are?” 

He sat a little taller and puffed out his chest. “Wondering if I can take you two lovely ladies home so we can play doctor.” 

Both women sat there, frozen for a second in a mix of awe, shock, and disgust. Kaylee leaned into the man. “Well, I don’t know how fun that would be considering that Shelby cuts open babies, and I shatter bones every day at work.” She smirked as the blood drained from his face. “But, if you’re sure you want to play patient for us, I am more than happy to get a little extra practice in.” 

Before either doctor could say anything else, he was gone. Shelby grabbed one of the shots and threw it back, sucking on the lime as Kaylee laughed. “Thank you. I had no idea how to get rid of him.” 

Kaylee just shrugged, “I figured the fake ‘this is my girlfriend’ act wouldn’t work with a perv like him, so the threat of a broken hand is always a good backup.” 

“Yeah, he probably would’ve asked us to prove it, and then we’d have to kiss,” Shelby’s laugh was contagious, and Kaylee couldn’t help but laugh with her. 

There was a second where everything melted away, and they looked at each other for what felt like the first time. The laugher slowly died down. 

Chapter Text

Emma couldn’t help but smile when she saw Alyssa in the locker room. They’d been secretly together for a few months now, and it was Thursday. Thursdays meant date night. Barring any emergency surgeries, they made sure that their schedules were clear, and they would make dinner together and snuggle up to watch a movie. 

They usually only made it past the opening credits before they were half-naked and pulling the other into the bedroom. 

Thankfully, no other attendings were in the room with them, so Emma leaned against the wall and watched Alyssa change out of her scrubs and into her street clothes. “I was thinking carbonara tonight.” 

Alyssa looked up at her, smiling through the hair that fell in front of her face, “that sounds delicious. And it’ll be good because someone needs to carb-load for what I have planned for you tonight.” She straightened up with a devilish smile that only grew when she saw Emma’s eyes dart down to her chest. “Are you almost done with your shift?” 

Emma managed to tear her eyes away from the expanse of skin in front of her as Alyssa pulled on her shirt and jacket. “Yeah, I have an hour left. Just have to check on some post-ops, and then I’m all yours. ” 

Alyssa hummed and took a few steps toward Emma, “just how I like it.” She leaned forward to give Emma a quick kiss, then grabbed her bag and left the locker room right as Barry walked in with an exhausted look on his face. “Night, Dr. Glickman!” 

He watched her leave with an amused look. “She’s so peppy. How is she so peppy?”

Emma shrugged, “she’s a peppy gal.” 

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Barry snorted. He sat down on one of the benches and put his head in his hands. 

Emma moved to sit next to him, “you okay, Barry?” 

He sighed and rubbed his face. “I’m tired. We had a routine CABG that went to shit. So instead of a four-hour surgery, we were working for fourteen.” 

“I’m sorry,” Emma winced in sympathy. She hadn’t spent a lot of time one-on-one with the cardio surgeon, but she liked him from the time they spent in surgeries together. “Are they going to pull through?” 

Barry nodded, a small smile curled on his lips. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Congrats.” They sat there in silence for a beat before Emma cleared her throat. “Barry?” 

“Yeah?” He looked up at Emma. 

“I’ve been seeing someone,” Emma started. She was playing a fun game of ‘how to say this without saying anything specific.’ “Uh— they work here, and, well, they’re not out.” 

His face melted into a mix of pity and understanding. “And you’re coming to the gay uncle of the hospital for advice. Are you the first woman they’ve dated?” 

She nodded. “They’ve known that they’re gay for a while, just haven’t acted on it, and I—” Emma looked up at the ceiling and took a breath. “I’ve been out my whole life. My parents disowned me because of it, and I lived with my Gran because of it. I’ve been out of the closet for the entirety of my adult life and—” 

“—and you don’t want to have to go back in again,” he finished. “Have you talked about this?” 

“We did the first time we talked about our relationship, and things have been so good, but I just—” She sighed. “I just want to stop being a secret. I want to be able to kiss them in the hallway and not worry so much about being professional whenever I see them, you know?” 

Emma felt a hand on her shoulder, “I know. But you should be talking to them about this, not me.” 

“I don’t even know how I’d bring it up. Things have been going so well the way things are.” 

Barry gently turned her to face him, “but if this is going to make it harder in the long run, you guys need to talk about it. And no matter how it goes, I’ll be here, and we can start the Edgewater General chapter of the ‘Single Gay Surgeons Club.’” 

Emma couldn’t help but chuckle and nodded. “Deal.” The beeping of her pager made her smile fall. “Shoot, I got to go.” She got up to leave the locker room and see why Carrie was paging her. 

“Hey, Emma,” Barry called out as she opened the door to leave. “If you ever need a friend or someone to vent to, I have an ongoing tab at Shelly’s.” 

“Thanks, Barry,” she said with a grin before heading to the elevators. 

The smile she left the locker room with quickly fell when she saw Carrie standing there with Mr. Dixon laid out in his hospital bed. Everything looked normal. Well, everything except that his skin was a bright shade of yellow. 

“Damn,” Emma muttered under her breath. He was leaking bile, and she had to fix it. “Mr. Dixon, there was a slight complication with your liver resection. Dr. Delgatto and I are going to be placing a stent so that the bile will drain properly.” 

“I’m yellow,” he said weakly. he held up his hand to show Emma, who just nodded. 

“Yes, sir, it’s jaundice. This happens sometimes, but there’s nothing to be worried about.” Emma gave him a reassuring smile before turning over to Carrie. “Let’s get him ready for a Biliary Stent Placement. And if any interns want to watch, they’re more than welcome to. You’ll assist.” 

Carrie nodded and left the room to grab a nurse and a few other interns. Emma sighed and pulled out her phone. Hey Lys, slight hitch in the plan. I shouldn’t be more than a few hours. Go ahead and eat dinner. I’ll be home as soon as possible. 

Butterflies fluttered around her stomach when she saw Alyssa’s response. A singular red heart followed by “good luck.” Emma slipped the phone back into her pocket, and she walked into the outpatient surgery wing. Carrie was not too far behind, and they scrubbed in together as they watched the nurses roll Mr. Dixon into the OR. 

“Thanks for letting me help you with this,” Carrie said softly. 

“Of course! This is a teaching hospital, isn’t it?” Emma laughed, trying hard to keep things casual. She knew how hard the other general attendings were on the interns and residents, so she took on a lot of their education on her shoulders. 

“You’d think that,” Carrie sounded tired.

Emma stopped her scrub in and turned toward her. “Carrie, you’re going to be great, and I’m going to help you get there. You’re a good doctor, and I’m proud of you.” She knew she didn't say anything mushy or too emotional — but most surgeons in this hospital were so focused on pushing boundaries, winning awards, and being the best that teaching and nurturing students sometimes fell by the wayside. Emma couldn't remember one time in the entirety of her residency that an attending said they were proud of her, and she didn't want that for her residents, especially Carrie. 

Carrie looked at her with watery eyes, “if we didn’t just scrub in, then I’d hug you right now, Dr. Nolan.” 

“Let’s wait until we get this stent in, and then we can hug,” Emma said with a chuckle and walked into the OR. 

They were in and out in just under an hour, and Emma opened her arms, and Carrie gave her a crushing hug. Emma let her hug it out and couldn’t help but smile at the look of admiration and gratitude in Carrie’s eyes. 

Carrie pulled back and looked like a whole new person. It was like the circles under her eyes had disappeared, and she was practically glowing. “Can I buy you a drink? As a thank you?” 

“Sorry, I have a date tonight,” Emma said, rubbing the back of her neck. “But, you can check on my other patients and update my charts for me, and then we can go out for celebratory drinks another time. Maybe after you do my appendectomy with me tomorrow?” 

Carrie quite literally jumped for joy and sped down the hall towards the nurses’ station so she could grab Emma’s charts. 

Emma didn’t realize how exhausted she was until she knocked on the door to Alyssa’s apartment. The door opened up, and she saw Alyssa’s smiling face. She shuffled into the apartment and headed straight for the bed. 

Alyssa’s place was more comfortable than Emma’s, who still hadn’t decorated even after months of living there. Alyssa’s apartment was filled with throw pillows and extra-fluffy blankets, with various pieces of artwork hanging on the walls. It was homey, whereas Emma’s apartment was functional. Not to mention, Alyssa’s bed felt like sleeping on the most luxurious cloud, and it called to Emma. 

Emma fell face-first into the bed and let out a breath. Alyssa wasn’t far behind her in a silk robe that showed off just a peek of something black and lacy. Not that Emma noticed. She just grunted a little as Alyssa pulled off Emma’s shoes and laid down next to her. Alyssa felt Emma’s breath even out as she drifted off into a deep sleep. 

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile a little at her sleeping girlfriend. She pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered, “happy four-month anniversary, Emma.” 

The blonde didn’t respond. Instead, she nuzzled into Alyssa’s side with a happy hum. Alyssa managed to turn the lights off and threw a blanket over them. Emma’s warmth and the feel of her heartbeat lull her to sleep. 

Emma woke up at 6:30 on the dot, like she always did. She hated mornings but had trained her body to wake up early enough to down at least two cups of coffee before she had to go to work. The only thing that was out of the norm this morning was that she was fully clothed in Alyssa’s bed. Usually, when she slept over at Alyssa’s, there was a significant lack of clothing, but instead, she was in what she wore to work the day before. 

She turned over to see a sleeping Alyssa in a silk robe that had fallen open overnight and revealed a black lace bodysuit that made Emma’s mouth go dry. They may have missed date night, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t make up for lost time before work.  

Emma traced her fingers up and down Alyssa’s bare leg. She leaned in a little bit closer to Alyssa as her hand slowly trailed up the back of her knee. The next thing she knew, there was a flash of white and a crack as Alyssa’s leg jerked up, and she kneed Emma in the nose. 

Alyssa opened her eyes to a scream and blood everywhere. “Oh my god! Emma, I’m so sorry!” She rushed forward and pulled Emma’s hand away from her face. “Oh god, I broke your nose. I just broke your nose! Emma, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” 

Emma groaned, “besides the blood and the pain, I’m fine.” 

“I’m so sorry, you got my ticklish spot, and I just— Oh god, baby.” Alyssa jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom to get a towel. The front of Emma’s shirt had a trail of blood down it, and dark bruises were already forming. Alyssa ran to the kitchen and grabbed an ice pack before sprinting into the bedroom and giving it to Emma. 

“We need Dee Dee,” Emma said as she held the ice pack to her face. “Alyssa, go to my place and grab me some clothes, and then we need to see Dee Dee. If we page her to come to the hospital, do you think she’ll come in early?” 

“If we make it a 9-1-1,” Alyssa said, very out of breath. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of everything. Just keep icing your face. Oh, god, your face. Your beautiful face. I broke your face.” 

Emma couldn’t help but laugh at the panic in Alyssa’s voice. “Dee Dee will fix me up, and no one will even know it was broken.” 

Alyssa just nodded and ran around her apartment and Emma’s, gathering everything they needed and slipping on some sweats and a t-shirt before leading Emma to the hospital. Dee Dee stood at the hospital's entryway with a pissed-off look that fell away when she saw a staggering, bloody Emma Nolan. 

“Dear god, what happened?” She put her arm around the general surgeon and led her to an exam room. 

“My foot got caught on some clothes. I fell into the doorjamb,” Emma lied as Dee Dee pulled the ice pack away from her face. 

“That’s a good lie,” Dee Dee said with a smirk. “That’ll work with patients and most people in this hospital, but not me. What happened?” 

Emma and Alyssa shared a panicked look before Alyssa blurted out, “I kneed her in the face. I was asleep, and she tickled me, and I didn’t mean to. I was still asleep when I did it.” 

Dee Dee’s eyebrow slowly raised along with a smile. “And I take it no one else knows about you two…” She gestured between them. 

“No,” Alyssa said, watching as Dee Dee pulled out a syringe. “We are keeping it professional. Hospital time is work time, and home time is our time.” 

Dee Dee just hummed as she examined Emma’s nose. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with mixing the two worlds. Just some food for thought. Anyway, Emma, I think we should just put you under general anesthesia, and I can get this fixed for you.” 

“How long is it going to look like this?” Emma asked with a whimper as Dee Dee put the ice pack back on her face. 

Dee Dee shrugged, “a few weeks. Three absolute tops.” 

Alyssa’s pager beeped, and they all looked down at it. “I have to go. I’m sorry.” 

“You’re fine. I’ll see you soon.” Emma said with a small wave goodbye. 

Alyssa looked at her pager to Emma and back again. The last thing she wanted to do was leave Emma, but the tiny humans needed her. She sighed and left the exam room. 

“How long have you two been together?” Dee Dee asked as she put an IV in Emma’s arm. 

“Four months.” 

“That’s nice.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Dee Dee pulled her gloves off, “we’ll get you into an outpatient OR, and then you’re taking the day off. Tom will take over your caseload for the day. He’ll be happy to have something that’s not Chief Business to do.” 

“Thanks, Dee Dee.” Emma felt the pain meds slowly enter into her veins. The pain went away, and the world went a little fuzzy. “You’re a good friend.” 

“Mmmhm. And don’t you forget it.” Dee Dee chuckled as she got up and started to leave the room. She turned around with her hand on the door handle and a smirk on her face, “oh, and Emma? No activities that involve your face for a few weeks, okay?” 

Emma felt a blush travel from her cheeks to her chest. “Okay.” 

“And make sure Alyssa knows too.”

Chapter Text

It was the fifth night in a row that Kaylee and Shelby were sleeping at the hospital. They had been working tirelessly for months on “Operation: Brittle Bone Breakthrough,” and they knew they were close. If Kaylee wasn’t in the OR or asleep, she researched or was in the lab. 

Nick wasn’t happy about that. 

She and Shelby had gotten closer too. They had always been friends and regularly went out for drinks with Alyssa before Emma came to the hospital. Still, spending hours on end with each other gave them a comfortable intimacy that not many people shared with their coworkers. Most nights, they would collapse in the nearest on-call room and fall asleep in the same bed. It was a common occurrence for Kaylee to wake up in Shelby’s arms with her face pressed up against the neonatal surgeon’s neck. They had gotten to a point where they didn’t even need to talk to communicate. It was like they shared a brain, and all it took was a look or a touch, and the other would automatically know what to do. 

Kaylee noticed how Shelby held her stress in her shoulders and neck, so she gave her back rubs. Shelby knew how Kaylee was always freezing, so she would give her one of her jackets to wear around the hospital. Of course, this sparked rumors within the hospital’s rumor mill that the women were in a relationship, and they were using the project as an excuse to spend time together at work. 

Nick wasn’t happy about that either. 

“Kaylee, you haven’t been home in like a week!” He yelled in the hall after she had told him she was spending the night at the hospital again. He dropped his voice to a whisper, “we haven’t had sex in weeks. I’m dying here.” 

“I’m sorry,” Kaylee scoffed. “I’m trying to help make a baby’s life better and change the face of medicine. This trial could make my career.” 

“But why do you have to do it with her,” he hissed through his teeth, pulling Kaylee into a supply closet by her elbow. 

Kaylee blinked at him for a moment in silence. “Shel is one of the best neonatal surgeons in the world. Who else in this hospital would I do this trial with? And it was her idea anyway!” 

“I don’t like how she looks at you,” Nick grumbled. And then it suddenly clicked for Kaylee. 

“You’re jealous? You’re jealous that I’m spending time with my friend and colleague?” She shook her head in disbelief at her boyfriend. Deep down, Kaylee knew that Nick was insecure and made up for it with his macho-man attitude and constant showboating, but this was just too much for her. 

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t see how she looks at you. It’s not right. You’re dating me, not her.” 

Kaylee couldn’t believe what he was saying. “Not anymore.” 

“Excuse me?” His voice had an edge to it that only affirmed to Kaylee that she was making the right choice. 

“I’m not dating you anymore,” she gestured between them, “this is done.” 

“Kaylee, you don’t mean that.” 

“No, I do. You want me to stop work that is not only incredibly important to me but could change thousands of lives because you don’t like the person I’m working with.” She snapped and stood her ground as she watched Nick try and find a way to get himself out of the hole he had dug. “That’s not okay. So we’re done.” 

Before he could try and argue back, Kaylee turned on her heels and left her ex-boyfriend in the dark of the supply closet. There was an intoxicating mix of anger, adrenaline, and something that she couldn’t quite place coursing through her veins. She blew into the lab with a huff, surprising Shelby, who looked up from her microscope.  

“Everything okay?” Shelby had her hair tied up into a messy bun of dark curls, and for some reason, it made Kaylee’s heart race. 

“I broke up with Nick,” she said it like it was the most mundane thing ever, and not like she had just ended a two-year relationship. 

Shelby’s eyes went wide at the news, and she moved off of her stool towards Kaylee. “What happened?” 

Kaylee just shrugged, “he thought I was spending too much time on the trial and not enough time with him.” 

Shelby’s face flashed with guilt before she nodded, “well, we have been kind of crazy with it lately. Thank god I don’t have a pet, or else they’d be dead by now.” 

Kaylee pulled her hair up into a ponytail and made her way to the microscope. She looked into the eyepiece and pulled away to look at Shelby. “Holy shit.” 

A smile spread across Shelby’s lips as she nodded. “Yeah.” 

“And these are the mom’s marrow cells?” Kaylee asked, flipping through the notebook they kept near the microscope at all times. 

“Yep.” The joy seeped into Shelby’s voice as Kaylee checked and re-checked the cell culture. 

“Shelby, these are normal and healthy bone cells.” Kaylee practically vibrated in her seat as she put it all together. “Shelby? Did we just cure Brittle Bone?” 

“We gotta make it happen again to make sure this wasn’t a fluke, but I think we did.” 

Kaylee vaulted off of the stool and into Shelby’s arm as they jumped around in celebration. The lab was filled with sounds of laughter and joy as they danced around the room. They were face to face and trying hard to catch their breath, and for a moment, the entire world stood still. Shelby looked at Kaylee with sparkling eyes, and a few curls had escaped from her bun and fell across her face. She looked like a work of art, and Kaylee wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment for the rest of her life with Shelby Gonzales. 

It was like she saw Shelby for the first time, and she was intoxicated by the beauty in front of her. Kaylee’s eyes flickered down to Shelby’s lips, and she wanted nothing more than to know what they felt like against hers. It excited her and terrified her all at the same time. 

But then her pager beeped and snapped Kaylee out of her Shelby-induced haze. 

“Damnit, it’s Trent. He needs a consult,” she said as she tried to catch her breath. “Want to get celebratory drinks tonight?” 

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Shelby said with a small smile. Her cheeks were flushed, and she tried to tuck her errant curls behind her ear. “I’ll see you later.” 

Kaylee gave a small wave and left the lab. A feeling of uncertainty made its home in the back of her mind, and she tried hard to ignore how confused she was as she made her way to radiology. She saw a pair of feet lying outside of the MRI and went into the imaging room, where Trent stared at the screen with a frown. 

“What’s up?” She slipped into one of the rolly chairs and watched as the images loaded onto the computer screen. 

“17-year-old quarterback, he took a hit in the back, and now he can’t move or feel his legs,” Trent sighed. He and Alyssa were notorious for getting too-connected to their patients, and Kaylee could see the tell-tale signs all over Trent’s face.

“That looks like spinal dislocations on T-5 through T-8,” Kaylee muttered to herself as she looked at the scans. “Let me move around my schedule, and I’ll scrub in with you.” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. The emotional whiplash that came from fighting with Nick to celebrating with Shelby took that last bit of energy she had that day. 

He studied Kaylee for a moment, “are you okay?” 

“It’s been a wild hour,” Kaylee grumbled. “Page me when you need me. I’m going to grab a coffee.” She left for the coffee cart and snagged a cookie and a coffee for a quick pick-me-up. 

Kevin, one of the pediatric surgical nurses, came up to Kaylee with a huge smile. “Shelby told me! Congrats!” He scooped her up into a crushing hug. Her arms were pinned to her sides, but Kaylee didn’t mind much. Kevin was like a puppy. He was sweet, fun, and a little excitable. 

He gingerly placed her back on the ground and gave her a blistering smile. “Thanks, Kev. Hopefully, we can make it happen again.” 

“Oh, please,” he scoffed. “That’ll be nothing! You guys got this. And, just because I’m so certain of your success, I’m going to buy you a celebratory coffee because you look like you need it.” 

Kaylee felt all of her stress momentarily melt away when she saw a head of curly black hair coming out of the elevator. She was so focused on Shelby that she hardly noticed when Kevin handed her a coffee cup. Kevin said something to her that she didn’t quite catch, but he managed to pull her attention away from Shelby with a small “your pager is going off.” 

She sighed and looked down at the message, and, sure enough, Trent needed her. Kaylee downed her coffee and threw Kevin an apologetic smile. Being paged in the middle of conversations was a regular occurrence at Edgewater General, so it was something that everyone had grown accustomed to. “Thanks for the coffee. I have to go.” 

Kevin waved goodbye, and Kaylee went toward the patient’s room. 

The heart monitor’s comforting beeping played a steady beat for the dance that was spinal surgery with Dr. Trent Oliver. Kaylee was familiar with the surgical styles of every attending in the hospital. Dee Dee’s was like painting a picture. Barry was straightforward. Alyssa operated like she was playing a game of chess.

But Trent? 

Trent treated the operating room as his theater. 

Scrubbing in was the overture. The first cut was the opening number. He never had an intermission if he could help it. And, eventually, he would take his final bow with a grin and breath of relief. 

Kaylee joined in on his dance with relative ease, but she found herself distracted. 

Trent noticed this an hour into surgery. “Dr. Klein?” She hummed in response, eyes fixated on the bones in front of her. “Are you okay?” 

Her head shot up to look at a pair of eyes that studied her. She opened her mouth to lie, to say that everything was alright, but there was something in the way that Trent watched her that made her second guess her lie. Deep down, Kaylee knew he wouldn’t buy it. “I’m just off my game right now. I broke up with Nick.” 

He nodded, “Is this because of your research project with Dr. Gonzales?” 

“Uh— yeah. That’s part of it. I don’t know. I think I’m just confused. My head’s telling me one thing. Then my heart tells me something else.” She sighed and tightened one of the many screws along the spine. 

“Do you know why I went into Neuro?” Kaylee shook her head no. "Your bones hold you up. Your heart keeps you running. But the brain? The brain makes you who you are. It helps you feel and remember. All that you are and ever will be is thanks to your brain. It’s very poetic. And sometimes, the brain does some wacky things that we don’t expect. Does that mean that these things are wrong? Does it mean that they’re unnatural? No! Just because something is unexpected doesn’t make it wrong or bad. It just makes it a surprise. Your liver doesn’t surprise you, but your brain does every single day. So, if your brain is telling you something, I’d listen to it.”

“That was the longest way to say ‘follow your heart’ that I’ve ever heard,” Kaylee chuckled. Of course, operating with Trent would turn into a monologue about the brain. 

“Your heart is a muscle. It doesn’t feel. Your brain, on the other hand, does,” he said plainly. “Can we get some more suction here?” 

Kaylee spent the rest of the surgery in deep thought. It wasn’t until she had scrubbed out and saw Shelby sat in the seating area by the hospital entrance that she knew what her brain was telling her. Shelby smiled at her as she stood up to walk to Shelly’s with her. 

She moved like she was about to say something, but Kaylee cut her off with a smoldering kiss. Shelby stood there, stock-still as Kaylee kissed her.  It wasn’t until Kaylee pulled back, slightly panicking, that Shelby grabbed her and kissed her back. 

They pulled away to catch their breath, and Shelby whispered, “so do you still want to get that drink or…”

Kaylee laughed and pulled Shelby toward her car. “You have wine at your place, right?” 

Chapter Text

Being Chief of Surgery meant hectic days for Dr. Tom Hawkins. Between juggling actual surgeries, budget meetings, hundreds of egos of various doctors and surgeons, and keeping up with the dozens of research projects and trials in the hospital, Hawkins was lucky to have a moment to himself. Even walking down the hallway meant being called into some sort of emergency, so he made it a point to try and look as busy as possible wherever he went. 

Hawkins was busy looking over a file filled with different budget proposals from the board for the next fiscal quarter as he walked down the hall towards the elevator. One more meeting with the board this week, and then he’d be free for his daily lunch with Dee Dee. 

“Tom Hawkins!? Is that you?” A vaguely familiar voice called out from a patient room to Hawkins as he made his way down the hall. He stopped mid-step, took a deep breath, and entered the room with a forced smile. The smile quickly turned genuine when he realized just who was lying in the hospital bed.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Janice Strickland,” Hawkins couldn’t help but grin at the sight of his old high school crush. “You haven’t changed one bit.” 

It wasn’t a lie. Besides some of the normal wear and tear that comes with age — namely wrinkles and deep smile lines — Janice Strickland looked just like she did when she walked off after her final bow as a high school senior playing Nancy in “Oliver.” 

“Same with you, Tom!” She laughed, reaching her hand out for him to try and bring him closer. He took a few steps closer to her bed and grabbed the clipboard hanging at the foot of it. “Look at you, all doctorly and handsome.” 

Hawkins couldn’t help but smile as he looked over the chart. 

Janice Strickland (she/her)

Age: 54 

Reason for Visit: Scheduled Cholecystectomy

Surgeon: Dr. Emma Nolan

Emergency Contact: Samantha Hawthorne (Sister) 

The rest didn’t matter to Hawkins, and he put the clipboard back. “I see you’re with Dr. Nolan today.” 

“Yes! She’s so sweet,” Janice said, patting the bed to get Tom to sit with her. He complied, and she leaned in as if she was about to tell him a big secret. “Is she a— you know. A good doctor?” 

Hawkins’s eyebrow slowly traveled up his forehead. “Is she good?” 

Janice gently smacked his arm and blushed, “she just looks so young. And you’ve been in this business for a while. And she’s going to be rummaging around my insides, and I need to know: is she a good doctor?” 

Hawkins couldn’t help but chuckle at the slowly spreading blush traveling down Janice’s neck. “I hired her myself. Trust me. She’s a good doctor.” 

Janice sat back in the bed with a surprised look, “you hired her?” Her head was swarming with what he could have meant by that. Janice kept her voice at a whisper, “Tom, are you the boss here? Is this your hospital?” 

Hawkins nodded and took her hand in his, “this is my hospital. I’m the Chief of Surgery. And, since you’re nervous about your Choly, how about I sit in and assist Dr. Nolan on it?”

“Tom,” she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “That would be so nice, thank you. I don’t mean to sound like a baby, but ever since Bill and I split up, I’ve been going through these kinds of things alone. Well, I have Sam, but she’s busy with the kids and won’t be here until after I wake up, and I’m just scared.” 

“Hey, hey hey,” Hawkins shushed her and pulled her in for a hug. “It’s all okay. We’re going to get you through this.” 

They stayed like that for a moment as she clung to his lab coat. Hawkins was more than happy to keep holding on to his old friend but pulled away when there was a small knock at the door. They both turned towards the door and saw Emma standing there uncomfortably with Carrie peeking over her shoulder. 

“Sorry for interrupting, Chief Hawkins, but we’re just here to check on Ms. Strickland,” Emma said uneasily, eyes darting back and forth from Chief to Janice and back again. Carrie pushed up on her toes to see why the Chief was in their patient’s room. “If this is a bad time, we can come back later.” 

Hawkins waved them in and gave Janice’s hand a soft pat. “You’re alright, Dr. Nolan. Janice and I are old friends, and we were just catching up.” His phone chirped in his pocket. He didn’t even have to check it to know it was his assistant asking him where he was. “I have to get to a meeting, but if it’s alright with you, Dr. Nolan, I’d like to scrub in with you.” 

Emma’s eyes went wide, and Carrie looked slightly bummed behind her. “Oh— Of course, Chief. It’ll be a pleasure to have you in the OR.” They watched as Hawkins nodded and gave some sort of a meaningful look to Janice before sweeping out of the room and speedwalking towards the conference room. Emma shared a look with Carrie, but they both turned back to Janice with smiles. “Dr. Delgatto is going to run a few pre-surgery tests, but we should be good to go. If you have any questions, Dr. Delgatto will be able to answer them for you.” 

Emma left the room and furrowed her brows, trying to figure out what she had walked in on. She was so lost in thought that she hardly noticed Alyssa heading towards her with a huge smile. Emma was so in her head that when Alyssa hipped checked her, she was on the floor. 

“Oh my god, Emma!” Alyssa gasped and was on the floor next to her girlfriend before Emma even knew what had happened. “I keep hurting you. I am so sorry. Why do I keep hurting you?” 

Emma reached a hand out for Alyssa to help her up, “a bruised hip is better than a broken nose.” She chuckled before muttering under her breath so the nurses couldn’t hear, “you can always kiss it better.” 

Alyssa went red and bit back a smile, “when’s your surgery, Dr. Nolan?” 

Emma smiled over her chart at Alyssa, “two hours, why?” 

Alyssa pushed herself off of the counter and crossed behind Emma. She lowered her voice and leaned in a little “meet me in our regular on-call room, and I’ll kiss it better for you.” 

Emma’s heart skipped a beat, and she felt a small burst of adrenaline rush through her system. She cleared her throat and clicked her pen closed. “I’d be more than happy to help you with that consult, Dr. Greene.” She looked at the nurse, who was smirking at them — Emma was convinced the entire hospital knew about their relationship. Still, Alyssa didn’t believe her whenever Emma tried to point out the gossiping interns. “If you could let Dr. Delgatto know that she can page me if she needs me, that’d be great.” 

The nurse just shook her head and smiled at Emma, “go get your girl, I’ll take care of this.” Emma gave her a grateful look and went to the elevator where Dee Dee was waiting. 

“Dr. Allen, how are you doing on this fine day?” Emma asked pleasantly, rocking back and forth on her heels. 

Dee Dee inspected her face through squinted eyes, “you can’t even see a scar. It’s like your face was never touched.” She chuckled to herself. “I am so damn good at my job. I amaze myself sometimes.” 

Emma brought a hand up to touch her nose. It had healed weeks ago, but as Dee Dee said, it looked like nothing had even happened. “Yeah, it’s all good. Uh— thank you again for that and for you keeping it quiet.” 

Dee Dee scoffed, “please, you two are so bad at hiding it that it’s funny. You’re probably on your way to go ravish each other in an on-call room.” 

Emma stared at the doors of the elevator, willing them to open or for the ground to open up and swallow her whole to get her out of this conversation. “Dee Dee, do you know Janice Strickland?” 

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened, both women stepped in, and Emma hit the fifth-floor button. Dee Dee was lost in thought for a moment, “I don’t think I do. Why?” 

“She’s here for a Choly, but she and the Chief go way back. I went to go help run some labs, and they were all—” she gestured in the air, trying to find words. 

“All what?” Dee Dee asked. Her eyebrows were raised, and she stepped in front of Emma, cornering her in the elevator. 

“I don’t know. They were hugging like… I don’t know.” Dee Dee stepped forward and towered over Emma. “It didn’t feel like friends hugging. Maybe I’m just reading into these things, but it just looked like there was some history there.” 

Dee Dee scrutinized Emma’s face for any other information before stepping back and pulling out her phone to text her husband. “Emma Jean Nolan, if you hear anything else about this Janice lady, you report straight to me. Got it?” 

“How do you know my middle name?” Dee Dee took another menacing step toward Emma, who threw her hands up in surrender, “I got it!” 

The elevator dinged open once more, and Emma scampered out of the elevator like it was on fire. She took a breath and walked past the nurses’ station, giving a friendly wave to Kevin, who had his feet up on the desk. Emma knocked on the door to the on-call room the agreed-upon four times and was pulled in by the lapels of her lab coat by a smiling Alyssa Greene. 

“I just had the scariest conversation of my life in the elevator,” Emma gasped out as Alyssa peppered kisses down her neck. Alyssa hummed in response, trailing her hands up Emma’s scrub top. “My patient and Hawkins apparently have some sort of history, and I asked Dee Dee about it, and she went all scary jealous and then threatened me into being her spy. The thing is, I don’t think that it’s morally okay for me to spy— Alyssa, baby, no hickies, oh god .” 

Alyssa pulled back from Emma with a wicked grin. “Emma, do you want to talk about Dee Dee, or do you want me to do some dirty, dirty things to you for the next hour?” Alyssa knew what the answer was but still pulled her shirt over her head to tempt Emma just a little bit more.

Emma feigned deep thought, “I mean, don’t you want to know why Hawkins was hugging some random patient? No, I’m kidding, I’ll take the dirty, dirty things for 200, Alex.” She snaked her hands around Alyssa’s waist and pulled her flush against her body. “Besides, you promised you’d kiss my bruises better, and I am holding you to that.” 

Alyssa slid down to her knees and pulled at the ties on Emma’s pants. “I always keep my promises.” 

Dee Dee speared leaves of spinach onto her fork like it offended her. A few interns watched her from behind their lunches, terrified of the plastic surgeon snapping at them for chewing too loudly. Angie slid into the chair next to Dee Dee’s with an uncertain look. 

“Where’s the chief?” She asked, wincing as Dee Dee stabbed at her salad. Angie leaned in close to Dee Dee and dropped her voice, “please tell me he’s not dead in a ditch somewhere, because if Trent takes over as Chief of Surgery, I may have to leave the hospital forever.” 

Dee Dee smirked and let out a deep breath, releasing just a smidge of tension from her shoulders. “Chief Hawkins has an old romantic interest getting a procedure done today. Dr. Nolan said she saw them hugging, and then I got a message from the chief saying that he is going to miss our daily lunch date.” 

Angie looked over her shoulder and scanned the cafeteria. “Where is Nolan anyway?” 

“Off in an on-call room with Greene, where else would she be?” Dee Dee shrugged. 

Angie couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head. “Those girls are terrible at hiding it.” 

“They’re in love. It’s sweet.” Dee Dee said between a mouthful of salad. “Tom and I were the same way when we just got together.” She pointed her fork at Angie with a devious glint in her eye, “and I’ve been to conferences with you, so I know you were the same way with Ver—”

“Do you think he’s really flirting with her? Tom with that patient?” Angie asked, quickly changing the subject back to Dee Dee. 

Dee Dee sighed, “I don’t know.” 

“Well, I think you know what to do, Dee.” Angie smiled. “You have to go in there and stake your claim. Show whoever this chick is that he’s your man.” 

Dee Dee held her drink up to Angie, who clinked hers against it. They both laughed at the pitiful sound of paper cups colliding. “What would I do without you, Angie?” 

“Go crazy,” Angie said plainly before taking a bite of her sandwich.

“So, you and Ms. Strickland. What’s the history there?” Emma looked over the operating table to look at Hawkins. Carrie was standing on Emma’s left, laser-focused on the Choly in front of her. 

Hawkins glanced up at Emma before clearing his throat. “Well, we went to high school together. She was the big theatre star.” He couldn’t help but smile as waves of nostalgia washed over him. “I was the stage manager, and I loved it. Being able to watch her perform every day was magical. Janice was my first crush. We never dated, though, and I don’t think she even knew. But you know, things happen, and you grow up. I went to Stanford, and she went to the University of Indiana, and we lost touch. It happens.” 

“So the flirting?” Emma asked; the smile under her mask was evident in how her eyes shone under the surgical lights. 

Hawkins’s head snapped up with a look of fear across his face. His entire body tensed up like he was about to get punched. “What flirting?” 

Both Carrie and Emma’s hands stopped what they were doing, and they stared at the chief like his head was on fire. “Sir, I don’t mean to be out of line with this,” Carrie started nervously. As bosses went, Hawkins was kind, but interns and residents still were intimidated by the man. He nodded at her to continue, “but as someone who only saw things from the outside, it really looked like flirting. All the nurses picked up on it too.” 

Hawkins shook his head in shock. “I haven’t— no, she hasn’t been flirting with me. That’s crazy.” 

Emma shared a look with Carrie and turned her attention back to Hawkins. “Chief, trust me. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past 15 years of being a lesbian, it’s picking up on the signs that a woman is flirting. And she was definitely flirting with you.” 

He paled behind his mask, “I didn’t realize. I— Oh god. Please tell me Dee Dee hasn’t heard anything. I didn’t even realize that she… Oh god, I’m a dead man.” 

Emma kept her eyes on the screen that showed a very angry gallbladder and mumbled, “Dee Dee’s heard.” 

“I’m not good at the whole flirting thing,” Hawkins said bashfully and blushed. “I didn’t realize that Dee Dee and I were even dating until it was our third date, and she practically pushed me into the bedroom.” 

Carrie stared at Hawkins like he had grown a second head. Emma just laughed and shook her head. “Sir, I was the exact same way,” Emma said. “In college, I was dating this girl for months. The thing is, I didn’t know we were dating until she got me a necklace for our six-month anniversary.” 

“Dee Dee is the forward one in our relationship, and I love that about her, and she’s going to be so mad. I skipped out on our lunch date so Janice and I could catch up,” Hawkins groaned. He was getting tenser by the second. 

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Emma said. Her tone made the entire surgical team watch her, ready for the next order. “Dr. Delgatto, you’re going to take this gallbladder out. Then, when we get out of here, you’re going to be in charge of making sure Dr. Allen doesn’t barge into Ms. Strickland’s room while we tell her how well the surgery went.” Carrie’s excitement at the news that she’d be finishing off the surgery fizzled away into fear about facing the plastic surgeon. “Dr. Hawkins, you’ll mention something in passing about needing to go find your wife, and how great it was to see Ms. Strickland. And then, I will round on my post-ops with Dr. Delgatto and go home in time to make dinner for my girlfriend.” She looked around the room at her cohorts, “sound good?” 

There were murmurs of agreement, and Emma traded places with Carrie as Hawkins and Emma walked her through the procedure. They stitched up the small incisions, and all nodded to each other before scrubbing out and taking their positions. Carrie stood outside Ms. Strickland’s door with a smile, pretending to check over charts, and both Hawkins and Emma stood on either side of Janice’s bed as she woke up. 

“How’d it go?” She asked groggily, reaching for Hawkins’s hand. 

Emma raised her eyebrows at Tom giving her his hand, but smiled and cleared her throat. “It went very well. You’ll feel a little sore for a few days, but if anything hurts too much, please let a nurse know.” Janice didn’t take her eyes off of Hawkins as Emma spoke. “We’ll be back in a few hours to make sure everything is going well, but if you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.” 

“Tom, will you come back and visit me tonight?” Janice’s voice was gravely, and she looked like she was on the brink of falling back asleep. In all honesty, she reminded Emma of the kids up in Alyssa’s pediatric unit. 

Hawkins’s resolve melted, and he smiled, “of course.” Emma shot him a look that screamed ‘stick to the plan,’ and he stumbled over his words. “I do have dinner plans with my wife tonight, but I’ll come in and check in before my day ends.” 

Janice looked hurt for a moment but swallowed and put on a smile. “You’re married? Tom, I’d love to meet her sometime!” 

The door banged open, and Dr. Dee Dee Allen stood there with a grin and a fresh face of makeup. Carrie made eye contact with Emma over Dee Dee’s shoulder and mouthed, “I’m so sorry.” Emma shrugged and took a step back to watch the scene in front of her unfold. 

Dee Dee gave a grin to Janice before sauntering over to Hawkins’s side. She slid her left hand onto his shoulder, showing off her wedding ring. Emma never noticed how shiny and big the diamond was. She made a mental note to talk to Hawkins about jewelers when she was ready to propose to Alyssa. “You must be Janice. I’m Dee Dee, Tom’s wife.” 

Janice’s jaw went slack at the introduction, and Emma couldn’t blame her. Dee Dee was the perfect mix of professional, glamorous, and downright scary. Janice lifted a limp hand to shake Dee Dee’s, and she gave a small smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Tom and I went to high school together.” She leaned towards Dee Dee and loudly whispered, “He was my big high school crush.” 

Both Hawkins and Emma’s eyes went wide, and Emma rubbed her jaw. She was starting to regret not taking notes so she could relay the story back to Alyssa. Dee Dee’s smile tightened along with her grip on Hawkins’s shoulder. “I don’t blame you there. He’s crush-worthy, and I can only imagine how he was back in the day.” 

Emma finally took pity on Hawkins and cleared her throat, getting the attention of everyone in the room. “Ms. Strickland needs some time to let the anesthesia fully wear off before we poke and prod her some more. Chief Hawkins, Dr. Allen, shall we give her some space?” 

Both doctors smiled and left the room. Dee Dee didn’t take her hand off of her husband until the door closed behind them. “Well, she was charming.” Dee Dee’s voice was flat and without any of the overly-saccharine tones she had when talking to Janice. 

Hawkins just smiled at Dee Dee. He looked at her like she had just hung the stars in the sky. “Are you jealous?” 

Dee Dee leaned in and bared her teeth like a snarling animal. “You missed lunch.” 

Hawkins offered his arm to her, “well, it’s a good thing I made reservations for dinner tonight.” 

The snarl melted away into a genuine smile. “At Pommes et Abeilles?” 

He leaned in, “oui.” 

Dee Dee giggled, “you gorgeous man.” 

Emma and Carrie watched on over their feigned interest in their patient charts. They had worked together so much over the past few months that they were able to communicate only in looks and raised eyebrows. Emma glanced at the charts and back to Carrie, who nodded and scooped her binders into her arms. They nodded at Dee Dee and Tom — who didn’t notice the two doctors leave — and made their way toward their other post-op patients. 

Emma had just dropped the pasta into the water as the homemade sauce simmered on the backburner. There were two glasses of red wine ready on the counter. She heard the door open and close, followed by the familiar sounds of Alyssa’s purse hitting the floor, and in a matter of seconds, Alyssa Greene was standing in the kitchen looking like an angel. A very tired angel, but an angel nonetheless. 

Arms snaked their way around Emma’s waist and pulled her back flush against Alyssa’s front. Emma tilted her head to one side as Alyssa pressed kisses up her neck. “Nothing beats coming home to dinner. God, I love you so much.” 

Emma turned around in Alyssa’s arms, trying hard to slow her heartbeat. “You love me?” 

Emma knew how she felt about Alyssa since their first date, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Alyssa felt the same way. But they had never said it out loud. They practically lived together. Alyssa fell asleep snuggled against Emma every night that they weren’t on call or working nights. Emma knew that they were building a life together, and she wouldn’t want it any other way. But now that it was out there. It floated in front of them like a beautiful, terrifying paradox that was just out of reach. 

Emma wasn’t scared or worried about the gravity of those words. Instead, she leaned in and kissed Alyssa. Alyssa’s hands tightened their grip on Emma’s waist, and Emma tangled her fingers in brown curls. Emma pulled away before they got too carried away and pressed her forehead against Alyssa’s. 

“I love you too. I love you, and I’m in love with you, Alyssa Greene.” Her words dragged against Alyssa’s lips, and she watched Alyssa’s eyes dilate before she closed the distance between them again. 

Chapter Text

Emma pulled her scrub cap off and fell into the chair behind the third-floor nurses’ station in a heap. The cancer had metastasized and spread from the liver to the kidneys, and she had spent the last four hours planning the best course of treatment with the oncologist. Emma loved her job, but the cancer cases were always hard on her. They were either great, and she was able to catch it early and cut out the badness. Or they were a battle, and more often than not, she felt like Sisyphus trying to push a boulder uphill only for it to come tumbling down at the last moment. 

She was called in at 3 a.m., and all she wanted was a nap. Well, a nap and snuggles from her girlfriend. Emma would also settle for two very large coffees and a quick make-out session in the nearest supply closet with her girlfriend. However, she had to prepare for rounds, and she knew that Alyssa had a very important surgery today, so the chances of a coffee date or snuggles were slim to none.  

Still, Emma couldn’t help but perk up when she heard Alyssa’s voice echo down the hall. She leaned over the desk to watch the approaching peds surgeon. It was amazing how the room got brighter when Alyssa Greene walked into it. She had a huge smile that made Emma a little weak, and then she saw Alyssa look over her shoulder at an older woman who looked exactly how Emma imagined Alyssa would look like in 20 years. 

Then Emma realized just who was walking behind Alyssa.

She should have put two and two together ages ago. But really, it wasn’t her fault that Alyssa didn’t have any photos of them together. She also didn’t keep any medical journals in the apartment. Emma just assumed that Greene was a common name. 

Alyssa’s mom was medical royalty.

She was one of the most well-known plastic surgeons in the world.

Alyssa’s mom was Veronica Greene. 

Emma nearly fell out of her seat as she tried to get up to her feet to greet both Dr. Greenes. Alyssa’s face lit up even more at the sight of Emma, but she cleared her throat and gestured to Emma. “Mom, this is Dr. Emma Nolan.” 

Emma stuck out her hand to Dr. Greene, who shook it with a smile, “it’s fantastic to meet you, Dr. Greene. I’m a fan of your work.” 

Dr. Greene just laughed, “please, call me Veronica. What’s your specialty?” 

“General surgery, ma’am.” Emma looked between Alyssa and Dr. Greene, trying to figure out exactly how Alyssa wanted to play this. After all, it wasn’t every day that you met your secret girlfriend’s award-winning mother. 

Alyssa leaned into the conversation, “Emma’s also my neighbor.” 

“Oh, well, that’s wonderful!” Veronica said with a smile, “it’s so important to have friends who know everything that comes with the job.” 

Emma nodded, “it’s nice. We have dinner together most nights and talk through the surgeries of the day and brainstorm over cases.” 

Veronica’s face brightened, and she looked at Alyssa, “if that’s the case, then I insist you come to dinner with us tonight. Maybe you’ll be able to tell me all about whoever Alyssa is seeing.” 

Both Emma and Alyssa froze. “I don’t think— Dr. Greene, that’s for Alyssa to say, not me.” 

“She hasn’t told me anything, but I know. A mother always knows,” Veronica said, throwing a look towards a very sheepish Alyssa. 

Alyssa opened her mouth to try and say something to break the tension that was mounting. Instead, Veronica straightened her posture at the sound of someone calling out, “Is that Veronica Greene?!” 

The three women turned to look at an approaching Angie Dickinson. Veronica took a few steps toward Angie and pulled her into a hug that surprised both Emma and Alyssa. “Angie, I can’t believe I caught you! I thought you’d be busy with all of your traumas.” 

Angie giggled as she pulled back from the hug, her hands on Veronica’s waist, and rolled her eyes. “Please, like I’d hear that The Veronica Greene was in the hospital, and I wouldn’t say hello.” She leaned in close to murmur something in Veronica’s ear that the younger doctors couldn’t quite make the words out of. Angie let go of Veronica and turned on her heel back toward the pit. She called over her shoulder to Veronica with a smile, “I’ll see you at lunch!” 

Veronica gave a small chuckle of affirmation and watched Angie walk away. Alyssa skidded to her mother’s side, “what was that about?” 

“Angie and I are old friends. We went to school and did our residencies together.” Veronica said, readjusting her lab coat so it laid perfectly over her patterned silk blouse. “Whenever we’re in the same town, there’s always a standing lunch date so we can catch up.” 

Emma checked her watch and sighed, she only had a few minutes before rounds, and she desperately needed a coffee. She gave a small smile to Alyssa and shook Veronica’s hand again, “it was great meeting you, Veronica. But I had a very early morning, and I need to get some caffeine in my bloodstream before rounds. I’ll see you both at dinner tonight if you’ll still have me.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Alyssa said. “I’ll text you when we’re done for the day.” 

“Okay, cool,” Emma had to physically hold herself back from saying ‘I love you’ to Alyssa. Instead, she grabbed her lab coat and speed-walked to the coffee cart. 

“She was nice.” Veronica said nonchalantly before glancing at Alyssa, “so, where’s our patient?” 

Alyssa and her mother walked out of Kaleb Lema’s, the ten-month-old with a cleft palate that they were going to fix later that day, room. Kaleb’s mother, Miranda, nearly tackled Veronica in a hug when she realized who she was. It wasn’t every day that the doctor who revolutionized palatoplasties flew across the world to do pro-bono surgery for an infant. 

“Do you have any other surgeries on your schedule today?” Veronica asked, not looking up from the chart. She was a notorious perfectionist, and that included paperwork. She handed the binder off to an intern with a curt nod and chuckled as the young doctor nearly skipped away. 

“Not unless something emergent comes and they need me,” Alyssa said, sending off a text to Emma. “You’ve been in Switzerland for the past year, Mom. I want to spend time with you.” 

Veronica gave Alyssa a half hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re sweet. How about we grab a coffee and see if anyone is doing any interesting operations. We can sit in the gallery and catch up?” 

“That sounds amazing,” Alyssa said. Emma had been called in early, and Alyssa never slept well without Emma snuggled up against her. She felt that lack of quality sleep slowly seeping into her body. 

They got their coffees and chatted about Veronica’s work on reconstructive surgery practices in Switzerland.

Alyssa stood in front of the OR board, scanning it for any flashy procedures. The hall burst into chaos as a team of doctors ran a gurney past the swinging doors towards an OR. Alyssa recognized Angie’s blonde hair as she led the gurney, but what had caught her focus was Emma straddling whoever was on the bed, covered in blood, and applying pressure to a wound. 

Both Veronica and Alyssa stood silently as they watched the herd of doctors and nurses stampede past them. The second the double doors swung shut, the Greene women took off in a sprint up to the gallery. Thankfully, no one else was up there, which meant that they got seats in the middle of the front row. 

Veronica slid into her seat with a sigh, “best seats in the house.” 

“Do you think it’s weird that we treat surgery like it’s a movie theater?” Alyssa asked, taking a sip from her coffee cup as she watched Emma talk to the patient as they fell asleep. “Even when I was a kid, you’d always get your interns to sneak me in so I could watch.” 

Veronica looked at Alyssa for a moment. It made Alyssa feel like she was five years old learning how to tie sutures on a piece of felt with some yarn. “You’re my superstar, and I always knew you’d be a great surgeon. So, I wanted to make sure that you’d be ready.” 

Alyssa put her head on her mom’s shoulder, secretly relishing in the closeness. Having a mother as a surgeon meant that Alyssa didn’t see a lot of Veronica growing up. However, every night, without fail, Veronica would be there to tuck Alyssa in for the night — even if it meant that she would have to go back to the hospital the second she knew Alyssa was asleep. She wasn’t the most present mother, but she cared, and it meant the world to Alyssa growing up. Even more, now that she fully understood how demanding a surgeon’s life could be. 

Hell, when Alyssa’s dad left them, Veronica made a point to limit the amount of time she spent at the hospital. Whenever she couldn’t pull herself away from a case or a surgery ran long, Alyssa spent her time in the hospital. There’d be nights that she would fall asleep in an on-call room and magically wake up the next morning in her bedroom. The hospital staff became her family, with dozens of the male attendings and heads of departments taking it upon themselves to make sure that Alyssa always had a father figure she could turn to. 

Alyssa straightened up in her seat when she saw Emma walk back into the OR. Her hair was tied up in Alyssa’s favorite scrub cap that mysteriously went missing from her apartment weeks ago. Alyssa knew that Emma had it, but in all honesty, she couldn’t care less. There was something about seeing Emma wearing something of hers that made Alyssa feel warm and fuzzy. 

“Mom,” Alyssa couldn’t take her eyes off of Emma. Veronica hummed in response. She was nearly on the edge of her seat to get a better look at the damage that brought the patient into the ER. “You know how you said that I was seeing someone?” 

Veronica was laser-focused on Angie as she made the first incision. “Are you actually going to tell me who it is?”

Alyssa wiped her hands on her pants. She didn’t realize how much she was sweating until just now. “Yeah,” she chuckled, trying to play it off like coming out to her mom was something she did every day. “I really like them. They’re smart and sweet, and they make me happy.” The side of Alyssa’s mouth curled up into a smile as she watched Emma work. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before. I’m in love with them.” 

This was enough to tear Veronica’s eyes away from the surgery, and she turned to face Alyssa. “When can I meet him?” 

“You already have,” Alyssa said softly. 

Veronica groaned, snapping Alyssa out of her warm fuzzies. “Alyssa Janelle Greene, I swear, if you’re dating that intern — that Boomer boy — I am going to have Tom end your contract today.” 

Alyssa gawked at her mother. “Are you kidding me? You think I’m dating Nick? NICK?” 

“Are you not?” Veronica asked, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“No, you lunatic!” Alyssa couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Nick is the last person in this hospital I’d ever date. And that’s saying something considering most of the people here are married.” 

“Well, thank god for that.” Veronica tapped her cup against Alyssa’s. “So, if it’s not Dr. Boomer, who is it?” 

“It’s Dr. Nolan.” 

“Excuse me,” Veronica’s head was cocked slightly to the left. “I don’t think I heard you right, honey.”

“I’m dating Dr. Nolan,” her voice was soft. “I’m in love with Emma.” 

“I see.” Veronica studied Alyssa for a moment. “And are you sure?” 

“What do you mean, am I sure?” 

Veronica sighed, swirling the coffee in her cup around a few times. “Being a female surgeon is hard. Being a Black female surgeon is hard. Being an openly gay, Black, female surgeon is harder. You’re going to come across people who won’t want you to treat them because of your color and gender. This is only going to make it harder.” 

Alyssa sat and stewed for a moment, letting her mother’s words sink in. “I don’t care. I love her.” 

“You’re absolutely sure?” 

“Of course I am. When have I ever done anything that I haven’t been completely sure of?” 

“God, it scares me how much you remind me of myself, Alyssa,” Veronica sighed, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling. 

“What does that mean?” Alyssa asked, but her mom was already to her feet and headed to the door. 

“Nothing,” Veronica smiled. “I’m going to go see what Dee Dee is doing and see if I can lend a hand.” 

Alyssa felt her body deflate as Veronica opened the door. “Oh, okay.” 

“Alyssa?” Veronica looked at Alyssa over her shoulder, “thank you for telling me. I’m looking forward to dinner with Emma tonight.” 

“Me too, Mom. Have fun with Dee Dee.” She watched as her mom left the gallery before her blood went cold, and she ran out the door to try and catch up to her. “Mom! Uh— don’t. Please don’t talk to Dee Dee about this. She knows, but not everyone does, and we want to go public on our terms.” 

Veronica raised an eyebrow, “how does Dee Dee know?” 

Alyssa felt a blush taking over her face. “Let’s not talk about that. Not yet.” 

Veronica just hummed as she made her way down the hall. 

Emma and Angie staggered out of the operating room. The crush injuries were too severe, and the patient ended up coding on the table. Emma groaned as she pulled her scrub cap off and stuffed it in her pocket. “I need a nap.” 

Angie didn’t hear her and instead was more focused on who had been up in the gallery. “Why do you think they were there? It’s not like Veronica is interested in trauma surgery. She made that more than clear during residency.” 

Emma’s head snapped up at the reminder that Angie had a history with Veronica. “I need you to tell me everything about her.” Emma stopped in the middle of the hallway and grabbed Angie by the arm. “I’m going to dinner with her and Alyssa, and I want her to like me.” 

“Emma, go nap. You're a likable person. She’s going to like you, but she won’t like you if you fall asleep at the table.” Angie gave the hand on her arm a little squeeze. “I’ll tell the residents only to bother you if it’s a 9-1-1.” 

“Delgatto,” Emma said quickly. “Carrie is the only one I can trust to keep things running smoothly.” 

Angie smiled at her knowingly, “she is a good one. I’ll let her know she’s in charge.” 

“Thank you, I love you so much, Angie,” Emma mumbled as that final bit of energy left her, and she was too exhausted to properly annunciate her words. 

“That’s just the sleepies talking,” Angie chuckled. “Go take a nap, you zombie.” 

Emma waved and dragged herself into the nearest on-call room. There was someone asleep on the top bunk, but Emma was too tired to care. She threw herself onto the bottom bed and fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow. 

When she woke up, Emma felt like she was on a whole new planet. Her watch told her she was out for three hours, and she couldn’t help the bright feeling of pride knowing that Carrie had been able to keep everything under control. She rolled out of bed, readjusted her scrubs, and tried to tame the tangle of bed head she was rocking. 

The person on the top bunk grumbled and turned over to face her. “Morning, Barry.” 

He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. “What time is it?” 

“1:13 in the afternoon. It’s lunchtime, big guy.” Emma said, giving him a good-natured pat on the arm. “Let’s get something green and leafy.” 

“And a coffee?” Barry asked as he lifted his arm just barely off of his face to peek at Emma. 

“And two big coffees ... each” Emma chuckled. She pulled on her lab coat and opened the door, careful not to blind Barry with the light streaming in from the hallway. “I’ll go get them and meet you in the cafeteria?” 

“You’re an angel,” Barry murmured. “A little, surgical, coffee wielding angel.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you in a bit.” She left the on-call room and made her way to the coffee cart. 

Barry stretched out his tired muscles with a groan. Twelve-hour surgeries were hell on the knees, and Barry wasn’t getting any younger. He pushed off of the bed and landed on the floor with a soft ‘thunk.’ Grabbing his lab coat off of the coat rack and slipping his tennis shoes back on; he left the on-call room only to be face to face with a flustered Veronica Greene. 

Her hair was falling out of its standard, effortless updo, and she was flushed and breathing hard. Her eyes went wide when she realized Barry was watching her curiously. They both stood there, frozen, staring at each other. 

Then the door of the storage room opened behind Veronica to reveal a very smug Angie. The blonde looked more put together than Veronica, but she had that breathless quality that made everything click into place for Barry. 

“So, how long has this been going on?” He gestured between Angie and Veronica with a shit-eating grin. Veronica nearly ran down the hall away from the storage room. Both Barry and Angie watched her go with amused smiles before Barry turned his attention back to Angie. “Spill.”

Angie just winked and headed down the hall — only the opposite way that Veronica went. 

Not knowing what else to do, Barry pulled out his phone and texted Dee Dee. 

“Emma, I need you to not freak out about this,” Alyssa’s voice was muffled as she pulled her scrub top off. 

Emma’s leg was nervously bouncing as she tied her shoe. “I’m not freaking out,” she lied. It wasn’t every day that you have dinner with your girlfriend’s famous mother for the first time. She and Carrie had spent hours in the research library learning everything there was to know about Veronica Greene, and Emma still felt underprepared. 

Alyssa plopped down onto the bench and squeezed Emma’s thigh. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll talk about the basics and surgery.” 

“The basics?” Emma’s mouth was uncomfortably dry — but if that was because Alyssa was sitting next to her in just a bra or the nerves was anybody’s guess. 

Alyssa couldn’t help but shake her head at her girlfriend. She was cute when she was nervous. “How we met, when we started dating, where you see our relationship going in a few years. You know, basic stuff.” 

Emma perked up at the thought of a future with Alyssa. Of course, she had thought about it, but it was something that felt more like a guarantee. Alyssa was so ingrained in every aspect of Emma’s life that it was nearly impossible to imagine a time that she wouldn’t be there.

But a future.

A future meant white dresses and cake. A future meant babies and a white picket fence. Suddenly, all Emma could think about was her future with Alyssa Greene. 

Emma pushed forward and kissed Alyssa. It wasn’t like their usual kisses. It wasn’t lust-filled or sleepy. The kiss wasn’t anything like their soft, tender elevator kisses. 

This was different.

This was new. 

This kiss was the promise of a million more. 

It was the promise of forever. 

Emma was the first to pull away, pressing her forehead against Alyssa’s. Her hands were on either side of Alyssa’s face, thumbs tracing little hearts on her cheekbones.  “I love you.” 

Alyssa felt her stomach go funny at the way she said it, “I love you too.” 

They both would have been more than happy to stay in their little bubble forever, but they had a dinner to get to. Alyssa pulled away first and slipped her shirt on, smiling as Emma moved to button it up. Emma pressed a kiss to the tip of Alyssa’s nose when she was done. 

They walked out of the hospital hand-in-hand. Let the hospital gossip-mill be damned. If people didn’t already know, they haven’t been looking hard enough. Emma held the car door open for her girlfriend, and they drove to the french restaurant that Dee Dee had recommended to them, Pommes et Abeilles. 

Veronica was already sitting there, perusing the menu with a glass of red wine in hand. Emma pulled out the chair for Alyssa, gently pushing it in after she sat down. She then walked over to where Veronica was sitting and held her hand out with a smile. “I know we met earlier, but I wanted to re-introduce myself. My name is Emma Nolan, and I am madly in love with your daughter. It’s nice to re-meet you, Dr. Greene.”

Veronica shook her hand with an impressed look, albeit a surprised one, on her face. “It’s nice to re-meet you too, Emma.” 

Emma slid into her chair, letting out a small breath of relief. Alyssa tapped her foot against Emma’s, and she scooted her chair over just a smidge so she could hold her hand under the table. “How was the cleft palate surgery today?” 

Veronica shared a proud look with her daughter, “it went very well. Little Kaleb won’t even have a scar.” She put her menu down, “it went so well that Chief Hawkins and I had a conversation about me staying on for a little while.” 

Alyssa coughed on the sip of water she had. “Excuse me?” 

“I’m going to be a part of the Plastic Surgery Department at Edgewater General,” Veronica said with a proud nod. “Dee Dee will still be the department head, but I thought it’d be nice to stay close for a while. Get to know the new person in my daughter’s life—” she glanced at Emma, “—and it’d be nice not to be a world away from my superstar.” 

Alyssa wanted nothing more than to launch over the table and envelop her mother in a crushing hug, but she knew how much Veronica hated causing a scene. Instead, Alyssa whispered out an emotional “thank you.”  

Emma squeezed Alyssa’s hand. “Wow, that’s amazing. Do you know where you’re going to be staying?” 

“I hadn’t gotten that far, actually.” Veronica chuckled, taking a sip of her wine. 

Alyssa and Emma shared a look before nodding in unison. “Mom, how about you take over Emma’s lease? We mainly spend most of our time at my place anyway. It’s close to the hospital. We can drive in together!” 

Emma hadn’t really gotten around to making her apartment her home. Hell, there were still a couple of boxes that she hadn’t unpacked yet, and she moved in almost eight months ago. Alyssa’s apartment was home. Alyssa was home. 

“That’s a very kind offer,” Veronica said, clearly finding the words to not put Emma in a situation where she had to give up her apartment for her girlfriend’s mother without time to think about it. “But, it’s Emma’s home—” 

“It’s okay! I insist.” Emma held her hand up, “Alyssa’s right, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I did anything other than shower and change there.” 

“Well, if you’re sure. I would love to move in! Just send me your landlord’s information, and I’ll set up a sublease.” Veronica said, picking her menu up and scanning it once more. “Are you two ready to order?” 

Emma just nodded as the reality of what just happened fully sunk in. She was going to be officially living with the love of her life, and she was thrilled.

Chapter Text

Holidays were always a mixed bag in the life of a surgeon. New Year’s Eve meant car crashes, St. Patrick’s Day meant bar brawls and broken bones, Fourth of July was nothing but burns from errant fireworks, and Christmas meant electrocutions and falls. But Halloween was something of an enigma of a holiday. No one really knew why. Sometimes it’d be accidents when pumpkin carving; other times, a prank would go too far. 

It was this variety that made it Emma’s favorite holiday to work. 

For Alyssa, it was the costumes. 

It was a requirement for everyone in the pediatrics ward to dress up for Halloween. They would decorate the entire wing with pumpkins and black cats with black and orange streamers everywhere. The nurses and interns were in charge of setting up a trick or treat trail throughout the hospital, and once the sun went down, they’d wheel the kids around from spot to spot. It was essential to everyone that these kids had some semblance of a normal life, even if they were constantly connected to IVs. 

Alyssa pulled on her baseball cap while the doctors around her pulled on their scrubs. Trent and Barry just shook their heads, smiling at Alyssa as she grabbed her pager and attached it to her belt. 

She flashed them a smile, “I’m not going to lie, it’s nice not to wear the same thing every day.” 

“I just can’t believe that it’s custom made,” Barry said in awe. 

Alyssa gave them a little twirl and giggled. “I made it myself back in college. ‘A League of Their Own’ is one of my favorite movies, and it turns out to be the perfect Halloween costume for pediatrics.” 

Trent’s head cocked to the side, “I didn’t know that kids watched 90s movies.” 

“It’s on TV more often than you’d think. Most of these kids just lay in bed and watch movies all day,” Alyssa shrugged, pulling on her lab coat. “But it’s great. The boys like it because it’s baseball, the girls like it because it’s cute and pink and girl-power-y, and the parents like it because they get the reference. Who knew that a Rockford Peach was the perfect Halloween costume?” 

“I would’ve gone with a cowboy,” Barry said with a laugh, holding the door open for the three of them. 

Trent nodded in solidarity for the cowboy and pressed the elevator button. “I’m partial to the vampire. They’re so tortured and nuanced.” 

“You gotta be careful with the vampires,” Alyssa looked down into the calendar on her phone and let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she didn’t have a lot on her plate today, so she could have fun with the kids. “It’s a fine, fine line between Dracula and Nosferatu, and you don’t want to scare the kids too much.” 

“But good jokes if you need to take any blood,” Barry pointed out. 

Both Trent and Alyssa nodded in silent agreement. They all stood in the elevator silently and enjoyed the few seconds of calm before the storm. The door dinged open, and Alyssa stepped off, giving a small wave to the men. 

Jess Monae Boomer was standing outside of the peds ward’s doors with a tower of charts and a big smile. “Happy Halloween, Dr. Greene!” 

“Happy Halloween, Dr. Boomer.” Alyssa gave her a quick once over, “where’s your costume?” 

“I stayed here last night monitoring our post-op intestinal resection on Benny Clegg and didn’t have time to make one.” She shifted the charts to show off an orange t-shirt with a rudimentary skeletal ribcage drawn on it in sharpie. “I got the shirt at the drugstore across the street and stole a sharpie from the nurses’ station. But, I made a front and a back, so there’s a spine and everything!” 

Alyssa shook her head and chuckled at her intern’s dedication. It never failed to amaze her that Jess and Nick were related. Well, they were step-siblings, but it still counted. “You’re missing some ribs, but it’s not bad for last minute.” 

Jess dropped her head to hide her smile, which made Alyssa frown. Jess was brilliant and could be a fantastic surgeon. She just needed a lot of help when it came to self-confidence. It was a common misconception that all surgeons were born with an ego the size of Mount Everest —in reality, that was built up over years of successes and the need to push to do better for their patients. 

Alyssa pulled her smile back on and took the chart off the top of the stack. “Let’s go save some lives.” 

The rounds went well. Alyssa promised to stash away favorite candies for the kids going into surgery that day who couldn’t eat until after and explained her costume to the younger kids, who stared at her in confused awe. 

Alyssa had just scrubbed out of her CRT and changed out of her scrubs back into her costume when she got a page for a new child coming into the peds wing. By the time she made it up to the room, Kaylee was outside wearing a pair of cat ears. 

Every hospital employee had to be in a costume to be in the peds ward on Halloween — no exceptions.  But, since doctors would be traveling all across the hospital and attending to non-child patients, Alyssa made sure that there were small accessories that could be easily slipped on and off. 

Kaylee nodded at Alyssa, but her face fell when she saw Jess’s shirt. “You’re kidding me.” 

Jess pulled on the hem of her shirt and pulled it away from her body to inspect it better. She glanced up at Kaylee apologetically, “I know. It was last minute, and I’m not a very good artist.” 

Kaylee threw her hands up in distress, “but you know that the human body has 12 ribs on either side, not 6. And I don’t even want to think about how you don’t have any hips!” 

Alyssa put a hand on Jess’s shoulder and squeezed it, “Dr. Klein, let’s focus on the patient and not my intern’s costume.”

Kaylee’s professional face slid back into place, and she flashed an apologetic look to Jess. They walked into the room as a united front. Both Alyssa and Kaylee introduced themselves to the patient and her parents. 

“Dr. Boomer, would you like to present?” Kaylee asked, giving a kind smile to the kid in the bed. 

“This is Kristina Williams, age 9. She has scoliosis with a curvature in the spine of 55 degrees,” Jess read out from her chart. Alyssa noticed the mix of fear and confusion on Kristina’s face. “Doctors Klien and Greene will be going in and performing a posterior spinal fusion.”

Alyssa moved to sit at the foot of the bed, “did you understand any of that?” She whispered at Kristina, who shook her head. Alyssa looked at Jess and motioned for her to take off her lab coat and turn around. Seeing what she was getting at, Kaylee pulled out the x-ray of Kristina’s spine and put it up on the x-ray film viewer. “So, you see how the spine on Dr. Boomer’s shirt is straight?” 

Kristina nodded, her eyes tracing the drawn-on spine. 

“This is what a healthy spine should look like,” Alyssa said, checking to make sure Kristina was following her explanation. 

“And this,” Kaylee flicked on the light to better show the x-ray. “Is what yours looks like. Since the curve is so severe, it’ll mess up you growing big and tall.” 

“So, we’re going to make your spine nice and straight again and place some bars on either side to make sure it stays that way.” Alyssa poked Jess in the side, and Kristina laughed when Jess jumped a little. “Thank you, Dr. Boomer. You can put your coat back on. Kristina, does that make sense?” 

Kristina nodded, “yes, ma’am.” She pointed at the X-ray over Kaylee’s shoulder. “Can I have that after surgery so I can show my class?” 

The adults all let out a laugh, but Alyssa looked at Kaylee and shrugged, “I don’t see why not. We have multiple copies, so you can have the before and after. How does that sound?” 

Kristina bounded a little in her bed, “that’d be awesome! Thanks, Dr. Greene!” 

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. It reminded her of herself when she was younger. “No problem!” She looked up at Kristina’s parents, who looked calmer than they had been a few minutes ago. “We’re going to run a few more tests, and then we’ll get her ready for surgery. Do you have any questions?” 

They shook their heads, and Alyssa stood up and straightened her lab coat, “We’ll see you in a bit, Kristina.” 

Kristina waved, “bye, Dr. Greene.” 

The doctors walked out of the room, but Alyssa made it a point to peek through the window and wave goodbye to Kristina, who giggled. Alyssa turned back to Kaylee and Jess, “good job in there, Jess. Thanks for going along with it.” 

Jess just shrugged, “anything to help the patient.” 

Kaylee patted Jess on the shoulder, “you’re scrubbing in with us, right?” 

Both attendings couldn’t help but grin at the way Jess’s face lit up, “I’d love to!” 

“Perfect,” Kaylee clapped her hands together in front of her. “I have a bit of time before Kristina’s surgery. Do you want to go to the skills lab, and I can show you what we’re going to be doing so you can help place the rods?” 

Alyssa laughed as Jess pulled Kaylee toward the skills lab at a full run. 

“Nolan!” Emma looked over her shoulder to see Chief Hawkins jogging to her, waving his hand. “Dr. Nolan, wait up.” 

Emma stopped and turned to face her boss with a smile. “Chief! What can I do ya for, sir?” 

“You’ve played softball before, right?” Hawkins asked, trying to catch his breath. 

Emma raised a single eyebrow at Hawkins, “are you asking me this because I’m a lesbian? Or is it because you think I’m a sporty gal?” 

Hawkins stood there for a beat, mouth hanging open. “The second one.” 

Emma laughed, “I played for a rec team in undergrad, but I wasn’t very good.” 

“Well, you’re going to be better than anyone else in this hospital.” 

Now it was Emma’s turn to be at a loss for words. “Why is the hospital playing softball?”

Hawkins shook his head and gently pulled Emma to the side of the hall, so they weren’t impeding the flow of foot traffic. “It’s a silly tradition we have with Sacred Heart Medical Center.” 

A metaphorical lightbulb flickered to life over Emma’s head, “But you want to win.” 

“Of course I want to win. We haven’t won in five years, and I’m getting damn tired of Sacred Heart’s chief bragging every time I see him.” Hawkins mumbled darkly. If there was one thing surgeons hated, it was losing. Being reminded of that was like rubbing salt in the wound. “What position do you play?” 

“Pitcher,” Emma said. “Is this a surgeons only thing? Or nurses and other doctors too?”

“Surgeons and scrub nurses only. We thought it would be good to help build up some teamwork within the OR.” Hawkins said, his eyes tracking one of the interns who looked semi-athletic. “Thing is, our surgeons are a little more brainy than they are brawny.” 

“Well, I am more on the brainy side than the brawny, sir. But I will do my best. Is Alyssa on the team?” Emma tried to keep her voice light and casual. 

Hawkins let out a loud, deep laugh. “Have you ever thrown anything at Alyssa?” 

“I don’t make a point of it, no,” Emma said, cocking her head to one side. 

“Next time you do laundry, toss some socks at her or something.” He leaned in and whispered, “the poor girl can’t catch a thing to save her life. Dee Dee had to fix her up after the first game we let her play. For some reason, she thought it’d be smart to catch the ball with her face.” 

“God, I love that woman,” Emma murmured under her breath, trying hard to stop her smile.

Hawkins watched her with a proud look on his face. “You’re good for each other. I don’t think I’ve seen Alyssa this happy before.” 

Emma sheepishly looked down at her feet, kicking the side of her shoe. “Thank you, sir.” 

Hawkins gave her a quick shoulder squeeze, “Be warmed up and ready to go tomorrow at 10. I’ll have Shelia email you the address.” He started to walk away but turned back to look at her, “and bring the Greene women. We could use some support in the stands.” 

Scoping out Alyssa in the cafeteria was easier than usual, thanks to the bright red baseball cap.  Emma slid her tray onto the table and sat down next to her girlfriend, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Happy Halloween, babe.” 

“Happy Halloween,” Alyssa said with a sly grin as she leaned in a little closer to Emma. “I’m sorry you got called in early this morning. I was hoping to give you a treat.” The eyebrow wiggle paired with the twinkle in Alyssa’s eyes made Emma choke on her water. 

“Dear God, woman. You’re going to be the death of me.” Emma coughed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “But are we still on for tonight?” 

“Well, seeing as how it’s sort of my job, yeah.” Alyssa knocked her shoulder against Emma’s with an easy smile. “Candy with the kids and then scary movies and apple cider at home?” 

“I’ll pick up some Thai food on the way home,” Emma pulled out her phone and set a reminder for herself. It was a common occurrence for a post-work Emma to forget what she was supposed to do, and on those nights, she would sit in the kitchen and eat cereal straight out of the box. “And are you super into the whole ‘horror movie’ thing? Because I’m a bit of a weenie when it comes to gore.” 

Alyssa blinked at her girlfriend. “Emma. You’re a surgeon. You see blood and guts every day.” 

“That’s different!” She said, trying hard to figure out how to explain this. 

“What’s different?” Shelby asked as she and Kaylee plopped down into the seats across from Emma and Alyssa. 

“Emma can’t handle gore,” Alyssa stated plainly, taking a bite of her salad. 

“I literally watched you catch someone’s small intestine a few weeks ago.” Kaylee took a sip of her coffee with furrowed brows. She looked as if she was trying to solve a complicated puzzle. 

“When was that?” Shelby’s head whipped to look at Kaylee. 

“Remember those campers who came in a few weeks ago? The ones who messed with a mountain lion?” Kaylee said it like it happened daily. She clocked the still confused look on her girlfriend’s face. “You may have been asleep. We were cuddling, and I was playing with your hair, and you were really quiet.” 

“I did twelve deliveries that day,” Shelby blushed and glanced over at her friends before leaning in closer to Kaylee. “And it’s not my fault you’re comfortable.” She kissed her cheek, which made Kaylee giggle like a schoolgirl. 

It never failed to amaze Shelby how easy things were with Kaylee. It wasn’t like she had tried dating a ton of different people, but the few guys she went out with before Kaylee just didn’t get how demanding and rewarding Shelby’s job was. But one of the many joys of dating Kaylee was being able to come home and talk about what her day entailed and not have to explain every minuscule detail. Not to mention that Kaylee was her best friend, and they were able to have a good time together even if they sat in silence in the same room. Working with Nick was sometimes a little awkward, but they all had a job to do, and they could put feelings aside to save lives. 

“You two are going to give me cavities,” Alyssa said, pointing at the couple with her fork. Sure, Emma had her hand on Alyssa’s knee when she said it, but Kaylee and Shelby didn’t have to know that. And anyways, Emma and Alyssa were at a point where they would instinctively reach out to touch each other in some way. 

“Please, like you and your scaredy-cat girlfriend aren’t just as bad.” Kaylee leaned into Shelby’s side as she glared at Emma and Alyssa. 

“I’m not a scaredy-cat!” Emma huffed. “I just don’t like gore if there’s no one there to help put them back together.” 

Alyssa tucked a curl behind Emma’s ear, “that’s so sweet. You’re so sweet. You know that, right?” Emma didn’t answer, but the blush traveling from her cheeks to her ears told Alyssa everything she needed to know. 

Emma cleared her throat and changed the subject, “who’s all playing in the softball game tomorrow?” 

Kaylee, Shelby, and Alyssa all burst out in laughter that made Emma jump. “The Sacred Heart Slaughter?” Shelby asked, wiping a tear from her eye. “Hell no. The only people who play are the ones who either owe something to Chief or are gluttons for punishment.” 

Emma felt herself sinking further into her chair, hoping that her sandwich would cover her face. She let out a small “oh” and focused hard on a spot on the table. 

Alyssa shot Shelby a look that screamed ‘shut up’ paired with a swift kick to the shin. “We just aren’t the best at softball. Surgery? We can’t be topped. But any sort of sports is a disaster.” 

Kaylee pipped up with a grin, “yeah! Like the first time, Alyssa tried to—” a gasp cut off her words as Alyssa kicked her underneath the table. “We aren’t very good.” She mumbled, looking at Shelby like a kicked puppy. 

Emma rubbed the back of her neck, trying to rub away the tension that always seemed to settle there when she got embarrassed. Part of this felt like lunch back in high school when she felt like she had to watch everything she said to avoid any ridicule from her peers. But then Alyssa slipped her hand onto Emma’s knee and gave it a small squeeze, and Emma couldn’t help but feel better. If she knew back in high school that she’d be a badass surgeon with an incredibly gorgeous, equally badass surgeon girlfriend, then she would’ve walked through the halls with her head held high. “I got roped into playing, and I just wanted to know who else was going to be there.” 

Shelby and Kaylee shared a look and shrugged, “we’ll come to cheer you on.” Shelby said, dredging a baby carrot in ranch. 

Kaylee started vibrating in her chair as her face lit up, “can we make signs? I haven’t had a reason to use my glitter glue in months, and I miss crafting.” 

Emma looked over at Alyssa, “are you going to come too? You don’t have to, but—” she was cut off by Alyssa kissing her cheek. 

“Of course I’m going to come. I want to see you in that jersey.” Alyssa squeezed her knee again, and Emma felt her heart stutter a little in her chest. 

They were coming up on a year of being together, and Emma couldn’t be more in love. Barry and Dee Dee always made fun of them for being in their honeymoon phase. But it wasn’t Emma’s fault that she was dating the most effortlessly beautiful woman on the face of the earth. 

Kaylee and Alyssa’s pagers beeped from their places on the table, snapping both couples out of their private moments. Alyssa leaned back from Emma and smiled, “we have to go into surgery. I’ll see you tonight for non-scary movies and Thai?” 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Emma said softly, still in awe of the smile Alyssa was giving her. “Good luck on the surgery,” she said, pulling on Alyssa’s hand to bring her in for a quick kiss. “I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Alyssa whispered against Emma’s lips. She pressed forward and kissed Emma again. “Have a good day.” 

Alyssa and Kaylee scooped up their trays and threw away their trash before heading to the surgical floor. Shelby smirked at Emma, “you’ve got it bad.” 

Emma raised her drink in a mock toast, an eyebrow arched at her friend. “Look who’s talking.” 

Alyssa opened the door to the apartment, smiling at the scent of her favorite Khao Pad wafting through the room. “How’d you beat me home? I left a few minutes after you, and you had to pick up the food.” 

Emma shrugged and handed her a glass of her favorite white wine. “The magic of delivery. I cued up Hocus Pocus, and there’s a fire going in the fireplace.”

Alyssa groaned in appreciation, savoring her first sip of wine after a long day. Halloween was great, but being surrounded by over-sugared kids was exhausting. “The only thing that would make this better is a foot rub.” She plopped down on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her and leaning into Emma. 

“That can be arranged,” Emma smirked as she handed Alyssa her carton of food and a fork. “Eat first. Foot rubs and cuddles after.” She pressed play on the remote and savored the feeling of Alyssa’s weight against her. 

“Hey, I really love you,” Alyssa whispered, snuggling deeper into Emma’s side. 

Emma kissed the top of her head, “I really love you too.” 

Emma could hardly hear herself think over the jeering from the Sacred Heart surgeons. What was so beautiful about the operating room was the quiet. Even with the beeping of heart monitors and interns asking questions every other second, there was something about the operating room that was quiet. The baseball diamond was not quiet. 

She swung the bat and huffed at the lack of a connection. The Sacred Heart catcher snorted at her and wiggled his fingers goodbye as she walked back to the dugout, tearing off her helmet. Emma walked past Chief, who had his eyes glued to his clipboard. 

“Chief, please don’t ever ask me to do this again,” Emma huffed, falling back onto the bench. “I don’t like losing.” 

“I wouldn’t call this losing,” Barry called out from his place in the corner of the dugout. “This is a murder.” 

“Massacre,” Dee Dee said, pulling on her batting gloves. Why she had monogrammed batting gloves were beyond Emma’s comprehension. 

“Bloodbath,” Trent added. He honestly just looked thrilled to be included. 

Emma heard the tinkling of fingers dragging across the chain-link fence and turned around to see Alyssa smiling at her. “Hey, champ.” 

Emma rolled her eyes at the sarcasm hiding behind that beautiful smile. “Do you think they’ll let us call it early? They do that if a team is too far behind, right?” 

Alyssa just laughed, throwing her head back towards the sky. “That’s funny. You’re a funny woman, Emma Nolan.” 

Dee Dee grabbed a bat and leaned into Emma, “Tom isn’t a quitter. It’s endearing most of the time. Downright adorable even. But this—” she gestured to the field where Angie somehow managed to hit the ball straight into the second baseman’s glove. “This is where it’s less adorable.” 

Emma groaned and grabbed her glove. “I don’t like this.” 

“Yeah,” Alyssa popped her gum with a grin that made Emma weak in the knees. “But you look cute as hell in that jersey.” 

That made the heaviness of the 14-2 score felt just a little bit lighter. “Well, you can watch me look cute as hell from the pitcher’s mound.” 

Alyssa hummed and watched appreciatively as Emma jogged onto the field. She made her way back to the stands with her mother, Shelby, and Kaylee. 

Kaylee took a sip of her iced coffee and leaned back. “This is painful to watch.” 

Shelby and Veronica nodded but didn’t say anything. Veronica glanced over at her daughter, who was focused on the field. “Guess it has some upsides for some of us.” Alyssa just hummed with her chin resting on her hand. 

“I think I love softball,” Alyssa muttered, not taking her eyes off of Emma in her leggings. She was so tuned into watching her girlfriend that she didn’t notice her friends and mom laughing at her. 

Emma felt the pair of eyes watching her and shot a wink at Alyssa. Emma threw the ball, and there was the thunk of connection between the ball and the bat. 

Then there was the sickening sound of the ball hitting flesh, and all Emma could see was blackness. 

Every single doctor on both teams ran toward the pitcher’s mound. Everyone was so focused on the passed out general surgeon with a blooming black eye that they didn’t notice Alyssa scaling the chain-link fence and dropping to the ground before sprinting full tilt towards Emma. Dee Dee inspected Emma’s face, holding her chin between her fingers and muttering under her breath that her nose better not be broken again. 

Alyssa bent down on the dirt and nudged her way through the doctors to Emma. “Emma?” She said softly, gently brushing hair away from her face. “Baby, how’re you feeling?” 

“Why does my eye hurt?” Emma grumbled, looking up at Alyssa through her quickly swelling eye. She groaned and held her hand to her head. “Oh god, my head.” 

“You took a softball straight to the eye, baby.” Alyssa pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’re going to get you an ice pack, and Trent is going to check you out.” 

As if on cue, Trent kneeled next to Alyssa and shone a penlight into Emma’s eyes, tracking her pupils. Why he had a penlight in his pocket was beyond Alyssa, but she was grateful for his over preparedness. 

“How’s it looking, Doc?” Emma’s voice was thick from the pain and throbbing coming from her eye.

Trent sighed and looked at Alyssa then back at Emma. “It looks like a concussion, and we’ll want an ophthalmologist to check out any damage to the eye.” 

He nodded to Hawkins and Barry who helped Emma to her feet and half walked, half carried her to the car. Alyssa was torn between getting all of Emma’s stuff and going with Emma, but before she could even turn toward the dugout, Angie was jogging to her with Emma’s bag. She handed it off, and Alyssa took off in a run to follow Emma. 

Hawkins insisted on driving them back to Edgewater General, so Alyssa took it upon herself to hold Emma’s hand and keep the ice pack over Emma’s eye. 

“So,” Emma said, her face mostly covered by the ice pack. “Was this considered a loss or a forfeit?” 

Hawkins and Barry glanced at each other before saying “forfeit” in unison. 

Barry looked out of the window and hummed, “this will be the first game in six years that we haven’t lost. Maybe we should just have someone take a hit every year.” He turned to look at Alyssa and Emma in the backseat. “Alyssa, how about you take one for the team next year?” 

Alyssa stared at him, her head cocked to the side, and brows furrowed. “Barry, you would have to pay me good money to go on that field again.” She held Emma’s hand a little tighter. “And the same goes for Emma.” 

Emma moved the ice pack away from her mouth, “I can make my own decisions, ‘Lys.” They were silent for a beat. “But, yeah. I’m not playing softball for this hospital again.” 

Barry twisted back into his seat so he was sitting normally, “maybe we should change to bowling instead. Fewer chances of injury with some good old-fashioned bowling.” 

Hawkins pondered it for a moment, clicking on the blinker. “Bowling could be good.” 

“I love bowling,” Emma said from underneath her ice pack. 

“I’ll talk to Chief Barlowe about it.” Hawkins pulled the car into his parking spot and opened the door. “From the way his doctors were grumbling at third base, I have a feeling they’re as over softball as we are.” 

Emma groaned as they helped her out of the car and into a wheelchair, and Alyssa took her place pushing the chair into the hospital as Hawkins signed them in. 

Emma reached back and grabbed Alyssa’s hand. “Baby?” 

Alyssa leaned down and put her arms on Emma’s shoulders, “yes?” 

“We aren’t bowling next year. Knowing our luck one of us will end up with a broken foot or something.” Emma whispered, leaning her head back so her face was next to Alyssa’s. 

Alyssa laughed and pressed a kiss to Emma’s temple. “Deal.” 

Chapter Text

Emma was in the middle of towel-drying her hair when a pager went off. It was like in those old western movies where the sheriff and bandit meet eyes and face off in the middle of the town — only this wasn’t a sheriff and a bandit. This was a battle of wills between a woman and the calling of her incredibly demanding job. 

The thing was, the pager wasn’t beeping because it wanted to. Someone’s parent or sibling, or friend needed her help. And she couldn’t ignore that, no matter how much she wanted to curl up in bed with her girlfriend. 

Sighing, Emma moved toward the pager and checked it. She didn’t even look back to the bathroom where Alyssa was brushing her teeth. “Babe, I gotta go back in. Incoming car crash.” 

Alyssa peeked her head out of the bathroom, mouth surrounded by toothpaste foam, and she groaned. “But you have to finish what you started in the shower. You promised.” 

Emma gave her a quick peck on the cheek and pulled on a pair of sweats. It didn’t matter what she wore to the hospital. She’d have to change into scrubs anyway. Emma grabbed her wallet and keys and ran out the door. The last person Emma expected to run into in the apartment hallway was Angie Dickinson coming out of Veronica Greene’s apartment. 

Emma froze where she stood and watched as Angie locked the front door and turned to face her. They both stood there for a beat and stared at each other. 

Angie nodded, walking toward the elevator. “Emma. You got paged in too?” 

Emma pressed the button and hummed. “Yup.” They stood there in silence, waiting for the elevator to come. The doors slid open, and they stepped in. Emma tried her hardest to keep her questions to herself. It was none of her business. The thing was, she was curious by nature. That was part of the reason she went into medicine. She held in the questions that were bubbling up the second she saw Angie in the hall, but her curiosity got the best of her. “Why were you in Veronica’s apartment? And more importantly, why do you have a key?”

Angie looked down at her shoes and sighed. “The pipes in my apartment burst, and Veronica offered to let me stay with her. Since we’re both coming and going at all hours, she gave me a key.” She and Emma stepped out of the elevator and walked across the street to the hospital. 

They changed into their scrubs in silence. Emma would’ve normally taken this time to get into ‘Doctor Mode,’ but then she noticed the mysterious, hickey-like mark on Angie’s shoulder. “Uh, Angie?” The trauma surgeon hummed in response, pulling on her scrub top. “What was that on your shoulder?” 

Angie’s face turned a violent shade of red. “A bruise.” Angie was many things, but she was not a good liar. 

“When did you get it?” Emma asked, keeping her tone light and casual. 

“Yesterday,” Angie responded quickly. She was turning redder and redder by the second. 

“How?” It was like a ping pong game, but at the Olympic level with how quickly they threw questions and answers. 

“Went to pick something up and bumped it on the counter.” 

“Where?” 

“Veronica’s place.” 

“What counter?” 

“What?” 

Emma felt the smug glow of victory. She caught her. “That used to be my apartment. None of the counters come out far enough to bump into like that.” 

Angie’s face went from red to pale in an instant. “Okay, you got me. Veronica and I… We’ve— Well, we’ve been seeing each other.”

“Romantically?” Emma asked in a hushed whisper. They were the only two people in the locker room, but a secret was a secret, and she wanted to give it its proper due. 

“Romantically.” Angie huffed, pulling on her tennis shoes. “Don’t tell Alyssa. Veronica is going to tell her when she’s ready.” 

“So you want me to lie to my girlfriend?” Emma said slowly, fastening her watch on her wrist. “My very curious, cute girlfriend?” 

“I’ll pay you $50,” Angie said quickly, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. 

Emma just laughed and waved the offer away. “I won’t spill, I promise. But you may have to add a little to your burst pipes lie. Just say your landlord is gutting and renovating because the damage was so bad.” 

Angie held the door for Emma as they headed to the ER, where Kaylee, Nick, and Carrie were waiting with trauma gowns and gloves. “What do we have?” Angie shouted over the sirens of the incoming ambulances. 

The doctors jumped into action the second the ambulances came to a stop. “Car versus guardrail. They didn’t see the black ice before it was too late.” 

Emma started checking the vitals of a young woman who had a terrified look in her eye. “I’m Dr. Nolan, you’re at the hospital, and we’re going to take good care of you.” Emma didn’t even have to palpate the abdomen to know that it was rigid and this woman was internally bleeding. “What’s your name, hon?”

“Lanie,” the young woman managed to croak out. 

“Okay, Lanie, it looks like you’re bleeding internally. Try and stay calm; we’re going to do an ultrasound and get an IV in and see what’s going on.” Emma said to Lanie before looking up at Kevin, who nodded and went to get the portable ultrasound. She put in the IV in a matter of seconds and started Lanie on fluids and some morphine. All it took was one look at the ultrasound for Emma to know she was right. “Kevin, let’s get Lanie into an OR right away. Call them and let them know we’re coming.” 

Kevin jogged to the phone, and Emma scanned the ER for an intern or resident to assist. “Boomer, can you scrub in with me?” 

Nick’s face made it seem like he had won the lottery. The reason for it made sense when Emma saw that he had been assessing the internal damage on a patient that Kaylee was working on. Kaylee and Nick didn’t end well — the whole hospital knew that. They still worked together well enough, but it was clear that they’d prefer not to. Kevin joked that being in the same OR with them was like diffusing a bomb — you never knew if it would explode. 

Nick snapped off his gloves and threw them into the trashcan. He glanced at Kaylee before helping Emma roll Lanie’s gurney to the operating room. “Thanks, Nolan,” he said in a soft voice. 

Emma just shook her head, “I needed an assistant, and you were available. Let’s just focus on getting Lanie here all patched up.” 

Emma and Angie walked together back to the apartment building and said their goodbyes. Alyssa was sound asleep as Emma slipped in between the covers and settled into bed. Alyssa instinctively moved toward Emma, snuggling into her side. Emma gave her a soft kiss on the head and promptly fell asleep. 

Emma managed to get a few hours of sleep before the alarm clock beeped to life and woke Alyssa up. She smiled at the sight of Emma, still sleeping, her blonde curls an unruly mess on the pillow. It never failed to amaze Alyssa just how breathtaking Emma was at all times. She couldn’t help but fall a little bit more in love with the blonde. 

Alyssa bit back a smile and woke Emma up the best way she knew how — with kisses. Emma was not a morning person, so anything Alyssa could do to make her lover’s morning a little bit better, she did. The brunette felt her heart melt just a little at the way Emma pawed at her eyes to try and rub the sleep out of them.

“Morning, baby,” Alyssa whispered, kissing Emma again. They both got a little lost in each other for a moment, not that either minded. There was something so intimate about being able to wake up next to the woman you love, and they were going to take full advantage of the few moments of calm they got together. “How’d you sleep?”

Emma grumbled something as she sat up, her voice still thick with sleep. Alyssa gently tucked a curl behind Emma’s ear and smiled.

“Do you want to try that again? Or you could go back to sleep. Hawkins would be okay if you just push everything back a few hours since you came in last night.” Alyssa watched as Emma weighed out the pros and cons of going back to sleep and sighed, her shoulders slumping just a little as she shook her head.

“No, I’m up. I’m good. I got a solid five hours, and I can supplement the rest with caffeine.” Emma stretched her arms up above her head. Both women hissed at the sound of Emma’s spine popping in multiple places. Emma nearly jumped out of bed and shook out her legs before grabbing her robe and heading into the kitchen. “Want some coffee?”

Alyssa called out an affirmative and got to work making their bed and getting ready for the day. This was how they worked in the mornings. Emma would make the coffee and some breakfast, and Alyssa would make the bed and straighten up the bedroom. Veronica had gotten her into the habit of always leaving her space clean made up before going about her day, and Alyssa saw it as checking something easy off of her to-do list every morning. The only time she left the house without the bed made was when she was called out sometime in the night.

She freshened up and changed into a pair of jeans and a white button-down before making her way into the kitchen where Emma was waiting with a steaming cup of coffee that was honestly more creamer than coffee. For some reason, Alyssa hated the taste of the stuff but was so dependent on her morning cup of coffee that she would get the shakes if she didn’t have it. They sat down at the breakfast bar and dug into their food while Emma read the paper.

Alyssa watched Emma read over the headlines with a smile. They had been together for just over a year now, and Alyssa couldn’t wait for the next year and the one after that. She was so lost in the bliss of forever with Dr. Emma Nolan that she didn’t notice that she started to talk. “We should get married.” She had said it with the same casualty she used when she asked Emma to pass the salt. Alyssa had hardly realized that she said it out loud until Emma slowly placed the newspaper on the table and blinked at her.

“What did you just say?” Emma asked calmly, smoothing the paper.

Alyssa’s mind was going a mile a minute, and she could physically feel her blood pressure increasing by the millisecond. “We should get married.”

The side of Emma’s mouth twitched, but she sucked in her lips to stop from smiling. “Where is this coming from?” There was love in her eyes even as she studied Alyssa like a piece of art in a museum.

“I don’t know. I just– I was thinking about forever with you, and it feels right,” Alyssa managed to push herself up into a standing position despite her weak legs and faced Emma. “I love you, Emma Nolan. I love you more than I even knew I could love someone.” She took the blonde’s hands in hers, and just the feel of her palms pressing against hers made her calm down. “You’re the first person I go to when I’m happy or sad, and you always know what to say and what to do to make my day infinitely better. You’re the love of my life, and I don’t want to miss out on any second of being yours. So, yeah, we should get married. Not right away, and of course only if you want to, but—” 

She was cut off by Emma capturing her lips with a kiss. Her hands on Alyssa’s cheeks and her thumbs rubbing reassuring lines on Alyssa’s jaw. “I’d love to marry you. Whenever you want to, I’m there.” 

Instead of responding, Alyssa leaned in for another kiss. Then another one. It wasn’t until her shirt was pulled off that she managed to pull away for air. “I don’t have a ring or anything.” 

Emma whispered, “it’s fine. I don’t need a ring for this to be real.” Her lips dragged against Alyssa’s before they made their way to that little spot behind the brunette’s ear that made her whimper. “I love you so much,” she breathed in her ear as her hands made quick work of the rest of Alyssa’s clothes. 

Alyssa couldn’t help but giggle and gasp at the feeling of Emma’s lips on her stomach, “I can’t be late to work today.” 

Emma looked up at her through her eyelashes with a smirk. “I’ll be quick. But it’s also not every day I can make sure my fiancée goes into work with an extra spring in her step.” 

Alyssa was so lost in the feelings of being a newly engaged woman that she didn’t notice the similar sounds coming from her mother’s apartment next door. The walls were incredibly thin, considering just how much they paid for their place. 

Be it by an act of god or just good timing on Emma’s part, Alyssa walked into the locker room on time with a big smile. They didn’t have rings or anything to symbolize the change in their relationship, but just knowing that Emma Nolan would be by her side for the rest of their lives was enough to make Alyssa feel like a whole new person.  

Emma was happier than she’d ever been. The only thing that would make her day any better would be telling her Gran the big news. Of course, Betsy Nolan would be offended that Emma got engaged without Betsy ever meeting Alyssa, but Emma knew that Betsy would be just as crazy for the brunette as she was. 

Betsy had never really met any of Emma’s past girlfriends, which she always made fun of Emma for. It was always: “You don’t want your old Gran meeting your hot date, huh?” paired with a laugh that never failed to make Emma feel warm inside. 

It was weird. Emma could have sworn that she heard Betsy’s laugh in the hospital’s lobby as she walked to the coffee cart. Even weirder, she smelled Betsy’s perfume, a comforting blend of gardenia and cinnamon, drift over the usual hospital smell of sanitizer and cleaning products. Emma did a full 360 where she stood, and sure enough, Betsy Nolan was talking with an administrator at the front desk. 

“Gran?” Emma called out, making her way toward the woman. Betsy turned around with a massive smile on her face as she flung out her arms to hug her granddaughter. “What are you doing here?” 

Betsy pushed her away and held her at arm’s length to get a good look at Emma, “can’t a woman want to visit her granddaughter?” 

Emma laughed and went in for another hug, “I’m not complaining, I’m just confused why you didn’t call me? And where are you staying? Lys and I would be happy to host. Also, why did you come to the hospital first?” 

Betsy held her hand up to stop Emma’s barrage of questions with a smile. “Emma, honey. Let’s sit down.” She moved them to a bench in the entryway. Emma noticed a small wince cross Betsy’s face when they sat down but didn’t think much of it. “I started having some chest pains, and I thought ‘better safe than sorry,’ so I got in the car last night and drove here.” 

“You drove eight hours with chest pain?!” Emma nearly yelled but managed to soften her voice despite the anger building in her chest. “Gran, what’s Rule Number One?” 

“Emma Jean—” 

“No! Gran, you know that the second you feel chest pain, you call an ambulance, and you go to the hospital. You don’t drive yourself across the state.” Emma couldn’t swallow down the fear that mixed with the anger, forcing her to tear up. She swiped at her eye with her sleeve and sniffled. “You could’ve had a heart attack or heart failure or something on the road, and no one would be there to help you. Gran, I can’t lose you.” 

Betsy tucked a piece of hair behind Emma’s ear and pulled her in for a hug. Murmuring calming words into her ear. “Honey, I’m here, and you’re going to make sure your best heart doctor checks me out.” 

Emma sat back and looked at her, “and you won’t do this again?” 

“And I won’t do this again,” Betsy echoed. She held Emma’s hand and led them back to the front desk, where the administrator gave Emma an uneasy smile. 

“We’re going to put her in the cardio wing, room 5112.” She said to Emma, giving Betsy an apologetic smile as she wheeled out the wheelchair. 

Betsy glanced down at the chair and shook her head, “you’re sweet, but I promise you I can walk to the room. Thank you so much.” 

Emma flashed an apologetic look to the woman and took the wheelchair from her. “Gran, it’s hospital policy, and you also drove here with chest pain. It’s time to let us take care of you, and that starts with the wheelchair.” 

Betsy huffed and sat down in the chair, and Emma wheeled them to the elevator. “You won’t be sitting with me all day, right?” Betsy craned her neck to look back at her daughter, “I don’t want you to scare your coworkers on my account.” 

Emma scoffed at the thought, “please, like I could scare Barry. The residents, maybe. But Barry? He would stare me down until I break.” 

“I think I’m going to like him,” Betsy said, wiggling in the chair. 

“—And that’s when Emma called me,” Betsy said between gasping breaths. Barry was howling with laughter as Emma sat next to the hospital bed, getting redder by the minute. “But that’s just one of my Emma stories,” she leaned in to whisper to Barry, “I’ll tell you some more when she goes back to work.”

Barry looked surprised at that, “ but Emma isn’t going back to work today.” 

Emma’s head cocked to the side, “excuse me?” 

“It’s one of Hawkins’s rules,” Barry explained with a flourish of his hand. “If your family is having an operation, you can’t cut. If you want to do consultations, go for it. But,” he pointed at Emma and wiggled his finger. “You will constantly be thinking about what’s going on in this room that you won’t be able to focus the way you need to.” 

Betsy looked between the two surgeons, who were having some sort of silent conversation entirely through eyebrow movements. Emma heaved a sigh and turned to smile at her grandma. “Is it okay if I bring my student here? I want to go over my patients with her.” 

Betsy couldn’t help but smile. Time may go on, but some things truly never changed. “Honey, you’re not a teenager anymore, and this isn’t home. You don’t have to ask to have people over. I’d love to meet them.” 

“Right. Sorry. But, if you need time to rest or anything, just let me know, and I can take over the desk outside.” Emma said, rubbing the back of her neck while Barry studied her from behind his chart. 

Betsy reached out and patted Emma’s hand, “I’ll let you know if you annoy me.” She smiled when Emma deflated just a little, and that smile quickly turned into a smirk, “but, I do want to meet your girlfriend. Alyssa works here, right? I’ve heard so much about her, and I feel like it’s time I meet her before you get engaged or something.” 

Emma’s heart nearly stopped in her chest, and her blood ran cold. She was going to be in so much trouble if Gran knew they had gotten engaged already. “Oh— yeah, let me page her.” She checked her watch, “she should be out of surgery by now.” 

“Well, get her in here! I want to meet the woman my Emma is in love with.” Betsy shouted with a smile, shooing Emma toward the door. “Go get some lunch, and don’t come back here unless you have Alyssa with you.” 

Emma shook her head with a smile but followed orders and left the room. She watched through the window as Barry went through his checks before motioning to his resident as he stepped out with a smile. He leaned against the nurse’s station and jotted something down into his chart. “I want to run a few more tests, but I think she may have a weak Mitral valve. If it is, that’s going to mean surgery.” He studied Emma’s face, his brows knit together in concern. 

Emma just nodded. Words weren’t coming to her, but Barry knew that. She opened her mouth to try and say something multiple times, but Barry pulled her into a hug after nothing came out. 

“Go talk to Hawkins,” Barry murmured into Emma’s ear, holding the back of her head like she was a baby. “Tell him you can’t work while your Gran is here. He’ll understand. Talk to him and then grab Alyssa. You need support right now so you can support Betsy.” He gently pulled Emma away from him and looked deep into her eyes. “We don’t know if anything is wrong or how bad it is. It could be nothing. We’re going to stay positive, and it’ll work out how it works out. Okay?” 

Emma swallowed down the lump of tears in her throat and nodded, “okay.” 

“Go find your girl. I’ll be here with Betsy.” Barry gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze and softly pushed her toward the elevator. She took a shuddering breath and wiped under her eyes before pressing the button. 

To say Alyssa rocked her bowel replacement was an understatement. There wasn’t a single complication, and she even managed to get it done in record time. The scrub nurses looked impressed as they applauded her when she said it was done and good to go. She was practically floating on air as she scrubbed out. 

Dr. Alyssa Greene was engaged and killing it. 

She hummed a little song to herself as she dried off her hands. The OR door swung open behind her, and the sound caused her to look over her shoulder with a dazzling smile. That smile quickly fell when she saw who it was behind her. 

“Lys?” Emma’s voice was strained, and she sniffed a few times. “Are you busy?” 

Alyssa fully turned around to look at her finacée. Emma’s eyes were red and puffy behind her glasses, and it broke Alyssa’s heart just a little. “Baby, what’s wrong?” She pulled Emma into a hug and felt Emma’s body relax just a little into hers. Emma muttered something into Alyssa’s neck. She had a vice-like grip on the v-neck of Alyssa’s navy scrub top. Alyssa combed her fingers through blonde curls and hummed. “Just take a minute, then tell me.” 

She glances through the window, looking into the operating room where Jess had just finished closing the patient on the table. “Let’s go somewhere more private, and then we can talk. Okay?” 

Emma nodded into Alyssa’s chest and let the brunette lead her into the, thankfully empty, locker room. Emma slid down onto a bench with a sigh, and Alyssa squatted down to be at eye level with her. She put her hands on Emma’s knees as a way to both support herself and comfort Emma. 

Emma looked up from her lap and sniffed again. “Gran’s here.” 

Alyssa’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Here? As in the hospital, here?” Emma nodded and laced her fingers with Alyssa’s. “Is she okay?” 

The question was met with a shrug. “She drove eight hours with chest pain—” Emma hummed at Alyssa’s gasp of shock. “Barry’s checking her out, but we don’t really know what’s wrong.” She looked down at their conjoined hands and smiled a little. It never failed to surprise Emma just how comforting Alyssa’s presence was. “She wants to meet you.” 

Alyssa’s worry melted into a strange mix of surprise and nerves. “Are you sure? You both should focus on whatever’s going on. I don’t want to be a distraction.” 

“Of course, I’m sure. She said she wanted to meet you. And I think we could both use the distraction.” She tried to clear the quickly growing lump in her throat. “And I want you to meet her just in case something happens and she doesn’t make it.” 

Alyssa cupped Emma’s cheek and shushed her. “Don’t think like that. We’re going to be positive, okay?” Emma nodded in response and moved to get up, slowly changing out of her scrubs. Alyssa reached out and caught Emma’s hand, “Hey, I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Emma said softly, letting her hand slip out of Alyssa’s. Today had been a rollercoaster, and it was only getting started, but she had Alyssa by her side, and that was all that mattered. She finished changing and threw her scrubs into the laundry bin, and took a deep breath to try and center herself. “Ready?” 

Alyssa snaked her arm around Emma’s waist and pulled her in close to her side. “Always.”

Chapter Text

Emma took a deep breath and opened the door, fixing a smile on her face. Alyssa followed close behind her. “Gran,” Emma said as she took a few steps in so that Alyssa could make her way into the room. “This is Dr. Alyssa Greene.” 

Betsy’s smile lit up the small hospital room as she reached for Alyssa to come closer. Alyssa made her way to Betsy’s side and sat down in the chair. Emma watched on amused from the corner of the room while two of the most important people in her life met for the first time. 

“It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Nolan,” Alyssa said. Her voice held some sort of reverence that Emma wasn’t expecting — but then again, she still nearly tripped over herself every time she talked to Veronica. “Emma’s told me so much about you.” 

Betsy took Alyssa’s hand in hers and gave it a small squeeze, “it’s nice to finally—” she flashed Emma a look “— meet you too, Alyssa.” She turned to look at Emma. “Emma, honey, can you go get me some water?” 

 Whatever Alyssa and Betsy were talking about, they were entranced with the conversation. Emma came and went with water for Betsy and snacks for Alyssa as they sat and talked, hardly noticing her the entire time. Alyssa went with Betsy for her scans and held her hand while she got her blood drawn again and again for further testing. 

Emma didn’t mind. She just sat back and watched as the two most important people in her life got to know each other. And in all honesty, she knew the second she stepped into the conversation, Betsy would tell yet another embarrassing story from Emma’s teenage years. Instead, she focused on Barry and what was going on with Betsy’s heart. 

Emma trailed closely behind Barry as they walked into Betsy’s room, silencing Alyssa and Betsy. Betsy took a deep breath and held her hand out for Emma to stand next to her. “What’s up, Doc?” Betsy asked with a slight laugh at her reference. 

Barry pulled out the scans and headed them to Alyssa, who studied them with furrowed brows. “Well, Betsy. It looks like you need a heart valve replacement. There’s been some damage to your mitral valve, and if it goes untreated, this could cause heart attacks or even heart failure.” His eyes jumped from Betsy’s to Alyssa and Emma, who both looked sullen. “We can do a mechanical or a bovine replacement — it’s up to you.” 

Betsy sat quietly in the bed for a minute, going over the news in her head. “I want a mechanical replacement,” she nodded resolutely. “I don’t like cows enough to be part cow.” Emma couldn’t help but smile at her Gran’s reasoning, and she felt the tension in the room float away piece by piece. “How soon can we do the surgery?” 

Final tests were run, and within an hour, Betsy Nolan was being wheeled off toward the OR. Emma stood by her side and held her hand the entire way, even sitting with Betsy as the anesthesiologist had her count down from ten. Emma gave her hand one last squeeze for good luck when Betsy’s voice faded away at seven. 

She pressed a kiss to her Gran’s forehead and nodded to Barry before walking out of the room. Emma went straight to the Peds floor where Alyssa was finishing up a few charts in her office, as Emma sat glued to her phone for play-by-play updates from Carrie, who she planted in the gallery for the surgery. 

Alyssa slipped her hand under the table and onto Emma’s knee, rubbing comforting circles into the denim. “It’s going to be okay,” she said softly, tracing the lines of worry etched across her fiancée’s face. 

Emma looked up at her and sighed, her body collapsing in on itself. Alyssa pulled her in for a hug and held her as Emma cried. For all the time they had spent together, Emma had never cried around Alyssa for all the time they lived together. And sitting there — holding Emma as she sobbed — broke Alyssa. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” Emma whimpered into Alyssa’s neck. “She’s always been there.” 

“Oh, honey,” Alyssa shushed her and tried to calm her down. “Barry is the best at what he does. It’s going to be okay.” 

Emma sniffled and looked up at her. “It’s going to be okay.” It was more of a question than anything, so Alyssa nodded and brushed the hair out of Emma’s face and repeated, “it’s going to be fine.” 

She slowly moved the two of them to the couch she had tucked away in the corner of the office. Emma laid her head in Alyssa’s lap and somehow managed to fall asleep out of sheer willpower and emotional exhaustion. Alyssa watched the clock and ran her fingers through blonde curls as they waited. 

And the waiting went on for too long. 

Emma woke up with a start to the sound of her phone going off. Her thumb swiped at the screen, and she shot up to her feet so fast that she got a slight headrush. “Carrie? What’s going on? Is she okay?” She glanced up at the clock and went pale. “It’s been so long,” she muttered under her breath, looking back at Alyssa in a panic. “Why did it take so long?” 

Carrie said something on the other line, and Emma took off in a sprint towards the third floor. Alyssa tried her best to keep up, but Emma took the stairs three at a time at a breakneck pace, and Alyssa was winded just watching her. 

Emma skidded to a stop in the scrub room, out of breath and pale. Barry turned toward her with a solemn look on his face. “Emma,” he took a few steps toward her. “She’s okay. There was a minute where she tried to give up on us, but I wouldn’t let her.” He reached out and caught her as she fell to her knees. “She’s going to be okay. They’re taking her to her room, and she’s going to wake up soon.” 

Barry glanced up as Alyssa opened the door. He nodded to her with a small smile and handed Emma to her to support. “Let’s go see her,” Alyssa said softly, leading Emma out of the room. 

Emma sat vigil at her gran’s bedside, gently holding her hand and monitoring every tiny breath and stat. Alyssa watched on from the corner of the room. All of the stress in Emma’s body evaporated when Betsy opened her eyes. 

“Gran?” Emma leaned forward in her chair. “How’re you feeling?” 

“Like I took a truck to the chest,” Betsy grumbled, furrowing her brow in pain as she moved to sit up. Both Emma and Alyssa rushed to her side to help her get in a comfortable position. 

“Do you want some water?” Alyssa asked, fluffing up a pillow and placing it behind her back as some extra support. “That post-surgery dry mouth is not fun.” Betsy took her hand and gave it a squeeze as she nodded, and Alyssa left the room to tell the nurses Betsy was awake and get the water. 

Betsy turned to look at her granddaughter. Emma squirmed a little in her seat at just how closely Betsy was studying her. “You look tired. Are you okay, honey?” Emma couldn’t help but let out a booming laugh. Of course, Betsy would ask her if Emma was okay after she was the one who went through a serious surgery. It was always a caretaker, even when she was the one in the most need of care — that was Betsy Nolan. 

“I’m okay,” Emma said softly, resting her forehead on their clasped hands. “I’m okay, and you’re okay, and I’m engaged.”  

Betsy’s face lit up at Emma’s words. “When did you ask?” Deep down, she knew that Emma would be the one to ask Alyssa to marry her. The general surgeon had been hurt so much by the people in her life that if anyone was going to become a permanent part of it, Emma was going to be the one to make sure they would stick around. 

“Earlier today,” Emma said, the mattress muffled her voice. She peeked her head up to look at Betsy. “You’re not mad, are you?” 

Betsy just laughed, although it came out a little more like a wheeze followed by a cough. Emma snapped to attention and checked her chart for the last time Betsy got some sort of pain medication. “I’m not mad — I’m just glad I got to meet her before the wedding.” Emma’s ears turned red from embarrassment. “Not that I think you were hiding her from me. I know how busy you are, honey.” 

“I’m not too busy for you,” Emma said as she shook her head. “You’re one of the most important people in my life, Gran. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away.” Her apology was waved off as Alyssa came back into the room tailed by Barry and Nurse Kevin. 

Betsy just smiled as she turned toward her future granddaughter-in-law and let Barry and Kevin check her out without a single complaint or comment. Barry seemed pleased with his checks and smiled at Emma, who let go of the final bits of tension she was holding onto. The worst was behind them. It was just a waiting game now.

Chapter Text

“I don’t know, Shel,” Alyssa glanced up from the ultrasound to look at her friend. “I’ve seen TEF in babies, but their entire esophagus is connected to the trachea. We would have to build a new one.” She handed the scans back to the neonatal surgeon. “And the mom has multiple ovarian cysts? I don’t think we could pull this off.” 

Shelby shifted her weight between her feet, still smiling with the glint of challenge in her eyes. “I know we can do this. We work on the fetus as much as we possibly can in the womb, then once we manage to separate the esophagus from the trachea, we deliver the kid, you take them to another OR and place in the new one.” Shelby laid out her plan with a beautiful mix of precision and casualness that it came off like she did this surgery every day. “Then, while you’re dealing with the baby, I’ll take care of the ovarian cysts. It’ll go great, and we’ll be home to our girls in time for dinner.” 

Alyssa sighed and took a moment to think. She reached her hand out to Shelby, “Let me see the scans again?” 

Shelby squealed in victory and instead handed over the entire binder. “It’s going to be great! I need to go to the lab and talk to someone from General.” She sped off toward the maternity wing with a spring in her step. 

The scans weren’t good. At all. But, Alyssa loved a challenge, and both she and Shelby were some of the best in their respective fields. So, if anyone had a chance at making this surgery a success — it was them. 

Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her lab coat. Alyssa swiped up on the screen and saw a message from Emma. I just finished moving Gran in. She insisted on making us dinner at our place. Just let me know when you’re going to be home. Love you. 

Alyssa typed a quick response and smiled at the way her engagement ring sparkled in the fluorescent light. Betsy insisted that Emma give Alyssa the ring that her Grandpa proposed to Betsy with. It was a simple gold band with a small diamond — nothing flashy by any meaning of the word — but it was perfect. 

She turned toward the elevator but was intercepted by Trent. He hit the button for her and instinctually held out his hand to Alyssa. There was something about Alyssa and Emma getting engaged that filled the man with almost childish glee. Alyssa acquiesced and put her left hand in his, smiling as he examined the ring. “This was Emma’s Grandmother’s, right?” He asked, pulling Alyssa’s hand closer to his face. Alyssa just nodded, giving a small smile to one of the nurses who was watching them, confused. “It looks like it’s from the 60s — do you know what year she got engaged?” 

“I didn’t think to ask,” Alyssa said, gently pulling her hand out of Trent’s as the elevator dinged open. 

Trent hummed and swept out his arm to let Alyssa onto the elevator first. “I heard you’re giving an infant an esophagus.” There was a twinkle in his voice as Alyssa stared at him incredulously.

“I literally just– how do you know that?” Alyssa looked down at her watch. She and Shelby agreed to do the surgery not even five minutes ago, and Trent was nowhere around them when they did. She leaned in and whispered to Trent, “do you have cameras around the hospital?” 

Trent crooked his finger to draw Alyssa in closer. There was a mischievous edge to his voice. “Shelby nearly screamed it at me when she was running to the offices. She’s a very excitable young lady.”  

Alyssa leaned back onto the heels of her feet and let out a chuckle, “yep, that sounds like Shelby.” 

The elevator started to slow down, and Trent leaned back in to whisper, “but in all honesty, if I had cameras, you’d never find them.” The doors dinged open, and he walked away, leaving Alyssa frozen in shock. 

“Wh–What does that mean?” Alyssa called out to his retreating figure. “Trent! What does that mean?”

Alyssa felt like collapsing into a heap on the sofa the second she got inside her apartment. However, an excited Betsy and Emma sitting at the kitchen island with wine in hand (and one ready for Alyssa) filled her with a boost of energy.

And then she was knocked off her feet by a ball of fluff. 

Betsy and Emma jumped off the barstools to help Alyssa up and get the over-excited puppy to stop licking her face. “Lois! You can’t just jump on people!” Betsy chastised the puppy in her arms, who couldn’t be bothered with the scolding. Instead, she was busy giving Betsy kisses wherever her little puppy-face could reach. “Alyssa, I’m so sorry, honey. Are you okay?” 

Emma picked up everything that had spilled out of Alyssa’s purse. Shaking her head at the fact that her fiancée always took lipgloss to work — even if she was too focused on saving tiny humans to put it on. 

The brunette pushed onto her feet with a slight groan. Yet another reminder that she needed to go back to yoga class. But thoughts of warrior pose and Shavasana were quickly pushed to the side at the sight of the brown and white puppy squirming in Betsy’s arms to try and sniff Alyssa. “Who’s this little buddy?” 

Years of working in the peds ward meant that Alyssa managed to control her baby-talk instincts. The babies were adorable — they always are — so it took a truckload of cuteness to raise Alyssa’s voice an octave when talking to her tiniest patients. But puppies. Nothing got Alyssa’s baby-talk voice going quicker than a puppy. She would have winced at just how high her voice was as she plucked the puppy from Betsy’s arms, but there was a little ball of fluff and love distracting her. 

Betsy sighed as the puppy snuggled herself into Alyssa. “This is Lois. Emma didn’t want me to be lonely since you two are always working.” There was a glimmer of humor in her voice as Betsy shot a look at her granddaughter. “But, I’m going to try and get her into a therapy dog program. Both of her parents are therapy dogs, and it’ll be nice to have an excuse that’s not a medical emergency to see you two at the hospital.” 

Alyssa looked up from the puppy to Betsy, her eyes bright with excitement. “The kids are going to love her, oh my god.” Lois was getting squirmy, so Alyssa gently placed her on the ground to run around while Alyssa and the Nolan women sat down for dinner. The go-to topic of work was breached within minutes, reminding Alyssa of her new patient with Shelby. “Em, are you working on anything in the lab right now?” 

The blonde looked up from her bowl of chicken and dumplings, her glasses steamed from the soup. “Uh— no. Why?” 

“Shelby and I are giving a baby a new esophagus and taking out the mom’s ovarian cysts at the same time.” Alyssa noticed the surprised eyebrow quirk up on Betsy’s face. “You’re a wiz at regenerative surgery. Do you wanna help?” 

Emma stared at her for a moment, her mouth open in an adorable dumbstricken smile. She looked like a little kid whose parents just offered to buy her anything she wanted from the toy store. “Are you kidding me? Of course, I want to help! That sounds amazing. ” 

Betsy looked between the two surgeons, “I don’t think I will ever understand your jobs.” 

Both doctors just shrugged and laughed as Lois tried to jump into Emma’s lap. 

“And we’re ready? Like ten thousand percent ready?” Shelby asked for the fifth time in as many minutes. Her curls were falling out from the bun twisted precariously on top of her head. There were bags under her eyes, but she was shaking just a little out of nerves and over-caffeination. 

Alyssa and Emma shared a look before nodding to their jittery leader, “we’re ready, Shel. It’s going to work out fine.” Emma said, rubbing Shelby’s shoulders. Emma and Shelby had never been the closest of friends and colleagues. Most of the time, Emma found herself working with Kaylee far more than the neo-natal surgeon. However, through this patient and the sheer amount of lab time and prep work they had to do, the two doctors had grown to be very good friends. “Let’s go in and get them ready.” Emma nodded until Shelby nodded with her and smiled. 

Sitting in the hospital bed was a pregnant Sadie Doyle holding hands with her partner Frankie. They both looked terrified, but Alyssa saw them let out a small breath when the doctors entered the room. 

“Alright, Sadie!” Shelby gave a confident smile that managed to cut through the tension in the hospital room. “Do you want us to go over the operation again? Or are you ready to go?” 

Sadie’s hand tightened around Frankie’s, “I think I’m ready. I’m just—“ her voice cracked as she put a hand on her belly. 

Alyssa moved toward the bed and put her hand on the pregnant woman’s shoulder. “I can only imagine how scary this must be.” 

“I just want to keep him safe,” Sadie whispered as tears threatened to stream down her face. 

The three surgeons nodded in sympathy and understanding. This was the difficult part of the job — convincing people to give up what little control they had over their lives and put it in the hands of someone they barely knew. Hawkins always said that building trust was the most crucial skill a surgeon could have, and no one knew that more than Alyssa and Shelby. They dealt with scared parents and spouses every single day — Emma did too, but not to the extent of the other two. 

“I know you do,” Alyssa said softly. Everything about her exuded a calming confidence that only Alyssa Greene had. “But, you need to trust that we will do what’s best for you and your little boy.” 

Emma stepped out from her spot in the corner. She was only a part of the team to help with the esophagus, so she didn’t know the Doyle’s as well as the other two doctors did, but she wanted to help however she could. “We’ve talked through and have done dozens of practice runs of this surgery. It’s all Dr. Greene has focused on the past few weeks.” Emma gave Alyssa a small smile, “she’s been talking through it in her sleep. We are completely prepared and ready for this.” 

Sadie looked at each of the surgeons before turning her head into Frankie’s chest. “I’m ready.” Frankie leaned down and kissed her on the head while Shelby and Alyssa moved to prep the IVs for the move to the surgical floor. Emma sent a text to Carrie and Jess, who were their assists, to meet them down in the scrub room. 

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Shelby muttered ripping her face mask off and sliding down the wall in the scrub room. Emma pulled off her scrub cap and sat next to her friend. The surgery went way longer than any of them anticipated, totaling out to a little over 16 hours of constant focus and standing. Sutures didn’t hold, and vitals tanked more than once for both Sadie and her baby. Emma found herself running back and forth from each operating theatre to lend an extra pair of hands and help however she could. 

Alyssa peeked her head into the room. Her body was hidden behind the swinging door, but Emma could tell she had changed scrubs. Too much blood had gotten on her shoes and pants from the surgery. Not to mention she had a post-operation habit of showering away the blood, stress, and smells from the surgery as soon as she scrubbed out. “Hey, let’s go check in on them.” 

Shelby whined as she managed to get to her feet. Her legs and back were sore to the point of pain every time she moved, and she was looking forward to Kaylee giving her a massage when they got home. She reached out a hand to help the blonde up, who groaned and rubbed her face before plastering on a tired but genuine smile. 

“There were a few complications to both your and the baby’s surgeries,” Shelby said, her eyes jumping from Sadie to Frankie and back again. “We’re going to keep a very close eye on y’all, but I feel very positive about you both making a strong recovery.” 

Frankie pressed a kiss to their wife’s head, “when can we see the baby?” 

Shelby turned to Alyssa, who gave a reassuring smile even though her eyes told them they weren’t going to hear what they wanted. “Not today. He needs just a little more time to heal before you can see him.” Her heart ached as their faces fell, “I know it’s hard, but it’s a balancing act right now, and we want to make sure he pulls through, and everything works as it should.”

The surgeons answered more questions and gave more reassurance before one final check to Sadie and the baby’s vitals. Then they went home. Emma collapsed on the bed and covered her face with her hands, “I don’t know how you work on babies and kids all day. This sucks.” 

Alyssa breezed through the apartment like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Comes with the job, I guess. You get used to it.” 

Emma peeked up at her through her fingers, “Sadie just went through major surgery, and she just kept asking about her baby. It’s like nothing else mattered. She almost died so many times on that table.” 

“That’s what parenthood does to you,” Alyssa shrugged, pulling on her pajama pants. 

“Sounds like a nightmare,” the blonde muttered, pushing up off of the bed toward the bathroom to brush her teeth. “I don’t think I could ever be a parent.” 

“You don’t want kids?” 

“More of an ‘I don’t want to be a parent’ kinda thing,” Emma managed to say around a mouthful of toothpaste. 

Alyssa let out a small “oh” and climbed in between the sheets, turning on her side to face away from her fiancee. Emma looked over at Alyssa and sighed, they hadn’t had the kid conversation yet, and she was worried about this. She finished up her bedtime routine quickly and slid into bed beside Alyssa. Emma pulled softly on Alyssa’s side to try and turn her over to face her. 

“Hey,” Emma said softly as Alyssa’s face came into view. “We haven’t really talked about—” 

“How you don’t want kids,” Alyssa murmured, her voice soft yet filled with a mix of pain and anxiety. “And I do.” 

They stared at each other in the heavy silence of the moment. Neither wanted to be the one to say something and shed even more light on the newly formed crack in the foundation of their relationship lest it turns into a gaping hole that makes everything they had built crumble down around them. 

Seconds seemingly stretched on for eons as they simply looked at each other. Alyssa broke first. 

“I have always wanted kids, and I know I see kids get hurt and die every day, and sometimes there’s nothing I can do to help, but…” She let out a breath. “I’ve always wanted to be a mom.” 

Emma nodded, letting the full weight of Alyssa’s words wash over her, hoping that maybe something would change within her. She could see Alyssa running around the park with a little head full of brown curls. She tried hard to imagine herself running alongside them both, but something felt off. Something about it felt foreign and off. Then it clicked. That feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach at the thought of being a parent. 

“My mom and dad kicked me out when I was a kid.” Her voice was even and calm  — years of therapy helped her stay in control of her emotions, especially about this. “And even before then, they weren’t getting any awards for ‘Parents of the Year.’ I don’t know what a real parent looks like because the closest I ever got to one was Gran, and it just wasn’t quite the same.”

“You would be a great mom, Emma,” Alyssa whispered, gently brushing a lock of hair out of the blonde’s face. “You have so much love inside of you that it’s overwhelming sometimes. And if the way you take care of your patients is any indication of what kind of a mom you’d be — our kid will be the luckiest baby in the world. I don’t want to push you into this, and I just want to be with you, but could you—” 

Emma’s thumb traced Alyssa’s cheekbone as her mouth turned into a small smile. She nodded, “I’ll think about it.” 

“I love you,” Alyssa breathed, leaning in to kiss Emma and snuggled in closer to her. She was quickly lulled to sleep from a mix of pure exhaustion and the steady beating of Emma’s heart. 

"I love you too,” Emma said as Alyssa’s breathing evened out in her arms. 

Chapter Text

“The kid swallowed what !?” Emma gasped, squeezing Alyssa’s forearm as they walked across the street from the hospital to Shelley’s. 

“I know!” Alyssa was wheezy from laughter. It wasn’t always that they could laugh over patients, so whenever it came along, they cherished it. “Then I’m standing there giving the parents my normal ‘kids eat things’ spiel.” 

Emma stopped to open the door for Alyssa while she gasped at her. “I’m sorry. Your what spiel?” 

Alyssa waved the question off with the utmost casualty. “Kids are like cavemen. Everything is new and a little scary, and 90% of the time, their first instinct is to try and eat whatever new thing they see. They pick it up, shake it a little, and then most of the time, it’s going down the hatch.” 

She motioned to Sheldon behind the bar for their drinks. Alyssa had been coming here ever since her internship year. There was something warm and comforting about Shelley’s, like slipping on an old sweater on the first cold day of the year. Sure, a couple of stains are on it, but it’s well-worn and feels like home. 

Emma hadn’t taken her eyes off of Alyssa ever since they got off of their shift — and in all honesty, she wasn’t planning on looking away from her gorgeous fiancée all night. But even the best-laid plans go awry. And the sound of a shattering glass ripped Emma’s focus from Alyssa to a rowdy corner of the bar. 

However, instead of it being a table of semi-exhausted, very drunk interns or nurses who were shooting the shit with every shot of tequila, it was a group of strangers. Although there was something familiar to them that the general surgeon couldn’t quite place. Then she saw the insignia embroidered on an overly buff man’s fleece vest. 

“Lys, do Sacred Heart doctors come here a lot?” Emma asked, nudging the brunette to look over at the corner table. 

Alyssa’s eyes narrowed at the sight, and she whipped out her phone. She didn’t even look down at the screen as her thumbs typed out her message — she was too focused on giving the stink eye to the intruders at her bar. Emma felt her phone go off in her back pocket, then followed by dozens upon dozens of vibrating notifications from what she could only assume was the group chat with her fellow surgeons. 

Alyssa turned toward the bar with a saccharine smile filled with venom. “Sheldon, why the hell are the Sacred Heart doctors here?” Her tone was light and airy despite the fire burning behind her eyes. 

Sheldon gave her an uneasy smile and placed a vodka cran in front of her, “they’re paying customers, kid. I’m not about to kick them out.” 

“Yeah, but this is our bar,” Alyssa whined like she was one of the kids in her pediatrics wing who didn’t want to get a shot. “They’re going to get it all gross and Sacred Heart-y.” 

As if summoned by her words, a Scared Heart doctor sauntered up to the bar. They had long blonde hair like something out of a shampoo commercial and a killer smile that stretched in fake surprise. “Is that Alyssa Greene?” 

Alyssa’s shoulders went stiff at the voice, and she turned around to face the other doctor. She had a death grip on her drink that had Emma worried it would shatter from the pressure. “Leila! What a surprise to see you here!” Alyssa’s smile was forced and didn’t quite meet her eyes. But she still leaned forward and greeted Leila with two air kisses on the cheek. 

Emma watched on with curiosity but was ready to hold Alyssa back from jumping Leila. Behind them, Sheldon poured himself a shot of vodka and downed it in one. Leila gave Alyssa a once-over, “Oh, you look exhausted! Long day?” She didn’t let Alyssa answer before going on. “We just separated a pair of conjoined three-year-olds, so we’re just beat. But that’s how it is when you’re doing cutting-edge surgeries every week. What did you work on today?” 

Alyssa practically had steam coming out of her ears but managed to force her anger into a smile that looked more like a snarl than anything. “I worked on a few craniotomies with our head neurosurgeon. We gave three kids a chance at a new life free of brain cancer.” She reached back for Emma, who instinctually took her hand and stepped forward. “My fiancee has been working on a few new research projects in regenerative medicine, isn’t that right, honey?” Emma didn’t even have time to inhale before Alyssa cut her off, “Emma’s going to change the entire face of organ transplants within the next ten years.”

Either the news about Emma’s research or the fact that she was engaged to Alyssa kept Leila quiet for a few moments. Emma made a mental note to ask Alyssa if Leila was her ex. But before she could even really think of what to say, Shelby, Kaylee, Nick, Kevin, and Angie ran into the bar. Nick sauntered up to Leila with a puffed-out chest and bravado that would’ve been intimidating to anyone who didn’t know him. Angie and Kevin weren’t far behind, flanking him on either side with a scowl (Kevin) and a face that said, “try and fuck with me, I dare you” (Angie). 

“What are you doing here, Whitehouse? You guys have your bar.” His arms were crossed in just the perfect way to make his biceps look bigger than they were. Emma sipped at her whiskey sour as she watched what could quickly turn into a bar fight play out in front of her. A few of the Sacred Heart residents blipped to Leila’s side as if they were summoned out of thin air. 

Leila just slid on a smile and shrugged, “Bandits had a kitchen fire a few nights ago, and we needed somewhere to be.” They shared a look with one of the more muscular doctors behind her. “But, this seems like a good place. Maybe we won’t go back to Bandits.”

Emma could practically see the anger radiating off of Alyssa’s body in waves. “This is our bar,” Alyssa snapped. She was never good at sharing, and the thought of having to share her favorite place to unwind with her nemesis gave her full-body chills. 

Leila took a step closer to Alyssa. They would’ve been nose to nose had Leila not been so tall. “What are you going to do about it, Greene? We’re paying customers just like you.” 

It was at that moment that Alyssa had what was simultaneously her best and worst idea ever. “Fine then. Whoever racks up the biggest tab keeps the bar. Edgewater versus Sacred Heart. Loser can’t come back.” She stuck her hand out, “you game?”

Leila shook Alyssa’s hand and nodded, “we’re game. Biggest tab by closing wins. If someone barfs, they’re done for the night.” 

Alyssa nodded, “naturally.” 

“Does food count toward the tab?” 

“No, but it is required. We don’t want anyone drinking on an empty stomach.” 

“Any mandatory hydration?” 

“We will send people over to the hospital to get a banana bag as well as have a monitored nap in an on-call room.” 

Leila raised an eyebrow, “monitored?” 

“Our interns pissed of Dr. Allen. And we don’t want you choking on your vomit, now do we?”

Leila looked back at her posse, who shrugged. “You’re on.” She looked at Sheldon, “can we get a round of shots for my friends?”  

Alyssa turned around to the Edgewater surgeons. “Get everyone who’s not on-call here right now.” A barrage of cellphones slipped out of pockets, and texts were sent out like the bat signal. Sure enough, Hawkins and Veronica strolled into the bar with determined looks on their faces.

Veronica naturally gravitated to Angie’s side at the bar while the blonde took three shots in quick succession. “What’s happening? Alyssa told me it was a 9-1-1.” 

“Drink-off. Largest tab wins.” Angie said, her voice a little strained as she adjusted to the familiar burning in the back of her throat. “I hate shots.” 

Veronica looked over her shoulder and spotted her daughter intently focused on the food menu. She shook her head a little at Alyssa’s competitive streak — mainly because she knew the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in that regard. Veronica leaned onto the bar and leaned into Angie, keeping her voice low, “if you hate shots, why are you doing them, my love?” 

Angie looked at her girlfriend with her brows furrowed in confusion, “more drinks in a shorter amount of time, ‘Ronnie, it’s just math.” 

Veronica slipped her hand onto Angie’s back, “a few well-made cocktails will cost more than those three shots combined and will be a little easier on you tomorrow.” She motioned to one of the bartenders with her free hand, “can I get two dirty gin martinis with Hendricks, please?”  

Angie looked at Veronica like she had just shown her the secret to life. “Is one of those for me?” She batted her eyelashes and gave her most dazzling smile. 

“They are not. If you want to drink like a college student, I’m not going to stop you.” She leaned in and whispered into Angie’s ear. Hot breath hitting the spot on the trauma surgeon’s neck that always made her knees shake. “But you owe me if you throw up in our place because I’m not cleaning that up.” 

Angie felt shivers travel down her back as Veronica took a step back with a smug look on her face, double fisting her martinis. She watched in rapt attention as Veronica sauntered away. Someone cleared their throat behind her, making Angie whip around and blush at being caught. Barry looked at her with a chuckle and raised his manhattan with a wink. The blush traveled down from Angie’s cheeks to her neck, and she turned back to the bartender, “I’m not going to make it through tonight, am I?” 

He shook his head and put down another shot. Angie took it with a grimace and sighed, “she’s right, isn’t she? About the cocktail thing?” The bartender nodded. “Shit— just surprise me with something and make it expensive.” He put a glass of water down in front of her and nudged a bowl of nuts her way. 

Time: 12:22 am

Edgewater General: $153

Sacred Heart: $196

“‘Lyssa, I think you might maybe be a lil competitive,” Shelby slurred. She was far better off than Kaylee, who was “dancing” (although it was more akin to flailing and flopping than actual dancing) to ABBA on the makeshift dance floor but not by much. 

Alyssa, fueled by pure rage and the need to win, downed her fifth vodka cran of the night. “I am not losing to her ever again. So buck up and drink up.” She was holding her alcohol surprisingly well, although anyone could tell it could all go to hell in a matter of seconds. 

To say that the Edgewater staff was doing particularly well would be a vast overstatement. Trent and Hawkins were mindlessly eating now-cold French fries. Nick and Kevin made the fatal mistake of breaking the seal and were practically walking in circles from their drinks’ place on the bar to the bathroom and back again. Emma didn’t think when she ordered and had mixed far too many flavors and different alcohol types to sit happily in her stomach and was now a light shade of green as she sipped at her water. 

In all honesty, the only people who looked like they could make it for another hour, let alone two, were Alyssa, Barry, and Veronica. Angie tried her best, but her best just looked like curling up into Veronica’s side and whispering things that made the plastic surgeon blush. 

Not that Alyssa noticed at all, though. She couldn’t be less focused on her mother when she had to plan out the best way to beat Leila. 

The Sacred Heart staffers already had two barfers who were quickly transported to the hospital for their complimentary IV fluids and a nap. But that still meant there were more Sacred Heart doctors than Edgewater General, and Alyssa had no idea how they were going to pull through. 

Then, like an angel sent from heaven above, Dr. Dee Dee Allen entered the bar. All it took was one look at her husband and coworkers for Dee Dee to know what needed to be done. “Sheldon, a French 75. But make it with the good stuff.” 

Sheldon’s eyes got big behind his thick-rimmed glasses, and he nodded to the doctor. He went into the back office for a moment before coming out with a bottle of champagne that cost more than Alyssa and Emma’s rent for four months. 

Ever the drama queen, Dee Dee turned to face the two groups of doctors. Her hand was casually outstretched, ready to be handed her champagne flute. It seemed like the entire bar was silent— sans the sounds of Kaylee drunkenly humming along to “Waterloo”—- and Alyssa could’ve sworn she heard Lelia gulp in fear. 

“Actually,” Dee Dee said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, “leave the whole bottle.” 

The room erupted into applause from the Edgewater staff as Sheldon poured Dee Dee a glass. Dee Dee raised her glass into the air toward her co-workers and downed it in one very ladylike gulp. She then grabbed the bottle and took a large swig from it. “So I take it we win?” 

The bar went insane. Kevin and Nick jumped on top of each other like they had just won the World Series. 

And lost in the haze of alcohol and victory, Angie pulled Veronica in for a scorching kiss. Veronica’s hands were tangled in blonde hair as Angie pulled her in closer by the waist. They stayed locked in the kiss for what seemed like an eternity until they had to come up for air. 

“Mom?” Veronica tensed at Alyssa’s voice. She took a step away from Angie and smoothed the wrinkles in her shirt where Angie had held her. Alyssa moved closer to her mom with a shocked look on her face. “How long has this been going on?” 

Angie looked sheepish as she wiped at her lips to try and get rid of the unseemly smear of lipstick. Veronica sighed and glanced back at Angie, reaching out for her to hold her hand. “On and off ever since college.” 

“But, you were with Dad?” Alyssa asked. Veronica could practically see the gears turning in Alyssa’s brain as she tried to figure out some sort of a timeline.

Angie moved to wrap her arm around Veronica’s waist, rubbing comforting circles into her hip with her thumb. “We were off when I was with your father. But after he left, Angie and I just kind of… rekindled. It was only when we happened to be in the same town for conferences—” 

“And then you moved back.”

Veronica nodded, “and then I moved back, and I didn’t want to fight it anymore.” 

Angie spoke up this time, “I love your mom, Alyssa.” 

Alyssa took a moment and looked back at Emma, who watched on curiously while nursing a very large water. “I’m happy you guys are happy.” She smiled at the two of them, “really. You deserve to be happy, Mom.” 

Veronica put her head on Angie’s shoulder and smiled, “thank you, honey.” 

The moment came to a complete halt at the sound of a Sacred Heart surgeon vomiting. “We need to get home,” the Greene women said in unison as they reached for their respective partners. Shelby and Kaylee weren’t far behind as they left the bar to wait for their ubers. 

Kaylee leaned into Alyssa and whispered, “It’s kinda funny.” She hiccuped. “You and your mom have like the exact same taste in women.”