Chapter Text
The sun had barely peaked over the horizon as Jinx, coffee in hand, stepped quietly through the crowded parking garage at Piltover Memorial Hospital. She took a generous sip from her thermos, the scalding hot brew scorching the top of her mouth, as her AirPods blasted 90s rock music into her ears. She couldn’t tell if it was the coolness of the midsummer morning, or her first day nerves, that sent a shiver down her spine as she approached the towering entryway to Piltover Memorial.
The building was truly massive, shining like a crystalline skyscraper in the early morning light. She swallowed another sip of her black coffee, her throat burning, as she peered up to the top of the hospital. A helicopter thundered as it approached the helipad on the roof for landing. Giant, red letters spelled out PMH for all of the city to see – this was their city hospital, in all its glory. And now, after years of studying, after hundreds of tests, and after dozens of interviews, it was finally her hospital, too.
Jinx, in all honesty, was surprised that she matched at PMH. It was one of the most prestigious teaching hospitals in Runeterra, even beating out her alma mater Zaun State. Some of her favorite professors and mentors from Zaun were graduates of PMH. When it became clear that Jinx was a gifted student, graduating at the top of her class, they encouraged her to shoot for the stars and apply. And when Jinx opened her offer letter, inviting her to join the general surgery residency at Piltover Memorial, she could hardly believe her eyes.
Jinx’s phone vibrated in the pocket of her blue scrubs, startling her out of her trance as she walked through the busy hospital lobby. Her sister’s name filled the screen as the phone continued to buzz in her hand.
“Hey Vi,” Jinx answered the call as she stepped into the elevator. She had memorized what floor she was going to a thousand times, but still had to think twice before pressing the button. “You’re up early.”
“You think I’d miss my baby sister’s first day as a surgeon?” Vi’s voice blared through Jinx’s AirPods, catching static as the elevator doors closed. “What’s your first case today, Dr. Lane? Open heart surgery? Liver transplant?”
Jinx rolled her eyes, but a sly grin appeared on her purple, chapped lips.
“Vi,” she chided flatly. “It’s day one. They don’t even let the first years near the operating rooms this early.”
Vi scoffed, and Jinx heard what sounded like a giant bite being taken out of a toasted bagel.
“Ok, fine, no surgeries yet,” Vi said, her voice garbled as she continued to loudly chew on her breakfast. “So what are you doing today?”
“Orientation starts at 6AM,” Jinx said matter-of-factly as Vi gagged at how obscenely early of a time that was. “Then I get paired with a senior resident and hit the wards.”
“Doesn’t sound as fun as surgery, Powder,” Vi said as another bite crunched through Jinx’s AirPods. Despite how ridiculous Vi sounded with her mouth full, Jinx felt her heart patter in her chest as she heard her childhood nickname. Not many knew her as Powder, and even fewer were allowed to call her that.
“It’s not fun at all,” Jinx said as she rounded the corridor towards the lecture hall. “But we have to start somewhere.”
“Do you think you’ll see Ekko?” Vi asked. “Isn’t he a nurse there?”
Jinx felt a pang of guilt grip her chest, her sly grin disappearing from her lips. She hadn’t reached out to her childhood best friend in ages. She and the scrawny, nerdy, white-haired boy had been inseparable as kids, and Jinx could talk for hours about all of the trouble they’d gotten in together at school.
But things changed after the accident, after Vander died, after Powder became Jinx. Jinx, haunted by her guilt, left much of her old life behind. She and Ekko drifted apart as a result, and sooner than she’d realized, it’d been years since they last spoke. Sometimes she wondered how much she’d hurt him with her absence. Other times, she wondered if he missed her at all.
“It’s a big hospital,” Jinx finally said, punching out a flat response to indicate she didn’t want to talk much more about this. “Maybe I’ll see him, but probably not.”
“Ah, I see,” Vi said, her voice soft and guarded. She knew better than to pry. “Just remember, there are people that are rooting for you out there. People that love you.”
The smile returned to Jinx’s lips. If she owed her success in medical school to anyone, it was her sister.
“I know, Vi,” Jinx replied warmly as she approached the door to the lecture hall. “I’ve gotta go, I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Love you, sis,” Vi responded, her cheeriness returning as she finally finished her bagel. “And don’t be afraid to call Caitlyn! She’s somewhere in that giant hospital, too!”
Jinx hummed an agreement before disconnecting the call. She took a deep, steadying breath, brushing a strand of blue hair behind her ear, and stepped into the auditorium.
The lecture hall was already full of her fellow residents, all far too awake for 6AM. They sat awkwardly together, many meeting for the first time, as they sipped their coffees and snacked on complimentary, sad-looking pastries served on a table at the entryway. Some were dressed in their brand-new white coats. Others, like Jinx, had opted for scrubs and a hoodie. But none, Jinx realized, looked quite like her.
Jinx took great pride in her unique appearance for a doctor. Where the others had neatly cropped and combed hair, Jinx had two long, electric blue braids that trailed to her ankles. Her dozen cloud tattoos, while concealed under her sweatshirt and scrubs, would surely raise a few eyebrows within the hallowed halls of Piltover Memorial. And, perhaps what Jinx was most proud of, she was one of only two women in the whole first year class.
She knew surgery was still a man’s world. She had endured the countless, mindless remarks about her sex while she pursued a career in surgery – how she wasn’t strong enough to position the patient on the operating table, how the long hours and sleepless nights might be too hard for her, how she wouldn’t be able to raise babies as a surgeon. To all of those questioning faces she grinned, stood tall, and proudly said fuck you.
She positioned the patient herself. She stayed up for countless nights. And she’d raise as many damn babies as she wanted as a surgeon, whether it be none or twelve.
Jinx locked eyes with the sole other woman in the audience, sitting in the front row. The nervous looking blonde sipped her coffee and smiled back at her.
“This spot taken?” Jinx asked her as she slipped into the row of narrow seats.
“All yours.” The woman smiled into her coffee, gesturing welcomingly at the seat next to her. Her blonde hair was pulled back neatly behind a black headband. Her light blue scrubs almost perfectly matched her eye color.
“I’m Jinx Lane,” Jinx said, extending her narrow hand to the blonde. She shook it warmly.
“Luxanna Crownguard,” she said as Jinx settled into the seat next to her. “But you can call me Lux.”
The two sat in awkward silence for a moment, and Jinx suddenly remembered how much she hated small talk.
“So, um, that pastry,” Jinx started. “Looks pretty fucking disgusting.”
Lux stared at her for a beat before snorting a laugh.
“It tastes like cardboard,” she chuckled. “But I’m so nervous, I could eat a basket of them.”
“You and me both, girl,” Jinx hummed, sipping her thermos. “Where’d you go to medical school?”
“I went here,” Lux replied. “Piltover University School of Medicine. I did all of my clinical rotations here at PMH.”
Jinx feigned an interested smile, but she suddenly remembered another troubling truth – she was the only resident in her class from Zaun. Piltover had a long history of looking down on its sister city, despite the brilliant minds it produced.
“So you must know all of our classmates,” Jinx said, gesturing behind her towards the dozen or so others. Lux nodded with enthusiasm.
“Went to school with most of them, yeah,” she said.
Jinx studied the audience, her eyes finally landing on a pair of men several rows back. One of them was tall and muscular, with a chiseled face and tousled, fuchsia hair. Jinx caught her breath as he winked at her, noticing his eyes were two unique colors. Next to him was a lithe blonde with windswept hair and a dangerous smile. Despite it only being his first day, he somehow already looked bored.
“That’s Kayn and Ezreal,” Lux said as she followed Jinx’s gaze. “Kayn’s a bit of a flirt. Surprised that meathead would do anything but orthopedics, but he followed me to general surgery.”
“Seems like a real character,” Jinx grumbled as she turned back to face the front of the lecture hall.
“And the other one is Ezreal,” Lux said. “He’s absolutely loaded. His uncle has a whole wing of the hospital named after him.”
“Great,” Jinx said. “So we have a linebacker and a nepo baby as co-residents, how lovely.”
Lux snorted another laugh, her eyes disappearing within her smile.
“Well when you put it like that,” Lux giggled. “But they’re good looking, at least. Makes those long, lonely overnight call shifts a little more… entertaining.”
It was Jinx’s turn to snort.
“I didn’t realize residency was like the TV shows,” Jinx said coyly. “Sneaking off to fuck in the call rooms?”
Lux blushed, suddenly very interested in her coffee.
“Well I didn’t say that,” she said. “But Gods know we’re not even going to have time to date, no less fuck-”
The door of the auditorium slammed open, and in walked an orange yordle in a long, weathered white coat. Lux slapped a hand to her mouth, mortified, as Dr. Heimerdinger, chair of the surgery department, walked in. Behind him walked a gaunt yet handsome resident, who looked as if he hadn’t seen the sun since the beginning of his training. He walked with a cane, his steps staggered and limping behind the quick patter of Heimerdinger’s shoes.
“Dr. Crownguard!” the yordle cried as he approached the podium. “What was that I heard you say? Perhaps you and Dr. Lane were studying the ‘four F’s’ of the hypothalamus? Fighting, fleeing, feeding, and…?”
A painfully awkward silence enveloped the auditorium.
“Fucking!” proudly cried a sly, fox-like voice from behind Jinx. The lecture hall burst into a fit of hysterics. Jinx turned around just in time to see Ezreal’s smirk as his friend, Kayn, buried his face into his white coat.
“I would have preferred ‘fornication’, Dr. Lightfeather,” Heimerdinger chided at Ezreal. “But I suppose crude words can be just as effective as poetic prose.”
Heimerdinger climbed to the podium, checking his watch. The gaunt resident accompanying him stood closely nearby, his eyes studying the crowd with an unreadable expression.
“As most of you already know, I am Dr. Cecil B. Heimerdinger, chair of surgery here at the illustrious Piltover Memorial Hospital,” the yordle began, descending into a melodramatic, elegant bow. “And this is your chief resident, Dr. Viktor Talis.”
Viktor nodded a silent hello towards the audience. Jinx studied him, noticing the faint blood stains on his scrubs and the faded embroidery of his white coat. Jinx’s eyes lingered a beat too long, and he sensed her gaze. His amber eyes met hers. As he read her heather hoodie, proudly displaying ‘Zaun State’ in white font, his unimpressed expression cracked, the faintest smile appearing on his thin lips.
“Welcome, first years,” he said. Jinx detected a vague accent she struggled to place. “We are delighted to have you at PMH.”
“Now, without further ado,” Heimerdinger started. “Let’s get you oriented!”
Heimerdinger spent the next hour going over the nuts and bolts of Jinx’s surgery residency – her schedule, her responsibilities, her pay, and perhaps most importantly, her OR privileges. She was disappointed to learn that even the best performing first years were rarely invited by Dr. Heimerdinger or the senior residents into the operating rooms.
“But if you study hard, learn your craft, and most importantly, take care of Piltover’s sickest and neediest,” Heimerdinger continued to pontificate from his podium. “You will be operating with myself and Viktor in no time.”
Jinx felt butterflies in her stomach at the very thought of it. She pictured herself, scrubbed in, a patient’s beating heart open in front of her. She had always wanted to fix things, since she was very little. She had an untamable curiosity that even Vander wasn’t able to contain. And even though he wasn’t with her anymore, she now had the opportunity to make him proud.
She wouldn’t waste it.
…⚕️…
The weeks began to blend together. Jinx had gotten used to her routine of early morning starts, getting to the hospital long before the sun would rise. She would arrive before any of her classmates would, seeing her patients first, writing detailed notes and preparing diligently for rounds each day. She knew exactly what Heimerdinger was going to ask her long before he would ask, and would prepare for Viktor’s incessant quizzing on rounds. Every night, when she would finally get home to her tiny, studio apartment, she would study the charts of each of her patients, memorizing every detail about them.
“It was so cool, Vi,” Jinx said into her phone as she poured over her patient’s charts, shoveling instant ramen into her mouth. “I got to drain the whole abscess myself. It smelled so gnarly!”
She heard Vi gag on the other end of the phone.
“Jeez, Powder,” she groaned. “Times like these I’m thankful Cait went into residency for psychiatry.”
“And I really like Viktor, my chief,” Jinx continued, her voice energized with excitement despite how late it was. “He went to Zaun State, too! He’s one of the only other residents in my program who went there.”
“Viktor, huh?” Jinx could basically hear Vi’s eyebrows wiggling through the phone. “Is he cute?”
“Yeah,” Jinx admitted. “Cute, and gay. His husband owns an tech company here in Piltover.”
“Love that,” Vi cooed. “I’ll have to ask if Caitlyn knows him.”
Vi paused, and Jinx already knew the next question coming.
“Have you, you know, been able to go on any dates?”
“When would I have time for that?” Jinx scoffed as she finished the last of her ramen. “I barely have time to sleep.”
“I just want to make sure you’re getting a good work-life balance,” Vi said as she stifled a yawn. “You work so hard, is all. Anyone good-looking in your program?”
Jinx thought about how truly unimpressed she was with Kayn and Ezreal.
“It’s slim-pickings here in Piltover,” Jinx cooed slyly. “Sorry, sis. You’re not becoming an aunt anytime soon.”
Vi clicked her tongue against her teeth.
“Just take care of yourself, promise?” she said, her tone suddenly serious. “I don’t want you to burn out.”
“I promise,” Jinx repeated. She glanced at the clock, scoffing at how late it already was. “I gotta go, sis. I need to be up in like 4 hours.”
“Good luck, doc!” Vi said before hanging up.
Jinx, however, would be up for an hour longer, rereading her patient’s charts from cover to cover.
…⚕️…
It was a little past 5AM. Jinx stepped into the elevator, her nose buried into her phone as she studied her patient’s morning labs and x-rays. Her rock music continued to blast in her AirPods, her head bouncing subconsciously to the bass. She barely noticed the cane slide between the elevator doors just before they closed, jolting them back open. As soon as Jinx saw who it was, she tucked her phone into her pocket.
“Viktor!” she basically shouted at the poor chief resident over the blaring volume of her music. “Good morning!”
Viktor winced at her volume, but a smile crept into his lips. His eyes warmly studied his junior resident.
“Good morning, Dr. Lane,” he said. “I can hear that you’re a fan of Nirvana, however I must insist you lower the volume before we have to send you to see ENT.”
Jinx smiled as she tucked her AirPods away. Her ears were ringing, but she’d never admit it.
“You can call me Jinx,” she said as the elevator continued to climb. “I figured the only Zaunites in this ivory tower ought to be on a first-name basis.”
Viktor chuckled, his laugh a true rarity.
“Not the only Zaunites, Jinx,” he said. “But I am glad I caught you. I need to talk to you.”
Jinx felt her heart drop. She tried not to let her brows furrow into knots as her anxiety ran wild in her mind. Had she already messed up? Had she disappointed her chief resident?
“I’d like you to accompany me in the operating room this afternoon,” Viktor said plainly, and Jinx felt her heart stop. She couldn’t believe her ears.
“The… operating room?” Jinx huffed incredulously. “Me?”
Viktor chuckled again.
“Don’t sound so surprised!” he said, tapping her leg affectionately with his cane. “You think I haven’t noticed how well prepared you’ve been these last few weeks? You’ve put more effort into this residency than all of your classmates combined.”
“Holy shit,” was all Jinx could muster. Viktor snorted a laugh, and Jinx felt her cheeks redden.
“Holy shit is right,” he echoed, smiling slyly. “There hasn’t been a first year in the operating room this early since, well, myself a few years back.”
Jinx had to fight the giddiness bubbling in her chest. Viktor was one of the most brilliant surgeons she’d ever met, and now she had been invited to operate with him.
“What time is the surgery?” she asked, barely containing her excitement. “What are we operating on? Which operating room? What’s the patient’s name?”
Viktor held up a hand to calm her.
“I’ll text you all of the details, Jinx. It’s a simple procedure, just a cholecystectomy. I trust you’ve studied up on your biliary tree anatomy?”
Jinx nodded emphatically, as if Viktor didn’t already know the answer. She was always beyond prepared.
“Excellent,” Viktor said. “I’ll see you this afternoon, then.”
He gestured behind Jinx, who hadn’t even realized the elevator had parked itself on her floor, doors wide open.
As Jinx basically skipped away in excitement, she heard Viktor call from the elevator behind her as the doors began to close.
“Oh, and Jinx,” he started. “I must warn you, however. The scrub nurse on with us this afternoon is known to get under my residents’ skin.”
Jinx remembered all of the grumpy, old scrub nurses she’d encountered as a medical student. She scoffed, shooting Viktor a confident glance.
“Nothing I can’t handle, Vik!” she called back to him.
“I should hope not,” Viktor said as the elevator doors approached each other. “He’s a Zaunite, same as us.”
…⚕️…
Jinx steeled her nerves and took a deep, steadying breath as she finished scrubbing in. She meticulously scrubbed her hands before patting them dry with a sterile towel. She donned her surgical gloves, gown, cap, and mask before slipping into the operating room.
It was warmer and darker than she expected. The patient was already asleep on the operating table, a breathing tube in his throat, and an anesthesiologist sat behind a curtain above his head tinkering with the ventilator and various infusing medications. Viktor hovered above the patient’s exposed belly, marking it with a purple marker and barely glancing up as Jinx walked in.
“Jinx!” he said warmly as he continued to examine his patient, delineating relevant anatomy with thick, purple lines. “Glad you found us. I know this hospital can be a maze.”
“Wasn’t too hard to find,” Jinx said with a coy grin. She decided not to admit she had memorized the layout of the operating rooms long before today.
“You’ll be my first assist today,” Viktor continued. “You’ll be in charge of retracting tissue to make sure I have a clear field of vision. I’ll let you make a few important cuts, too.”
Jinx excitedly stepped up to the patient on the operating table, her eyes wide as she took in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the operating room. She couldn’t believe she was here, already. She promised herself she wouldn’t let Viktor down.
“Where do I start?” Jinx asked, barely concealing the excitement in her tone. Viktor nodded towards the corner of the OR, where a previously unseen nurse was inspecting a table of sterile, surgical instruments.
“Go introduce yourself to the scrub nurse,” Viktor said. “He knows exactly what instruments you’ll need at every step. He’s one of my favorites.”
Jinx turned to walk to the scrub nurse as he busied himself with a tray of surgical instruments. As his eyes met hers, Jinx felt her body freeze exactly where she stood.
Where she had expected to see an old, grumpy lady, Jinx saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her entire life. Even in his OR attire, she could tell he was chiseled like a Greek statue, his broad shoulders and chest somehow even more attractive under his surgical gown. With a large, gloved hand, he delicately sorted dozens of surgical instruments, his long fingers tracing them in a way that made Jinx’s breath hitch. His eyes were a vibrant hazelnut that flashed in the surgical lights as he glanced up at her. Even behind his mask, Jinx could tell his grin was as dangerous as it was alluring.
It was suddenly very, very hot under her sterile gown.
“Dr. Lane?” Viktor asked, glancing up. “The scalpel?”
Jinx snapped out of her trance, her heart thumping in her chest. She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly bone dry, as the scrub nurse approached her with his tray of instruments.
“Um, hi,” Jinx said, her voice almost cracking. She felt her cheeks redden. How had she made it this far in her career, only to be turned to jelly by a man she’d never met?
Pull it together, Jinx, she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. He’s just a nurse. An insanely attractive, sexy nurse –
“Hey, gorgeous,” the nurse finally said. His voice was such an alluring, deep rasp that Jinx barely registered what he had just said to her. “If you’re looking for something sharp and dangerous, you’re in the right place.”
Jinx was glad she was wearing a surgical mask, because if she wasn’t, her jaw would surely have dropped to the floor. Every synapse in her brain seemed to fire simultaneously, until her thoughts were nothing but a warm, wet haze. Her brows furrowed into knots as she processed every word he had just said to her.
“I,” Jinx stammered, her eyelashes fluttering. She felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead. “What did you just say to me?”
The nurse grinned again under his mask, his hazelnut eyes flashing, and Jinx felt her knees nearly buckle.
“You need a scalpel, right?” that deep voice said again, somehow even more seductive than before. He gestured down towards his tray of instruments. “Pick whichever one you’d like, baby. I want to watch what you can do with your hands.”
Jinx’s brain short-circuited, her cheeks suddenly aflame with red heat. She tried to form a dignified response to such an suggestive, audacious statement, but her words seemed to be trapped on her tongue. She wet her lips, suddenly very aware of how the nurse was staring at them.
“Do you talk to all residents like this?” Jinx said, the intended bite in her words melting away under his gaze. “Seems like you’re asking for trouble.”
“Surgery can be dangerous,” the nurse replied. “A good surgeon is bedmates with trouble.”
“Guess you’re lucky I’m a good surgeon,” Jinx heard herself saying.
“If you’re a good surgeon,” he said, his voice as rich as summer wine. “Then I’m happy to be your trouble.”
Jinx’s eyes widened. She had never, in her entire life, been so quickly disarmed, so quickly infatuated, so quickly aflame with desire. Her jaw tensed and loosened, absolutely unable to form another quip as the nurse seemed to revel in his victory.
“I suppose we should get started, doc,” he said with a raspy chuckle. Even his laugh was intoxicating. “I’m Ekko.”
Jinx didn’t register it at first. But when she did, she felt as if her heart stopped. She replayed the name in her mind again and again, absolutely sure she had misheard him. There was no way that this beautiful man in front of her was the same scrawny kid she’d grown up with. But as his hazelnut eyes met hers again, there was no denying it.
It was Ekko behind that mask.
“Ekko?” Jinx said, her voice barely a whisper. She kept her eyes fixed to his, wondering if he’d recognize her now, after all these years – older and covered in tattoos. At last, a flicker of realization lit up his face.
“No fucking way,” Ekko whispered with a low whistle, biting his lip. “You’re all grown up, Powder.”
Jinx felt her cheeks flush with heat at the sound of his words. She continued to look into his familiar eyes, knowing if she glanced at any of his muscular form again she’d have to excuse herself. Ekko, on the other hand, made no effort to hide his gazes up and down Jinx’s lithe frame.
“Ekko,” Jinx said. “I meant to-”
“Dr. Lane,” Viktor repeated, an air of impatience now in his tone. He looked at Jinx from the operating table, the contents of her conversation with Ekko luckily unknown to him. “Scalpel.”
Jinx’s eyes fluttered again, suddenly very aware of her surroundings. She was a surgeon, in an operating room, and her patient was ready for surgery on the table. She had to pull herself together.
“Right, yes,” she said. She turned back to her childhood friend, who was still studying her, his soft eyes drinking in her every curve. “Ekko, can I have a 15 blade, please?”
“You can have whatever you want, Pow,” Ekko purred back to her. “But I’ll make you ask for it.”
His broad hand gently traced the surgical instruments, and Jinx had to steady a ragged breath as his fingers teased the cold steel. He picked up a scalpel and gingerly handed it to her. As Jinx grasped it, his fingers lingered over hers. Even through the surgical gloves, Jinx could feel the warmth of his hand. His glove size must have been double that of hers.
She traced a vein on the back of his hand, clearly visible through the latex, until it disappeared under his gown. She chewed her lip, longing to trace the vein higher up his forearm, to his chiseled bicep, to his toned chest, to his full lips –
“Jinx?” Viktor again asked. “Are you alright?”
Jinx stepped quickly to the patient, positioning herself across from Viktor. No more distractions, she promised herself.
“Yes, of course, I’m sorry,” Jinx stammered an excuse. “It’s just, uh, a bit hot in here.”
A beat of silence followed, and Jinx felt her face light on fire with embarrassment.
What a stupid fucking thing to say.
Viktor glanced at Ekko, a knowing sigh escaping his lips.
“Ekko, can you have the circulating nurse reduce OR temperature to 72 degrees,” he ordered. Ekko nodded, signaling his colleague outside the operating room to adjust the thermostat.
“It’s much hotter in here than usual, Dr. Talis,” Ekko said. Jinx’s powder blue eyes somehow knew to meet Ekko’s as the words left his lips. “I’m trying to figure out what’s different today.”
Oh my god.
“First incision,” Jinx said, a new steady resolve in her voice. She did her best to bottle the lightning that rippled through her body every time she so much as glanced at Ekko. She looked to the clock mounted on the wall. “2:07PM. Start case timer.”
The surgery went on for only a few hours, but to Jinx, it was an eternity. Every time Ekko would hand her a new instrument, their hands would linger in each others for just a beat too long. Every time their eyes would meet, Jinx would feel her breath hitch as if the very air within her lungs was stolen by him. Every time he spoke, all of Jinx’s nerves would alight as if she’d been struck by lightning.
Jinx watched as Viktor sliced through layers of tissue, tying off blood vessels and dissecting organs with expert precision. As he worked, he lectured her, pointing out relevant anatomy and common mistakes made by new surgeons.
“Typically, patients need to be started on IV antibiotics as soon as you suspect a biliary tree obstruction,” his accented voice droned on. “Early antibiotics reduce mortality by at least 30% in uncomplicated cases of…”
Jinx struggled to focus on his words, instead replaying again and again what Ekko had said to her hours before. He’d never spoken like that to her before, with such confidence, such hunger, such audacity. But the boy she once knew had clearly grown up, same as her.
You can have whatever you want, he said as Jinx bit the inside of her lip. But I’ll make you ask for it.
She shifted under her surgical gown, ignoring the sudden heat radiating from the apex of her thighs. She glanced at Ekko again, standing next to Viktor across from her. Their eyes locked, and Jinx felt the fire in her core threaten to erupt into an inferno.
Whether she meant to or not, she knew her eyes were asking him for it.
“Jinx?” Viktor said. “I asked you a question?”
Fuck.
Jinx felt panic grip her chest, the heat in her core suddenly extinguished by cold dread.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she stammered. “What was the question?”
Viktor’s eyes narrowed.
“The most common cause of cholecystitis?” he repeated flatly.
“Cholelithiasis,” Jinx answered rapidly, desperate to redeem herself. “Gall stones.”
Viktor nodded in affirmation, but his smile had disappeared.
“Dr. Lane, I cannot have a distracted surgeon in my operating room,” he chided. Jinx felt her heart rise into her throat. “I’d like to invite you back, but not if you can’t demonstrate your ability to focus.”
Jinx swore every swear word she knew within her mind. Ekko shifted uncomfortably as a tense silence dragged on, only permeated by the sound of the patient’s heart monitor.
“I’m sorry,” Jinx finally said. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Good,” Viktor huffed. He stepped away from the patient, removing his bloodied gloves and gown. He glanced between Jinx and Ekko. “I trust you can close the patient on your own, Jinx. I’ll be in my office.”
As Viktor limped out of the OR, Jinx began to suture the patient’s abdomen closed. She snapped the instruments out of Ekko’s hands, never once glancing at him, as she placed lines of neat stitches along the patient’s skin. Once she was satisfied with her work, she stepped back.
“End of case, 5:34PM,” Jinx said to Ekko, but kept her eyes glued to the patient’s body. “Stop case timer.”
“Powder,” Ekko said. The bravado in his voice had melted away, and he almost sounded apologetic. “I-”
“It’s Jinx, now,” she snapped at him. Again, she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Like I said, end of case.”
She turned on her heels and rushed out of the operating room, tearing the sterile garments from her lithe body as she walked.
“Pow-?” Ekko called to her.
But Jinx didn’t stop. She slammed the door of the operating room behind her, tears beginning to pool along her waterline.
She started this case with a promise to not let Viktor down. She’d broken that promise.
…⚕️…
Hours passed. The setting sun basked the hallways of the hospital in a warm, golden light as Jinx walked sullenly to the PACU. Viktor had asked her to examine their patient as he recovered from anesthesia, and Jinx, eager to return to his good graces, agreed without hesitation. As she walked, she continued to replay the events of her first surgery, cringing at her own stupidity with her every step.
How could I be so foolish? Jinx grumbled to herself as she rounded the last hallway before arriving at a set of double doors. In bold, red letters, a sign read ‘Post Anesthesia Care Unit”.
Jeopardizing everything I’ve worked for, all the hard work I’ve done, just for some guy, Jinx thought as her teeth clenched, her brows furrowing in frustrated knots.
But he wasn’t just some guy, Jinx knew. The man who had swept the floor out from under her, who Jinx hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, who had turned her sharp mind into a mess of hot, filthy desires, was Ekko.
Ekko, the boy she played with after school. Ekko, the friend that was there for her when her parents died, when her sister went to juvie, when her life seemed to fall apart. Ekko, who she had pushed away after the accident, after Vander died in her arms, after she wasn’t able to save him –
Jinx snapped out of her trance. She hadn’t realized she stopped at the hallway window, looking over the river towards Zaun. She sighed, collecting herself, before continuing onward.
She badged into the PACU and the doors swung open. A cheery appearing nurse sat at the desk, her neon yellow hair pulled into two, fox-like ponytails towering over her head. She straightened her position as Jinx walked up to her.
“You must be the new surgery resident,” she said, shaking Jinx’s hand. “I’m Zeri, one of the PACU nurses.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jinx grumbled under her breath. She wasn’t interested in making any more friends today.
“Are you here for Viktor’s post-op patient?” Zeri asked, her voice so enthusiastic it almost sounded fake. “He’s in bed 7. He’s doing great.”
Jinx hummed a thank you before sauntering down to bed 7. Despite the hurricane of feelings within her, she was beyond relieved to hear her patient was doing well.
Jinx pulled the curtain back. But instead of seeing just her patient, still snoozing as the anesthesia continued to wear off, her eyes landed on the nurse standing over him.
Ekko was even more breathtaking in his usual scrubs. Jinx noticed he’d grown out his white locks, which he sported in a high, handsome ponytail. Jinx caught the bright white of his teeth as he chewed his full lip, his hazelnut eyes focused intently on his patient. A stethoscope was placed in his ears, and he listened to the patient’s heart and lungs as he slept. His previously concealed arms were just as chiseled as Jinx had imagined – but despite how strong he looked, how his every muscle rippled with his movements, his touch looked gentle, reverent, and caring. The deep V of his scrub top exposed a chain necklace and a toned chest, and Jinx traced the delicious angles of his collarbones until they disappeared under the fabric.
Jinx’s breath hitched as his eyes finally met hers. A few beats of tension passed between them, the silence only broken by the beeping and whirling of the hospital around them.
“You did an excellent job, doc,” Ekko finally said, ending the silence that felt like an eternity. “You’re an incredible surgeon.”
Jinx tried to say something witty or biting, to dismiss the man that had led her to embarrass herself in front of Viktor, but she could form no words. The gears in her mind whirled rapidly as her every muscle tensed and loosened under his intense gaze.
“Listen, I-”
“I need to examine my patient,” Jinx said curtly, cutting Ekko off.
Ekko shrugged, stretching like a cat. Jinx caught the barest slim of his midriff as he stretched, the lines of his abs peaking out from under his scrub top.
How, Jinx thought to herself, is this man so fucking hot?
“Of course, baby blue,” Ekko said.
The way he said it, with such a playful, toying inflection, as if challenging her to push back more, made Jinx’s knees buckle. The hairs on the back of her neck stood erect, her mind suddenly filled with absolutely filthy thoughts, as Ekko placed his stethoscope back around his broad neck.
“I’ve missed you, Pow- Jinx,” Ekko corrected himself as he passed her. Jinx breathed in the smell of his cologne, a deep sandalwood, that stood in stark, welcome contrast to the chemical odor of the hospital. “I hope we have many more cases together.”
Jinx could barely formulate a thought as Ekko sauntered away. She longed to call out to him, to explain her absence in his life, to apologize for all the years she’d neglected their once intimate friendship, to explain that she’d only rejected him out of her fear of being abandoned.
But here he was, dropped back into her life again. His words dripped with yearning, his voice as intoxicating as whiskey, his body as tantalizing as every one of her fantasies combined. Even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to explain the hurricane of emotions raging within her at this very moment.
Zeri, the PACU nurse, leaned over the desk to face Ekko as he approached. She twirled her hair, biting her lip as he said something inaudible to her. She giggled as Ekko placed his broad arms on the desk. A sly grin appeared on her lips, her eyes hooded, as she looked up at his face.
Jinx’s throat closed, her eyes finally glancing away from Ekko. A new emotion charged into the hurricane of feelings within her heart, an emotion she was not expecting – jealousy. She closed the curtain as Zeri continued to giggle at Ekko’s jokes, her fingers tracing the sculpted muscles of his arms.
It was then, after hours of denial, that Jinx finally realized her predicament. She had graduated at the top of her class, matched at one of the best surgical programs in the world, and been invited to operate within her first month of residency. She would have been unstoppable, she realized. But there was one, terrible problem - she’d fallen in love with her scrub nurse, and her oldest friend.
A good surgeon is bedmates with trouble, indeed.