summary: in the midst of the chaos of the emergency department, you get injured. fortunately for you, your girlfriend is a nurse. unfortunately for you, and her, no one’s told her you’ve been hurt.
word count: 2.4k
tags: mention of an age gap; fem reader; bff trinity; you’re roomies with dennis and trinity; hurt/comfort; probably medically inaccurate bc i’m not a doctor; pls ignore if anyone is ooc because i just need more wlw dana content
You knew you should’ve punched Ogilvie the moment the word “calm” came out of his mouth. Everyone knew that was one of the first no-nos in the ER. Superstitious bunch of nurses and doctors you all were, but you usually had good reason to be.
So, not even minutes after those forsaken words were uttered, when the news broke of Presby’s ER getting shut down along with an alert of a twenty car pileup, you cursed the med student under your breath. “Thanks a lot, Ogilvie.”
As you entered the trauma bay, latex gloves already clinging to your hands like a second skin, you sighed in relief when you noticed the man’s injuries were nothing severe, probably why you were sent alone. They needed all hands on deck, and as one of the more steady and trusted residents, Robby had no issue directing you to cover a few simple stitches and bandages.
On any other day, you would’ve silently begrudged missing out on the higher-stakes action, but after the week you’d had, you didn’t mind focusing your time on suturing some flesh wounds.
Briefly introducing yourself to the man, you received only a disgruntled huff from him. You were used to annoyed or upset patients, so you brushed it off and continued your work, checking his vitals, doing a quick visual scan, before coming to the conclusion that he needed nothing more than a few stitches and maybe some low dose pain meds.
“Alright, sir–” you gave him a tight smile– “I just need to get that gash on your forehead cleaned up and then you’ll be all good to go.”
“’S not necessary,” he grumbled as he jerked his head away from the gauze in your hand. “I need to go.”
“Sir, this will only take a few–” you calmly tried to placate the man. With your focus being solely on your patient, you failed to notice to the two policemen entering the ER, talking in hushed tones with Gloria. However, the man before spotted the officers through the crack in the curtain, his eyes widening as he slyly grabbed a scalpel from your tray.
“Get out of my way,” he roared, shoving the blade into your side before pushing you to the ground as he made a break for it.
And just like that all hell broke loose—the officers chasing after him through the halls, people shouting in all different directions, the words “lockdown” and “security” being thrown around.
It was all a blur to you, the dull pounding in your head and the sharp stabbing in your side making it difficult to focus on anything else.
“(Y/N)!” You heard somebody yell, too disoriented to discern who.
“(Y/N)?” The voice repeated, this time a lot closer and a lot softer, and when you focused your eyes, you saw Trinity hovering over you.
You tried to say her name, but it came out as a garbled mess, causing the frown on your friend’s face to deepen.
“Trin,” you managed weakly as you barely lifted your hand. Luckily, Trinity could read you like a book and her eyes flitted down, widening when she saw the scalpel sticking out of you.
“I need some help over here,” she shouted over her shoulder.
You couldn’t help the sob that escaped your lips, the loudness of her voice exacerbating the ache in your head. Hearing your cry, Trinity turned her attention back to you, her expression immediately softening as she gently took your pulse.
“I know,” she hushed. “I’m sorry. Just keep your eyes on me.”
Doing your best to follow her directions, you focused on the way her lips pursed and the way her eyes clouded with something you’d never seen in them. Fear.
“What the hell happened?” You could barely make out Jack’s voice approaching. They probably made him stay past his shift after they found out they needed more support.
Incoherently, you tried to apologize, to tell him he shouldn’t have to be here, but the pain became too much. The last thing you saw was two matching worried expressions hovering over you before it all faded to black.
------------
Dana sighed, exhaustion and stress sinking into her body as she leaned against the counter, finishing off a chart before discarding it onto her desk for later.
Looking around the ER, she took in the faint buzz and took another deep breath. The last hour—had it really only been an hour—had been chaotic and stressful, but the pileup injuries were handled and cleared out, and now all Dana wanted to do was to go home with you and take a nice hot bath.
Glancing at her watch, she groaned internally. Only two more hours. She could make it till then, not like she had much of a choice anyways.
As Trinity approached the nurses’ station, fatigue and anxiety radiating off of her, Dana straightened her posture. “You alright, kid?”
The resident nodded shortly as she tried to choose her words. She suspected she’d have to be the one to break the news to the older woman that you were lying in a hospital bed with a concussion and twenty-seven stitches. In all the hustle and bustle, it made sense Dana wouldn’t have known about you getting attacked. As much as it seemed like the charge nurse knew all that went on in the ED, she could only see and hear so much. Trinity’s suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Dana at the nurses’ station routinely filling out a chart instead of panicking and fretting by your side.
Everyone knew you and Dana were dating. Neither of you explicitly said anything, but you didn’t have to. It was obvious. They all noticed the way Dana carefully watched you during your shift, not supervising to make sure you didn’t mess up, but admiring—okay, and to make sure you were taking care of yourself; or how you instinctively gravitated towards her after a tough case, finding solace simply in her presence. And if anybody noticed the two of you arriving and leaving in the same car, nobody said anything. They respected you both, mainly Dana, too much.
While it wasn’t that case that either of you were ashamed of each other, you both understood how your relationship could look to an outsider—a nurse and a resident, two women, a considerable age difference between you—which is why kept PDA to a minimal, if any at all, and told only a couple trusted people.
Well, you hadn’t exactly meant to tell Trinity and Dennis, but living with them was a detail you may have forgotten to tell your girlfriend, who, after spending the night after a long arduous shift, walked out to your kitchen to make coffee, one of your oversized Hopkins t-shirts draped over her body, only to be met by two pairs of wide eyes and the sound of a breaking mug. To say you got an earful from all parties involved would be an understatement, and now it was something you could never live down.
“You did good work,” Dana assured with a comforting smile, moving around the desk to plop down in her chair for a brief moment of reprieve.
“Thanks,” Trinity mumbled, glancing down at her hands before turning to the older woman again. “Hey, Dana.”
The charge nurse only hummed, her focus on the computer screen in front of her. It wasn’t unusual for people to linger around the nurses station, her desk especially, and make small talk, or even gossip and place bets—much to her chagrin.
“You hear about that patient attack?”
Dana hummed again, this time more affirming, as she clicked her mouse a few more times and met Trinity’s gaze with a worried look of her own. “Yeah, how’s John doing?”
Maybe she should’ve been a little more worried about one of her doctors being injured, but from what she’d overheard, it was nothing the attending couldn’t handle himself. Hell, if Dana didn’t know any better, she’d have said John could stitch himself up.
“Right, I figured no one told you,” Trinity murmured under her breath but not quietly enough that the nurse couldn’t hear.
Dana immediately tensed, her chest tightening slightly as the thousands of possibilities ran through her head, her mind immediately going to you.
“Told me what?”
Trinity winced slightly at the sharpness of the older woman’s tone. When you were healed, you owed her big time for this, because of all the people in the hospital, in all of Pittsburg, why’d you have to date the most intimidating charge nurse.
“Santos,” Dana warned, narrowing her eyes into the stare that kept this whole place running.
“It was (Y/N),” Trinity revealed quietly, causing Dana to relinquish her glare, panic and nerves taking its place.
“She was treating the man who apparently caused the accident. Drunk driver,” the resident continued to explain. “He spotted the police and made a run for it.”
“Where is she, Santos?” Dana’s voice was low and urgent. She was doing her best not to completely lose it, knowing full well she was still at work, but when it came to you, her limits were thin.
“Still in bay three, just for observation.”
Dana immediately started walking, people wisely moving out of her way.
“She’s got a grade two concussion and a puncture wound in her side that luckily didn’t do any significant damage,” Trinity rattled off as she trailed the nurse’s heels.
Grabbing the curtain, Dana took a deep breath and paused. “Why wasn’t I paged?”
Trinity didn’t know the other woman very well, but she could hear a twinge of hurt and a lot of anger in her voice.
“I tried,” Trinity protested, albeit lamely. “I did a couple times after she regained consciousness, but then after a certain point Abbot told me to stop bothering you, and then I figured you’d rather hear it in person.”
Dana sighed, letting the frustration that she knew was mainly aimed at herself roll off her. “Thank you, Trinity,” she said gently squeezing the younger woman’s shoulder.
“Yeah, of course.” Trinity let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and offered a small, reassuring smile. “I’ll give you some space.”
Dana nodded appreciatively at the retreating resident and took another steadying breath before pulling back the curtain. The sight of you lying in a hospital bed was one Dana hoped to never have to see, one she never even imagined, and it was enough to take the wind out of her. Letting her instincts guide her, she did a quick assessment of you, briefly skimming the chart before checking your vitals herself.
Although Dana was doing her best to be quiet and stealthy, the commotion was loud enough to pull you from your light slumber.
“Finally,” you sighed as you opened your eyes slowly, the bright fluorescent lights discomforting but the sight of your girlfriend more important. “Can we go home now?”
Dana ignored your question as she finished listening to your heartbeat, the thumping sound coming through her stethoscope grounding her. Wordlessly, she cupped your chin, gently turning your face to inspect further.
“Who stitched you up?”
“My head or my side?” You joked, hoping to ease the creases in your girlfriend’s forehead. When you were met with only a deadpan glare, the worry lines only deepening, you sighed. “Trinity–” you motioned to your temple before pointing to your side– “and Abbot.”
Letting out an approving hum, Dana carefully tucked a loose hair behind your ear. Despite your concussed state, you could still read your girlfriend like the back of your hand. Even if you didn’t, the slight clench of her jaw and the glossiness in her eyes were dead giveaways.
“Hey.” It was your turn to cup her jaw, lightly guiding her eyes to meet yours. “I’m okay.”
Dana smiled as she turned her head slightly so she could press a kiss to your palm. You were too good to her. Here you were sitting in a hospital with a serious concussion and an umpteen number of stitches in your body, and yet you were reassuring her.
“A little banged up, but nothing a little TLC can’t fix.” You brushed Dana’s cheek with your thumb, not at all surprised to find her skin slightly damp. “Good thing I’m dating a breathtakingly gorgeous nurse who can take care of me, right?”
Dana let out a real laugh, one where the corners of her eyes crinkled and her teeth shone, and you grinned, relieved she was no longer a knot of worry.
“Good thing,” she agreed, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth. “And I’ll take really good care of you,” she mumbled against your lips because she couldn’t help herself before pecking them once more.
“I can’t wait.”
Rolling her eyes fondly at you, Dana checked her watch as she pushed herself off the stool. “I got two hours left then I’ll take you home, okay?”
You hummed in agreement, too tired to speak, as you felt your eyelids become heavier by the second.
“Get some rest,” she said and leaned over to kiss your head, “and don’t scare me like that again.”
“’M sorry, love,” you managed to mutter, knowing there was a lot more to be said between you.
Dana smoothed down your hair, savoring the last bit of you before she had to go back to work, and shook her head. “Just don’t get into anymore trouble while I’m gone, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“No promises,” you mumbled before adding, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Dana replied, squeezing your hand one final time before retreating, closing the curtain behind her.
You were alive. You were going to be okay. Dana repeated those words in her mind as she took a few breaths and calmed herself before slipping back into her charge nurse role.
“Whitaker!” She shouted across the emergency room when she spotted his mop of curls. “(Y/L/N) is in bay three for observation for another two hours. Stay with her until her discharge.”
“But–” he protested motioning to the other patient he was about to help, closing his mouth when Dana raised her eyebrow, daring him to challenge her. “Right. (Y/N), bay three. Got it.”
Dana nodded, satisfied, and rounded the nurses’ station to her desk. Keeping her eyes in your direction, she watched as Dennis carefully pulled back the curtain and entered the bay you were occupying, his own demeanor shifting from doctor to friend, and she finally turned her attention back to work.
You were in good hands. You were alive. You were going to be okay.
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