timeskip fic where Dennis and Robby are established relationship married and Dennis has been away for a week for a medical conference about rural emergency medicine and misses the new rotation of med students
Robby has been in a foul mood all week because his husband has been out of town and he doesnt know how to manage by himself after getting used to their routine. this leads him to be even more grouchy and irritable around the new students and even the regular staff
several threats have been made by Dana, Jack, and Trinity in an attempt to rectify his sour mood:
“Robby, take a breather or I’m calling Whitaker”
“You would hate for Whitaker to hear about how you’ve been acting, wouldn’t you?”
“One word to Huckleberry is all it takes” (They silently question this name but there’s not much time to dwell on it in the busy ER)
“Brother, relax. He’ll be back soon”
“Remember what happened last time he heard about you being mean?”
(The students don’t know, but last time Dennis was out of town and Robby was being pissy, he made Robby go around and apologize to everyone who called Dennis to complain about his rude behavior.)
They overhear nurses at the hub complaining;
“Ugh I can’t wait for Dr. Whitaker to get back. He really knows how to whip Robby into shape.”
“Seriously! I don’t know how he does it”
“Oh you know exactly how…”
“Ew!”
Dana cuts in, “Get back to work, you two! There’s still names on that board which means there’s still patients that need tending to.”
The nurses scurry off with mumbled “yes ma’ams” and Dana sighs. She shakes her head and laments, “Can’t wait for Whitaker to return”.
After everything they’ve heard, the new med students have started envisioning what this mysterious Dr. Whitaker must be like. They imagine he’s scary if he can intimidate Dr. Robby, the biggest most intimidating doctor in the Pitt.
On Friday, word travels that Dr. Whitaker will be coming in for a swing shift before returning to his regular schedule. They see Dr. Robby perk up at this and observe how he gets more anxious the closer it gets to 1 pm. He glances at the ambulance bay and checks his phone frequently.
Finally, at 12:45 pm, someone shouts out, “Whitaker! Thank God!”
The med students all quickly glance up in a nervous sweat, scanning the floor for anyone who looks even mildly scary. Imagine their surprise when they all look to see Dana walk around the desk at the Hub with her arms raised and tightly embrace a small, 5’7 mousy boy who looks like he could still be in college.
The boy—Dr. Whitaker, as they’ve recently discovered —chuckles and drops his bag at his feet before returning the hug.
“Was it that bad?” he laughed.
She pulled back and grabbed him by the shoulders, “Like you wouldn’t believe”
“Where is he anyways?” Dr. Whitaker looks around the floor and locks eyes with one of the students. His eyebrows raise and he turns back to Dana.
“I didn’t realize it was already time for the next rotation, let me go introduce myself.”
“You go do that, kid. I’ll find Robby. He’s probably hiding”
He walks out of Dana’s hold and picks up his bag before making his way toward the students. They straighten up immediately, unsure what to make of the doctor they’ve heard so much yet so little about.
He smiles brightly and waves, “Hello! I’m Dr. Whitaker, one of the senior residents here in the ED. I hope you’ve all enjoyed your rotation so far; I apologize for not being here at the beginning of it”
They all nod politely while taking a second to process. Seriously? This is the guy Dr. Robby was scared of?
As if they’ve summoned him, they see Dr. Robby walking behind Dr. Whitaker. It’s as though Dr. Whitaker can sense him, because he turns around and says, “And where do you think you’re going?”
Dr. Robby freezes. “Oh! Hey hun. I was just looking for you..”
“Hun”?? Now they’re really confused.
“Uh huh. You wanna tell me why I’ve been getting texts all week from Trin about you? About how you’ve been acting?” It’s like a switch flipped. Dr. Whitaker lost his friendly demeanor and has turned into something not unlike that of a teacher chastising a child. He looks expectantly at Dr. Robby with his arms crossed.
“Um, well you see..” Dr. Robby sheepishly started but Dr. Whitaker cut him off.
“Look, if you miss me that badly, just call me. Don’t terrorize your staff. Especially not while there’s new students. It gives a bad impression.”
He looks up at Dr. Robby and gives him an exasperated yet friendly smile. Though, friendly might not be the right word.
The students watch in shock as Dr. Whitaker reaches up and outright cups Dr. Robby’s cheek, patting it slightly before lowering his hand where Dr. Robby catches it and brings it to his chest.
“I didn’t want to bother you while you were at your conference.” They’ve never seen Dr. Robby this shy before. It’s like he’s a completely different man around this Dr. Whitaker person.
“Oh, c’mon. Don’t pull that. You know you could never bother me. Now go do your attending stuff and we’ll talk later. I need to put my bag away and say hey to Trin before she finds me and strangles me for ignoring her” He rolls his eyes and withdraws his hand.
Dr. Robby nods and looks as though he’s going to say something else but he just grabs Dr. Whitaker’s shoulder and squeezes it before walking toward Central.
Dr. Whitaker turns back to the students, who are all agape taking in the scene that just transpired.
He chuckles and shakes his head slightly, “I’m sorry about my husband. He gets grumpy when I’m away for too long.” He claps his hands in front of his chest, “Now! How about some introductions?”
Husband! It all makes sense for them now.
They introduce themselves and continue with their shift. Every now and then they look up to see Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Robby huddled together smiling and talking quietly.
After the shift ends, they can understand now how those two would be married. It’s like they’re two halves of a whole. During procedures, they worked as if they could predict each other’s moves. They passed surgical tools before the other even asked for it. During down time, they would catch each other’s eye across the floor and smile softly before returning to their individual tasks. Dr. Robby has never been more pleasant.
The med students don’t know what kind of man Dr. Whitaker is yet, but they sure are glad that he’s back.
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just a little idea I had! I would love if someone actually wrote this and fleshed it out more lol hope you guys enjoyed my little word vomit
