And what if Frank Langdon admits to Mel King that his wife hasn’t spoken to him in weeks and he’s sleeping in the guest bedroom after the kids go to bed? And what if he can’t tell anyone else at work (Robby and Dana know and love Abby) because it’s just one more thing he’s ruined?
And what if Frank Langdon can’t sleep at night because the cries of his young children haunt his too-vivid nightmares from the painful moment where they had to say goodbye for months on end when he went to rehab? And what if he goes to their rooms to make sure they’re still there? And what if he notices they’ve changed? Tanner has grown quieter, more observant of the energy between his distant parents. Penny’s feet grew two sizes, and she got her first haircut. She’s almost done potty training. And he wasn’t there to SEE most of it.
The dog is almost a year old now and drives Abby fucking crazy. The dog isn’t too keen on him. but he still has to walk him every morning and every night and clean up after his digging in the yard?
And what if Frank Langdon’s return to the ED was his one chance to prove he’s still a good doctor? And what if Robby hates him now and wants him gone again, for good? And what if Robby’s praise was once the only thing that kept him from drowning? And why did no one reach out to him? And why does he feel so fucking useless all the time?
And what if Mel King says “Well, Dr. Langdon, I want you here. I needed you here today to take care of Becca while I was gone, and you did that without a second thought. I wanted to reach out to you, but no one would give me your contact info. I thought about you every day and worried for you and your family. I missed you. I kept asking myself in cases ‘What would Dr. Langdon do?’ You got me through the last ten months, even if you weren’t actually here.”
And what if Frank Langdon looks at Mel King with a look so fragile, open, and vulnerable that he can’t imagine the day without her there, being one of the only ones to see him for who he is and not ignore him or comment on how different he is or outright reject him when God Knows he feels like he deserves it, most of all from someone as good as her? And what if he wasn’t useless when it came to watching out for her, after all this time?
What then???
