The Pitt's Princess - Sick Day
🤧- When Peyton gets food poisoning, Robby calls in for backup.
Read it on AO3! Send in one-shot ideas here! Check out the Masterlist here! Divider by @saradika-graphics Peyton belongs to me, while Dr. Robby and Dennis belongs to The Pitt.
Knock knock.
"Dennis! Thank god you're here."
Dennis' eyes widened when he saw how disheveled Robby was, his hair a mess, his face full of exhaustion, and was he holding a frozen Poweraid? He shook away the confusion that was fogging up his brain and managed to finally speak. "Y-Yeah, I got your text. You said Peyton is—"
"Daaad…"
Robby hurried back up the narrow staircase, his footsteps echoing in the quiet hallway, leaving Dennis standing in the doorway before finally stepping inside Robby's apartment, the door creaking softly behind him. Although he had only visited a handful of times for their date nights—each occasion while Peyton was occupied at a friend's house—he was consistently struck by the apartment's coziness. The warm glow of the dimmed lights cast a soft hue on the walls, creating an inviting atmosphere.
He slowly followed Robby's lingering presence up the stairs before walking down the hallway, peering through the first open door on the right, and into Peyton's bedroom. He saw the 12-year-old lying on her bed, her face flushed red with a fever, her brows furrowed while she let out sick whimpers. Robby was gently soothing her, trying to soothe her headache and sickness with a gentle hand.
No wonder Robby said to come by urgently.
"She's been like this all week," Robby told Dennis, feeling his presence behind him. "Temp 102, can't keep anything down…"
"Did you take her to the doctor?" Whitaker said as he stepped further inside, pressing fingers to Peyton's neck to feel her pulse. A bit fast.
"I shouldn't have to, I'm a doctor—"
"Okay, okay, hey. It's okay, Robby." Dennis reassured him, kneeling next to Peyton's bedside and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We can figure this out, together. Has she had her flu shot?"
"Yeah, I get it for her every year."
"Okay, has she eaten anything that would make her sick?"
Robby thought for a moment. "We got Thai food a few days ago. You thinking food poisoning?"
Dennis nodded with a determined expression. "It would make sense of the fever and the fact that she can't keep anything down." He then began to gently palpate Peyton's stomach, which caused her to groan loudly. "And the stomach pain."
As he rose to his feet, a determined look grew on his face, a plan already forming in his mind as he began his descent down the stairs and back into the kitchen. When he was a kid, he got food poisoning, and back then, his Mom always made up some kind of home remedy that somehow worked wonders against all odds. But this wasn't Broken Bow. He would have to work with what he had here.
First things first, replace the lost fluids and electrolytes from vomiting.
The 27-year-old opened the fridge and began to look through it with focused blue eyes. Pedialyte would be best, but he doesn't have that. He spotted a red Gatorade at the far back, and he plucked it up and checked the date. Gatorade is the next best thing. He placed it on the counter and knelt to scour more.
When he couldn't find anything else in there, he turned and opened the door to the large pantry, which had an array of snacks that Peyton and Robby both liked. Dennis spotted a single box of saltines and immediately grabbed it. Saltines have Sodium, a key electrolyte.
Dennis placed that on the counter right next to the Gatorade and shut the pantry, now moving to the downstairs bathroom to look through the medicine cabinet. Loperamide or Bismuth Subsalicylate. His blue eyes immediately spotted the Pepto-Bismol. Perfect.
He went back to the kitchen and placed it down with the other supplies. When his eyes locked onto some bananas, he immediately thought back to Nebraska. His Mom used to feed him bananas and rice while he was sick, and it actually worked wonders. He grabbed one, snapped it from the bundle, and peeled it. He then fetched a clean knife and began chopping it into slices before fetching a bowl and placing the slices in there.
Robby didn't have rice, but that was fine; he had bread, which was good enough. Dennis heated a small pan and began to make toast that way, so he could check more thoroughly on the crispiness. He slowly transferred the toast onto a plate and put all of the things on a wooden tray that he found (which was most likely just a cutting board).
With strong, yet careful arms, the farm boy hoisted his supplies and made his way back up the stairs, he could faintly hear Robby saying something to Peyton, but he did not know what it was until he stepped into the doorway, and his heart fell.
Robby was reciting the Shema prayer, but instead of reciting to himself, like at Pittfest, he had placed both hands on his daughter's feverish skin and was reciting it in her ear, as if he had lost all medical knowledge or hope in that moment. It made Dennis' heart break. Peyton was the best thing that had ever happened to Robby; he knew that right from the start when he first met the 12-year-old, and even more so when they started dating. If anything had happened to her, Robby would turn the whole world upside down.
He never wanted to lose his little girl.
After Robby was done, he quickly made his way back over to her bedside and placed the tray on her nightstand, handing Robby the frozen Poweraid that was occupying it. "Put that back in the fridge."
Robby looked at Dennis with a shocked, tired look, grabbing the bottle. "W-Wow… that is… a lot of stuff."
"Just the basics to help her get through this," Dennis smiled softly as he grabbed a medicine cup and began to fill up the dose of Pepto. "… you should teach me that one day."
"What?"
"The Shema prayer."
The 52-year-old let out a deep chuckle and a small shake of the head, closing his eyes for a moment. "You're not Jewish."
"So? Is it against Jewish laws to teach someone a prayer?" Dennis whispered as he lifted Peyton's head forward and made her take the dose of the thick pink liquid.
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Then there's no problem." The farm boy smiled and gently placed her head back down, cracking open the Gatoraid and holding it to her lips, thankful that she actually began taking some, no doubt to get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth.
"… I don't know what I would do without you, Dennis," Robby confessed in a whisper that made Dennis' heart skip a beat. They have only been dating for a few months, but the amount of love that he could feel from the man beside him, it meant more than anything to him. He turned to Robby and smiled softly.
"Get some rest, I'll take watch here."
"You sure?"
He pressed a soft kiss to Robby's beard. "I'm sure. Go."
With no further arguments, Robby groaned as he stood up, no doubt his joints protesting from kneeling for so long, and began walking to his room to get some much-needed rest. Dennis let out a soft sigh and grabbed the stray cold washcloth that was on her nightstand and placed it over her forehead, which she sighed in relief.
"You'll be alright, Lucky Penny." He whispered to her, gently soothing her hair. "I promise."