Off Duty Resident
Pairing: Baran Al-Hashimi x fem!reader Summary: You were watching your nephew on your day off when he hurt his arm and you have to take him to PTMC. You’re an ER resident and one of Garcia’s sisters. No one in the hospital knows you’re dating Baran, but what happens when your eldest sister starts acting like a bitch. Tags/Warnings: fem!reader, fluff, protective!Baran, protective!Garcia, medical inaccuracies, sibling rivalries, sibling jealousy, mentions of Baran's son Word Count: 2,683
You were watching your two year old nephew on your day off to help your eldest sister, something you did all the time.
You had turned away from him for a second to feed your dog when your nephew decided it was the perfect time to catapult himself off the couch.
He’d never had an issue getting on or off your couch and was usually a very relaxed kid, but had been more rambunctious recently.
What scared you more than the jump was the crack you heard followed by a piercing scream.
When you ran over to him he was sprawled on the floor crying, not moving his arm. Your heart raced as you moved to stabilize the arm and scooped him up.
You could tell it was at least fractured, probably broken. Your nephew clung to you as you got him in the car and drove him to PTMC. You did not want to be at the hospital on your day off, especially not for your nephew.
You tried calling your sister, but it went straight to voicemail so you sent her a voice note instead. You weren’t sure if you were more scared for your nephew or of your sister’s wrath.
She trusted you with her son because you were a doctor, not because you were her sister. You were definitely not her favorite sister, but you were typically more nurturing than your other siblings.
It was toxic, but her son adored you and she didn’t want to take him away from you, not really.
You parked in the ambulance bay, as far out of the way as you could, and scooped him back into your arms. He wasn’t crying as much, but his face was red and his arm was definitely swollen.
“Ow, Titi.” Your heart sank.
“I know Papito. We’re going to get it fixed.” As you walked into the ED your heart rate increased and you hoped it wasn’t too busy of a day.
“Garcia?” Your head turned when you heard your surname fall out of the charge nurse’s mouth. Dana immediately rushed over to you and when she saw the boy in your arms she knew it was serious.
“Central 6 is open.” You nodded at her as she led you to the room even though you knew the way.
“Perlah, page Yolanda Garcia down here.” You were shaking as you got to the room and answered Dana’s questions purely on instinct. Samira came in as your nephew’s primary doctor while in the ED which you were grateful for.
As you bounced your leg and waited for your sister to call or text you back you looked up when you heard footsteps running into the room.
Your second eldest sister looked between you and your nephew before pulling you into her arms for a quick hug.
“You guys okay?” You nodded as she went over to your nephew who was feeling much better after some pain medicine and a stuffed animal someone had brought him. You weren’t quite sure who.
“Titi.” The boy whispered as she kissed his forehead. You both sat on either side of his bed. Once Yolanda thoroughly checked out his arm and agreed with your diagnosis she relaxed a little.
She may not have wanted kids of her own, but she did love all twelve of her nieces and nephews very much. She’d been scared when she received the page because she thought something more serious could’ve happened.
The three of you chatted for a few minutes before the energy of the ED completely shifted. You hadn’t heard anything yet, but you knew. Call it sibling intuition.
“Where the hell is my son?” Your eyes widened as you turned your head to your sister.
“Carmen’s in the building.” Yolanda cringed from beside you. You braced yourself as you stood from the bed. Your sister looked at you with concern written on her face.
“It’s gonna be fine, Landie. We’re not kids anymore.” You were no longer scared of your sister like you had been as a child, but it didn’t make anything any better.
Carmen was a force and she was even worse when it came to her children. Yolanda had learned to cope with sarcasm and practiced disinterest, but you weren’t able to compartmentalize your emotions the same way.
Carmen pushed through the doors and rushed to her son’s side. She made sure to bump you hard with her shoulder. It was a warning.
“Mami!” She pulled the boy into her arms and held him close. She was practically suffocating him as she peppered kisses along his face.
“What did Titi do to you?” You bit your tongue to stop yourself from disrespecting your nephew’s mother. You had patience when it came to your crazy family, but your sister knew how to push your buttons.
“Me, jump Mami.” Carmen glared at you over her son’s shoulder.
“And where were you when my son got hurt?” You gritted your teeth together, steeling your tone, before opening your mouth. You didn’t want to argue in front of your nephew.
“Carmelita.” Yolanda took a closer step to your sister, trying to block the way.
“Don’t Carmelita me, my son could’ve died and no one bothered to call me.” You rolled your eyes at her.
“He wasn’t going to die Carmen. He jumped off the couch while I was feeding the dog. He’s going to be okay.” You could see heat rising in her face. There was literally smoke blowing out of her nose.
“You’re not even a full doctor yet. Don’t tell me how my son is. Landie, is he okay?” You ignored Carmen as you looked at Papito. He was clutching his stuffed animal closer to his chest, knuckles white. You sucked in a breath as you walked over to him and he immediately crawled over to you.
“It’s okay Papito.” You cooed at him. He climbed into your lap as best he could while protecting his arm. You could hear Yolanda and Carmen whisper arguing behind you, but tried to distract him.
As their whispers got louder you felt your nephew shaking under you.
“Mami!” the boy yelled. The two women stilled. Papito did not yell.
“Me hurt. Not you.” Three identical shocked expressions spread on your faces. You could see anger and embarrassment bubbling up on your sister’s face. Just as you felt her move to yell Dana walked into the room.
Dana insisted that she be the one to take the boy up for his x-rays. Papito liked Dana so he didn’t mind when his mother and aunts didn’t go with him.
Part of him was grateful for the distraction even if he was just two years old and didn’t know how to describe those feelings verbally. Besides it was probably best for him to leave after yelling at his mother.
Samira walked into the room soon after with Baran on her heels.
Baran’s smile softened for a second before her mask rose again. You wished she could hug you and make your sister leave, but you knew better. At the hospital you two were just a resident and attending, but it was different when those doors closed behind you.
You’d met Baran a few weeks before she started working at PTMC and even though your relationship predated her working at the hospital she did not want everyone to know. You understood and respected her reasoning even if you didn’t like it.
You’d been dating for close to four months now, but no one in the hospital knew about your relationship. It was hard when you wanted to spend time with your friends and your girlfriend, but you pushed through.
In just a few weeks you’d be able to tell everyone once you no longer worked together.
When Baran heard Carmen walk into her ED she knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Samira telling her that the angry woman was your sister only made things more difficult.
You’d told Baran about your siblings, of course you did. It was one of the first things the two of you talked about; family. She was very open about having a son and you were very clear that it was not an issue for you.
You’d had plenty of experience with your own nieces and nephews to know you loved kids. Plus you had no problems taking cues from Baran.
It helped that Kian was such a sweet kid and took to you without a problem. He even enjoyed messing with you and joking about how one day you’d be his parent too.
When you told Baran about Carmen she listened without judgement. She knew how difficult it was to be around family members that weren’t exactly healthy. No one was perfect, you knew that, but Carmen was a struggle to deal with even on one of her good days.
As Samira explained what was wrong with the boy to the three Garcia women, Baran only looked at you. You saw her subtly glancing towards you checking in to make sure you were okay too.
You were on edge, she could tell, but couldn’t bring it up in front of the others. You were more quiet than normal and didn’t chime in with any medical knowledge like Yolanda did.
She couldn’t tell if the change in your behavior was self preservation or concern for your nephew, but either way she worried.
“Thank you so much doctors. I am so happy Papito actually has some competent doctors on his team.” Carmen glared back at you. Not so subtle jabs were her favorite way to mess with you. As her baby sister you’d always been easy to rage bate.
Carmen wasn’t paying attention to them, but between Yolanda and Baran there would’ve been a hole burned in her skull. The tension in the room was palpable.
“We should be lucky your sister was there with him. Without her stabilizing his arm before transportation he could’ve had much more damage. She’s an amazing resident even if she was off duty.” Your eyes flicked over to Baran in appreciation.
She always stuck up for her residents, but this felt different. This was her way of sticking up for you, her girlfriend. It warmed your heart and you were sure you were blushing.
The color vanished the second you looked over to your sister. Her eyes were wild as she practically bared her teeth at you. She did not like to be challenged. You knew an explosion was coming.
You saw Yolanda grab Carmen’s arm to try and calm her down; big mistake.
“She,” Carmen pointed at you while staring at Baran, “is barely even a doctor. Anyone could’ve stabilized my son’s arm. It just happened to be her. It’s her fucking fault we’re even here in the first place. If she’d been paying attention to my son he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. She doesn’t deserve to be here.”
“Carmen,” Yolanda warned as she placed herself in between her two sisters.
“No Landie, get her out of here! I don’t want her near me or my son!” Your ears rang as adrenaline rushed through your body. You stood as tall as you could and Yolanda moved to make space for you.
“Give it a fucking rest Carmen. The screaming and yelling is just embarrassing for you. If you don’t want me here fine, you’re the mother and you get the final say. But don’t act like you’re mother of the year. I called you to tell you about Papito and you sent me to voicemail because you didn’t want to deal with me. The only reason you’re angry is because you're jealous that all four of your kids unconditionally love the little sister you try so hard to despise.”
A proud smirk spread on Yolanda’s lips from the spot she’d taken behind Carmen. Your inner child fluttered happily, but your outer adult was shaking like a leaf. You’d never stood up to Carmen in your entire life, not really.
Before you could fully register what was happening you saw Carmen’s fist coming towards your face. You braced yourself for impact, but it never came. You opened your eyes cautiously and saw that Baran had caught Carmen’s hand with her own.
“Don’t you dare lay another finger on my girlfriend.” You took in a sharp breath as Baran released Carmen’s hand. Yolanda’s eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead as she realized what the ER attending just said.
Samira’s eyes widened as she tried to shrink into the corner like a fly on the wall. It would be too obvious for her to leave, but she secretly wanted to hear the rest of the conversation.
Carmen’s eyes shifted from you to Baran then back to Yolanda in question. She huffed and stamped her foot in anger before storming out of the room. You’d never seen her walk away from a fight before.
Probably because she couldn’t use her fists this time.
Baran’s shoulders relaxed the second Carmen was out of sight. She turned back to you and placed her hands on your face. Her thumbs rubbed softly over your cheeks, wiping away tears you didn’t know you’d been shedding.
Your eyes searched Baran’s face as realization sunk in and panic filled your eyes. Your eyes flitted over to your sister and Samira. You felt Baran tap the side of your face and call your attention to her.
“It’s okay.” She whispered before turning around to the other two doctors in the room.
“I won’t say anything Dr. Al.” Samira said instinctively. Surprisingly Baran chuckled in response.
“It’s okay Samira. The hospital knows. Go check on your patients.” Samira nodded and left the room quickly.
“If the damn hospital knows, why don’t I?” Yolanda questioned. Baran moved to stand beside you and held your hand with both of hers.
“Landie, I. Um. It wasn’t the right time. It was so new then Baran started working here and we didn’t want to cause any trouble.” Yolanda crossed her arms playfully as you turned to look at your girlfriend. She was already looking at you with her doe eyes big and bright.
“What do you mean the hospital knows?” Baran smiled sheepishly at you as she tilted her head down.
“I wanted to tell you tonight, but they offered me a permanent position and I took it. Before I did though I checked with HR about us and while they didn’t like it they agreed considering we predate me working here.” You tilted your head at her as a blush spread across your face.
“You’re staying?”
“I am.”
“And that’s my cue to go. I’ll be back to check on Papito later.” Yolanda moved towards the door before walking up to Baran and placing her hand out to the woman. Baran let go of you and shook her outstretched hand.
“Thank you for protecting my sister.” Yolanda left the room before Baran could say anything in return.
Baran’s lips were slightly parted as she froze in the center of the room. For as long as she’d known the older Garcia she’d never seen this side of her. She’d seen genuine pride directed at you, but never anyone else.
“Querida.” You called, bringing her attention back to you. Baran turned to you with an astonished smile on her face. Her smile only got more goofy as she focused on you.
You blushed under the attention as she walked over to you and threw her arms around your neck. You rested your forehead on hers and breathed together.
“BeeBee!” A familiar little scream had you both separating and chuckling at the little boy who was thankfully in higher spirits.
“How are you azizam?” You didn’t realize how much time you, your nephew, and Baran spent together until that moment. Their conversation flowed so easily.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” Dana spoke as she got the boy settled. Identical blushes spread on yours and Baran’s faces.
“BeeBee loves Titi.” Papito sing-songed. Baran looked over at you then the boy again.
“Yes I do.”
***
Masterlist - Archive of Our Own
i meant for this to be a blub and it somehow turned into a 2k words, but i love it! i hope you enjoyed reading it. happy day 14 of pride 🫶🏽