The Pitt: Dr. Whitaker - If It Were Obvious
Pairing: Dr. Dennis 'Huckleberry' Whitaker x Fem!Resident!Reader
Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Distress, Angst, Medical Content, Exhaustion, Burnout, Mild Language, not very good communication, trying to be better, start of a new relationship, Doctors in love with each other, angst/fluff, trinity santos saving the day. Trinity helps you two figure out your shit. Mentions of Perlah, Dana Evans, and Dr. Abbot.
Summary: Dr. Whitaker is a quiet man when it comes to showing someone that he loves them. He acts rather than speaks, but some people need both to understand.
A/n- @ Firefly-graphics for the dividers.
WC- 3.8k
The Pitt Master List
The hospital glows with unnatural fluorescent lights, and it’s far too bright for just how late the clock on the wall, and at the bottom of the monitor says. The ED is mostly calm, most of your patients for the night have fallen asleep or are doing just fine. There you sit at the nurses station, your attention divided between the half finished chart on the screen and just staring at the blinking cursor on your screen.
Your shift still isn’t over for at least another hour, so time just drags on and on. It’s Perlah that is dragging you out of your stupor, “You okay?” She asks you with a certain kind of concern etched into her tired features. “Huh” is the first word that leaves your mouth. She gives you a shake of her head, and repeats her questions. A small laugh gets pushed out, “I’m all good, Perlah don’t worry.” You unfortunately don’t sound very convincing.
She gives you a look that you’re certain she’s learned by the charge nurse on the day shift. You hesitate, and then far too tired and worn out to properly sensor yourself, the truth comes mumbling out of your mouth. “I don’t really think… I don’t think he cares.” It takes Perlah a moment to understand what and who you’re referring to, she takes a glance down the half empty hallway. “You mean Whitaker?”
You give her a small shrug of your shoulders as if the words that are now floating around in the air have no real meaning at all. “He’s just so… clinical. He likes that with everyone and that somehow also includes me.” You reach up dragging your tired hands over your temples to ease the small headache that is starting to grow due to the ED lights. “I really do try, you know? I make sure he’s got his coffee at the start of the shift, I make sure to stay late whenever he does, and he just doesn’t seem to notice. He just…” You give Perlah a vague little nod. “Nods at me.”
Perlah brows furrow as she looks down at you, “He can be emotionally guarded if that’s what you’re referring to.” Perlah offers, “I know.” Your voice cracks as you try to hold yourself together and steady yourself at the same time. “Whitaker is a good kid, he’s a great doctor too.” Perlah adds, “I just feel so… so stupid like I've made everything out to be way bigger than it actually is.” The sound of echoing footsteps doesn't alert you to anything as the ED is always bustling.
You and Perlah may not notice, but Dennis does. The R1 had been making his way back from radiology when hears you. You sound tired, and worn out to the very edge of morning. He takes a quick glance down at his wrist watch and sees that the night shift is almost over. He hasn’t stopped moving until the words hit him like a punch to the gut.
“I don’t think he cares.” Dennis nearly ends up flat on his face when the sheer force that over takes his body. His boots squeak against the tile flooring. He takes a moment. His heart is beating so fast in his chest that he thinks he might be going a bit tachycardic. It’s absolutely ludicrous how much your words seem to hurt Dennis.
But he doesn’t dare show it, he takes a second to collect himself and continues on his way. Finding his way into a consulting room that is empty and shutting the door as quietly as he can. His hands shook as he pressed his weight into the counter. Letting his mind replay every single word that he had heard.
As if he’s watching a vhs tape being rewinded on the tv. He sees how he rearranged his schedule for you, so you won’t be alone on the night shifts or the day shifts. The simple way he has gotten all your patients memorized before the wellness checks come in from the nursing homes, so he can ease the work load without making it way too obvious to you. Or the way he watches his wrist watch like a hawk making sure that you’re ushering yourself off the floor and into the locker room when you’re supposed to be off.
Yet somehow here you are, talking without anyone thinking that he doesn’t care about you at all.
The clock moves inch by inch as you sit down in the break room. It smells like burnt coffee, and stale danishes. You had gotten a bottle of water from the back of the fridge before taking a seat down at the table, you picked at the label aggressively as if the label had personally accused you of some wrong doing. You don’t hear anyone else enter as you continue to pick away at the sticky label.
The R2 doesn’t give you more than forty seconds before she’s clearing her throat and scaring you so much that you drop the plastic water bottle down to the tile. “What’s got you spiraling alone in the break room, Crush?” She asks, her arms folded and crossed over her chest. “I’m not… I’m not spiraling.” Trinity rolls her eyes before looking down at your water bottle.
“Is that why you’re destroying that damn water bottle as if you’re taking revenge for something it did to you.” You sigh and shake your head as you reach down to grab the forgotten water bottle off of the tile. “Can you just not, Trinity?” There is no bite behind your words, just a twinge of something sad and dark. Instead Trinity takes that as the right to sit down and lean back into the chair across from you.
“Oh I know what this is about.” Your brows nearly touch as you look up at her quickly. “This is about Whitaker?” You freeze in your spot, your eyes going wide with shock. You’re not exactly surprised that Trinity knows something is going on, she’s very observant and can see tiny details but tends to be blunt about her findings. “No…” You take far too long to answer Trinity just stares at you the same way Perlah had.
“Who are you trying to convince, Crush? Me or you?” She asks, “Cause you’re terrible at it if you’re trying to convince me. Just so you know.” Your shoulder drops along with the water bottle. “I just don’t… I don’t understand him.” Trinity pops a brow up and hums. “That’s real, specific Crush.”
You let out an involuntary groan as you let your head fall back. “He’s just… and he’s so…” You let your arms fly around for a few seconds. “He’s just Dennis.” You mutter. Trinity huffs out a laugh, “So that really narrows it down to Dennis being emotionally constipated but Dennis also being morally sound.”
You laugh regardless, “I do try.” You say with a heavy sigh. “I’m sure you do.” Trinity offers. “I flirt with him, I mean I subtly flirt with him, and all he does is blink at me with his mouth open like a fish out of water.” Trinity shakes her head. “I’ve lived with him long enough to know that Huckleberry does that with everybody.” Your brows shoot up and you lean over the table. “That’s my point, Trinity.”
Trinity leans in, her elbows digging into the table, throwing the table off with a slight wobble. “So then what did he do?” Trinity asks, “It’s what he hasn’t done, and that’s nothing” You mutter softly, “That’s the problem, ya know?” You ask, praying that Trinity understands what you’re saying in just a few words.
“Oh.” Trinity nods as if the R2 has somehow solved some complex diagnosis that only someone of a longer tenure would have been able to solve. “What you’re lookin’ for is some verbal affirmation, and confirmation.” She offers the solution. “I just need something, anything.” You admit with wide eyes. “Literally anything that just tells me that this isn’t just in my head and it’s real, or at least isn’t one-sided.” You let out with a little huff.
Trinity takes a long moment to study you. The frustration is written all over your face, but so is the love and admiration you have for Huckleberry. “Alright, Crush.” Trinity finally says. Reaching across to grab your hands. “How about we examine the evidence.” You groan and go pull your hands back, “Please, Don’t.” You mumble, fearing that she’s just gonna end up teasing you.
“Come on Crush, We’re doing this right now.” She says dropping your hands and starting to count on her fingers. You watch with confusion. “When you needed to switch your shift, who did it for you?” She asks, you stare at her for a moment. “Dennis.” You answer. Remembering that you hadn’t seen Dennis working at all the next time you came into work only to be told by Trinity that he had taken a shift for someone else.
“And who was it that gave you half of their protein bar without making it into a big deal because you hadn’t eaten yet?” Trinity asks. You remember it clearly as day. You hadn’t the chance to eat anything, between a MVC with at least three separate cars involved, and triage being backed up due to the holiday. You’re hesitant to answer, but you do anyway. “Dennis.”
“Who stayed with you on your trauma case even though Dr. Abbot told him that he was reassigned to another case?” The R2 asks with a certain smugness. You just stare at her, going back to the trauma case, it had hit far too close to home for you. Your hands shook as you tried to push through the feelings that were rising quickly through your chest and making it hard to breathe. You remember hearing Dr. Abbot told Dennis that he was reassigned, but he didn’t dare move from your side for the rest of the night. “Did Dennis get in trouble for that?” You ask, finally coming out of your thoughts.
Trinity waves your questions off, “Plus who’s walking you to your car after shift, Crush?” She asks with a raise of her brow. Trinity looks far all too knowing and smug as your blink over at her from across the table. “What?” You ask clearly lost. Trinity just tilts her head to the side, and looks generously surprised. “Huh, you didn’t know.”
You feel your stomach drop into the pit that you wished would just eat your whole and make you disappear. “I didn’t know what, Trinity?” She squints at you “That Huckleberry here times his exits with yours. Every single shift.” You take a huge breath in, and feel your chest tightens as you try to breath out. “No he just… that’s not… he’s probably just…” The entire sentence dies on your tongue.
“Dennis does not just do anything.” Trinity starts to explain interrupting your stammering. “Dennis makes sure to calculate everything he does.” You go quiet in your seat across from Trinity. “Crush, Dennis doesn’t do it out loud.” She continues as she reaches across the table and grabs your hands once more. “Dennis is consistent though, and always will be, so with him that’s fuckin’ everything.”
You stare at the connection of your hands in the middle of the table. “I might have told Perlah earlier that I thought he didn’t care.” You say with a small sniffle. You hear Trinity take a sharp inhale, and wince. “Ohh, that’s ouch.” “I wasn’t…I didn’t mean it…I was just…” You stammer, as your voice softens, “I just… I don’t wanna feel stupid.”
Trinity gives your hands a gentle squeeze pulling you back from your thoughts. “You aren’t stupid, Crush. You love a little differently than Dennis does. You just love out loud.” She says with a small shrug of her shoulders. “Dennis loves through actions.” The huff you let is wrapped in the emotions hanging around in the back of your throat. “But what happens if I’m wrong?” You whisper the fear bubbling up in your chest.
Trinity lets go of your hands and stands up dropping her now empty coffee cup into the trash can. “Then you’ve gotta ask him, Crush.” She says making it sound so simple. You look up at the R2, “You make it sound so easy, and simple.” “It is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You’re both great people with very very advanced degrees in something that is far harder than expressing emotions.”
You roll your eyes at her, Trinity throws a smirk over her shoulders. “You could always just keep suffering on the daily.” You chew your lip, “It would be very on brand for this fucking ED.” You sit there a moment, deep in your thoughts. “So you think…” She cuts you off with a quick. “Yes.” She answers before you can finish. “You don’t even know what I was gonna ask?” She rolls her eyes at you, “I always know.” You let out a shaky breath. “Dennis is just so hard to read.”
It causes Trinity to pause at the door. She looks over her shoulder. “Dennis looks at you as if you’re the only thing stable in this entire building, probably the only stable thing in his entire life besides me of course.” She says quietly meaning every single word. “You’ll never see it because he’s very good at being subtle when it comes to you.”
You feel your heart stutter in your chest. “Plus for whatever it’s worth to you.” Trinity tacks on, “That man out there always without a beat misses looks absolutely wrecked when you aren’t here.” Trinity opens the door back up to the loudness of the rest of the ED. “Go talk to him, seriously before one of you ends up combusting with all these festering emotions and feelings.” She says turning on her heels leaving you to sit there in the break room for a moment longer.
The clock on the ED wall tells you that you’ve got just another twenty minutes left in your shift. You finally find Dennis, he looks like he’s been stuck staring at a CT scan. You bite your lip to hold a laugh back when you realize that he’s hadn;t even flipped the image over once.
“Hey, Dennis.” Your words pull the man out of his stupor, making him nearly drop the ipad to the floor. He shakes his head and takes a quick glance up at you, there is a second where you can see his face before the mask of professionalism takes over and you take a step back. Wincing internally. “Do you need something?” He asks coldly.
You swallow and run your hand through your ponytail. “Did I do something to offend you?” You ask. Dennis is quick to answer, a little too quick that it seems rehearsed. “No.” You don’t care anymore, you grab at this bicep and drag him into an empty consult room, shutting the door behind you. “You’ve been avoiding me, Dennis.” You say your voice is wet with emotions. “I’ve been working.” He tries to correct you.
You shake your head and look down at the ipad, “You weren’t even scrolling, you were lost in thought.” You argue. There is a heavy silence that takes over the empty room. You’re staring at Dennis, and he won’t dare look at you, his eyes casted down at the tile. You breathe deeply in and exhale hard. You’re hesitant at first before you ask the question, but push through.
“You heard what I said to Perlah?” There is a solid beat before Dennis is looking up at you, his eyes are sharp, and so clear under the fluorescent lights. “So it was Perlah you were talking to.” You feel your stomach drop and land back in the pit beneath you. “And yes to answer your question.” You cringe at the cold tone that Dennis has with you.
“Dennis I didn’t mean…” He cuts you off. “The thing is you did,” He’s so calm and so controlled that you wince at his tone. You take an experimental step closer to Dennis. “I was tired, Dennis.” You offer him as a flimsy excuse. “I know that.” Dennis says calmly, no matter how calm the man is you can see how his jaw tightens and twitches as he grinds his teeth together.
It’s the only visible crack in his perfect aura. “You seriously think I don’t care… care about you.” Dennis adds quietly. “I can’t see it.” You admit to him honestly, Trinity words echoing through your mind as you push further. “You don’t let me see it, Dennis.” You tell him. Dennis finally, really looks at you. He lets his eyes gaze over your shoulders and then land on your features. “I will stay here until I know that your charts are complete.” He tells you.
“I honestly thought that you were just being nice, and maybe a bit of a perfectionist.” You admit to Dennis. His shoulders drop, “I will always swap your cases if I can see that it’s getting too heavy for you.” Your brows knot together because Trinity hadn’t said anything about that. “And I always make sure to review your labs before you can even come to me and ask.”
Dennis' voice lowers just a little, but it still sends a tingle of warmth down your spine. “I make sure to keep an eye on your vitals. Especially when it’s veen a horrible fucking shift.” His words echo in your mind's eye. ‘Your’ vitals, not your patients but you. Dennis keeps an eye on you. It may be nice to hear from Trinity, but it’s ever better to hear from the source of your affection.
Your chest tightens from the sheer amount of love this man shows just can’t say to you, “And I even make sure to wait up for you. I time my exits with yours so you don’t walk to your car alone.” He adds at the end. “I know…” His brows shoot up, “Trinity told me.” You admit to him. He lets out a slow breath. “So you think I don’t care because what…I don’t touch you in the middle of the hallways. Or because I don’t verbally say it in front of every single person in this ED?” He asks, taking a step closer to you.
There is such little space that stands in between the both of you that you can feel the heat coming off of Dennis. “Here’s the thing, I notice everything.” You hum, nodding your head. His words land so heavy that it has tears brimming at the bottom of your lashes. “I just don’t know…I was never able to be loud about it before.” He admits to you with a sadness in his voice.
“But that doesn't mean that I don’t feel it. I do.” Your eyes tingle, and you feel the first tear roll down your cheek. “Oh Dennis.” You manage to mumble out. “I’ve never made grand gestures.” He says calmly, “But I can surely do it consistently.” He tells you. “So Trinity was right about that.” Dennis lets out a huff of annoyance. The hospital is still humming away on the outside of the door. Waking up and becoming more and more alive by the passing second.
You take the final step into his space, carefully unsure of what steps are the right ones to make. “Can you tell me?” You ask Dennis, the whisper sounds so loud in the empty consulting room. “Even if it’s just once.” You add. You watch Dennis face contort as the man hesitates. He seems to be measuring the moment before even opening his lips to respond, but then the moment is cut off by his voice echoing in the room.
“I care about you.” Dennis says so steadily and calm, so certain of the words that have been put into the air around you now. “I care about you more than is professionally advisable, more than HR would like for me to care about you.” You feel a smile tug at your lips as you let out a broken laugh.
There is a type of relief that comes flooding the room, your knees feeling weak from Dennis admission. It’s no longer one-sided, it's no longer something that is festering in the back of your head every single day of work. “God you’re such an idiot." You whisper out your voice trembling and thick with emotion.
Dennis only tilts his head so far, his brows pinched together. “That was so uncalled for.” He scoffs. “You couldn't have just said that, Den.” The nickname slips through your lips with a familiar ease. “I thought I made it pretty obvious, sweetheart” You roll your eyes, but blush at the sweet nickname. “If it were obvious we would not be having this conversation right now. Instead I would be kissing you.” You say with a pout. Then softener you look up at Dennis.
“I don’t need to be loud, Den.” You say. “I just need to know that this wasn’t some one sided, in my head sort of thing.” Dennis looks at you with a warmness that flows over your entire body. His hand reached for your waist hesitantly. The touch is firm and ground but still careful around the edges. “It isn’t in your head, sweetheart.” He promises. You just rest your forehead against his chest. The material of his scrubs are cool beneath your skin pushing the blush away.
Dennis is still hesitant as he rests his chin on top of your hair. It’s the subtle things that Dennis does, but now knowing you know it’s all intentional. “I’m still learning, so give me some grace.” You hum, “I’m learning too, Den.” You whisper. He presses a hand into your neck and makes you look up at you.
“Can I get that kiss though, before someone comes calling for one of us?” Dennis asks, the blush is back with vengeance on your cheeks, you give a nod and with that your lips are pressed up against his own. They may be a little chapped, but Dennis tastes like coffee, and a half eaten protein bar that you know he’s got in his pocket.
You pull away and blink up at him, the moment is smashed when someone calls for “Dr. Whitaker!” He groans and drops his forehead to meet yours. “I’ll walk you to your car.” He offers. “Please.” You whisper, but he doesn’t let go of you yet. “I’ll be right there!” He shouts to the voice on the other side of the closed door. That’s how you know Trinity was right.
Posted on 02/18/26
