some platonic zarhekker for tsf maybe (you’re like the only person I’ve seen who writes them and I love them together)?
“Sam,” Ava rushed into the treatment room with confusion alight in her eyes, “What the hell happened?”
Connor had his arm around Sam’s shoulders, sitting close to her on the uncomfortable gurney as April swabbed at a nasty looking head laceration. He was clearly keeping her propped up, since she struggled to even turn her head to look at her friend. The other woman glanced at her friend with unfocused eyes, looking at Connor for help.
“We lost a patient,” he explained as Ava came over to pull Sam’s hair out of the way for the nurse, “His father did not take it well. He got handsy and before I could stop him he had shoved Zanetti into the side of a bed tray”
“Head CT?”
“Ordered,” April supplied before looking at the patient, “You’ll need stitches, Doctor Zanetti.”
“Stop wiping your fingers on me!” would be rlly funny for zarhekker or platonic rhekker !!!
"Sam, I swear to God," Ava's hip met hers as she tried to push her out of the way. The other woman just laughed, the spoon she had in hand clattering against the bowl Ava was stirring. Sam had been stealing bits of cookie dough the whole time, even though her friend chastised her for it.
"If you get salmonella it's not my fault."
"Noted," the blonde said cheerfully and reached around her to get another piece of the batter. Ava sighed and glanced over at the table, which was an absolute disaster. She knew letting Connor do the cutting was a mistake, though he looked quite proud of himself. He was happy with the amount of cookie cutters Ava had, arranging the shapes on pans for baking.
Feeling a hand on her, Ava's attention was drawn back to the woman beside her, who was trying to pass off her motion as a pat on the shoulder. Ava knew better though and the handprint left in flour on her sweater was clear as day.
"Stop wiping your fingers on me!"
Sam laughed and dodged the stray piece of cookie dough that was thrown at her, "Don't be so grumpy, Avey."
"Whosever idea it was to let us make cookies for the potluck is a fool," she sighed, though she wasn't half as exasperated as she sounded. It was fun, doing such a mundane activity with her friends. It was moments like those where Ava felt like she had a place in Chicago, where her colleagues were also the closest friends she had.
And that’s fucking pathetic + platonic rhekker? or any pairing idm !!
Pathetic | Restart
Word count: 381
Prompt: and that’s fucking pathetic
CW: just rhekker bullying each other (affectionate)
***
“I can’t make it tonight,” Ava’s voice interrupted the conversation Connor was having with Sam, not really worried about busting into their discussion. The two other surgeons looked at her questioningly, a bit of annoyance on Connor’s face.
“Ava, we’ve had this planned for weeks. You said you’d go with us to Molly’s for the playoffs.”
“I know, but something came up.”
Sam looked at the CT fellow for a moment, just observing her in the way only Sam did. She noted that Ava had taken the time to curl her hair that day, ringlets falling into her eyes despite it being pulled into a half ponytail for work. She was wearing a bit more makeup than usual, nothing too fancy but certainly more eyeshadow than the woman ever did on surgery days. She certainly had time to plan for whatever she was ditching them for, if that and her evident nerves were any indication.
“Something came up or you have plans with your med student?”
“Sam,” Ava groaned a little, “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t do a thing,” she replied smoothly, “Just a question.”
Connor set down his coffee cup, glancing between the two women for a moment before realizing what Sam said was obvious, “You’re skipping out on us for Reese?”
“Connor.”
“Ava,” he replied in a mocking tone, “What happened to being subtle and not fraternizing with your students?”
“It's strictly professional.”
“Yeah sure.”
Sam had fallen silent to watch their bickering in amusement, sipping at the bottle of sweet tea she had been carrying around. In reality it was Ava’s business and she knew she wouldn’t do anything to actually risk her career or Sarah’s at Gaffney. If she said it was business then who was Sam to believe otherwise? Ava wasn’t Connor, after all.
“You’re one to talk about professionalism. You don’t see me showboating my one night stands through the CT unit, do you?”
“Low blow,” the man retorted, “It was one time.”
“And that’s fucking pathetic,” Ava laughed as she nudged his shoulder with the edge of her tablet, “We know you’re all about quick ins and outs, Connor, don’t try and compare my assisting a student to your whorish ways.”
The blonde had to roll her eyes at Connor’s dramatic complaint, not speaking as she tossed a piece of her own snack in his direction, hitting him squarely in the forehead.
Sam merely laughed, telling him to stop whining and keep track of the score instead, intent on bragging when her favourite team beat his yet again.
“you know i always have your back.” + maybe platonic rhekker for tsf? or zarhekker <3
“Thank you for covering for me back there,” Ava said softly as she came up from behind the two other surgeons, “Family emergency back home, mum called.”
Sam looked at her in concern, a hand on Ava’s wrist, “You know we always have your back.”
Connor looked between the two and nodded, “Absolutely we do. Besides, it was nice to operate with Zanetti again.”
hmmm 31. “Wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy.. We could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?” maybe restart? idk but just think resident Sarah super nervous and fellow Ava like hm sure why not- it can be other au tho but this prompt 31 is too good not to be used at all
Sorry this took me way longer to write than expected ahsjsk
***
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a descending aorta in such a state,” Ava mused, bumping Connor’s shoulder with her own as she reached him at the nurse’s station, “Absolutely shredded.”
“Welcome to Chicago,” Doctor Zanetti replied as she came around the corner, “I’m glad one of us is enjoying gunshot trauma.”
“You’re a trauma surgeon, Sam,” Connor reminded her, “How was the surgery, anyway?”
“Doctor Zanetti is an excellent assist,” the other woman said with a nod to her friend, “I think I have a new favourite trauma surgeon.”
“Coincidentally I may have a new favourite CT surgeon.”
Since Ava had moved to Chicago, she had become rather close with Connor’s trauma surgery colleague. The three of them did butt heads pretty often, too much ego in one room according to Ethan, but they had gotten better in recent months. Ava was glad to have friends in the new city, despite Connor’s insolence on most days and the way Doctor Downey’s favouritism of him still irked her. Work drama aside, Connor was a good surgeon and a decent friend when he wanted to be. Sam helped even things out, not afraid to help Ava knock Connor down a peg. Ava was also 100 percent comfortable with pointing out when both of the trauma surgeons needed to get their heads out of their asses, their god complexes together could be a bit much after all.
Despite the clash of attitudes, the three surgeons had realized they had more in common than originally thought. They all enjoyed sports and Ava was quickly integrated into Connor and Sam’s game nights whenever a sporting event was on. She hadn’t expected to make friends, didn't even want to originally, but it was nice to have people to talk to outside of work. It gave her something to look forward to on the weekends, besides curling up on her couch alone with some whiskey and a cardiology journal. Sam did say she needed to get out more, “become more personable”, and Ava supposed this friendship was a decent first step.
“Rude,” Connor rolled his eyes, “You’re both traitors, actually.”
“Aw, Connor,” Sam came around the counter to fling an arm around his shoulder, “You’re still our favourite pain in the ass.”
Ava laughed at their bickering, leaning across the nurse’s station to put her charting tablet down on the charger. She zoned out a bit, barely hearing as her friends switched to discussing the GSW repair that she and Sam just did. A fairly loud group of medical students were walking through the CT floor, which Ava quickly realized it was her group of loud med students. She sighed, ready to call out and chastise them for being a disturbance, but someone at the back of the group distracted her.
Sarah Reese was walking alone, as she often did, and she seemed nervous. This wasn’t unlike her at all, Ava had told her many times that she needed to work on her confidence, but she assumed that was just the student’s resting state. Still, Sarah had gotten better in the past couple weeks and that showed in how she broke off from the group completely, walking over to the three surgeons.
“Ava, can-,” she stopped herself and Ava couldn’t help but smile as her cheeks flushed when Connor and Sam glanced at her, “Um, Doctor Bekker? Can I... talk to you?”
Ignoring the amused looks she got from her friends out of the corner of her eye, she nodded, “Of course, Miss Reese.”
She led Sarah away from the nurse’s station, across the hall where she knew the other surgeons couldn’t hear them. She was aware of their gaze tracking them though and Sarah seemed to be too, evident in her posture and anxious fidgeting.
“Miss Reese?” Ava couldn’t help but laugh at the incredulous look Sarah gave her, aware that the student hated how that sounded. It had taken her about a week to break Ava from the habit, insisting that her first name was just fine. Ava only agreed to calling her that when it was just the two of them, which was good enough for her at that point. The two had gotten friendlier since their first encounter, somewhere in between Ava’s cheeky remarks and Sarah’s insistence on treating her mentor to coffee often. It was only fair, she argued, because Ava had stayed late with her in the skills lab practicing on more than one occasion. A feat that was reserved only for her, the student knew that, but she prayed no one else noticed out of fear of them getting in trouble for favouritism.
Not that she thought she was Ava’s favourite but, if the shoe fits and all.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bug you when you were with your… friends…”
Ava smiled at her and shook her head, “We just finished a surgery and I promise you didn’t interrupt anything,” she resisted the urge to give Sarah’s hand a reassuring squeeze, “What did you need?”
“Oh, um-” Sarah looked downright adorable with the way her forehead furrowed slightly, “I was wondering if you wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy... We could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?”
They were both clearly taken aback by the question, not expecting Sarah to make a move like that. Usually she would just shyly bring Ava a cup of black coffee and, if they had time, they might take a walk around the hospital grounds together. It wasn’t ever a date, they had never even discussed that kind of relationship; they were just friends. At least, that’s what Ava had been trying to persuade herself in hopes that she wouldn’t unearth any feelings. Sarah was cute, sure, but she was also a student; her student. Even if she was a legal adult and a fourth year medical student, Ava was still her senior and the last thing she wanted was to get the other woman in trouble with the board.
So she tried to suppress her own hopefulness as she chuckled a bit, trying to ease Sarah’s anxiety, “Why so nervous, Sarah? Lunch would be nice, today?”
“I- um… yeah! If you have time, that is.”
“I can make time for you,” Ava replied smoothly, ignoring the nagging thought in her head saying she needed to write her post-op notes. Maybe if she was lucky Sam would do it for her, or at least not mention it when she didn’t finish them until later that evening. It wasn’t every day Ava got to spend lunch with someone and as much as she liked being with Sam and Connor in the CT lounge on break, Sarah’s hopeful eyes were on the verge of making her melt and she had already made up her mind.
“Really?” Sarah tried to hide her excitement quickly, “Okay, meet you in the cafeteria, then?”
“Give me fifteen minutes, I’ll be there.”
Sarah nodded, glancing back at Ava’s friends before regaining her composure, “Thank you, Doctor Bekker.”
With that the medical student was off down the hallway, her classmates long gone but her attitude had changed immensely. Ava had to laugh a little at how she had a little confidence in her step, wondering why Sarah Reese had such a softening effect on her. This woman was bad for her reputation, in any sense, but Ava couldn’t find it in her to care at that moment.
She tried to evade Sam’s curious eyes when she walked back over but the other surgeon wasn’t having it, “Was that the cute med student you’ve spoken so highly of lately?”
“Yeah, the same one you bullied in the ED a few weeks ago, Zanetti,” Connor reminded her, “Sarah Reese.”
“Shut up, Connor, this isn’t about me.”
Ava had been quietly gathering her white coat and stethoscope from their resting place over a desk chair, hoping she could escape without further questioning. No such luck, though, because now Sam was even more interested.
“Why’s a newbie calling you by your name, Ava?” she raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t even let me call you that until a month ago.”
“She prefers a first name basis,” Ava mumbled, which wasn’t untrue, “Makes her less anxious.”
“Well, she still seemed fairly nervous if you ask me. What did she want?”
“Nothing,” she sighed, “Just questions about our skills lab assessment later this week.”
“Mhm,” Sam clearly didn’t believe her and, judging by the look they shared, Connor didn’t either. The last thing Ava wanted was to be late to lunch because of her friends’ nosiness but she figured they would just press her for answers later at Connor’s place. Of course it was a game night and they would know something was up if she suddenly cancelled, so Ava was silently preparing to accept her fate. Not that there was really anything to admit, not what they expected anyway, but being friends with a med student she was mentoring was bad enough.
“I have to go,” she said as she swung her braid over her shoulder, “I will… see you later.”
Ava was very aware of their amused staring as she walked away, clearly not heading to go do post-ops as she was walking in the complete opposite direction of the ward. She was a bit anxious, for no real reason, but it felt like them knowing was the end of the world. That was dramatic of course and she knew they would probably just tease her about being soft but Ava still kept having a nagging feeling that it would end with the worst case scenario. She tried to ignore that thought, though, and it thankfully left her mind the second she walked into the cafeteria.
Sarah was sitting at a table that was a bit secluded, writing away in her notebook. She had her glasses perched on her nose, which were admittedly very cute on her; not that Ava would ever say that out loud. The student must have heard her approach because she looked up before Ava had reached the table, smiling widely at her in a way that had her forgetting why she was even anxious.
She would just have to tell Sam and Connor to stuff it, she decided; it wasn’t their business anyway. Besides, they always said she needed to make more friends, be more personable and all that. Really, Ava was just doing as she was told and being a good mentor by connecting with her students. At least that’s what she told herself as she greeted Sarah softly, watching patiently as she dug her wallet out so they could go get lunch together.
