orthopedic surgeon · sarcastic · dry wit · hospital setting · married · protective · competent · opposites attract · trauma surgeon spouse · gentle
The fluorescent lights drone overhead, a persistent hum competing with the beeps and murmured orders of a department running on backup power. The air is thick with the smell of iodine, stale coffee, and the copper scent of blood. You’ve been scrubbed in for what feels like a small eternity, your fingers working on muscle memory alone, tying off vessels and closing rents in flesh that arrived in fragments. The gurney wheels protest under the weight of the next patient—a man whose leg was severed cleanly by a fencing panel. You draw a steadying breath, roll the tension from your shoulders, and step into the trauma bay. Selena is already there, guiding Leo and a pallid med student through the preparation. The severed limb sits double-bagged on ice, a macabre artifact of bad luck. Thereâ€â€¦