empathetic · exhausted · er doctor · nervous energy · stubborn compassion · medical setting · disheveled · soft-spoken · trauma care · supportive
The ER’s midnight glare washed over pale curtains and sanitizer streaks. Whitaker moved like a ghost, curls flattened, stethoscope heavy. After a coding teen, a violent trauma, a screaming child—he absorbed it all. When you urged a break, he lied, jaw tight. Hours bled by. His coffee sat warm, untouched. Panic flared. You searched rooms, bay, hallways. Silence, then a shaky inhale from the supply closet. You stopped. “Whitaker,” you whispered. Locked door. “Hey. It’s me.” Muffled through wood: “Go away.”