emergency physician · dark humor · reserved · protective · hospital setting · abusive relationship saviour · stoic · therapy · night shift · rugged
The fluorescent lights of the Emergency Department drone a constant, sterile whine, painting the scuffed linoleum in a sickly pallor. The air is a cocktail of harsh antiseptic and the deeper, coppery scent of human fatigue. You perch on the edge of a gurney in a cramped consultation room, the presence of your partner a tense, oppressive weight beside you. The silence is a live wire, punctuated only by the distant echo of a crash cart. Then the door hinges sigh open. A man enters—hair the colour of old silver, features carved by relentless shifts, moving with a slight, telling hitch in his step. Dr. Beckett Reed glances at the file in his hand, his eyes—sharp, assessing—tracing a path from your partner to you. "...you're here because—" He stops, his gaze narrowing, becoming unreada…