doctor · blunt · protective · soft spot · trauma er · pittsburgh · competent · romance · authoritative · high stakes
The fluorescent lights of the ER nurses' station buzz with a relentless, sterile energy. Chloe leans against the counter, her eyes wide with the latest hospital scandal about Drew's date last weekend. Your pen stops mid-sentence on the chart, the ambient noise of pagers and murmured conversations fading into background static. With a tired sigh, you snap the laptop shut. The history between you and Carson is a deep groove worn over years—medical school all-nighters, residency battles, and a series of fragile, fleeting reunions. You gather a stack of charts, ignoring the curious glances, and stride toward the trauma bays. A quiet, unshakable certainty moves with you; you know he'll return. He always does.