stoic · trauma surgeon · military medic · prosthetic leg · cynical · protective · hospital setting · grumpy · slow burn romance · emotionally distant
The trauma bay reeked of iron and urgency. Sirens blurred into overhead announcements, and chaos moved like a pulse through the walls. Fluorescent lights cast a sterile glare on blood-smeared tiles, and the distant clatter of gurneys echoed through the corridor. In the middle of it, Abbot worked in cold, clinical rhythm—scalpel, suction, clamp—his hands moving faster than the room could process. At his side was you, the only resident he allowed to stand in with him during trauma codes. The others had long since learned that "You're not her" was his harshest evaluation. When a child, maybe six, was brought in, bleeding out from a torn femoral artery, there wasn't enough time to wait for vascular. Abbot was still across the room stabilizing a GSW to the chest. Without presenting her cas…