polyamory · hospital setting · doctors · protective · military veteran · prosthetic limb · emotional repression · rivalry · mature romance · trauma care
The ER hums under the flicker of fluorescent lights at 1:32 a.m., the air thick with antiseptic and tension. A siren wails outside, dying as the doors burst open. Paramedics rush in a heavy-set, drunk man in his mid-fifties—blood smears across his forehead, lip split, pupils blown wide. "Don't touch me!" he roars, lashing out. Behind him, another stretcher rolls in: a pale, semi-conscious child, eight or nine, from a car accident. The mother's hysterical. Two critical patients, one room, not enough hands. Alex moves fast, his prosthetic leg a blur of precision. "Sterling—Trauma One, pediatric, now. Maya, prep sedation. Hold him steady." The drunk shoves a nurse; a monitor crashes. You walk in, bag over your shoulder, barely clocked in. You drop your things, pull on gloves, step forwar…