Chapter Text
Emma was never going to live this down.
Her first week working in the pitt, and she accidentally called the charge nurse 'mom'.
Mom, of all the slip ups she could have made. It felt like a major fuck you from the universe, considering her... kinks.
To add insult to injury? Dana said it was 'fine'. F i n e. Fine that she called her mom in front of half the med students, and most of the other nurses. That was anything but fine.
They had teased her endlessly about it ever since, and she had had about enough.
It was a random Tuesday afternoon, not even halfway through her shift when she finally broke. Emma snuck off to one of the supply closets so no one could see the way that the tears stung her eyes. She looked about as vulnerable as she felt, curled up in the corner the way she was.
She hadn't meant to call the older woman 'mom'.
She was lonely, and somehow that manifested in the way she seemed to cling to Dana for comfort like some sort of lost puppy.
As if her life was just some sort of big joke, she heard the door creak open slowly. She didn't even need to look up to know exactly who came looking for her. "Look, kid. I meant it when I said I didn't mind about your slip-up."
"Yeah, well you'd be the only one. I've been getting teased ever since."
Dana's eyebrows furrowed, head tilting slightly to the side as she eyed the younger woman who still had her head dropped into her upturned palms. "People have been teasin' you? Why didn't you say something, darlin'? You know one death glare from me and you could hear a pin drop in that ER."
Emma scoffed, shaking her head. "Why? So they can all start making jokes about how 'Mommy is running to my rescue?' Let's not and say we did."
The young nurse finally lifted her head, eyes red-rimmed and cheeks stained with tears.
"Look, I... I don't have any friends or family here, alright? I don't need all of my colleagues thinking there's some sort of favouritism going on when I've only worked here for a week. God knows what sort of rumours they'll start next just to make fun of me. So much for making friends here... I guess it's good that you're not really supposed to mix business and pleasure, huh?" Of course Emma would try and make a joke in a time like this. Even though it was clear to Dana just how much she was hurting beneath her failed attempts at humour.
"Friends are overrated anyways, kiddo. Have you tried a failed marriage that's only hanging on for the sake of your overgrown children? That's where the fun really is." Dana deadpanned, but there was a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
That wasn't the sort of thing Dana ever spoke out loud, but she could tell Emma was hesitant to open up. Maybe levelling the playing field would help.
"Oh, I... I'm sorry," Emma muttered out softly, toying with her necklace. "That must be rough."
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. We don't even share a bedroom anymore, it's basically like havin' a man child as a roommate. He usually tries to not be home when I'm home."
The brunette bites her bottom lip to stop herself from asking questions about the woman's personal life, it wasn't her business. So instead, she took the opportunity to ramble more about what she was going through. "I have even tried dating apps, but they're all cesspools. Despite all the teasing, I'd even accept a 'Mommy' at this point. I'm just so lonely."
Now that...
That caught Dana's attention.
Her eyebrows raised, and she shut the door behind herself so no one would be able to listen in on their conversation. After all, the walls did have ears in the ER.
"Well, you called me Mom, not Mommy, darlin'. That brings a whole new option to the table. Though, really, I think I'd be fine with either, coming from those lips of yours."
'There is no fucking way,' Emma thought to herself. 'Is she... hitting on me?'
"Uh... what?"
It was all the poor girl could muster up as she met Dana's almost predatory gaze.
"You heard me, sugar." The charge nurse leaned back against the door, the damn smirk taking over her facial expression. "You just lookin' for a Mommy in this big 'ol city, hm?"
Emma felt the heat creep up her chest and neck, making a beeline for her cheeks. "I... uh..."
"You could've just asked if that's what you were after, baby. Didn't have to call me Mom in front of everyone to drop a hint."
'Oh. Oh my fucking god. Baby? She had to be joking, right? She was just finally joining in on all the teasing.'
That had to be it.
However, as Emma looked at Dana to analyse her every movement like it was the most important thing on the planet, she didn't see teasing. Hell, her stoic expression didn't seem to falter even once. "You're... serious."
"As a heart attack," the older woman hummed out her response like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Look, kid. I'm nearly an empty nester, I'm probably going to be a first-time divorcee before my sixtieth... you expect me not to be interested in a pretty young thing like you? You seem so... unaffected by the troubles of the world. You're still soft, and trusting. I forget what it's like to be like that."
Dana knew she had no business with an innocent woman like Emma.
She had gotten bitter regarding relationships in her old age. A loveless marriage would do that to a person. "You're just what this mama bear needs, but... I need you to know, this is me bein' selfish, darlin'. You're what... in your early twenties? You still have your whole life ahead of you."
Somehow, knowing that wasn't helping Dana desire her any less.
If anything, it was making those desires bubble up in her chest like a pot about to boil over. Something fierce, raging, almost possessive roaring to life inside of the older woman for the first time in her life.
"I'm not a child, Dana. I can decide what I'd like to do with the life I have ahead of me," Emma grumbled out softly, ripping Dana out of her own thoughts.
"That so, little one?" She hadn't meant to use that particular pet name, it was just habit. Emma was so soft. So sweet. So seemingly untouched. It made Dana want to take her in and protect her with everything she had.
That, and... it made her want to ruin Emma before anyone else could.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
"What exactly is it that you want to do with the life you have ahead of you, sugar?"
The tension in the supply closet was palpable, and Emma found it hard to breathe for a few seconds as she registered Dana's words.
This was it. Dana was asking what she wanted. Now was her chance. It was right on the tip of her tongue—
"Come on, honey. Tell me."
Any words died on her lips at that tone. It was pleading, almost desperate. Like the only thing physically holding Dana back was the lack of verbal consent from Emma.
Big, brown doe-eyes gazed up at the older woman, lips parting and pressing together a few times while she tried to regain the courage to speak. "I want what you're offering me, I just... you're married. Broken marriage or not."
Dana's hands twitched at her sides.
That wasn't enough. That wasn't what she had wanted to hear.
"Who is it that you want, darlin'? Say it."
'Holy shit, there's... does she want me to...'
"Please."
That cut straight through Emma's internal monologue.
She hadn't even known Dana for that long, but she knew that voice. The voice of longing. That voice that screamed 'tell me you need me'. Dana Evans needed someone to need her the same way Emma did. The seemingly imperturbable, tough-as-nails charge nurse just wanted to be needed by someone.
The words tumbled from Emma's lips before she could stop them. Or even think them through.
"I want you, Mommy."
Dana knew they shouldn't. She was the charge nurse, for crying out loud. She knew better.
Emma was just lonely, she would cling to the first person that would give her attention...
That didn't stop her from nearly melting into a puddle from the way the young nurse was looking at her like nothing else mattered in the world but her in that moment. The way Emma seemed to need her for comfort was intoxicating, and Dana had been trying her best to ignore it for the last week.
Even the strongest women cracked under that sort of pressure.
"Come here, sweetheart. Up you get."
Emma pushed herself up to her feet, dusting off her scrub pants before she made her way over to where Dana was still leaning against the door.
"Do you have any idea..." Dana started, tugging Emma closer by her scrub top. "...what you're offering to me by saying you want me, little one? Or are those empty words, hm?"
Did she really know what she was offering the older woman? No, no she didn't.
The close proximity was making her ache in ways she had never ached before though, and she was fully convinced she'd give Dana whatever she wanted if she asked while standing this close to her.
"N... not empty words, Mommy. Just inexperienced. Maybe a little too hopeful."
Dana brought her hand up to cup Emma's cheek, revelling in the way that her breath hitched from even the slightest contact.
So fucking responsive.
"You're just hopeful enough, sugar. It's cute."
Emma, as if on cue, leaned into Dana's palm.
"You know," Dana murmured softly, watching Emma with slightly darkened eyes. "My husband is away on business... if you wanted to come over tonight."
The charge nurse smirked at the way Emma almost instantly blushed, parting her lips to stutter out a reply. However, this time, Dana cut her off. "Just for a drink, little lamb. Unless you decide you want more from Mommy."
Emma nodded wordlessly, eyebrows knitting together at the thought of being in Dana's home. Maybe even cuddled up to her on the couch, with long fingers combing through her curls. She brought her hand up absentmindedly, fingertips trailing over the older woman's bottom lip.
It tugged a low growl from Dana's throat. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.
"Careful, baby. Mommy has developed a bit of an oral fixation since she quit smokin'," Dana spoke gruffly, nipping gently at Emma's slender digits. "Always lookin' for some new vice to have between my lips."
Emma's physical reaction to that did not go unnoticed by Dana.
The way her fingers twitched against her lips, the way that she contemplated for nothing more than a moment to push her fingers into her mouth completely. Just to see if she would suck on them.
"Does anyone know where Dana is?!"
The sound of a very frazzled Perlah somewhere in the ER startled them both from their lust-induced daze.
"Later," Dana whispered. A promise.
As quickly as she had entered the supply closet, Dana disappeared back into the chaos.
Leaving Emma even needier than she had been before. Needy and very, very confused.