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Today has been draining.
You were called in this morning, something about an emergency C-section.
Despite being a bit cranky about having to leave your beautiful, tired and fine as hell husband alone in bed. Shirtless.
God, ovulation was coming soon, wasn’t it?
Anyways, seeing a woman’s face after saving her baby made up for it.
You were currently sitting at the charge station, behind the counter while Dana called her daughter.
You certainly did not miss charting. Usually, Robby or Jack would be doing this for you.
But Dr. Al-Hashimi asked you, and you couldn’t help but oblige.
Swift fingers typed away at the patient’s chart, muttering under your breath the statement to double check.
You wondered what Jack was doing. Maybe he was cooking dinner for you. He did mention that he was craving carbonara.
Jack always cooked when you were called in.
Just as you were about to finish your chart, Trinity Santos and Joy Kwon approached you, sitting on each side of you.
“Hey, Mama Bear.” Joy teased.
You sighed, running a hand over your face. “Hey, girls.” You said with a tired smile.
Santos grinned, looking at you intently.
“Joy and I got a question. Maybe two.”
You raised your eyebrows, confused and slightly wary of the girls’ enthusiasm.
“Sure. I got a minute before going back home.”
Joy cleared her throat, pushing her glasses up. “Is it true you’re like, every type of doctor?”
You snorted at the question, shaking your head.
“Did Robby tell you that?”
Santos shrugged, eyeing you. “You’re not denying it.”
These girls really kept you on your toes, that’s probably why Robby hogged all the residents and interns.
“When you’ve lived enough, like I have, you tend to invest in knowledge.” You answered professionally.
Dr. Kwon lit up at that answer, even more invested. “So, what do you specialize in?”
You pursed your lips, looking around for Al-Hashimi.
Whatever, you thought.
“Well, I originally did my residency in Emergency medicine. Finished at twenty eight. I did a small time with Medecin Sans Frontiers. Then I went into OBGYN. And now I use both of those.” You finished.
Joy paused at that, surprised and impressed.
“Where’d ya meet Abbot?” You paused at that, blinking as you took a deep breath.
“Well…”
.
.
.
It was your first mission for Doctors Without Borders, and you were practically ecstatic.
Afghanistan was a hard first mission, but you were more than willing to help the victims and refugees of the war.
The organization sent you to a camp near Kabul.
Once you landed with your team, you were immediately greeted with the sounds of cries and yells. Whether they were of joy or pain, was yet to be announced.
Looking around, you paused at the sight of U.S forces.
“What are they doing here?” You asked your attending, arms aching from the weight of the bags.
He raised an eyebrow, looking at the soldiers.
“Supporting forces. They promise not to bring conflict here. Plus, they are here in case Afghan forces ambush us.” He explained, turning to you.
“Do you have a problem with that, Doctor?” The confrontation surprised you, and you shook your head with fervor as you made your way to the hospital.
Jack was struggling in the camp. He just got here a month ago.
It has been his fourth year in the military.
The brand new medic on the team. Baby faced and just finished medical school.
He was doing this to get his debt excused, but the experience was bad.
They hid his stuff, made him walk out of the barracks naked one time.
They even put him in the bunk beside the door, knowing that was the side where the Colonel always banged on the door for drills.
He wasn’t even a soldier, they were just doing it to piss him off.
Jack was tired already. So he snuck off the base to go into the hospital.
He knew he couldn’t intervene with civilians, but frankly it was borderline selfish to keep his medical expertise to himself when people were dying.
That’s when Jack found you.
You were on one of the private floors, hands soft as you wrapped a little girl’s elbow.
You hummed lightly, listening to the crying mother as she thanked you.
Jack has never seen a more beautiful being. Your eyes, soft as you nodded at the woman’s words, presented your soul.
A deeply empathetic and selfless soul who was currently fixing broken bones and bleeding wounds.
You looked up at the small gasp of the woman, pausing as your eyes fell on Jack.
“اشکالی ندارد.” You assured the woman, getting up from your spot on the floor, pressing a hand on Jack’s chest and pushing him backwards as you closed the curtain.
“What was that?” He asked softly, tilting his head.
You raised your eyebrows, surprised by the stranger. “Persian. They speak Persian.”
You cleared your throat. “I thought the military wasn’t supposed to come in contact with civilians.”
Jack paused, straightening up as he saw the seriousness on your face. “I’m a medic. I’m not…one of them.” He defended gently.
You pouted softly, looking around. “You can’t be here, anyways. This is the female ward. They…they aren’t really used to having men take care of them.”
“There’s no other female doctor here, miss. Are…ar you the only one managing this?” He asked, surprised.
You looked him up and down, noticing his appearance.
Well built, a bit on the scrawny side. His reddish brown hair was short, but not buzzed. Maybe he was just a medic.
You nodded, introducing yourself to him while holding your hand out.
He froze, looking down at your hand. It was red, probably from the strength of having to take care of a floor filled with women and children. He’d say about forty people here.
“I’m Jack, Jack Abbot. It’s a pleasure to meet you, despite the circumstances, doc.” He said, shaking your hand.
You smiled at his still boyish tone, looking up at him.
“I guess it is.” You mumbled softly.
Jack nodded, looking around. “Can we…keep this between us? I can’t let the Colonel know I’ve been flanking.”
You laughed, holding your pinky up. “Your secret’s safe with me, Doctor Abbot.”
.
.
.
It all happened so quickly.
Your team only got enough warning to help exit people out of the building, but you could not move.
A teenage girl was giving birth, and you were not fucking leaving her.
It had been hours since the attack was announced, and only you remained inside with the girl and her mother.
You could hear the gunshots and explosions outside.
Your thoughts drifted to Jack.
Was he okay? Was he alive?
You two had grown close after the months stationed in Afghanistan.
A bit too close if you were honest, considering this was as temporary as a storm.
But you cared about him. Maybe even loved him.
All those shared nights on the roof, looking at the stars and hearing the missiles.
You cried with the women as the child finally pulled through, crying as it finally got its first breath of oxygen.
You smiled, wiping him with a towel and cutting the umbilical cord off.
“Baby boy.” You whispered softly, handing the baby over to the young girl as she cried, her mother hugging her with pride and fear at the same thing.
It was a beautiful sight. The beginning of life in the most dire circumstances.
You wiped your tears before stitching her up, urging them to stand quickly.
You reached for your red vest, strapping it tightly around your torso as you helped the girl into a wheelchair.
Whoever was out there couldn’t kill you. Not without consequences at least.
That first step outside felt as if time paused. The sunrise started as you ran to the military camp, making sure not to jostle the new mother and child.
Once you made it, you looked around.
Your stomach fell as Jack was nowhere to be seen.
You froze, your heart speeding up as you ran over to the Colonel, fingers gripping his vest as you urged for Jack.
Turns out, he was inside the hospital building, looking for you despite having to focus on his team.
Nobody saw the small missile get launched.
Jack’s last thought before he passed out was you, your face.
He knew that night that you were the love of his life. That he just met the love of his life and he was going to die.
What he woke up to shocked him.
There you were, on top of him.
Your fingers shook as you dragged him out of the hospital. Despite the fire, despite the warning, you came inside to take him out.
“Jack.” You whispered.
His hazel eyes, droopy and wide, looked up at you.
He called out your name, reaching a hand out to place it on your cheek.
“I’m here, Jack.” You cried, watching the trail of blood from the hospital.
Jack froze at your stare.
He didn’t feel his leg. Where was his leg?
You knew the moment he started panicking and you hushed him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
With frantic movements, you reached the tourniquet you always had on you, gulping down vomit as you tightened it under his knee.
“You’re going to be okay.” You cried as you reached for bandages, wrapping his stump with all the bandages you could, going back to his head and resting it in your lap.
Whispers were shared that night. Promises that you two thought would never be accomplished, but eventually were.
After what felt like hours of begging, pleading and crying, help finally came.
They took you both into the helicopter.
Apparently, a shard of glass was stuck inside your navel, and there was about a seventy percent chance that it punctured your ovary.
But that didn’t matter, not when Jack was finally stabilized.
You may have lost a chance at what you always wanted, but at least what you always needed survived.
.
.
.
“…Doctor Abbot?”
You blinked at Trinity’s call, snapping out of your reverie.
You looked around, surprised to see only a minute had gone by.
An event that changed your whole life, was recounted in a minute.
You let out a shaky breath, the urge to be with your husband now stronger than ever.
“Sorry, girls. I just…zoned out a bit, I guess. Tough times, you know.” You waved off, playing with your wedding ring.
Joy nodded, lips pursed in a frown.
“That’s very brave of you, Doc. Inspiring, actually.” She mumbled softly, taking a deep breath herself as she stood up.
“Thanks for the motivation.”
Trinity stayed, however, knowing the telltale signs of a traumatic memory.
“I’ll go get your stuff, Mama Bear. I’ll walk you out.” You offered her a smile, nodding.
Now at your house, you couldn’t help but tear up at the sight of your husband.
He was finishing up the pasta, his back to you.
With enough sound for him to not be spooked, you walked up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist.
“Hey sweetheart.” He said casually, serving the pasta.
“Made it with turkey bacon. It’s going to be the best thing you ever tasted.” He kept talking while you just rested your head on his back.
His heart beat against your ear, and you let out a sigh at the sound.
You remembered the time where you almost felt it fade.
He paused as he felt the slight wetness near his shoulder blade, sighing as he turned back to you.
His hand pressing against your jaw, bringing his lips to yours delicately.
You leaned into it, hands bunching up in his shirt.
“I’m here.” He mumbled, rough hand running over your spine.
“How was your day?” He asked softly, his other hand reaching for your hair.
You took a deep breath. “The girls asked about how we met.” That was enough to explain your melancholy.
He pursed his lips, hugging you. “That’s okay. They were just curious. They’re all curious about my beautiful wife.”
You smiled at the compliment, relaxing your body.
“I bet I could convince one of them to do an OBGYN residency. Probably Joy. She can barely handle male patients.”
Jack snorted at that, hands coming down to rest on your butt.
He always did that. It was his way of easing the tension.
“You mean all men?” You nodded with a smile.
“I love you.” You mumbled quietly, looking up at him.
His hazel eyes took in your expression, lips pulled up.
“I love you too. Always and forever. Like I said in our vows.”
“…You think we can sneak a session in before your shift?” Jack snorted at the offer, knowing you needed emotional and physical support.
Thank god he was good at both.
“You got it, Princess.”