Chapter Text
Everyone in the emergency department held their breath as they watched the scene unfold before them.
For more than 2 minutes none of them dared to make a sound, only being interrupted by the constant chiming of machines and rustling of patients across the floor. The tension was palpable, especially between the chief attending of the ED and Gloria Underwood, whose bickering escalated to a full-on discussion in the middle of the department.
None of the ones present could exactly figure out what the dispute was about, but the piercing gazes that Robby and Gloria exchanged were enough to clue in the rest of the staff on just how serious the discussion between them was.
From what Dana could tell, it all started with Gloria approaching Robby to, once again, insist on improving the so talked “patient satisfaction scores”.
It had been a particularly tiring shift all throughout, with 3 separated cases of child death, a case of SA, several patients with life-threatening trauma, an attempted suicide that ended in quadriplegia, and an overall shift that kept everybody on their toes, especially Robby.
From the outside, it seemed Robby was keeping up with the frenetic pace that had settled in the ED, but the truth lay hidden to the untrained eye. The strain in his shoulders, the slight delay in his eye's reaction time, his faintly slumped posture... All of them were indicators that Robby wanted, more than anybody else, to go home and collapse in the crumpled sheets of his bed.
The only thing holding him back was his own damn stubbornness. Today was not a difficult day solely for him, and going home on such terms would mean leaving behind the group of people he so carefully had woven together after the incident.
Today marked the anniversary for the Pittfest shooting they lived a year ago. And even though no one had mentioned it out loud, the quiet tension that lingered in the air was enough for everyone to be aware of the importance this day held.
It also meant that today was the sixth anniversary of Dr. Montgomery Adamson’s passing.
Six years that settled in the back of Robby's throat heavily.
During the day, Robby felt the tight knot in his body release itself, the weight of grief giving him a break from all the unreleased pain, so he could focus on supporting his staff, even if it was just for that shift.
And although he was standing his ground, the truth is that he felt the burden of his own sadness and tiredness pulling at him increasingly harder.
Until Gloria appeared on his rearview, with that characteristic look on her face that he so well knew from years putting up with her unrealistic demands.
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Amidst the growing chaos, Gloria made her way towards central, her head set on grasping Dr. Micheal Robinavitch as if her life depended on it.
For the past couple of months, the hospital's board had been even more adamant with the need of increasing profit. For which the rest of the departments were trying to push through even with the staff shortage and increase in patient per doctor pressing at their backs. All the departments seemed to keep up with the pace, all of them except one, the emergency department.
With an outstanding score of 8% of patients being “very satisfied” with their care the ED placed last in every single metric presented by the executives. Which again put Gloria on thin ice in the eyes of the rest of the board, deeming her work ethic as “not encouraging enough”.
In other words, the executive board was considering bringing someone else, someone they considered more appropriate to make their demands happen. Even considering an outer management company to run things.
Her head was set on clearing those voices that seemed to discard the great effort she put on getting to where she is. She deserved to be the chief medical officer, and no one would tell her otherwise.
“Could I borrow some of your time Dr.Robinavitch?” Gloria led out louder than intended, but the constant rumbling of the ER made it look like she was just trying to break through the noise.
Robby’s attention was then split between Gloria, who was now following him across the floor, and the trauma room he was heading to. Before he could gather his thoughts, something close to a chuckle left his system, with frustration tugging at the corners.
“Not now Gloria” Robby almost growled.
Gloria crossed her arms slowly. “Oh, yes, now. You will not be escaping any time soon, so give up.” She placed herself in front of him before he could avoid her like usual.
Robby tried to get around her to the students waiting for his feedback on a patient's diagnosis. Emphasis on tried, because Gloria blocked any attempt at escaping, from the outside it could even look like they were in some sort of dance.
Robby could not stress enough how much he would like for some real emergency to come through the front door. Anything that could pull him out of the grasp of Gloria’s standards and exigencies, he was way past caring at this point, and the end of his shift looked at him tentatively.
He of course, would not wish for anyone to have a medical emergency, but right now Robby would much preferably be elbow-deep soaked in someone’s blood rather than having a verbal sparring session with Gloria.
Robby took a deep breath. “Gloria, I know exactly what you wanna say, so please, let me get back to my team so we can keep saving lives”. His desperation and tiredness seeped into each word, trying hard to end this conversation as soon as possible.
“Look Robinavitch. I know I’m the person you least like to see, but we have to talk about your numbers”, her posture eased a little bit “and the truth is that your numbers are not good”.
“Number of lives saved?” he sneered back, “because you seem to forget that a hospital's sole purpose is to save lives, or are you referring to the number of healthcare workers that get assaulted in these halls?”
Gloria's stance faltered a bit, “How does that- “ and before she could respond Robby spoke again, louder this time.
“You are always reproaching my lack of results and involvement, yet you’re the one who won’t listen when I tell you we need to up our security!” That came out accompanied with a sarcastic laugh that escaped Robby before he could stop himself.
By now, several of the staff had already clocked the ongoing argument, some even taking the time to pause whatever they were doing to eavesdrop on the conversation. Including Victoria Whitaker and Santos, who were in central as the scene unfolded. Collins and McKay were also across the hall when they stopped to join the rest at the desk.
None of them dared to make their presence known to the pair, they all just stared and tried to conceal their stares and murmurs.
Jack was coming out the trauma bay when he noticed the unnatural silence that spread across the usually lousy ER. He instantly registered the source of the commotion, he could make out Robby’s figure among the staff, talking to what he assumed was an angry Gloria.
Jack made his way towards Robby, making it his mission to stop whatever argument made their staff so stupefied.
On days like this, Robby would sometimes hang out in Jack’s, sharing a beer together while they watched a film or game. Sometimes things would stretch out further into the night, forcing Robby to stay the night in case he fell asleep on the wheel.
Jack would cherish those days deeply, getting to watch Robby relax like no other day. It had almost turned into a ritual on itself. Robby would always find Jack after an especially hard shift, and Jack would always turn to Robby for comfort when needed.
Some often misinterpreted their relationship, thinking they were somehow involved romantically with each other. And although Jack wouldn’t ruin their hard-earned friendship, he was the only one aware of his deeply rooted feelings for Robby.
He mentioned it to Dana a couple months ago when they were both at central talking about hanging out after work to decompress. Dana apparently had already noticed something was up because she didn’t seem fazed when Jack confessed over a beer at their favourite pub. Since then, Dana had been sending glances whenever Jack and Robby interacted in any way, sending a subtle pink colour to Jack’s cheeks.
Robby none the wiser of course.
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Jack organized his thoughts as Robby finally appeared on sight, looking more dishevelled than a couple of hours ago, when Jack had just arrived to lend a hand to the day shift.
That’s when he finally started to catch up on the conversation happening before him. It looked like Gloria had once again trapped Robby under the guise of his low patient satisfaction scores, which alone was no news, but the way their voices started to gain force was something out of place.
Jack stepped forward, trying to break off the escalating conflict when the words echoed through the ED.
“You are done.”
The words came with determination and reverberated through the halls.
Everyone stilled.
The words made Robby falter for a moment, barely visible from the outside. Instead of responding, he tilted his face upwards in a sign of confidence and doubt.
As if being asked, Gloria explained further “You clearly are not fit to run this department anymore Dr.Robinavitch, so I must ask you to end your time in PTMC.”
Jack's mouth suddenly dried; he had to wet his lips before any word could come out.
“Wait, wha-” he tried to protest.
“Wow, are you serious?” Robby fought back with irony, a sarcastic laugh tugging at the corners of his mouth. His eyes wide with both surprise and expectation.
“Yes.” Gloria responded instantly with the most serious tone anyone has ever heard her use.
She purposely let the words sink in a bit before continuing, “I need someone who cares, and you obviously have stopped trying.”
Another beat of silence.
“There's no need for you to come back Robinavitch.”
Jacks’ knees almost gave out.