Emergency Medical Dad

XXII: 12am, present

JORGEN

Do now, process later.

I press the air out of my prosthetic socket, bandaged right so that I don't blister. I finish the seal.

Do now, process later.

Pants. Cargo pants. Work pants. With the fittings. The same pair I use for the Wolves, just different equipment.

Do now, process later.

PARAMEDIC is stitched to my sleeve right below HADLEY.

Do-

"Where are you going?" Connor's voice stops me dead in the hallway, his door is open and when I look in, he's sitting up in bed, wrapped in a blanket.

I lean in the door, "work, my shifts start at midnight this week."

He frowns, clearly rather drowsy, "why?"

I breathe in, standing straight and walking into his room, "emergencies don't stop happening when everyone goes to bed."

"Oh," he looks rather perplexed, thinking about something he's never thought about before. "When are you going to be back?"

"Eight," I close his curtains the rest of the way, "you'll be at school by then, but I'll be home when you get home."

He opens his mouth, then shuts it, "what if you're tired?"

"Hm?"

"What if you get tired?"

"Oh," I sit on the end of his bed, "I slept before this and I'll sleep when I get home, plus, when we're not on a call, we can catch naps on shift."

"You can nap at work?"

"Mhmm," I reach over and push his hair back from his eyes, "now, you need to sleep so you're not tired tomorrow."

He seems not to be too happy about that, but lies flat on his back, still watching me.

"Good night, kid," I stand back up again, "tell your Mom to text me when she gets up, you think you can do that?"

He nods, "yeah, bye."

"Bye."

Do now, process fucking later.

"Henry, Lisa," I set down my backpack on the break room counter. "Morning."

"You made it," Henry looks up from tying his boots. "They're almost back from their last call of their shift and then it's go time." Henry is a couple years older than me, around thirty, with a clean face and Scandinavian blonde hair that reminds me somewhat of Paikkala's hair. He's much shorter, though, coming in around my shoulder.

"No problem," I look up at the wall clock. I'm here fifteen minutes early, just like normal.

"Jorgie!" I hear Lisa's voice from the other room before she comes bouncing out, flinging her arms up and over my shoulders. I go stiff, patting her back awkwardly. Lisa is always like this. "I missed you." Lisa is two years younger than me, a stunner of a girl from the North part of the city. She's taking a break between college and medical school to get some solid experience with emergency medicine. She used to work junior EMT shifts when I was here permanently and always liked pushing my buttons just to get me riled up at her.

"Mhmm," I nudge her off. "I'll be here all summer."

The 4-midnight shift saves my ass right about then.

Frank drags himself into the break room, the first of the four on duty for the 4-12 shift to make it inside.

"Jorgen," he pats my shoulder, "Hobbes is taking the fourth on your shift."

"I thought we were alright with three?"

He shakes his head, clearly exhausted. "S'just a precaution. You're qualified but, technically, due to circumstance..."

Nina is the next in the door, Hobbes on her tail, clicking the latch behind them.

"You're supervising me, I hear?" I break the silence, watching Hobbes make his way to the coffee machine.

"Precaution," Hobbes nods. "Plus, we're supposed to have four on each shift so it's probably alright that I'm staying anyway."

"Right," I look over to Henry and Lisa, discussing something between themselves. "Be honest, Hobbes, did I fail something?"

He bites the skin on his bottom lip, the room rather quiet, "well, no. Technically, you're in the top-"

I narrow my eyes.

"Chicago changed it's disability rules," he blurts.

"To what?"
"You have to be with a senior member of the team."

I grit my teeth, biting my tongue.

"It's nothing, it's fine, I'm sure once you get into it they'll slack off on that and it can go back to normal but-"

I cut him off with a hand, "I don't need to hear it."

"I get it, Jorgen, it's-"

"No," I cut him off. "You don't. Let it lie where it is."

He zips his mouth shut and the room goes silent. It's nothing. It should be nothing. It's always like this. I should be used to it at this point in my life, but I'll be honest, it never, ever, isn't patronizing.

If I made the team, if I passed the tests, if I'm qualified enough, if if if, then I should be treated like the rest of the team. It just doesn't work like that.

My phone goes off and I'm more than eager to check it.

RON: good luck on your first shift, hopefully nothing is too out of the ordinary, and when you get home, remember what I told you about Jessie.

JORGEN: Got it, thanks

He gave me a thorough lecture over the phone this afternoon, explaining to me all of the best ways to open up lines of communication with another person. All of which, unfortunately, involved me talking about myself.

My favorite option, so far, and probably best for the two of us and timing, is one planned conversation a day, considering the chaos in both of our lives. He suggested setting times around my shifts and her work day. It's not the hardest thing I've ever figured out, I've scheduled entire PT and injury repair plans for players on my phone on the bench, so, one conversation a day can't be that hard.

My phone vibrates again.

JESSIE: Connor wants to know if you made it to work okay

JESSIE: he's refusing to go back to bed so this is kind of a must

JORGEN: I'm here, good to go.

JESSIE: and I'll text you when I'm up

JORGEN: Good, thanks

JESSIE: good luck?

JORGEN: As much as I can get, probably

I'm forced to put my phone back in my pocket when the tone goes off, red light in the break room flashing.

"Go time," Hobbes stands up off the counter, joining Henry, Lisa, and I on our way down to the garage.

And there it is again, the rush of adrenaline, the buzz in my hands, and my favorite: the calm. 

***

i completely forgot i was gonna post again tonight

anyway here it is, it's kinda short

-rabid