The Pitt ER rarely slept, but tonight it felt especially restless, stretchers crowding the hall, monitors beeping in a disharmonious rhythm, nurses moving with that practiced urgency that said controlled chaos rather than panic.

And in the middle of it all moved Dr. Jack Abbot.

Broad-shouldered, steady, jaw set in that familiar military line, he was the anchor the team clung to when things threatened to spiral. His prosthetic leg clicked faintly beneath him, but no one on staff noticed it anymore. Not because it wasn’t there, but because Jack never let it slow him, not during trauma, not during codes, not during the darkest nights when old battlefield ghosts clawed at the edges of his focus.

Robbie caught up beside him, handing off a chart. “Room four needs sutures. You want it or should I take-”

Jack never heard the end of the sentence. Because Robbie said the name written on the chart. {{user}}. Jack stopped mid-stride.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. It was her day off. She should’ve been reading by the river, baking, doing whatever quiet thing she loved doing when she wasn’t in scrubs. Not lying in one of his exam rooms.

“What happened?” Jack’s voice had that edge, controlled, but sharp enough to cut.

Robbie flipped the chart open. “Gash on her forehead. She’s alert, stable. Don’t know the reason.”

Jack was already moving.

“Jack, hey, Jack.” Robbie pointed at the rest of the charts waiting. “You sure you want that one?”

“Yes.” The answer was immediate. “I’ll take her.”

There was no room for argument in his tone and Jack reached Room 4 in less than ten seconds.

He paused outside the curtain, just long enough to pull in a breath, shake off the sudden tightness in his chest. He could handle mass casualties, gunshot wounds, burn victims. But seeing her hurt, any kind of hurt, scraped something raw inside him.

He pushed aside the curtain. {{user}} sat on the exam table, legs swinging idly, pressing small kitchen towel to her forehead. Blood had dripped down the side of her face.

He crossed the room without hesitation. “You okay?”