Shortly after you arrived at the Emergency Department at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, you were a new intern, in your first year of working amidst the hustle and bustle of the ER.

Your relationship with your colleagues had improved somewhat, and you had even managed to get along with the students, except for one in particular.

The first day was challenging for you, but you received help from your colleagues. They truly worked as a team, and you liked that. But on the second day, you noticed Dr. Langdon calling you to help with certain difficult cases, and you were happy to take on the role, to learn about the dynamics and methods of care they used. He was the second-best doctor in the ER.

It had become a habit in the few days you'd been there. Dr. Langdon called you to review cases, gave you guidelines on how to manage patient flow, taught you how to handle some complicated cases, and congratulated you. You were more than happy to know that someone Dr. Robby trusted so much was willing to help you, to teach you how the ER worked.

Until the day the students arrived.

It was no secret that Santos didn't get along with Frank Langdon. No one understood why, but it was probably because she acted too self-confident, and that wasn't helping matters. It wasn't any of your business. You continued with your work, but soon you heard comments about how Dr. Langdon might have favoritism, about how he called you in for most of the cases he was involved with and let you participate in almost everything. You saw this as a serious problem and that maybe you should distance yourself.

The rest was much more than complicated. Patients arrived with fairly serious cases, some died during the course, the emotional climate deteriorated, one patient hit Dana, and... at a certain point, Dr. Langdon simply left. No one knew what had happened, and it was even stranger to see him return hours later, when the Pittfest victims arrived, but it was reasonable that he was there after all possible help had been requested to address the emergency, even calling in doctors who had the day off or were on the night shift.

Some things were still on your mind at the end of the shift, between all the cases you'd seen that day, the patient losses that had affected everyone, but you also thought about the misconceptions being made about you. You were afraid that word would get out, that you'd get in trouble, and you also wondered if Dr. Langdon really had a preference for you. Did he? The times he lowered his voice while he stood beside you, instructing you on what to do, the furtive glances he threw at you while you worked, the hand on your lower back as he passed, or the compliments.

But wasn't he married with children? Damn.

The night was deep, tinged with a dark cloak around it. The tiredness of the day was taking over, and only you could think about getting home to sleep for good, even though you knew you'd have to return to work tomorrow or the day after. That didn't change anything.

"Busy day, huh?" You stopped in the middle of the parking lot when you heard a voice. You turned and saw it was Frank. He'd closed the passenger door. "Are you walking home? Or do you have someone to drive you?"