Chapter Text
The storm took Chicago by surprise. Fire houses working overtime, police officers chasing their own tails and hospitals flooded with patients; the city was a mess.
The Gaffney ED had long ago run out of beds, out of space, out of doctors. Nothing was running smoothly, everything was a fight, tensions were high.
But Caitlin could deal with this, the stress, the patients, the screaming and yelling, the gore. She knew how to handle these situations, how to survive them. She thrived under pressure.
The one thing, or rather person, she didn't know how to deal with was Mitch. In a lot of ways, he was good for her and by default that was dangerous. He had this quiet and strong presence that she more often than not felt before she even saw him.
“Dr. Lenox?”
“Yes?”
“We've got another incoming, struck by lightning,” Doris announced.
“Dr. Archer, it's your's,” she yelled over and received a stressed nod.
The ED was spilling over, gurneys and last minute beds were scattered everywhere, in the hallway and the rooms. She took a look around, this wasn't working.
“Everyone, listen up,” she yelled and everything stopped for a moment. “We are closing down. Do you understand me?”
She looked around and received nods and agreement.
“Okay. So let's work hard and fast to get patients sorted and out of here to make space. Let's go, people!”
Things were finally starting to calm down. The ER wasn't a full mess anymore, granted beds were still pooling everywhere, but the patients weren't screaming anymore and there weren't puddles of blood on the floor. The storm had quieted down, too and they had been able to reopen the ED.
It wasn't until she fell down on one of the on-call room beds that Caitlin felt the exhaustion washing over her. She listened to the wind still howling outside. Nights like these were hard and she felt herself instinctively longing for Mitch to hold her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
As if on command, the door opened and he stood in front of her, piercing blue eyes and messy blonde hair.
She felt herself smiling.
“Hi,” she said, standing up and moving towards him. Her hands came to rest on either side of his neck and she drew him in for a kiss. A second ago she would’ve done with trying to get some sleep, but now she wanted, needed, him.
He melted into her kiss, her lips for a moment before he grabbed onto her wrists and slowly pulled away.
Her brows furrowed in confusion before she put up a shield again. “What?” She asked.
“We need to talk, Caitlin,” he said seriously and grief laced his voice. The tone made her want to bolt and she would have, if it weren’t for the soft grips he had on her wrists. She still extricated her hands from his and backed a few steps away.
“What about?” She asked, trying to sound as unbothered as possible. Not her best control of her emotions, she had to admit.
“What’s been going on with you,” he said and for the first time since he’d come in he looked directly into her eyes.
“There is nothing going on with me,” she countered stubbornly and crossed her arms.
“That’s bullshit, and we both know it,” he simply stated, trying not to raise his voice.
She waited a moment before she answered, “I don’t know what you want from me, Mitch.”
“I want you to tell me the truth,” he demanded.
“I told you, nothing is going on with me!” She started yelling just as the storm started taking up again.
She pushed past him, trying to escape this conversation, him, his worry and, perhaps most importantly, the truth. For a moment, she thought she’d made it to the staircase without him following but then she heard the door open and close again and she prayed that it wasn’t Mitch. Today wasn’t her day however.
She was mid stairs when he grabbed her wrist again. This was where she’d first kissed him, first gotten herself into this mess.
“Talk to me, Caitlin,” he pleaded.
“Nothing’s going on. How often do I have to tell you that?”
“Until you tell me the truth.”
“I have told you,” she insisted and continued going up the stairs again.
“You’re not gonna get rid of me that easy, you know,” he said, catching up with her, but she just kept on walking.
“You sure you wanna follow me out here?” She asked provocantly, opening the door to the parking deck.
It had started raining again, and the storm seemed to be coming back around. Without another word she walked out into the pouring rain and he followed without hesitation.
When she turned around and saw his face instead of nothing she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Why did you follow me?” She asked
“Because I care about you, Cait.”
Lightning illuminated the grey clouds hanging in the sky above them.
She tried to answer, tried to find the words but she just couldn’t. That was the first time he’d called her that, Cait.
“You shouldn’t,” she finally said just loud enough to predominate the thunder.
“Why?” It sounded almost quiet, they way he asked, surrounded by the storm.
And it was at that moment that she wanted to tell him everything; her mother’s diagnosis, her father’s suicide, her own diagnosis. But she couldn’t risk it. She had to protect him, had to be strong for him, for herself, for her brother.
“Tell me, please, Cait,” he pleaded again desperately.
“I can’t!” She yelled over the pouring rain and he looked like a beaten puppy.
“Why not?” He asked, matching her tone.
“Because you deserve better!”
It was almost eerily silent, no thunder, no wind, just the rain hitting the surface. Then another flash struck.
“What do you mean by that?” He shouted after her, but she was already trying to run away again.
He caught up to her and when he grabbed her this time, he held on.
“Talk to me, Caitlin!”
She tried to wind out of his grasp and even though her skin was slippery from all the rain, he just wouldn’t let go.
“Let me go!” Thunder and lightning were haunting the sky back to back, and the wind was picking up again, too.
“I won’t! Tell me!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“Please, Caitlin!” And somehow, that was what undid her, unraveled her shields, her walls.
“I have GSS!”
Lightning struck and thunder clamoured over the sky before the silence fell.