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There were always odd things about Whitaker.
Trinity, even though she’d never admit it, had that protective streak, especially toward her friends. And that boy…He gave off the energy of a wet weasel most of the time.
At first, she ignored it. Not her business. Not her problem.
But once she noticed something, she couldn’t unsee it. She became hyper aware of the situation, she had that curse.
Their Attendings were good people, far as she knew. Professional. Keeps their respective distances and still offer their guidance and support.
There was just, something about Dr. Robby and Whitaker.
The constant touches, manhandling situation caught her attention at the start. Shoulder. Arm. The back of his neck. He didn’t even try to be subtle. Robby definitely did not miss a single chance to practically toy with the boy.
When Robby dragged Dennis out of the break room one afternoon, she did what anyone would do. Following them in silence.
From the corner of the hall, she watched. Robby was talking low, close. Whitaker’s neck was red where the man’s fingers rested. His hands twitched at his sides, fidgety, anxious.
Stress, maybe. Fear, more likely.
Then Robby’s hand slid off his neck, straight to the small of Whitaker’s back. Trinity’s jaw dropped.
She felt anger bubbling up from every single cell in her body. How dare he !
How dare he use that title, that authority to corner a student like that ?
She thought about going to Dana, reporting it.
But she didn’t. Not yet.
She decided to watch and observe a little bit more, just in case she is wrong and reading the situation in a horrible manner.
Deep down, she was sure that she wasn’t wrong though.
There are a lot of things Trinity Santos is and wrong just isn’t one of them.
—
If Victoria Javadi was being honest, she hadn’t liked Whitaker much at first.
Nothing much to hold against him! She simply didn’t appreciate how he snitched on her back at their first day, when she fainted. Not that she blamed him, she would’ve done the exact same thing if the roles were reversed, but it’s not the same when someone else does it to you now, is it ?
Her, kinda petty, one sided grudge faded quickly though.
Weeks passed and even Santos barely mentioned it anymore and Dennis wouldn’t even bring it up unless he needed it to clap back at her during their small cat fights.
Whitaker turned out to be kind. Painfully kind, actually.
During one of their after shift hangs, he told her about his family, the farm, how he was the only one who’d made it to university from his whole family. They could kinda understand that about each other, both of their families had big expectations from them.
It bonded them. That, and being Santos’s favorite verbal punching bags.
So yeah. Victoria Javadi could say they are kind of friends.
She isn’t a smoker. She wouldn’t say she hated or judged smokers, but she didn’t love them either. Hospitals already smelled like burnt caffeine and moral fatigue; adding tobacco didn’t help.
Dennis Whitaker, surprisingly was indeed a smoker. She knew he was a farm boy and she did watch enough movies to know most farm boys did smoke but it still surprised her.
He didn’t look like a smoker. He looked like someone who said ‘I’m sorry.’ way too often.
So when Dana sent her to grab him from the ambulance bay from the boy’s short and precious smoke break, she rushed there. She said something about ‘Needing help holding down a Psych patient.’ Javadi definitely felt bad for the boy.
When she took no more than 5 steps outside and looked around to see Whitaker, she definitely did NOT consent to seeing what she did. Oh boy, this couldn’t be good.
Robby had Whitaker cornered against the side wall. The poor boy looked trapped, and probably desperately needed a way out of this situation. His cigarette was lit in hand. They were whispering to each other and Robby laughed at Dennis’s words.
She stood frozen in her place, watching everything take shape in front of her eyes.
Dennis looked away and tried to take a puff from his cigarette but the doctor caught his wrist, leaned in, and took a breath in from Whitaker’s cigarette. He inhaled, slow, deliberate and then exhaled smoke right on Whitaker’s face.
Javadi felt dizzy, what kind of HR nightmare was she looking at ? She had to rescue Dennis from that situation, and she had to do it now. Poor boy was definitely getting harassed !
She took a few steps back, pretending she just stepped out, she called out.
“Whitaker! We need your help.”
She heard the rush of limbs, getting tangled and untangled. If she didn’t see what just happened, no way she would be able to make out what the noises meant. A second later, she saw a very disheveled, red at the face Dennis approach her with a shy smile.
She’d just rescued him, and she was damn sure it wouldn’t be the last time she had to. Maybe she’d tell Santos. Maybe together, they could keep him safe.
—
Mel knew she was smart.
Knew she was good at her job.
She could read stress like an EKG. Years with her autistic sister had trained her to pick up what others missed.
And because of that, she saw everything. The tells, the signs, the fractures no one else noticed.
So when it came to Dennis Whitaker, she noticed.
Noticed how he jumped when someone raised their voice. How he rubbed the inside of his wrist when Robby was around, how easily he sweated. How his posture changed, folding into himself like he knew what was coming, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Robby liked Dennis. Everyone knew that. Too much, maybe. He’d praise him in front of others, joke about how ‘the kid’s got potential.’
Mel didn’t know how to feel about this and it stressed her out. Something about their dynamic ticked her off and pushed her to overthink, quickly drowning in thoughts and emotions she didn’t know how to handle.
One early morning, right after they all arrived one by one, she caught them again. Hallway lights half-dead, monitors humming somewhere distant. Robby was leaning close to Dennis near the supply room. Way too close.
She stopped moving, let herself be one with the hospital atmosphere and sucked a breath in. Robby’s hand was on the back of Dennis’s neck again, thumb holding the necklace hidden under his scrubs. She couldn’t see all that clearly, but she saw the shine of something. He was deadly protective of that necklace and never let it out for anyone to see, keeping it hidden at all times.
Dennis didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just stared at the floor. Oh how badly she felt for the boy.
Mel took a step back.
There were moments in medicine where you didn’t intervene not yet, not until you knew what was happening. But this wasn’t a patient. This was, something else.
She went to her locker instead. Sat down. Listened to the hum of the vending machine.
She hated how calm she felt. How used to this she was. The hierarchy, the silence, the way everyone pretended not to see when a senior doctor crossed a line.
She thought about sharing it with the others, maybe they could all find a way to protect the boy from this.
Nodding to herself, she made a mental note to catch the girls during a split second they are all free.
—
The coffee machine was groaning again, like it hated being alive. It probably did too.
Princess was leaning against the counter, stirring sugar into a paper cup that had definitely seen better days. Perlah was across from her, chart in hand, pretending to read it. Neither of them were working. Not really.
“Did you hear?” Princess asked, voice low.
Perlah didn’t look up. “About what?”
“You know what.” she switched to Tagalog.
A pause. Now they both had to switch to Tagalog.
Perlah’s eyes flicked toward the hallway where the day shift doctors and patients walked around.
“If this is about Whitaker and Robby again, I’m not doing this with you.”
Princess grinned, she knew her best friend.
“Noppe, you are doing it.”
She set her coffee down, fingers tapping.
“Trin saw something again. Yesterday. Near the labs.”
“Of course she did,” Perlah muttered. “That girl could see ghosts in daylight.”
Princess sucked in a breath, reached closer and whispered.
“Yeah, but Mel saw it too.”
There was no need to whisper, it was just them and Trinity who knew Tagalog but oh well! It did make their gossip sessions more exciting.
That made Perlah stop and stare. The room went still for a second, just the hum of the fridge, the buzz of fluorescent lights.
“No way ?”
“Yep. Mel. Which means it’s real.”
Perlah looked away. “Christ.”
Princess nodded, lips pressed together, like she was swallowing the urge to say ‘I told you!’.
“She said Robby had his hand on Dennis’s neck. Again.”
Perlah sighed, rubbed her forehead. “I swear, this place eats its young.”
They both knew about the… thing that went down between Robby and Heather. Old times, complicated times. Both couldn’t believe it was happening again, and this time it seemed like he was just bullying the poor boy!
After a beat, Princess whispered, “You think we should tell someone?”
Perlah gave her a look.
“Who? HR? Dana? It’s Robby we are talking about, they can’t afford to lose him. All that’s gonna happen is Whitaker getting a slap on the wrist.”
Princess stared at her coffee like it might have the answers. “Poor kid.”
“I know.”
“Do you think he’s even aware that he’s… you know..” she bit her tongue, not wanting to finish the sentence.
Perlah understood her though, she always did.
Perlah’s voice was flat. “Yeah. He does.”
A loud voice startled both of them and they flinched. Someone dropped a tray and it brought them back to the reality, out of their little gossip corner and back at their jobs.
Princess laughed under her breath, that nervous, bitter kind of laugh. “We should start charging for all the drama around here.”
“Yeah,” Perlah said. “Except this one’s not exactly entertainment.”
The clock ticked.
Neither of them spoke again. Dr. Robby was everywhere, and if he heard of this, the talks behind his back. It wouldn’t be good for anyone in the matter.
—
A week later, Trinity, Mel and Javadi cornered Dana during her smoke break, knowing they would be a little more private there. It wasn’t right that they were all out here, but nor was the situation they were going to bring up.
They spilled everything they’ve been noticing. The manhandling, the touches, whispers between them, the cigarette incident.
Dana took silent drags off her cigarette, her face didn’t show any emotions but she listened to them and they knew she would help. She had to!
“Okay, i get this. You think Robby’s been abusing his title and using it on Whitaker ?”
Javadi groaned, “We know it! We’ve seen it.” Mel nodded to that enthusiastically.
“So ? Are you gonna do anything ?” Trinity’s voice came out more threatening than she wanted it to. But there was nothing she could do about it, the whole situation and how Dana reacted, so calm, was fucked up.
Dana gave it a hum before replying.
“Maybe try looking at the situation a little more carefully and closer first. Sometimes things aren’t what they seem.”
And that was it. She brushed it off and the girls left, going back inside. Only then, Dana could reveal the smirk she’d been hiding.
Oh god, this was fucking hilarious and she would make fun of this for like, forever.
Later, after their shift was almost over the girls lingered near the supply room, pretending to be all busy with something.
At the other end of the hallway, Robby and Whitaker appeared and they stopped in the corner. Girl’s attention immediately switched there and they all held their breaths.
Dennis’s hand went down the neck of his scrub, revealing the necklace he would hide with all his might. Robby’s fingers followed and he touched it.
A ring. A ring was attached to the necklace. One that looked a little too big for Whitaker’s fingers.
Dennis smiled, a soft smile that came from the bottom of his heart and their fingers interlocked over the ring.
Trinity’s eyes widened and she spoke out. “Are you seeing what i’m seeing or am i having hallucinations ?”
Mel and Javadi nodded. Confirming that ‘Yes, they also do see what she’s seeing.’
“Oh my god.” Javadi exclaimed, they were all wrong. They were so, so wrong.
“It means they are married, right ?” Came from Mel and suddenly, it all made sense.
Dennis wasn’t twitching because he was uncomfortable, the silent whispers weren’t threats and the manhandling definitely wasn’t bullying. Maybe if they even looked a little close to Dennis’s face, they would even see that the boy was very happy at where he was.
They watched a little more, saw Robby plant a kiss to Dennis’s hand before looking away hurriedly.
“I can’t believe i was wrong about something.” Trinity exhaled, she was kinda disappointed, she genuinely thought she caught something.
That was indeed a happy, married couple.
Suddenly, Dana emerged behind them and all three flinched. She was laughing, probably also saw what they did.
“Now you get my words, don’t you ?”