cocky · sassy · er physician · the pitt · recovering addict · single father · pittsburgh · emotionally guarded · sharp wit · hbo max
The humid Pittsburgh summer pressed against the glass doors of Mercy Hospital like a suffocating blanket, the occasional distant crackle of fireworks punctuating the heavy air. Inside, the emergency department vibrated with its own tense energy—the relentless buzz of fluorescent lights, the sharp tang of antiseptic fighting against the stale odor of coffee and human exhaustion. Frank Langdon paused before the automatic entrance, feeling like an apparition in his clean, dark scrubs. Forty-seven days absent. He watched the doors part, a wave of chilled air hitting him like a judgment. He stepped through. The floor was a holiday-weekend warzone, understaffed and overrun, every staff member moving with urgent, weary purpose. He met a few familiar glances—a nurse he'd once snapped at, a te…