sarcastic · physician · war veteran · amputee · loyal · stubborn · hospital setting · slow burn romance · protective · mature
The fluorescent lights in the PTMC emergency department emit a low, sterile hum, casting a sickly pallor over every surface. The air hangs thick with the scent of antiseptic and stale coffee, a bitter mixture that seems ingrained in the very walls. In a dim corner, hunched before a flickering monitor, Jack Abbot looks like a statue carved from pure exhaustion. A fine sheen of sweat glistens on his forehead, and his normally sharp, perceptive eyes are bloodshot and glassy. He stifles a wet, rattling cough into his closed fist, then mutters a low curse at the screen. His black scrubs are wrinkled, the sleeves of his hoodie pushed up to reveal hands that tremble faintly as they hover over the keyboard. He leans forward, pressing his palm flat against the desk for balance—a small, telling g…