Chapter Text
Prolouge
The low vibration of a random song wasn't the only thing keeping Eloise Walsh awake. The young woman of twenty-eight had spent her day yesterday packing everything she needed for her and her daughter, Joan, could start at least a new beginning. She didn’t even go to work that evening, instead she spent her time documenting, signing, and filling out paperwork to have at least a less challenging separation from her now ex-boyfriend and father of her child.
A week prior, Eloise was excited to go out on a surprise date for her boyfriend's, Connor, birthday. She had made up a lie saying that she would be working a double shift at the hospital in which he always told her she spent too much of her time. In reality she had spent the morning decorating a room she rented at a private loft. Balloons, party strings, cake, and presents kept her busy like an average nine to five, but the real kicker came when she came home to tell him. All the guests had texted her telling her of their arrival, except for one, but Eloise saw her soon enough. When she opened the door to the bedroom there she saw her boyfriend and her life long best friend, Jenny, sleeping with one another.
Eloise couldn’t even speak. Covering her mouth she sobbed and turned away. She had canceled the party and asked one of her friends, who was taking care of Joan at the party, to bring the little two year old girl to her. All that money she spent so happily for a party, she ended the night spending it on a motel room. She didn’t sleep that night or the night after that, ignoring text messages and calls from her boyfriend. She couldn’t stop wishing she had defended herself, told them off, but in reality she did what came first to her.
It had been also affecting her work life at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, otherwise known at PTMC, but most loving referred to by the staff as The Pitt. It was a job she had gotten following the footsteps of someone else, her older sister, Emery Walsh. They both worked at the same hospital, normally at the same time, only on different floors. Emery was a surgeon while Eloise was a second year resident. People close to her at work like the charge nurse Lena Handzo, her close friends Dr. John Shen and Dr. Parker Ellis, even her head attending and the person she admired most Dr. Jack Abbot had asked time and time again throughout the week what was wrong. The stress of finding out her best friend and boyfriend were having an affair, the fact she now had to pay for night shift daycare, and just the overall stress of working at an ER were getting to her. So, she decided to ask her older sister for help after several days of living at a motel.
“Mama.” Joan called out from the back seat.
Eloise's dark eyes shifted from her lap to her daughter sitting in the car seat next to her. “Yes, baby?” Once parked the young woman had gotting out of the driver seat into the back seat with her daughter. Even though the back was covered with boxes her hand still found her daughter’s.
“Why are we here?” The little girl's voice was weary just as her head bobbled and eyes were almost closed.
“Because,” Eloise paused for a second, “We’re going to see your aunt!” She tried to make her voice sound chiper, trying to make it seem like she hadn’t been crying just hours earlier. “You remember? Aunt Em? She got you that toy bunny you love so much.”
“I want bunny.” Joan mumbled, her eyes slowly closing until her soft round cheek leaned against her shoulder.
Eloise sighed, looking at her phone. 8: 00, it read back to her. She had been waiting at the parking lot of her older sister's apartment building for an hour. Her heart had dropped to her stomach the night before when she sent Emery a text telling her of the situation. So, when the simple reply reached her a small smile grew on her lips.
A black car that Eloise has seen ever so often pulled up into the apartment complex. It had parked in its reserved spot in front of the low rise apartment building, and the owner got out already looking at her way.
Unbuckling Joan from her car seat, the black haired woman slowly brought her daughter close making sure her eyes didn't open. The toddler's head immediately melted against her mother’s neck like a cat that found a secure and warm spot to go to sleep; meanwhile Eloise was only warm due to how much she was sweating as she walked over to her older sister.
“Hi.” Eloise's voice was quiet as she stared at Emery.
The surgeon black hair was pulled back into a bun, strands had escaped flowing with the morning wind, just like the second year resident. Both sisters shared many similarities that everyone around them knew. Whenever another surgeon came down to the emergency room they would always recognized Eloise, but her name would never be spoken; it was always “Emery’s little sister.” What would she expect? That the people around her saw her for more than being a clone of her sister? No, that is what she experienced her whole life.
“You could bring your stuff up later.” Emery began, glancing down towards her niece. “You could lay her to sleep on the bed in the guest room.” Immediately she began to walk towards the stairs to reach her respected floor.
Without missing a beat, Eloise followed, shuffling Joan up to get her higher against her chest. The apartment complex was newly built, she had seen advertisements for it while going through Zillow. It was completely out of her pay range, but it was a nice way to pretend she was able to take better care of herself and her daughter. To enter the complex building, she had to tell a security guard what her purpose was there and give a pin that Emery had sent her the day prior. It felt far more safer than her own condo an hour drive back. Even the inside of the apartment was nicer.
Once Emery unlocked her door, the smell of Swiffer hit Eloise and Joan, who blinked a few times before closing her eyes again. The first thing she saw when the door opened was the living room. The white couch, the brown coffee table with magazines on top of it, even the tv cabinet sparkled. The kitchen to the right of the entry way had not a single cup or plate on the counter or sink, everything was neatly put away.
“The guest room is the first door down the hallway to the left.” Emery showed her little sister. “The bathroom is the room directly across.”
“Thanks.” Eloise mumbled, taking in the guest room–her and her daughter's new room for the time being. The bed had been made, everything smelled clean and new. It was a new beginning, but her past still lingered like ropes around her wrist. Even though her old home was nothing like this, it was where she had found comfort in. It had everything, now the only memory that keeps appearing in her mind was the body of her friend on top of her ex boyfriend.
The young woman gently placed her daughter in the middle of the bed. The little girl's arms and legs moved as if she was a star fish trying to reach every corner. It would have been a little funny if it wasn’t for the circumstances. Every time Joan said “I want to go home,” Eloise questioned every bit of her being. Was this the correct thing to do? Connor wasn’t a bad father, he constantly asked for how Joan is doing. Maybe she should just forgive him and go back, but when she went home to pack while he was at work, pieces of her old best friend Jenny were there. The blonde hair on the pillow, the outline of two bodies on the bed even though she hadn’t been there for a week. The young woman would let Joan father see her, the toddler loved her father, but deep down every time she looked at him she’ll be reminded of those seconds all over again.
Before Emery closed the door to the room, Eloise called out. “Thank you.” The eldest sister glanced at her little sister as if she was looking at a child–recently that is what Eloise has been feeling about herself. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”
There was a pause as both sisters looked at one another. They hadn’t lived in the same house for a little more than a decade and here they are sharing a space where they would have to look at each other and communicate. At work, they would arrive in different cars, park in different, and work on different floors. For those who didn’t know they were sisters could simply look into the symptoms and see their name and relation.
“Yeah.” Emery dark eyes flickered from her sister to the floor. She sighed for a second before continuing, “I’m going to go to sleep, you should too. If you need something my room is down the hall.” With that she closed the door leaving Eloise staring at the white wood of the door.
Eloise should go to sleep, she needs to go to work later tonight, but so many questions kept her awake. Should she let Joan continue going to the overnight daycare that costs more money than she makes an hour? Normally Connor worked during the day so while he was away, Eloise would stay with Joan and sleep during the toddler nap time. When she would leave for the nightshift, Connor would already be home. If she truly needed some sleep than she would ask Connor's parents to take care of Joan, but now asking them seemed like breaking a promise to herself.
Maybe she should change from night shift to day shift. The hours would be more suitable and what Joan was already used to. In the morning while Eloise is at home, Joan can stay with Emery, and then when the evening comes they would switch. The only issue was that she didn’t want to be more of a burden to her sister. It had taken her almost a week to ask her closest living relative for help, now that she was here she didn’t want to create problems. Surgeons, especially those working in the night shift, need their rest. Staying up all night operating on person after person, having to have the most stilled hand and quick thinking couldn’t be possible with a crying toddler.
Flopping into bed, Eloise's thoughts began to haze as her eyes began to close. Perhaps the day shift would be better, the daycare may cost less, and she might be able to leave exactly on time to pick up Joan, but the only thing that pulled her back–childish enough–were her coworkers at the night shift. Over the three years she had been working there, the faces she saw almost every night had become the most stable part of her work. They kept her motivated when she was a fourth year medical student and couldn’t make any money, especially her senior attending, Dr. Jack Abbot. His words of encouragement always managed to make her feel better. The first time a patient died under her watch a feeling of fear and rerret came over her, but it was the older doctor that laid his hand on her shoulder and comforted her–not in this pitiful way, but in a way that she was able to learn from her mistake yet learn that it would happen again.
As she closed her eyes, the young woman wondered if her senior attendant would miss her or if he would even give her a second thought once seh transitions into the day shift.