AFTERSHOCK! ━ 911.

four.

  It took hours to get Albert stable. Between labs, films, consults and the actual surgery, Ellis hadn't had any time to herself, not even to use the restroom or grab a quick snack. By the time she stepped out of the operating room, her hands sparkling clean and her feet aching to high heaven, morning glow was already streaming through the windows of the hospital, reminding her of how long it had been since she had sat down.

Attempting to brush off any exhaustion, she took her time in wrapping up all of her charts, making sure her handwriting was both legible and coherent. Her eyelids threatened to close now that the adrenaline had worn off and she silently willed herself to stay awake, just until she got home. All she needed was some time to finish up her work, get her stuff together, get home and go to bed. A snack was optional. She just had to finish.

Ellis grabbed her stuff from the locker room quickly, changing into some comfier clothes that she had packed before making her way down the stairs leading to the front entrance. She was halfway to the doors when she noticed a familiar figure standing near the door, phone in his hand.

"Eddie?" She called out for him, her feet carrying her towards him like a magnet. Every time someone from the 118 ended up in her hospital, a small bit of worry spiked in her chest. Albert was okay, she knew that, so maybe something else was wrong. Buck? Ollie? Maddie's baby?

Oh, God.

With everything going on, she had completely forgotten about the birth of Chimney and Maddie's baby. A small gasp left her lips, eyes lighting up with concern as she moved her feet a bit quicker. "Oh, my goodness, is it Chim's baby? Please tell me everything went well. I was so wrapped up in surgery and charts and pile-up victims that I didn't even check on them. Shit," she cursed, her rant long-winded. "Please tell me the baby's okay. I need a baby in my life to spark joy."

Eddie watched her small freak-out with a furrowed brow, one hand holding up in the air to settle her as he shook his head. "No, no, Ellis, everything's okay." He reassured her, eyes looking over her face as she slowly relaxed. "Their daughter was born perfectly healthy. Six pounds and one ounce. Her name's Jee-Yun."

She let her shoulders relax at the information, nodding. "Beautiful name." Her eyes peeled open again after a moment of a silent thank you, staring up at the man in front of her.

While Eddie had spent a lot of time in Ellis' vicinity, she wouldn't exactly consider them friends. They had never hung out one-on-one, and most of the things she had heard about him had come from slip-ups in conversations or Ollie's word of mouth. She knew that he had been born in El Paso, Texas, and that he had been an army medic. He was a single father to his son, Christopher, following the rocky relationship and then death of his wife, Shannon. Right now, she unfortunately knew that he was dating Ana Flores, a former teacher now turned vice princial.

That was the farthest reach of her knowledge, other than the fact that she couldn't keep her eyes off of him when he was in her vicinity. Although he seemed to pay her little to no attention when they were in the same room, she constantly kept checking on where he was, on whether he was looking her way – which he never was. There was something highly embarrassing about being yourself in front of a man you found wildly attractive.

Crushes were stupid. Especially at the grown age of thirty.

Ellis let herself indulge in admiring his face for a moment before letting out a soft sigh, her shoulders falling. "Thank God. I gotta get some baby time to help remove the scars of things once seen." She grumbled the words out, one hand reaching up to brush through her hair. Not letting her get lost in the dream of holding a newborn, her eyes found him again. "If you don't mind me asking, what're you doing here, then?"

"I was, uh, looking for you, actually." Eddie stumbled over his words, finally pulling his hand off of her arm and leaving an ice cold spot in the wake of his body heat. A rush similar to a hot flash ran over her body at the words, heart thumping in excitement to something she knew wasn't happening. "A kid came in last night during the pile-up. Possible TBI, internal bleeding?" He spoke like he was trying to fill her in, eyebrows raising in question.

There was the cold water. This was work. That's all.

She furrowed her eyebrows before nodding. "Yeah, I remember him. Jacob, seven years old." She repeated it like she was doing rounds, biting her tongue before silently urging him to go on with a nod of her head.

"Do you know how he's doing?" He asked, hands nervously brushing against his pants. "I helped pull him out of the car last night and I just wanted to see how he was. I know you were working on other patients, like Albert, but it's just been bugging me."

Ellis' eyes softened at the firefighter's worry, the familiar yet horrible ache pulling at her stomach. There was something hidden behind Eddie's eyes, one that she knew all too well from the many nights she had spent in the hospital with young patients. It was the worry of a father.

Now it was time for herto comfort him, a hand finding his forearm, fighting the urge to give a squeeze. "He's fine, Eddie. He's stable and recovering with his father, last I heard. I believe everyone that got brought in here alive last night made it, actually. Which is incredible odds, if you ask me. Usually events like these..." She trailed off when she realized she was rambling in the wrong moral direction, shaking her head and dropping her hand. "Don't listen to me. I'm a doctor that lacks empathy when she thinks of blood and surgery and cutting. God. I'm so sorry. I'll stop talking. I'm sleep deprived."

A low chuckle rumbled out of Eddie's throat, his head shaking. "You don't lack empathy, Ellis. But you do look sleep deprived." He noted, his eyes giving her face a way-too-personal once over, the soft blush on her cheeks spreading to her neck. As pretty as his eyes were, she wanted to gouge them out whenever he actually settled his focus on her face. Some type of cuteness aggression. "Can I walk you out to your car?"

"Oh, you can." Ellis breathed out, the words coming out way too adoring than she'd like to admit. She felt stunned as he offered her his arm, wrapping her hand around his bicep to steady herself as he walked her out. She knew he was just being a gentleman. She knew that. But that didn't mean she could stop her mind from wandering.

It was at that moment that she wished life was a movie and that she had the energy and confidence to do whatever she wanted. If life was a movie, he'd lead her towards her car before giving her a speech of how he's always found her pretty, and how he wanted to take her on a date. He'd say he didn't actually love his girlfriend. Then, on their date, they'd have a great time, getting carried away in a conversation that never seemed to end...

"Jesus Christ." She muttered the words like a swear, free hand smacking against her forehead as she pulled her hand away from his arm, jumping away from him like he had just lit her on fire. The last thing she needed was her sleepy brain making up silly scenarios of the firefighter beside her, especially when he was right there and very taken. There were way too many things to think about in life than a stupid crush becoming a lot more than that in just one graceful moment.

It was just then that the subject of her daydreams spoke up, looking at her in concern, yet again. "You okay?" Eddie asked.

Ellis bit her lip before looking up at him, painting on a way-too-bright smile. "Yup. All dandy. Uhm. My car's a bit far, so you don't need to walk me further than this. It's alright, really. Your car is probably so far away, and it'll be getting hot soon. But thank you! Really!" She babbled on as she slowly started to walk backwards. "Have a good day! I'll see you soon! Really, we gotta catch up. Lots of things are happening in the world of Ellis."

Once she had reached her stupid quota for the day, she whipped around, speed walking towards her car. She didn't even look back at him as she pulled her bag up higher on her shoulder, craving the sweet release of being out of his proximity.

Stupid mouth, one. Ellis, zero.