The Night Shift One-Shots

Overtired

"Hey, Paul, you OK?" Scott asked as they cleaned up after surgery.

"Yeah, yeah just tired now, and I have to go on shift now as well."

"Let Jordan know that you never got home today, she might put you on colds and flu, let you take it easy." Scott reasoned, holding the door open for the younger surgeon.

"I hope so." Once they were both down in the ER, Scott parted from Paul, heading home, while Paul headed to sign on to his shift. He caught the attending as he signed on. "Hey, Jordan, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" She asked, putting the stack of papers she had in her arms down.

"I-I never actually got home, today. Just before I signed off, Scott pulled me into surgery to remove a brain cancer – was in for about five hours – then I was dragged to a-another surgery not long after that, and I've only just come out of it. Any chance I could get put on colds and flu for tonight?" he explained nervously.

"What, you haven't been home, or slept, for how long exactly?"

"About twenty-six hours." He answered, repressing a well-timed yawn.

"God, Paul, even when we're working double shifts we're not on call for thirty-eight hours." She pressed her hand to her forehead as she thought. "Ok, yeah, you go on cold and flu tonight, but anything happens, you get overtired, you feel off, come find me and I'm signing you off. We've got extra staff in tonight anyway so you can go if you need to."

"Ok, thanks, Jordan." He left to go and change into clean scrubs before his shift started while Jordan went to scope out Drew. She found him in the break room, nursing a cup of coffee.

"Are any of my staff not tired tonight?" She commented jokily and Drew looked up, a tired smile breaking across his features.

"Bri had a rough day at school, I had to go pick her up at lunch. I got plenty of sleep after getting her but waking up in the middle of sleeping doesn't fit well with my system." He replied, finishing his coffee off then standing up and stretching.

"Hey, Drew can I ask a favour?"

"Yeah, of course, what d'you need?"

"Can you keep an eye on Paul? He got pulled into surgeries all day, and has been awake for twenty-six hours already, and has to go on shift again. He looked fine now, but I don't know what he'll be like after a few hours. I've put him on colds and flu, but I still don't know how he's gonna hold up all night." She followed Drew out into the ER as their shift started.

"Yeah, sure I'll watch out for him."

The shift went fairly well, for the first few hours.

Paul got a few cold and flu cases, then stayed in the break room when he wasn't needed, though trust that night to be the one where they get a multi-vehicle pileup and all casualties were diverted to SAM.

"Ok, we need all hands on deck here, upwards of fifteen casualties coming in, at least three critical," Jordan announced, catching the attention of anyone passing the nurses station.

It was chaos for the next hour, keeping patients alive, treating them right. They were all tired by the time the last had been moved to a ward, Paul more than others. He stood in the space between the wall and the nurse's station, leaning heavily on both as his sight blurred in and out of focus, black spots clouding the edge of his vision. Drew looked up from where he was signing paperwork and saw the surgeon struggling to stay upright.

"Paul, you good?" The younger man didn't have time to reply as he was suddenly on the floor, Drew crouching beside him. "Paul, can you hear me?" He was tapping his face gently.

"Yeah," He grunted, rolling onto his side. "What happened?"

"You passed out, overtired, we think, but we're gonna run a few tests, just to be sure." Drew continued. He helped Paul to his feet and sat him in a wheelchair, then took him to a cubicle. "I'm gonna take bloods, run a full screen, just make sure everything's as it should be, then you're going home; Kenny's offered to drive you."

"Thanks, man."