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middleearthpixie · 1 year ago

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Better Days ~ Chapter Eleven

Summary: Frerin Durin had the perfect life, until he found out his wife was cheating on him. Now, he’s navigating uncharted territory as an about-to-be divorced single dad. Dating is a mess, he’s dealing with the fallout where his kids are concerned, and really, he would just love a vacation away from all of it.

Elena Madison is new to Sidleburg, and also navigating life as a newly single parent. The last thing she needed was for her daughter to come down sick, when she hasn’t even had time to unpack the moving boxes, never mind find a pediatrician. And the last thing she ever expected was to meet a man like Dr. Frerin Durin…

Neither Elena nor Frerin were looking for anything, but fate has a way of messing up even the best laid plans. However, both have been hurt and both aren't at all sure they trust themselves, never mind trusting someone else...

Pairings: Modern!Frerin x ofc Elena Madison

Characters: Frerin, Elena, Carol, Ashley, Vanessa, various other hospital staff and patients

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Word Count: 2.7k

Tag List: @mrsdurin @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @arrthurpendragon @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knittastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell @jotink78 @sorisooyaa @ruthoakenshield @frosticenow@quiall321 @dianakc @buckybarnes-thorin @glassgulls @evenstaredits @heilith @asgardianhobbit98 @albionscastle @absentmindeduniverse @way-too-addicted-to-fandoms @sazzlep @court-jobi @masterofhounds

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Previous chapters can be found here.

“Dr. Durin?”

Please let this be a dream. I just closed my fucking eyes.

“Dr. Durin?”

“Mmmm?”

“Dr. Durin!” Leigh’s voice rang with sharp impatience.

Nope, not a dream. He fumbled his way up from a semi-thick muck of sleep to mutter, “Yeah?”

“You’re needed in the ER.”

“Why this time?”

“Eight year old in respiratory distress coming in.”

“Can’t Gillis take it?”

“She’s not on until eight.”

Frerin lifted his arm to squint at his watch. His eyes didn't want to focus at first, so he brought his wrist a little closer to make it easier on them. Ten to four in the morning. “Where is McElroy?”

“Out with the flu.”

“Shit. Okay,” he sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand as he reached for his lab coat, draped over the foot of the sofa in his office with the other. “How much time do I have?”

“They’ll be here in five.”

He got to his feet with a groan, trying to ignore the dull ache in his lower back. “I should just switch specialties,” he muttered as he dragged on the coat. “I spend more time down there than I do up here anyway.”

“So talk to Reese.”

He glared at Leigh as he tugged his hot pink stethoscope from beneath the pillow to drape about his neck. “You’re not helping.”

“Was I supposed to be helping?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Sorry, Dr. D.”

“Yeah, yeah…” He and Leigh parted ways at the desk and at the elevator bank, he pushed the down button. When the doors slid open, he stepped in, hit the button for the ER, then sank back against the wall with a yawn.

The doors slid open into chaos, otherwise known as a normal Saturday night. Sidleburg was in the more western part of the state, but like everywhere else, it was growing more and more developed every week. It wouldn’t be long before Sidleburg Memorial would be every bit as busy as the hospitals in Newark, New Brunswick, and Trenton were. And with the same traumas the more urban areas saw as well. Gunshot injuries had increased by about thirty percent in the last six months alone, according to data reports. Little by little, even the rural areas had urban problems.

He came around front desk. “You paged me?”

The young woman working there was unfamiliar to him and she offered up a shy smile. “Dr. Durin?”

“That’s me. Jamie, right?”

She nodded, tucking a wayward lock of dark brown hair behind her ear. She was the most recent hire and she looked almost embarrassed to have paged him. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Dr. Durin. But it’s a little kid.”

“It’s okay. That’s why I’m here.” He squinted at the board while reaching for the right forms to clip to a board. “Who else is on tonight?”

“Dr. McDonald, Dr. Walker, and Dr…. Cooper?”

“Coerper, but close enough.” He smiled. She looked nervous enough as it was and the ER was was always a baptism by fire for new clerks. “This your first night?”

She nodded. “Yeah… It’s been… interesting. It’s really busy down here tonight.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Red lights reflected off the walls as an ambulance pulled up and EMTs jumped out. “Carol, give me a hand?”

“As if you had to ask.”

He smiled as she took the clipboard from him, then followed him to meet the EMTs. “What do you have?” he asked.

“Lilah Hernandez, eight years old in respiratory distress. Mom said she was diagnosed with asthma two months ago, but it’s been under control until tonight.”

“Okay. Let’s get a weight check first.” He smiled down at the little girl with wide dark eyes who looked utterly terrified as she struggled to breathe despite the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. “I’m Dr. Durin, honey, and don’t worry, Mom’s right behind but until she gets here, I’m going to take good care of you, okay?”

Her dark eyes were wide and almost glassy with fear even as she nodded and managed a roughly whispered, “Okay.”

“Good.” He slipped the earpieces of his stethoscope in and slid the diaphragm beneath the fuzzy pink pajama top with unicorns on it. As she tried to grab his wrist, he said, “No, no, honey. Let me listen, okay? I have to hear your lungs.”

“No, don’t…”

“Shhh… It’s all right,” he told her, then glanced up at Carol. “She’s eight, so that would be roughly forty to seventy pounds and she’s tiny, so I’m guessing maybe fifty, fifty-five pounds, so that would be what? Twenty… five kilograms? Get me two-point-five of albuterol continuous nebs.”

“You got it.”

The doors banged open and a disheveled looking woman, also in her pajamas burst into the room. “Lilah? Oh, my God…Honey…”

Frerin looked up at Jamie, who stood with the woman. “This the mom?”

Jamie nodded. “That’s what she said, but she—”

“This is my daughter,” the woman interrupted. “Please… just help her!”

“We are.” He looked back at Jamie, who’d gone pale. “We’ve got it from here, Jamie.”

“Oh, thank god…” she breathed as she hurried out of the room.

The small fingers on his wrist tightened and he glanced down to see Lilah’s eyes had grown wider still and she breathed more heavily now, fogging the mask as she shook her head. Frerin looked over at Carol. “Take Mrs. Hernandez to the waiting area, Carol?”

Carol nodded and passed the clipboard to Vanessa. “Of course. Mrs. Hernandez, if you’d just come with me. We should let the doctor work.”

“No,” Mrs. Hernandez said, jerking back as Carol reached for her. “I want to stay with my baby!”

“Mrs. Hernandez, it’s better to wait outside.” Carol caught her by the elbow

“No!” The woman swung about and shoved Carol, who slammed back into the tray of equipment, knocking everything to the floor.

“Call Security!” Frerin told Vanessa as the woman tried to grab Lilah off the gurney. He swung about to put himself between her and the little girl, gritting back a curse as the woman’s fingernails bit into the side of his neck and raked along his skin.

“You give me back my daughter, now!”

The doors swung open and hospital security caught the woman to drag her off Frerin, and as they pulled her from the room, he called, “I need that albuterol.”

“Got it.” Vanessa wheeled the nebulizer over. “What was that all about?”

“I don’t know.” Frerin ignored the sting in his neck as he focused on Lilah, who had a bluish tint to her lips now. “You’re going to be okay, sweetheart, I promise.”

He glanced up at Carol. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She picked up her clipboard and made the notations on the chart. “You?”

“I’ll live.” He slipped the mask up over Lilah’s nose and off her head, then held out the nebulizer. “I need you to put this in your mouth, okay? And then just try to breathe normally. Can you do that?”

“I—I think so…”

“Good.” He let her take it and as she put the mouthpiece in, he added, “That’s it. Just breathe like you normally do.”

She inhaled and promptly began coughing, so he took the mouthpiece back. “It’s okay, Lilah. Clear your lungs and we’ll try again.”

She nodded, then slid the mouthpiece back into her mouth. This time, her breathing remained relatively smooth and calm and her color began to return to normal. Frerin smiled, smoothing her hair away from her face. “Why don’t we see if your mother has calmed and little and we—”

“She’s not… not my mother…”

“What?”

Lilah shook her head, her eyes shimmering with tears. “She’s not… my… mother…”

“Okay. It’s okay, honey, you just concentrate on breathing.” He looked over at Carol. “Get SPD over here now.”

“I will. You should have that looked at,” she gestured to her neck, “it’s bleeding like crazy.”

“I’m fine. Get the police, okay?” He turned back to Lilah. “It’s okay, honey. You’re safe here now.”

Lilah nodded, leaning her head back, and closed her eyes. Frerin met Vanessa’s gaze. “Keep an eye on her, okay? I’ll be right back. Get me if anything changes.”

“I will.”

He straightened up, patted Lilah through the blanket, and then left the exam room to join Carol at the phone just outside the door. She glanced over, then reached to snag a gauze pad off the cart on the far side of the hallway and handed it to him. “I’m on with SPD and that is a mess. She did a number on you.”

He sighed softly, taking the gauze pad to tear into the wrapper, and pressed it to the damp spot on the side of his neck, wincing at the hot sting that burned through him with the pressure.

“Yes, hi, this is Carol Kingsley in the ER at Sidleburg Memorial. We have an eight year old girl who might have been kidnaped. Security has the woman posing as her mother and we’ve got the child in our care right now.”

Frerin peered in through the doors to see Vanessa talking to Lilah. Carol broke through his reverie with a soft, “They’re sending someone over. A girl matching her description was reported missing just outside Hamilton a little over a week ago.”

“Wonderful.” He looked back at Carol. “How bad is it, really?”

He drew away the gauze, which was more scarlet than white and Carol winced. “It’s pretty bad, Frerin. Come on, let me clean it for you. When was your last tetanus shot?”

“Six months ago. I got bitten by a four year old who thought he was a vampire.” He followed Carol into an unoccupied exam room.

“Lucky you.”

“Yeah. But I’d rather deal with that than a full grown woman losing her grip on me.”

She moved to the counter, taking out fresh gauze and reached up to take a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the cabinet. “So, what was the deal with the mystery woman you brought in today.”

“Elena?” He smiled, tugging his collar away as he leaned his head to the side. “She’s… it’s tough to explain. I’d say she was a woman I’m seeing but—ow!” He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth at the sudden burn of peroxide on his neck.

“Sorry about that. It might sting a little.”

“Thanks.”

“Anyway, go on,” Carol pressed the gauze to his neck.

“I haven’t actually taken her out anywhere except for coffee this morning.”

“She looked familiar.”

“She and her daughter were in here last week. That’s how I met her.”

“Nice. Hitting on a patient’s mom?”

“I didn't hit on her. Not here, anyway. I bumped into her in the gym and asked for her number there.” He sucked in another breath as Carol swiped gently along his neck. “Tell me it’s stopped bleeding, at least.”

“I think so. Let me just bandage it for you.”

“Thanks.”

“So, are you seeing her again?” Carol moved to the counter once more, rummaging about in a drawer for a large bandage.

“Yeah. We’re going out to dinner tonight. I’m just hoping I don't fall asleep halfway through. I’m not twenty-five any more.”

“You’re hardly old, you know.”

“I know.” He smiled as she smoothed the bandage into place and then turned to meet her gaze. “But it’s taking its toll, the overnights.”

“Nah. You don't look tired.”

“I hide it well.”

“Dr. Durin?” Jamie poked her head around the door. “SPD is here to talk to you about the Hernandez girl.”

“Okay. I’ll be right there.”

Carol stepped back. “Go. I’ll go check on Lilah.”

He moved to the door and grabbed the handle. “I have to admit, this was not on my ER bingo card.”

“Hey,” Carol called as he stepped through the doorway, “ are the rumors true?”

He paused. “What rumors?”

“That you’re possibly opening a pediatric ER down here?”

He smiled. “They might be. I’ve been down here enough lately.”

“For what it’s worth, I think it’s a great idea.”

“Thanks, Carol. You realize, I’m going to pull into to work it with me if Reese gives it the go ahead.”

“It would be a nice change. Go, your detective is waiting for you.”

“So, what time is dinner?”

Elena smiled across the table at Alyssa. “Seven. Can I trust you to not burn the building down?”

“I think I can manage.” Alyssa got up to go to the fridge. “What are you wearing?”

“I don’t know. Jeans. A sweater.”

“For a date with Dr. Hottie?”

“Lyssa.”

“Mom.”

“Lyssa.”

“Mom.” Alyssa grinned. “I can do this all day, you know.”

“Alyssa.”

“Okay. You win. For your date?” Alyssa tugged open the fridge door and reached in for the bottle of orange juice. “I mean, I know he’s been here for dinner and you met him in a crappy ER, of all places, but don’t you want to look hot for him?”

Elena rose from her chair to go to the Keurig. “I haven’t really thought about it. It’s been a long time since I was on a date. And I’m not so sure I can pull off hot.”

“You went out with that accountant last summer.”

“That was not a date. That was a mistake.”

“He was a nerd.”

“Alyssa.”

“What? He was!” Alyssa brought the OJ back to the table and sank in to her chair again. Pouring a glass of juice, she added, “And Dr. Durin—see, no Dr. Hottie this time—is not a nerd. Let’s finish breakfast and I’ll find you something to wear. And trust me, Mom, you can definitely pull off hot.”

Elena smiled. “Thank you, but I think you might be a little biased.”

“Well, yeah. You’re my mom. But really, you still have it, Mom. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

Elena wasn’t quite as certain, but it was nice her daughter thought so. Still.. “Lyssa, I can dress myself.”

“Yeah, but I’ll make you look good.”

Elena chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Her cell rang then and she picked it up, smiling as Frerin’s number came up. “Good morning, Dr. Durin.”

“Yeah, I wish,” he said, and she winced at the sheer exhaustion woven through his voice. “I hate to do this, Elena, but I’m going to have to cancel tonight. I’ve got to pull a double.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Disappoint swelled within her, but she fought to tamp it down. “What happened?”

“We’ve got two docs out with the flu and one on vacation. So, I’m between the ER and Pedes today, and strictly in the ER tonight until tomorrow morning. And I’ll be a zombie by then. And I hate to do it, like I said, but I’m in a bind and trying to get something off the ground here, so I have to earn myself a few brownie points somehow and this is it.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re in charge. And it’s okay. Dinner will wait.”

“Yeah, but I didn't want to. I was looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

“Me, too. But another time.”

“Definitely.” Voices chimed in behind him, and then he said, “Shit, I’ve got to go, Elena. I’ll give you a call when things slow down, okay?”

“I think you should probably take a nap instead. You’re in for a long shift.”

“Don’t remind me. I’ll talk to you.”

“Bye, Frerin.”

“Bye.”

She clicked off and sighed as she set down the phone. “He’s got to work tonight to cover for someone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Yeah, me, too.” She stood up and picked up her coffee cup as well. “I’m going to go jump in the shower.”

“I’ll be here.”

Elena smiled as she turned and padded down the hallway to the bathroom, where her smile faded. She’d been looking forward to going out with Frerin, looked forward to what might happen once they were alone once more. To say she was disappointed didn't even begin to describe how she felt.

But there was nothing she could do about it. And it was just as well, really. She still had plenty of quizzes that needed to be graded before school tomorrow. So instead of eating Thai food with an incredibly sexy pediatrician, she would do that instead. It really was for the best.

At least, that’s what she tried to tell herself.

But she was full of it and she knew it.

#Gerard Butler #Frerin Durin #Frerin x OC #AU #Frerin Fic #Is it hot in here?#Romance #Modern AU #ER AU #Hospital AU #Richard Armitage #The Hobbit #Thorin Oakenshield #Hobbit Fic #Hobbit Fanfic #Fan fiction #The Hobbit fan fiction

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