TWENTY-FOUR HOUR SHIFTS ARE LIVING HELL. Willa comes out of twenty-four hour shifts as a shell of her former self, completely dead inside, both tired and antsy, both hungry and full (mostly of nerves). She slept a little, but was always woken up by a pager—either hers or someone else's in the break room. Her eyebags have eyebags.

Walter is passed out on one shoulder and Val is on the other, leaving Willa sandwiched between the two people she is closest with. She's scrolling through Instagram, stopping to like the posts from her old high school friends. Larissa just got engaged, Anthony went to a carnival with his long-term boyfriend, Teresa is pregnant. Willa's come to the dawning realization that she's hit the age where she should probably have some, if not all, of those things. At least she's got a job and two friends currently sleeping on her.

Willa's demisexual. She's known that just about her whole life. She's never had a crush before she had been friends with the guy for a solid amount of time. She doesn't understand celebrity crushes, but she has harbored a crush on Chandler Bing for years (specifically since season three). She's had one boyfriend in her whole life and was swiftly broken up with after telling him that she got into medical school. She doesn't know if it was the school's fault or her desperate need to be a doctor.

Willa's pager goes off. She blinks in confusion, not realizing that she had dozed off. Both friends groan at the sound, mindlessly grabbing at their own pagers.

"It's mine, it's mine," Willa reassures, pulling it out. ER... yeah, okay. As she extracts herself from the others, Walter's pager starts beeping. She watches as he stares at the thing with squinted eyes.

"I hate this," Walter mutters, turning it off.

"ER?" Willa whispers, trying not to wake up Val.

"ER," Walter agrees.

They take the elevator all the way up, the lights extra bright in the slight haze of sleepiness. The moment the doors open, they begin to speed walk down the hallway. Even though it's a hospital, the elevators are never fast enough.

The pseudo siblings fall into sync, walking with each other to the door. They weren't the first to be paged, two doctors already outside—Stacy and Jason. Willa grimaces at the latter man. He's never warmed up to her.

"What's the page about?" Walter asks.

"Pretty sure it's got something to do with a kid?" Stacy says hesitantly.

Willa smiles. "Pediatrics, then?" She looks back, staring down the hallway. 3, 2, 1... she watches Val race to her.

"Got a call about a baby and a teenager?" Val asks, slightly exasperated, still looking very tired.

"Valerie, so good to see you," Willa says, hip-checking her friend. "It's been too long." Val laughs in exasperation, shaking her head.

"Valerie, Willa, you're with the baby. Walter, you and I've got the kid," Jason orders.

They can hear the ambulance approach. Willa cracks her neck, shaking her arms out. She's ready for anything... Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

The ambulance swings into park. One of the doctors opens the doors and—ugh—Evan Buckley jumps out. She is about to let out a sigh of indignation until she notices the baby in his arms, wrapped up in a blanket.

Val stands by the baby's stretcher, ready to take the child. The firefighter joins her, talking to the baby, who is currently in his arms.

"Ah, yes, look at that? Hey." He sets the baby down. "They're gonna take care of you now, okay? You're going to be okay now, aren't you?"

"Get the baby to the NICU," Val says to Willa, who nods along.

"You got her?" Buck asks them.

Willa nods.

"Are you sure?" Buck asks again.

Willa gives him a double take. "Do you want to check my credentials or something?"

Buck continues talking, saying something instead to the baby, but he is quickly swept into an argument with a police officer—Athena Grant, Willa's personal favorite. She scrunches up her nose. That doesn't say much about his personality, if Athena is that angry against him.

Walter follows Willa, holding onto the teenager's stretcher. "That firefighter didn't want the kid to be taken to the hospital," he informs her in a whisper, hoping not to get caught.

Willa's eyebrows raise. "He thinks he's got that power?"

"I think it's got something to do with moral high ground."

Willa winces. As they part ways, she remarks, "newbies these days..."

🍓 🍓 🍓

Both the baby and the teenager are stable. Willa was only given so long with the latter before Jason waved her off. Instead of going to the break room, she goes to the NICU to visit her friend.Willa watches Val watching the baby girl, only a plane of plastic keeping the two apart.

"What's on your mind?" Willa asks.

Val rubs her lips together in thought. "I dunno."

Willa narrows her eyes. "You look like you know."

Val looks up at her friend, who finally notices that the baby's hand is wrapped around her finger. "This baby... she's going into the system. The family doesn't want it—the mom's just a kid and did try to kill her to begin with. I was thinking of, well—"

"Adopting?" Willa asks, excitement obvious in his voice.

"At least asking about it!" Val adds. "I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm just going to talk to the social worker. I'm probably not going to get her in the end, but..." she looks back at the baby.

"She's such a trooper," Willa continues. "She was literally stuffed into a pipe. You're probably the only person strong enough to deal with a kid that strong."

Val grins. "Thanks, Willa."

"It's the truth, you know. I'm not just complimenting you. You would be a good mom."

Val looks at the clock. "Your shift ended ten minutes ago."

"Really?" Willa mirrors her friend's movements. "Oh shit. Um, I can stay if you want me to."

Val smiles, shaking her head. "Go. Sleep. Relax. You deserve it."

It takes Willa a considerable amount of time to actually get out of the hospital. She wanted to say goodbye to Walter, but he was in surgery. She originally hoped that she could tell her dads that she was leaving for home, but they were MIA (also known as "they are in a meeting"). She doesn't change out of her scrubs before she escapes the building, just wanting to get home.

Willa takes her keys from her pocket, twirling the ring around her index finger, the metal clinking together. She covers her mouth with her hand as she yawns. She just needs to get home, take a shower, and go to sleep...

"Hey!"

Oh dear God. Willa doesn't need to get a look of his face to recognize the voice, but she still does. She watches Buck walk over—in his civvies rather than his regular firefighter attire. She's filled with a mix of confusion and aggravation. Because why is he here; and also, why is he here?

"Hi?" Willa says hesitantly.

"You're a doctor, right?" Buck asks.

Willa motions to her scrubs and then back at the hospital.

Buck laughs. "Right, right."

"What are you even doing here?" Willa asks. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I, uh, came over to see the baby."

Willa narrows her eyes. "You have a baby?"

"No, no." Buck laughs again. "Ah, I'm talking about the baby that I brought in today."

Willa furrows her brow. "Oh, uh, you don't have jurisdiction. She's not your baby. You really shouldn't know anything about her."

Buck smiles in a cocky manner. "So, she's alive?"

Willa freezes. "I—yeah." She sighs. "Yeah, she's alive. And she's probably going to survive, with the way she's been holding on. Y'know, I really shouldn't be telling you this."

"Ah, but you already have." Buck nods. "Thanks."

Willa watches in slight confusion as the firefighter walks off. What was that detective shit that she just experienced? Or maybe she just sucks at keeping secrets. She lets out a huff of tired air. She's too tired for this. She was too tired to interact with anyone, much less Buck.

Willa turns on her phone and texts Val.

WILL: if buck from the 118 tries to ambush you for info on the pipe baby, tell him nothing.

WILL: he kind of already knows too much

She immediately responds.

VALLIE: Go home, Willa.

VALLIE: Before you spill any more medical information.

VALLIE: Love you!

VALLIE: Also, if I don't see you running to your car in two minutes, I will maim you on your next shift.

Willa looks back at the hospital to see her friend staring at her through the third story window. She makes shooing movements with her hands. Willa laughs and blows her a kiss. Val waves her goodbye and she does the same. 

author's note!

1484 words

Another chapter!! Thanks to all of you guys who voted, it means a lot to me. Votes and comments are very appreciated! It's so cool to see that y'all are viewing Willa's story. Thank you so much!