Disclaimer: I don't own The Night Shift

TC and Jordan were running very late that afternoon. After Jordan had returned home from the hospital, they had spent far longer than planned sitting up talking, and then not talking, and had ended up oversleeping.

TC was standing by the front door, waiting for Jordan to try and find her left shoe, when his phone rang.

He didn't look at the caller ID before answering, and had to sit down as he listened to the man on the other end of the call.

When Jordan came in a minute later, she was alarmed to find him sitting on the floor, leaning against the door. His cell phone was clenched in one hand, and his eyes were closed.

"T?"

TC opened his eyes quickly, looking up at her with an expression that she couldn't quite place. It was a mix of relieved, afraid, and sad.

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly, kneeling down in front of him.

TC shuddered slightly, making a solid effort to pull himself together. "The police just called," he informed her, his voice soft and uncertain.

Jordan nodded slowly. "Did they arrest him?"

TC shook his head, swallowing harshly as he leaned his head back so that it was resting against the door. "He resisted… apparently, he tried to attack an officer. There was a bit of a shoot out and…" he let out a long breath of air, and looked at Jordan once more. "He's dead."

Jordan's eyes widened as she leaned back in surprise. "He's…?"

TC nodded and then winced, his eyes filling with tears he refused to let fall. "Is it wrong that I'm happy?"

Jordan quickly shook her head. "Not at all," she assured him, smiling softly as she took his hand, and shifted so that she was sitting next to him. "I'm happy too."

TC let out a shuddering breath and forced himself to get it together. "I don't know… I thought I might feel relieved if he ever died, but I didn't expect to be happy about it. I shouldn't –"

Jordan immediately cut him off, using one hand to turn his head to face her, so that she knew he was listening. "T, you are not a bad person for feeling this way. He was a horrible man, and he did a lot of horrible things, to you and others. It's all right to feel like this. I know it feels wrong. We both took that oath to do no harm, and as a doctor, your job is to save people. But he doesn't deserve it. Don't feel guilty for having this reaction. You owe him nothing."

TC didn't look like he quite believed Jordan, but he did look better, and he allowed her to help him drag himself to his feet.

"Do you want to call out?" Jordan asked hesitantly, wondering if he should maybe just take the night off.

TC immediately shook his head. "I'm fine," he replied, knowing it wasn't true and that Jordan knew it wasn't true, but needing to say it anyway. Jordan just raised an eyebrow in expectation, and he sighed, shrugging ruefully. "I can't just sit around here doing nothing, J. I'll be OK."

Jordan sighed but nodded in agreement, and led the way outside to her car, TC following quickly behind.

XXX

TC loved his job. He really did. What he didn't enjoy were the looks his colleagues kept throwing him.

He knew they had gotten a very unwelcome glimpse into his personal life last night, but that didn't mean they had to keep staring at him, did it? Why couldn't they all act like Topher, and just pretend that nothing had happened?

Sure, Topher knew the whole story now, and being the best friend that he was, was doing what TC wanted, but that shouldn't make any difference in the way the rest of them were acting.

It was getting very exhausting, and if TC had to spend any more time having awkward conversations with Drew discussing treatment plans, or listening to Paul stutter out a hesitant differential diagnosis, he was seriously going to hurt someone.

The only slight positive was that Scott and Michael seemed to be avoiding him, so at least he hadn't had to deal with their pitying looks or uncomfortable questions.

At least until Scott planned an ill-timed visit to the nurse's station to pick up a chart, at the same time TC was busy filling out some paperwork.

The surgeon hesitated briefly, before he stepped closer and cleared his throat. "How did you know?" he asked curiously, his voice soft and uncertain.

TC looked up, startled, before he furrowed his brow in confusion.

Scott grimaced. "About my sister."

TC's expression cleared, though he was a little surprised that that was what the surgeon had chosen to focus on, out of everything that had happened yesterday. He shrugged, turning back to his clipboard. "The nurse's know everything," he replied, focusing on his paperwork. "And they love to gossip. Just because I listen doesn't mean I go around spreading what I know." He glanced back at Scott. "She lives in Duluth, right? Blood-sucking attorney. Two kids, ten and eight. The oldest loves soccer, the youngest wants to be just like his mom."

Scott nodded slowly, startled. How the hell did TC know all that?

TC smirked lightly. "You talk about your family, people overhear, they tell other people, who tell other people. The nurses basically keep this hospital running; I listen to them gossip because they like to do it, and I like to keep them happy. It makes everything much easier."

He signed something at the bottom of his clipboard and placed it on the desk behind the nurse's station, before walking away without a backwards glance at the stunned surgeon.

Molly glanced up from her spot at the desk, and fixed Scott with a knowing look. "You really thought he was as arrogant and conceited as you painted him?" she asked archly. Scott shrugged helplessly, and Molly sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Just because he doesn't advertise it doesn't mean he doesn't care. He might say that he only listens to keep us happy, but you've never seen him comfort one of the nurses after her boyfriend broke up with her, or listen to another talk about her father's battle with cancer, or the family drama, or whatever the issue of the week is."

Molly smiled fondly, thinking about all the times TC had stepped up to lend a helping hand, for no other reason than he just wanted to be there for someone else. "He spent an hour after shift last week letting one of the nurses cry on his shoulder, because her dog had just died."

Scott blinked slowly, trying to resolve the TC Molly was telling him about, with the conceited asshole doctor he knew who would always try and insert himself into the OR, and who thought he was better than every other doctor at the hospital.

But did he? Scott wasn't so sure anymore.

Molly stood up, giving him a stern gaze. "You might have issues with him, but TC is one of the best people I know. You hurt him, it won't only be Jordan you have to worry about." She walked away, not giving Scott a chance to respond, even if he had been able to.

"Dog, huh?"

Scott turned around quickly, letting out a breath of air when he saw Michael standing behind him, looking slightly amused, but mostly concerned.

Scott grimaced and shrugged, leaning against the nurse's station. "It's like all of a sudden, I have no idea who he is."

"Surprised to hear that not everyone thinks he's an ass?" Drew made his presence known on the other side of the desk. His gaze was focused down at the clipboard he was writing on, but he was clearly paying them attention.

"You hate him because Jordan was always in love with him," even though he was still looking at the chart in front of him, they could see him roll his eyes. "You hate him because even after they broke up, Jordan still put him first." He finally glanced up, fixing Scott with a half-glare. "I might not know everything about him, but I know enough to not care about the rest. He's always going to be one of my best friends. You see him pushing his way into the OR and don't for one second consider that maybe it's because he cares about the patient enough to just want to make sure they're all right. Or that maybe he promised a friend, or a loved one, that he would keep an eye out."

Drew straightened up, folding his arms across his chest as his glare intensified, shifting back and forth between Scott and Michael, both of whom had given TC a hard time over the months and years. "You see a guy who has no respect for authority. He was in the Army. Believe me, he knows how to respect authority. He just knows that sometimes, there can be things more important than pleasantries. I see the guy who spent months helping me study to get into Ranger School, who took me on a three day training crash course when I got in, to give me an overview of the kinds of things I could expect at School. The guy who spent hours off-shift going over cases and files with me, teaching me more about medicine than I ever learned in the sandbox. The guy who had me pegged less than a month after I started working here, and kept it a secret for over a year before he even approached me. And even after that, he never told anyone about me and Rick."

Scott and Michael shared a look, but didn't say anything as Drew suddenly turned serious. "Your problem is that you both see what you want to see. And nothing anyone tells you will change your mind. I think you'll find there are a whole lot of people waiting for an opportunity to show T how appreciated he is. He doesn't tend to let others help, but that doesn't mean we're not going to."

Neither man knew what to say as Drew walked away. Knowing that they really shouldn't be standing around talking about a coworker's private life, they quickly hurried to get back to work.

XXX

TC was really looking forward to this shift being over. He knew it was only because of Jordan and Topher that he hadn't already completely lost it, but he didn't know how much longer he could hold out. Interestingly enough, Drew seemed to have done a complete one eighty about halfway through the shift. He hadn't said anything to TC, but his attitude changed entirely, and he no longer seemed to be walking on eggshells, to TC's relief. He really liked Drew, but it was incredibly annoying to have to deal with him when he was acting so different.

There were less than two hours left in the shift – not that TC was counting or anything (one hour and fifty eight minutes) – when the morning news came on the television at the nurse's station. Normally, people didn't really pay attention. The television was always on, after all, usually showing news stations, especially if there was any disaster they would need to be ready for.

People only stopped to listen when they saw the picture in the upper right hand corner, recognizing the man TC had kicked out the day before.

Most of the night shift was in the ER at the time, and paused what they were doing to pay attention to the woman on the screen. Molly was talking to Drew and Krista about a patient they had seen earlier in the night, while Kenny was discussing infectious diseases with Michael, since the former administrator was studying religiously to pass his boards in a couple of weeks. Scott was filling out paperwork at the nurse's station, while Topher and Paul were going over possible diagnoses of a man who had just come in. Gwen was hanging out at the nurse's station, waiting for Jordan to reappear so that she could beg some food off of the doctor.

TC was at the far end of the ER, but he saw the gathered crowd, and grimaced as he took in the current report playing on the television, realizing that Richard's actions were probably big enough to warrant him his own story on the morning news.

"Former convict Richard Callahan was killed in a police shoot out yesterday afternoon," the reporter stated. "He was the main suspect in an armed robbery three days ago. Police were able to recover the gun from a third party, and linked it to both the robbery and Callahan. When they attempted to arrest him, Callahan resisted, attacking the officers, before he was shot twice. He was pronounced dead at the scene." The anchor shuffled her papers around before continuing. "Callahan was arrested and convicted in 1998 for charges of child abuse, endangerment, assault, resisting arrest, and attempted murder."

TC flinched at the way the entire night shift seemed to collectively gasp at the list of charges.

"He served fifteen years of a twenty five year sentence, before being released on parole six months ago. The shooting yesterday has been ruled justified, and no further investigation will take place. Nicole, back to you."

TC didn't wait for people to realize that he was there and quickly left the area.

When it looked like the news reporter had finished the story, Topher made a gesture for everyone to get back to work. It wasn't their business.

Most looked confused and concerned, but listened to the night shift chief and went back to their jobs.

Drew didn't even attempt to hide his trepidation as he made his way to Topher's side. "Does he know?" the younger man asked brusquely. There was a time and a place for delicacy, and right now, he just didn't care.

Topher grimaced and sighed, shrugging helplessly. "I think I saw him around before the report came up, but I'm not sure. Jordan's not here either." He rubbed a hand across his face wearily as he leaned against the nurse's station. "This is the last thing T wanted," he admitted. "He hates looking weak, and in his mind, all of this just makes him look helpless. There's a reason he doesn't talk about it, and yeah, maybe I was a little upset that he didn't trust me, but I get it. It's his life, and now the entire shift knows. It'll be all over the hospital by tomorrow."

Drew winced sympathetically. He knew how fast gossip could travel, and he knew what it was like to be in the middle of all that. He hated it, and he knew that TC was like him in a lot of ways, always trying to stay out of the limelight, happy to just do his job and not draw attention.

Topher shook himself off and pushed himself off the desk. "I'm going to go see if I can find him."

Drew nodded quickly, and fell into step with the night shift chief as he headed towards the elevator. When Topher looked at him, he shrugged. "Don't even try it."

Topher understood. He knew that they were friends, and it was obvious how much the younger doctor cared about TC. It would be useless to try and fight him on this. Drew could be almost as stubborn as TC at times.

Following a hunch, Topher led them up to the roof. TC liked to come up here sometimes, so he thought it was a good guess.

TC and Jordan were sitting at the edge of the roof when Topher and Drew opened the door. They hesitated only briefly before joining the two.

Jordan glanced up for a moment, giving them a silent nod before she turned back to her boyfriend.

Topher and Drew sat down but didn't speak, wanting TC to dictate how this would go. He had had too much of his control ripped from him in the last day, they didn't want to make it worse for him.

The group remained quiet for several minutes, watching the rising sun peek its way over the tops of the city buildings.

"I'm not going to break, you know," TC finally spoke, still not looking at anyone, his gaze fixed on the cityscape in front of them.

Topher looked slightly concerned, but Drew snorted suddenly, cutting through anything he might have said. "That's what you think we're worried about?" he asked incredulously. TC shrugged, his eyes flickering over to observe the younger doctor out of the corner of his eyes. Drew shook his head exasperatedly. "T, you're like the dumbest smart person I know."

TC raised an eyebrow, while Topher and Jordan hid smiles. Drew sighed. "T, I know you have some aversion to ever asking for help, but we care. We're not worried about you because we think you're going to break or something. We worry because we care about you. We don't like seeing you hurt, and we hate the idea that someone, somewhere, and at some time, caused you pain." He paused for a moment, considering, and then decided to go for it. "I'm glad the bastard's dead," he said savagely.

Topher nodded in agreement, while Jordan leaned into TC's side, giving him a light hug. He knew how she felt about it; they had already had this conversation.

TC had to stop himself from smiling at the show of support; it was true that he didn't ask for help often. It wasn't that he thought he could handle it alone, it was just that he didn't think he knew how. His entire life, he had been taking care of himself. And where he fell short, Thad was always there without fail, picking up after him. He had never asked his brother to be there, Thad just was.

He didn't know how to let other people in, how to let other people fill a role that had been reserved for Thad. A role that had been little more than a gaping hole in his life ever since his brother had died.

Jordan had forced her way in, and TC had found to his surprise that he didn't mind her help so much. Topher had managed to worm his way past more walls than most, but TC had always stubbornly held that last barrier firm against his best friend, afraid to let him in completely. And very few others had cared to even try.

Maybe some of that was on him, though. He couldn't just expect people to know what he was thinking, right?

Was Drew right? TC knew he had been a doctor here for a while, but he hadn't thought he made that much of an impression on most of his colleagues. Sure, he always made an effort to be there when someone needed help, but was that really worthy of the level of concern Drew seemed to believe the night shift felt for him?

He didn't think so, but maybe he was wrong. It just made sense for him to be a decent person and help out when he could. Wouldn't anyone else do the same thing?

TC knew he should probably say something, but what? Finally, he looked up, glancing at Drew out of the corner of his eye as he gave the younger doctor a slight nod.

Jordan rested her head on his shoulder as she looked over at Drew as well, her smile approving. She had spent years trying to get TC to understand that he was worth so much more than he thought, but she had never really been able to make him believe it.

They sat in silence for a while longer, nothing more needing to be said. For the first time in years, TC actually felt comfortable.

It seemed like ever since Thad's death, he had never felt completely at ease in his own skin. It was like Thad had been a grounding force for him, keeping him from actually losing it, holding him together when he felt like he was coming apart at the seams.

TC was no stranger to discomfort; his father had really messed him up, and he didn't know how to really let himself relax around other people. With Jordan, he had found someone who didn't care about all his issues. For some reason, she had never let his inability to connect interfere.

But she was the exception; TC didn't normally feel at ease around others, no matter how much he acted that way. He was very good at pretending that nothing was wrong.

So why was it that he was feeling so comfortable right now? Topher and Drew were friends, but that hadn't stopped him from keeping them at a distance before.

Maybe because he was finally starting to realize that he wasn't actually alone. Topher and Drew knew the truth, and they were still here. They were providing support, and yes, it made TC feel slightly embarrassed, but not enough to wish them gone. Even now, though they must have questions, they were remaining silent, deferring to him, because they wanted him to feel at ease.

It was probably five minutes later that Topher grimaced and shifted slightly in his spot. "Not that I wouldn't mind staying up here for the rest of shift, but we are still kind of on the clock," he admitted. "T, if you want to stay here, you can. But I should probably get back."

TC immediately stood up, pulling Jordan to her feet when she held out a hand. Drew also stood up, taking a step back to let them sort this out themselves. "I'm fine," he promised, wrapping his arm around Jordan's shoulders as she snaked her own around his waist. "Seriously. It's not like I found out on the news this morning. They called me yesterday. I can honestly say I don't care."

Topher seemed to search his expression for a moment, apparently finding what he was looking for as he nodded slightly. "Well, if anyone gives you a hard time, just let me know and I'll fire them."

TC rolled his eyes as they all headed back inside. He was grateful that Topher was such a good friend, but he really didn't need other people fighting his battles. He had been looking after himself pretty much his entire life, no matter what Thad might have said – yes, Thad had always looked out for his brother, but TC had had to learn how to look after himself from a young age. Thad couldn't always be there, after all.

Still, he appreciated the gesture.

TC didn't know how the rest of the hospital would treat him after today, but at least he was fairly confident that his friends wouldn't look at him any differently.

He had always thought that Thad was his only real family, and after he had died, TC had felt all alone, even with Jordan there.

But maybe that was wrong; family didn't have to be blood-related. After all, TC didn't consider Richard to be family, despite the DNA connection. Topher, Drew, hell even Molly, Kenny, and Gwen, he could almost consider them family. Maybe in time, he might include Paul, Krista, Scott, and Michael as well. They spent tons of time together, they hung out after shift, he felt like he could count on them if he needed help.

TC didn't know how to ask, but if what Drew had said was true, maybe he didn't need to. Maybe being family meant that whether or not you asked, they were there.

Yeah, TC had a pretty good family.

And that's it! I'm a little uncertain about this story, so I really hope you've enjoyed it.

Please review!