Chapter Text
It was Dennis's first day back to the pitt, He didn’t even have the badge yet. His title still being student doctor.
It was also his first day using a new suppressant.
He’d gotten it off a dealer he found on OmieforAlpha, which honestly still felt like a small miracle as he clearly didn't have money for food let alone some more suppressants.
Now does he do one or two questionable things to gain these meds? Yes but it wasn’t like he had a choice.
You needed suppressants and scent patches to survive in the medical field. Especially in the ED. Especially as an omega.
He adjusted the edge of one patch beneath his collar as the sliding doors whispered open and the familiar chaos of the department spilled over him—monitors chiming, voices overlapping, footsteps moving fast.
It felt the same and completely different.
Trinity walked beside him, already halfway through a story before they even cleared triage.
“—and while you were at Amy’s she came over and stayed way longer than she said she would—”
She walked straight into his back “Seriously, Huckleberry? Let’s get a move on,” she said, peeking around his shoulder.
Dennis hadn’t even realized he’d stopped.
His eyes were fixed across the floor.
Robby and Abbott stood near the central station, arms folded as they spoke quietly between themselves. Robby’s expression carried that familiar intensity—equal parts worry and excitement, Abbott looked calmer. A smirk rested lazily at the edge of his mouth like he already knew the ending of whatever conversation they were having.
Their voices were low. So low even Dennis couldn’t catch the words.
“Damn,” Trinity muttered, following his line of sight. “You’re so down bad.”
Dennis blinked.
“For old men too,” she added cheerfully, already pushing him toward the locker room.
“I am not,” he said quickly, opening his locker with just a little too much focus. “I—I just wasn’t expecting to see Abbott today. That’s all.”
“You literally stopped dead in your tracks, Huckleberry.”
She raised one eyebrow.
Dennis pretended to not notice the confirmed suspicion in her eyes.
The suppressant he had taken that morning sat strangely in his blood.
Usually the ED smelled like a storm to him—layers of adrenaline, antiseptic, stress, exhaustion, fear. Usually every alpha presence pressed against his senses whether he wanted it to or not.
Today everything felt muffled, felt quiet, felt like something was missing.
He pulled his scrub top out and changed faster than necessary.
“I just wasn’t expecting them, especially Abbot," Dennis said again, softer this time.
Trinity bumped his shoulder.
“Well at least you got it out of the way.” she said.
He shut his locker “Yeah. i guess”
They walked back out together just before shift change
Robby spotted him first.
“Hey,” Robby called across the station suddenly, bright as ever. “Look who finally decided to come back to us.”
Dennis smiled a little “Hi.”
Abbott looked over a second later.
“You’re back on the floor,” he said.
“Yeah.”
Robby looked between them like he was tracking something neither of them were saying out loud.
“They still haven’t given you your badge yet?” he asked.
Dennis glanced down at his badge automatically.
“Nope.”
“That tracks,” Robby said.
Abbott’s attention dropped briefly to Dennis’s collar.
The patch.
“Are you feeling okay?” Abbott asked.
“Yeah,” Dennis said. “Why?”
Abbott shrugged one shoulder.
“Just checking.”
Robby clapped once, already turning back toward the board.
“Well,” he said, “good timing either way. You’re with us this morning.”
Dennis blinked.
“Both of you?”
“Shift overlap,” Robby said. “Take advantage while it lasts.”
Abbott didn’t contradict him.
He stayed where he was a second longer than he needed to, eyes settling on Dennis one more time before shifting back to the board.
By mid-shift the department had settled into its usual rhythm.
Dennis had already picked up two patients from triage overflow and one hallway reassessment Robby handed him with a quick “you’re fast with these” before disappearing toward a trauma consult. It felt good to be useful again. Familiar in the way muscle memory was familiar.
Except something felt slightly off.
He assumed it was nerves.
He was halfway through documenting vitals outside room 14 when he noticed Abbott standing beside the workstation.
Dennis didn’t think anything of it until Abbott spoke.
“Have you eaten yet?”
Dennis blinked.
“A protein bar..”
“Water?”
“Yes.”
Abbott didn’t move and Dennis went back to typing.
The cursor blinked at him longer than it should have before the sentence finished forming in his head.
He frowned slightly at the screen.
Abbott noticed.
“Are you dizzy?” Abbott asked.
“No.”
“Headache?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Dennis finally looked over.
“Why?”
Abbott studied him for half a second like he was deciding how direct to be.
“You changed patches,and I'm guessing suppressants too.” he said.
Dennis stilled.
“…yeah.”
Abbott’s gaze shifted briefly to the edge of Dennis’s collar again. The patch placement hadn’t changed since morning.
“Same dosage?”
Dennis hesitated.
“Slightly different.”
Abbott didn’t react outwardly.
“Brand?”
Dennis gave him the name.
Abbott’s jaw moved once like he’d expected exactly that answer.
“Hm.”
That was all he said.
he stepped a little closer—not into Dennis’s space, just close enough that if anyone else had been paying attention they might’ve assumed he was checking the chart over his shoulder.
“When did you take it?” Abbott asked quietly.
“This morning.”
Abbott nodded slowly.
Then he finally stepped back.
“Okay,” he said, voice even again. “Just keep checking in with yourself today.”
Dennis frowned.
“I am.”
“I know.”
Abbott held his gaze a second longer than necessary.
Then, softer—
“If anything feels different, tell me or Robby."
Robby appeared at the end of the workstation like he’d been summoned by coincidence alone.
“I’m stealing Whitaker,” he announced. “Room twelve wants another set of ears and apparently mine aren’t convincing enough.”
Dennis blinked.
“Okay?”
Robby grinned at him.
Then he looked at Abbott.
“You good?”
Abbott didn’t answer right away.
His eyes stayed on Dennis for one more second.
“Yeah,” Abbott said finally.
The rest of the day was working with robby and following him like a lost puppy.
Dennis didn’t usually hover.
He knew that.
He was good about space. About workflow. About not getting in anyone’s way.
But sometime after the hallway reassessment and before the next consult got called overhead, he realized he’d ended up back at the main station again.
Near Robby. Near Abbott.
“You lose something?” Robby asked, glancing sideways at him.
Dennis blinked.
“No?”
Robby smiled a little.
“Okay.”
He didn’t tell him to move.
Just shifted slightly so Dennis could see the board better from where he was standing.
Abbott noticed that.
“Room eighteen labs are back,” Abbott said.
Dennis straightened immediately.
“I’ll check them.”
He was already moving before the sentence finished.
Robby watched him go, then looked back at Abbott.
“…you see it?” he asked quietly.
Dennis came back less than two minutes later.
“They’re fine, blood works normal and no differences in x-rays” he said, almost automatically, like reporting back mattered more than the information itself.
Robby’s mouth twitched.
“Thanks.”
Dennis stayed there.
Abbott stepped closer.
Dennis settled almost immediately.
“When did your patch start itching?”
Dennis blinked “…how did you know it was itching?”
“Because you’ve adjusted it three times in the last ten minutes.”
Dennis froze.
“Oh.”
Robby stepped closer too without thinking about it, hand landing lightly at the back of Dennis’s shoulder again like it had earlier in the shift.
Dennis leaned into it a fraction before catching himself.
All three of them noticed.
Abbott exchanged a look with Robby.
“That suppressant isn’t holding steady,” Abbott said quietly.
Dennis shook his head automatically.
“It’s fine.”
Robby’s hand stayed where it was.
“You’re staying closer than usual,” Robby said, voice softer now. “You noticed that?”
Dennis opened his mouth.
Because he hadn’t.
Abbott said quietly. “We’re going to keep an eye on you today.”
After that, Robby didn’t leave Dennis alone for more than a minute at a time.
And when he did, someone always seemed to end up near him anyway—Trinity drifting through the station mid-task, Victoria appearing with another chart question, a nurse pulling him into a quick reassessment that didn’t really need him specifically.
It started to feel less like coincidence and more like he had a bell on that rung ‘don't let me wonder too far’
Dennis tried not to think about that too hard.
He actually got a small stretch of quiet outside room nine.
Long enough to think he might finally catch his breath.
“Whitaker?” Victoria called from down the hall, jogging to catch up.
Dennis slowed immediately.
“Yeah?”
“I finished the chart review on the abdominal pain from triage,” she said, already offering the tablet.
He took it without thinking.
“Thanks.”
He scanned the screen.
Read it. Read it again.
Something about the words didn’t fully land the first time.
“…are you okay?” Victoria asked after a moment.
Dennis blinked. “Yeah.”
“You just read the same line twice.”
“Oh.”
He shifted his grip on the tablet like that might reset his focus.
Before he could say anything else, Trinity appeared from the opposite end of the corridor like she’d been pulled there by instinct.
“There you are,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Dennis straightened a little. “Sorry.”
“You should be,” she said out of habit—
then stopped and actually looked at him.
Her expression changed.
“You alright?” she asked, softer now.
“Yeah,” he said again, automatic.
Victoria tilted her head slightly.
“You’re flushed,” she said.
“I’m not flushed.”
“You are a little,” she corrected, not unkindly.
Trinity stepped closer.
And suddenly Dennis was aware of them both in a way he hadn’t been earlier—like the air between them had narrowed without anyone moving very far at all.
“Are you warm?” Trinity asked.
“A little.”
“The ED is freezing,” Victoria said immediately.
“It’s not,” Dennis said, but it came out weaker than he meant it to.
“It is,” she replied. “I’ve had my jacket on all morning.”
Trinity’s eyes flicked down.
“Are you touching your patch again?” she asked quietly.
“I’m not—”
“You are,” Victoria said.
Dennis froze for half a second.
Then realized his fingers were at the edge of his patch again.
He let go quickly.
“…didn’t notice.”
Trinity and Victoria exchanged a look.
“Is that the new suppressant brand?” Trinity asked.
Dennis nodded. “Yeah.”
“Since this morning?”
“Yeah.”
Trinity exhaled slowly through her nose.
“Are you feeling off at all?” Trinity asked.
Dennis hesitated “…maybe.”
“What kind of maybe?”
“Warm,” he said after a moment. “And kind of distracted.”
“You’ve been staying near the station a lot,” Victoria added quietly.
Dennis frowned. “No I haven’t.”
“You have,” she said. “Even when you don’t have work there.”
Trinity looked at him again.
“Dennis,” she said gently. He looked at her.
“If the suppressant isn’t holding, we need to know,” she added.
He exhaled “…I think it might not be,” he admitted.
Trinity nodded once and squeezed his wrist briefly before letting go.
“Okay,” she said. “We’ll flag it.”
Before Dennis could respond, footsteps came up behind them.
“Are you all just congregating in my hallway or is this a new department policy?” he asked lightly.
But his eyes were already on Dennis.
“Possible suppressant issue,” she said.
Abbott appeared a second later at the far end of the corridor, like he’d already been on his way before the conversation even started.
He stopped when he saw them and looked at Dennis.
“…yeah,” Abbott said quietly.
At first, Dennis thought it was just fatigue.
He missed a medication dose on his first attempt at charting.
Then missed another.
Then stood too long in the same place staring at an empty screen without remembering why he’d opened it.
“Hey.”
Robby’s voice broke through first.
Dennis blinked.
When had he gotten that close?
“You with me?” Robby asked quietly.
Dennis nodded too fast. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m—”
He stopped mid-sentence.
The suppressant didn’t fade this time.
It gave up.
Robby noticed first.
His expression changed
“…oh,” he said under his breath.
Dennis frowned. “What?”
But before Robby could answer, Trinity was there.
“Okay,” she said, voice tightening. “That’s not a partial failure. That's a full suppressant drop.”
Dennis blinked at her.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
His voice came out rougher than he expected.
“Respiratory rate’s up,” she said quietly. “Skin’s flushed. He’s losing focus between tasks.”
“I’m not—” Dennis started.
He tried to finish the sentence.
His hand drifted to the edge of the counter to steady himself.
Robby moved instantly.
One hand at his back.
His body just… settled into it.
A noise left his mouth, one he's never made before.
*chirp*
Robby froze for half a second.
Robby's nose twitches at the smell of Dennis's heat coming through
Rain and cinnamon.
“Hey,” he said quietly, voice dropping into something steadier. “I’ve got you.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “It’s breaking through.”
The hallway felt too bright, too loud, too close all at once. His attention kept snagging on the nearest stable thing in reach—Robby’s hand at his back, the pressure of presence, the fact he wasn’t standing alone anymore.
“That’s not voluntary,” she said, already moving closer. “That’s a reflex response.”
Abbott’s eyes sharpened.
Just watched—carefully—like he was confirming exactly how far the suppressant failure had progressed.
Robby adjusted his stance slightly, keeping Dennis supported.
Trinity exhaled once.
Then looked at Abbott.
Who had just arrived.
Robby kept his hand on his back.
Abbott stepped closer—but didn’t touch him.
Just positioned himself so Dennis was no longer standing alone in open space.
“Okay,” Abbott said after a beat. “We’re done trying to manage this in the hallway.”
“Room four. Now.”
Trinity nodded immediately. “I’ll clear it.”
“You’re okay,” Robby said again, softer now.
Dennis shook his head slightly.
“I don’t feel—” he started.
He just felt too aware.
Of Robby’s hand. Of Abbott walking beside him. Of the space they were shaping around him without speaking.
Abbott said calmly. “We’re taking you off the floor.”
Dennis blinked.
“…off? What no, you can't. I need to be on the floor. Please abbot. ”
“Yes I can, you're off. You can't keep focus and any alpha in this room can smell you. ” Abbott said.
Robby didn’t let go as he guided Dennis to room 4
Robby and Jack stayed close as they guided him in.
Not holding him anymore in a strict sense—but not not holding him either.
Dennis tried to sit on the exam bed.
His body didn’t quite cooperate on the first try.
Robby’s hand was there immediately, steadying him without comment.
“Easy,” he murmured.
Dennis swallowed
He finally got onto the bed with help of robby and jack, their hands landing on his hips and waist.
Trinity was already at the counter, pulling gloves from the box too fast, snapping one on harder than necessary.
“Vitals first,” Abbott said looking over at Trinity, his eyes sharpening before turning soft as he looked over at his puppy.
Trinity nodded. “Okay.”
Dennis became aware of everything at once.
The paper on the bed crinkled under him—too loud. The monitor being turned on—too sharp. Robby’s presence at his side—too far Abbott’s silence—too quiet.
Trinity stepped in first, placing the blood pressure cuff around his arm.
“Just relax,” she said.
Dennis tried.
The cuff tightened.
His breath hitched slightly before he could smooth it out.
Robby took notice, like he could feel what Dennis was feeling before he made a reaction.
His hand reaches out and rests on the back of Dennis's neck, scruffing him like an elder alpha would do to a younger pup. His breathing eased without permission.
Abbott’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Heart rate?” he asked.
Trinity checked the monitor. “up.”
“How much?”
“Higher than normal," she said.
Dennis shifted slightly on the bed.
Robby adjusted with him immediately.
His fingers curled slightly into the edge of the paper sheet.
his instincts kept pulling him toward the closest stable presence.
Robby.
Abbott.
Trinity leaned closer with the stethoscope “Breathing’s shallow,” she said quietly.
Dennis tried to correct it.
A small sound slipped out of him—short, involuntary.
Robby’s hand tightened slightly on his neck.
“Hey,” he said quietly, voice low enough it didn’t bounce off the walls. “Stay with me. Just breathe.”
Abbott stepped closer to the bedside.
Now fully in alpha helping his pup mode.
“The suppressant fully failed,” he said.
Trinity nodded once. “Yeah. This is a full physiological override.”
Dennis’s stomach tightened at the words—he didn’t fully understand them, but his body understood enough to react.
The heat rose again.
Robby immediately noticed the change in him.
His stance adjusted slightly—blocking more of the room without actually blocking it.
Abbott looked at him then.
Robby didn’t move away.
Just stayed exactly where he was.
“Bloodwork now?” Trinity asked.
Abbott nodded. “Yes.”
Trinity moved toward the tray.
She started the bloodwork, the needle poking into his arm drawing his blood
He looks at the needle in his arm and leans more into abbot, his hair brushing under Jack's chin.
He was never one for needles, he could poke someone else but as soon as it came to him, it was over with
“I don't like needles alpha.” he whimpers to his alphas in the room
“Its okay pup, your alphas have got you” jack says, his sone wall finally crumbling
“And….done!” trinity says while taking the needle out “just hold this here huckleberry” she says while guiding one of his hands to hold a cotton swab
“Ill send this in, ill make sure its fast” trinity leaves the room, leaving the mates in the room alone.
Jack looks at Dennis, his eyes floaty and droopy.
“You okay pup?” robby asks, now placing himself down on the bed, dennis moving so his legs are spread across robby’s
“Need you alpha. Pleaseee” he whines out, dennis’s blues eyes becoming red and tiery eyed
The overwhelming urge to breed is all he can think about.
“Need your knot” he whines out again
“Now, now, calm down baby, you'll get what you want very soon. Your alpha promises” robby pets whitakers hair back, his curls wrapping around robby’s thick fingers
Jack moves himself to place himself behind Dennis, “well take great care of you, wont we Robby?" his arms caress his puppy body, stopping right over his nipples, caressing them to the point where the tears finally drip down Dennis's face
“Haah... Uugh.. Aaah...”
His hips move across Robby's thigh, the rough texture of his jeans brushing against his covered cunt
“Oh my sweet, you smell so good” robby leans his head into dennis’s neck, scenting his scent glands
Jack's hands trail down from his nipples and down to the covered cunt
“You like that puppy? Us touching you at work?”
The door bursts open.
“Now what do we have here” trinity says, crossing her arms, her face struggling to cover her smirk
Robby and jack break apart from whitaker, or robby tries his best too
“Noooo…” Dennis cries out.
“Dennis is getting a little handsy” robby tries to defend himself
Trinity barks out a laugh, “trying to get huckleberry in trouble boss?”
“You know she's right if anything you were getting handsy alpha..” he teases while breathing heavily.
There's a cough before trinity continues “Labs are in,” Trinity said, getting to the original point on why she came in here
Abbott nodded once. “Confirmed what we already know.”
Robby’s hand now at Dennis’s waist, squeezing to calm dennis
Dennis swallowed.
His throat felt too warm.
“I can still work, I need to work” he said, but it didn’t come out as firm as he wanted.
The door opened.
Dana stepped in.
And the entire room shifted.
“Now.”
Robby’s hand lifted from its spot at the small of his waist.
The absence of it made Dennis’s chest tighten in a way he didn’t have language for.
“Step away from the boy, we're in an ED for christ sake,” she said to both attendings.
Robby hesitated half a second longer—
then moved Dennis off his lap, Dennis's arms tried to grab him but failed as Robby stepped back further.
The space he left behind felt too empty too quickly.
Dennis immediately became aware of it.
“He’s going home.”
Trinity looked up. “Dana—”
“No,” Dana cut in. “He's not staying. Not ‘just until it settles.’ Home. It's dangerous to be here while he's basically calling all alphas with his scent”
Abbott’s jaw tightened slightly.
“I don’t care how stable you think he is right now,” she said. “He’s not safe on the floor. And neither are you two standing this close to him while it’s still progressing.”
“Discharge orders are going in,” Dana added. “Someone get him clothes. Not dirty scrubs. He’s leaving now.”
She stepped farther into the room and looked directly at Abbott and robby
“You’re taking him to yours and Robby's house, okay?”
Abbott didn’t argue.
Robby shifted beside Dennis before he even seemed to realize he was doing it—closer again, hand returning automatically to the edge of Dennis’s neck as if distance had stopped being something he trusted.
Dana noticed that too.
“Both of you,” she clarified.
Trinity looked up. “Dana—”
“No,” Dana said calmly. “I’m not putting him in a rideshare. I’m not sending him home to just be alone. And I’m not leaving him here while this progresses.”
Her eyes moved once between Abbott and Robby again.
“He goes with you.”
Dana watched the interaction without interrupting it.
Abbott reached for Dennis’s jacket from the chair beside the wall and held it out without comment.
“You’re not coming back today,” Abbott said
“I can get home.” he said, though even to himself the words sounded thin.
Dana finally looked at him directly.
“No,” she said simply. “You can’t.”
Robby’s hand tightened slightly at Dennis’s neck—not restraining, just steadying when Dennis shifted like he might try to stand on his own.
The sound Dennis let out was close to a happy sigh and a chirp
Jack reaches out a pets dennis’s damp hair back
“We’ve got him,” Robby said quietly.
Abbott moved closer to the bedside then—not crowding, just closing the space enough that Dennis suddenly felt contained again in that same careful way he had in the hallway earlier.
“Can you stand?” Abbott asked.
Dennis hesitated.
“I think so.”
Robby didn’t let go when he slid off the exam table.
Dennis’s balance held for about half a second before it didn’t.
His knees buckled before robby's and jacks hands were at his waist holding him up
“Easy,” Robby murmured.
Robby stayed close while he slid one arm into the sleeve.
Then the other.
“You call me when he’s settled,” she said to Abbott.
“I will.”
Robby’s hand hadn’t left Dennis’s back.
By the time they reached the hallway again, the department noise rushed back around them—but it didn’t feel the same as before.