He tries not to notice she doesn't wear her rings.
He tries not to notice the divorce papers sitting on her bedside table.
He tries not to notice her eyes are dull whenever - if ever they look at him.
He notices, though.
He notices all of these things, and more.
She hasn't physically left him, but emotionally, she has. For nine months, she hasn't been his.
The moment he told her he was in love with another woman he saw the wheels turning in her head. She was planning. Planning her escape, planning her ever-depressing demise.
She's never mentioned it to him. Not since the first time. But he knows. He knows they are no longer married in her mind. In her mind, she is nothing to him.
He pulls her into an empty on-call room, confronts her.
"I don't know how to do this with you," she says. Her eyes shift around the room before finally landing on his face. For the first time since Christmas, they don't fall.
He embraces her, and she buries her face in the crook of his neck. "I don't know how to do this without you," he rasps.
"You did fine. You were here for months."
He chokes on a sob. "I don't want a divorce, baby." Baby. He hasn't called her that since their fourth year of marriage.
"I don't want you to love another woman."
Closing his eyes, he strokes her hair. "I told you it would pass. It did. It passed. I don't - I love you. Only you now."
"You can't just say that to make it all go away. We're not okay. You used to not love only me. And I…I don't know how to deal with that," she's not screaming, he wishes she was.
He wishes this were like all of the fights they had in New York. She'd yell, he'd admit his stupidity, and then they would fuck it out. He can tell that won't happen this time.
"Please," he whispers. "We can work this out. I can't - we can't get a divorce. I've spent a quarter of my life with you and now suddenly I'm supposed to live the rest without you. I can't do that." Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he pulls back to look at her. "Please just tell me we can work this."
It feels like an eternity before she answers, nods. "We can work this. I'll work on this."
He takes her left hand and slips her rings on her ring finger before she can protest. Her breath hitches when she feels him take her pointer finger to rub over his left hand, closing her eyes when she feels the cold metal on his hand. Tears course their way down both of their faces and he takes her face in his hands. "We're never gonna give up, okay?"
"Okay."