Hi all! I'm Ariel and I really love the Night Shift and while I'd love to write a chaptered story on so many characters, I just don't have the time for it right now. But I figure why not make a one shot or to? Drew/Rick/Brianna have some of my favorite storylines on the show, and I think the character growth we've seen from Drew over the last three seasons is incredible. That said, I think we're going to see some new situations placed before him this season with Brianna now being a part of their family (at least, I hope so. No one has said much on storylines as of yet, and since Brendan's the only one who is that active on social media, we can hope) and I can see something like this happening. And I thought I'd make a cute little story out of the thought.

Let me know what you think. And what do you want to see storyline wise this season? I'd love what I said above, as well as TC/Jordan getting back together and am hoping that Mac, the vet from the forest fire sticks around a bit longer. I'm still pretty gutted that Topher isn't returning, but hope that whatever happens it'll still be an awesome season. With more Drew and Rick, of course. ;)

Drew knew he couldn't count on his perfect little bubble surviving forever in the deep bigotry of Texas. He did know his cocoon of friends and family were great, loved his partnership with Rick, and loved his new role as father more. He also knew they were fiercely protective of him and anything negative thrown his way. He'd seen that one early evening when a man recognized him from his 'heroic' endeavor several months back, drunken slurs thrown his way while he treated another patient adjacent to the intoxicated middle-aged bigot. The bigot was nursing a five-inch laceration on his forehead from a bar fight, unaware the only reason he was still on hospital grounds because police were on their way to arrest him.

He learned to ignore them, as fighting never looked good for the hospital, nor did it for his own personal being. But this idiot didn't stop; he was trying his damnedest to get under his skin, using more and more obscure slurs before he got up from the hospital bed, coming over about to lay a hand on the military veteran.

TC, having also been in another adjacent treatment area had heard enough. He remained silent for the majority of the verbal attack, not wanting to fight his friend's battles, but when he saw the man lurking toward Drew from the corner of his eye, he sprang into action, swiftly using a tactic that the other doctor had shown him to incapacitate him both quietly and quickly.

"Asshole," TC mumbled after the fact, only giving his friend a smile when Drew raised his eyebrows and Kenny questioned why Jordan's patient was on the floor, unconscious. "You know," he followed up, "Damn drunks. Pass out wherever."

Those were the kind of situations everyone was used to, and Drew could take in stride after practice, especially when he was with his co-workers.

There was something different about being with his family. Being with Rick and Brianna, where his defensive side came out and usually came out completely unhinged.

They were in line for some book that went on sale that day which Brianna could not stop talking about. He usually knew the ones she enjoyed as they often were classics but this one he was unaware of. With his busy work schedule and trying to balance a husband and daughter, teen books were not something he tried to think about.

The two fathers were talking about what they wanted to do after the book purchase was over. Rick wanted to order take out and head home, though Drew thought maybe a restaurant seemed more favorable. He was about to comment a compromise (seeing he realized that Rick had come straight from work and had been on his prosthetic almost all day without break) when someone snickered from behind him.

"Look at those two fags, Jess! Poor girl. Can you imagine having two dads?"

He had no clue how the young girl even figured out they were a couple. As far as he could tell, they did not give any sort of signal off that they were married, but maybe the blonde was assuming or took a guess and thought it would be entertaining to push a family's buttons. He ignored the comment at first, wearily giving Rick a look who already had an uncomfortable expression on his face (discomfort from his leg, that was).

"Ignore it," Rick urged quietly, looking down to see if Brianna had heard it.

She was staring beyond them, so Drew assumed that she hadn't. Satisfied, he turned back to the magazine he saw a few minutes previous, alerting Rick they could order take out from a restaurant and bring it home, before grabbing the magazine to read it.

"I'm surprised he isn't looking for US Weekly," the other girl snickered, barely containing her obnoxious giggles this time. "I thought fags liked the drama."

Rick turned on his good foot to give them a glare, sure this time the comments were directed at them. Oddly, this did not deter them. "Rick," Drew said, about to give his own lecture on the comments, since they were hardly the worst he'd ever heard since coming out, though he didn't particularly like how young his assailants were this go around, or that they were making comments in front of his daughter.

Surprisingly, it was Brianna who turned around. She had an expression of both anger and determination as she pushed her way forward, small for her age because of her sickness, but nonetheless still fiery and strong minded. "I think you two should probably both be quiet."

"What's it to you?" the one named Jess asked.

"I am asking nicely for you both to be quiet," she repeated, not budging from where she stood.

"Are you gay too? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Bri shouted, louder than she probably intended to, garnering some attention from other customers. "What is wrong with you? Why are you so hateful and mean? Was someone mean to you?" She didn't stop her tirade from her spot. "I went through many homes growing up, I'll have you know. I was put in so many, with many terrible people who claimed to love children, claimed to be good people when in reality, they were not. Something very bad happened to me last year and it took who I thought was the only person who gave any crap about me away. I thought I was alone and that I would die the same way."

She folded her arms over her chest.

"I then met my daddy over there. His name is Drew. He is an active duty Army doctor who saves lives every day. Mine included. My other daddy is Rick, he is a retired Army captain who served overseas and on his first day back home, lost his leg after spending a long time defending his country. He now serves in a different way. He's incredible. They both are. They love me. They love everything about me and I could not love either of them more. Why are you judging my parents based off of one small part of who they are? Why does it matter to you who they find attractive? Guess what? It shouldn't. They took me in when no one else wanted me, and have given me everything I need and more. Look in the mirror and maybe think about what you say before you put it on your lips next time."

She sauntered back over to her parents, giving the girls one final glare before taking each of their hands and turning the opposite direction.

"I don't even know what to say to that," Rick said quietly, though he couldn't keep the smile off his face at the dumbfounded girls behind him.

Drew was smiling too. He knew his daughter was special and one of the most loving children he ever met. He also knew she didn't care who her parents were in terms of who they loved and understood more than some adults did. He just didn't expect her to speak so elegantly and lovely all while making a great point known. He had spent many months trying to protect her from the hatred and bigotry that many exhibited, but clearly he didn't need to. He should've never worried about their fiery daughter because she was obviously way ahead of both of them in terms of her acceptance of their family.

He finally smiled, nudging his husband gently, "I think she gets that from you."