Started watching Night Shift one day, became obsessed, and then found out some asshat canceled it.

So I write fanfiction.

Focused mostly around TC because I have a soft spot for characters like him.

This will just be a collection of one-shots, in no real order.

I unfortunately do own Night Shift, because if I did, it wouldn't have been cancelled.

It was a few months after TC had gotten home and started working on the training program at San Antonio. And, much to his relief -and the secret relief of a majority of the night crew- him and Jordan were back together. While everyone knew this by now, since they could tell simply by the way the two would act around each other, they did not yet know that they had moved in together.

By this point, both Jordan and TC accepted that fact that this was simply meant to be. No matter what they tried, somehow they always ended up together in the end. Despite their problems, their arguments, their differences, they worked best together and they would do anything to protect the other. In fact, at a party one, a psychic had told them they were soul mates. TC didn't believe in that stuff, yet he would still bring it up from time to time, mostly teasingly but always with affection.

When they woke up one day before their shift, Jordan could hear the congestion in TC's chest and could see it in his face that he wasn't feeling good. She had insisted that he stay home, call in sick, take the night off. A dose of Nyquil and he would be out cold for the rest of the night. The dog would probably cuddle up to him and he would wake up in the morning feeling better. But, following orders and listening to authority were 2 things TC was not very good at, despite his past in the military (though that is what technically got him kicked out).

So they went into work together, and it lasted about 3 hours before Drew, who was the one in charge tonight, sent TC home. Jordan drove him home -it was a quiet night in the ER, not that anyone would say that out loud-, and left him there on the couch while she went back to work.

When the shift ended, she skipped the normal breakfast with the team and headed straight home, determined to make sure TC was comfortable and ready to run out to get him some over-the-counter stuff he needed it. But when she came home, she found there was no need to rush.

TC was propped up in the corner of the couch, fast asleep, with a little blue and black plaid blanket draped over his shoulders and his legs stretched out over the rest of the couch. Max had been laying on the floor by his feet, but had jumped up as soon as Jordan opened the door. Looking at that blanket, she couldn't help but smile. She had bought him that blanket years ago, during his first tour to the middle east. He had complained once in a letter about how cold it got at night, and how the army blankets sucked. She had been at a Dollar General store one day, picking up something for home, when she had spotted a rack of soft, thin blankets that were probably better to give to babies. They were small, maybe about 5x4 and very thin, but she had grabbed one anyway, and added it to the box that she was mailing to him.

She doubted it really did much to keep him warm, but he had brought it with him all three tours. After the last tour, she had thought he would've thrown it away. It was old, had lost some of the softness and had a hole or two in by now and she was pretty sure a couple of blood stains. But she found out about 4 years after that last tour, when she had brought him home that day he had nervous breakdown at work, that he still had that blanket. It was packed away in box at the very top of his closet. He had even forgotten about it, but had been looking for something -she couldn't remember what exactly- and they had opened the box and found the blanket. After that, nothing much more came of it, besides on days when she noticed he was off or distracted. She was never sure what exactly would trigger it, or if there was no real explanation behind it at all, but every now and then a day would come along with TC would be this quiet, brooding mood. She would leave him alone, and oftentimes find him in bed with that blanket either tangled around his feet or draped over his shoulders.

When he was sick especially, it would somehow find its way out of the box again. Some people would think it was a childish that he could seek this blanket out. Children look their special blankets, their blankies or their baby blankets, but TC was a grown man who had seen and done things that some men could never claim to have even imagined. Jordan could remember one lecture from a psychology class years ago however, how some people associate an object or a sound with something good and soothing and will subconsciously seek that object or sound out when stressed, afraid, or upset, like how babies will cry for a certain stuffed animal or how people who went through a traumatic experience will sometimes cling to certain piece of jewelry or someone who experienced a lot of grief may hang onto the clothing of the deceased.

Thinking about it like that, it was easy to imagine that TC hung onto that blanket for all this time and sought it out occasionally not because it was particularly warm or soft, but because she had sent it to him half a world away, and during his very first tour in Afghanistan. Maybe to him, it was a reminder that someone at home was still waiting for him to come back.

Flashback: Afghanistan, TC's first tour, 12:30pm

He had only been overseas for about a month, and already he found that he was exhausted more often than not. Forget med school, this made that seem like a piece of cake. Finals week was not nearly as exhausting as this. Of course, he had know that war was a whole lot harder than college. But that didn't mean it didn't surprize him just how much harder it was. In one way, it was a little easier. It was messier, less organized, more exciting, and that's what TC thrived in. Chaos, action, that rush of adrenaline that comes from saving people while under fire was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

Despite how hot it was during the day however, he preferred it over the cold of the night. He had written a letter to Jordan about it, how it was so different from what he had expected but how he found he actually enjoyed it. He told her how cold it would get at night.

Currently, it was 12 in the afternoon and the company had just returned from a small patrol. TC had been up most of the night before, treating some of the injured and taking care of the handful of men who had decided to try to eat something a native had made and ended up with bad diarrhea. It was not a fun night, to say the least. Then he had been asked to go on that patrol, and one man had been shot, and TC had been the only medic available at the time. Someone else had come to take over for a while, so he was finally able to take a break. His plan had been to lay down for just a few minutes, drink some water, and then go get something to eat and check the post. But, he ended up falling asleep as soon as he laid down.

Thad had picked up his brother's mail for him however, after going in to find his little brother passed out on the not-so-comfortable cots they had. All that was there was a small box, identical in size to the one Thad had gotten from Annie.

"Hey T, Jordan sent you this." He said, and tossed it over to him. When the box hit his brother, TC jumped, startled from sleep and looked around in confusion before spotting what had woken him up.

"Did you have to throw it?" He grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "And how long have I been sleeping?"

"Not long. Maybe 30 minutes, but I figured if you didn't either open or hide the box, someone else would open it to look for something to screw with you about."

"Hm." TC looked back to the box. It was small, a foot long and six inches tall. Pulling out a pocket knife, he cut it open and the first thing that came out was candy. Tootsie rolls, airheads, altoids, tic-tacs, followed by a box of Ritz crackers and some flavor packets to add to water. In the back of the box was a little folded blanket. It was black and blue plaid, and while it wasn't very thick, it was very soft. And behind that blanket, a letter.

"TC,

I'm sorry to hear how cold it is there at night. It's been pretty warm here. I found this blanket at the dollar store, I'm afraid it won't be very warm but I got it for you anyway. I'm sure you'll find something to use it for, if not for warmth.

I hope things are going well over there and that you'll be home soon. It's getting a lonely without you here.

Besides everyone asking when you'll be home, everything is pretty quiet here. The other night I had a patient come in who had lost a dare and had to shove 5 tootsie rolls up his butt. That was an interesting case for sure, I don't think I'll be able to eat tootsie rolls for while. So naturally, I send whatever ones I have left over here to you. I promise they were not shoved anywhere but in the box.

Share some of those crackers and candy with Thad.

Miss you both (but you more)!

Love,

Jordan. "

TC smiled, put that letter in the pocket of his backpack where he would be keeping all the letters he got.

"Hey, are those crackers?" Thad had looked up from his own box, where there was more candy and some magazines.

"Get your own." TC snorted, covering the box of crackers with his hand. He knew it wouldn't last, and that Thad would probably steal some as soon as TC went back to sleep, but it was worth a shot anyway.

That day, when he did fall back to sleep, he found that the blanket smelled like Jordan. And from that day on, TC found the blanket comforting. And he kept it, even after he returned home, even after he broke up with Jordan.

A pointless little drabble that will be one of hopefully many. The others will hopefully be better, I'm not too good at writing fluff.