This is my first story for the Night Shift, a show which I've fallen in love with. Cannot wait for the second season. Anyway, this idea came to me after I finished watching the first season, and this is the end result. I knew I had to write it, especially after reading some other fics for the fandom that I enjoyed reading. I hope you'll enjoy it.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Night Shift.
WARNING: Contains slapstick and mild black comedy. The reason I'm warning you guys about the former is, well, it does have an ER setting. Also has cursing and mild sexual references and innuendos that might push T-rated boundaries a little bit.
Tuesday, 06:55
The night shift was over at last for another day. The staff were all stressed as usual. It was a long night. But now the sun has just risen up, so it was time to go home and get some rest. But nobody was looking forward to leaving more than three surgeons in particular. TC Callahan, Drew Alister and Paul Cummings were used to looking after patients and performing surgery on them, but it has been a rough night especially for them because three patients required surgeries that were far more intensive than what they were used to. These patients have only scarcely made it through the night. One fourth patient did not.
Anyway, TC, Drew and Paul were at the tailgate. Drew was attacking the punching bag. TC and Paul were playing poker, a game which Paul sucked ass at. TC smirked at Paul and said: "You lose again."
Paul huffed relentlessly, letting the cards in his hands fall onto the table. "I'm not very good at this game," he murmured.
"You'll get better at it," TC shrugged. "Now, you know what to do."
"I-I-I don't r-really want to do it," Paul stammered. "I c-could get in serious trouble. Can't I just give you twenty bucks and call it a day?"
"No. Shoulda, coulda, woulda," TC reminded the intern. "You know the rules. No crapping out of it this time. Besides, it's lame to bet twenty bucks in a round of poker," he added.
"Aw man," Paul began to sweat. "I… I can't do it, T. Drew will be seriously pissed at me. Besides, we've lost one patient we were working on, we've almost lost three more, and the black comedy jokes you and Drew were cracking up did not lighten things up."
TC rolled his eyes. "Maybe you need to lighten up. Jokes like that are common in the ER." He scratched the back of his neck. "Look, if shit happens, I'll have yer back," he assured Paul. "Drew will understand. Some of us have made him do stuff like that, and he's made other people do stuff like that as well, so he won't give ya a harder time over it. Harder," he added for emphasis to tease Paul.
Paul sighed. He knew when he was beaten. He was not a fan of what he was about to do, but he was also not a fan of TC, Drew, Kenny and Krista mocking him for chickening out of situations like this. Besides, what he had to do was innocent enough. With a deep breath, Paul rose up from his chair. Slowly, he approached Drew, whose attention was still fixed entirely on the punching bag.
It's okay Paul, you can do this, Paul thought to himself, it's just a light flick of your index finger against his earlobe. He'll just lose focus, flip me off or something, and then get back to punching. Paul reached his hand over towards Drew's earlobe; his index finger pressed against his thumb, itching to snap. The seconds it took for Paul to reach over without interrupting Drew's concentration too soon felt like hours to Paul. This was the first time Paul has pulled a prank on Drew, and he has never witnessed Drew at the receiving end of any prank before, so Paul has no idea what Drew is like whenever someone pulls pranks on him.
TC, however, was getting fed up with Paul hesitating. This was taking way too long. "Dude, just get it over with!" he yelled. Instantly, Paul flinched and his finger slipped. Instead of feeling soft skin hitting against his nail, Paul felt some hair brush off against the tip of his finger. As well as a stitch at the very tip of his nail. Drew immediately flinched as well, losing his concentration. The punching bag returned and whacked Drew in the stomach. In was in that moment that Paul realised that he's just flicked Drew in the back of his head. Right where the stitches were still intact.
"Yikes! Drew, I'm so-" Drew automatically turned around and punched Paul in the cheek before the latter could finish his apology. True to his word, TC sprang up from his chair and ran to intervene. However, rather than breaking up the fight, TC pounced on Drew and yanked Paul by the wrist, dragging Paul down with them as TC and Drew hit the floor with a thud. Rather than coming to their senses and realising what they were doing, Drew and TC proceeded to throw a punch at one another and Paul. Paul tried to wrestle his way out, but TC and Drew were having none of it and pulled him back in. They slammed against the frame supporting the punching bag, which fell right on top of them.
07:12
It was not long before Drew, Paul and TC were rushed to the ER. The blows to the cheek, chin, chest, stomach, upper arms and shoulders they endured from the punching and wrestling were painful and required treatment, but were not that serious. But the frame did cause some more serious injuries; TC on his left shoulder, Drew on his left arm and Paul on his stomach. Nevertheless, the injuries were expected to clear up to point that they could return to work by Sunday evening at the latest. But they still had to stay in until tomorrow afternoon to receive a psychic evaluation. Michael Ragosa was understandably pissed and informed them that their stay at the hospital was to come out of their wages, and that they may not be getting paid for the nights they were missing on grounds that they brought all the injuries on themselves. A few weeks ago, Ragosa would have fired them for this without hesitation if Jordan Alexander and Landry de la Cruz were not there to talk him out of this, but they did not even need to convince Michael not to fire them. Plus, he ruled out the possibility of demoting the three medics for their behaviour on the tailgate.
Jordan definitely gave them the riot act, however. "Seriously, what were guys thinking?!" she demanded, as Drew, TC and Paul laid in their hospital beds covered in bandages. "You could've ended up with more serious, or worse, permanent injuries! Now some of the day staff have to come in tonight because of you!"
"It was a spur of the moment," TC explained. "Paul flicked Drew in the back of the head, Drew flipped out, I tried to stop them from fighting, but I lost the run of myself and then next thing ya know, we were in a heap and the punching bag and frame fell on top of us."
"Well maybe next time you guys would start acting your age and cut the crap with those stupid pranks," Jordan glared. "And maybe next time when stuff like this happens, you will think before you act. If this happens again, you guys could risk losing your jobs. Especially you, TC and Drew," Jordan added, glaring at the two older men. "You guys are supposed to be setting an example for Paul and Krista."
"Yeah, like you are any more mature than Drew and I," TC snickered.
Yesterday – 19:23
Jordan was in the tailgate area, tickling Paul. "Say it!" she giggled. "Say it!"
Paul was laughing his head off, pounding on the floor. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" he hooted. "I secretly like to read Twilight!" he confessed, much to the amusement of the rest of the tailgate.
Present
The four surgeons remained still, staring at one another.
"Wow Jordan," Drew smirked, "I still can't believe you have it in ya."
"Shut up, everyone was just sharing one guilty pleasure, Mr I-Like-to-Watch-My-Little-Pony," Jordan glared. "Besides, you guys do worse to pick on Paul, just for the sake of picking on him."
Day before Yesterday – 19:23
Drew, Krista and Kenny had Paul strapped to a bed. They had their hands pressed against his chest and were pushing against it. "BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATHE!" they chanted in unison. Poor Paul. He did not enjoy that one bit.
Present
"Yeah, I remember that night, you asshole!" Paul scoffed at Drew.
"Well I best be going before I find out more about how childish you guys are," Jordan sneered. "And one more thing: the day shift staff are almost like you guys. They even look remotely like you. Expect they are polar opposites. Have fun." And so she walked off, leaving TC, Paul and Drew to deal with one another.
TC chuckled. "Man, I gotta love that woman." A few seconds later, Scott randomly stuck his head in the room, and blew TC a raspberry for the lulz. "I also gotta hate that man," TC muttered when Scott left.
"Just a clarification," Paul turned to TC, "I only flicked Drew because you told me to. You said you'd help if things went wrong, but you obviously didn't."
"I couldn't help it, okay," TC snorted. "I thought Drew was messing with ya or something. Besides, whether I made you or not, you still could've refused and earned my respect anyway and avoided this screwed up morning. So it's still your fault for starting it."
"Yeah, remember that while you try to sleep tonight, Paul" Drew warned him.
"C'mon man, you've pulled worse pranks on me many times before!" Paul protested. "And I only meant to go for yer ear, not your head!"
"Yeah, but if yer ballsy enough to do that, or to get a lap dance from a patient, then yer ballsy enough to not do what TC told ya to do," Drew pointed out. Paul wanted to hit back at Drew with a retort, but he was cut off when three surgeons marched into the ward. One of them looked like TC but without the beard, another one looked like Drew but he was bald, and the final one looked like Paul but with a beard.
"Good morning," said the one who looks remotely like Paul. "I am Dr Bob Robertson. This is Dr Max Evans," – he pointed at the surgeon who looks remotely like TC – "the lawfully stupid and overly politically correct one, and this is Finn Brandon," he added, pointing at the surgeon who looks remotely like Drew, "the one who likes to whine and complain a lot and ruins all the fun because he's a pussy."
"Hey, I'm not lawfully stupid!" Max protested. "I just like to follow the rules."
"And I'm not a pussy!" Finn cut in. "I just don't like how you're a jerkass!" He huffed.
"Finn is Canadian but he's not nice; only annoying," Bob lamp-shaded. "Max is Irish but he doesn't like drink because he claims it drives people to do something illegal and say something inappropriate."
"Most Canadians are not nice! They're assholes!" Finn scoffed.
"You two have no filters between your brains!" Max rolled his eyes. "At least I don't go around pulling pranks on people and telling filthy jokes with a twisted sense of humour," he glared at Bob.
"Oh crap!" Drew moaned. "They really are our polar opposites!"
This caught Finn's attention. He walked over to Drew with a stern face. "You're not a nice person, are ya?" he narrowed his eyes. Drew rolled his eyes at this, knowing very well that this was going to be a long day.
TC snickered at this. Max went up to him and asked: "Are you that rebellious doctor I've been hearing about who likes to push Ragosa's buttons?"
"Yeah, but he's gotten better lately," TC replied.
"I wonder how you are still working here," Max wondered. "But I'm here to help you become a more responsible man."
"You're here to look after me and not piss me off by being, what they call it in your country, a fecking eejit," TC retorted.
"You're lucky there are no children around to hear you cursing like that," Max glared. Meanwhile, Bob went up to Paul.
"Jordan tells me you're the squeamish intern," he stated.
Paul's brow furrowed. "Yeah? So?"
"Just to warn ya; you'll be seeing a lot more blood, guts and internal organs later on," Bob told him. "There will be times when you will have to hold a part of a brain. It will be deadly!" he smirked.
Paul groaned. This is going to feel like an episode of Scrubs, he thought, expect it's not funny.
So that wraps up the first chapter of my first story for the Night Shift. Normally I'm on the Total Drama fandom, but this fandom could be another one I write stories for. I may have some plans for other stories on the Night Shift fandom, but for now I'm going to focus on this story and the other fandom I'm on.
As for my thoughts on the characters, I thought they were solid. I especially like Drew, TC, Jordan, Krista and pretty much all of them, but I especially like Drew, so you can predict a few more stories about him from me. I also liked how Michael starts off as a jerk but develops into a sound, awesome man who just needs someone to help him open up. I'm not sure if there's a character I don't like (except for Milo, but he was only in two episodes), but I do have mixed feelings for Scott. I'm interested in how the love triangle will play out. All of the main characters will get to make at one appearance.
Until next time!