Hello beautiful humans :)

I haven't written in a really long time, so please excuse this as a tad rusty as heck haha

Hope you enjoy xx

disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

The fact that they called it a break room was only mildly funny to Gilbert.

He collapsed into a chair, letting it spin around to a stop in front of the cluttered table. A half-hearted sigh escaped his mouth, blowing air up towards the curls spilling over his forehead.

He so needed a haircut. Badly.

Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Gilbert stared down disdainfully at his sandwich. A sad excuse for a sandwich, really. All stale bread and not quite spread jam.

Food is food, Blythe.

He lifted it up to his mouth, scrunching his nose slightly before forcing down a bite.

"You even had time to eat today!" called a chirpy voice.

Gilbert raised his eyes, spotting Ruby walking into the break room and waltzing over to the tiny staff fridge. Her scrubs were immaculate as always, Ruby was never one to let wearing sneakers and all blue put her out of feeling pretty.

"Yeah, unbelievable," he answered with a slight smile. Ruby always brought that out of people, he had noticed, no matter the mood they were in. Her presence simply demanded happiness.

"First time all week, Gil," she reprimanded, shoving a plastic container into the microwave. "I'm worried about you. A doctor can't take care of anyone if they're sick themselves."

"I'm fine, Rubes," he rolled his eyes good naturedly. "But if you really wanted to help me, you'd share some of your edible food."

She threw a fake glare over her shoulder. "I worked hard for this spaghetti."

Gilbert chuckled, though it came out more an exhausted rush of air.

The microwave beeped and Ruby grabbed her meal. Plonking into the chair next to him, she slid the container and a fork towards him. "Have a bite or two," she offered. "I feel bad just looking at that sandwich."

Gilbert looked at her gratefully. "What would I do without you, Rubes?"

"You'd probably be my patient," she jabbed.

Gilbert scrunched his mouth to the side. "You're probably right."

He turned his attention to the mess of tomato and pasta in front of him, twisting some around his fork and taking a bite.

"Oh, my gosh, Ruby," he moaned. "I forgot what real food tasted like."

Ruby laughed, letting him take way more than two bites before he slid the container back over to her.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, rubbing his hand over the back of his head.

"It's okay," she grinned. "I prefer you alive."

A buzz in his pocket drew his attention to his phone. A whole screen of notifications from the admin desk glared back at him.

"And break time over," he sighed. "ER's going nuts out there."

"Tell me about it," Ruby agreed. "I barely just escaped before. Sometimes I feel like break is reserved for when we clock off."

Gilbert laughed, pushing his chair back and stretching his arms above his head. "What's break? I am unfamiliar with that particular concept."

"Go see your patients, sailor boy."

Gilbert smiled at the childhood name. He'd gone through a couple of summers back in high school fixing up and sailing an old wretch of a boat with his adopted brother, Bash. Needless to say, he had spent more time falling out of the boat than successfully sailing it.

"I give you a whole ten seconds before you're called back yourself," he called back over his shoulder as he walked towards the door.

"Don't jinx me, Blythe!"

Gilbert laughed as he heard a buzz on the table, no doubt Ruby's phone also notifying her to stop dilly-dallying and get back on floor.

Break room, he thought.

Very funny.

oOoOo

The city streets were quiet in a way that they only ever were just before 4:30am; before the early risers rose, and after the night owls had finally crashed.

Gilbert breathed in deeply, feeling the slight nip in the air, letting the gentle breeze wash away his twenty-hour shift.

All Gilbert had ever dreamed of since his father had died had been medicine- though no one had ever warned him how exhausting it would be.

He had worked hard for it, passionate about the places that a life in medicine could take him, the kind of people it could bring him to. The kind of lives he could help.

But there were always the lives that you couldn't help.

They hurt the worst.

Knowing, knowing, that where medicine was right now was simply not enough for everyone was an inevitable part of the job. And Gilbert hated it.

But he also knew it could only get better if there were people out there willing to live their lives trying to improve it. Trying to find answers. Trying to help whoever they could, whenever they could.

The endless balance, he thought humourlessly, scuffing his shoes across the footpath.

He looked around the sleeping city, the sun not yet peeking over the horizon of buildings. The world outside his mind was quiet for what felt like the first time all week. He loved medicine, and wouldn't trade it for anything. But sometimes he wondered, just a little, what his life would've looked like if he'd pursued a job that made him see more of outside, rather than inside white hospital walls.

He looked up at the slowly lightening sky. The hushed silence of the streets followed his gaze, releasing into the few scattered stars still holding on to their last moments. He could almost imagine that he was the only person in the world awake. The only person allowed to experience the buildings holding their breath before the day rushed in and set everything into motion again. The only person to smell the air before the smog of the nearby factories and car-clogged streets choked it up again. The only person to see the tree in the alleyway unravel its trunk to create a glooming doorway. The only person to…

Wait.

Gilbert pulled up short, rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands.

God, he needed a nap urgently if hallucination was a symptom. And maybe some real food that had more than one vitamin.

Ruby was right. He hadn't been taking care of himself.

He removed his hands, staring back at the tree.

Still there.

The heck?

Gilbert had seen all the movies. He was the person that screamed at the dumb guy that walked into the haunted house and who ended up dead approximately twenty seconds later. He was the person that always thought stories were unrealistic, because really, who was stupid enough to walk towards something that could end absolutely terribly.

Common sense was a prerequisite for humanity, was it not?

His battered converse turned around, his feet walking down the alleyway instead of towards his gloriously safe apartment, where his gloriously warm and comfortable bed awaited him.

You're an idiot, Blythe, he berated himself. An actual idiot.

His feet didn't seem to care.

His bag suddenly felt lighter as his shoulders tensed, his breaths coming out in quicker huffs as he cautiously drew towards the tree.

Physiologically, his body was telling exactly what his brain was.

What the hell was going on here?

The tree was large. Not ginormous, but considering it was in the middle of a sleazy alleyway, it was decently tall. It stretched towards the upper windows of the neighbouring building, its many branches weaving around each other as though bound and suffocated by the enclosed space.

Gilbert had walked this same path every day since he had landed the job right out of med-school. Granted, that had only been a grand total of a year, but nevertheless. He would've noticed a huge tree lurking in a tiny alley.

Hallucinating. Definitely hallucinating.

He reached a shaking hand out towards the tree, half expecting it to glimmer and disappear at his touch.

His hand touched solid wood, rough and cool on his fingers.

Sensational hallucinations?

Gilbert had heard about this before. It was not good.

Go home and sleep, Blythe.

He shook his head wildly, pulling a hand across his eyes and through his hair.

And get some real nutrients while you're at it.

He placed his hand back on the tree for a second, marvelling at how real it felt. Small golden flecks danced around his fingertips where they touched the bark, and a low hum was vibrating through his ears. His eyes were drawn to the dark hole that had opened at the base of the trunk, giving him severe Alice in Wonderland vibes. The golden flecks seemed to disappear as soon as they touched the edge of the darkness, as though swallowed by a black hole.

If there's a white rabbit down there, I swear…

He crouched down, peering into the gloom. His eyes couldn't make out anything, refusing to comprehend that it wasn't just black, but it was seemingly never-endingly empty.

His hand twitched at his side, inching towards to the hole.

Don't you dare, Blythe.

His hand disappeared from sight as he touched the edge of the gloom, and he swore his mind only short-circuited a tiny bit.

Just a tad.

A jolt travelled from his invisible fingertip up through his arm, and he withdrew his hand back with a gasp, scuttling backwards from the shock. The gold specks were swirling faster now, dancing in the blurry edges of his vision, and he breathed in and out deeply as he fought not to faint.

Ow. Dammit.

He glanced down at his hand, his blurred vision making out a small stain of red on his fingertip, and wondered absently if it was blood. His head was pounding and the gold specks were twirling in a way that reminded him of being on a spinning teacup ride with extra glitter thrown in. He shoved himself clumsily to his feet and stumbled out of the alley, rubbing his eyes with the back of his fists.

Bloody hell.

He crouched to the ground, his head screaming in a crescendo of sound. He gripped his head in his hands, rocking and willing the pounding to leave his brain alone and go find someone else to annoy.

His ears were ringing, and the saliva on his mouth took on a metallic tinge. His finger was burning where the red stain had appeared, but he could hardly pay it any attention over the rushing of blood in his skull. His heartbeat felt like it lived in his head instead of its rightful place in his chest and he vaguely registered that he had hit the ground with his side, the cool concrete under his cheek providing no solace from the incessant thumping of his brain in his ears.

He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his hands around his ears, feeling numbness overtake his body and transport his mind into a hazy mess.

Shit.

He tried to reach out a hand to his fallen bag, finger searching uselessly for his phone to call someone, anyone, for help; but his fingers drew up short, curling uselessly back into his body. It was all he could do to grit his teeth and fight to stay conscious.

Don't black out don't black out don't black-

Slowly, ever so slowly, the merciless whirring of his mind ceased to a less painful throb, leaving him a crumpled mess on the footpath outside the alley.

He became aware of the sun on his arms, notifying him that some time had passed and the morning was more than ready to get on its way. Soon, the streets would be full of early morning joggers and coffee deprived citizens.

Gilbert groaned, pushing himself up to a sitting position, his body protesting the entire way. His head felt like a balloon, large and awkward and light and heavy at the same time. His tongue felt like sandpaper.

Let's never do that again.

Glancing over his shoulder, Gilbert blinked twice when he saw the alleyway- complete with rickety fire escapes adorning the towering walls and devoid of any Magic Faraway Trees.

So he had been hallucinating, after all.

Slowly, he tested out all of his limbs, checking for grazes or sprains. He seemed okay, but he knew that if there were any bruises they probably wouldn't properly show up for another few hours anyway.

Ruby's gonna have a field trip when she hears about this one, he thought, shaking his head. She was his best and only friend at the hospital, having made it through the gruelling years of med school with him. He had been grateful when they had landed the same job out of graduation, a small slice of familiarity in a crazy workplace. She had always been something of a mother hen to him, though. Perhaps she was just the better doctor.

Either way, there was no chance she would ever let him live this down.

After she checked all his vitals and put him on bed rest for a week, that was.

Gilbert sighed wearily, slowly rising to his feet and picking up his backpack where it lay forgotten on the ground.

He turned around, feet heading in the vague direction of his apartment. He could not wait to collapse into his bed and never wake up.

Well, at least until his next shift.

Thank you so much for reading xx