Us & Them| OT7

23. Normal(ish) Again

Amber yawned while looking at the plain analog clock hanging on the wall of the break room that read 3am. Four more hours of her double shift and she'd be free to sleep for the next 3 days if she wanted to. She was fixing another cup of coffee since her midnight caffeine boost had worn off and time was dragging slower than a sloth covered in molasses.

"Can your mouth open any bigger? Jeez."

"Shut up Mason I've been here since 2pm" she said without looking up from stirring.

"Dang, here til 7?" She nodded then gulped down half of the cup of coffee. "Has it been crazy?"

"Not really, the ED was packed from like 8 through midnight but it's been chill since, if there's gonna be another peak, I'd expect it at like 4 or 5. You work Christmas?"

"I was supposed to, but Karlene swapped with me for new year's so I'm off the 24th-26th. You?" The hunky man with two muscular arms full of tattoos also fixed himself a strong cup of coffee.

"Nice. My rotation gives me Christmas this year so I'm off for New Year's weekend, was thinking about driving up to see some friends in Chicago."

"That could be fun. My folks are flying down to see us this year so I'm glad things worked out this way so now I can actually see them and spend time together. They kids are super excited."

"Aww, that's great Mason" Amber felt her phone buzz in her pocket and checked her Apple watch to see a text from Yoonig "I gotta make a call."

"Mm." he nodded after sipping from his cup "I'm headed to my station, I'm covering for CT2 in the pediatric hospital."

"Okay, I might see you before I leave- I'm doing a newborn brain MRI at 6am" his face scrunched in confusion because she didn't normally float to pediatric imaging "Pellmon pulled a muscle in his back and left a couple hours ago and I'm the only other tech able to perform newborn MRIs until shift change."

"Ahh okay." They bumped fist and he exited the break room.

Amber pulled her phone from her pocket and read the text from Yoongi. She playfully rolled her eyes and opted to call him instead of texting back.

"Aren't you at work?" he asked upon answering.

"Well damn, hello to you too" she scoffed.

"Sorry! Hey Amber, how's your shift going?"

"Hi Yoon, it's fine, thanks for asking" Amber leaned back against the counter "So what's up?"

"I heard you're going to be off for the first of the year so I'm hoping I can see you and Niya then. I'll be in America for bit" she could hear the hope and longing in his voice. She missed him just as much as the others, they haven't seen each other in person since the day Janiya and Amber left Korea.

"That might be doable" what Yoongi didn't know was that she already knew he was coming to the states for two weeks after Christmas- thanks to Iseol via Jin. "Since I'm working Christmas eve and day, me and honey bun decided to do a little getaway to Illinois for NYE."

"Are you gonna be near Chicago?!" He exploded with excitement; Amber couldn't help giggling "I'm gonna be then for a few days. Holy shit, okay send me your itinerary and I will make some time in my schedule to meet up with you. I miss you both so much and I hate that I couldn't make it for Janiya's birthday."

"We miss you too... There's also something I want to talk to you about and I want to do it in person so that will work out perfectly. Don't worry it's nothing bad but it is pretty serious" he simply hummed in response, obviously in thought as to what the topic of conversation would be. "I gotta get back to work so I'll call you later."