#matt czuchry imagines

Here is a second one for all the Conrad Hawkins fans out there ☺️

Feedback is always welcome: HATE IS NOT ✨

“A Different Kind of Battlefield”

Conrad Hawkins x Female Reader

Warnings - Slight angst, emotional and physical burnout. Happy ending

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The third cup of coffee I put into my system 2 hours ago was beginning to disappear. Great. Even caffeine is struggling to keep my body going. My mind feels like I am on auto-pilot as it is.

Unfortunately for me, this was just a regular occurrence since Red Rock Mountain Medical made their way onto Chastain grounds. Budget cuts, longer hours and loss of staff are just some of the reasons why I am basically pulling triple shifts.

There isn’t enough nurses to keep this place running like it should. Not that the people higher up the chain care; with their dapper clothing, fancy sports cars and the ability to do whatever they want despite the affect on others.

Scratching at my eyes to force them open, I take a deep breath and continue down the hallway.

Nic passes me and by the look she is giving me I know exactly what is going to come out of her mouth.

I quickly raise my hand and shake my head towards her just as her pager begins to beep.

“I am fine Nic, seriously. Go, your patients need you”

I was in fact not fine, but it wasn’t like choice in the matter.

It was incredibly overwhelming, and I needed somewhere quiet. I needed to collect myself, just for five minutes. I quickly found myself in the nearest supply closet. I embraced the darkness and slid down the wall, welcoming the coolness from the floor and forced my head between knees in an effort to control my breathing.

I wasn’t aware of how long I stayed in that position, but I was startled when the door opens swiftly. I scramble from the floor and straighten out my uniform. The door clicked shut smoothly and I look up to see my boyfriend and third year resident, Conrad Hawkins.

He stood there for a moment taking in my dishevelled appearance; the dark circles under my eyes, creased uniform with a coffee stain down the front and the nest forming on top of my head which is currently passing as hair… barely.

“You look like hell” he concludes, his voice low, but soft.

I let out strangled laugh, “Thanks”

Tears of stress and tiredness well up in my eyes and I didn’t have the strength to stop them. Conrad immediately surges forward, catching me as I slide back down the wall of the closet, my body too weak to be currently supporting me.

My head rests in his lap as he hold me tightly. I sob and sob till I couldn’t anymore.

“It’s okay, I’m here, I got you” he repeats these affirmations continually as I finally release the horded emotion that I stored over the last few weeks.

He wipes the tears away from my face, no matter how many times they fall as I clutch onto any part of him that I could reach, desperate for comfort and that feeling of safety he provides.

My body finally relaxes, and I am able to look up to the man holding me. Conrad’s eyes were filled with a mixture of love and sympathy.

My voice is raw, and I struggle to get my next words out.

“Why… why do they do this to us?”

He leans down to kiss my forehead. I breath him in, before he pulls back to answer.

“It is a broken system; we just have to keep fighting to change it”

Oh, I knew it was a broken system all right, Chastain being one of the worst with situations like former Doctor Lane Hunter and the likes QuoVadis.

‘A different kind of battlefield’ Conrad called it.

“We can do this baby; we can make a change” He whispers as he fiddles with free pieces of my hair.

“I am not saying we can’t but it’s draining, I mean just look at me” My bottom lip trembles once more, threating another onslaught of tears.

“Shh, Shh, it’s going to be just fine. I promise.” Conrad’s grip tightens on me as he cradles me in his lap, swaying back and forth ever so slightly.

I stay there, listening to the sounds of my heart as the rhythm slowly returns back to normal. It was then I realised that I couldn’t fight the sleep I desperately needed anymore.

When I find myself next awake, I am between the plump cotton sheets of my bed… with an unforgiving headache.

I groan and force myself into a sitting position, to see Conrad ready with a glass of water and aspirin. I take them gratefully.

Conrad glides into the right side of the bed, planting a kiss on me before asking how I feel.

I give him a small smile “Better. Thank you”

I lean my forehead against his, we stay there for a moment before he speaks up again.

“Nic helped me get you home. We are both going to Bell in the morning. The hospital needs more nurses.”

I lay back down, cuddling into him. I looked at him with such great admiration and love. I don’t know what I would without him, or Nic for that matter.

“You are a great man Hawkins”

He just laughs wraps his arm around my waist.

“Go back to sleep Y/N. I will be here when you wake up”