Madison (Maddy) Briggs is from Manhattan, New York. She was in 3rd grade, just 8 years old, when the World Trade Centers fell on September 11th, 2001. Her dad was a firefighter, and his station was one of the first on scene that day.
Her dad, Larry...
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Friday rolled around, and Maddy was still having to use her rescue inhaler way more than she would have liked. She swallowed her pride and made a last minute appointment with a pulmonologist, Doctor Venetia Tresa, at her hospital. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey doc, thanks for seeing me on a Friday.. cause I know you hardly take patients on Fridays... but my lungs kinda sound like ass, so I.. want to them looked at. Since I did take in a good amount of smoke from the fire at my friends' TK and Carlos's house..." Maddy cleared her throat.
"It's no trouble Madison. I save Fridays for urgent or run-over patients, you're technically neither, BUT I don't want you to become one of my emergency's. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am. Thanks." Maddy blushed slightly. "I don't think anything is seriously wrong, but that's why I'm here, so you can check for sure."
"Good, good. Let's have a look." The Doctor said as she started to go over Maddy's.. extensive, medical history with her before she started her exam.
"Okay, have you been using your nebulizer and rescuer inhaler?"
"I only use my nebulizer when I really have a bad day. But I've been using my rescue way more than I would like these past weeks.." Maddy chuckled lightly.
"Well... that might change. Breathe in.. and out."
"Dammit.."
"Okay. So now that that's done. Yes, you need to be using your nebulizer daily. Either before work or before bed, but you must use it one of those times. Every. Day. Yes?"
"Yes ma'am.."
"Good. You'll be fine. So for the next 10 days, I want you using your nebulizer with Pulmicort— will help with the inflammation, then after those 10 days, you will be using it with albuterol. Okay?"
"Yes.. okay. But with the albuterol.. for how long?"
"Well I would say indefinitely, but I know you're going to hate that. So how about we do a progress check a year from now and see how you're doing, and go from there?"
"Works for me Doctor, thanks!" ———————————————————————— Maddy started her Saturday off with her first round of nebulizer treatments— 10 day steroid cycle. Being stuck to a device for 15 minutes wasn't exactly what she had in mind for breakfast, but she was doing it none the less.
While she might not have asked for help often, or let injuries get some rest time, there are several body parts she's terrified of damaging— her head/brain, lungs, and eyes. Injuring those would be Maddy's last straw at being her normal, stubborn self, so she was extra cautious when it came to them; so she was taking her nebulizer treatment seriously.
When Maddy finished her first of 10-days worth of intense nebulizer treatments, she started to make herself breakfast. She also shot a quick text to Doctor Seabreeze, asking if she had time to fit Maddy in today— she still hadn't talked to her about the Tommy - Charles situation, but wanted, and needed to.
Doctor Seabreeze responded positively and said that she'd be more than happy to have a quick virtual session with Maddy. 'Of course Maddy, I always have time for you.'
'Great, thank you! You're my favorite! How does 11:00 this morning work for you?'
'Good for me.'
"Okay. I'm ready, sorry for the delay! Had to take care of my cats quickly!"
"No trouble Maddy. So what do you need to talk about?"
"Oh boy.. okay soooo....."
Maddy rambled on about what happened and Tommy, and Charles, and asked for advice on what to do with that information or how to handle it.
"So now that you told someone, the best thing to do is just be there for Captain Vega, let her know that. Support her, and let her know that she has an awesome support system."
"You got it doc. I can do that! She knows I'm here for her, but I'll definitely keep telling her that! Might see if she needs me to go over and occupy her girls or anything too!"
"That's a great idea! So can you meet with me again next Friday?"
"Yep! I'm off Fridays again, but I run to the store, so I'll give you a time later this week!"
"Sorry I didn't call first.. but I just wanted to drop by and see what y'all were up to.."
"You don't have to call! But we're just doing some spring cleaning of the station. Wanna watch?"
"I'll do you one better, I'll help." Maddy winked. She followed the crew around aimlessly, watching them clean out the rigs and mop the floors. Maddy wanted to help, but she had a far better time watching, and playing with Buttercup, as she always did.
As she was sitting on the ground of the station garage, the alarm went off alerting the 126 to a call. "Be safe!" Maddy called. They all quickly got dressed, and headed out to save lives, leaving Maddy alone in the house. She got up and walked over to the lockers— Marjan and Mateo were in the middle of cleaning them when the call came through.
Maddy noticed that Tim's locker remained seemingly untouched; his nameplate was still on top the door, and his EMT headshot was still affixed to the back of the metal locker. Maddy felt the tears beginning to build as she took it in, but they left her eyes when she felt Buttercup brush up against her.
Maddy removed Tim's name tag and photo from the locker, and carefully placed them in her bag. Now it was Mateo's locker, officially. ———————————————————————— The crew arrived back after their call to find the rest of the firehouse cleaned and organized (aside from the bus and rigs, for obvious reasons). They were confused to see that Maddy wasn't around, until they saw the note she left on the whiteboard in the back of the garage.
'I love you all so much. Got bored while y'all were being heroes, so I finished your spring cleaning. Also.. I finally cleared out the rest of Tim's personals.. it's officially yours Mateo. I ran a quick errand. I'll be back tomorrow <3.'
The note left a warm feeling in their stomachs, and brought tears to some eyes. TK was the only one who knew where she went... to 'visit' Tim again.
