BURNED - A Chicago Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Seven

The firehouse was bigger than Ladder 15 and a lot more people seemed to work here. Inside the garage, two large firetrucks and an ambulance sat vacant and freshly cleaned. On the ground in front of them were two men who were playing what appeared to be Gin Rummy. I took in a nervous breath and approached them.

"Excuse me?" I spoke up, but they didn't pay me any attention. "Hi, I'm—"

"Squad table," the skinny man deadpanned as he laid down a three, four, and five of hearts.

"Uhh..." without a word, the two men pointed over their shoulders to a table where a couple of guys were sitting quietly, one on his phone and the other reading the paper. "Okay...thanks."

"Jack, queen, and king," the stocky man laughed triumphantly.

"The hell you talking about?" The skinny man snapped. "You can't play that hand!"

"But I did," the stocky man chuckled.

"You did, but you can't!"

"And why's that?"

"Your queen is a club, not a damn spade!" The stocky man pulled out his glasses and looked the cards over.

"Oh..."

"Christ," the skinny man scoffed. I slowly walked over to the squad table and cleared my throat.

"Hey," I smiled. "I'm—"

"It's about time you got here," one man grumbled as he folded his newspaper. This man was a very good looking man who appeared to be around my age with a tiny gap between his front teeth was exposed when he talked. It was...oddly adorable.

"I'm sorry?" I asked with confusion as I checked my watch.

"I called you hours ago." I began to reach into my pocket to check my phone when the man stood up and scoffed. "Forget about it now. Follow me." I hesitated for a moment, still confused at the interaction, but finally followed him into the firehouse. He didn't say a word to me, just led me down a hallway and into a room that appeared to be where they took role call and debriefed for the day. The man shut the door behind me and turned to face me.

"Sir, I don't think—" I began to protest.

"I don't want anyone to hear." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small roll of cash and held it out to me.

"I, uh...I don't understand."

"They said you needed a down payment to hold the date."

"The date?" The man sighed with frustration.

"Yes, the date. Did they not tell you? We're throwing our friend Mouch a birthday party at Mollys?" The door suddenly opened and a tall black man entered the room. I instantly noticed the bugles on his uniform shirt, realizing he was Chief Boden, and sighed with relief

"What's going on here?" Chief Boden asked.

"It's fine, Chief," the man reassured. "I just called the place to send the stripper over to get the down payment." My blood instantly began to boil and my fist clenched around my bag strap.

" STRIPPER?" I snarled. The man instantly looked confused and angry at the same time.

"Can you not shout? You'll ruin the surprise."

"Oh, I'll give you a damn surprise! It's my foot up your goddamn ass!"

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, Severide?" Chief Boden slightly smirked. "She's not a stripper."

"S-She's not?"

"No...she's our new candidate." Severide's eyes instantly widened as he turned back to me.