Holy Ground

Triggers

"Promise me you won't yell at me?" I grinned at Buck.

He laughed shaking his head. "I'm not gonna yell at you."

"Great." I laughed as we were leaving his apartment. "I'm still working on it, by the way. I have a meeting with the Chief later this week."

"Alex I don't want you to go out on a limb for me." Buck shook his head.

"Well I guess that's too bad, because it's not the same without you." I admitted to him. "And I kind of hate it."

"Good luck, and have fun." He winked at me getting into his Jeep.

I shook my head ignoring the flush that dusted my face and headed towards the station. When the call came through I made sure to move as fast as I could.

"Everyone, please keep moving to the designated safe area." Someone directed the office people away from the building.

"My god, that's the biggest damn fire I've ever seen." Chim spoke coming to a stop next to Bobby.

"I hate fire drills." Hen scoffed as Eddie worked on opening the hydrant making me laugh and shake my head.

"City mandates we do 'em every three years." Eddie shrugged. "Can't fight city hall."

"Not entirely true." I pointed out making Hen laugh.

"First alarm was triggered at 12:20." Bobby called out. "Call came in 30 seconds later. Boots down, hoses out by 12:43."

"That's what?" Eddie asked standing up.

"Four minutes over our allotted response time." I was quick to point out.

"Ouch, that's gonna cost us some points." Chim groaned.

"Someone's gonna have to explain that to the new fire marshal." Hen commented before everyone turned to look at Bobby.

He looked at me pleadingly, making me laugh. "I'll go with you dad."

"There was a stalled bus blocking both directions on Grand." Bobby explained as I walked with him. "Vehicles couldn't clear a path, which delayed our arrival."

"And yet the 144 managed a response time in under six minutes." Buck followed after us gesturing to the other fire crew. "That's a full 17 minutes ahead of the 118."

"The 144 is five blocks away." Bobby said as I looked Buck up and down as he was busy talking to Bobby.

"I hear you, Bobby. I do, and- and- and I wanna help." Buck told him making me look up at Buck with a smile. "I gotta be impartial here, you know? Look, if I'm gonna do this kind of light duty, I gotta take it seriously, gotta be strictly by the book, just how you would want me to be."

"For what it's worth, I'm proud of you. I'm glad you didn't throw away your career, just because you had a little setback." Bobby told him.

"I learned one thing from that tsunami: it's that I don't quit. I fight." Buck informed him. "I'm gonna keep on fighting, until I get back to where I belong; with my team putting out fake fires like this one."

"You're enjoying this way too much." Bobby told him walking away.

"Be careful not to logjam at the stairwells." Buck called after him. "I'll have to.. uh."

"I think I like the outfit, and the clipboard." I grinned at him before taking off after Bobby.

"This is a fake fire. Why can't we use a fake hose?" Chin asked as Hen and I followed after him, basing Buck. "Hey, Buck, how we doing?"