Just Close Enough to Burn (station 19)

I Walk the Line

Dear Diary,

I got up early this morning, checked that Andy was still soundly asleep, and barged right into Maya's room. I flopped down on her bed, waking her up.

"Dude what the hell?" she exclaimed, jolted awake by Mattie's sudden presence.

Mattie looked at her sternly, "we need to talk."

Maya looked confused, partly because she had just woken up and partly because she didn't know what Mattie could be referring to.

Without hesitating, Mattie filled her in, "I saw Jack sneak out last night."

Maya's face went white and she stumbled looking for the right words to defend herself.

"Look, I didn't mean for it to happen. I certainly didn't expect it. I just.. It just... happened. And it's not gonna happen again. I swear."

Mattie wasn't convinced, "I saw the way you were looking at him on the train. This didn't just happen and you know it."

Maya shook her head not knowing what to say.

"Are you gonna tell Andy?" Mattie questioned. She knew that it wouldn't be great if Andy found out, but it would be really really bad if she found out and Maya wasn't the one who told her.

"I.. I don't know." Maya hadn't really thought that far ahead. "It was just once. It'll never happen again!"

Mattie sighed, hoping that Maya was telling the truth. "Look all I'm saying, is that if this ends up being something she needs to know and if it doesn't come from you... It's gonna be bad."

With that Mattie got up and left, closing Maya's door behind her.

After our chat I got ready for school and headed out. During lunch I got a text from Amelia: "Betty ran away from rehab. Her parents are here. They might take Leo." I texted back telling her I'd be there ASAP. I spent the rest of the day at the hospital, bouncing between Amelia and Owen, and actually observing medicine.

I caught up to Amelia on my way out and she said that she was going to go home in case Betty came back. I nodded and told her that I was around if she needed anything. As we walked out Amelia stopped me and pointing to the TV asked if that was my station. I turned to see what she was referring to and saw that the news was covering a story about an RV that crashed into station 19 and then exploded. I froze for a second before sprinting out of the hospital and down the three blocks to the station.

When I got there I could see all of the obvious structural damage to the building and an ambulance out front which made me nervous. I walked in preparing myself for the worst but found things to be surprisingly okay. Well the building wasn't, but at least no one was hurt. The team had put out the fire from the explosion and was working on dealing with the aftermath. I didn't see Andy or Maya so I went to look for them. I found Andy upstairs with a teenage girl who I later found out was the one that drove the RV into the station. Once I saw that she was fine, I went to look for Maya.

I found her in the turnout room... with a baby. I was hella confused so I just stood there trying to figure out what was going on. She was talking to the kid who couldn't have been more than 4 months old and didn't see me walk in. Her phone rang and it was Jack;  it was clear that he was saying that he didn't want what happened with them to be over. She then admitted to the baby that she didn't want it to be over either, and that she needed to tell Andy. At that point she turned the corner and saw me standing there.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, surprised and concerned that Mattie had overheard.

"Since before Jack called," Mattie admitted. "But to chime in here, I agree, you need to tell Andy. Like now."

Maya nodded in agreement, "Yeah I know. I will, tonight. I swear."

Mattie was glad to hear it; the last thing she wanted was for things to be weird between the two of them, especially considering they all live together.

"Also," Mattie said, changing the conversation, "I'm kind of offended you didn't tell me there was a baby at the station!" She scooped the baby out of Maya's arms and started bouncing him, melting in his cuteness.

I snuggled the baby for a solid half hour, taking in how much his little head smelled like love, until the social worker arrived to take him. Maya ran back to the turnout room to get him a teddy bear and we all said our goodbyes. As much as I'm not ready for kids right now, I can't wait until I am.

After they took the baby, there was still about an hour before the shift ended. Everyone went to go chill and on my way up to the beanery, I saw Vic sitting in the locker room. She looked pretty upset and I had seen Ripley leave the station looking angry a few minutes earlier. I've noticed some weird vibes between them and as crazy as it sounds I'm pretty sure they're together. As Ripley walked out Travis looked weird and almost guilty. So my theory is that Vic told Trav, but then Ripley found out he knew. I can only imagine how big of a problem that would be, especially if word got out across the department. Anyway, I went to talk to Vic to see if she was okay.

"Hey, you alright?" Mattie asked as she walked into the locker room and took a seat next to Vic.

"Yeah, fine" Vic responded, "except, well, no, not really, I don't know."

"Well I'm here if you need anything." Mattie said as she leaned back against the lockers.

Vic nodded, not knowing what to say. She couldn't really talk about it even if she had wanted to.

"I think I might know what's going on," Mattie started, and Vic looked over at her in concern, "but if I'm right, that would only make matters worse. So I'm not gonna say anything. Just know that you really can come to me if you need anything."

"Thanks," Vic said with a half hearted laugh at the insanity of the situation.

After shift, Maya, Andy, Vic, Travis, and I went out to a bar downtown. The place was dancy and fun and had surprisingly good cocktails. I followed Travis and Vic in, thinking Andy and Maya were right behind me, but they didn't make it inside for a few minutes. I was hoping that meant Maya was finally talking to Andy; after all she had promised she would tell her tonight. I looked at Maya optimistically as she and Andy walked in, but she shook her head. I sighed and went back to dancing with Travis and Vic and sipping on a whiskey ginger. Maya pulled me aside later to tell me she was planning to tell her but then Ryan showed up, clearly on a date with some other girl. I cut Maya some slack; that definitely wasn't the right time to tell Andy. I told her she should talk to her tomorrow morning, so we'll see if she does.

Anyway, we spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing. I ended up dancing with this guy who was stupid hot while my friends (creepily) watched from across the bar. At one point he went to buy me a drink and when he handed it to me I saw that his phone number was on the napkin. I tucked it into my pocket and said I'd give him a call. But that was drunk Mattie talking, we'll see how I feel in the morning.

-Mattie