Emilia gathered her hair in her hand, pulling it into a tight ponytail before twirling it into a slightly messy bun. She put on her OOU (out of uniform) clothes, preparing to spend 2 days away from her comfortable apartment, and girlfriend, and bunk with 4 other of her colleagues. Don't get her wrong, she loved her job, everything and more about it.
She had her dream job:
A firefighter for the esteemed FDNY. She was steady on track to become a driver engineer, and then a lieutenant, eventually making chief. However, as much as she loved her job, her coworkers made her job 100 times better. Emilia was the squad mom, always making sure everyone had eaten, or slept enough, often sacrificing her own comfort for others. She would die if it wasn't her for her girlfriend looking after her. Okay, maybe not die, but end up in the hospital because of severe dehydration or something.
Her girlfriend, Rosa Diaz, was a detective at the 99th police precinct of the NYPD. And it was because of that not-so-small detail that none of her co-workers had ever met her, despite their pestering questions.
See, if there was one thing that Emilia did not understand, it was the rivalry between the NYPD and the FDNY. They worked towards the same thing: keeping civilians safe. Simply in different ways. And, if we're being completely honest, people liked firefighters better anyways.
She groaned when the timer she set on her phone an hour ago rang. Time to go. Shooting a quick text to Rosa to remind her I won't be home later, I grab my bag and my keys and go.
She set out into the horrible Brooklyn traffic, honking her horn at the people in front of her when they get too slow.
She parked in the parking garage a block from the fire station, walking the rest of the way. She made it in at 5:15, right on time
"Emilia!" Leo, her coworker, yells running towards Emilia. He's a small guy compared to the rest of the male firefighters, but he's still very strong, making the hug he gives her feel like he just replaced her spine with a bag of rocks.
"The one and only," She said, pulling herself out of the bear hug. "What's going on?" She asks, moving to set her bag down on the ground, making a mental note to put it in her locker later.
"They," Leo says, pointing to our other coworker, Wyatt, "Said that the best fantasy book series is Harry Potter, when they know that Percy Jackson is much better than an entire book series featuring Harry "You're a wizard," Potter." He says, dramatically falling into my arms when he finished his miniature rant.
"No," Wyatt says, rolling their eyes, "I said, 'I think the Harry Potter books were pretty good too,' However you processed that is your own fault."
"You know what? Let's go right now." Leo says, walking towards Wyatt.
"Or, we can help Emilia put up her stuff?" Emilia asks, pulling up her bag and walking to the locker room.
"Ugh, I'm telling the chief that you're using us for manual labor." Leo says, but walks behind Emilia, stopping at the locker room door, waiting for Emilia to give him the all clear.
"One, manual labor is pretty much our entire job, and two, come on," Emilia says, after doing a quick sweep of the small womens locker room.
Leo enters, looking cautiously around the locker room.
"I'm going to sit here," Leo says, pointing to a spot a few feet away from Emilia, "Until you let me eat the snacks I saw in that bag last week."
"It's been a week. I guarantee you, those snacks are gone.I tend not to keep food in my bags because, rats. "
"Ugh fine." Leo walks out of the locker room, slamming the door shut the exact moment the power goes out.
Emilia, stuffing stuff into her locker, curses loudly and slams it shut. She pulls her phone out of her pocket, and turns on her flashlight, using the low light to get out of the locker room.
