Ashes

ambition

the couple walk hand in hand down the corridor when the paramedic candidate Tara Little joins them.

"Hey, Kelly, Carter, right?" Tara asks, "yeah" kelly confirms, "we have a mutual friend, Jennifer Robinson? she tends bar at Cubby Bear" tara explains, "oh" kelly says, "she said to say hello to you two" tara explains, "okay, yeah, tell her we said hello" kelly instructs, "nice woman" carter says, "will do, It's nice to have a connection to two people here" tara nods, "yeah, it's a? it's a great group at 51" kelly muses, "I'm sure that you'll fit right in, Shay and Dawson taking good care of you?" carter asks, "yeah, I actually have some copies to go make for Dawson right now, so I'll see you later" tara explains, "sure" carter says as the woman walks away.

The squad members sit at their table on the apparatus floor each doing their own thing as mills enters the floor.

"Mills" kelly calls out, "yeah, lieutenant?" mills asks, "come here, have a seat" kelly instructs as he pulls a seat up to the table, mills sits down causing the squad members to stare at him, "don't be so hostile he's gonna be on squad soon enough" carter berates, kelly hands mills a magazine, "this is a pretty good article on the different types of cutting torches and what situations they're best for" kelly explains, "oh, cool, thanks, lieutenant"
mills nods, "how are the classes going?" carter asks, "good, they're really good, actually, I couldn't get into the vertical rescue this time around so... It's full up" mills explains, "we can do something about that" carter says, kelly takes the magazine back folding the page over as carter passes him a pen, "call Lieutenant Brunson, tell him we want you in his class" kelly instructs as he hits a number down, "great, I will" mills agrees, "good" carter confirms, the two watch as Tara balls up a piece of paper and prepares to throw it into the open trash bag, "bet you a dollar you miss that" carter taunts, "make it 2 beers" tara instructs, "deal, you're so on" carter agrees as tara throws the paper and misses the trash bag, "gee, I guess I owe you two a beer" tara says.

The next evening, carter lays on the couch with her head in kelly's lap as the duo watch a movie when a knock sounds on the apartment door causing carter to get up and answer the door coming face to face with Tara who holds up a packet of beers.

"I always hold up my end of the bet" tara says in lieu of a greeting, "very honourable of you" carter nods, "am I interrupting something?" tara asks, "no, no, come on in" carter instructs as she moves to let the woman in, "hey, Kelly" tara greets as she heads to the kitchen, "uh, hey?" kelly greets back confused, the three gather around the island talking and drinking the beers, "It was kind of a rough time when I started my E.M.T. certification, my family thought I was crazy shifting gears from design" tara recalls, "do they support you now?" carter asks, "not really, but they will as soon as I show them I can hack it, I could tell that you two didn't really remember Jennifer, that bartender I asked you about" tara points out, "no, we do, the, the blonde" kelly tries to recall, "black hair, black" tara corrects, "oh"
kelly announces, "nice try" tara teases as the trio laugh carter collects the empty bottles putting them in the trash as she heads to the fridge pulling it open in search of a certain snack, "she remembered you two, especially you, when I told her I was gonna be working at 51, she warned me about you Kelly, she said that you were just my type, that I'd have a hard time staying away" tara says, "really?" kelly asks frowning as carter turns around and watches tara, "mm-hmm" tara confirms, "she's a smart girl, that Jen" tara remarks at that moment shay enters the apartment slamming the door behind her, "what the hell, Carter, Kelly?" shay shouts, "what's wrong?" carter asks as she heads towards shay, "what's wrong? I called you both, like ten times!" shay declares angrily, "I, I must have left my phone at the gym" kelly says, "mines upstairs in kelly's room charging" carter explains, "I told you both I wanted you there for support, I'm in the window" shay says, "I" carter starts, "now the clinic's closed!" shay explains catching sight of tara, "unbelievable" shay mutters, "unbelievable!" shay shouts, "hey, we're so, look, hey! listen, Shay, I'm sorry, okay? we'll come to the clinic with you tomorrow morning, that's still in the window, isn't it?" kelly asks, "no! there's no way to be sure about that" shay argues, "I gotta ask, is this, is this you talking or is this the..." carter asks having never known shay to blow up so badly, "don't blame this on the hormones! you two can't even bother to look at your phones? you two can't even think to look at them?" shay states, "we didn't have them" kelly reasons, "supporting me after you both promised to, isn't an afterthought, Carter, Kelly" shay warns, "we know that" carter reasons, "do you? so I release you of the obligation of being my support system" shay remarks as she walks out.