ALL TOO WELL, maddie buckley

four.

hen's smile dropped as dean saw that hitting the back of his friend's head with his hand, "you're gross, sal," he told him as tommy looked at them, "see, i don't get that, she's too..brooding for me, too.."

"what, hot?"

sal looked at his friend from across the table, "maybe you're more of a team jacob kind of guy," hen looked at them from where she stood, "i don't even know what that means," tommy said as dean shakes his head, "he's insinuating that you're gay,"

sal chuckled as tommy puckered his lips up, "easy, boys," dean cleared his throat at that, "so, hen, where you from?" howie asked, "right here, in l.a,"

"seriously?" dean and howie asked, "i would have bet money that you were from the east coast, you just kind of have that vibe," hen chuckled, "hm, thank you for the compliment,"

tommy picked up his cup, "new york butch is a compliment?" howie looked at tommy, "whoa, nobody said anything like that, come on," tommy scoffed, "where, exactly in l.a, henreitta?"

"inglewood,"
"inglewood,"

their captain repeated as dean cleared his throat, "you know what, cap? uh, i've been meaning to ask you for next—" captain gerrard interrupts howie, "eight women were recruited, and three of them make it through the academy, one hundred and six stations in la," dean sipped his drink, "and we end up with one of the three, what did i do to deserve this?"

henreitta looked down, "i can make an educated guess," captain gerrard looked to the only female firefighter, "watch yourself, you know how much it costs to send a women through the academy?"

she turned to their captain, "same amount as it costs to put a man through, i imagine," she said, "eighty two thousand dollars, that's how much money taxpayers flush down the toilet with every failed female recruit,"

howie then piped up, "i don't know, i say if you can make it through the training, you've earned your place," he said to them, "is that what you're worried about? the taxpayers?"

dean knew this wasn't going well, "i'm worried about my life and putting the lives of my men in the hands of somebody who isn't up to the job," dean makes a face, "and i'm worried about that poor son of a bitch who does in a fire because you can't drag his ass out,"

dean sipped on his drink, "and this is all because the mayor wants to say that female recruitment is up," their captain proclaimed, "that is what i'm worried about,"

he pushed his back and stood up from the table walking away, as sal makes eye contact with tommy and dean motioning for them to stand up, where tommy did standing up as dean stayed sitting down.

ignoring his friend's state to him, "ok, so that was kind of ugly," howie chuckled, "listen, the captain's just old-school, it's—" henreitta looked at howie, "old isn't the word that comes to mind, look, i get what you're trying to do, but i don't need anybody carrying my load,"

dean's phone went off seeing a message from one of his recent hookups saying that they wanted to see him again, "i got to get going," he told them standing up and putting his empty cup and plate into the dishwasher.

"help!"

a women comes out of her house coming towards the siren lights that she sees, "my mom is buried, and i can't get her out, she's trapped!" dean comes towards her, "show me where your mom is,"

the girl led dean and the one eighteen firefighters towards where her mom was, "guys," their captain said, "this structure's unstable, watch yourself," kiley looked at dean, "she was buried, and i found her, but i-i couldn't get her out,"