Chapter Three
"Captain Herrera." Andy heard her name being called and was surprised it was Chief Ross. "I need you in the beanery. Now." Andy nodded and nearly ran up the stairs. When she stepped into the beanery, she saw the rest of A shift there and gulped. What the hell is this? Andy asked herself.
"Alright, not that the captain is here, anyone want to tell me how the hell she ended up hurt and why she was in the house by herself? Without a partner?"
Oh shit.
Andy looks at Theo and back to Chief Ross. Not wanting to rat out her teammate, she spoke up. "Chief, it was my mistake- "
Andy got cut off by Vic, "-No."
"What do you mean "no" Hughes?" Chief Ross asked, crossing her arms. "What happened?"
Andy spoke up, "Ruiz wasn't answering on his radio, and I got worried, I went back in only to find out he was already on his way out of the house."
"Was his radio on?" Ross asked.
"Yes, it was. I still don't know why he didn't answer."
Ross turns to Ruiz and sees him looking down. "Ruiz?" Ruiz looks up, a guilty expression on his face. "What happened today?"
"We were split up, once we got everyone out of the house, we were making our way out, I was almost out when Herrera radioed me, asking where I was and if I was out of the house and I ignored her." Ruiz sighed and turned to Andy, "I'm sorry, Captain Herrera. I should've done better, and I should've responded."
Ross looked pissed. "Ruiz, you're suspended until further notice. But right now, I want to know why you were ignoring your captain."
Ruiz looked down again and was silent.
"Ruiz, I need to know what caused this to happen. It'll make this easier. So, I'll ask once more. What the hell led to this?"
Ruiz cleared his throat. "I- "
Andy interrupted, "It's not important Chief, I should have better control over my team."
Vic scoffs.
"Something to add to the conversation, Hughes?"
"Ruiz and I got into a fight at the firefighter ball and things between us ended messily, it carried into the house when Andy told Ruiz that she had overheard the fight." Vic paused and looked at Andy. "Herrera called him out when she got back from a call where he went rogue earlier in the day and they got into a fight and the whole house ended up hearing about what happened."
Ross rubbed her forehead, clearly getting madder as the conversation was going on. "Hughes, Herrera, can you work with him?" Ross sees Vic and Andy look at each other. "It's a simple "yes" or "no". So just answer."
Vic looks down so Andy answers, "I asked Hughes about this earlier and she said no. Ruiz has become like family but with his recent actions, I don't think we can." Andy saw Ross about to speak but raised her hand, stopping her. "I think he deserves another chance though Chief Ross."
"Anyone else feel the same?" Ross looks around the room and sees Robert, Maya and Ben raise their hands. Ross nods. "Alright, Ruiz, you're on suspension for a week and then you will be allowed to come back. It's your last chance and you will be watched carefully. Understood, lieutenant?"
"Understood," Theo nodded. "And I'm sorry, Captain Herrera. It won't happen again."
"It better not," Ross told him. "You'll finish the shift being on desk duty so whoever was scheduled for desk, switch to where Ruiz was." Ross looked around the room. "I get that getting a new captain can be challenging for all of you, but you need to start respecting her, okay?" She watched 'A' shift nod. "Good. Now get back to work everyone." Ross then walked out of the room.
Everyone started to walk out of the room when Andy spoke up. "Everyone sit down."
"What now?"
Andy shakes her head at Jack's attitude. "What now? Everyone sit down. Now." Andy asked again and this time they sat down. "Ruiz, I need to talk to you privately so please, wait in my office. I'll be down in a few minutes." Theo nods and gets up, not wanting to second guess her right now, knowing he was in enough trouble.
Once Theo leaves, Andy walks to one of the drawers in the kitchen and grabs some pieces of paper. "I know I just told Chief Ross I was fine with Theo staying, but I need to know about the rest of you, so I want you all to write "yes" or "no" to Theo staying at 19." Everyone nods and Andy passes out the paper and pens.
Everyone writes down their answer and then puts their card in the middle of the table. Andy picks them up, shuffles them and then reads out the results. "Alright, I know this seems like a silly way to do this, but we need to make a decision as a group and this way no one gets judged on their answer." Everyone nods. "Alright, let's start. We have a yes, no, yes, yes, no," Andy looks around the room, "and lastly, we have a no. Alright, so that's four "no" and three "yes"" She looked up "Damn."
"I thought you wanted him gone, Andy. Why the sudden change of heart?" Maya asked, a confused expression on her face.
"He has become like family. When I was at station 23, he was my only friend and someone I trusted with my life, and I believe we can get back to that." Andy told her, running a hand over her hair. "Everyone go clean and re-stock the trucks, please. I need to have a word with Lieutenant Ruiz." Andy asked and everyone got up from the table and walked past Andy, no more words said.
Andy sighed and walked out of the beanery and down the stairs to her office. Andy walked in and saw Theo pacing. "Ruiz," Andy called, getting Theo's attention. "Sit down. Let's chat."
Trying to update my stories as fast as I can. Going to be getting more busy with a second job and my last year of college soon though.
