From Intern to Family | 9-1-1 Fanfic

Chapter 21

My head snapped to the door as I heard a small rumble, which made my stomach twist. The phone in my pocket began buzzing and I swiftly pulled it out.

"Are you okay?" Bobby questioned and I hummed an affirmative.

"The ladder is going to take too long to get back up to me, isn't it?" I asked, my voice quiet. Bobby didn't reply to my question, but his silence was answer enough. I felt my body tremor and for the first time in a while, I was genuinely afraid.

I grabbed the four backpacks laying on the floor and threw them out the window so they landed in the grass.

"Don't give up on me now, Cooper. All that stubbornness must still be in there. We're going to get you, okay? We'd never let anything happen to you." He promised. I felt warm at both the heat and the man's words. It felt so familial and I couldn't help the small tear that rolled down my cheek.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Cap." I whispered. I didn't give him the chance to answer, instead ending the call and digging the device back into my pocket.

I ignored it buzzing away as I ducked under my bed. My own backpack sat there, innocently staring back at me. I had moved it under here last night, as a promise to myself that I would leave. As you can tell, I never did (I was a coward, really).

The bag was strapped to my person in quick succession. Despite the towels at the door, smoke had begun floating into the room a few minutes ago. I had tried to ignore it before and let myself be naive to the inevitable, but it couldn't be ignored now.

Every inch of the ceiling was layered with grey and I knocked the window back open. The ladder had only just made it back down and Buck had to release the kids safely before he made his way back up to me.

"Cooper!" Someone yelled and I turned my head to see Hen and Chim waving.

They pointed to the front of the house, "The balcony! Do you think you can get to the balcony?" Hen yelled and I paused in shock.

The two adults shared the room opposite mine and, as well as an en-suite, it included a balcony too. How did I not think of that before? I gave them a thumbs up and ducked back into the room.

I moved the towels from the ground and I balled them around my hand to protect it from the hot door handle. I pulled at the handle and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the flames that snapped at me.

As the saying goes, if you can't go under it, around it or over it; go through it. I snatched one of the other towels from the ground and tied it around the lower half of my face in an attempt to block out some of the smoke.

I squinted at the fire and spotted the open door opposite mine. Unfortunately, the fire had already began tearing up the room. But, I could spot the door to the balcony opposite me and I could see the ladder hooked to the top of it.

Hen and Chim were making their way up, I just had to meet them halfway. So, I did the (arguably) dumbest thing I have ever done in my life.

I ran through the fire.

My head tucked itself into my chest and I darted forward, feeling the heat picking at my skin and curling angrily around my body. The firefighter twins appeared in the room on the other side, immediately grabbing me when I was in reach.

I collapsed into their arms, as they harshly batted my body. They were patting out the flames, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. I was quickly dragged out to the balcony and carried down the ladder, where paramedics rushed to guide me to their ambulance.

In all the chaos, I hadn't realised there was now another ambulance and two police cars. I was even more surprised to find one of the police officers was Athena, who wasted no time running over.

They tried to push me on to the stretcher, but struggled with my continuous fighting. I saw one of the adults shouting at Zara and something in me snapped when he grabbed her arm.

I barged past the paramedics and anyone else who tried to stop me, instead stumbling over to the scene. My arms, with all the strength I had left, pushed full-force into the man and I watched as he tumbled to the side.

Zara grabbed on to the back of my t-shirt, sobbing into as she took cover behind me. "Don't touch her!" I yelled, unwavering as the man went nose-to-nose with me.

Athena and some of the others rushed over, trying to make sense of the scene. "I want her in prison! She burned down my house!" He howled and I glared.

"It was an accident, she's a kid! Maybe if you weren't yelling at her she wouldn't have bumped into the candles!" I yelled, only to be pulled away by Eddie and Buck. The rest of the team gathered around me and Zara as the police officers tried to calm the man down.

Athena held up her hand, "Can someone explain what's going on? Are these your kids, sir?" She questioned angrily, disliking how he spoke to us.

"These are no children of mine! My wife and I are their foster parents, but not now! I want to file a police report on that devil and the boy!" He was enraged, jabbing his finger in our direction.

My heart sunk into my stomach as I turned to look at the team. They all stared down at me in shock, processing the words that were just released into the air.

"You're a foster kid?" Eddie whispered, barely audible from his shock. I couldn't help the tears welling in my eyes as the news was finally revealed.

The reason behind all of the misfortune and bad behaviour in my past. All of the objection to care and love, it now made sense to them all.

I'm a foster kid.

I turned away from the team, instead choosing to focus on one problem at a time. My body darted beside Athena, leering towards my foster parent. "If you even think about filing a report, I'll tell everyone about you and your wife. You know I've got the evidence to prove it." I hissed.

His face turned pale abruptly as he stuttered to think of a rebuttal. Athena's attention snapped back to me as she gestured for her colleagues to escort the man away.

"Check my bag." I stated, instead of allowing her to question what I was talking about.

She paused, before shaking her head. "That doesn't matter for now. What matters is getting you the medical attention you need, then we can talk about all of this. Together." Athena assured, always knowing what to do in these situations.

Hen softly guided me back to the ambulance and I allowed myself to be forced on to the stretcher this time. I was in the firehouse's ambulance and I could only assume that the team wanted to deal with my injuries themselves.

"I'm taking him to the hospital, you guys can finish up and meet us there." Hen ordered, leaving no room for arguments.

My eyes stared ahead at the team who were all gathered at the back of the ambulance. A lump grew in my throat as the doors closed and they were ripped from my sight.

Hen didn't speak as Chim drove the vehicle, instead choosing to begin treating my injuries. I laid my head back on the seat and closed my eyes to stop the tears from rolling down my face. I hated people seeing me cry, after all.

The truth was out now. The people I had wanted to protect from my train wreck of a life, now knew one of the worst parts of me. Well, that's how I viewed it anyway.

I'm a foster kid. Nobody wants a foster kid.

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Two updates in one day? That's almost unheard of (I'm trying to make up for my lack of frequent updates in the last month).

Finally! This is part one of the big secret/twist I wanted in the story and I hope you like how it's turned out.

Please let me know thoughts/feelings/tips!

Thank you for all the support, I really do appreciate it! :)