F | Girl On Fire (Station 19)

ONE

'C'mon.' Travis puts his hand on her shoulder. 'I'll introduce you to everyone.' Brooklyn nods and follows him to the common area where everyone is sat around talking. 'Hey, guys.' Travis grabs everyone's attention and they all look at him. 'This is my little sister, Brooklyn.' He then introduces everyone to Brooklyn. 'As you know, when our parents died, Bryn was sent into foster care.'

'Luckily, I stayed local and my foster family have no problems with me visiting Travis.' Brooklyn asks.

'Can I ask you a question?' Andy asks Brooklyn.

'Sure.' Brooklyn nods.

'Travis calls you Bryn.' Andy starts.

'We came up with nicknames for each other when Bryn was five.' Travis says.

'What do you call Travis?' Andy questions. Brooklyn just smiles.

'As I've grown up, it has become "Trav".' Brooklyn replies. 'But when I was younger, I'd call him Travy-Bear.' She adds.

'That's a cute nickname.' Dean smirks.

'Yeah, don't even think about it, Miller.' Travis laughs. 'Anyways.' He faces Brooklyn. 'Are you going to stay for something to eat?'

'I can't.' Brooklyn shakes her head. 'Karen, Mason and I are going out for something to eat in about an hour.' She adds, looking at her phone. 'Speaking of which, I better go.'

'You only just got here.' Travis frowns.

'We're meeting up for lunch at Grant's restaurant on Sunday.' Brooklyn laughs. She then hugs him. 'It was nice to meet you all.' She smiles at everyone as she parts from Travis. They all smile and nod at her.

'I'll walk you out.' Travis tells her. They both walk back down to the reception area and out of the station. 'I'm proud of you.' He smiles. 'For coming into the station.'

'I have been in a fire station before, Trav.' Brooklyn raises an eyebrow.

'Yeah, but not since-' He starts to say but trails off when he sees her look to the ground. He puts his hand on her shoulder. 'I mean it, I'm proud of you.' He brings her in for another hug and kisses the top of her head. 'I love you.'

'Love you too.' Brooklyn grins as they part. 'Bye.'

'Bye.' Travis smiles back. Brooklyn turns and walks away.

.

Brooklyn walks into her foster home. She drops her keys into the bowl on the table by the door and walks through to the front room where Karen and Mason are.

'Where have you been?' Karen questions.

'I went to see Travis.' Brooklyn replies.

'You went to the fire station?' Mason raises his eyebrow.

'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods. 'I thought it was about time that I do. I can't run forever.'

'That's good.' Mason smiles, nodding. He looks at the clock on the wall and then back at Brooklyn. 'We'll be leaving to go to lunch in about half an hour.'

'Okay.' Brooklyn nods. 'I'm going to go upstairs for a bit. Get some school work done before we go.' She then walks upstairs to her room, takes out her notepad from her desk drawer and gets a pen from her pen pot before sitting cross-legged on her bed and starting a plan for her music assignment - she has to write a song based on the theme of female empowerment. After 25 minutes, Mason pops his head into her room.

'You ready?' He asks.

'Yeah.' She nods. She puts her notebook down, placing her pen on top and gets off her bed. She puts her jacket on and follows Mason down the stairs.

.

Mason, Karen and Brooklyn walk into a diner and sit down at a table.

'What are you having?' Karen looks at Brooklyn. Brooklyn skims through the menu.

'I'll have the Mexican Penne with Avocado.' Brooklyn looks up.

'What drink?' Mason asks.

'Soda.' Brooklyn replies. Mason and Karen nod, stand up and walk up to the counter to order. A few minutes later they return. Mason places the glass of soda in front of Brooklyn and Karen places the two mugs of coffee for herself and Mason down. 'Thanks.' She smiles.

'We need to have a talk.' Mason tells Brooklyn.

'About what?' Brooklyn asks.

'We got a call from your school.' Karen says. 'They said that you've been having problems with a group of girls.'

'I'm dealing with it.' Brooklyn looks down.

'Brooklyn, you know that you can talk to us about anything, right?' Mason questions.

'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods, not looking up.

'Then talk to us.' Mason states.

'Like I said.' Brooklyn looks back up. 'I'm dealing with it. I'd rather not talk about it anymore.'

'Brooklyn-' Karen starts.

'Please.' Brooklyn says. 'I don't want to talk about it.'

.

An hour later, Brooklyn, Mason and Karen are finished with their lunch. They pay the bill and walk out.

'Are you going to come home with us or stay out?' Mason asks Brooklyn.

'I'm going to stay out.' Brooklyn tells them.

'Have you got your keys?' Karen queries.

'Yeah.' She nods.

'Don't be too late.' Mason tells her.

'I won't.' She nods again before walking off.

.

A couple of hours later, Brooklyn is waking through Lincoln Park. Tears start to collect in her eyes. As she's wiping her tears, she bumps into someone.

'Sorry.' She steps back. Officer Ryan Tanner turns around to face.

'It's okay.' Ryan smiles. He then sees her shiny cheeks and puffy eyes. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah.' Brooklyn nods. 'I'm fine. Just had a rough week that's all.' Ryan looks at her, knowing that something isn't right. 'Again, I'm so sorry.' She goes to walk off.

'Hey.' Ryan stops her and she turns back to face him.

'Brooklyn.' Brooklyn tells him her name.

'Brooklyn.' Ryan nods, getting a business card out of his coat pocket. 'This is my number.' He holds out the card. 'If you ever find yourself in any kind of trouble or if you just want to talk, call me.' Brooklyn takes the card.

'Thanks.' Brooklyn smiles slightly before continuing with her walk leaving Ryan to worry about the young girl.

~~

So I rewrote the ending of this chapter because I didn't like the original ending and was a bit too "fast"! I like this ending better and I hope you do too!

Let me know what you think!

Much love