Extinguished

~3~ Knucklehead

"HE DID WHAT?!?" Taylor asks, raising his voice and putting his hands on his hips.

Well, apparently Taylor is gonna do the screaming for me.

"I've gotta go get him. He's suspended for a week, and there's talk of pressing charges for theft."

Taylor pinches the bridge of his nose between his pointer finger and thumb, and lets out a breath.

"Let's go!" He says as he yanks the door open.

"Go where?" I ask, confused. We're both on shift. We both can't leave to get him. What if we get a call?

"To go get our knucklehead!"

The way he said "our" makes my stomach tighten. He really thinks of Liam as his own kid. That makes a mother's heart so happy.

"Chief, we're taking squad and rig out for a bit to pick up Liam. We'll have our radios on if a call comes in," he says over his shoulder to Chief.

Chief just nods, smiling as he shakes his head.

To my left, I see Jessica watching the exchange with a scowl on her face. Apparently she had no idea that Preston was involved with someone at the firehouse, and she isn't happy at all.

"Squad, let's go for a ride! Fields, you and Freeman too!" Taylor orders.

His crew, along with Megan, jumps up immediately and we all head out to the high school.

Once we get there, Taylor jumps out of squad, and I jump out of the rig. We walk into the school, silently, both of us inwardly fuming.

As we go in and head to the principal's office, we see Liam waiting in the hallway. Before I can say anything, Taylor speaks.

"You and I are gonna be having a discussion in a bit, young man," he threatens quietly. His voice is so low, it sounds menacing.

Liam puts his head down. He absolutely HATES when Taylor's mad at him. That's almost worse for him than the punishment itself. They're best friends; They never fight. If I'm being totally honest, I think he prefers spending his time with Taylor over Alex and me.

The three of us head inside, and sit down in the chairs in front of the principal's desk.

Principal Monroe is a scary man—I wouldn't wanna cross him. I'm particularly not wanting to be sitting here, as he looks at me, silently judging. What kind of parent raises their son to steal a car? This one right here, apparently.

He starts going into his spiel about how disappointed he is, and how he cannot let such a horrible offense be taken lightly...How Liam should be ashamed of himself.

Just then our radios go off. We both realize at the exact moment that it isn't anything that pertains to us, so we silence them.

"Sorry," Taylor says. "We're both still on call."

The principal continues his rampage, throwing backhanded insults our way. We just continue to sit there, and take it. We're both getting madder by the moment.

"Fortunately for you, Mr. Clark, your dad has called and spoken to me. The school will not be pressing charges. You can thank your daddy cop for that,"Principal Monroe says, glaring daggers at all of us.

That didn't surprise me. Although in this instance I'm grateful, Alex is really good at getting Liam out of trouble.

"Sir, I can assure you that I will PERSONALLY see to Liam's punishment. He will NOT be getting away with this," Taylor says darkly.

Taylor's had enough; He isn't going to sit here anymore and listen to this man's rampage. He stands up, apologizes to him again, grabs Liam by the arm, and pulls him out of the office.

We silently walk to the trucks, and Taylor just simply pushes Liam into squad and slams the door. He opens the passenger side and starts to get in....then he pauses as he looks at me.

"See you at the station," he smiles softly.

We get back and get pulled into the bay. I get out and head over to squad—Liam and Taylor are already headed for the offices.

DING
Engine 20, Truck 80, Squad 10, Ambulance 20, possible drowning, 1320 Adams Parkway

Taylor stops walking and instead, shoves Liam down roughly into a chair at the squad table.

He gets down to his level and points a finger in his face "You do not move from this table, do you understand me?" Taylor asks, through gritted teeth.

"Yes sir," Liam says without making eye contact.

Without another word Taylor turns and makes a mad dash to the squad truck, making up the two seconds he wasted.