miracles
The following few weeks have been eventful. Maddie's ex-husband Doug found her before she could send the divorce papers. He stalked the woman, stabbed Chimney, and then kidnapped her the night of the latter's first date. Buck was the one to discover the man bleeding out in front of the apartment complex, eventually realizing his older sister was taken. Josephine and the rest of the members of the 118 gathered in the waiting room upon the news about Chimney. While Buck and Athena worked against time tracking down Maddie and Doug. Those long dreadful hours at the hospital found its light at the end of the tunnel when Chimney made it out of surgery and Maddie was alive and safe.
A week later, Isabel gone into surgery for the brain tumor removal. Josephine reported back to the waiting room as if she hadn't left. Mark scrubbed in for that surgery, assuring his nervous girlfriend that her mother will be in good hands. The surgery had been successful when the doctor came out pronouncing to the worried family members. While Isabel remained in the hospital in recovery, everyone met Mark for the first time incidentally.
Vanessa may have two children keeping her hands tied though she caught on her little sister's new beau. Josephine forced to introduce her boyfriend to the family, practically held in her breath for their response. Considering Mark saved her mother's life, gained him brownie points and open arms to her relief.
Now, dwindled from recent events, Josephine and Mark were entangled in bed early morning. His hand continued to graze upon his girlfriend's skin as their lips moved in sync. Josephine raked her fingers into his short brunette hair, pulling him closer when his lips peppered down her jawline to the crook of her neck. Between long shifts and Josephine taking care of her mother post-surgery, the two haven't been able to see each other. Since they were in the honeymoon stage of the relationship it drove them a bit crazy.
"Can we stay here...in this position the whole day?" She mumbled out, shutting her eyes briefly when he hit her sweet spot. "I think the city can survive without us one shift."
Mark lifted his head, looking disheveled as he licked his lips. "Sounds very tempting. Unfortunately, I have two surgeries and your firehouse is already short one man. Also, don't you have a group of fifth graders coming to the firehouse?" His hand went to brush back his girlfriend's hair, marveling at the tireless sight of her in which made him smile.
"Yes, but Bobby is the one who gives out these TED talks." She deadpanned.
"Any other day I would love to be in this bed with you."
"I sure hope so," Josephine laughed. "These last few weeks have been hectic. Sometimes I wish time could stop for moments like these." She weaved her fingers into his before staring down at them.
"Then I doubt we'll ever leave this bed," He humored, bringing their hands up and kissing the back of her hand.
"How's Chimney?"
Josephine asked Hen after bidding their goodbyes to the children reporting back to school after their trip to the firehouse. They were stripping off their turnout gear and hanging on the hooks of their assigned shelves.
"Considering he's determining if his shirts spark joy before folding them into little index cards, guess you could say he's doing fine." Hen casually said, slipping out of her boots and pants.
A bewildering expression contorted on the brunette's face to the latter's humor. Her lips parted before pressing together and proceeding to fold her pants. "Well, he's been on furlough in recovery for weeks now. I'm sure Chim is eager to come back on the field."
"That and resuming his first official date with Maddie."
The brunette faced her, "You don't sound enthusiastic about for him." Both women began to stalk away together and towards the staircase.
Hen lets out a sigh, "Don't get me wrong, I like Maddie and it's not her. But how could they act everything is fine after all they've been through. It's not exactly something to move forward quickly and create dinner small talk." She vented out of concern for her best friend who got stabbed.
"Fair enough. I guess they're both trying to put the pieces of their life together after that unfortunate situation." They made to the top of the staircase. "It'll always live with them, but our best bet is to move forward." Josephine truthfully stated, furthering to the counter to grab a snack.
The bell rang throughout the 118 firehouse when an announcement followed the CAD system struck a power outage. Without the reliable resource for first responders, they went to follow protocol in this scenario where they'll be driving around the streets of the city all shift.
"Hey Cap, you ever see a breakdown like this before?" Eddie wondered from the backseat of the truck.
Bobby turned to face him, "Once in St. Paul. Blizzard took out the power grid around the call center and backup generator."
"I've been through, like, three of these." Hen cited to the team. "I'm surprised they don't happen more often, the way the city funds us. Department's held together by chewing gum and spit."
Buck chimed in, frowning. "Hey, come on, I like these old trucks."
A scoff left Josephine's lips, sitting beside him. "Uh huh. I like them when they run."
The 118 firetruck retreated to the firehouse after the last few hectic hours out in the city. From clashing with first responders at the same dispatch sites to witnessing a miracle that swelled their hearts. When they exited out of the firetruck, Bobby voiced instructions to his team. "Okay, let's refuel." He came around the vehicle. "We're back on in five minutes."
After using the bathroom, Josephine traveled inside the locker room where Buck sat on the bench with his eyes glued to the phone. She hovered his shoulder, "Ooh, are we finally moving out of your sister's living room?" She teased, circling around, and leaning her body against the lockers.
"I thought Maddie would want to move with me, but I guess I'm riding solo." He informed, lifting his gaze from his phone. "I've checked out a few units. They're all unique from each other." He handed the device to Josephine.
She raised her brow while scrolling through then hummed. "Not bad." She passed the device back. "How about I do you a favor? I can make a call to my Nana, that'll give you a good deal at one of her properties."
His eyes lit up at the sudden opportunity. "Really?"
"Of course, anything to help a friend. It's not easy finding a place in this city." She shrugged merely wanting to help a friend out. "After shift I'll make a call and get you in touch with a realtor."
Before Buck could respond, Bobby gave a warning to report back to the firetruck for another round surveying the streets. He rose to his feet then begun leaving the locker room with Josephine.
"Since you're setting this up for me, care to tag along in apartment hunting?" He narrowed at the brunette. "I could use another set of eyes."
Her lips enveloped into a smirk, "Sounds fun."
Josephine stared out of the window as the firetruck continued making another round on their route. Nothing was heard from dispatch, so, the ride felt like riding a carousel at a theme park. Suddenly, Buck's phone rang causing the blond to pick it up. He leaned forward in his seat, "Uh, we are crossing Robertson for the 320th time." He enthused, making Josephine snort through the window.
Both Eddie and Josephine shared an amused look as Buck continued to talk to Chimney on the phone. "You heard it on the scanner?" Buck inquired before quickly placing the headset on. "Hey, Cap! Uh Doheny Park is going up in flames! Chim think it's a gas main break. We're close, right?"
By the time the firetruck reached to their destination, it appeared very smokey outside with cars in collision and injured civilians on the side.
"Dispatch, this is Captain 118. We're at Doheny Park. Multiple residential structure fires. Send everything you can."
"Copy that, 118." The dispatcher answered on the radio. "I'm trying to find additional resources for you, but you might be on your own for the next 15, maybe 20 minutes."
Everyone in the truck shared uneasy looks considering the state of the neighborhood.
"Copy that."
"Help! Help! You got to help!" One of the residents ran up to the truck, slapping the window with his hand. "My son! He's trapped upstairs!" He pointed to the house currently in flames.
"Do you know where? Which room?" Bobby asked him.
The frantic father shook his head. "No, no, I haven't seen him."
Eddie strolled up to the house, scanning for the boy until spotting movement within the curtains in one of the windows. "Cap, I see him! Upstairs window!" He called out.
A fire explosion erupted causing the father to sprint towards the house, urging to save his son. He was blocked by Eddie while being pulled back by his daughter.
"All right, you two get the ladder up to the house. Go." Bobby ordered Josephine and Buck who complied in a haste.
Running down to the truck, Josephine flickered to the blond, "I'll drive." She threw the door open to the driver's seat. Buck hung from the outside as she drove up to the house.
As soon the brunette parked the truck, she jumped out of the vehicle and headed to the back. She climbed up the ladder meeting Buck already climbing up. She went over to the control station, angling the ladder towards the house. In the midst of the fiery explosion, some firefighters tried to hose down the house as Josephine proceeded to extend the ladder for Buck to close in on the little boy at the window.
Buck motioned the brunette to move the ladder further. Once getting closer to the window, the ladder abruptly broke causing Buck to fall yet able to hang on.
"Buck!" Josephine and Bobby shouted in unison.
They rushed to his aid once he dropped down to the ground. While Eddie impulsively took it upon himself to climb up the house and save the boy.
"Cap, gas guys just showed up. They're shutting it down." Hen raced up to the trio, watching the house. "All neighbors are present and accounted for. Two more engines are rolling in, but it makes no sense if there's no water pressure." She exclaimed.
Another explosion in the house startled the 118 firefighters. Worrying them more about Eddie, who called in his inability to evacuate due to the pieces of the ceiling trapping him.
"I'm gonna take an extinguisher!" Buck began running to the back of the firetruck. "If I can make that jump, I can help Eddie!"
Meanwhile, a sight in the sky caught Josephine's eye. She nudged her fire Captain. "Cap, look!"
He instantly casted where she pointed. "No wait!" He yelled to Buck.
The sound of an airplane engine roaring captivated everyone's attention. In a matter of seconds, it'll become the saving grace of this dispatch site.
"Incoming! Everybody take cover!" Bobby alerted. "Under the trucks! Now! Go, go!"
He and the rest of the 118 raced the civilians to safety under the trucks. By the time they all took cover, a load of water dropped in the neighborhood setting the fire out. Eventually, Eddie emerged from the house bringing the young boy back to safety and his family.
The first several hours of shift seemed to be full of miracles to their relief.
Power to the CAD system restored to which enlightened first responders all around the city. The rest of the shift gone back to normal rather than doing rounds in search of sights of distressing situations or waiting for dispatchers scrambling at the center to report one on the scanner. At the end of shift, Josephine exchanged from uniform and into her clothes. She grabbed her duffel bag and retrieved her phone, responding to her boyfriend's texts on the way out.
A familiar voice halted the brunette in her footsteps. She looked up to see friendly smiles shared between Bobby and...her mother? The latter were conversing with one another and shook hands.
"Mom?"
Their heads turned to the young firefighter taking long strides to them. "What are you doing here?" She formed a perplexed expression in utter disbelief of her presence.
"I wanted to meet your fire Captain who happens to be Athena's fiancé after discovering what a small world we live in." Isabel humored herself and Bobby suppressing a laugh. "I was a little curious how you've been doing at work."
Bobby interjected, "All I could tell Isabel is that she should be proud of you and the stories of how much you're devoted to your job and the lives in the city." He assured the young woman still baffled.
"Right..." Josephine trailed off as her fire Captain took his cue to depart from the mother and daughter.
Isabel glanced at the man stalking away then reverted to her daughter. "I really did come out of curiosity. Trying to understand that this is the path you desire." She explained with a sincere expression. "And Bobby told me enough. I want to apologize for not respecting your wishes."
Her eyes lowered as she withdrew a breath. "I-I couldn't bear to have any of my daughters fall in this line of work after your father. There were nights where it would be a miracle he came back home safe." She composed herself at the thought of her late husband. "But I see this is who are you, Josephine. Despite taking it a long time for me to realize. You are truly your father's daughter who would be proud of you today."
The words taken from Isabel's mouth had left Josephine speechless. Her lips pursed, nodding along. "Thank you." She whispered. "Being a first responder helps me understand dad's purpose. Feel a little connected to why he strived to protect those in need."
"Would you like to grab some brunch and...talk?"
Her daughter didn't hesitate to nod. "I think I would like that."
-A filler chapter. Honestly didn't know how to incorporate much from this episode. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think! Don't forget to comment and vote! Stay tuned!-
WRITTEN: 3/19/22
PUBLISHED: 3/28/22