♣️Season 1, Episode 2♣️
Nicole yawns as she and Matt walk into the station for a new shift. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and guides her to the locker room to get ready where they run into Kelly, "Hey, morning."
"Hey," Kelly nods, "How are the Darden boys doing? Talk to Heather at all?"
"Uh, yeah. Good as can be expect, I suppose. You seen her?" Matt asks.
"Yeah."
Kelly's short response causes Nicole to tilt her head as she studies her brother while Matt keeps the conversation going, "I hear they're coming to the barbecue."
"Good," Kelly stares off.
Nicole pushes Matt to go change, kissing him before turning to Kelly, "Okay, what's going on?"
He shakes his head, waving her off, "Don't worry about it."
"Nuh-uh, cough it up. What happened?"
"I, uh, I ran into Heather and the boys a few days ago. She told me that Andy wouldn't have even been a firefighter if it weren't for me," Kelly confides in his little sister as she takes a seat next to him on the bench.
"That bitc-"
Kelly puts a hand over her mouth, "Language. You don't need to be swearing."
Nicole slaps his arm, "Kel, I'm your little sister. I work in a firehouse. I can swear whenever the hell I want and Heather is a bitch that has no right to put anything having to do with Andy on you. Ignore her, she's always had a stick up her ass."
Snorting, Kelly ruffles Nicole's hair, "Go get dressed," Nicole shrugs before standing up to go change but pausing and turning around when she hears Kelly's voice, "And for the record, she hated you because when she and Andy first met, Andy had a little crush on you."
"Everybody had a crush on me, I mean, what's not to love?"
"You in the morning."
Nicole grabs a towel and shucks it at her brother's head.
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Checking over the rig, Nicole looks up when she hears cheering and sees Herrmann hobbling in and joins in the cheering, "They ticked the nerve in my leg. I may not walk straight again."
They happiness dies down as someone yells, "Candidate, get him a chair."
Peter is quick to roll a chair over for Herrmann, "Thanks kid. Oh, ho, ho, wait a second, fellas. Um, are any of my kids around here? My wife or her parents?"
Otis shakes his head, "No, why?"
"Oh," He starts kicking his 'bad' leg before standing up and doing a jig, "I'm healed! It must have been living with my damn in-laws that was breaking me down."
Nicole hits his arm before moving next to Matt's side while Otis bull dozes into him, "Ready to get back?"
"Glad you're back, Herrmann," Chief tells him, joining the group with a pretty brunette in a red shirt, "We're a better house with you here."
"Thanks, Chief," Herrmann smiles.
"Uh, later on, we're gonna have a whiteboard session. About what happened in the Darden incident last month. I expect you all to be there. But on another note, this is Nikki Rutkowksi."
The guys jump to attention, "Well, hello."
Chief continues, "She's going to be working with us for the next month, helping out with the payroll. Her father's one of my oldest friends. We were in the navy together, so y'all best treat her like she's your very own...." He studies some of the boys, "Sister."
"Thanks for having me," Nikki says as Cruz realizes the Chief had spotted him studying Nikki.
"Welcome," Herrmann tells her, "Don't screw up the checks. The first and the 15th."
Nikki jokes, "Oh, I will."
They laugh as the alarm sounds, "Accident, multiple injuries. Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61."
Nicole climbs into the passenger seat as Shay drives and Gabby preps the back. On the way to the scene, Nicole tells them, "$10 says that she sleeps with Kelly within the next week and a half. Did you see how she was eyeing him?"
"Oh, yeah," Shay nods, laughing, "And we all know how Kelly is with beautiful women."
"Maybe he gets you a sister-in-law out of this one," Gabby jokes.
All three women share a look before bursting out laughing.
Arriving at the scene, they focus up before getting into the firefighter gear when Matt's voice comes over the radio, "Nicole, you up there?"
"Go for Nicole."
"We need you down here."
Nicole nods, "Copy. Let's go."
The three of them slide down the hose, Nicole looking up, "Huh, missed doing that."
All three paramedics spread out, helping whoever they could just enough to transport them out of the ditch. Every once in a while, Nicole looks over to check on the guys.
"Nic!" Matt calls, gesturing her over to the hole that Kelly had gone down a minute prior.
She slides over so she's looking down, "Here."
"His lower legs trapped, there's internal bleeding," He tells her.
"There's no way to release it?"
Kelly shakes his head, "No."
The man jokes, "Other than that, everything's peachy."
Nicole nods, thinking, "Alright, I'll call for a trauma surgeon."
"Hey, how long?" Kelly asks.
"I don't know," Standing up, Nicole grabs her radio, "Ambulance 61 on mid-Channel 5."
"Go Ambulance 61."
"We need a trauma surgeon for a possible amputation."
"Copy that Ambulance 61. Standby for confirmation."
Nicole stands by, watching Shay thrown down an IV before hearing Kelly yell, "Tell that surgeon to hurry up!"
"Chopper him in if you have to," Nicole tells the operator.
"Negative, 61. The trauma surgeon is already en route."
She looks to Matt and shakes her head as the ground starts to rumble again. Throwing them all off balance.
After a couple minutes, Gabby calls down to her, "Nicole! Trauma surgeons here."
Nodding, she calls down to Kelly who is climbing up, "Trauma surgeon's on his way down."
"It's a recovery now," Kelly tells her, walking away.
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Arriving back at the firehouse, Herrmann's voice calls out to the paramedics, "Nicole, Dawson, Shay. Get over here, we have something for you. C'mon, let's go. Bring it out."
They see Cindy Herrmann and the Herrmann kids there unravelling a sign they made that says 'Thanks for saving our dad'.
"They obviously got their artistic skills from their mother," Herrmann tells them as they aw over the sign, "Hey guys, these are the ladies that saved my life. Give them a clap."
The kids clap as Cindy comes over and hugs them, Nicole easily hugging her back before opening her arms for the kids to hug her.
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The house watched as Chief Walker draws on the whiteboard, "Darden was entering the attic window here while Squad 3 was conducting first floor search and rescue here. Fire started in the basement. Spread up into the kitchen. Now we all know fire's in a constant hunt for oxygen. Which is why we cut our vent point away from our entry point. No vent, and the fire's coming after us. What started in the basement, is now looking for a way out. A larger vent cut in the back of the house, the fire never would have made it upstairs."
"Kelly," Chief says as Kelly leaves the room.
Nicole and Matt share a look before he shakes his head, telling her that he'll talk to him. She smiles, glad they are at least trying to get back on track.
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Smiling, Nicole leans against the railing of their house as Matt grabs wood off the top of his truck, "You know, most people would spend their day off relaxing."
Matt chuckles, turning to look at her as he sets the wood down, "But you want that crown molding."
"At this moment, I want you in bed more. Home renovations can wait an hour," Nicole says, wrapping her arms around Matt's neck as he stands on the step below her.
"Only an hour? Come on, you know I'm good for at least three hours," Matt reminds her, kissing along her neck.
Nicole smirks, flipping her hair to the opposite side of where Matt's mouth is, "I think I may need a refresher."
She shrieks as Matt throws her over his shoulder and makes his way into the house, slamming the door behind him.
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Next shift, Gabby and Nicole happily eat their sandwiches as Shay drives, "There's Willie, our favorite doorman. Willie!"
They shout his name, waving as he smiles and waves back, "We should flash him next time. Love that guy."
Nicole laughs, shaking her head, "Unprofessional."
"You only say no because Casey would get jealous at someone else seeing your rack."
"No," Nicole shakes her head, "It's just that I don't cover the hickies that are hidden by my uniform."
Shay laughs, shouting, "Get it girl!"
"Ambulance 61. Battery, 71 West Superior."
"Ambulance 61, responding," Shay radios as Nicole turns on the sirens.
Arriving at the call, the three push throw the crowd in the bar, spotting their patient on the ground with a head wound as he mumbles, "Oh, you got a nasty cut there."
"Get your hands off me," He pushes away from Nicole as she tries to examine him.
She holds her hands up and let's Gabby try, "Hey, we're with the CFD sir. We're here to fix you up."
He points, "Oh, fix me up. These Irish immigrants you should be fixing up. I've got four brothers, and-and both of them are gonna- are gonna-"
"Hey," Nicole calls over to the bartender, "What happened here?"
"No one here saw anything," He tells her.
"Right, and I'm the Queen of England," Nicole rolls her eyes as the patient starts singing causing some of the bar patrons to throw stuff at them, "Okay, let's move him now."
Gabby and Shay lift him up and move him out as Nicole pushes through the crowd. CPD shows up just as they make it to the rig. He keeps singing and moving as Shay straps his upper half in and Nicole works on his bottom half.
"You've gotta stop, sir and quit moving."
She turns around, digging through the jump bag when she feels her ass full on grabbed, "Hey! Get your hands off of me!"
He passes out as Shay holds down his shoulders, "Whoa. Whoa."
Gabby smirks as she finishes the man's makeover while Shay questions her, "So, you gonna bring that doctor to the barbecue?"
"Uh, I don't know," She says.
"Honestly, not every decision needs to be an act of congress," Shay snarks, "Just keep it simple."
Gabby rolls her eyes, nodding, "Are we telling Casey about the ass-grab?"
Nicole snorts, "No. Between him and Kelly, this man will never daylight again."
"True," Shay shrugs, "So, what do you think?"
"Nice work," Nicole laughs, snapping a picture.
As the trio rolls him into the ER, they can't stop tiny giggles from escaping as the nurse takes a look at him, "Wow, where'd you find this one?"
Gabby smirks, "Severide was actually making out with him and he fainted and bumped his head."
Nicole shrugs, "When he wakes up, tell him I said thanks for the great time."
"Gabby," They hear, turning they see Gabby's doctor friend.
"Mike, hi," Gabby smiles.
Shay and Nicole gesture that they are going to restock the rig and handle the paperwork as the two talk.
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Saturday arrives and it is now the day of the barbecue. Nicole's dressed in jean shorts and one of Matt's old Truck 81 shirts that she's tied into a crop top. They go and join Gabby, Shay and their dates at a table, "Hey guys, mind if we squeeze in?"
Shay shakes her head, "This is Corin, she just moved here from..."
"Alabama," She finishes.
"Nice to meet you," Matt smiles as Nicole gives Shay a look, knowing why her and Kelly get along so well.
Gabby's date, Mike, says, "I saw some of your guy's work, yesterday. The nail polish, lip stick, that was you guys, right?"
Shay laughs, "Yeah, well, Nicole got her ass squeezed by a drunken Englishman."
"You gotta quit flirting with your patients," Matt jokes with her.
"Eh, it's not the hardest my ass has ever been grabbed," Nicole winks at Matt, "But we did pretty him up a bit."
Corin laughs, "It's not something you learn in med school, I take it?"
Nicole shakes her head, "No, see, we're paramedics so we didn't go to the fancy med school."
"Although," Shay looks at Gabby who gives her a hard look before looking over to Nicole who tilts her head as if to say 'tell them'.
"I've been taking some-some pre-med classes," Gabby admits, "I mean, it's a long way off."
Mike tells her, "Hey, any time you want to walk a shift, just let me know."
Gabby smiles, "Yeah? Great."
Matt looks over, "Hey, Heather's here. Let's go say hi."
"Oh, joy," Nicole fake smiles before grabbing Matt's hand and standing up.
They walk over, the boys immediately say hi to the couple as Heather hugs Matt. Nicole just gives Heather a smile before taking the boys over to where other kids are playing as Matt and Heather talk.
"Why don't you boys go join them? Looks like they could use some Darden boys," Nicole tries pushing them to join in.
"We don't-" Griffin's cut off by Matt coming over and picking Ben up and running over to the game, Griffin following him.
Nicole laughs before looking over her shoulder and seeing Heather walk away from a down-trodden Kelly. Shaking her head, Nicole walks over to Heather and Otis, nodding her head for Otis to leave them, "We need to talk."
"No, we don't-"
"Yes, we do. Because Andrew Darden has always been a firefighter. He's always been the first one up to go into a burning building to save a person's life. Not because Kelly asked him to or he was pressured into it, but because he. Was. A. Firefighter. Blaming Kelly is only taking away from Andy's path and away from the life he chose."
Heather shakes her head at Nicole, "I am a firefighter's widow-"
Nicole nods, "You are. But you can't be one when it comes to getting sympathy or the recognition. That also comes with accepting the fact that that is what he loved to do. I understand. Every shift, I watch the love of my life and my brother run into burning buildings with no regard for anything but the lives they can save. It kills me, but it's what they love. It's what Andy loved."
Before Heather can respond, Nicole walks away, having said her piece. She joins Matt over watching the boys, leaning into him as his arms wrap around her waist and he lays a kiss on her temple.
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Chief wraps up the morning meeting, "If there is nothing else-"
Otis steps forward, "Chief?"
"Yes, Brian?"
"I was wondering what the proper protocol would be for designing a new crest for the truck. It's just, sir, Engine's got a camel, which I get. And Squad has got a badass three-headed dog. Which I get. And we have a goat, sir."
Chief goes straight into a story that Nicole doesn't quite believe, "Named after Billy 'Goat' Bukanski, first Chief of Firehouse 51 and a mentor to me."
Otis nods, clearing his throat before stepping back, "Just forget I said anything."
"That it?" Chief asks.
"Yes, sir."
"And you all do good work out there," Chief smiles before leaving, followed by Matt.
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Getting another call, Nicole hits the side of the rig as she runs in, "Shay, Dawson! Let's go, load the stretcher in."
They pull up to the scene to see a window washer's platform falling, with one part already on top of a car. They watch as Squad works on the drivers side and narrowly missing as another piece falls.
Shay and Gabby prep the stretcher as Nicole hands a board and collar to Matt and Mills. She guides them back to the stretcher and immediately starts talking to the patient, "You're fine, sweetie. You're in good hands."
"I just dropped my phone so we pulled over. Cameron, please, is Cameron okay?" Nicole looks at Matt who shakes his head, "Is she okay?"
"I'm not sure, honey. Let's get you in the rig," They start to put her into the rig when a woman calls over to them.
"Julie! That's my daughter!"
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Nicole drops onto the bed once they get home, groaning, "My body hurts."
Matt chuckles, laying on his side of the bed, "Are we going to the bar tonight with everyone else?"
"Yeah, but first, I'm gonna take a nap because today was long," Nicole says, crawling up to cuddle with Matt.
"Today was...rough," Matt sighs, thinking about their last call.
"Those girls. All because one decided to drive and the other was in the passenger seat. Now, one's dead and the other's life is completely changed."
"It makes you think, you know. About life and what you truly want," Matt comments, squeezing Nicole tighter and kissing her forehead, "It makes me think about how much I love you and don't want to live without you or leave you like Heather like Andy did."
Nicole turns over, lifting her head to look at Matt, "I can't lie. I get nervous every call that you go on that something is gonna go wrong and I'm gonna lose you or Kelly or both and it scares me to death. You both think you're invincible and nothing can touch you."
Matt snorts, shaking his head, "We don't think th-" He sees Nicole raise an eyebrow at him, "Okay, maybe we do. But then we hear your voice over the radio and we snap back to reality."
"You better. Or else I'm bringing you guys back to earth to kill you myself."
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AN: hey all! This one came a late but remember that Wednesday's are the days that this story will be updated!!
Working out the dynamic between Nicole and everyone is gonna take a little time as well as ignoring Hallie's character (sorry not sorry).
QoC: what friendship are you looking forward to the most?
Thanks for all of the votes and reads and comments!!!