𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗡
"𝖠𝖴𝖲𝖳𝖨𝖭 𝖶𝖤 𝖧𝖠𝖵𝖤 𝖠 𝖯𝖱𝖮𝖡𝖫𝖤𝖬"
𝗔drienne was given the next few days off to help prepare for her big move back to California. By now, half of her apartment was filled with boxes. Adrienne was packing up some books inside of her room when she heard a faint voice coming from outside.
It was strange because only she and Estelle were home. Adrienne grabbed a bat she had hidden underneath her bed and walked into the living room to find it... empty. The source of the noise was the tv pulled to a news broadcast.
"Waves of solar energy began hitting Texas and much of the central time zone an hour ago," The news reporter explained, "We're told it's the largest solar storm to reach Earth since an event in Quebec in 1989 which wreaked havoc on the power grid for 12 hours."
Just before they could switch it over to different reporter, the news channel suddenly glitches and changes to a French tv channel. Appliances in her apartment started to switch on and off.
Adrienne walked out to the streets to find everyone walking around confusingly. Most cars that were driving were swerving uncontrollably.
Just then, Adrienne's phone buzzes in her pocket. It was an incoming call from Owen.
"Cap? You see what's going?" Adrienne asked, lifting her phone to her ear. It took a while for Adrienne to fully understand her Captain because the phone lines were glitchy.
"We need you at the station. Come as quickly as you can," Owen replied. The line was cut almost immediately after. Adrienne's babysitter had a day off, so she would have to bring Ellie to the station with her.
She rushed inside to grab Estelle from her bedroom.
"You ready for an adventure, my love? Yeah, you're coming to work with mama," Adrienne cooed. She threw random items inside of her bag to bring with her. It didn't matter since she was in a rush anyways.
Adrienne strapped her daughter inside of her car seat, and putting her in the car, she rushes back inside to grab her work bag. After tossing her bag into the passenger seat, Adrienne finally made her way to the station.
⁂
The call Adrienne went on with the 126 was on report of a crashed bus on fire in the middle of the street. From the reports of bystanders and the bus passengers, there were two people inside of the bus.
Adrienne, Paul, Mateo, and Marjan were in charge of putting out the fire on the bus. Owen walked into the burning bus and came out with TK in his arms.
Adrienne and Paul dropped their hoses to pull out the second person, a woman named Ellen, who was the bus driver. Adrienne heard someone calling out for her.
"Chadwick!?" Adrienne shouts. Soon enough, a familiar face pushed past the crowd. Chadwick runs up to Adrienne and pulls her into a hug.
"I couldn't reach you all day," Chadwick says.
"It was because of the power surge," Adrienne examined Chadwick for any bruises. Thankfully he wasn't harmed.
"Once all of this is over, wanna have dinner at your place? We can get whatever you want," Chadwick asked. Owen shouts for Adrienne to hurry up since it was time for them to head back to the station.
"I'll text you," Adrienne replied.
⁂
The team returned to the station to find TK sitting on one of the benches. As soon as she hopped out of the truck, Adrienne rushed up to where she had Estelle staying in the sleeping quarters.
Buttercup was looking at Estelle through the mesh film on the wall of her crib. Adrienne walked back out with Estelle in her arms to find the team gathering around TK.
"Uh, I wanted to talk to you about something, and, um, if you could bear with me 'cause it's kind of a lot," TK sighed, "I'm addict—"
"TK," Owen interrupted his son, giving him the "are you sure?" look. TK turned to his father.
"Dad, I need to do this. Please?" TK replied, turning back to the group.
"It's opioids, and a few months back, in New York, I had a relapse— pretty bad one," TK explained, "I OD'd my dad— well, my captain- found me unconscious."
"My heart had stopped, and, well, he did what he does best, and he saved my life, and the only reason I came down here was 'cause dad forced me to," He continued.
"You know? What I'm trying to say is... I never really chose this for myself. Any of it. Not even becoming a firefighter. And, uh... well," TK says. He was trying his best to cry.
Adrienne placed a reassuring hand on TK shoulder. Paul pats him on the back to try to make him feel a little better.
"Hey, hey. Whatever you gotta say right here, say it," Judd says.
"He's right, man. We got you, fam," Paul added.
"Yeah, well, that's the point 'cause today at that intersection when that woman was dying," TK explains, "I would have given her everything I had to save her, and I did give her everything I had, but it wasn't enough."
"Until you showed up. All you guys, " TK smiled.
"And I knew in that instant that not only was she gonna be okay, but I was gonna be okay too, because this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life. And, at least for now, this is where I wanna do it—," TK says.
"With you guys, so... I choose this family... Because this is...this is where I belong.
So, um... no, that's... that's all I got," He continued.
"Hey, well, group hug," Mateo smiled. TK tried to protest the hug, but the others piled in anyways. Adrienne was the last to join in because she didn't want to squish Estelle.
"Ooh, someone's ripe," TK cringed.
"I'm guessing that's Judd," He sighed.
"Yeah, well, that's what you get for showing up at the end of a shift, man," Judd replied.
⁂
After hitting the showers, Adrienne walked into the sleeping quarters to find the team crowded around Adrienne's bed. She was curious to know what was going on, so she pushed through to find
Buttercup and Ellie cuddling next to each other. The team was taking photos of the cute moment. A text notification from Chadwick popped up on her phone. It included photos of boxes inside of her house through the window.
"Mind explaining what this is?" The message reads.
"Guys, I have to go," Adrienne informed the group. She gently picks up Estelle and puts her in her car seat. Paul followed her outside of the station to her car.
"You okay, Ri?" He asked.
"We'll see," Adrienne replied.
⁂
"Since when were you going to tell me that you were moving!?" Chad asked.
Chadwick waited until his girlfriend put her daughter to bed to confront her. He was furious to learn that she was moving states in a few days. They sat opposite of each other at the dinner table with wine glasses in front of them.
"I was going to tell you yesterday, Chadwick, I just forgot," Adrienne replied.
"Forgot? You forgot? You should've told me when you made the decision!" Chadwick yelled. Adrienne folds her hands on the table and draws out more of Chadwick's yelling.
Some things he said were rather interesting to her. Like how he saw her walking down the street in her neighborhood or seeing her at the bar with the 126 firehouse. Could he have been the one in the black car?
"It's not about who I think it is.. is it?" Chadwick asked. He grew more mad when Adrienne didn't reply.
"You know what, Adrienne? I'm sick and tired of this shit. You're still hungover on your ex. How could you love someone that cheated on you?" Chadwick shouted. Adrienne looked at him in complete shock.
All she knew was that Chadwick needed to choose his next words wisely.
"You left Evan in California, you're in Texas now. Leave him behind," Chadwick says.
Adrienne never mentioned her ex's name to Chadwick.. so that must mean only one thing...
"Chadwick... I never mentioned Estelle's father's name," Adrienne says. Chadwick looked at Adrienne like he had just been caught. Her growing suspicions were confirmed to be true.
Chadwick was the one in the black car stalking her.
"All those times I've felt like someone watching me... it was you! How long Chadwick? How long have you've been stalking me?" Adrienne shouts.
"Ever since the office incident.. you didn't see me but I saw you," Chadwick replied, "I started following you around a bit, and then finally built up the courage to talk to you at the grocery store."
She no longer felt safe with her now ex-boyfriend. Adrienne got up and walked to her front door.
"Get out," Adrienne mumbled.
"Babe, don't be like this," Chadwick says.
"I said get out!" Adrienne shouts. Chadwick refused to move and started advancing towards Adrienne. Judd and Paul arrived before the situation could escalate.
"I suggest you leave my sister alone," Paul says. Judd stood tall against Chadwick. He took one glance at Adrienne before moving past Judd and went to his car.
⁂
Three days later, after spending some time with Judd and Grace, Adrienne finally went back to her own apartment. The entire 126 team was there to help her move. TK and Carlos placed the last of her moving boxes into the truck.
"I guess this is goodbye, guys," Adrienne sighed, "It was great working with you all."
"Promise you'll visit when you can?" Her older brother asked. Adrienne nodded and smiled. Paul pulls his younger sister into a tight hug. Soon, the entire team joined in.
"Alright.. guys... I can't breathe," Adrienne laughed. The group pulls apart and Adrienne grabs a bag off of the floor.
"Don't forget about us, Ri," Marjan says.
"Never," Adrienne replied. She waved one final goodbye before climbing into the driver's seat of her car. Adrienne adjusted her rear view mirror and looked at her sleeping daughter.
"118.. here we come."