"𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.
𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣."
Under pressure: 2x01
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Savanna Gray absolutely hated the heat. Which automatically meant she hated today. Today is the hottest day LA has had in years and alongside thousands of residents were without power which meant an extra busy day for Station 118. So far they've had a tour bus drive off the side of a hill into someone's house, luckily no one died. Then a gas explosion which blew off one of the workers arms into a pool.
"I hate the heat!" Savanna whined to Hen as they both watched Bobby walk into the station with a giant grin, he then proceeded to compliment everyone he passed making Hen and Savanna share a confused glance.
"You are cheery." Savanna pointed out drawing Bobby's attention to the two women who were in their street clothes.
"Why shouldn't I be?" He asked with a giant grin. Savanna was happy for Bobby; he deserved to be happy. Over the three years Savanna has worked at the 118 Bobby has taken her under his wing and treated her much like his own which Savanna clinged to desperately craving the father figure she never had.
"I don't know. Maybe 'cause you've been like this for weeks, and it's starting to get on my nerves. What's going on with you?" Hen titled her head to the side with a grin, but before Bobby could answer the station's very own golden retriever evan buckley appeared.
"I got another DXA scan, and guess who dropped another half percent." He gloated as he approached the three
"What?" Savanna scrunched her face up in confusion.
"A DXA scan measures your body fat. You can see your percentage in every part of your body." Savanna shook her head at buck.
"Oh, yeah? They measure the fat in your head?" Chimney questioned making bobby, hen and Savanna snicker.
"Ah, see, that would be funny, but we're about a week away from submissions being due for the Hot Days, Smoldering Nights: Men of the LAFD wall calendar, and I'm already at my goal weight, so it seems like my head is clearly working perfectly." Buck smirked, causing Savanna to shake her head once more.
"Do you really need to use that whole title? You could just just say that idiotic, reductive, sexist calendar that insults the dignity of this organization and furthers the myth that all firefighters are male." Savanna did jazz hands as she gave the group a sarcastic smile. Hen snickered as the two did their hand shake.
"Yeah, that's not any less words." Buck spoke with a sly grin making Savanh roll her eyes.
"Sav, Hen, come on, it's for charity." Both hen and Savanh looked at Bobby in disbelief.
"No. Bobby, you, too?" Hen questioned putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, why not? They say a man is at his sexiest when he reaches 50." Cap did the superhero pose with a proud nod. "Is that what they say? That's what they say?" Hen questioned.
"Okay, you're both wrong. All right? You see, I think sorority houses all across this great nation are ready for a new Asian sеx symbol. It's our time." Chim spoke, eating a slice of his orange. Savanna snatched the slice he was about to eat only grinning at him when he glared at her.
"I think it's great. You know? I like that you're both going up for it." Buck spoke. "Oh, because you don't think that we have a chance." Bobby spoke with a raised brow. "Whoa, did I say that? I mean, sure, let's be real. They are only picking one candidate from each station." Savanna's gaze followed the chimneys as Buck spoke.
"Holy shit." Savanna spoke at the same time chim said,"Okay. That is a beautiful man." Hen, Buck and Bobby followed their gaze and raised their eyebrows.
"Where's the lie? And I like girls." Hen joked making with Sav giggle.
"Who's that?" Buck questioned the jealousy laced in his voice. Savanna continued to watch the Hispanic man pull a firefighter shirt on her eyes snapping away when he met her gaze she instantly cursed herself out for looking like a complete creep.
"That's Eddie Diaz. New recruit. Graduated top of his class just this week. Guys over at Station Six were dying to have him, but I convinced him to join us." Bobby told them.
"What do we need him for?" Buck asked, his face contorted in jealousy which earned laughs from chim, hen and Savanna.
"He served multiple tours in Afghanistan as an Army medic. Guy's got a Silver Star. It's not like he's wet behind the ears. Come on, I'll introduce you to him. He likes to be called Eight Pack." Savanna didn't hold back her laugh as she followed behind bobby. She heard hen
Savanna smiled at the man in front of her "Hi." She greeted him. "Eddie, this is Savanna, Hen, and Chimney." Savanna waved at him.
"Nice to meet you." he smiles at Savanna as chim and Hen share a look. "The moppy puppy over there is buck." Sav spoke pointing to Buck but the introductions were cut short when the alarm rang signaling they had a call.
Savanna was driving the rig to their next call when Chimney spoke. "So, Silver Star, huh?" He questioned the headphone mic. "Yeah." Eddie answered sheepishly. "You save a platoon or something?" Chim continued to question "No, no, nothing like that. Uh, just a convoy." Eddie waved them off.
It was silent for a moment in the truck before Hen spoke. "Eddie, uh, you heard about the hot firefighter calendar?" Savanna couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her.
"Sorry, what?" he questioned.
"It's for charity." She added and Savanna could hear the grin in her voice.
"So is your full name Eduardo?" Buck questioned bitterness in his voice.
"No." He answered shortly.
"People ever call you Diaz?"
"Not if they want me to respond." He shot back.
"Something's got to give. We got... we got Cap, Hen, Sav, Chimney, Buck. We can't just call you Eddie." Buck continued on.
"Can't tell if he's being serious or not." Eddie looked to the others.
"I like to always operate under the assumption that nothing he says is serious." Savanna spoke from the front as she put the truck in park. "I hate driving. Why do I always get stuck with driving?" Savanna grumbled getting out of the truck.
"The air nozzle is embedded in his ass cheek. I shut it off, but I was afraid to move him." Savanna listened to the man explain as she approached a man who was pumped full of air.
"Okay, Hector, can you hear me?" Bobby questioned as Hector slightly nodded. "All right, hang in there, buddy." Bobby assured him. "Let's get him on his side. Maintain pressure on the wound. On three. One, two, three." Hector screamed in pain as Savanna rushed to listen to his heart.
"It's a hundred pounds per square inch of air pumped through his entire body." Buck informed them as he read the air pump sign.
"Breathing's shallow, heart's racing. Air filled his stomach, his chest, even behind his eyelids. I'm more concerned about the space around his heart and lungs." Savanna informed Captain Nash as she lightly pressed on his stomach.
"Okay, Eddie, start a nasal cannula. Chimney, get him some morphine." Sav sat back on her knees as she watched chim inject Hector with morphine but he couldn't even get the needle in his skin.
"It's like trying to inject a needle into stone." Chim spoke.
"The pressure's pushing everything out. I can't even get air through the nostril." Eddie told them as the four men looked at Sav and Hen.
"Jugular venous distention, tachycardia–" Sav started, "hypotension, diminished breath, we're looking at tension pneumothorax." Hen finished for her.
"The air pressure is collapsing his organs. We need to get in there and drain the fluid. Buck, I need you to get a 14-gauge angiocath. We need to start decompressing the pleural cavity." Sav watched buck struggle to get Hector's shirt off. "Want me to help?" Eddie offered.
"I got it." Buck shot back as Eddie held his hands up.
"Hang in there, Hector." Bobby reassures their patient.
"I'd go lower." Eddie spoke to Buck just as he's about to stick him.
"What? Um, no. Second intercostal space. Midclavicular line." Buck informed him.
"The chest wall is thinner at the fifth intercostal at the anterior axillary line. There's a decreased chance of injuring any vital organs.I've-I've treated guys with collapsed lungs in combat." Eddie spoke looking to cap.
"He's right." Savanna coughed looking away.
"Do it." Cap told Eddie.
Savanna was loading her bag back into the compartment next to Eddie. "Good job Edmundo." Savanna grinned at the shocked look on his face.
"How did you–"
"So i'm right?" Sav questioned earning a nod from eddie. "Growing up a woman named Maria babysat she helped raise me. Her husband's name was Edmundo. He had a thing for collecting coins and bullets." She told him as she walked away giving the keys to chim refusing to drive.
Savanna sighed as she entered her house, a giant grin spreading across her face when Nova came running towards her. Nova was Savanna's two year old German shepherd guard dog and a retired police dog; she was only on duty for a year before she got shot and was retired. Savanna learned about Nova through Athena and when she met the dog she knew she had to have her.
Savanna was a cautious human; she knew how bad people could be and her being a single woman living alone in LA she felt safer with Nova close by. Savanna had convinced Bobby to make Nova the unofficial official firehouse dog so many days when Savanna worked she would come along and when they got calls she had a dog bed and toys in the corner of Bobby's office. He was much like the dad who said he didn't want the dog but as soon as it was there he couldn't keep his hands off of her. "Good evening nova." Sav greeted the dog like it was a human as she filled up her dog bowls before pouring herself a glass of wine.
Savanna walked into Station 118 the next morning Nova by her side on a leash. "Nova!" Savanna's head snapped towards Buck who was rushing towards her dog with a giant smile. Nova's tail began to wag uncountably, making Sav smile; she let go of the leash and Nova took off for buck. Savanna's eyes scanned the station and they ended up landing on Eddie who stood in tanktop and boxing gloves.
He smiled while approaching her, Savanna smiled before whistling Nova immediately returning to her side. "Sit." Savanna spoke as nova sat next to her waiting for her next to command. "Eddie this is Nova, she's the unofficial official fire dog around here." Eddie laughed as he held his hand out for nova to sniff. Nova sniffed it before immediately shoving her head in his hand so he would pet her.
"She likes you." Eddie was grinning when the alarm went off. "Nova, office." Savanna snapped, pointing towards Bobby's office and off, Nova went.
•••
"Fire and Rescue. Hello." Savanna followed close behind Bobby and behind her way Buck.
"I'm back here. Help me." The three began to walk around looking for the man. "Some kind of militia nut?" Buck questioned as he passed a wax statue of an old war soldier.
"Can't tell where that voice is coming from." Savanna spoke looking around.
"Back here." Bobby opened a door in the kitchen which turned out to be the garage.
"Oh, thank God." The man spoke as they rushed to him.
"Hey. What's your name, sir?" Sav questioned.
"Charlie." he answered
"All right, tell us what happened, Charlie." Bobby questioned turning on his flashlight so he could look at it better.
"Damn grenade went off while I was taking it apart," he grunted.
"Why are you taking apart a grenade?" Buck questioned. "I was cleaning it. I'm a collector." Savanna scoffed at the man, "No kidding."
"You pulled the pin?" Buck questioned.
"Oh, it ain't that kind of grenade. It's a 40-mike-mike. A practice round for an M203 grenade launcher. I picked it up at a flea market in Brea, part of my 'Nam collection. My screwdriver must have touched the propelling charge. I..." Bobby cut him off as he packed it with gaze. "All right, I see metal. A lot of shrapnel. Femoral artery has been nicked. We gotta get him transported now."
Savanna followed the gurney out not hesitating to get in the back of the ambulance with the man she sent a quick smile to Eddie then one to a grumpy Buck as he climbed in. "Hey, Nash, am I gonna be alright?" Charlie questioned bobby.
"My girl and boys have got you. But you might want to consider switching to collecting baseball cards after this." Bobby joked.
"I guess you've seen a lot of shrapnel wounds." Buck spoke as he focused on Charlie's leg. Eddie was hooking Charlie up to the heart monitor. "My share." Eddie answered.
"Have you ever seen a guy with a length of rebar stuck through his skull?" Savanna gave Buck a disapproving look. "What are we measuring here, Buck?" Eddie questioned.
"Need to change those dressings. They're soaking through." Savanna spoke from beside buck breaking up the staring contest.
"Hang in there, Charlie. Almost there." Eddie spoke. "I'm just saying, working the streets of L.A. is not exactly stress free. May not be the same kind of pressure you have in a war zone, but..." Buck removed the dressing as Savanna's eyes widened
"Oh, come on. Hold on." She snatched Buck's hand. "I thought you said this was a practice round." She looked at Charlie. "It is." He told them. "Uh, what-what-what's going on?" Buck asked. "You see that cap? Practice rounds have blue caps. Gold caps are live." Savanna informed buck. Eddie stood up banging on the hood, "Pull over!" he yelled.
Savanna stood with Buck, Bobby, Eddie and Jim who was the captain of the bomb squad. Jim showed them the X-ray of Charlie's leg. "Yup. There she is." Jim spoke, turning the tablet for them all to look at the scan.
"He's got a live round embedded in his thigh." Bobby announced to them. "Uh, I thought this thing already went off." Buck jaw was slanced in disbelief.
"The launch grenade has two components: gunpowder which makes it travel and an explosive charge that makes it go boom." Eddie explained to them. "Okay, so why didn't this one go boom?" Buck questioned.
"It's fitted with a proximity fuse. It's a little smart sensor that tells the cap it's traveled a safe enough distance from the shooter to explode. From his hand to his leg probably wasn't far enough." Savanna spoke as she continued to look at the tablet, earning a confused look from Eddie and Buck. "What I helped Carter study for all his tests." Savanna shrugged.
"Well, we can't bring him inside a hospital full of people, not with that still stuck inside him." Bobby huffed, placing his hands on his hips.
"We called the military for help." Jim informed them. "The military? Uh, can't you do it? You're the bomb squad." Buck chuckled in disbelief.
"You can't defuse a grenade. We need to find someone who knows how to pull that thing out of him without setting it off. They're sending someone up from Pendleton. Should be here within the hour." Jim explained as Savanna shook her head, biting her bottom lip nervously.
"He doesn't have an hour." Buck mumbled. "I can do it." Eddie spoke with a determined look. The three look at her in disbelief. "If he doesn't go to surgery soon, he'll die." he told them.
"You've done this before?" Bobby questioned. "Well, none of the guys I served with were dumb enough to shoot a live round in themselves, but I'm familiar with the ordnance." Eddie frowned as he looked at bobby. "I'll help." Savanna offered. "I'm in." Buck shrugged.
Savanna finished strapping the vest on herself "You get that thing out of him, put it in here and get the hell away from it. Let us deal with it." Savanna simply gave him a thumbs up tying her hair up in a ponytail.
Bobby stood in front of Buck and Savanna the two children he got a second chance with. "Don't look so scared, we'll be fine." Savanna reassured as she got into the ambulance.
"How are you feeling there, Charlie?" Savanna questioned as she took a seat beside Eddie.
"Like a world-class idiot. My wife, if she was still alive, she'd be here now saying, I told you so. Well, maybe she'll be able to tell me in person in about a minute." Charlie sighed out.
"Well, that conversation's gonna have to wait. Nobody's leaving this life tonight." Eddie spoke. "Starting the drip." Savanna informed them. "What branch did you say you were in, Charlie?" She asked.
"I didn't. I always wanted to be a Marine. I tried to enlist during 'Nam, but I was 4F, an enlarged heart. So instead, I spent the last 40 years teaching seventh grade." Charlie spoke as Savanna offered him a smile. "See there, Charlie? Not all heroes serve on the battlefield." Eddie spoke as he was readying himself to pull the grenade out. "That's very kind of you to say that." Charlie slurred as his head propped against the headrest.
"You ready?" Eddie glanced at the two blondes "Yeah." Buck spoke as Savanna simply nodded. "He's losing a lot of blood." Savanna mumbled as she applied pressure to his leg. Eddie began to dig in Charlie's leg with the claws. "All right, I got it." Eddie informed them.
"so-so pull it out. Come on." Buck spoke. "I got to... be careful. The sensor measures the distance traveled based on how many rotations the shell made after the launch. The key is not to turn the shell while we pull it out." Eddie spoke digging around.
"Okay, yeah, so don't turn it." Buck started making Savanna roll her eyes. "Gonna have to just... a bit..." Eddie groans as he pulls the grenade out, Savanna quickly lets buck apply pressure as she holds the box for Eddie to drop the grenade in. The three all shared a relieved look when Savanna closed the lid. "Okay let's go." Savanna breathed out.
The three paramedics handed Charlie off to the ER staff before turning to each other. "Who's carter?" Eddie questioned looking at Savanna who smiled "My brother he's an army medic." Eddie nodded with a smile. "You're both badasses under pressure." Eddie complemented Buck and Savanna.
"Me?"
"Hell yeah. You can have my back any day." Eddie grinned. "Yeah. Or, you know, you could... you could have mine."
Savanna laughed, "Are you two gonna make out now?" she questioned as both men turned to her with a frown.
"Nice work, I'm glad you three made it out of there." Bobby patted Savanna's shoulder with a fatherly smile.
"The guy's a professional, Cap. I was never really worried." A loud explosion went off making Savanna flinch
"You guys hungry?" She asked, grin.
•••
"Okay, what about G.I.? Like G.I. Joe. Hey, G.I. You know, that's a great nickname." The 118 had just got back from a call from some kid who had cemented another kid's head in a microwave. Now all of them minus their captain were all upstairs, Eddie and Buck were hoovered over the pinball machine Hen was reading a book at the counter, chimney was eating celery and peanut butter, and Savanna was stress baking. The ambulance explosion had triggered her first episode in months and it really took it out of her.
"Sounds like gastrointestinal." Hen spoke not looking up from the book. "Yeah, I don't think so." Eddie looked at buck. "Plus eddie is already a nickname." Savanna spoke as she pulled the cookies out of the oven.
"All right, everybody, listen up. I've got an announcement to make. I just got off the phone with the people from the calendar, and they have made their choice." Bobby announced as he walked up the stairs.
"Well, no hard feelings, no matter who won." Buck spoke to Eddie as they fist bump. "That's good, Buck, 'cause they didn't pick you." Bobby informed making Savanna laugh.
"Well, it's obviously a fix. No, congratulations anyway, G.I.!" Buck clapped, "They didn't pick him, either." Bobby cut him off.
"No? You?" Buck pointed to Bobby who quickly shook his head. "No." they all turned to chim who was crunching celery resulting in Savanna throwing a towel at him, she hated crunching with a burning passion
"No way. You gotta be kidding me." Chimney spoke with a mouth full. "No. Congratulations, Chim. Or should I say Mr. April?" Savanna hugged chim with a smile "No way. Are you serious?" The 118 clapped for chim.
"I've never been more proud to be born in the great month of april." Savanna jokes. "You're a calendar boy, now." Bobby also jokes.
"30 days of Chimney. Congratulations." Buck high fived him. "You did it." Hen gave him a grin "Thank you." He spoke with a smile.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Athena Grant spoke looking at Bobby, Hen and Savanna shared a knowing glance before not so subtly watching them.
"Hey. I'm sorry." Athena apologizes before kissing him, making Savanna's jaw drop while a giant grin finds her face. "All right. What are you all looking at? There's no more announcements." Bobby spoke with his hands on his hips.
"Pay up." Savanna and Hen spoke, holding out their hands. Chim and Buck groaned, each handing Savanna twenty dollars. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you know?" Bobby questioned and Savanna looked at them like they were dumb.
"Sir, first you two were happy at the same time," Hen spoke, "then you were both pissed off at the same time. It wasn't hard to figure out." Savanna finished for her.
"And, uh, you two are good with this?" Athena questioned the two. Hen was the woman's best friend and Savanna was like her daughter; she had known the girl since she was fifteen. "Girl, I'm just mad at myself for not fixing you up in the first place. And sav has been trying even when you were married" Hen waved her hand, Sav shrugged.