Out of breath, we reached the car and hopped in. The men following us cursed from the distance. Tom and I looked at each other as we drove off, suddenly a bit awkward now that the danger passed. We drove toward my home in silence as we tried to slow our breathing.
" Well this has been..." I trailed off as we pulled up to my home. Tom coolly looked over to me and put the car in park.
"I take it you're not gonna invite me in for coffee?"
He joked.
"Well maybe if I drank coffee, but no I am on shift at 0700. So you're gonna have to cure your loneliness somewhere else," I retorted.
He chuckled, " Don't you ever do anything fun? How does a firefighter live without coffee?"
"Very well actually. As you can see."
"Fair enough. Then I will walk you to the door," he moved to exit the car.
"N-no...please stay here. If you get out this might feel like a date and let's be friends." I put my hands up as to still him in his seat. Instead he was exited the car and came around to open my door.
Opening it, he starts, " Two things, first my mother always taught me to make sure a lady gets home okay. Second what if I don't want to be your friend?" I exited the car and walked with him to the door. Pondering what Tom had said.
"Tom," I start.
"My names not Tom," he retorts.
"Then tell me, what's your name!"
"In due time. Now go inside." He gestures to the door. Sighing heavily I unlock it and go in. Ugh what a day.
0700, I report to my shift at Alvin fire department. Every morning starts with station duties. Today happens to be my day to cook breakfast. There are six on shift today. Usually the guys prefer to do a traditional pancake breakfast. I usually make something high in protein so that the carbs don't slow us down. As I get started on the eggs the guys start coming from checking the trucks off.
"Rory, Seven on shift today. I'm training your new captain," Captain smith smiles.
"So you're really leaving us for a desk job," I tease. Captain Smiths been gunning for the new fire marshal job since my dad passed. He's been so kind to me when I started. No other shift wanted to take me because of my background. My dad was the fire marshal for 20 years but a sick arsonist kidnapped him and left him to die in a fire. There was nothing left of his body. Some higher ups who had it in for my dad, didn't want me on the department but once I got hired they made the shifts reject me too. This old man took me in. I'm sad to see him go.
"You're just gonna miss me."
"So who's filling your boots?"
"That would be me Red," a voice came from behind. A voice I spent a few hours with last night. I turned around and not to my surprise stood Tom. Wearing a the navy blue polo and pants that was my uniform. Ah shit for bricks. I swear if he tells everyone about my nudity incident, I'm dead.
" Good morning, sir, breakfast is gonna be ready 0800."
" Oh come on Red, you're acting like you don't even know me. I'm hurt!" Tom chuckles. Shit I'm so dead, he's gonna blow it.
"You know each other?"
"Yeah captain, I know Aurora," he starts, "Our parents introduced us recently." I glared at him hoping that he doesn't spill the rest of that story. The crew cackled together and descended into tomfoolery. On Tom's chest read: Captain A. Gray. So his first name really isn't Tom. Ugh now I'm gonna have to figure out what to call him. I can't keep calling him Tom and have everyone find out.
My thoughts were soon interrupted by tones over the radio. Without another word we booked it to the bay. Each of us put our feet in our boots and sling the suspenders over our shoulders and threw on our coats. Captain gray took his place up front with our engineer, Danny. Once loaded we took off in the engine lights and sirens. Information came out over the radio stating that it was a 3 vehicle car accident and five possible patients. We arrived on scene in a blink of a eye.
Exiting the engine, under new command Capt. gray sets up our jobs and we each get to work getting our patients looked over. My patient was a 16 year old female who had taken an impact from the drivers side. Clearly she was making a left turn and been t-boned. Conscience and alert, her hand reached for mine. I held her and let her take in her surroundings for a moment.
"Hey my name's Aurora, I'm a paramedic, can you tell me your name and how old you are? Does anything hurt?" I could see that the shattered glass from her window had shattered across her body. She had minor cuts along her left cheek and shoulder, as well as bruising."
"My name is Ally, I'm 16" she gripped me tightly,
"My foot I think it's hurt. I don't feel anything but I can see the bone." I moved to get a better angle as the other vehicle was still planted into hers. Sure enough, on impact her left foot got caught in the crumple of the frame. She was gonna need to be cut out.
"Listen, Ally, your foot is broken. We are gonna get you out but it's gonna be loud for a bit. Don't worry I'm not gonna leave you. Have you taken anything recently, like drugs or alcohol?"
"No I don't drink! Am I gonna be okay? I'm sorry, I swear I had a green light." I got Gray over the radio to get extraction going. Cutting her out bit by bit with the jaws proved troublesome. I sat in the front seat with her ensuring that she remained alert. As we neared the section which entrapped her foot she began to regain feeling in her body. The adrenaline as shock of having been in an accident was wearing off. The pain she now was enduring was much more than a 16 year old should endure.
Over the hydraulic whir of the jaws I yelled, " Ally we are almost there! You're almost free. Listen when you get free we are gonna move quick. I'm gonna give you to my friend Jamey. She's gonna take good care of you. Ally tell me someone I can call to meet you at the hospital."
" My dad, call my daddy!"
"Are you close with your dad," I probed, trying to distract her from her pain. She gripped my hand tightly crying out for her dad. I knew she was a daddy's girl. We had already gotten ahold of her father when police arrived for their investigation.
"My dad is the best. He is a police officer for Santa Fe." A light went off in my head. I knew her father very well. No wonder police were ready when we asked about contacting her father.
"Is your father David Adams?"
"Yes," she screamed suddenly as the finally freed her foot. It was a mangled mess. Deep bruising had set in all along her lower leg and her foot and ankle were swarmed with thick blood. The sight of it churned my stomach.
"Ally they're gonna stabilize that foot and then they'll transport you. Your dad is gonna meet you at the hospital."
"Can you come with me? I'm scared!" She pulled my hand close to her chest.
"Don't be scared Ally. Jamey is gonna take good care of you. I know your dad is gonna be jealous if he sees you getting close with a firefighter." I joked. She let out a soft laugh. Finally the stabilized her enough to transport. As the removed her from the car she released my hand.
The driver of the second vehicle was extremely intoxicated and of course had minor injuries. Though he was transported to the hospital it was in handcuffs. The third driver simply followed the drunk driver as he ran threw the red light. Having not consumed alcohol he was able to drive away with a busted up grill and a warning for running the light. The officers went easy on him since he admitted he ran the light but also turned in damning dash cam video of the drunk driver. In the end his cooperation was worth more to the officers than the fine. Cleaning up after a major accident is much less exiting but once finished we returned to the stations.
"Fuck," I ran to the kitchen remembering that I had put the sausages egg muffins in the oven, " My fucking breakfast!"
"Rory, you better not mess with my breakfast," called on of the crew. They were fucking ruined of course.