Chapter Text
Bobby pulls up to Hen’s house and waits. It’s 5:30 a.m. and their twelve hour shift starts at six. He looks at the minutes ticking by on the dashboard clock.
“Hurry up, Hen,” he says to himself. He scans the radio options until he lands on the classic rock station. “Born to Run. Cool.”
Bobby looks over and sees Hen on her porch checking to confirm she locked the door. She walks down the driveway to his truck and gets in.
“Good morning, Cap.”
“Morning,” Bobby replies as he puts the truck in drive and heads off towards the station. “Did you manage to leave without waking Karen?”
“No, she gets up early anyway. Likes to do yoga in the morning before Denny wakes up. Athena awake?”
Bobby shakes his head. “No, she can sleep through anything. And she has the day off and Harry is with his dad so she’ll probably sleep in for a while.”
“Jealous?”
“A little bit. But I’m glad this is our last shift for three whole days.”
“Me, too. Reservation is for eight, right? I hope we aren’t called to a four-alarm fire at 5:30.”
“Yeah, Athena made it for eight.” Bobby doesn’t respond further so as not to trigger a jinx. “She’s been wanting to try this place for a while.”
“Karen, too. I’m glad everyone’s schedule finally worked out so we can do this.”
“So am I,” Bobby replies as he pulls into the parking lot of the 118 and gets out of the truck. “I’m going to go get breakfast started.”
“And I’m going to see what kind of mess B shift left the ambulance in.”
~~~~~
The twelve hour shift goes by slowly and uneventfully. They only have to respond to a handful of calls - a fender bender with minor injuries, three people trapped in an elevator and an actual dumpster fire behind a convenience store.
The end of the shift is upon them and the B shift arrives. Buck is giddy. “We should go out and celebrate. Last time we’ll see each other for three days! Who’s in? Karaoke? Pool? Escape room?”
Everyone stares at Buck.
“Come on, guys,” he pleads.
Ravi speaks up. “Sounds fun, I’m in.” His fellow probies Keith, Malcolm and Chloe are also in.
“You guys have fun,” Bobby says. “Athena and I are trying out that new Mexican restaurant in Malibu with Hen and Karen.”
Eddie and Chimney bow out as well and head out for their separate plans with Ana and Maddie.
Buck looks at the probies and says, “Okay, let’s go. As senior firefighter of this group, I make the decision. We’re doing the escape room. I’ll text you the address.” They follow him out into the night.
Bobby looks at Hen, “When should we leave?”
“By seven? Hopefully traffic will cooperate.”
“L.A. traffic?”
“I can dream.”
Bobby chuckled. “Okay. I’m going to hit the showers and make myself presentable.”
“Me too.”
~~~~~
Karen waits across town in Athena’s driveway. She has been there for ten minutes waiting for her to come out. After texting a few status updates, Athena comes rushing out and gets in the car. “Sorry about that. Harry’s staying alone in the house tonight. Had to go over every possible scenario with him.”
“No problem,” Karen responds as she backs out of the driveway. “But I thought he was at Michael’s today.”
“He was, but Michael had to go to Palm Springs at the last minute to talk about designing a new clubhouse for a golf course. Meeting’s first thing in the morning. David is working and couldn’t stay with him. Harry didn’t want us to call a sitter because he’s, and I quote, ‘not a baby.’ And he’s not. He’s twelve. So we’ve decided to let him stay by himself.”
“You’re not worried?”
“I’m very worried. But I went over the basics. He is not to open the door for anyone because everyone who needs to come in already has a key. Do not turn on the oven, do not try to cook, don’t try to use the fireplace. He has all our numbers. And May gets off work at ten so he’s only alone for like three or four hours. He needs to learn how to stay by himself eventually and I didn’t want to cancel this dinner. El Atardecer looks amazing.”
“It does. I was almost drooling when I looked at the menu. And the margaritas are apparently fantastic.”
“That’s what I’ve heard. This carpool situation is going to work out. Two designated drivers,” Athena chuckled. “Who’s going to be the DD for you guys?”
“Me, I guess. I’ll just taste hers,” Karen answered. The conversation paused a bit while she navigated some windy roads. “Athena, do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Not at all. What is it?”
“It’s about Bobby. Hen has told me about his history with alcohol. How she and Buck found him passed out in his apartment. I guess my question is, is he okay with being around drinking? Does that worry you?”
Athena thinks about that question for a few minutes. Karen apologizes, “I’m sorry if that was too personal…”
“It’s not. It actually does worry me but Bobby assures me that he can be around social drinking without being tempted. I believe him. I keep wine at the house and I’m the only one who drinks that.”
“You sure?”
“I am. Bobby’s problem wasn’t with recreational drinking. He drank… I guess the word is ‘therapeutically’ - he wanted to numb the pain, both physical and otherwise. He’s in a better place now so he’s not tempted to self-medicate. But I always worry. What if there’s a bad call or he gets hurt?”
“Or you get hurt?”
“Yeah. That was rough. Michael actually helped him with that. Remember my fireplace?”
“The gaping hole in the middle of your house?”
“Yep. That was Michael’s idea. He thought Bobby needed to take his anger out on something so he brought over a couple of sledgehammers and they destroyed the fireplace. But Michael did repair it for us. I couldn’t stay angry too long”
“Wasn’t it supposed to be redesigned? It looks the same to me.”
“It pretty much is but the back doesn’t jut out into the kitchen anymore so I’m happy with it.” Athena looks ahead of her. “I think we’re here.”
Karen pulls into the parking lot and finds a space. “But they’re not. I’ll text Hen.”
~~~~~
Bobby looks at Hen as she finishes typing a message. “Karen?”
“Yeah, they just got there. I told her we’ll be there in about ten. Hey, Bobby? Do you think we hurt Buck’s feelings? He looked really bummed that we didn’t want to go out and celebrate.”
“I noticed. But what were we supposed to do? We had plans. And he’s not alone, the probies are with him.”
“I kinda worry about the kid. What does he do outside of work? Eddie has his son, and Ana. And then there’s his sister and Chim. We have lives outside of our jobs. Does he?”
Bobby was silent for a while. “I don’t know. And I don’t know if I should expend a lot of energy being concerned about that.”
Hen turned and looked at him, “What are you saying?”
Bobby sighed. “I’m not really sure, Hen. This year has been a lot. And Buck can be…”
“A lot?”
“Yeah. It’s just that with everything that’s happened this past year with Athena and the lockdown and doing all those COVID medical calls. It’s been draining. And I’ve been trying to learn how to leave my job behind at the end of the shift.”
“Athena’s idea?”
“Yep. My wife is a very smart woman. So, part of leaving my job behind at the end of a shift is leaving my team behind as well. It’s not that I don’t care about you guys anymore. I do. But I need to stop worrying about your lives outside of the job. The reality is, I don’t really have to worry about most of you. Just…”
“Just Buck.”
“Right. I hate doing it but he needs to figure things out on his own. And he seems to be. He’s in a good place with his parents. He has his sister. And Eddie and Christopher. And his therapist. He needs to stop coming to me for things that aren’t work related, or maybe it’s me needing him to stop. There will be a time when the 118 will have another Captain, and…”
“You’re not thinking about retiring, are you Bobby?”
Bobby shook his head, “I’m not. Not now. But I’m not getting any younger and I can’t do the job forever. That day is coming where I won’t be around the firehouse anymore. Buck needs to stop relying on me so much outside of the job. The sooner he does, the easier it will be.”
Bobby pulls into the parking lot, stops the truck and shuts off the engine. “We’re here.” He turns to Hen and smiles. “That was a fun conversation. I didn’t scare you, did I?”
“Maybe a little. You’re okay, right?”
“I am. Really. I’ve just been thinking about a lot of things lately.”
“And talking to your wife?”
“And my sponsor. I’m fine. Let’s go in.”