Chapter Text
Alexis Vermeer was running from a lot of things, right now it was the 5 missed calls from her father. She shoved her phone in her pocket and took a deep breath, she could respond, she could listen to him try to convince her not to become a firefighter, that she would do better in almost every other field. Maybe he would’ve taken her out to lunch to talk, she could tell him about everything in her life he missed, instead she opted to keep running, literally.
She had been getting ready for her morning run when she got the 3rd call from her father in 4 years, the other two had also only arrived that month. Him trying to contact her this much in one day, let alone a month, meant there could only be one thing he was calling about, one thing that she didn’t want to hear his opinion on.
She had her first shift as a real firefighter later that week, she was joining the 118, and Lexi was already nervous enough without her father’s discouragement.
Lost in thought, Lexi had run down a no through road. She sighed, and began to turn around before every thought of her father or her new job was erased from her mind as the house at the end of the cul de sac exploded.
In an instant she was 11 years old again, her upper body on fire and her mother screaming. God she was so loud, the smell of smoke filled her senses. That smoke, that all consuming monster, was the only thing she could smell, taste, it filled her lungs and she hacked and coughed. She needed it out. It was an unnecessary effort, the smell would cling to her clothes and her hair for weeks, every time she breathed in she would be reminded of that night, that was a lesson she had learned the hard way after her training at The Academy.
With effort, she pulled herself back to the present, because that wasn’t her mother yelling, it was a man, and she wasn’t an 11 year old on fire, she was 19, staring at a house burning down.
Her training kicked in and she ran towards the panicked man. He was standing in the driveway of the house that exploded, seemingly unharmed, standing next to a girl who Lexi assumed was his daughter, also uninjured.
“Are you both okay?” She asked, running the rest of the way over to them.
“My son…” cried the man, his thick arms reaching to his head in worry. “My son is inside.”
Lexi felt a pang of sadness, she didn’t do well with little boys in fires.
“Okay, um,” She started unsure of procedure, she had no back up, not even any gear. “You need to call 911”
“I tried! They wouldn’t pick up!”
Lexi’s brows furrowed with confusion, did he mean he got the busy message? She pulled out her own phone, dialling the 3 numbers and put the phone to her ear, she was immediately with a robotic sounding pre recorded message.
“You have reached a number that is not in service. If you feel you have reached this number in error, please check the number and try again.”
What?
She tried again, carefully dialling the phone this time, but she still got the same message. The fire roared behind her, reminding her of what little time the boy trapped inside had left, if he was even alive.
“What room was your son in?” She asked, knowing there were no other options.
“First door on the left when you get upstairs, right there.” He pointed to a window where the room looked thankfully free of smoke or fire.
Lexi started towards the house, giving instructions as she did so. “Keep trying 911, when they pick up, tell them that you think it was gas, and that an off duty firefighter has gone in to find your son, and get them to send firefighters, lots of them!” She yelled her final instructions before opening the door and stepping into the blaze.
The fire had sparked in the living room, as she could tell by the now destroyed air conditioning system, she couldn’t tell where the gas leak that was fuelling the fire had started but chances are it would be the stovetop in the kitchen. She fumbled her way around the home, covering her mouth with her top that did little to filter out any smoke.
“Hey kid you in here?” she yelled as loud as she could through the smoke. “LAFD! I need you to call out so I can find you!” There was no response.
Lexi was grateful to be honest, if the kid had ventured out from the relative safety of the bedroom, he probably wouldn’t have done so great in this inferno.
She made out the rough shape of a staircase in the smoke, and staggered her way over, clearly this wasn’t going to be as easy as she originally thought. She pulled herself up the stairs, there were sirens in the background now but she wasn’t waiting. Lexi didn’t know how the man had gotten through to 911 but her only hope now was that they brought the ladder truck, it might be a bit hard to get the boy out down the stairs that were practically collapsing underneath her.
Lexi finally made it to the top of the stairs, her head foggy as she did her best to recall where the boys bedroom was.
“LAFD! Call out if you can!” She yelled into the smoke, feeling the left wall for any sign of a door. She fumbled around for what felt like forever but couldn’t have been more than 45 seconds before her hand latched onto a handle.
She twisted it instantly, pushing open the door and practically falling into the room, shutting the door as quickly as she could. The air was considerably better in here, in the sense that she could take a full breath and see more than 2 feet in front of her.
“Is anyone-” She started to call out but was quickly overcome by a coughing fit from the smoke. “Is anyone in here?” she managed.
“Over here!” There was a small voice in the corner of the room.
Lexi staggered over, “Hey kid, can you tell me your name?” She asked, taking in the small boy. He couldn’t have been older than 8 or 9, but even that was a reach. He had a mop of brown hair and his face was covered with ash, no doubt from the fire.
“I’m Alex.” He said before coughing a little.
“Hey Alex, my name’s Lexi and I’m a firefighter.” The words felt strange on her tongue. “I’m gonna get you out of here ok?”
Alex nodded and Lexi took in a moment to register their surroundings. They were in an empty room, but it definitely had the potential to become a bedroom. She recalled the U-Haul truck from when she ran into the house.
“You guys moving into a new house?” She asked, scanning the room for any windows.
The boy nodded unsurely. Lexi gave him a smile before her eyes fell upon a window.
“As much as I hate to ruin what looks like a pretty epic bedroom I’m gonna have to break this window.” She paused, looking around for anything to throw to smash the glass. Finding no options but Alex she resorted to kicking it out, grateful for the thick sole of her sneakers.
She stopped to take a breath of fresh air before ripping off the curtain to wave it out the window at the fire engine that was arriving. Thankfully she was spotted and they began to rotate the ladder towards her.
“Alright Alex!” Lexi called, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. “You’re gonna go out the window and onto the ladder first and I’ll be right behind you.”
Alex nodded gratefully and rushed over to the window. The firefighter was coming up the ladder now, a young man with ‘Buckley’ on his jacket.
Just as Lexi was helping Alex out the window, the second segment of the ladder snapped with Buckley still on it.
The moment there was nowhere for Alex to go she pulled him back inside. They fell to the ground reeling and Lexi dared to peek out the window. Buckley was okay, or as okay as he could be dangling from a ladder 20 feet in the air. He managed to make his way to the ground but with no way for the firefighters to get inside and smoke filling the room, Lexi and Alex were running out of options.
“Alex, we need to get out of this room, do you know if there’s another level above us?” She said between coughs.
“Ye-yeah, my dad said there was an attic with a bathroom up there”
Despite everything Lexi smiled, she could work with that.
“You’re gonna need to cover your mouth for this part ok, Alex? It’ll be pretty smoky out there.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
Lexi made sure they were both ready before hurrying out of the bedroom. Alex gestured to a space on the ceiling that she could only assume was the entrance to the attic. She pulled down the latch and practically shoved Alex up the ladder. She climbed up after him and was unsure whether or not to close the opening but the rising smoke and the breakable window convinced her to shut it.
She hurried over to the only window, intending to break it but she was beaten to the punch.
A firefighter came hurtling through the glass, Lexi wasn’t sure where he had come from but she was grateful he was here. She paused for a moment to take him in, he wasn’t Buckley, even though his body was mostly covered in gear she could tell this was a different guy, she craned her neck to read his jacket, ‘Diaz’. He looked up and smiled at her, he was in his late twenties, with tanned skin and a bit of stubble around his jawline, like he had gone a week or so without shaving.
“You guys okay?” He asked, and it took Lexi way too long to realise that she was supposed to answer, instead she just nodded breathlessly.
“Can you get us out of here?” Asked Alex, who was clinging to her arm. He wasn’t doing so great anymore, coughing more frequently. He was too young to be put in this situation.
“The main staircase is gone.” She told the firefighter. “And the whole bottom floor has gone up so we’ve got no hope of getting out through the house unless you feel like jumping 20 feet into fire.”
“Got it.” Said Diaz before doing a double take at Lexi. “You’re a firefighter?”
Lexi understood where he was coming from, given that she wasn’t even 20 yet. “I’m about to be,” she explained, “I just graduated from The Academy, I start Friday.”
Diaz looked as though he was about to say something when some chatter came over his radio, the truck was out of water.
They shared a look and Lexi headed towards the window, taking in their situation. “Is there any way we can get onto the roof?” she asked.
“No I rappelled down, and there’s no shot he can climb back up.” Said Diaz, gesturing to Alex.
Lexi tried to run a hand through her hair before remembering it was pulled back in a ponytail, so she just awkwardly hovered her hand over her head. What a great first impression she was making as a firefighter.
Thankfully, Lexi was interrupted from her awkwardness by more chatter on Diaz’s radio, this time she was too far away to hear it.
“What’d they say?” She asked.
“They’re bringing in more water.”
“From where?
Diaz pointed up, “Airtanker”
Lexi bit her lip, scanning the room before she remembered something. “There’s a bathroom up here, probably has a tub we could shelter in.”
Diaz did a full 180° before finding the door to the bathroom, he hurried over, Lexi ushering Alex along behind him.
The 3 of them managed to squeeze into the porcelain bathtub, Alex being covered by Diaz’s body, and Lexi covered by his jacket. Diaz, tapped her leg with his foot, signalling the imminent arrival of the water.
She held her breath and braced herself but nothing could’ve prepared her for the wall of water that slammed into her.
The jacket did little to protect her, she still felt the full force hitting her whole body. For a moment she was convinced the tub was going to fall two stories with them still in it, but the floor held. She tentatively pulled her head out from under the jacket and brushed the soaking wet strands of her hair out of her face.
Diaz and Alex were also slowly recovering from the sudden shock, also soaked, but other than that they seemed to be okay.
Lexi pushed herself out of the bathtub, taking note of the puddle of water she had been sitting in, and wringing out her ponytail onto the wet tile.
“Are you guys ready to get out of here?” Asked Diaz from the bathtub.
Lexi let out a breathless laugh, the adrenaline was probably wearing off and she had definitely not imagined her first act as a firefighter like this, maybe she would be better at rescuing cats in trees.
They exited through the outdoor side staircase, and were immediately swarmed by a crowd of people. Alex was greeted by his father and sister, before being carted off to be checked by the paramedics. Lexi wasn’t planning on giving them more than a cursory glance just to make sure Alex was being looked after, but froze when she saw who was treating him.
It was Henrietta.
Hen. Lexi hadn’t thought about that night in so long she had nearly forgotten about her. Her day just had to be full of reminders from the past huh? First her dad, then a boy trapped in a burning house, then the paramedic from the worst night of her life.
Lexi was so caught up in her memories she didn’t even realise another paramedic was trying to check her out until a flashlight shined right in her eye. She tried to tell her she was fine, but before she could speak there was a fire captain in her face. He was saying something, Lexi had to bring herself back to Earth to hear him.
“-any idea how stupid that was? You endangered yourself, you endangered that boy, you endangered my firefighters! Were you even telling the truth about being off duty because if so I want to speak to your captain and if not I ought to report you to the police!”
Lexi opened her mouth to explain herself but any defence she had left her brain the moment she read the number on the captain’s helmet. She scanned the firefighters around her for confirmation, Buckley, Diaz, Hen, they were all in the same firehouse.
The 118, aka her new house.
She turned back to the fire captain, her fire captain.
“This is awkward…” She said, unsure of what to say.
The face he made told her that that was definitely not the right thing to say.
“You’re my fire captain.” She amended “Or, you will be.” She stuck out her hand, Jesus, she hadn’t even started and she was already gonna get fired. “Alexis Vermeer, I start at the 118 this Friday?” She framed it as a question, since she was now unsure whether she would be allowed to start.
The man let out one of the deepest sighs she had ever heard, notably avoiding shaking Lexi’s hand. “You’re lucky your dad is who he is, kid”
Lexi’s outstretched hand and hopeful smile dropped at the mention of her father, whether or not the captain noticed he didn’t say anything about it, only “I want you in my office Friday morning, 7:30”
She nodded, and the captain left to go talk all official to someone else, leaving Lexi unsure of what to do with herself. She should probably go find a paramedic, breathing in that much smoke couldn’t be good for her. Unfortunately, the only one she could see was Hen, and she didn’t exactly feel like a reunion right now.
She turned around in search of any medical personnel, and crashed into Diaz.
“Woah! You good there kid?”
“Lexi, short for Alexis.” She introduced herself abruptly, and frankly a little standoffish but she was not about to let her nickname become ‘kid’.
“Okay then.” Said Diaz, drawing out the o sound. “Eddie, short for-”
“Edmundo?” She interrupted, unable to help herself.
“How did you know?”
“My mother was Mexican.” She held back a wince when mentioning her mother, that was 3 for 3 for being reminded of her family members today, 3 more than she usually aimed for.
Eddie gave her a smile, “Lexi, whatdya say I check you out? I’m a medic and you don’t look so hot there.”
Lexi nodded, grateful for not having to talk to Hen just yet, unfortunately, Eddie started leading her right towards her.
Thankfully, Eddie only grabbed a med kit from inside the ambulance and kept walking before Lexi could really start to panic. She hurried after him, seeing Hen doing a double take but making sure to keep her face forward, there was no way she could deal with that, not today. She couldn’t do this right now.
“Did you hit your head at all?” Eddie asked, already checking her pupils with a too bright light.
Lexi tried not to squirm. “I’m fine, really. I barely even breathed in that much smoke” she shrugged. “I think this is just a bit of an adrenaline crash.”
Eddie hummed in understanding, still fastening a blood pressure cuff around her arm. “You said you started work this week, what firehouse are you stationed at?”
“Uh” Lexi started eloquently, she wasn’t exactly sure how to say that she was going to start at Eddie’s firehouse after everyone saw her get reprimanded by the captain. Captain Nash if Lexi remembered correctly. “Your firehouse I think, you’re at the 118 right?”
Eddie, to her surprise, broke out in a grin, “No way!” He exclaimed, “You’re the new hire? Oh Buck’s totally gonna freak when he finds out the probie’s a kid. God, and you’re the chief’s kid aren’t you?”
Lexi’s uncertain grin had been growing steadily, despite not appreciating being known as a kid again, until her father and his title was once again mentioned.
Eddie clearly didn’t notice this and instead started waving Buckley over. Lexi didn’t fail to notice Hen’s attention on the now trio. This wasn’t good, she didn’t want to meet her new colleagues making a fool of herself like this, she didn’t want her title to be cemented as the chief’s daughter, and she definitely didn’t want to have to talk to Hen yet.
Eddie and Buck were talking about her, probably to her, but she was elsewhere. Lexi had gone on a run to stop thinking about her dad and her new job, and it had gone worse than she ever could’ve imagined.
“Am I okay?” she asked abruptly, definitely interrupting whatever one of the men had been saying. She winced at her rudeness. “I mean… Am I good to go? I kinda have somewhere I need to be soon.”
Eddie blinked in surprise. “Uh, if you feel fine, yeah. You should be okay to leave, definitely go to the hospital if you start coughing or feel dizzy. You sure you still wanna make your plans though? Looks to me like you’ve earned an afternoon to yourself.”
Lexi mustered an uneasy and definitely unconvincing smile. “I’m good. Thanks, I’ll see you guys later.”
Both men called out what could’ve been a goodbye but Lexi couldn’t make out what they said. She was already leaving as fast as possible without actually running away. What a mess.
.
.
.
.
.
Lexi was alone. That had almost been a fact of life since she aged out of the foster system. The past year had been hard, working to afford rent and food while still training to become a firefighter didn’t leave a lot of room for her social life. Maybe that was why Lexi was waiting for her dad to call.
She didn’t want to talk to him, not really. She hadn’t wanted to talk to him for a long time. Maybe it was her too small apartment, the one that she could never make feel like home, but that wasn’t uncommon for the places she had lived since the fire.
Maybe it was the fire that morning, she had been in burning buildings before, during the academy, but this one was uncontrolled, she couldn’t do anything, couldn’t even get the kid out by herself.
Maybe it was Captain Nash scolding her, she hadn’t felt that useless in a long time.
It could have been anything, or perhaps everything. Lexi could’ve told herself that easily, but it just wasn’t true. She wanted her father to call not so she could pick up, but so that she wouldn’t. She had to do this by herself, she couldn’t have gone through all this, alone, no help from any of her family, just for her dad to tell her she couldn’t do it. Because if Lexi even heard him out for a moment, she would cave. She would resign before she even began, and she would go to college like her mother always wanted. All it took was his phone call.
Lexi hated that. She hated that she hadn’t seen or spoken to her dad in years and would still listen to him as if his word was gospel.
Lexi was so preoccupied with her annoyance that her phone had to ring multiple times to capture her attention. It was her dad. She would say he was a predictable man but she had been waiting over 3 hours for his call. So that she could decline it. God this whole thing is so stupid.
Still, her finger hovered over the button to accept, her own doubts fuelling her need to be told she couldn’t do it.
In the end, it was her other distaste towards the man that made her decline the call. 2 days. 2 days until she starts work and can prove herself.
She dragged a hand down her face and began to start dinner. It really had been a long year.