Surrera - A New Beginning

Chapter One

Robert's pov
I wasn't planning on making friends with anyone at Station 19. I'm just their captain, nothing else. Except the real reason is that I'm scared. I haven't opened myself up to anyone since Claire died and Luke and I fell out. I was scared that if I did, something bad would happen to them, or they would end up hating me.
"I'd like to introduce you all to the new captain of station 19," Luke said to the team as we walked around the corner. I had to admit I was kind of proud to be here. Station 19 was known to be the best fire station in Seattle, possibly even the whole of Washington. The whole team was hand-picked by the previous captain, Pruitt Herrera. It was going to be hard to fill his boots, that much I knew. Pruitt Herrera was a legend, every firefighter in the city has at least heard of him. "Captain Robert Sullivan." I was snapped out of my thoughts as Luke said my name. This was it, this is really happening. I never thought I'd want to be a Captain, but here I am.
"Glad you're here of course. Why don't we go around and I'll introduce you," Pruitt suggested but I cut him off.
"I'll do names later. I'm here because Chief Ripley saw a need at Station 19. An opportunity, to shift a few things around, maybe give you guys a little, kick. I'm all about efficiency, I like to make every minute count, so let's get started," I said, my voice authoritative and strict.
Before I could start, someone started talking.
"But the shift hasn't started yet. We usually begin the day getting breakfast upstairs," the women said and I looked her over. There was something about her, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. She made me feel in a way I hadn't felt since the first time I laid eyes on Claire. How could she make me feel like this? I'd only just met her, I didn't even know her name. Before I knew what I was saying, I started speaking again.
"Okay then, breakfast it is," I said, shocking even myself. I'd ruined my plans of being seen as the strict, closed off Captain within the first few minutes of being here. Everyone started walking in, and she smiled at me gratefully. When the whole team was inside the station except her, I called after her. "Wait," I called, causing her to turn around and look at me expectantly. "I didn't catch your name."
"Lieutenant Andrea Herrera, sir, but everyone calls me Andy," she said, and I smiled.
"Nice to meet you Lieutenant Herrera," I said, before holding the door open for her to go inside. As I felt a hand on my shoulder, I realised that Luke had been behind me the whole time.
"Making friends already, with Captain Herreras daughter as well, good job Sully," he laughed, and I nodded awkwardly. We haven't really talked since what happened with Claire, except about work related things, so I wasn't really sure what to say. Instead, we both made our way inside. I went up to the beanery, and Luke went to the captains office to sort some things out with Pruitt. As I walked into the beanery, everyone turned to look at me. I went to take the only empty seat, which of course, happened to be next to Andy.
"Hi Captain," she said as I sat down.
"Hi Herrera, hi everyone," I replied, grabbing a plate of food. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, so I decided to speak up, "So I got Andy's name, but I don't know anyone else's."
"Ooo I know, we should all say something about ourselves, that way, Captain, you can get to know us all!" Andy suggested excitedly, and I nodded. "I'll start. Umm, not very interesting, but I love to eat crappy sugar cereal out of the box with my hands," she said and I laughed slightly.
"I'll go next," the blonde woman who was sat the other side of Andy said. "I'm Maya Bishop, and I love to run. And I won an Olympic gold medal running on a sprained ankle."
"I'm Victoria Hughes, but everyone calls me Vic. Umm, before I became a firefighter I used to want to sing on Broadway."
"I'm Ben Warren. I used to be a surgeon, and before that I was an anaesthesiologist."
"I'm Dean Miller and I live on a house boat."
"Wait how come we've never been there!" Andy shouted, and there were echoes of everyone agreeing. After a few moments, they moved on.
"Lieutenant Jack Gibson. You were the instructor when Dean and I were at the fire academy." I held my breath, waiting for him to say something else, perhaps comment on what a jerk I was back then, but he didn't.
"I'm Travis Montgomery, and I need to be going now, my boyfriends been very strict on my recovery from the surgery I had a few weeks ago," he said, getting up to leave.
"Hope you get better soon Montgomery. Do you know when you'll be back?" I asked.
"I'm not sure exactly, but hopefully soon," he said and I nodded. As he left, Andy turned towards me.
"Your turn now," she said.
"I'm sorry?" I said confused.
"Your turn to tell us something about yourself," she replied.
"There's not that much to tell," I laughed nervously.
"Oh come on, there's got to be something," she insisted. I thought about what I could tell them without revealing too much about myself. There really wasn't anything to tell about my life since Claire died, I'd thrown myself into work to distract myself, not leaving any room for a personal life.
"Umm, I speak six languages," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Andy smirked.
"Which languages?" Warren asked.
"Spanish, French, Italian, Farsi, German and obviously English," I told them, and Andy started to smile.
"Puedo que no hable seis idiomas diferentes, pero sí hablo español," she said, grinning at me. (I might not speak six different languages, but I do speak Spanish) Everyone looked at us confused, but I smiled too.
"Posiblemente uno de mis favoritos de los seis," I said. (Possibly one of my favourites out of the six)
"Okay would you two please start talking in a language we all understand again please," Hughes joked, and we all laughed.
"Well, I'm going to go and sort some things out with Captain Herrera and Chief Ripley. You guys need to start with your chores, shift started 10 minutes ago," I ordered, before standing up. As I was walking out of the beanery, I caught Andy's eye, and we smiled at each other slightly.
As I walked into my new office, Luke and Pruitt looked up at me. "Glad to see you're making friends with everyone Captain Sullivan," Pruitt said and I shook my head.
"I was just getting to know my team. I'm their captain, not their friend," I said firmly, and I saw the two of them exchange looks.
We went over a few things, sorted out some paperwork and files, before they finally left. I leant back in my chair, sighing. I stood up and closed the blinds, before slamming my hand into my desk. I let out a frustrated sigh as I sat back down again. I had been so sure of how my first day was going to go, I had everything planned out. But not one thing had happened how I wanted it to, and I wasn't even an hour into the shift. While things weren't exactly going badly, I still wasn't happy with it. I had made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to open myself up to anyone, that I wasn't even going to talk to anyone except about work related things. And I had already broken that promise. I hate the way Andy makes me feel. I barely even know her, but there's just something about her. She made me weak, she made me want to get to know her. Except I didn't. Because if I did, she would only turn on me eventually.
I heard a knock on the door, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Come in," I sighed. The door opened slightly to reveal the one person I really didn't want to see right now. Great, this is just great. "What do you need Herrera?" I asked, trying to make myself sound as cold and professional as possible.
"Um, we were just wondering if you wanted us to do more chores, or start on some drills," she said, confused at my sudden change in mood.
"I want the engine and ladder cleaned, an inventory check done on the aid car and all of the floors mopped. You can do drills later," I ordered. Andy nodded, and was about to leave when she turned back.
"Is there something else Herrera?" I asked, annoyed. I just wanted to be left alone to clear my thoughts, and I couldn't do that if she didn't leave. Especially seeing as all of my thoughts seemed to be about her.
"Um, is everything alright Captain? You just seem upset or something, that's all," she said, almost nervously.
"Everything is fine, thank you for asking," I replied. She nodded again before leaving and closing the door behind her.
At this point, I didn't even know how to feel. There was part of me that wanted badly to make friends here, specifically with Andy. But there was part of me that knew that that would be a bad idea, and would only end in me hurting once again. I just didn't know what to do.