Alaska on fire // Fox 9-1-1

1.0

Even though she knew it was a lie, Alaska, in her dreams, felt like she had slept for a long time. She shifted slightly in bed and picked up her cell phone that was on the nightstand.

With her eyes half-closed even the minimal brightness of the cell phone bothered her, so she blinked several times until she adjusted to it.

4:47 AM.

She mentally calculated that she had 28 minutes left before the alarm went off. She didn't want to waste the time she had left in her bed, but she was worried about oversleeping, knowing she had so much to do. Every minute was worth it.

She put the phone to the side of her body, stretched a little, arranged the blanket so that it covered her better and turned over closing her eyes.

Her mind was still battling whether she should sleep a little longer or not.

The resounding alarm then sounded and in just seconds, she snapped out of her semi-conscious state and grabbed her cell phone to turn off the annoying noise.

'Here we go' She said to herself as she got out of bed.

She quickly finished her daily routine and once she had pulled back her honey blonde hair, she went to the kitchen to prepare a smoothie with oatmeal, strawberries and yogurt.

She smiled as she tasted it and made sure to finish it before grabbing her keys, her cell phone and heading out for a jog like she did every morning.

She followed the same path as every Wednesday, trying to remember what was on that side of the building she lived in. A couple of weeks ago she had moved to Los Angeles from Minnesota and was still trying to memorize the sites near her new home.

Opening the door to her apartment, she smiled to see that she had shaved 9 minutes off her time from last week. Now she would be able to shower, eat, and make it to the academy on time for continuing with her training. She would finally fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter.

As she was preparing breakfast her cell phone rang, alerting her to the arrival of a message. She didn't need to see who it was.

Like every morning her dad sent his good morning and reported on his way to the station.

'Good morning shortcake' she read in the notification tray and a smile spread across her face. She loved his dad so much.

'Good morning my super hero, please be careful'. Alaska knew her dad would have a 24 hour shift and she was really looking forward to going to the station and meeting him. He didn't know that she was living in the same city as him.

Alaska had already discovered that getting around the congested streets of Los Angeles was as exhausting as all the daily training and classes at the academy.

When it was finally time to leave, she waited for the Uber to take her to the 118 station, where her dad worked. She stood outside for a few minutes hesitating if it was the best time to meet her dad and tell him about what had kept her busy the last few weeks. She stood there, looking at the station. It was bigger than she had always imagined it to be, but what caught her attention most were the trucks. Her heart pounded as she thought about future employment, she was so determined to make it that nothing would stop her until she was in one of those huge red trucks.

"Hi. Need help?" Alaska's gaze landed on the man who just spoke to her and she smiled at him.

Taking a few steps toward him she replied, "Hi, yeah, I guess. I'm looking for Captain Nash."

The friendly faced man looked a little shaken by her statement, but recovered by quickly shaking his head, "Sure, hold on a second."

He turned around and shouted her father's nickname, asking him to come downstairs for a moment. She laughed softly.

"I'm Howie, Howard Han. Although around here they call me Chimney" He held out his hand to her, but before she could respond she heard a loud voice call her name. When the gazes of father and daughter met, both their faces lit up.

"Come in, this way." Bobby started walking knowing Alaska would follow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Chimney, I'm Alaska."

Once in his office, Bobby held out his arms, accepting her in a hug. Both of their smiles spread a little wider.

Still not letting go of her, her dad was the first to speak, "Lackie, sweetie, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you dad and I needed to talk to you" The blonde held her blue eyes closed against her dad's chest, breathing in his scent. In that moment she was aware of how much she missed him.

"Do you want to talk about it now, or shall we leave it for later?"

He knew her very well, she needed to tell him now, then she would start to hesitate. That was exactly what she told him.

He asked her to sit down, while he did the same. Then with his hand he motioned her to continue talking.

"I decided to move here to Los Angeles. I don't have anything to keep me in Minnesota, instead I have you, here.

A few weeks ago I moved, but I didn't want to tell you until I had everything settled. I rented an apartment and decided to move in."

Alaska paused for a moment as she pulled a folder out of her purse and set it on the desk. He took it, raising an eyebrow, and opened it. It contained the academy brochure, her schedules and training program, among other papers she had received in the last month.

"The academy?" Bobby's heart stopped for a moment, he knew firsthand how dangerous the job could be. "I thought it closed registration about a month ago."

"I might have that long in town."

The captain looked into his daughter's eyes, surprise and some pain flashed across his face for a second. Then taking a deep breath he took his little girl's hands in his and dared to ask "are you sure that's what you want? You know the job."

"Yes dad, this is what I want."

"You are my girl and I will always worry about you. But I promised myself that I would always support you in everything, this will be no exception even though I'm not entirely comfortable with it. I am so proud of who you have become and I know you will definitely be the best firefighter."

She threw herself into his arms and in a watery voice said "thank you super dad, you've always been the best, I can only aspire to be like you".

Bobby didn't really believe that was true, but he couldn't hurt his little girl's feelings, so he just gave her a kiss on the crown of her head.

They stayed in each other's arms for a while.

"Do you want to meet the team?" Alaska looked up studying her father's face. She was sure her crew didn't know she existed, since her dad, like her, had trouble letting others in and were rarely able to reveal details of their lives to others.

"Only if you're comfortable with it dad."

"Come on."

Seeing three firefighters quickly turn to her dad, Alaska couldn't stop a smile from forming on her lips, "Okay guys, I have someone to introduce you to. This is Alaska, my daughter."

Immediately the blonde heard a mocking noise asking for his money to be paid. She had been a bet between the firemen.

Her dad claimed to the man she had seen upon arrival, "Chim."

"Oh, yes Cap. You know how it is." He turned to the blonde and held out his hand, "Welcome little Nash."

"Chimney. It's definitely fireman's nickname."

"If you only knew how he got it," the woman to the left of him, Hen Wilson, laughed.

"I'm Buck. Evan Buckley," finally said the youngest of the group, sporting a handsome smile worthy of a Ken.

"Buckley, I want you away from my daughter."

And although she thought her dad was out of line with that comment, she noticed how the others laughed as if they knew something she was unaware of. She went back to introductions "Alaska Nash, I recently moved to Los Angeles."

This triggered many questions and her dad asked her to stay for dinner.