Ignite | e. buckley

four

Red, Anastasia and Buck's new friend, had plenty of stories to tell about his younger self in the fire department.  Once it got late enough, and because of all of the drinks, the three walked to Red's apartment down the street, which also kind of helped Anastasia and Buck sober up.  They didn't spend too much time inside his home, but the two young firefighters found interest in his wall of pictures.  One picture was of him and his entire team in front of the firehouse with a firetruck behind them all, and another was of him with a woman.  "Well, you two know the job.  We're always busy and at some point, it gets hard for someone to not feel like they're a distant second." Red, or John since that's his real name, explained, looking down at the picture in Buck's hands. 

"So you broke up over the job?"

Red nodded his head sadly, going on to explain how his then fiancé had gotten them tickets to the World Series, but he had work, so she left him.  "You got anybody waiting for you at home?"

Buck and Anastasia shook their heads, different emotions being expressed.  "I did once, but it didn't really work out."  He explained.

The two men then turned to Anastasia, waiting to hear her love life status.  "I was engaged before moving here, but he died. I have a dog though." She smiled softly.

Both Buck and Red looked at her in surprise, and it was then that Buck noticed the ring she's been wearing on her necklace.  "I'm sorry to hear that, kid.  Look, you can be the hero and save lives, but don't neglect your own.  The last thing you want is to get to the end of your life with regrets.  Trust me, I know."

Red nodded, then went to go sit on his couch while Buck and Anastasia looked at the picture of his lost love, different thoughts going through their heads.  A few minutes later the two noticed Red had fallen asleep on the couch, so Anastasia grabbed a blanket draped over one of the chairs to cover him before they both left.

For a few moments, the two walked in silence back to the bar to get Buck's car, until Buck noticed she was fiddling with her necklace.  "What happened with your fiancé?"  He asked quietly.

Anastasia looked up, her focus on Buck before look ahead at the rest of their walk.  "I came back from a shift one night and found him in his office.  He had a brain aneurysm and according to the M.E., it was basically impossible to detect while he was alive, so there's was nothing we could've done to help him." She explained, both of them walking slowly like they were taking a stroll in the park. It's not like Buck's Jeep was going to run away or anything.

"Sorry we brought that up back there. But hey, Tatum's a cool dude."

Anastasia laughed lightly, her mood lifted since the focus was no longer on her dead fiancé. "Yeah, he's like the son I don't have."

"Have you ever taken him to your station? We should sneak him in. Wait, we should get him a little firefighter outfit and then we can put him in the truck, sirens and everything."

As Buck continued with his little monologue about how Tatum could take after Anastasia, while also surprising everyone at the 118, Anastasia watched in amusement and laughed whenever Buck would act something out or even just make big gestures with his hands. "While I love the idea, B, pretty sure he needs to be certified to be able to all of that."

Given how close the bar was to the apartment complex that Red lived in, the walk was that long, even though they were walking exceptionally slow.  Once they were close enough, Evan pulled out his keys to unlock the jeep from a distance.  "We'll call it a work in progress for now."

× × ×

During the next shift, Evan was quick to tell everyone at the station about who he and Anastasia had met at the bar that night.  Though, Anastasia was running a few minutes late because she forgot to prepare her coffee the night before.  When she ran in with her cup, she wasn't necessarily late, since she was planning to leave her house early anyways, but she was later than she was on her first day.  Everyone was upstairs playing pool, so after placing her stuff in her locker, she went up to join them.