The Fire Within (wlw)

Lunches and Rituals

3 weeks have passed since you moved in with Shay and things have started becoming a part of your routine. The time is 11:45 and you, Shay, and Gabby are sitting at the table in the corner, eating lunch and conversating as usual.

"I know, that call was such a bust!" Gabby exclaimed, still ranting about a call we had last shift that she didn't like. "Oh c'mon Gabs, what's wrong with having to escort a drunk man out of a bar because he can't stop running his mouth?" Shay chuckled, taking a bite out of her sandwich. I looked up. "That's what y'all got called for? What a bunch of losers." I snarked, sipping on my drink. Gabby threw her hands up and sighed. "I know, I signed up to be a paramedic not a babysitter." Shay and I laughed.

"Gabby!" a voice called from behind me. Gabby and Shay looked behind me and I turned to see who it was. "What's up Mills?" Dawson asked, beaming a friendly smile across her face to hide her frustration from the rant. "Hey uh, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me to the 'Friends of Firefighters' lunch tomorrow?" he asked, a gentle half smile plastered onto his face and his hands behind his back. He looked like a child who just asked his mom if his friend could stay overnight and this thought made me chuckle a bit.

I looked at Gabby who looked taken aback by the question with her jaw dropped. After a few moments she finally responded. "You know what Mills? Yes, I will go with you to the lunch BUT on one condition." Mills did a small victory pump and then resumed his previous form. "Yes, anything, you name it and I'll follow it." he said, biting his lip in excitement.

"You realize that I'm taking you up on the offer...as a friend..and don't brag about it to everyone. If you do, at least make sure they know it's as friends and nothing more." she ordered. Mills saluted. "Yes ma'am." He smiled before walking away.

"Wow, going with Mills to the lunch and leaving me, your best friend, behind to be lonely. I see how it is." Shay crossed her arms, pretending to be upset. "Oh come on Shay, I feel bad for the guy. Plus you already know you're more than likely going to sit next to me anyways." she rolled her eyes. "Oh no it's fine. It's not like I'll be lonely the whole time." Shay said, her lip poked out as she was trying to mask a laugh that was begging to be let out of her throat.

I finished my lunch and got up, throwing my trash in the garbage before walking back to the table. I took a breath and stood behind my chair, clearing my throat a bit. "Shay," I started, getting her attention so she looked at me, her gentle eyes giving me a warm feeling inside. "I uh...will you accompany me to this "Friends of Firefighters" lunch?" I asked, trying not to laugh at my own "formality". Shay looked at Gabby who was already giving her a certain look before Shay returned her eyes to mine.

She stood up and reached for my hands so I allowed her to take them. "I would love to." We smiled at each other and started laughing at how absurd we were acting towards each other but I kind of liked it in a way. We sat down again and Shay looked at Gabby. "Well, Gabriella," she started, putting extra emphasis on Gabby's name for the fun of it. "It seems I won't be lonely after all. Quill over here as asked to accompany me to the gathering and I agreed." she said, making a posh face towards Gabby.

Gabby nodded and gave a telling smile. "I heard. Have fun with that." she said, trying not to laugh.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" a loud, stern voice boomed from the front of the room, causing everyone to go quiet. We all turned to face Chief Boden, whose face was stern and showed no emotion, typical of Boden.

"Thank you. Today is a fine day out so we are going to have a little fun. I've decided we are going to go out and do some training. I need Squad 3 to train for extraction from highly involved buildings and you are going to work as a team with Truck. I don't want any bickering or arguing with each other. This is not a competition. We are a team. Do you guys understand?"

We all answered in unison. "Yes, Chief." He nodded. "Good, Dawson and Shay, you two are going to practice movement of patients and immediate care in the ambulance once Squad and Truck extract the victims." Shay and Gabby nodded.

Boden clapped his hands together. "Alright, out to the front we go." Everyone stood up and walked out through the truck bay towards a fire tower, where other district chiefs were standing to help with training. Gabby pulled the ambulance out and backed it up towards the makeshift scene and then got out, meeting up with Shay and I.

Boden went to the front for us all to see him. "I have 3 sets of dummies, each with their own injuries that I will need you two to practice treating." he said, looking at the two girls. "One will require CPR and you'll know which one that is because it will have a reflective stripe across it's arms and legs."

He looked at the rest of us. "I need you guys to go in and rescue each of these dummies before the alarm goes off, sounding the end of the training session. If you do not make it in time, you all owe me an hour of extreme workouts. This is an intense search and rescue as well as fire containment and extinguishment so your lieutenants will have to divide you all into smaller groups with a specified job. As I said before, this is team building and emergency situation training so I don't want any bickering that will put you all behind. This tower is 6 floors but I'm only going to train you on the first 4 floors. Any questions?" he asked, his arms crossed on his chest. Nobody said anything in response. "Alright then, you have 5 minutes to get ready and conversate and then it's go time." he said before walking towards the tower to get it prepared.

I joined up with Shay and Gabby. "Hey you know what I just realized?" I asked, putting all my weight on one of my legs and putting my hands in my back pockets. "Huh?" Shay asked. "We don't have a handshake..." I answered, looking back and forth between the two girls. "Oh my gosh we have to get one!" Gabby squealed excitedly.

After about a minute and a half of attempting, we finally decided to just get in a triangular shape and put our hands in the middle with our fists balled, lifting them at the same time while saying "Shillson!", which was our last names combined. Then we moved on to individual handshakes.

Dawson and I just decided to dap each other up and then make fists and hit the top and bottom of each other's fist and then do a mini hand explosion. Shay and I started off with a dap but before we curled our fingers we decided to shoot our hands upwards with our thumbs against each other. We would then bring our hands back down and finished the dap we started. We then looked at each other and when Boden demanded everyone's attention, I smiled and said "See you on the other side." She smiled back at me and nodded, getting her game face on.

"Okay, training is about to begin." Boden's voice boomed. "We've set the place on fire and hidden the dummies. Get in your teams and get ready."

The sound of shuffling filled the air as everyone moved into their places. "Your time begins when I sound the siren." Boden said, holding up a button on a remote. I looked at Kelly who returned the look, giving me a small nod accompanied by a smile. I smiled back and looked forward at the tower ahead of us, prepared for anything Boden might've thrown at us.

~Timeskip to after the training session~

"So, lunch tomorrow.." I started, leaning against the wall with Shay and Gabby. Shay cocked her head. "Yeah...what about it?" she asked, her double diamond eyes piercing mine.

"It's not anything 'formal' is it?" I asked, not wanting to embarrass myself by dressing too formal or too casual. Shay smiled before replying. "Nope, just wear everyday clothes and a friendly face."

I laughed, knowing the last part was directed towards Gabby. My knowledge was confirmed by Gabby making a smacking sound with her mouth and rolling her eyes. I laughed.

"Alright then, sounds great." I replied, checking my watch. I took a few steps towards the door. "I've gotta talk to Severide about something but I'll meet up with you guys later!" I called back, excited for tomorrow.

A/N: Omg not me getting locked out of my account halfway through this chapter-
Anyways, I've got a feeling y'all are gonna like where this story goes pretty soon 👀