in which the oldest child of Owen Strand moves to Los Angeles and falls for a fellow firefighter
EVAN "BUCK" BUCKLEY x FEM!STRAND OC
cover by @spxrrxwstxrks
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tessa had been quite the last few days and it was really starting to bother tk because he knew that she was keeping something from him. he knew that she and buck were still together because he hears their calls every night. he knew that she would tell him when she was ready. tk grabbed his keys and that got his sister's attention. "i forgot we had work today." "tess, we have a 24-hour shift today. is everything okay?" "yeah, why wouldn't it be?" "you've been really quiet the past few days, tessie. you can tell me, sissy." "it's nothing, ty. i promise. let's get to work now." tk left it alone for now but he could always tell when something was up with her.
tessa groaned as she stepped in a puddle of water. "out of all the storms that could happen, why does it have to fucking rain?" "oh boy, it's gonna be a long shift." tk muttered after the two stepped inside the firehouse. "that's why we are kicking off the night with paul's world-famous sausage rigatoni." paul said as he stirred the pot on the stove. marjan gave him a knowing look before she spoke up. "sausage? really dude?" "chill, it's turkey." tessa grinned at him and grabbed some grapes from tk before sitting at the island. "hey! how spicy are we talking here? my scotch-irish constitution rejects any and all things cayenne." mateo smiled at paul saying he liked spice and then judd came back wit "then you can have bathroom duty." tessa gave judd a look while tk spoke up. "someone's in a mood today." "is it that obvious? i don't know, me and grace got into a little disagreement before work." "wanna talk about it?" "hell no." thunder could be heard throughout the building making tessa give tk a scared look. marjan squeezed tessa's shoulder as they finished setting the table. "it's like the end of days out there." judd thought for a moment before speaking up again. "go take the colors down, we don't fly them in rough weather." "why me? i've got the salad." a chorus of 'you're the probie' reigned out making mateo give them a look.
tessa stole a grape from tk before following mateo. "i'll help you mateo. you hold the ladder steady and i'll grab the flag." mateo nodded to her before helping her set up the ladder and held the bottom of it to keep it steady. she began to climb up the ladder and almost got the flag down when thunder started and she got startled, gripping the flag and falling from the ladder. "help! need some help out here!" she said, clinging to the flag with a death grip. the group of firefighters came out and tk yelled up at them. "tessie! are you okay?" "yeah, can you just get me down?" owen looked at her and frowned. "tess, just drop! we're going to catch you!" tessa gulped and let go, falling into their arms. tessa wrapped her arms around her dad's waist. "you okay, honey?" "yeah, just a little freaked out." owen nodded and helped the girl stand up straight. "holy crap, are those tornados?" tk said, pointing to the sky. "judd, you've got experience with these. what's the protocol?" owen said, pointing the tornados. "first step is opcon 1, we don't get our asses killed so we can save everyone else's." "you heard the man, let's get inside."
tessa sat in the truck next to tk, looking at all the destruction. they had just helped a woman out of a car that was stuck between two buildings. they arrived at a collapsed house where the father was freaking out because his kids were still stuck inside. "sir," tessa said, moving him over to the paramedics, "we will get your children out but the captain is not going to send any of us in until we can confirm signs of life." she watched as everyone began to set up the equipment to find their life signs. she gave the father a walkie and a pair of headphones so that he could help listen. "we have signs of life on the north side of the house. i'm gonna need all the jaws and cribbing that we have." tessa nodded and helped everyone clear a hole for someone to slip through so that they could bring the children out safely. paul made sure everything was set up correctly before walking up to owen. "hey, cap. we are this close to a secondary collapse." tessa saw the look on her dad's face and didn't like it one bit. "tk," owen said as he reached a hand out to his son, "give me the use of your helmet." "what? why?" "i'm going in." tessa stepped in glaring at her dad. "no, you're not." "you're the captain, dad?" "exactly, you two. if our apartment building had collapsed in new york, i would be searching for you two without a second thought." tessa walked away with tk while watching owen's movements on the camera. she heard her dad coughing and immediately started to get her gear on. "something's wrong, i gotta go in there." judd grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around. "hey, hey. it's just dust. you know he's been through a hell of a lot worse." tessa nodded and turned back around to watch the camera. tk made sure she wasn't going to run into the structure before picking up his radio. "okay, cap. ray said the kids should be in a room to the southwest." "roger that." tessa watched the screen with tk and her eyes went wide as the house came crashing down. the screen showing their dad's location said no signal and tessa started to freak out. "captain strand, do you copy?" tessa said, grabbing her radio and trying to get ahold of her father. tk gave his sister a scared look and used his own. "captain strand, do you copy?" the two of them gave each other a scared look. "dad!" they both said, yelling into their radios and holding each others' hands. after a moment, a voice came through their radios. "it's okay, nobody's hurt. we're coming out to you." tessa and tk let out a breath of relief and they ran over with the rest of the crew to help the kids and owen out of the house. once the kids were with the paramedics and owen had taken his helmet off, tessa and tk ran into his arms. "you scared the crap out of us, y'know that?" tk said, patting owen on the shoulder. "you two and me both." owen said, wrapping his arms around his kids.
tessa had a hard time with the dad from the house collapse dying yesterday. it just reminded her that she could lose her dad at any moment. tk knew something was up with his sister and decided to confront her about it. "tessie, what are you hiding from me?" tk said, noticing that she was in the kitchen. tessa got freaked out and dropped her coffee. "ty, don't scare me like that." "i'm your twin brother, tess. i know how you think." "i found something in dad's office last week. it was a bottle of nausea meds for chemo patients." "you think dad has lung cancer?" "i know he does, ty. when 9/11 happened, there was that huge dust cloud we saw every day on the way to school with mom. that cloud was full of toxic gases, that's why mom wouldn't let us go near that part of manhattan until it went away." tk hugged his sister as she started to cry from her emotions. "tessie, listen to me. dad is gonna kick cancer's ass. we got to let him know that we know." the front door opened to reveal owen with a bag of chinese food. "hey, i grabbed you two some food." "we're not hungry." owen looked concerned because the two of them never said no to chinese food. "is everything okay?" tessa wiped her eyes and looked at her dad. "i was in your office last week waiting for you and tk to me meet me for lunch when i saw a bottle of pills on your desk; granisestron or at least I think that's how you pronounce it. i looked them up and it's nausea meds for chemo patients." tessa's eyes filled with tears and tk was getting worked up. "the cough you've had; it's lung cancer, right?" "i was gonna tell you both." "sure you were. how long have you known about it?" "since before we left new york." tessa and tk both scoffed at their father, standing up. "wow, you must think we're so weak." owen scoffed at the two of them and stepped closer to the pair. "no." "admit it. you didn't think we could handle it." "no, it's not that at all." "you thought the both of us would spin out of control and od again. that's what you thought, right?" "no, it's not like that at all!" tessa looked at her dad confused while she tried to calm down tk. "then why would you lie to us every second of every day?" "the reason i didn't tell you two about my diagnosis isn't because i think you two are weak. it's because i am," owen took a deep breath and stood in front of the two of them, "i knew that if i told you two and saw the grief and fear in your eyes then it would make it real." the two of them but their hands on his shoulders and smiled softly. "dad, look at us. do you see grief or fear on our eyes?" "no." "you know why? because you are gonna kick the crap out of this cancer, especially because from now on, we've got your back." the twins hugged their dad as he cupped the back of their heads. "thank you, kids." he said, still hugging them.
a/n: hope you enjoyed this chapter! tessa will be back in los angeles in the next chapter!
