Coming Back to You ✔

13. July - Two Years Ago

It only took an hour to get all of the patients from the car crash through the emergency room and either out or admitted to the hospital, but to Sophia, it felt a lot longer. Everything was pretty much back up and running, but with barely any time to properly get set up and absolutely no time to clean and reset as they went along, the E.R. was as chaotic as Sophia had ever seen it.

"I think I'm going to die." May slumped over on the nurses' station next to Sophia when she finally came back in. "I'm so tired."

Sophia rubbed sleep out of her eyes, feeling the darkness of exhaustion pressing in on the edges of her brain. "Tell me about it."

Just at that moment, Rocky came up to them. "You two. Go home," she ordered. "Mateo and Irene just got here."

The two women groaned in relief. "Thank God," May said. "It felt like this day would never end."

Fifteen minutes later, Sophia was changed and finally heading out the door, a mediocre cup of coffee from the break room in her hands. It wouldn't take her that long to get home, but given the day's record when it came to traffic accidents, she didn't want to take any chances of causing another one.

"Hey, did they leave?" Sophia asked May as they walked out together. "The firefighters?"

"You mean Dean?" But even May's teasing was half-hearted, her eyelids blinking wildly to keep them open.

Sophia just nodded.

"Yeah, they left when I came back in," May said. "He didn't have time to go back in and say goodbye."

Sophia shrugged. Just as she had a job to do, so did he.

"Hey." May paused at her car. "I know this thing between you guys is new, but if you ask me, he looked pretty serious about it. Trust me, I wish I had someone who looked at me the way he looked at you."

Sophia blinked at her words and soundlessly watched May get into her car. She hadn't even noticed Dean looking at her when he had been at the hospital. She had just assumed he had been getting on with his own job.

After getting home, Sophia walked into her apartment, flipped on the light switch, and...nothing.

"Fuck."

Apparently, power hadn't been restored to the entire city, and instead of coming back to a comfortable apartment to sleep in, Sophia was now trapped in what was essentially an oven.

"Fantastic." Hoping against hope that the power would come back on soon, Sophia dragged herself to her dark bathroom and took a shower, letting the cool water wash off the sweat and grime of the day. Shivering slightly, she got out, changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and still nothing.

Sophia flopped onto her couch, but she could already feel herself starting to sweat again.

"Alright, screw it."

She grabbed her phone, scrolled to Dean's contact, and pressed call. She wanted to see him, anyway, and this just gave her an excuse.

He picked up on the second ring. "Hey," he answered. Sophia could tell he was tired, but she was also beginning to learn what his voice sounded like when he had a smile on his face. And he had one right now.

"Hey, do you have power?" Sophia was too tired to beat around the bush.

"Yeah, wait, do you?" The concern was immediate in his words.