good/right/real

Chapter 31: You Let It Burn

Summary:Enter Pridgen and Welch.

When Boden's father passes away unexpectedly, he takes furlough with the full support of the house. Which means they have a new interim chief at 51 and the minute he's introduced Matt is exceedingly glad he came to his senses and avoided Beth Pridgen two nights ago. Their new temporary chief is Pat Pridgen.

Shay turns to casually glance in his direction and quirks a brow with a pointed narrowing of her eyes.

He knows exactly what she's trying to say.

He dodged one hell of a bullet.

He's not at all concerned about Pridgen. He's only temporary, after all. No, he's not worried until later that morning...when Tommy Welch walks into Firehouse 51 looking like he's moving in.

"What the hell?" Stella asks as he breezes past the Truck crew.

Matt and Kelly exchange concerned glances. This can't be good.

"What's the matter, Welch?" Matt asks. "You lost?"

"Nah, I'm good. I caught a relief assignment to Squad 3. Looks like I'll be working at 51 for a while," he says, his eyes scanning over Stella and then Sylvie before they come back to look at Matt. He nods and then continues on his way toward the locker room.

"Did you know about this?" Matt asks Severide as they all watch Welch walk away.

"No," Kelly says with narrowed eyes. He glances between Welch and Stella before addressing her directly. "Are you gonna be okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says with a scoff. "He's the misogynistic asshole. Not me."

Kelly scoffs out a chuckle and nods. "Good point."

"You may be," Shay says glaring after Welch. "But I'm not. I don't want sexist douchebags in my house." She nods to both Casey and Severide. "Come on, we're talking to Pridgen. Maybe he doesn't know Welch's history like we do."

Turns out Pridgen does know and doesn't seem to give a shit.

"Welch has paid for his mistake," he says. "He's been stripped of his rank and kicked to the floater pool. He was the best qualified floater for the Squad position."

Shay lifts one eyebrow and keeps the corners of her mouth turned down as she speaks. "There's more to this than that crash. His reputation for bouncing female candidates and sexual harassment disguised as hazing--"

"Are you a female candidate, Shay? I thought you were a medic? What does that have to do with you?" Pridgen asks. "Not only that, but are you the officer in charge Squad 3?"

Leslie's jaw clenches but she manages and even tempered answer. "No."

Pridgen focuses his questioning look on Matt. "You?"

"Lieutenant Severide is in charge of Squad 3."

"Oh! That's right!" Pridgen says dramatically. "Lieutenant, do you have any personal conflicts with Welch?"

"Not directly, no," Severide says honestly. "But I don't like the guy."

"Is he a bad firefighter?"

"I can't speak to that, but like Shay was saying--"

"Well, I can. He's a terrific firefighter. He doesn't suffer fools. Maybe that doesn't make him pleasant company, but he's got heart. I'm pinned down in a flashover, I want Tommy Welch coming to get me. Relief assignments are not a popularity contest, so you'd better learn to get along with Welch. Anything else I can help you with?"

Dejected and pissed, they all mutter, "No, Chief."

"Thanks for hearing us out," Matt throws in politely despite the fact that he didn't seem to do much listening.