FRIENDLY FIRE: A 9-1-1 fanfiction

Part Seventeen: On The Bench

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EMMA

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I was benched for two weeks after the tsunami. I was grateful for it actually, it meant that at every hour of the day I could sit, sleep, eat and read in the same hospital chair beside Ajay.

The doctors said it was normal. They said that he was just resting, recovering... trying to repress the trauma of what he'd seen. No matter what they said, it didn't change the fact that he looked tiny in a hospital bed, his face pale with tubes in his nose and machines connected to his arms and chest.

I thought a lot too, daydreaming about a magical power that would let me take his place, see inside his head, make him forget it all. But then a beep or something would remind me exactly where I was again; powerless and just waiting for an outcome I had no control over.

"Hey," I jumped slightly, stirring from my thoughts, turning to look at the open doorway as Hollis crept inside, her face exhausted, dark bags under her eyes. She had two coffee cups in her hands along with a few letters, "I dropped by your house, got your mail."

I dropped my feet to the floor off the bed, sitting up properly as she moved past me to kiss Ajay's forehead, "How's your dad liking the place?"

Hollis hummed, stroking Ajay's face softly before pulling back and looking at me again, "He's smokin' it out blue, commandeered your living room with models... he wanted me to pass along his thanks."

I nodded quickly, "Yeah, don't mention it. He's family,"

Hank's house had been flooded in the tsunami, he couldn't go back until the structure was cleared to be safe again and considering I wasn't staying home much, I let him have the keys to my place.

"You open my letters?"

Hollis sighed, dropping down in another waiting chair across from me, passing me the coffee, "Yeah. One's your electric, one's some fancy lawyer tryin' to get you to sue the city for damages and the last's from your boss."

"Sue the city?" I frowned, "What damages?"

"Em, you were in a hospital bed for three days after that nightmare, you nearly punctured a lung runnin' around," Hollis snapped. "An' you didn't get a dime for your work, instead you got treated like a naughty kid deserving to get spanked."

"You want me to the sue the city?" I offered her a weak smile, taking a sip of the coffee she passed me before leaning back in my chair again and sticking my feet up on the bed again.

"Maybe," Hollis shrugged, "lawyer promised to force them out of a couple million, something about wrongful termination or some bull. You'd be set for life."

"I'm already set for life," I rolled my neck, slouching down further, "I got savings."

"How much? Like 20 grand? This it way more," Hollis rolled her eyes, sipping her own coffee.

"27 grand actually," I mumbled before holding my hand out to her, "what about the one from my boss? What did he say?"

"Well it wasn't a damn apology if that's what you're hoping for," Hollis grumbled, pulling the letter out of the pile and slapping it into my hand. "Just some shit about when you can return to work; also a reminder that it was an unpaid leave and you need to bring a doctor's note saying you're good to work."

"Lovely," I sighed, skimming over the letter quickly before crumpling it up and tossing it towards the trash can in the room.

"Just quit, come live with me," Hollis said firmly, trying to keep her face serious as a smile poked at her mouth, "I'll be like your mom."