The Captains Daughter 9-1-1

Under Pressure

Start of season 2:

Los Angeles suffered a mass heatwave. Yeah, the weather was considerably always warm but this was next level. The people across the city were irritated and suffering from the extreme hits that kept hitting them day and night. Brea was just glad her home had air conditioning or she wouldn't have been able to make it through the week let alone however long this heatwave had been going on for. Being a firefighter in this weather made it harder for everyone, running into burning builds, climbing skyscrapers you name it the heat always added pressure to all the firehouses. 

It had been a few months since Brea received that message from her ex-boyfriend. She had blocked the number and heard nothing else so to her it didn't concern anyone else. Brea had been trying to move on with her life, unfortunately for her, she was constantly on edge looking over her shoulder at any sudden noise to see if he finally found her. This didn't go unnoticed by the team, they had tried to mention it before but they got shut down straight away by a snappy Brea so they thought it was best to let her do her thing and if she needed help then hopefully she would come to them.

Brea had started learning self-defence techniques and had asked Buck to help her train giving him no answer to why she was doing this. Every night after shift they would go to the gym and get punching bags and hand pads, training until Buck had to physically stop her. Her strength had defiantly changed and most of the team thought she was doing this for the job, but what they didn't realise is that it was in case her abuser ever came back. Brea had lost significant amounts of weight, she was always skinny and didn't need to lose any weight as she was healthy as she was but with the constant fear eating her up her anxiety took over and she was barely eating and always training, she was even scared to touch a drop of alcohol in the thoughts that one day she might be drunk and she won't have enough power to overthrow someone.

Brea was picking up the extra shifts and was exhausted. Even when she had her 24-hour shifts she would still find her way back to the firehouse the next day to do anything she could to not be at home. She knew being at the firehouse or on the scene from a call would always provide that safety whereas being at home alone she had no one to protect her other than herself. Brea knew the effects that all of this was having on her body but she shrugged it off as she wanted to be prepared for the inevitable.

She looked ill, the dark bags under her eyes becoming for noticeable each day, the pale skin that covered her once naturally tanned body and the weight that seemed to have just fallen off her, due to all the clothes they had to wear whilst on shift it was pretty hard to notice the only weight difference you could only ever see was on her face. If they weren't on a call she would wear an oversized hoodie as she was always cold due to the weight loss and some joggers or her work pants just in case the alarms went off. When it was meal time she would only drink her strawberry and banana smoothie or have chicken salad.

Brea had been thinking about getting a guard dog to keep her company, it wasn't just for the protection but it was also to have someone by her side in her lonely apartment. Since she didn't live with anyone anymore she didn't really have to help around the apartment and she wanted to have the need to do something again to try and get herself somewhat back on track. She had been following this program for a while where they take care of ex-police and military dogs and try to find them a new loving home when they can't be in the line of duty anymore. So that's exactly where she was going, she had gotten off a 24-hour shift probably an hour or two ago so she got her keys to her new white jeep compass and headed downtown to the adoption agency.

The agency woman was showing Brea around looking at all of the dogs until one dog caught her eye, a three-year-old German Shepherd. He had just gone into retirement after an attack that wouldn't allow him back in the field. Brea instantly felt connected to this dog and knew he would be her new addition to the family.