Burning Flames ¦ Evan Buckley

Chapter 10 - Valentine's Day

After what went down with the plane crash and Bobby, El finally had a few days off before being thrown back into work once again, but she never complained; she truly loved work. El had just made herself an iced coffee, having bought a few bits to be able to make it at work, when Buck came bounding up the stairs.

"Whoop. It is a beautiful day, Henrietta. My love" Buck beamed, a skip in his step.

"Call me Henrietta again, you're going over the balcony" Hen sassed in return.

"Okay then, El, my little mermaid, my beautiful Ariel" Buck continued, his smile wide.

El nearly choked on her drink at his words. What the heck? She shot him a surprised look, an eyebrow raised. "Hello to you too"

"Bobby." Buck continued with glee "Oh, Captain, my handsome captain" He perched on the kitchen island.

"What are you, high?" Bobby asked with a smirk.

"No, I'm not high. I met a woman. Two, actually. I met a woman and her mother and I didn't have sex with either of them" He spoke in a proud tone, that same wide smile still on his face.

No one said a word. El thought about saying a sarcastic comment but they hadn't spoken since what she said about Abby, plus there was something going on between Bobby and Hen that she didn't want to be a part of.

"Ooo, why's it so cold in here?" Buck asked, not reading the room.

Awkwardness was saved by the bell again.

-

The tension between Bobby and Hen continued at the scene. It was just a moron that got stuck in a car wash brush. Nothing too serious that involved much teamwork. The team work required was silent.

Once the guy was in the ambulance, El having taken the job of assisting Hen as Bobby didn't want to deal with it, Buck's hysterical laughing could be heard. Hen and El exchanged a look before heading to the source inside the carwash.

"Buck, what are you doing?" Bobby questioned repeatedly as Buck continued to cackle, pointing at the CCTV footage.

"This is a good one. You got to see this" Buck laughed. "All right, play the tape, come on, one more time, Wait for it, wait for it"

The tape showed the man, who they had just cut free, being tangled in the mop, his body spinning round and round. This only fueled Buck's laughter even more. He was in stitches. El couldn't help but let a soft giggle escape her lips before concealing it with a not so subtle cough.

"Buck, this man could have been seriously injured" Bobby spoke in a monotone voice.

"Yeah Buck..." El spoke, attempting not to break out into a fit of laughter,

"Listen, this is so..." Hen went to speak however she too burst out laughing "Unprofessional"

All four of them now were in complete stitches at the sight of the man, none stop spinning like a rag down on this car wash brush. It was exactly like those fail videos on youtube. It was a solid 5 minutes and 2 loops later that the four of them finally stopped laughing, tears having been brought to most of their eyes.

-

Valentines day. A constant reminder of how lonely El truly was. No one in the firehouse seemed partially enthralled by the day. Surprisingly Bobby was in somewhat high spirits despite missing his wife.

El and the rest of the team were made aware of the events in which took place in Bobby's life before he moved to LA and became captain of the 118. It was hard to hear. Learning how a man blamed himself for the death of his wife, children and over 100 other people when in reality it was down to a building not being up to code. If it was up to code then the fire would have been contained in the apartment it started in. It was yet another tragedy caused by serious neglect.