Let It Burn || Station 19

Stronger Together

Liam stood beside Maya, leaning against the counter top as they watched Andy bustle around the kitchen, making her father breakfast and packing his lunch.

Since Jacob's death, Liam hasn't found the strength to go home yet. Instead, crashing with Maya at her house. Maya was fine with it, not in any rush to see Liam out. Things had changed between them since the funeral, since he broke down in her arms. They were closer, more comfortable with one another.

"So you just ran from Ryan's front porch?" Maya asked, chewing on a strawberry. Andy had just finished telling them, more like telling Maya, how she had chickened out of talking to Ryan after she had went to his house to do that. "Like a stalker?"

"Not a stalker." Andy denies. "A person who thought she knew what she wanted to say, but at the last minute, changed her mind too late, because doorbell, so I hid in the bushes and said nothing and just... watched him go back inside."

Maya hummed.

"Like a stalker." Liam and Maya say in unison. 

Andy spins her head, lightly glaring at the two siblings. Grabbing something from the fridge and packing it in a lunchbox. 

"Look, my dad'll want to eat cheesesteaks today with everyone else." Andy shakes her head. "Don't let him. Make him eat this." She finishes packing the lunchbox. 

"I don't know if we can make your dad do anything." Maya shakes her head, Liam nodding in agreement. 

"Guilt him, then." Andy counters. "Tell him I spent my whole morning making him a healthy lunch when I should have been focusing on my test today." She turns to the stove, taking the eggs and putting them on a plate.

"Which we both know you have in the bag." Maya says, "You already aced the written exam. Today is gonna be a piece of cake." She places two pieces of toast on the plate Andy is holding.

"Today," Pruitt's voice makes them turn around to the former captain. "will be the hardest thing you've ever attempted. In your life."

"Morning." Andy kisses his cheek, placing the plate down. "This is for you. Maya and Liam's gonna give you a ride."

"I am perfectly capable of feeding and driving myself." He eyes the two Bishops, lingering on Liam for a moment, assessing the young man. He looked a lot better than he did a few weeks ago. Maya hassling him into shaving and showering, threatening to spray him with a hose. Now, he was back at work, despising the idea of spending another day in an empty apartment. 

"You know what this test is called, correct?" Pruitt asked his daughter.

Maya sighed in satisfaction with a smile, "The incinerator." She breathed, a wide grin on her face.

Pruitt pointed to the elder Bishop, "Because it can burn you alive. Literally. And figuratively. It's designed to test every single aspect it takes to be captain."

"I know, Dad." Andy nods. "I know."

"Do you know, the day I took the test somebody died?" Pruitt asked, Liam raising a brow at the statement. "This is not a chaste little drill. It's a real fire in a real building. They call it a controlled burn, but fire isn't something that any of us can really control. The only way to get through this test is to show it who's boss."

"Luckily, I boss very well." Andy smirks. "Eat."

The doorbell sounds through the house, Andy putting her mug down at the sound and going to grab her bag and jacket. "That's probably Jack."

"Jack?" Maya furrows her brows, sharing a look with Liam and Pruitt. Liam had been filled in on the whole drama of Andy and Jack exposing their relationship with the team, and how the two had broken up as a result.