FRIENDLY FIRE: A 9-1-1 fanfiction

Part Thirty-Five: New Beginnings?

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6 Months Later...

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EMMA

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"Adonis!" I screamed, falling off the stool I'd been perched on, hitting my bathroom floor, "Adonis, no! Bad boy!"

The overgrown, long-haired German Shepherd snorted in response, dripping shampoo and water all over the tiles.

"Okay, you have an attitude problem," I snapped, wiping my forehead to get rid of the spuds of shampoo there, cringing as my wet sleeve slapped me in the face instead.

Adonis snorted again, and I could have sworn he was actually laughing at my expense.

Adonis had been a part of my treatment at the Utah rehab facility. Around the four month point, one of my therapists had made me revisit the training camp that I had met all of my fire team at.  At some point, between locking myself in the bathroom to cry and walking around the grounds, drowning in my own memories, I'd stumbled upon training in progress. Very poor progress.

The German Shepherd had dug his paws into the sand and refused to move for the better half of an hour, only paying attention when a piece of jerky was dangled in front of his snout. His trainer was exhausted and all but ready to throw the towel in.

Then, somehow Adonis had spotted me, and he ran... right at me... knocking me to the ground.

I'd taken him back to the facility with me that day, while he was still relatively medium in size and playful. Now, we were two months in, and he had grown twice his size, and he was a diva if ever there was one.

"You are so lucky I have to go to work today," I sighed, slowly standing up and brushing myself off, "otherwise you'd get a huge time out."

Adonis proceeded to start shaking his mane out, water droplets flying everywhere.

"Adonis!" I shrieked, "Bad dog! Naughty dog!"

Adonis darted forwards, making to get out of the bathroom, his body flying into mine as he darted past me, sending me backwards... right into the tub full of water.

I clenched my teeth, trying to count to ten in my head, "Murder is never the answer, murder is never the answer, murder is—"

The doorbell rang.

"Maybe just this once," I groaned, grabbing onto the side of the tub, pushing myself up and out of the water. My clothes stuck to my skin uncomfortably, and they dripped water as I started to walk, creating a trail throughout the house.

I wrenched the front door open, annoyance coursing through me as a puddle started to form under me.

"Hi—oh..." Eddie lowered his hand, blinking at me, his head moving down as he took in the full extent of my appearance. "Hey, Em," he suddenly grinned, "you know when you get in the bath, you're supposed to take your clothes off, right?"

I gave him a sickeningly sweet fake smile, clapping my hands, "Oh, wow, qué funny! You're a comediante, bravo!"

Eddie snorted, shaking his head before gesturing behind me, "We've still got some time. Do you want to get changed?"

"No, Edmundo," I stared at him dead-panned, moving back to let him in, "I was going to go to work like this. Why? You don't like it?"

Eddie's looked me over again, "Well..."