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Six months flew by.
Okay, that was a huge lie. The last six months had been hell. Jane was barely able to avoid Buck for a week last time, which proved how near impossible this new task was.
She did not want to distance herself from her new friends, but she also knew where everyone's loyalties lay. At first, they were apprehensive about Buck's return to the 118 but eventually opened up and forgave him. The fact that they eventually came around wasn't surprising, they were a family and were a lot closer than she was with them. Distancing herself seemed to be the right thing to do, no matter how much it hurt. Zoe and the 118 saved lives every day, and were constantly putting themselves in life-or-death scenarios. To make up and forgive made sense in their lines of work; trust kept them working well as a team, and moving forward was paramount to their survival. Unfortunately, Jane didn't have that luxury and managed to keep grudges at an almost impressive level.
"Jane you can't miss wine night again, Maddie is starting to get worried." Zoe was double-checking her purse to make sure had everything before she left. "Are you sure you're not up to it?"
"Yeah I'm...not feeling well," she said letting out a half-assed cough. The nurse rolled her eyes and walked into the living room. Jane had her work laid around her on the couch, taking on more cases at the shelter as well as diving in head-first into her student's case files helped eat up her time. "Plus I have all these case files to get through. I haven't finished taking notes for my sessions last week."
Zoe laid the back of her hand against her sister's forehead and sighed, Jane was fine, just hamming it up. "Whatever you say. You know where to find us if you 'feel better'." Jane held her notes tightly in her hand as she listened to Zoe retreat, and close the front door behind her. Once Zoe had left the apartment, Jane let out a breath and threw her head back, letting the papers fall into her lap.
⸻
Athena somehow convinced her to come to Christmas dinner, using a manipulation tactic called Christopher. How could she say no to her best friend begging for dinner with his favorite people? She wasn't a monster. With Eddie's shift falling on Christmas day, he had been devasted. So Athena was planning on having a small Christmas dinner at the station, and it was non-negotiable; she and Zoe would be there.
She was trying to distract the fact that she was about to go to dinner with the 118. Going to the store to buy a gift seemed like a good idea, but in hindsight maybe shopping the week of Christmas wasn't her brightest move.
The store was a zoo, and normally she appreciated being treated like any other person, but if that meant being shoved onto a shelf, having her foot run over by a cart, or having everything she reached for snatched by a crazed shopper.
She had made it to the promotional aisle she had originally come for. Luckily, she worked with kids, and she had ears that worked, so she knew which toy was currently all the rage. Athena had shared that there were some others she'd invited from the various calls they had this week, and some kids from a children's shelter. So she figured bringing a toy, any toy would be helpful and would go home with at least one child in need. There was a lot of commotion going on, but it wasn't concerning her compared to the rest of the store. That was until a woman started screaming.
