The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

The Roundup

"Should we be flattered that Sergeant Grey selected us to represent the department at this block party?" Nolan asks.

"I think you're forgetting four key words: On our day off." Lucy corrects.

Elle smiles, seeing some kids play with water guns. One kid runs out of water and goes to a pool to fill it up.

"I'll take it as a vote of confidence." Jackson replies.

"This is some great swag. Did you get this from Grey?" Nolan asks.

"I think Officer Above and Beyond bought those himself." Lucy teases.

"Hey. I got a guy at Kinko's, okay?" Jackson defends himself.

"Mm-hmm." Lucy smirks.

"All right, you guys make yourself useful and, uh, fill these up with water. I saw a hose in that side yard." Jackson instructs.

"how's this?" Elle asks, finally finishing the poster she was making.

"it's in graffiti letters" Jackson frowns.

"yeah" Elle nods. "what's wrong with it?"

"it could promote graffiti" Jackson replies.

Elle's eyebrows furrow, looking down at the poster.

"Nice pins." Grey nods, looking at Jackson's pins. 

"damn, boot, that's a cool poster" Grey whistles, looking at the poster Elle made.

"thank you, sir" Elle grins while Jackson sighs.

"These might be your only hope to lure those kids from LAFD." Grey remarks.

"All due respect, sir, they have a fire engine. To a 6-year-old, that's crack." Nolan points out.

"I am not gonna be shown up by some department that publishes shirtless calendars. West, Chen, let's get in the game." Grey replies, leading Jackson and Lucy over to where the firefighters are very much winning.

Elle 's eyes drift back to the kids playing with water guns, to see that the kid hasn't returned from filling up his water. Nolan seems to notice too.

"hey, kids, where's your friends?" Nolan asks the other two kids.

"He ran out of ammo." One of the kids shrugs.

Elle looks to the side and sees the gate open to the pool. Elle and Nolan share a glance and walk through the gate to see the kid laying face down in the pool. Elle jumps in to pull him out while Nolan calls for help.

"Help! Help! He's not breathing! I need a CPR mask." Nolan calls, carrying the kid once Elle gets him out of the pool.

"Clear out! Grab that gurney!" One of the firefighters yells. 

Elle climbs out of the pool just when the firefighters resuscitate the child. She breathes a sigh of relief.

"Good job." Grey comments to Nolan and Elle.

[Time Skip - Five Hours Later]

"heard you saved a kid today" Zoe remarks as she watches Elle put on her shoes before they go out for dinner.

"it was a team effort, the firefighters were the ones to resuscitate him" Elle shrugs.

"can you accept a compliment for once?" Zoe raises an eyebrow.

Elle giggles. "when the compliment is true"

"oh, so you're picky about your compliments, hmm?" Zoe teases.