Gold Rush

There She Goes

"I know exactly what that polite, distant smile means : she's bored. One foot out the door. This woman's so far out of my league, but she's just a once-in-a-lifetime. I can't let her go." Chim tells Bobby as he cooked. Aurelia sat on the kitchen island, snacking on a bowl of fruits that she had cut, while Hen was putting away the dirty dishes.

"Lots of fish in the sea," Aurelia manages to say while chewing on a slice of apple.

"Not with the bait he's using," Hen shrugs as she puts a bowl away.

"Also, tell me, Lia, is the fruit-snacking union on strike against dish duty today?" Hen quipped, turning to Aurelia.

"Ha ha very funny, can we get back to Chim and his 'dream girl'?" Aurelia said, complete with a dramatic flutter of her eyelashes and a melodramatic hand gesture.

"Cruel but true. Mm," Chim straightens up from the countertop he was leaning against. "I met her on this new dating site just for cops and firefighters, . She's an adrenaline junkie, so foreplay is me telling her stories about running into burning buildings and jumping into icy lakes and-"

"I'm sorry, wait. Remind me, when is the last time you ran into or jumped over anything?" Hen asks.

"I embellish a little."

"Oh. Noted." Hen chuckled while Aurelia tried her best to not burst into laughter.

"I'm telling you, the uniform is a major aphrodisiac," Chim shrugs as he goes to put something down on the table.

"Clearly," Aurelia says as her attention shifted from the conversation to the fire truck that was entering the firehouse. Aurelia looked at Hen and Chim as they shook their heads at Buck who had just exited the firetruck.

"Whew," Buck said, attempting to steal a piece of fruit from Aurelia's bowl, only to receive a slap on the back of his head. He then turned his attention to Hen's bowl of spaghetti, sticking his finger in and eating a noodle.

"Hey!" Hen said pulling the bowl away from Buck. "I just- Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wash your hands. We don't where they've been."

"What if we had a call?" Bobby asked as he brought in more plates for the table, his voice tinged with a mix of slight disappointment and frustration.

"I was in the neighbourhood," Buck shrugged as he grabbed a plate from Bobby. "I was just, uh, getting it washed."

"They charge you extra for the full detail?" Chim asked sitting near the table as Aurelia watched in disgust as Bucked stuffed the food on his plate into his mouth.

"Listen, I like you. You're a good firefighter. I know we got this thing, you call me "Pops," and I give you a hard time for being a dumbass kid, we went to a Springsteen concert together." Bobby walked to him, putting his hands on his hips.

"But this is not a family. It's not a clubhouse. So I'm writing you up."

"Come on, Bobby. See the fire, put out the fire. the rest is blah-blah." Buck defended himself.

"No. The system and the rules are arbitrary. First Infraction—two more, you're out." Bobby warned, before grabbing the plates from Bucks hand.

"Wash your hands."

Aurelia could only shake her head as she watched Buck walk away.

"You know, you're not helping him by going easy on him." Aurelia said as she sat down at the table.

"He just needs a little direction," Bobby said as he passed Aurelia a plate.

"I'll remind you that after he gets you killed," Chim said as he passed Bobby a bowl of salad.