Hard Times
After the gruesome call, Andy is frozen and stays in the engine, not knowing what to do. The bodies and the cries of the mother replayed over and over in her mind until she couldn't take it anymore. She stumbled out of the truck, ran to her office, not noticing Maya coming into the station and threw up in her office bathroom. (5:55 pm)
Maya, not saying anything, just followed Andy into the bathroom and rubbed her back. It took a few more minutes for Andy to stop throwing up.
"What the hell happened?" Maya asked as Andy slowly got to her feet and walked over to her desk chair to sit down.
"Gruesome call." Was all Andy said as she opened her laptop.
Maya, looking at Andy with concern, could see the stress written all over her friend's face. "Andy, talk to me." Maya walked over to Andy, but Andy just got up and moved away.
"No, Maya. I'm fine. I have work to do, okay?" Andy looked at Maya with her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, what are you even doing here?"
"Fought with Carina. I needed some air so I wouldn't say anything I would regret, and I guess I was on autopilot and came here." Maya explained. "Want to tell me what happened on the call?" Maya asked, concern growing for her friend.
"It was just a lot of death. Only one survivor. Kind of like the drunk truck driver call that only left one survivor a few years ago." Andy told her. "It just, it was a hard call."
Maya nodded, she understood. She had broken down to Carina about the fact that she thought she was the metaphorical truck that ran into station 19, but the call was also way too gruesome to move on from. She could only imagine what was going through Andy's head right now.
"Is there anything I can do?" Maya asked, walking closer to Andy and rubbing her arm, wanting to comfort her in some way.
Andy shook her head but then looked at Maya. "You should go home and talk to your wife."
"Good advice." The two women heard and looked toward the door.
"Car, I'm sorry," Maya told her and looked down at Carina's arms and saw Liam. Maya looked from Carina and Liam to Andy and saw her face light up. She smiled. She walked closer to Carina and grabbed Liam. "I think this little one wants some cuddles from Tia Andy," Maya said and walked closer to Andy and handed her Liam.
Andy smiled and rubbed Liam's small cheek as he settled into her arms.
Maya looked at Carina and gestured for her to exit the room. Carina turned to look at Liam and grinned when she saw Andy rocking him gently.
"Carina, I am so sorry." Maya said grabbing one of Carina's hands. "I just, I guess I'm still getting used to being a parent and I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing."
"I'm still getting used to it too, Maya. We need to be in this together, okay?" Carina watched Maya nod and then she looked into the captain's office again. She saw that Andy was no longer smiling but had a content look on her face as she bent down to kiss Liam's forehead, and she sat down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. Carina also noticed the bags under her eyes though. "Is she okay?" Carina asked, gesturing to Andy.
"No. She isn't. They had a gruesome call and it only had one survivor." Maya told Carina and Carina frowned. "She was running into the office when I came in and she threw up. Andy never throws up after bad calls so I can only imagine how bad it was." Maya sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I think holding Liam helped her settle down though." Maya smiled and her best friend leaned back in the chair, Liam laying across her chest.
