Treacherous Temptations [Chaennie]

Pizza

Roseanne stomped into the break room and headed for the coffee maker. But then she remembered why she was in a bad mood in the first place. Cursing under her breath, she turned away from the machine and dropped herself heavily in a chair beside Noah Whitlock, another firefighter on Ladder 7.

"Who's pissed you off?" the man asked, folding the newspaper he had been reading and regarding his colleague.

"No one," Roseanne replied. She hated in-house gossip so there was no way she was going to start something about her and the new paramedic.

"If you say so," Noah shrugged, turning back to his paper. He always liked to keep up to date on what was happening in the city.

"God this shift is dragging," Roseanne sighed, glancing at the clock and noticing it was barely 11am.

"Don't curse us," Noah said from behind his paper. "You know as soon as someone says that we're so busy we don't have time to take a piss until the end of shift."

"Sorry," Roseanne said, knowing full well the man was right. Firehouses were notoriously superstitious. "Who's on cooking duty this week?" she asked.

"What, you thinking of lending them a hand?" Noah asked with a wry chuckle.

"I'm not that bad," Roseanne protested.

"We had to use fire extinguishers three times in the fortnight you were on kitchen duty," Noah reminded her. "There's a reason you're now exempt from that job."

"Maybe that was just a clever tactic to get out of cooking for you fussy lot," Roseanne shot back.

"Was it?"

"No," Roseanne laughed. "But perhaps it's time I learned. You can't exactly live on pasta and toast can you?"

"Not without developing scurvy you can't," he called after his friend's retreating back.

Roseanne scanned the various notices pinned to the board in the kitchen until her eyes settled on the monthly rota. Ambulance 67. Great, she thought, the new paramedic would be in charge of their meals since Kang was even worse at cooking than she was. None of them would forget that time he served raw lasagne. Glancing back at Noah, Roseanne decided to head to the gym to kill some time and work on her arms rather than face more questioning about her dour mood.

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Jennie dabbed the slightly puckered skin with a hand towel and held it under the light. She couldn't see any burns, just a slight redness now the cold water had done its job. She picked up the dregs of her coffee and headed out of the bathroom. She supposed she owed the blonde an apology. It wasn't really her fault she had spilt her coffee. Jennie had just been in pain and annoyed at herself for being so jumpy. She was a city girl now, she had to start acting like one.

Deciding she needed some more caffeine before she apologised, Jennie headed back to the break room to replenish her cup. As she waited for the machine to work its magic, Kang approached her.

"We're on kitchen duty for the next two weeks by the way, Kim," he said, reaching for his own mug and placing it beside Jennie's.

"Ok," Jennie said, glancing around the surprisingly well equipped kitchen.

"Except I don't cook," Kang said, grinning smugly.

"What do you mean?" Jennie said, frowning. Kitchen duties were always shared between at least two people in every firehouse Jennie had ever visited or worked.

"The guys here learned very quickly it was best for everyone if I stayed as far away from the food preparation as possible. So I'm afraid you're on your own."