Kayla O'Malley grew up in a family full of lifesavers. Her mom is the Chief of Police, and her dad is Fire Chief. She joined the Pinehaven Fire Department when she turned 18 and never looked back. At 23, she left Pinehaven to join the LAFD. Three ye...
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The call comes in just after sunrise, when the city is still shaking sleep from its bones.
Kayla is already in the truck when dispatch finishes relaying the details, gloved hands tight around the strap of her jump bag as sirens cut through morning traffic.
Possible gas exposure. Multiple unconscious victims. Plastic surgery office.
Beside her, Eddie checks his equipment with the same quiet focus he always does. Usually, on mornings like this, he would glance over at her and say something low and dry just to take the edge off the adrenaline. Something about rich people risking their lives for smaller noses or tighter skin. Something that would make Buck snort from the front and Bobby tell them both to stay sharp.
Today, Kayla keeps her eyes ahead. She can feel him look at her once, then again.She pretends not to notice.
The engine jerks to a stop outside a pristine medical building all polished glass and expensive discretion. A woman in a surgical cap is stumbling barefoot through the front doors, half-draped in a hospital gown, her face marked with fresh pen lines and drying tears.
"Help me!" she cries. "My doctor—everybody just collapsed!"
Bobby is out first. "Masks on!"
The team moves in a practiced rush, every motion clean and automatic. Kayla secures her mask and follows Hen through the front entrance; the sharp chemical smell inside stings even through the filter. It is too quiet in the waiting room. Too still.
A woman lies slumped behind the front desk.
Hen and Chim drop beside her immediately. Kayla crouches at the woman's other side, fingers already checking pulse, airway, and responsiveness.
"She's breathing," Kayla says. "Weak, but steady."
Hen nods. "Let's get oxygen on her."
Behind them, Bobby scans the room, alert and fast. "Looks like she's receiving oxygen from the nasal cannula." He presses a hand to his radio. "Eddie, you copy?"
A burst of static. Then Eddie's voice, rough and steady in her ear. "Yeah, Cap."
"What's your status?"
"Found a couple more patients in back. Also stable."
Kayla's stomach twists at the sound of him.
It is stupid, really. His voice is the same. Calm. Competent. Familiar enough now that she can tell when he is smiling just by the tone. But all she can hear underneath it is that stranger on the phone from last night. Reconciled. Photographs confirm they reconciled. Her laptop screen was glowing in a dark kitchen. Shannon tipped against Eddie's shoulder like she belonged there.
She forces her hands to keep moving. Business first. Hurt later.
Hen glances over at her as they secure the receptionist on oxygen. "Kay?"
