The Fighter

Chapter 48

It was around 1:30 am when we were finally finishing putting the hoses back on the trucks and cleaning up. The station is fully operational, and the damage was confined to the kitchen. Papa was showing the investigators around the kitchen. Me, Kyle, John, and Jet sat in the meeting area when we were done. We were silent for a while. We were all stinky, sweaty, and most of all exhausted. We were all speechless. At times we'd all look at one another at the same time. But we still didn't say anything.

It was when Pete and P.J. came in that we all snapped out of it. "You guys okay?" he asked. We all nodded. "I leave town for five minutes and this happens!" "It was weird. It felt like some twisted training." I sighed. "You guys all did a great job. It's still standing, and it's still operational. That's all our goal is." He patted my shoulder. I nodded. I looked down at my bunkers and my boots. I got up and walked out to the truck bay.

"Hey, you okay?" P.J. followed me out. "Yeah, just peachy." I paced back and forth. "Mickie, talk to me." "I can't believe that we just had to save our own station. Our own house! The one place that has always been a stable thing in my life. I've lost my mother, I've lost my father, I've lost my sister to my brother, and I've lost the love of my life. This is where my family is, this is where my brothers are, this is where I can start to move back on with my life every time my world stops. I almost thought that I was going to lose this too." I tried not to cry. "It's okay. No one could ever understand the love of your own fire house more than a brother or a sister. This is where the family gathers, this is where they fight, they cry, they laugh, and they work together. This is home no matter what. And nobody wants to lose their home." He smiled.

"I wish he was here. I wish he was geared up, and fighting right beside us. I wish he was just as exhausted as we are. No offense, but I wish he was calming me down. This isn't fair. He's gone, and I'm.... stuck." "I know. Trust me, I wish it was him comforting you, not because I don't want to, but because he should be here. He was fighting beside you, he was here tonight protecting all of you. This was his home too. And, why do you feel stuck?" "Because I don't know what to do with my life. I had it figured out. I was going to college for psychology and taking care of my sister and then Greg came along and flipped my life upside down. Then, he left and flipped it upside down again. Now, I don't have my sister, I don't have Greg and I don't have a plan. What am I supposed to do?" I vented. "Well, what is it that you want to do? You've got to do something that you love." "I love this. I love firefighting. Like this is the one thing that I've always been able to stick with." "So, what about going to the academy? Being a career. You'll still be able to do this too. You don't have to do it, just think about it. It's an option." He suggested and honestly it's not the first time I've thought about it. "It's probably where I'm going to end up. It's defiantly an option." I nodded. "Good. I think it's a good fit for you. You're never stuck." He smiled.

"Hey, we've been relieved, do you want a ride home? I know Chief is going to be here for a while." Jet came out and asked. "You should go get some sleep." P.J. laughed. "Probably. I've been here for hours." I yawned in agreement. "I'll text you later. You'll be fine once you get some sleep." "Okay, I'll be up at some point within the next 12-24 hours. I'll see you later." I said my goodbyes, carried my coat and helmet to Jet's truck and got in.

"So Greg's brother huh?" Jet asked getting in the driver seat. "Shut up Jet. He's my friend. And, probably the only one that knew the inside of Greg's head better than I did. It's just nice to talk to someone else for a change. Other than you and Kyle, no offence." "None taken. We don't like listening to your girl troubles either." "Shut up! You guys beg to hang out with me. Apparently, my girl troubles aren't too big of an issue to you two." I gave him a smug look. He had nothing to say to that. "See, so I win." "You think so. So, we're still not done talking about him." "We are, Jet. He is not Greg. He may be his brother, but trust me I can tell the difference. You are just jealous, but don't worry because he's going home soon. And, then we can all get our lives back to normal." I rolled my eyes. "Mickie, I know how much losing him hurt you." "Yeah, we all do. But, I am fine, you are fine, Kyle is fine, John is fine, we're all fine." I tried to shut him up. "You can try to convince us if that all you want, but you are not fine. Not yet anyway. If he showed up out of the blue, still alive and asked you to leave with him, and start over would you?" he asked seriously. "What does this have to do with anything? He's gone and he's not coming back, not this time." "Will you just stop thinking and answer my damn question?" Jet laughed. "I would go. No question." "So what do you want to do now? You can always chose a new way." "I think that I would like to apply to the fire academy." "Then do it! That's your next goal, and we're all going to push you there." "Bring it on. I'm still rising. All hail the Phoenix." I agreed. "All hail the phoenix." He laughed.