Station 19: The Unbreakable Team

Rubble of Skyhigh Collapse - Chapter 10

I stood on the roof of the station overlooking the city skyline, thinking as I gazed out over the view. I sighed angrily and turned before I started pacing the length of the roof. Shifting my gaze between the ground and the skyline, hoping it would ease the pain of being put on reception for this shift. "My first day back on duty and I'm stuck at reception? I guess it makes sense the last time Sullivan saw me doing any form of  physical activity was sit-ups and jogging, and that doesn't exactly inspire much confidence. Although that doesn't give him the right to assume I'm not up to par, I was cleared by an orthopedic specialist, the same specialist that cleared Montgomery for duty. I don't get why everyone else gets to be out there helping with a derelict structure fire while I'm stuck here working reception. I'm not a sit behind a desk, answer phones, people person, and why would he bench me, haven't I been benched for long enough. I'm pretty damn sure two whole months is more than enough time to recover from a puncture wound."

Maya stepping onto the roof broke me from my turmoiling thoughts. She smiled instinctively as I glanced at her, I momentarily stopped my pace to smile back before resuming. She stood a few feet away watching me until finally she said "Have you been up here the entire time we were out responding to the derelict building fire?" She squinted at me and her expression changed to a slight comfortingly-concerned frown as she said "I know your frustrated about being put on reception today, hopefully if you show Sullivan how much you've recovered since the last time he's seen you, he'll put you back on regular duty. Knock the rest of today out of the park, find a new medal and fight for it. I get that-." 

I cut her off as I stopped pacing and said "No! No you don't get anything!" I paused as tears filled my eyes, and I said "Y-you have n-no idea! N-no idea w-what th-this job mean-means to m-me! I-It's everyth-thing." Sobs broke my sentences too much for me to continue. Maya started walking over to me slowly, I wrapped my arms across my chest suddenly self conscious. When Maya got to be about a foot away she placed her hands on my shoulders and pulled me into a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned my head onto her shoulder. Gripping onto the back of her shirt I cried into her shoulder as she rubbed my back every so slightly. 

Eventually Maya said "Andy, it's going to be okay, you and I, we can get through anything, we can get through this together, you and me, I'm here for you." She paused and pulled away to dry my eyes, I took several deep calming breaths as she said "But if you don't calm down soon I know Sullivan will send someone else to go looking for you and I know you hate it when people see you upset. I know you don't like to look weak or fail, so let's take a few deep breaths okay, and dry your eyes because you are strong, the world may be falling apart right now but I promise you Sullivan isn't going to fire you for taking the time you need to recover. You just have to show him that your ready to get away from the desk and head into the flames." I gave a slight smile in response and said "Do I look like I've been crying?" She smiled and sarcastically said "Oh yea! You've got bright red blotchy cheeks and-." I cut her off and jokingly said "Shut up." Maya smiled and said "You ready? Sullivan is probably waiting for you down there, he's the one who sent me to find out why you weren't sitting at the receptionist desk." 

I took in deep breath, releasing it slowly before I said "Yea, let's go." We walked back down to the first floor of the station together, I gave her a last worried glance before walking over to the Captains office door. I knocked, receiving the okay to enter shortly after from the other side I walked in and closed the door behind me. Then I walked to the front of the desk and said "You wanted to see me Sir?" He nodded and said "Yes, I wanted to know why you didn't answer any of our attempts to reach you while we were at the site? Your team needed you, there was a problem with the water mainline, and instead of being able to contact you, and have you to help us find a solution, we had to contact dispatch and wait a prolonged period of time for them to sort out the water mainline problem. Time that could of been spent recovering children and your fellow members from the building. Now had we had water sooner a recovery mission could have been avoided. Do I make myself clear Lieutenant?"

I gulped and said "Captain I am so deeply sorry, my actions were inexcusable and I was careless to leave the reception desk, and I deeply regret the complications I have caused. I will accept whatever punishment you see fit... But before you decide my punishment Captain, I think you should know that I know that I messed up today and I want to make things right, to fix this but I can't go back in time, so all I can do is promise you that I will never let this happen again Sir... Also I-... Um... Did everyone, um make it out okay Sir of the derelict fire? If you don't mind my asking?" He gave me a cold stare and said "I expected better from you Herrera, dismissed." I went to walk away, then turned back to face him and politely said "Captain you didn't answer my question, did everyone-?" Sullivan cut me off as he looked up, he said "You are lucky that no one was hurt beyond minor injuries, but if someone were more severely hurt due to your carelessness today Herrera I assure you we would not be having this conversation and you would no longer be a firefighter at this fire-station. Do I make myself clear Lieutenant." 

I nodded and said "Yes, Perfectly clear Sir." I turned and walked to the door but as I was turning the knob Sullivan said "I know you were disappointed today when I put you on reception, and I've come to understand that you have improved a lot since I last saw you. I wanted to let you know that the reason I put you on reception wasn't because I thought you weren't ready to return to duty. I know you're ready, I thought it would be easier for you to ease back into firefighting by doing reception for your first shift back... You tend to push yourself, set high expectations for yourself, and I didn't want you, on your first day back, to set the bar too high to reach by going on calls all day." 

I nodded and quickly walked out of the room and made my way upstairs to the kitchen where Maya was sitting at the dining table. She stood up as I approached and said "How'd it go?" I shook my head confused and said "He reprimanded me, basically told me he'd fire me if I left my post unattended again. That was the part that I understood but, then told me he put me on reception because he didn't want me to push myself and set the bar too high on my first day back." She nodded and said "Makes a strange sort of sense to me, but I wasn't in there with you so give me details." I let out a laugh as I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and started explaining in detail to Maya the conversation I just had with Sullivan.