Brave Enough

One

James Malina walks nervously up to Maddie Buckley her trainer on her first day the emergency call center. "Hello. Um, Maddie Buckley?" She stutters. She looks up to see Maddie smiling.

"You must be James. It's nice to meet you. I'm going to show you the ropes here. Come on I'll walk you around," Maddie says extending her hand to give James a warm welcome pat on the shoulder. "I'm going, to be honest. You seem a bit young to be here. How old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

"Twenty-one. But I'll be twenty-two in June. I recently lost my mom and gained custody of my three-year-old sister so I needed a job that would help me provide for her. Plus helping save lives seemed like a good fit," James says immediately feeling bad about oversharing.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad to see your sister has someone like you taking care of her," Maddie smiles warmly. "Come on let's get you started." The two walk around the small call center until James feels like she's memorized the entire building. Maddie soon has her sitting on a computer chair going through various parts of the program set up to serve the assistance the 9-1-1 operator may need to effectively help the caller. She explains how to use it and what every piece of the puzzle does and why it is there.

By the end of their shift, James felt like she had ingested more information than she could remember. But she would force herself to do it. She would do anything for Cleo. Anything to protect her and provide everything she could need. "Don't worry it gets easier. The calls are tough sometimes but I promise it does get easier learning the way. Just needs time and effort. You're a great student. James, would you like to go out for drinks tonight? Get to know everyone a little bit?" James smiles at Maddie's offer.

"I'm sorry. I would love to but I have to go pick up Cleo from my godmother's house. She's been having a hard time transitioning from having mom and I to just me. I promised to take her to get dinner and ice cream when I got off. Thank you for the offer though," James smiles and heads out of the building running down the steps to her black Jeep. "Hey, Anna I'm on my way home now. How is Cleo?"

"She's great James. She misses you. She's been so good today. I'm going to miss her when she goes back to school," Anna says.

James walks up to the door before she's able to knock the door flies open and Cleo flings herself into James' arms. "Hey, Sweet Pea. I've missed you too. Ready to go to dinner at Rolly's and maybe get some ice cream?" She asks the three-year-old attached to her chest. Cleo nods against James. "Thank you, Anna. You are a lifesaver. I think the babysitter is coming by tomorrow for a bonding session tomorrow before I go to work and then starts on Monday officially. Preschool starts in a week." With that James heads down to the car putting Cleo in her car seat.

      "James, Auntie Anna and I made a castle today and watched movies in it. It was a fun day. Do I get to come back to Anna's house tomorrow?" Cleo asks.

         "Yes, sweet pea. But then on Monday, you start staying at home with Miss Jenna. After that, you start school again. Alright, let's go get dinner."

***

"911 what's your emergency?" James answers on her first call.

"Hello, I need help. There is a man in my house. He has a gun. My mom is at work and my sister went to pick up food for us. He keeps screaming for her," a little girl whispers. " Please. We're new to the neighborhood. We live on Patterson in a white house with a red door. I don't know the numbers. I think the zip code is 91436."

"Okay Sweetheart, what is your name?" James says.

"Annie. My name is Annie. My sister is home."

"Okay, Annie please stay on the line. Help is on the way. My name is James and I'm going to get you through this Annie," James says. "Go to a safe place."

"Tyson what are you doing here? Get out. How did you find me?" A young woman cries in the background. "Annie hide. Run Annie!" The woman yells. Gunshots breaks up the noise. The line goes silent.

"Annie? Annie are you there? Annie, I need you to tell me your mom's phone number," James says calmly. "Thank you, Annie. Help is coming."

"Hello, this is Rebecca I'm Annie's sister. My. My ex-boyfriend has found me. He shot at me he hit my leg. We're hiding in my mom's room. We live at 14632 Patterson Road. There is a blue VW Bug in the driveway. Please hurry. He's shooting at the lock. We moved to LA to get away from him. He was stalking me and turned violent I had a restraining order put against him but he still found me."

James holds back a sob. Praying a flashback doesn't hit her. "Rebecca. Listen to me. Help is on the way. Hide in the closet behind the clothes. Stay quiet. They're going to save you just don't hang up the phone okay?" Shouting and gunshots sing in the background.

"Yes. I'll stay on the line," Rebecca says shakily.

"LAPD drop your weapon," an officer yells.

"Thank you, James. Thank you," Rebecca cries.

"You're welcome, Rebecca," James says just before Rebecca hangs up. James' mind goes to the dark place she hates.

"Billie, are you cheating on me?" Colin shakes her violently. "Answer me dammit." He slaps her across the face and shoved her into the table. James collapses to the floor. "Baby I'm so sorry," he says switching back to his nice act. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"James. Are you okay?" Maddie shakes James out of her memory. James only shakes her head no before leaping up for the bathroom. She leans over the sink crying. "Okay James, what's wrong? What's got you so scared?" James doesn't respond but instead starts shaking. Maddie pulls her phone out. "Hey, I'm at the dispatch center. I need a paramedic. I have a trainee hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably. I think she's having a panic attack."

"Maddie, what's going on?" Evan Buckley walks in the small bathroom followed by Henrietta Wilson. "We've got a sedative and oxygen. Let's try O2 before the sedative. Maddie give me some space. What's her name?"

"James Malina. She just started three days ago. She took her first solo call. A little girl called and her sister took over and explained that her abusive ex had broken into her home in search of the girl. After that, she went into a trance and I couldn't get her to snap out of it."

"James? I need to put this mask on you," James nods. "Did that call hit close to home?" She just stares ahead. "James. Are you in danger?"

"He can't find me. He can't. She can't lose me too," James whispers. She starts to calm down.

"You're safe now James," Evan says. "Maddie, can I talk to you for a moment? Hen please take over."

"Okay Buck," Hen says.

"Buck don't ask me if she's single. She's clearly traumatized right now. The last thing she needs is you adding more pressure on her plate," Maddie says. He raises his hands defensively.

"I wasn't. I was going to ask you to keep an eye on her. Maybe find out what happened to her. I don't know why but I just feel like I need to protect her. Please, Maddie. I don't care about a relationship just her wellbeing. It would be nice to you know be with her that's not what I'm worried about." Maddie smiles.

"Awe look at my baby brother growing up and being protective," she hugs Buck. "For the record, I think she would love you if she didn't have so much going on. I'm going to ask her out for drinks why don't you and the guys and Hen join us? Chimney and I were already planning on asking tonight."

"Alright. Let me know if she's in Okay?" He says.