Becoming Part of the Team

Chapter 4

The night, thankfully, was a calm one, and everyone managed to get some sleep. Rising early, Ben began to put his plan into place; he just hoped it didn't turn out to be a disaster. First, Ben convinced the team they should all go to breakfast together at a local diner. He even got Dean to call the babysitter so she could drop the baby off at the restaurant on her way home. Once he got the whole team in agreement, he approached Sullivan with the invitation: "The team is heading over to The Egg & Us for breakfast. Why don't you and Andy join us?"

Thankfully, just as Sullivan seemed about to try to find a plausible reason to say "no," Andy walked up, and overheard the invitation. Ben couldn't have planned it better if he tried. Her response was quick and affirmative: "The Egg & Us? We love that place. We'll go, right, Robert?"

 Robert glanced between his wife and Ben, and while he easily determined that this was not a spur of the moment invitation, he knew that it was time to act on the advice Andy and Ben had given him the previous night. He answered with a tight smile, "Of course we'll go. I'll just need ten minutes to check in with the B shift. We'll meet you there."

In the car on the way over, Robert was jiggling his leg again, a telltale sign that he was anxious. "Robert," his wife scolded gently. "Stop fidgeting. You're shaking the car." He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off before he could begin. "And don't you dare tell me that it's your nerve syndrome. The surgery and physical therapy took care of that." She knew why he was nervous. Other than the spaghetti dinner, this would be the first time since their marriage that he was joining the A shift as both the boss and her husband.

Robert smiled, realizing just how well his wife knew him. Recognizing that he wouldn't be able to get away with his planned line of defense, he decided to go with an honest question: "Are you sure this breakfast with the team is a good idea?"

"Yes, Robert," Andy replied, using a tone one might use with a petulant toddler. "I think this is a good idea. I've been telling you for weeks, or perhaps months or years, that you needed to get to know the team better. It's just finally become a necessity now that you and I are married." Robert, wisely, realized this was an argument he was not going to win, and concentrated on calming his leg as he drove.

When they arrived at the restaurant and climbed out of the car, Andy grabbed her husband's hand and gave it a quick squeeze. She continued to hold his hand as they met up with the rest of the crew in the foyer of the restaurant. They arrived a few minutes later than the rest of the team, and Ben had used that time to brief them on the imminent arrival of "Mr. Andy Herrera." By the time Andy and Robert had arrived, the team acted like having breakfast with their battalion chief was an everyday occurrence. Thankfully, 7:30 on a weekday morning was not a popular time for breakfast, and they were quickly seated. Robert ended up at one end, with Andy next to him, and Pru next to her, with Dean on the other side of Pru. Vic and Travis sat directly across from Andy and Robert, and Jack, Maya, and Ben filled the rest of the seats.

For the first few minutes, the focus was on the menu. They shared their likes and dislikes and placed their orders with the server. Just as the menus had been collected, Pru began to fuss. "It's probably breakfast time," Dean said, and reached to remove her from the highchair. As he began to unclasp the harness, Andy stopped him. "I'll take her, Dean. Why don't you see about getting some warm water from the kitchen for her formula?" Dean grabbed the bottle with the pre-measured formula power in it and walked away from the table. Andy stood up, removed Pru from the chair, popped her pacifier in her mouth, and began to rock her back and forth gently. Within a matter of seconds, Pru was calm and contentedly looking around the restaurant.

The conversation stopped as Andy so naturally picked up the baby and confidently attended to her needs. Andy, noticing the pause in the conversation, looked up to see everyone looking at her. "What, guys? I run into burning buildings for a living; you think I can't handle one baby?" It wasn't just Andy and the baby, however, that had caught their attention. They also took note of how Sullivan looked at his wife when she had the baby in her arms. While they had not witnessed the very brief courtship between Sullivan and Andy, they were beginning to see the depth of the connection between the two. 

Vic, never one to hesitate to speak her mind, was the first to break the silence. "So when are you guys going to get yourself one of those?" she asked, looking between her chief and her friend.

"Oh my God, Vic!" Andy exclaimed. "First you guys are on my case for getting married too quickly, now you want me to get knocked up. We've been married for like a minute and a half. Let us enjoy being newlyweds first."

Dean returned to the table with the warm bottle just in time to hear Andy's last comment, and chimed in with his own quip: "Well, based on how you came to the station this morning, I don't think that's a problem." As the last word came out of his mouth, he seemed to remember that it wasn't just he and the team hanging out. His boss's boss, the battalion chief, was sitting at the end of the table. He did the only thing he could think of and began to stammer through an apology: "Oh my God, sir. I'm so sorry. I totally forgot you were there. It was a long shift and I didn't sleep much..."

 Time seemed to freeze as everyone, including Andy, turned to Sullivan to see how he would react. Sullivan took a second to process the situation and then burst into laughter. Realizing that they were not about to get chewed out by their boss, the rest of the team joined in the laughter, and Dean breathed a sigh of relief.

As the table quieted, and Andy sat down to give Pru her bottle, Robert made the quick decision to address the team. "Guys," he started, sounding more confident than he felt. "I get that this is weird. I'm your boss, but I'm also married to your teammate and friend. At work, for our safety, and the safety of the people we serve, we need to keep a certain level of professionalism, but I don't want you to feel like you have to walk around on eggshells because of me. During our downtime at the station, and when we're outside of work, I would hope that we could become friendly, even if we never quite develop the same bond that you have with Andy."

Andy, still holding both Pru and her bottle, gave her husband a slight smile. The team, processing what he had said, nodded their agreement, and Dean, happy that Sullivan hadn't taken offense at his quip about the newlyweds' love life, said, "Thanks, Chief."

 Ben also breathed his own sigh of relief. For a moment after Dean had made the comment about the newlyweds' love life, Ben had a vision of his grand plan blowing up in his face. Instead, the team had gotten to see a lighter side of Robert Sullivan, and Ben decided to say something to solidify the shift in the relationship: "I think I speak for everyone, sir, when I say, welcome to the A shift."

 Then Vic piped up one more time: "Does that mean you might eat with us occasionally, or are you going to keep sneaking food while we're out on calls?"

 Sullivan laughed again, as he responded: "Yeah, Hughes, that might just happen."

Breakfast ended in a much more relaxed mood than it had begun. The food arrived, and as they ate, the conversation became much more natural. Robert enjoyed watching the camaraderie among the team. Pru got passed around, with everyone taking a turn to hold her and keep her amused so that Dean could eat. They laughed and joked, questioning Maya about her "hot doctor lover" and poking fun at Travis for a terrible meal he had made the previous week when he decided they should all be eating less red meat. Robert did chime in to say that if "meatless meatballs" reappeared on the menu, he might be avoiding the beanery that day. He didn't say a lot, but he felt like he had taken a big step toward creating a stronger bond with Station 19's A shift, and making things a little easier on his wife.