Inferno

~25~ Life Changing

Taylor's POV

"Diego, when Clark gets back send him in, will ya?" I ask as Diego drops off a report.

"Sure Chief" he says as he leaves.

I've only had to reprimand Liam one time since he started working here. One time in 11 years. But something is going on with him, and I'm on my last shred of patience.

A while later I hear a knock on the door.

"You wanted to see me, Chief?" Liam asks.

"Yeah, shut the door" I say darkly. His eyes widen in surprise. My rule is the same now as it was when I was a Lieutenant. The door only gets shut for serious things.

"Something wrong?" He asks as he shuts the door and sits down.

"Yeah, Clark" I say, looking at him.

He stares, waiting for me to speak.

"Are you going to tell me what it is, Chief?" He asks with a little bit of an attitude.

"Are you?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"I'm sorry. I have a huge headache and I'm not understanding the riddle today. What did I do wrong?" He asks. He doesn't have an attitude now. It's more like he's completely mentally drained.

"You've been an ass, Lieutenant. You've been hard on your men. Snapping at them when they've done nothing wrong. Also, I think you're confused. You are the Lieutenant over your unit. The paramedics do not report to you. You are not their boss. They do something wrong, I'll take care of it. You mind your own squad" I say, glaring at him. I found Nora crying in the bathroom earlier.

"Copy that, Chief. We done?" He asks, giving me a hard look and tightening his jaw.

"Liam, what's wrong?" I ask. Alex said he's been an ass to him for weeks. He hasn't come around our house at all.

"Nothing. I'll change my attitude. Am I dismissed?" He asks, looking like he wants to cry.

I just nod.

He gets up and leaves, not saying another word.

He calms his jets the rest of shift. His attitude has improved. However, he isn't his normal self. He's quiet, serious. I really don't think I've ever seen this kid serious. Unless he was in trouble, or just being cranky for a day or something. This is different. He's always the one to crack a joke... Get the crowd going. I'm really starting to worry about him.

"Is Clark ok?" Greene asks me that evening.

"Something's going on. He won't tell us what, though" I say, shaking my head.

Greene says nothing as he nods and leaves.

In the morning, as I'm getting my stuff together to go home, Liam comes into the office. He doesn't look like he's slept at all.

"What's up, buddy?" I ask. Sometimes I can't keep the Chief hat on around him. I'm always still Taylor.

He sighs and looks at the ground.

"Can you see if mom will have Dad and Lilah over for dinner tonight? I need to talk to you guys about something." He says, still not looking at me.

"Sure. 6?" I ask simply.

He just nods and walks out to the locker room.

Last time he called a family meeting, it was to tell us that he was becoming a firefighter. Somehow I don't think this will be as happy.

The rest of the day, I'm on edge. I can't get Liam off of my mind. Ellie's worried too. I called Alex, and so is he.

"He literally screamed at me last week, because I told him he looked tired" Alex says sadly.