Hold The Line -Evan Buckley-

Chapter One

Mabels POV

The sun is beating down on my shoulders and suddenly I regret not wearing longer sleeves, as the sun is not a friend to my pale skin. My uber dropped me off a mile away from my destination, because the traffic was going to take longer than walking. The suitcase dragging behind me keeps catching on the cracks in the sidewalk, causing me to groan in frustration. My eyes train on the destination in the distance. It stands tall, and proud. The flags out front whipping in the ocean breeze and suddenly I'm regretting this sudden decision.

"What am I doing?" I exclaim aloud to no one.

What if he can't help me? What if he wanted to completely start over and forget everything that happened before he left? My anxiety takes over my thoughts and I find myself staring at the building, my body unwilling to move forward even an inch.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" I hear a voice say in the distance. Around the corner of an ambulance comes a woman with a shaved head and kind eyes. The glasses that adorn her face fit her perfectly. She's wearing a dark blue uniform, one of a firefighter or paramedic and I realize that I may seem like I'm having a medical emergency while standing and gazing at her.

"Oh, um I'm sorry. Eddie? I mean, Is Eddie here today?" She gives me a knowing smile at my words, and nods. Turning around, she beckons me to follow her. Reluctantly I do so, and continue to be mesmerized by my surroundings.

"Hen, Did you pick up a new recruit off the street?" A tall, older man jokes as he approaches us. He stops a foot or two in front of the pair of us and reaches out his hand for me to shake.

"Bobby Nash, Captain of the 118, and you are?"

"Oh I'm Mabel, Mabel Harris. It's nice to meet you, sir. I don't mean to intrude on your work."

"Oh please!" He exclaims. "Don't call me sir, It makes me feel as old as I am, and any friend of Hen's is a friend of ours." He says with a smile .

Hen steps up and offers him a grin while trying to explain that she doesn't actually know me and I am a total stranger that just wondered in off the street asking for Eddie.

"Mae? Mabel what are you doing here?" I hear from behind me. I spin to find Eddie standing on the loft area of the firehouse. He has a big smile on his face, but I can tell that he is nervous. Nervous as to why I am here, and nervous as to what is going on.

He makes his way down the steps towards me and I can feel every eye in the building trained on me like a crash they can't look away from. His pace picks up and when he reaches a few feet in front of me, he pauses. I can see the thoughts running through his mind and the contemplation of how to react. He surges forward and engulfs me in one of his famous hugs. Eddie gives the kind of hugs where you feel completely safe from the world. One of his arms wraps around my back while the other goes up and grasps the top of my head, his hand in my hair. He takes a moment to embrace me and then takes a step back with me still in arms reach.

"Mae, Not that I'm not happy to see you because believe me I am, but what are you doing here? In LA? Is something wrong? Are you in danger?" He quick fires the questions as they come into his head and looks around to see if there is any threat of immediate danger.

"Eddie, Ed I'm fine. I'm okay. For once in a very long time I'm okay." My voice comes out wavering and in almost a whisper, but the smile on my face is all the reassurance he needs.

"I got out. I got away from all of it, Bub." I say with tears running down my face.

He pulls me back to his side and urges us forward towards the stairs behind him. He pauses a moment to run and place my suitcase with his things in what I assume is the locker room.