Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

Nine

"So," Maya said. "You gonna tell us what that was about today with Sullivan?" she said. They were all in Joe's bar and Travis had even managed to sneak out, though he wasn't drinking due to his healing heart from surgery.

"He and Ripley are friends with my dad. They all went to college together. They went to the fire academy, my dad went to law school but they're still close. Or they were. I don't know anymore. All I know is my mom and dad have probably told them a bunch of lies about me and they probably hate me. So, cheers to the end of my career," Mallie told them, holding up what she thought was her fifth vodka of the night, following her four beers prior to getting on the hard liquor.

"At least you have surgery to fall back on," Ben said.

"That's a very good point," Mallie nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "I passed my boards. Bailey likes me, too. I could just jump back. Or I could transfer to another station. But I don't want to leave you guys. I just wish it wasn't him running things," Mallie said.

"Have you talked to him, maybe seen what he knows and set it straight?" Andy said.

"No," Mallie snorted. "I'm considering running from my problems. I'm hardly gonna run towards them. What's that saying? Don't run into the fire unless you wanna get burnt?" she said.

"It's along those lines," Jack said.

"Don't play with fire unless you wanna get burnt," Travis corrected her. She nodded.

"See?" Mallie said.

"Well, you won't know what he knows until you talk to him," Dean said.

"I'm not gonna do that," Mallie shrugged.

"Okay, I think you've had enough to drink. Are you going to yours or to Meredith's?" Maya asked.

"Mine. I can't go there drunk or I'll wake the kids up," Mallie said, stumbling to her feet. She didn't bring up the fact that she would likely stink of alcohol and that could set Amelia off, which she would try to stop as much as she could.

"Okay, let's go," Maya said, putting money down for Mallie's drinks.

"Night," they all said. Mallie waved, wrapping her arm around Maya's waist as they left Joe's bar.

"You know, he's gonna see me like the kid he knew," she said.

"You've changed. He'll see that," Maya said.

"I'm not scared of fire anymore," Mallie agreed.

"You were scared?" Maya asked.

"Oh, yeah. My hose burnt down when I was a kid. Terrified me for years. But then I almost got shot and almost died in a plane crash so I decided I was gonna quit surgery and face my fears," Mallie said.

"What?" Maya asked. Mallie had never told any of them half of this stuff.

"Yeah," Mallie said. "Lexie died, and so did Mark, and then Arizona lost her leg. Derek had to get surgery to fix his hand, Cristina left for Mayo and then me and Mer just had to get on with things. I couldn't so I left," Mallie said.

"You never told us," Maya said, helping Mallie into her car. Maya hadn't drank, thankfully, so she could drive Mallie home.

"It's not a very good topic for conversation. Hi, I'm Mallie and this is a list of all my near brushes with death. I didn't like that so I changed to a career where I almost die more days than I don't," Mallie said, laughing as Maya cracked a smile.

"I suppose you're right," she said.

"Of course I am," Mallie said.

"You should talk to him, if he says anything to you or treats you differently," Maya said.