Bad Girls [Rio]

Atom Bomb

Rio's got competition
Please welcome, daddy Eddie Diaz.

I sat on the passenger side of the truck. I had just finished cleaning up the interior. No body had asked me to do so, I just needed something to keep me occupied, to stop me from feeling the coldness of my most recent loss, and how empty the station felt now without my best friend.

Chimney's condition had decayed over night while I was on my way to the hospital. He suffered from a blood clot, an embolic stroke due to a blockage to an artery in his brain. There was nothing the doctors could do to save him. He was gone as soon as the machine's alarm went off.

It had been a month, and the station didn't feel the same as before. Everyone there were still trying to process his death. Specially Hen and I. We were the closest to him.
Since that day, I had been filling in for him. I knew Hen was grateful for that. I couldn't imagine how she would feel if she had to deal with some newbie occupying Chim's position. They were a team after all. The two paramedics always rolled together, since Hen and I got here. So, even though I was pulling double shifts and staying away from home, even more so than I used to, I knew my friend appreciated the effort I was putting into trying to make this transition easier for us. Only thing was, I was so focused on everyone else's emotional state, I had forgotten to check up on myself. Frankly speaking, I was scared, terrified even, to find out how I'd feel when the inevitable happened, and Cap brought someone new to work with us.

"Megan!" Bobby called, making me look down to meet his concerned glare. "Your niece said she's done with her homework. How about you go home early? Take some time off, get some fresh air, enjoy some family time..." He suggested. "You've been exhausting yourself with work lately. Besides, a new trainee is coming in today, I think we can manage without you for one day." He smiled sadly. I knew he was worried about me. God, who wasn't? Even I knew I was a mess and a half, but burying myself in work was the only way I knew to deal with certain situations.

"You got someone new coming in to fill Chimney's position already?" I asked. I could feel my eyes widening as my voice lowered.

"Megan, you can't keep doing this. You're doing a two man's job all at once. You're gonna exhaust yourself to death if you keep this up. Besides, sooner or later, we're gonna have to get a new medic. It's better if we just rip off the bandaid straight up. We can't keep pretending like you're filling in for someone who's gonna integrate back to the team one day. He won't." I stayed silent. I knew he was most definitely right, I just wasn't ready to admit it. Not out loud at least. So I watched Bobby walk away from me, wondering how would the new addition to the team ever be able to fill Chim's shoes.

🚒

After walking out of the third store empty handed, I was starting to get very much tired of the whole walking around, window shopping, Sadie was pulling on me. I could sense there was something bothering her, but she didn't seem to want to talk about it.