City of Smoke // Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek ✔️

09 || COMFORT

Guilty.

That's all Rory felt the moment she returned to the firehouse. She felt guilty.

Guilty over the thought that maybe she hadn't done enough. Maybe she should have shocked Abigail's heart instead of doing CPR. Maybe she should have intubated her or packed up her wound a little better.

Maybe if she hadn't been so hungover and tired, then maybe that poor mother wouldn't have just lost her daughter.

Maybe if Rory hadn't been so focused on Otis and whether or not he liked her back, then maybe she'd have been able to do her job the way she was supposed to. And maybe then Abigail would still be alive and Rory herself wouldn't be suffocating in guilt.

Rory sighed deeply as she took a seat on the locker room bench, staring down at her blood stained hands. She knew none of that was to blame. That her tiredness or her lingering thoughts about Otis weren't the reason that that poor girl had died. She knew she'd done the best she could to keep her alive and with a wound like that, Abigail's chances were practically zero. But Rory just couldn't help but feel like she could have done better.

"Oh, hey. You must be Rory." Came a voice Rory didn't recognise, one that made her jump a little and frantically wipe at her eyes as if embarrassed to be caught crying. "Jimmy Borelli, Truck 81's new candidate."

"Uh, yeah. That's me." Rory sniffled, flashing the new guy a quick smile but not looking directly at him out of fear that he'd see her eyes. "Welcome to 51, Jimmy."

But Jimmy didn't need to see Rory's eyes to tell she was crying, as with the sound of her voice and the quiet sniffles she made, it was pretty obvious.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jimmy asked softly, having been one of the few people not out on the apparatus floor when the ambulance returned. He took a seat next to her, keeping some distance between them as he didn't want to invade her space.

"Rough call." Rory shrugged with a small shake of her head, swallowing back the hiccup that wanted to force its way up her throat. Only, she hadn't swallowed harshly enough as not only did the hiccup escape, but a rather loud sob did. And before Rory knew it, she was full on crying again.

Rather than say anything, Jimmy simply put his arm around the crying Rory and the minute she felt his touch against her she fell against him, crying into his shirt as she clung to it for dear life.

Rory didn't care at all that she'd just met the guy and was already staining his shirt with her tears, she desperately needed somebody's comfort. And since she'd ignored the person whose comfort she'd much rather prefer on her way in here, she just figured that she'd have to settle for Jimmy as he seemed as good a person as any.

Although little did Rory, or Jimmy, know that the person whose comfort she would prefer, was standing just out of view of them with a rush of jealously building inside him.

"I'm sorry." Rory breathed out around a hiccup as she finally pulled away from Jimmy, not noticing the flash of navy as Otis quickly left the locker room and headed for his bunk, only coming briefly into her view before disappearing again. "I didn't mean to break down like that."

"Don't worry about it." Jimmy said softly, not wanting Rory to feel embarrassed or ashamed.

"This job can just get a little much sometimes." Rory exhaled, wiping her eyes with her sleeves and hoping she hadn't smeared any blood onto her face. But from the lack of transfer on Jimmy's shirt, she guessed the blood had dried in by now. And she'd definitely be throwing these clothes away rather than washing them. "Which probably isn't the best thing for me to say to you on your first day." She added with a weak chuckle, not wanting to bring down the mood anymore or make Jimmy regret his career choice.