Honey and Glass

~13~

        "That's it. You're doing great," Buck told the woman, who we learned is named Ali, as we made our way down the stairs. "You've uh, you've done this before, haven't you?" He joked.

"Yeah. It was, uh, my major at the Rhode Island School of Design. Sorry. Sarcasm is my fallback for pretty much everything," Ali said walking down.

"I totally get it," Buck said walking behind her.

"I got you," Eddie said reaching out for her hand. But she stopped.

"You think he'll still be out there on the sidewalk when we get down there?" I looked at Buck my heart breaking for her. I've seen loss before. Family, friends, firefighters, and complete strangers. It's a part of my life. This isn't normal for her. She's not trained for this. She doesn't run into burning buildings every week. She doesn't see people die at work.

"No," Buck said firmly. "And we're not going out that side, anyway."

"Let's hustle up you two. We don't want to be here for the next aftershock," Eddie said to the pair.

"Wait, what do you mean, the next aftershock?"

"Come on," Eddie said offering his hand. She took it and walked across the narrow railing on the wall, underneath it being a massive drop.

"It's okay. It'll be fine. We're right here," I told her as she made her way across. Eddie walked up ahead and Buck helped her down back onto the stairs.

"Damn it," I muttered looking in front of Eddie. Piles of debris blocked our path to the exit. Just our luck.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Buck groaned.

"We're not getting out this way," Eddie said and I resisted the urge to hit him back with a no-shit sherlock.

"Now what?" Ali asked.

"We go back up."

"Back up?"

"Ladder 118, respond. This is Captain Nash, I need a head count," Bobby's voice came crackling through the radio.

"Ladder 118, responding. Diaz, Buckley, Whitman, we're good, Cap," Eddie reported back.

"Castillo and Jackson responding."

"Paulson, Marcus, and Riley responding."

"Chimney responding."

"Hen, do you copy? Hen?"

Shit.

"This is Captain Nash for Henrietta Wilson. Do you copy?"

"Is that a friend of yours?" Ali asked.

"Let's keep moving," Eddie said dismissively.

We finally got back up to the top and I vowed never to climb stairs again. Buck helped Ali through the doorway and me and Eddie filled in behind them.

"Command says there's this egress on the north stairwell of this floor," Eddie said as we climbed out of the doorway.

"What if it's blocked too? Can't you guys get a ladder into one of the windows?" Ali asked as Buck readjusted the ropes on his belt.

"It's too risky," Eddie told her.

"No, we got this, Abby," Buck said and I immediately noticed his slip-up.