From Intern to Family | 9-1-1 Fanfic

Chapter 15

"Blue! You're here!" Buck cheered, waving from the balcony. I raised a suspicious eyebrow and waved back. "Yes, I'm here.. Like I am everyday." I answered. The others laughed from upstairs and I went to place my backpack in a locker.

Bobby walked in behind me and sat down on the bench, smiling kindly. Once again, I raised an eyebrow and began digging through my backpack.

"Okay, why are you guys being weird?" I questioned, pulling Buck's hoodie over my head.

There was a moment of silence as Bobby waited for me to look at him. He laughed quietly, "How would you like to come on a ride along today? You can join us on our calls and watch what we do." He explained.

My mouth dropped open in shock before I jumped in the air. "Awesome! I get to spend the whole day in the firetruck? And watching you guys put out fires?" I exclaimed.

I rambled at Bobby as he led me upstairs where the rest of the team were waiting with smiles. Clearly, they already knew about me joining them for the day.

Buck waltzed over and ruffled my hair, "You ready for a day of excitement Coop?" He teased.

He spluttered as I elbowed him in the ribs. I ran away from him and sat beside Eddie, who raised an eyebrow at Buck when he got too close. Buck pulled back in mock offence at his boyfriend defending me and I stuck my tongue out to annoy him more.

Eddie wrapped me up in a headlock and jostled me, causing us all to start laughing again. Thankfully, I got saved from his brutish arms by the sound of the bell. The sound was piercing and I flinched back into the man behind me.

No matter how many times it went off during the day, I still never got used to it.

Everyone began rushing to get into their gear and get downstairs. I blinked in amazement as Buck held the door to the engine, gesturing for me to climb in. In my excitement, I scrambled inside like Bambi on ice.

I settled into my seat and fixed my eyes out the window as we began driving out of the firehouse. The sirens were loud and a number of cars passed by us in a blur, making me realise just how quick we were moving.

A strange pressure hovered over my ears and I turned to see Hen trying to place a headset on my head. I stilled, allowing her to place it on my head and I noted how it dimmed the noise of the sirens above me.

"Okay, ground rules Cooper." Oh this must be serious, these guys never used my actual name anymore.

Bobby turned around to look me in the eyes and I nodded to show I was listening, "You will stand by the truck at all times. At no point will you try to help us or anyone else on the scene because we cannot focus if we know you're in danger," I couldn't help the small quirk of a smile at hearing the care in his tone, "And most of all, if it gets too overwhelming at any point- let us know. It's not an easy job physically nor mentally, so if things get a little too intense then speak to one of us." He instructed.

I mumbled his words under my breath to ensure I had all the rules memorised. Then, I lifted two thumbs up and grinned. The team chuckled fondly and Bobby seemed to visibly relax at my easy agreement.

"You don't need to worry about me Cap." I winked. He turned away, but I could've sworn I heard him mutter 'I always worry' through the headset.

We all sat quietly as Bobby rattled through the information about the emergency. There was an oven fire on the top floor of an apartment block. A family of five are stuck in the apartment and there are three apartment residents unaccounted for.

The building came into view swiftly after and I remained seated until everyone else got out of the vehicle. Even though Bobby hadn't outrightly stated it, I knew another rule would be to stay out of the way. There were peoples' lives at risk and I wasn't going to be the idiot who got in the way of that.

I watched in awe as they fell into their natural flow, all of them seemingly grabbing things and communicating without talking. Bobby gave them their orders and then they set off.

Now, I had always noted the importance of not letting myself get too close to anyone. But I knew I had failed when I watched the team go into a burning building and a pit of worry bubbled in my stomach. It churned and ached, so much so that I had to lean against the firetruck for a minute.

What had I done?

I knew this is what they did everyday, but I never realised how intense it was for them until I saw it myself. Sure, I had been in an actual fire with Buck before. Yet that was different.

I wasn't as close with the team as I am now and I was involved in the work, so I wasn't able to think about the danger of the job.

One thing is for sure though, they are very good at their jobs. It felt like no time had passed at all when the three mystery residents were led out by Hen and Buck.

Then, Eddie up on the ladder was passing on people to Bobby to help down. Meanwhile, Chim was shutting down the electrics and gas to the building so when they put out the fire the gas oven wouldn't cause further trouble.

They were efficient as they worked and I stared at the people graciously thanking them for their help. A lady even kissed Buck on the cheek, which caused me to laugh at Eddie's jealous stare.

The hoses were soon brought out and they went back into the building to douse the flames. Bobby stepped back and let his team finish the job, checking that everyone was out safely. He glanced over at me, obviously checking I was staying out of the way.

As quick as it started, it was over and just as quickly, they moved on to the next job. Bobby had to nudge me to move, otherwise I would've been stood there staring for hours.

"That's it? All of that and now you just move on to the next?" I questioned as I sat down in my seat.

Hen scooted in beside me and smiled, "I'm afraid so Coop. We don't have time to dwell on one emergency when there's another waiting for us. But, in extreme cases we can go offline if necessary to recuperate after a hard call." She explained. There wasn't another call just yet, but we drove around the area until another came in.

And just like that, the process repeated itself over and over and over again. Each time came and went like the last, but the team didn't falter for a second. I think I was so in awe that I forgot I was meant to be observing in the first place.

These people were true firefighters.

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Hi! I don't normally do author's notes because I don't particularly like them BUT I wanted to say sorry this update has taken so long, I've been extremely busy!

I also wanted to thank you for over 2K reads, I am so happy and very surprised it's got so many views in the first place. This was a bit of a shorter chapter, but I am slowly building to a big event and these are just the nice, daily life events before the big one hits.

If you have any ideas, tips or questions please comment. Hope you enjoyed!