ⱽⁱᵉⁿⁿᵃ ⁻ ᴹ. ᴳʳᵃⁿᵗ

CHAPTER ONE - COOKIES

Mom had gone out to run some errands for Buck since he was working, so I was left in Abby's apartment alone. Deciding to be productive, I made cookies. I made a huge mess, but it was so worth it.

The only good thing about him was his mom. Before she died, she left a book of recipes for me and Mom, I used it constantly. If I wasn't playing or making music, I was baking.

Uptown Girl played idle in the background as I cleaned up. The cookies were in the oven baking, so I had time to clean up. Buck told me to go to the firehouse around lunchtime to try his captain's cooking, and I was all for free food. I was nervous, though. I hated meeting new people, but if I wanted to adjust to a somewhat normal life, then I had to get used to it.

The cookies soom came out of the oven, and I let them cool down before I put some in a tub to bring to the firehouse. Buck had messaged me the address of the firehouse, so now it was just a matter of having to find.

I sent Mom a message to let her know where I'm going before I left the apartment.

I connected my headphones to my phone, deciding on playing some Mazzy Star. Music was always a good outlet for me, especially playing it. Mom had signed me up for guitar lessons with I was eight, and I hadn't stopped playing since.

The streets of LA roared with the sound of vehicles and sirens. As I was walking down the street, a police car zoomed past, with lights and sirens. I turned my music up more, hoping to block out some of the noise.

It took about half an hour to walk from Abby's apartment to the firehouse. Both of the trucks were parked in the bay, and a few firefighters were working on inventory.

I walk into the firehouse and approach a dark-haired man.

"Excuse me, is Buck here?" I asked, voice shaking slightly.

"Uh, yeah. He should be upstairs. I'll show you where he is." He set down the rag in his hand before motioning for me to follow him upstairs.

The stairs led to a lounge and a kitchen, as well as a few tables. Buck was standing in the kitchen, making coffee.

"Hey Buckaroo, you got a visitor." The man said, and Buck turned around.

"Vi! You came." Buck placed his mug down on the island before coming over to us. "Chim, this is my neice, Vienna. The one I told you about. Ooh, and she brought cookies. Vienna, this is Chimney."

"Is Chimney a nickname or...?" I questioned because if his parents named him Chimney, I'd call CPS.

"It's a nickname. My real name is Howie. No one here calls me that, but I won't be enlightening you on the story behind it because it isn't a story for a kid to hear." Chimney said with a grimace.

"Do you want to meet the rest of the team, or do you have to get going?" Buck asked, silently hoping she said yes to meeting the team. He loved bragging about the people he worked with.

"I would love to. Mom's out getting groceries for you. She said the fridge was filled with protein shakes and lettuce, so she went to get more nutritional food." I teased with a grin. She didn't say those exact words, but it was funny messing with Buck.

"Everyone else should be downstairs. Come on, I'll show you the truck as well." He had a little giddy grin on his face.

We headed downstairs, Chimney following behind us. We walked to the ambulance first, where a woman was restocking a box of gauze.

"Hen, I want you to meet Vienna, my neice." Buck proudly says as Hen turns around.

"She's related to you? She definitely got the pretty genes, that's for sure." She throws an insult at Buck. I could already tell we were going to get along. "I'm Henrietta, but everyone calls me Hen. Are those cookies you have?"

"Yeah, would you like to try one?" I ask timidly. He would always say no and tell me to go to my room before he hit me.

"I would love to, give me on to try." Hen out her hand out, and I took the lid off the box. She grabbed one and took a big bite out of it. "Girl, these have to be the best damn cookies I have ever tasted."

I smiled giddily at her compliment. I wasn't used to it. "Thank you." My cheeks had gone slightly red from the compliment.

"Where's Eddie and Bobby?" Buck asked as he grabbed two cookies from the tub and handed one to Chimney.

"Eddie is in the gym, and Cap is in his office." Hen replied as she pointed towards the gym.

"Vienna, I have to agree with Hen. These are the best cookies I've ever tasted. Wait until Cap tries them."

I thank Hen and Chimney again before following Buck, who was walking towards the gym.

"Bobby's an amazing cook, so he'll definitely like your cookies." Buck says as we approach a man using the bench press. "Eddie, this is my neice, Vienna. Vi, this is the newest member of the 118, Eddie."

"Hi." I say quietly. Eddie noticed the box of cookies and my hand and gestured to them.

"Can I try one?"

"Uh, yeah. Here." I say, opening the box and handing him a cookie.

He takes a bite out of the cookies, and his eyes widen. "Buck, why haven't you brought your neice here sooner? Her cookies are like, ten times better than Chim's!"

"Well, she's been in Hershey, and I've been in LA, and hopefully, she'll be here for good. Along with her mom, my sister, Maddie." Buck says with a proud smile and his arm around my shoulder.

I smile shyly at that. He doesn't know that we're on the run from him. Not yet anyway. He'll probably be proud we got away from him, but we can't risk us staying in one place too long.

"Anyways, let's go meet Bobby." Buck says as he turns me in the direction of his office. "Hey Cap, I want you to meet my neice, Vienna."

I wave at him nervously. This is probably the most people I've talked to in a day that weren't my old high school teachers.

"Hey, are those cookies?" He said, clearly noticing my nerves and trying to distract me.

"Yeah, I made them myself."

"Okay, well, let's hope they aren't anything like Buck's. The last time he tried to bake cookies, he almost burnt down the firehouse." Bobby laughed as he took one of the cookies and bit into it. "Well, they are definitely better than Buck's." The alarm then sounds throughout the building. "Well, Vienna, it was nice meeting you, but we need to head out."

"Hey, will you be alright here until we get back, or are you going to head home?" Buck asked me as I followed him to the bay.

"I'll probably just head home. I didn't really tidy up properly after baking."

"Yeah, you might want to tidy that up before Maddie gets home." He says as he puts on his turnout gear. "Oh, and Vi?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me if you get lost on your way home. Don't call your Mom because she will literally murder me for letting you get lost." He finishes as he gets into the truck.

"You got it."

And with that, the 118 had left the station.

HEYYY

Guys, I'm actually so sorry this took too long to get out. (More than a month, lol)

I've been extremely busy with school, work, rugby, volunteering, and trying to manage severe writers block while writing three different writeups for school.

n e ways

I will probably not be updated for a bit as I'm going to move up in school, and I'm going away for a week, so I'll be quite busy again, lol. But i will try to get something out at some point.