Chapter Text
Watching her friends being read for filth while she was being praised was just par for the course, and Olivia knew that. She also knew that as much as the Captain was doing his damnedest to get under her skin, the situation was entirely different for everyone else. For her, it was personal.
She kept to herself a lot more since her arrival at the 118. With Evan becoming the focal point of the Captain’s ire and the tension between her and Eddie, she hadn’t really interacted as much with either one of them outside of when it was necessary. For whatever reason she couldn’t pinpoint, the tension at work felt ramped up to 11.
The run itself wasn’t terrible, and maybe it was because she ran on a regular basis and was used to doing obstacle courses. She had made it up to the roof a solid 30 seconds before the rest of the team and was already sitting at the patio table when the rest of the team walked past. She watched as they bantered and discussed the situation, barely processing Evan’s lament and everyone else’s responses until they were all approaching the table.
“You good, Evan?” she called out as he walked past her.
“Could be better, Liv.” He turned to look at her, catching his breath.
She heard Eddie’s voice behind her moments later. “Don’t jump.”
“Why not?”
“Gerrard would just make us clean you off the sidewalk,” Chimney replied dryly.
“I wouldn’t joke around like that around Tommy,” she spoke up, looking up from checking her watch, alerting the rest of the team of her presence, glaring specifically at Eddie.
“Guys, I can’t do this anymore, okay? I think we should all quit. If we do it at the same time, maybe leadership would realize they made a mistake and they'll have to bring Bobby back.”
“But then we wouldn't be here,” Chimney pointed out.
Eddie added, “You got to stop letting this guy get under your skin like this, Buck.”
“Besides, it’s not that terrible,” Olivia commented, causing everyone to turn to look at her and gather around the table. She let out a quiet chuckle no one else could hear, watching Evan spiral before she stood from where she sat and headed back inside, feeling like she had nothing to contribute to the conversation.
....
It was a few minutes later when the rest of the team got back inside, and Olivia was already at the heavy bag, working out her frustration, when Evan joined her.
“You know, I expected you of all people to have my back,” he pointed out, his tone somewhere between a whine and frustration, “You’re just as miserable as I am, even if Gerrard seems to be giving you some kind of preferential treatment.”
“I gain nothing from blowing things up here and making things worse for Hen and Chimney. They’re my mentors, my partners in the ambulance. I have to have their backs,” Olivia countered, each hit on the heavy bag progressively harder than the last before removing her gloves and adding, “You don’t think I want to put Gerrard in his place? I do! I hate what he’s doing to you! But no matter what I do at work, my problems with the old man are not going to go away, so I’m doing what’s best for my team. I’m sorry, Evan.”
In the process of walking away from Evan, Olivia stopped dead in her tracks when Eddie approached, the tension between them palpable to Evan nearby.
“Hi,” Olivia greeted him gently, the most subtle hint of regret and apology in her tone and her eyes as she spoke, “We should catch up sometime. It’s been a heck of a month....”
“Yeah...” Eddie’s voice trailed off distractedly, struggling to find the words he wanted to say. “Soon?”
“Soon,” Olivia echoed with a tentative smile.
“Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor...” Eddie seemed reluctant to ask but continued anyway. “I was wondering if you could stop by and help me bake some cupcakes later. It’s Christopher’s birthday and I wanted some for the video call.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll bring the ingredients.” After pause, she added, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry Christopher coming home didn’t work out.”
“Me too.”
And with a nod, Olivia took off.
Evan’s quick thinking and depth of knowledge was never going to stop being impressive to her, even though Olivia would never admit it to him directly. All she did was stand to the side, waiting to support Hen and Chimney, making sure those who needed attending to had her attention as a paramedic. As much as he wanted to call the Captain out for ignoring Evan’s solutions and being an asshole about it, she had given her word to Hen that she wouldn’t rock the boat and she intended to keep her word.
The bees...well, it was a good thing she wasn’t allergic to bee stings. And it was a good thing that nightfall meant they were dormant. After all, she had told Eddie she would come over to make cupcakes, even with the tension between them. If he asked for her help, she would help him, no questions asked. She was a little surprised that he asked, but would not deny him.
The process of making the cupcakes happened without too much fuss. Eddie had been running around, getting decorations and things ready in the living room with Tommy and Evan. It wasn’t until she was finished frosting them that Eddie came back around to the kitchen.
“I meant what I said a month ago, you know?” his voice interrupted her thoughts.
Olivia took her time to toss the beaters from the hand mixer into the sink before she turned to face him and finally responded. “Which part?”
“All of it. And I know that’s what’s made things...weird between us, but I miss you.”
“I miss you too. But mistakes were made on both sides. It wasn’t just what you said that made things weird between us. I was being selfish too,” Olivia conceded, acknowledging her part in the mess that was made between them.
“What happens to us now?”
“What do you think should happen now?” Olivia suppressed her initial response to ask Eddie what he thought.
“I don’t know, but I hope you find your happiness, wherever it is,” Eddie told her quietly, “And no matter what happens, I hope we become better friends someday.” He grabbed the tray of cupcakes and left the kitchen, not waiting for her to respond.
It was painful for her to hear what was going on in the living room as she cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. The failed attempt to reach his son, the subsequent conversation with the person she assumed was his mother, the sounds of a celebration he was clearly excluded from...she genuinely felt for Eddie.
After cleaning up in the kitchen, Olivia pulled out three beers from the fridge and brought it over to the living room as Eddie, Tommy and Evan were snacking on her cupcakes.
“Here, thought you guys could use this,” she offered, placing the bottles on the coffee table. “Ummm...I’m sorry that didn’t work out with Christopher.”
“Me too,” Eddie replied flatly, crestfallen at the turn of events.
“I’m going to take off for a karate class,” she announced before turning to Evan and Tommy and adding, “I’m sure you guys have this handled.”
Evan nodded as Tommy replied, “Yeah, thanks for helping out with the cupcakes. They’re delicious, as always.”
“Anytime.”
Olivia had been restocking the ambulance when she heard the Captain go off on Evan. This was the start of a power trip if she ever heard one. There was such a strong urge for her to intervene as the tirade went on that she managed to suppress temporarily as she finished what she was doing. As it turned out, before she could jump out of the ambulance, she found Evan knocking the Captain off his feet as a saw blade flew by.
“Get the leads on him!” Hen called out.
Olivia reached for the lifepak in the ambulance and handed it to Chimney without saying a word. She watched as Chimney and Hen checked the Captain on the ground while she sat in the ambulance, taking a moment to regain her composure before stepping out.
At first, she had been focused on Hen and Chimney, but when they finally got their patient on a stretcher and had him moved to an ambulance for transport, she jumped out of the ambulance she was in, noticing the anxiety in Evan’s voice as he spoke.
“He’s gonna kill me! No no, he’s gonna fire me, then he’s gonna kill me.”
“Why? You saved his life,” Eddie pointed out.
“Is that what I did? I don’t know because I just wanted to hit the guy.”
“Trust me, I know what it feels like to want to hit the man,” Olivia told him as she approached him and Eddie, “but unfortunately, intent doesn’t override what actually happened and other people’s perception of it, good or bad.”
When the ambulance with their Captain took off, Chimney looked to the team, his eyes specifically landing on Hen. “So I guess that makes you the Acting Captain. Any orders, Cap?”
“As Acting Captain while Gerrard is incapacitated, my first order of business is...a dance party!”
As the dancing began all over the apparatus bay, Olivia glanced at Evan and pulled him away, leading him towards the lounge up in the loft quietly and waited until they were both settled on one of the couches to speak again.
“I know you’re upset. He’s been a lot.” Olivia was set on comforting Evan.
“If you had stepped out of the ambulance seconds earlier, you could have gotten hurt. Are you okay?” His blue eyes widened at the realization.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I promise.”
“Why aren’t you dancing with the rest of them?”
“It’s a lot more complicated for me than it is for any of them...you know, the Uncle Vince of it all.”
Evan looked apologetic. “Yeah, I forgot that little detail,” he admitted, “It’s been a long three months...”
“Yeah...and I recognize that being in his good graces is a privileged place, I know he won’t fuck with me the same way. I just don’t know how to use that to help everyone else. And the last thing I want is to make things worse for Hen and Chimney.”
“Have you told Tommy about any of this? Have you told him about what’s been happening with Gerrard singling you out?” Evan wondered aloud, “I mean, I’m just wondering if you’ve talked to anyone.”
Olivia sighed. “I haven’t talked to Tommy. With schedules the way they are and stuff, we’re lucky to be able to hang out once a month. I mean, I knew it was bound to happen with my transfer and the two of you getting more serious. I’m coping.”
“I can sense there’s something more to your situation with the Captain than you’re willing to tell, and that’s fine, but I hope you talk to somebody...and it doesn’t have to be me or even Tommy, it just has to be somebody. Holding things in doesn’t help in the long the run.”
Olivia nodded. “I know...and when I’m ready, I’ll talk about it.” Changing the subject, she went on, “As far as what happened earlier...whether you intended to or not, you saved his life, so at least your job won’t be on the line. Everything’s going to be okay. If push comes to shove, I swear I’ll have your back.”
“I know...I’m just...tired of all of this.”
“Yeah, me too. Haven’t met the guy yet, but I have a feeling I’d have a better time with Captain Nash.”
“I can guarantee you would.”
“So what’s the plan for dinner? I’ll be your sous-chef if you want.”
“I was thinking some pasta.”
Once the initial celebrations were done, people scattered, spread out in various areas of the station, while Olivia busied herself with helping out in the kitchen. The atmosphere was very different without the Captain, and it was a welcomed change.
“Do you guys think it’s weird that we haven’t heard from the hospital?” Evan asked as the entire firehouse settled for dinner.
“First Presbyterian’s always busy at this time of day,” Hen pointed out.
Both Eddie and Evan gave Olivia a concerned look when she walked past the dining table to go sit on the couch nearby but before they could move to check in with her, Chimney had his wife Maddie on speakerphone, explaining the situation and needing triage on the phone for a flight that was still in the air. Olivia hadn’t heard the entirety of the call but she got the basic gist of it and knew what to do when her phone rang.
Thankfully, she was an experienced paramedic and this was right up her alley.
What came next was the call to LAX, and Olivia quickly pieced together that they were going back on rotation and answering it along with the 119, the 133 and the 217. Keystar Flight 63 was in serious trouble and they were needed to deal with an emergency landing.
...
Hen and Chimney had gone in the engine, with Hen needing to be there as Acting Captain, which left Olivia driving the ambulance. It was fine. When the need would come for an extra set of hands, she was sure Chimney would make himself available and worse case scenario, she could probably ask for Eddie’s help.
In the silence of the night and the empty airport, Olivia was sitting in the ambulance. She clocked the familiar engine from the 217, knowing it well from the main station. She also noticed one solitary figure on top of the engine. Before she could second guess herself, she stepped out of the ambulance.
“Hey, stranger,” she greeted the familiar figure as she made her way up the engine moments later, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“They called for the main station to send a company down but they didn’t call for Air Ops,” River explained, his eyes straight ahead, waiting expectantly for something to happen on the runway, much like everyone else in and out of the rescue vehicles nearby. “Had a doctor’s appointment, I was on call and got asked to come in for this.”
“They’re really preparing us for the worse case scenario, aren’t they?” Olivia commented as she took a casual look around at the other engines around them.
“I don’t blame them. The situation sounds pretty dire from what we’ve been briefed on. Commercial aircraft collision with a light aircraft. We were told to expect casualties.”
Olivia nodded quietly. She gave a sideways glance over to the 118 engine, with Hen, Chimney and Eddie on top of it before looking ahead to the empty runways.
This time in a quieter voice, River spoke again. “Tommy insists that I should ask you out.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow, her expression wordlessly screaming ‘I didn’t tell him anything’ in plain sight before River could continue his train of thought.
”He said that seven years is a long time to wait, that I should just do it.”
Olivia visibly relaxed. “He really has no idea,” she murmured.
“He doesn’t. And don’t worry, I stood my ground about waiting.”
“I never doubted that,” Olivia assured him, “It’s not seven years...but four is still a lot. We never really talked about what happened, did we?”
“No, not really. We just...fell into a work partnership and a friendship after it all went down.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
“I was hurt when it happened, but I forgave you a long time ago,” River confessed, “I was just waiting for you...”
“To apologize?”
“To tell me you wanted to try again.”
Olivia exhaled. “I’ll text you later, let’s figure out when we can finish this conversation. Privately.”
River nodded in understanding as Olivia moved to climb down the engine.
“It’s only been three months, but why does it feel like it’s been longer?” she asked, looking over her shoulder before making her descent.
“Because you’ve been running for a lot longer.”
Without a response, Olivia moved to climb down the engine as the call came through on the radio.
“Attention all companies at LAX hangar, respond to the 110 Freeway.”
Olivia, along with the other paramedics, sprinted off to their respective ambulances as the engines all cleared the hangar, and they followed suit.
She could see the 118 engine ahead, and the 217 engine pulling up alongside her. Setting her own anxieties and thoughts aside, she focused on the road, and the traffic ahead.
...
“Olivia! We’re running triage down there! Chimney and I have one more patient in the aircraft.”
As soon as she stepped out of the ambulance, she heard Hen’s voice, in full Acting Captain mode, and she watched her more experienced counterparts move towards the engine before she sprung into action, checking in on the various passengers scattered about.
She had lost track of time, and by the time she was set to transport a patient to First Presbyterian, it was already getting close to 9pm. She was exhausted, but she needed to make one last push.
“Hen and Chim are staying behind, but they sent me,” Eddie announced as she was setting up the patient for transport.
“Great. Just monitor our patient, nothing huge, just a busted leg. But just keep an eye out for swelling, they had to relieve the compartment syndrome.”
“Copy that,” Eddie replied as he pushed the patient into the ambulance.
Mostly on autopilot, Olivia drove straight to their destination, keeping to herself.
“Are you okay? You didn’t eat dinner earlier,” Eddie’s question broke through her thoughts.
“Wasn’t hungry,” came the curt reply, her tone clearly signaling she didn’t want to talk about it. Olivia had been on edge since the Captain had been sent to the hospital, because unlike everyone else, there was a part of her that still cared about her Uncle Vince, something she wasn’t prepared to explain in that moment.
By the time the handoff had been done at First Presbyterian, Olivia finally turned to Eddie and she told him, “I’ll be right back.”
“Yeah, I’ll wait for you in the ambulance. Heck, I’ll drive it back if you want.”
Tossing the keys to Eddie, she turned to head towards the nurses’ station. “I’m looking for Vincent Gerrard,” she announced.
“He asked that no one be allowed to see him outside of family,” the nurse announced.
“I’m his daughter,” Olivia declared without a trace of hesitation.
The nurse raised an eyebrow before she gave Olivia the room information and directions to get there. “He’s being kept overnight for observation but he should be good to go tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
She had this idea in her head that she would confront him, and give him a piece of her mind, but by the time she’d gotten to the room, Olivia couldn’t bring herself to storm in, opting to peek through the glass window at his resting form, head bandaged up, eyes closed. She spent a moment just observing him, before leaving. She wasn’t ready for that conversation, even though she thought she was.
She knew that he would be back the next day.
She was pretty sure no one else knew.
And the morning lineup was the most interesting it had been since the Captain’s arrival. She learned to tune it out for the most part. Beyond the ranting and the tirade, the moment the Captain expressed gratitude for Evan saving his life, everyone in the lineup looked shocked, Olivia included.
“You feel this arms around you, son? This is me taking you under my wing.”
Olivia couldn’t help but watch, waiting as Evan was finally released and they were all dismissed from the line up and the Captain disappeared into his office.
“Are you okay, Evan?”
“No,” he managed to squeak out.
Catching up with the two of them, Eddie joined them and asked Olivia, “Hey, where’d you go last night after we did that handoff at First Presbyterian?”
Evan gave her a questioning look.
“I went to check on the Captain. He’s clearly fine. So don’t worry about it.”
“I just have one question: Why did you tell the nurse you were his daughter?”
Evan’s questioning look turned into one of confusion at this.
"It's because I am," Olivia spoke with a low, barely audible voice. “I’ll explain everything after shift. My place. It's...complicated.”
“Yeah, I can call Tommy and tell him I’ll be a bit late,” Evan added, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, okay, sure." Eddie wasn't sure what to make of the revelation but he played along, curious.
Olivia nodded. “All right. Later.” She headed up the steps to the loft to do some reading, splitting up from them.