Chapter Text
To say the next shift was awkward would be an understatement. Even though his father hadn’t talked to him again after their confrontation, it still felt like TK was walking on egg shells. While he stood by the words he had said to his father, he also knew he was absolutely toeing the line. Disobeying orders and yelling at his captain wasn’t something he had had to worry about when he had been under Captain Braxton’s command.
The worst thing was that he felt like he couldn’t trust his father to have his back. It felt like there was a time bomb that could go off any second and get him fired.
He had taken the time to talk to Nancy and Tim about what had happened in the captain’s office, both had expressed their support immediately. He was hesitant to bring the topic up with Judd and Mateo; considering the fact that they had mostly been on good terms with his father.
Surprisingly, he had found a confidant in Billy. The man had listened to him every time he had complained about how things were at the station, without complaining once. Now that Billy had been declared cancer free the man was also a lot more open to actually doing something except sitting on his couch.
The rest of the crew seemed to sense that something had happened and were because of that trying to keep up the playful banter even more than usual. He was teasing Paul about meeting a very pretty woman with Mateo, before the alarm went off.
On their way to the call his father wasn’t very forth coming with any information. Apparently, an ambulance had crashed on the way to the hospital and the EMT’s were still inside. He didn’t understand why his father was being so vague until they arrived on scene and were greeted by ‘126’ being spelled in big white letters on the side of the ambulance, that was currently turned over.
He could feel his heartbeat speed up as he stood frozen beside the fire truck. Around him people were moving but he couldn’t help but stand there in shock. His father was giving orders and his team was taking things from the truck.
“TK, kid, I know your shocked but we need to move. You have knowledge a lot of us don’t so I need you be in the present, now.” Judd said to him, tone gentle, as he guided him towards the fire truck.
Finally, managing to shake himself out of his shocked trance TK got himself into a mask and towards the turned-over ambulance.
His father was the first to reach the vehicle and looking into it through the window. “Looks like they are still breathing.”
A sense of relieve shot through TK at those words; at least they weren’t too late.
“What do you think, it’s carbon monoxide? Judd offered, his hands still on TK’s elbow. Probably to stop him from just bursting in.
“It’s not detecting any CO.” Marjan said while Paul managed to open the ambulance doors. “Some kind of sulfate, 500 PPM.”
TK’s eyes were stuck on Nancy’s face, her eyes closed and mouth hanging open in a manner similar to when she was asleep. He couldn’t see Tim, which probably meant the paramedic was the one driving.
“Where is it coming from?” He father asked, head already in the ambulance. “I think it’s coming from him.” Marjan answered after waving the device in her hand around a little bit.
“It is.” All their head simultaneously turned towards Captain Blake, who had opened her eyes. His father was talking about securing the patient but the second Captain Blake made eye contact with him she spoke up again.
“Morgan, get your ass in here and get us out. He’s dead so don’t even bother.” At those words TK was off and into the ambulance. He got to Nancy first, checking her quickly for injuries before declaring her mostly unharmed.
“Judd?” He asked, not bothering to look around considering the fact that his friend wouldn’t be far behind him.
“Yeah, I got her. Hand her over to me.” Judd crawled up next to him, Paul a little behind. Judd reached over and managed to get Nancy between himself and Paul.
“Be careful with her neck and head.” TK shouted after them, Judd just humming in confirmation.
As he crawled towards Captain Blake he shot a look over his shoulder. “Marjan! Tim should be in the driver's seat.” The woman nodded at that before quickly disappearing out of view, Mateo close behind her.
Captain Strand was now also making his way into the back of the ambulance.
“How you doing, Michelle?” His father asked, careful not to touch the dead body as he crawled.
“I think I’m not off too bad. Right, Morgan?” She asked looking towards him.
“It’s still gonna cost you a trip to the hospital I’m afraid, Cap. Your neck hurting at all?” He asked, carefully feeling around her neck and head for anything strange.
“No, I don’t feel anything.”
“Do you feel this?”
Cory shook his head, shooting him a watery smile.
“I don’t, kid. It’s okay.”
“Morgan?” Captain Blake was looking at him with a concerned look on her face. “You with us?”
He just nodded, desperately trying to get Cory’s face out of his head. “Yeah. Lets get out of here.”
Together with his father he managed to get Captain Blake out of the damaged ambulance. He could see another ambulance arriving on scene to assist them. Marjan and Mateo were lowering Tim towards the ground so he could sit on the sidewalk, his friend luckily conscious. Nancy was still knocked out and the new EMTs were putting her on a stretcher.
As soon as they were spotted more EMT’s were coming their way, scooping Captain Blake onto a stretcher as well.
“She doesn’t seem to have any spinal damage or broken bones, but she was unconscious for a little while. She did wake up by herself, though.” TK said towards the EMT closets to him.
Once she was on the stretcher Captain Blake turned her head towards him. “Morgan, as your Captain I order you to make sure my team gets to the hospital safely and are taken care of.” He just managed to give her a quick, grateful nod before rushing towards where Tim was sitting.
His friend seemed a bit disorientated and but unharmed apart from a little cut on the side of his head. TK kneeled in front of him, laying his hands on Tim’s shoulders.
“Hey, how do you feel? Does your head hurt?” Tim’s eyes seemed to have trouble focussing on his for a second before he answered.
“Are we going to the hospital?” Tim looked over to where Captain Blake was sitting on her stretcher. “Has Nancy already gone?”
TK shook his head with a slight smile. “No, they are waiting for us. Unless you want a stretcher of your own?”
Tim shook his head no, seemingly regretting it almost immediately when he winced in pain.
“Alright.” TK pulled Tim’s arm over his own shoulder. “Up we go then buddy. Let’s get out of here.”
Luckily, the 126 medical team were all alright. They only had to stay in the hospital for half a day after their little car crash. Still, the stunt had shaken TK up more than he’d like to admit.
Ever since the call at the grain silo he had been feeling uneasy. Like this new team was about to disappear and leave him stranded like he had been before.
Now, as they were racing towards a call at some sort of factory, TK tried to prepare himself. They had been informed there was a huge fire and a fire at such a big facility brought back some unpleasant memories.
The moment he stepped out of the fire truck on the scene he froze, his eyes widening at the sight of the fire. Without warning something shot out of the top of the building and smashed into the ground a few feet away from them.
“Whoah! What the hell?!” He couldn’t help but let out, snapping out of his frozen state to take a few steps back.
“Fall back! Fall back!” His father’s voice came from behind them, though he could have missed it with all the background noise.
Around him everyone was getting further away from the fire, everyone aside from Judd.
“Judd!” His father was yelling at his friend and when there wasn’t a response he ran forward to pull Judd back.
“Hey, take a breath. You all right?” His father said as he pushed Judd to lean against the fire truck.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’m good to go. I’m good. I’m good. I can go, I’m good.” As he was talking Judd’s eyes seemed to scan over every firefighter until they landed on him.
“We’re good. We’re good.” The man kept saying the same sentence, his eyes staying on TK the entire time.
“Take cover!” Mateo shouted from on top of the ladder truck when more things were propelled from the facility.
Finally making himself move, TK walked to where Judd was still leaning against the fire truck. His friend’s eyes scanned over him as he got closer, seemingly checking for something that could be wrong.
“You good?” Judd’s voice shook in a manner that was very much unlike the man.
“Yeah, I’m good. Are you alright?” TK reached his arm forward the give Judd’s shoulder a squeeze, only letting go when the man had nodded in answer to his question.
More explosions rang out around them and Mateo was shouting something again. His father was talking to dispatch through his radio and seemed to be getting some kind of explanation, at least. As their captain walked towards them, Marjan was immediately on him with the question they all had.
“What the hell are those things?”
“Hot loads of bull stuff.” His father said indifferently, like it wasn’t one of the weirdest sentences TK had heard on a call.
Beside him Judd let out a laugh, though TK suspected it was just from the left over anxiety still racing through the man. “Oh hey, welcome to Texas!”
His father took a few steps towards the fire, when he was almost hit by a can of ‘hot bull stuff’, if it hadn’t been for Mateo’s warning.
“Alright.” His father turned away from the fire, coming towards them again. “We got someone trapped inside. Morgan, Marjan, Paul, get on those lines now!” Both Marjan and Paul immediately sprung into action at the orders, but TK couldn’t help but linger.
After appointing Mateo to the role of spotter, his father turned towards Judd, who was still laughing under his breath.
“Are you good to go?” His father asked, looking at Judd with a sceptical look.
“Hell yeah, I’m good.” Judd laughed, causing his father’s had to snap back to him.
“You think this is funny?” At those words Judd doubled over, laughing.
“I mean, yeah, don’t you? I’m just trying to picture my obituary.” The moment Judd said the word ‘obituary’, TK couldn’t have sworn his heart stopped beating for a second. Judd seemed to have realized what he had said as well as his eyes shot over to look at him.
“You know, I don’t mean that.” Judd said, causing his father to look back at him as well. “Morgan. I thought I had told you to get on the hose.”
TK’s eyes didn’t stray from Judd’s face, cold fear now gripping his heart. “You don’t have to go in. You don’t have to.”
“TK, it’s fine. I am going to go in there and it’s going to be fine. Just like it was fine when you went into a building, on the verge of collapse.” Judd seemed torn between coming over to him and going into the burning building.
“That was different, Judd. The last time someone I cared about went into a burning building, half my family died!”
Judd looked at him with wide eyes for a second before coming over and wrapping his arms around TK. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll be back and it’s going to be fine.” With that Judd let go of him, following his father into the factory.
It seemed like hours before the two of them appeared again, TK’s gaze stuck on where they had went in as he tried to help put out the fire.
Only once Judd was a safe distance away from the fire, TK felt like he could breath again. While he didn’t say anything to Judd, he still scanned him over with his eyes, deducing the man was mostly unharmed.
The entire time he could have sworn someone had been watching him, but whenever he turned to look behind him he could only see his father, who was busy with his duties as a captain. So he must have imagined that.
It was at the end of their next shit that something happened. It started with Judd coming over to where he, and Paul, were packing their stuff so they could go home.
“Kid, you got something planned tonight?” His friend asked in a manner that clearly indicated he wanted something.
“Uhm, I am having dinner with Tommy but if it’s important I’m sure I could leave on time.” Judd immediately shook his head at his answer.
“No, nothing like that. Though you are always welcome after, of course. I’m just hosting a few rounds of Texas Hold em.”
TK nodded, he had been at a few of Judd’s game nights before but that had mostly been when the participants had consisted of the 126. Now, with the only people he knew being Billy and Judd, he wasn’t as interested.
“I’ll think about it. If I decide to come on by after dinner I’ll shoot you a text.”
Judd seemed pleased at his answer before turning towards Paul, who was making his way to the kitchen.
“And you, Paul?” The three of them descended from the stairs. “Come on, there ain’t nothin’ to be afraid of.”
Mateo and Marjan, who were both sitting in the kitchen, looked up at their conversation.
“Wait, what?” Marjan asked as her eyes flicked between Judd and Paul.
“I’m hosting a friendly game of Texas Hold Em and we have an open chair tonight, so Strickland?”
Paul was quick to shake his head at that. “Nah, cards bore me. It’s too easy to see everyone’s tells. Also, I crave sleep.”
Judd turned to Marjan after that, shooting her a hopeful smirk. “Marwani?”
“Oh, gambling’s not really my jam, and don’t even ask probie. He’s gotta study.” Marjan said, gesturing towards where Mateo was still sitting at the kitchen island.
As TK made brief eye contact with Mateo he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow at his friend in question, nodding towards the book. Mateo just shook his head no, refusing his help like he had done a lot of times before, though his hopeless expression still made TK feel guilty.
Judd let out a betrayed sound, shooting them a fake glare. “Here I thought y’all were my friends.”
TK opened his mouth to reply but didn’t get the chance to do so before his father entered the kitchen.
“I’ll play.”
Judd let out a surprised sound at that and his eyes immediately sought out TK’s.
“Unless you don’t want me to.” His father continued, only briefly looking at where TK was standing.
Judd seemed a little lost as he rambled on. “No, it ain’t that. It’s just, you know, I don’t – This really ain’t your scene, Cap, that’s all. It’s just a bunch of Texas roughnecks talking smack and drinking cheap beer."
TK couldn’t resist the chance to tease his friend a little. “Thought it was supposed to be a friendly game, Judd.”
His father said something else, TK didn’t break the eye contact he had with Judd, giving a small nod. He found it sweet his friend was stopping himself from bringing in his father, because of his past with him. And Billy’s obvious dislike of his father probably played a role as well.
TK turned around as Judd and his father talked about the details, wanting to stop at home before going to the Vega’s.
As he stepped outside he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He knew nothing would go wrong and his father would, at worse, just manage to offend some people. Still, he felt uneasy.
He couldn’t resist pulling out his phone and searching for the right contact, as he started walking towards his and Mateo’s place.
His call was accepted on the third ring, as it always was, and TK didn’t give the person on the other end of the line time to say something.
“Hey, Billy. Sorry to call so suddenly. There was just something I wanted to talk about. It’s regarding the game night at Judd’s in a few hours. There is something you should probably know.”
TK didn’t hear anything about how the game night had gone for a little while. He had stayed at the Vega’s until twelve and by that time game night had already finished.
Besides he was busy finishing his recording for Mateo, so he didn’t really have time to think about it. He couldn’t be more grateful to Marjan for the solution she had thought of. Of course, he had gotten to work immediately. While he had been the one that had pushed Mateo to get tested a little over a year ago, the thought of recording his reading material never occurred to him.
He was about halfway through his section when shouting from the entrance of the station caught his attention. He pushed himself to his feet and made his way out of the kitchen.
There among the fire trucks were Billy and his father, hugging it out. Judd, who was standing only a few feet away, seemed just as confused at the sight.
“Well, ain’t you a couple of fast friends.” Judd smiled, though TK didn’t miss the fact that the smile seemed a little uneasy.
“Yeah, I figured Billy should come down, take a tour of the new house.”
Billy looked towards his father again and must have caught sight of him, over his father’s shoulder. The man smiled at him and TK managed to get himself to walk over to them.
“Hey, kid. Good to see you again. Sorry I didn’t warn you before coming.” Billy smiled at him, embracing him briefly the moment he was within reach.
As he was let go again, TK couldn’t help but look at Billy with narrowed eyes. As the new friends made their way into the kitchen, TK shot a glance at Judd.
“This is weird, right. I can’t be the only one that thinks this is hella weird.”
Judd nodded, almost in a dazed manner.
“Yeah, it weird. It’s very weird.”
As the shift went on, Billy’s visit stayed on his mind. They went on a few calls and TK sat with Mateo, helping him wherever he could, but still Billy’s visit stayed on the forefront of his thoughts.
Something about it bothered him and TK wasn’t sure wat that was; judging at how often he caught Judd frowning, the other man was thinking about it as well.
At some point Mateo had to leave to take his exam, Marjan accompanying him as his study buddy.
“You got this, man.” He said as he patted Mateo on the back. “I’ll be there when you are done.”
Mateo could barely manage a smile in response because of the nerves. “Alright.”
From the corner of his eye TK could see Marjan check her phone, most likely for the time. “If you want to, I’ll come as well? It’s really no problem. I am sure I can arrange something with Captain Blake.”
TK had taken on a few extra hours with Medical because Tim was gone for a few day to visit some of his family. He was only there to bridge the gap until the substitute that would fill most of the shift would arrive. However, he was sure he could arrange something if Mateo really wanted him to come along. This was important to Mateo, so it would be as important to him.
“No, its fine. Though maybe we could do something after? With Marjan and some of the team as well?” Mateo offered, seeming almost nervous about his suggestion.
TK couldn’t help but let a fond smile creep onto his face as he patted Mateo’s shoulder. “If you’re sure. I’m sure you’ll crush.”
Mateo managed to nod one last time before he turned and left with Marjan. The woman trying to lift the man’s nerves by telling him a joke.
He nearly jumped a few feet in the air when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. He snapped his body around to look at the owner of the hand and found himself looking at Judd.
“Whoah, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you, kid.” Judd smiled, apologetically. TK could still feel his heart beating away a mile a minute in his chest as his body came down from the shock.
“How did you become so stealthy, Judd. I swore I almost had a heart attack.” Judd just let out a laugh at that.
“I already said I were sorry. Anyway, you’ll never guess what I just heard.”
TK tilted his head in question, narrowing his eyes at his friend.
“Apparently, your favourite captain is going golfing. With Billy.”
TK felt his eyebrows raise in shock. He wouldn’t have thought Judd was telling the truth if his father hadn’t walked out from behind a fire truck that very moment, golf club in his hand.
Beside him Judd shot him a look that was clearly meant to convey ‘I told you so’. TK couldn’t help but blink his eyes a few times at the sight, sure his vision was betraying him somehow.
His father made his way out of the station, waving at them as he left. The man seemed in a very joyful mood.
The moment he was out of sight TK turned to face Judd. “What the hell is going on here?”
Judd just shook his head, still looking at were his father had just turned the corner.
“No. No. No. Billy hates him. Why the fuck would he play golf with him? Billy loves golf and he hates Strand. You don’t do something you love with someone you hate. You just don’t.” TK rambled on, glaring at Judd when he laughed.
“It’s not funny, Judd. It’s not. Something is going on here. That man isn’t a good person and he isn’t a good captain. So why the hell does Billy want to spend time with him so badly?” This time, instead of laughing, Judd frowned at him.
“Kid, I know you two have a past but don’t you think you are being a little subjective here? Maybe, somehow, Billy and your daddy get along? Weirder things have happened.” If anyone from their shift would still have been at the station, TK would have snapped at Judd for his choice of words, but the two of them were the last ones.
“No. No. He is a terrible person. Nobody who knows what kind of person he is would willingly spend time with him.” TK couldn’t stop the anger from making its way into his voice.
Judd let out a sigh, looking like he wanted to say something. He hesitated for a moment before he did speak up.
“TK, there is something that you should probably know about your father. Something that could maybe change things for you.” TK narrowed his eyes at that but didn’t interrupt.
“If you don’t want to have anything out of this professional relationship you currently have with him. That’s fine. I ain’t gonna tell you to change that. But if you do want that, you should hurry.”
TK felt his eyes widen in disbelief as he let out a scoff in irritation. “He told you too? Wow, does make you feel less special.”
Now it was Judd’s turn to narrow his eyes. “You already know? You sure we are talking about the same thing?”
TK was almost entirely sure they had been talking about the same thing but was still reluctant to put it into words. Even if he didn’t care for his father, this wasn’t his secret to share.
“I think so. It doesn’t change anything for me. It’s terrible but it doesn’t. He doesn’t get to use something like that to get me to be in his life again. I don’t want that and I don’t need it. I have all the family I need, already.” He smiled at Judd, tears suddenly pricking at the back of his eyes.
Judd let out a small smile as well, not hesitating to pull him into a hug.
“I love you, kid.” He murmured into TK’s hair.
TK felt a smile pull at his lips.
“I love you too, Judd.”