"I'm so excited for this! Aren't you?" Mercedes said coming out of her bedroom looking at the two males that sat in their living room. "Not as much as you apparently." Nick said which caused her to glare. "Just remember Mercedes, we're here for work, not so you can go hook up with guys." Jason teased her lightly, causing her glare to shift from Nick to him. "You guys are dicks." She said, going into the kitchen being greeted by Eric cooking a full breakfast for the four of them, she grinned and sat at the bar stool, "Have I ever told you how glad I am that you can cook? Because we'd all starve to death if you couldn't." She chuckled lightly.

Their fire department back in Tennessee had just went from Volunteer to paid, and being it was the only paid department in the county, the chief had contacted the Chicago Fire Department's main office and asked if he could send some people down to one of their stations to get an idea of how things ran at a paid department, and to get ideas on how to improve their own station. They were told to come as soon as they could, and they were assigned to Station 51, which was home to Engine 51, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, and Squad 3. They were even nice enough to provide them with a four bedroom apartment for the two months they would be here.

The four that was sent was Lieutenant Mercedes Edwards, she was a 5'2 blonde girl with grey green eyes. She'd joined the fire service when she was only 17 years old, of course that was before they went paid. Being 23 now that was six of the best years of her life, and even though she was small she packed a punch and kept up with the guys easily. Lieutenant Nick Hensley was 28 and had been a fire fighter since he was old enough to join as a explorer at the age of 16. He was tall, at least six foot with black hair and brown eyes. Jason Forbes was next, he had muscle and sandy blonde hair. Mercedes had to admit he was hot, but he was too much like a brother to her for her to develop any romantic feelings for him. And last but certainly not least was Eric Spencer, he had hunter green eyes and had a medium build. He was the firehouse baby at only 21, just old enough to start driving the truck.

"I've never seen a woman that couldn't cook." Eric teased her lightly, Mercedes playfully glared at him, "Shut it Spencer. I'm still your Lieutenant." She giggled as she watched him place everything on the counter and put down four plates, handing her one and taking one for himself. "Food's done!" He called out and it didn't take twenty seconds before Nick and Jason were in the kitchen. Their meal consisted of gravy and biscuits, sausage, bacon, and scrambled eggs. "This is heart burn waiting to happen." Jason pointed out, causing all of them to nod, "But it's good, so that makes it worth it." Mercedes complimented, smiling over at Eric. After they were done, Mercedes done the dishes while the guys went to get ready. Today was their first day at the firehouse and she couldn't wait. After she was done and had the last dish put away, she went into her room. She straightened her long blonde hair and done her normal make up as she pulled on her navy BDU pants, and her navy 'Chicago Fire Department' duty shirt which had a golden maltase cross over her left breast and the words 'Chicago Fire Department' in gold on the back. She put on her black converse duty boots, as she walked into the living room, finding the guys ready. Their outfits were all the same, expect their shirts were different. Nick's was grey with red lettering, and Jason's and Eric's was navy with white lettering. That was because that's how they were going to be assigned, and apparently Lieutenants had different shirts then the others.

"It's about time." Nick said, pretending to be annoyed. "Hey, I'm a girl. And if everyone hadn't ran off and left me to do the dishes, I could have been ready forever ago." She argued, "Can we just go now? We're gonna be late." Eric pointed out and they all nodded before heading down to the rental car they were provided. It was a nice black SUV, Nick got in the drivers seat, with Mercedes snatching the passenger, while Jason and Eric got in the back. He pulled out and they started the short drive to the station. Once they got there and was parked, all four of them got out and headed into the open bay doors where they were met with two paramedics cleaning out an Ambulance, "Excuse me." Mercedes said, smiling sweetly at them. A Latina looked up, and smiled back "Can I help you?" She asked, Mercedes nodded "I'm Mercedes, this is Nick,Jason, and Eric. And we were looking for Chief Boden." The blonde spoke this time, "He's in his office, I can take you there. I'm Leslie and this is my partner Gabriella.." She jumped out of the back and led them through a hallway before knocking on Boden's door, she opened it once she heard 'Come in'. "These people were looking for you." The chief took one look at them, then rose to his feet, "You must be the fire fighters from Tennessee." He said, they all nodded. He went around shaking each of their hands, "It's a honor to have you here, let's go get you introduced to the rest of the guys." he said and led them into the kitchen where he looked at a male with the word 'Candidate' on his shirt. "Go get Severide and the rest of the Squad." he said, the male nodded and ran off.

A few minutes later the male returned with a group of guys following him. The one in front was the one that caught her eye, he put the saying tall,dark, and handsome to a new level. He had salt and pepper hair that was black with some gray but it somehow made him look sexier. He made eye contact with her and she wanted to melt right on spot, he had the most gorgeous blue eyes she'd ever seen.

Kelly and the rest of the squad guys were sitting at a table in the bay when Mills approached them, "Hey guys, Chief wants you in the kitchen." He said as he turned around and walked back, Kelly and the rest of the guys rose, walking into the kitchen as he seen four new people. One of the however caught his attention more then the others. It was a short blonde girl, she had a heart shaped face and her hair looked perfect with her light skin. Her make up was nicely done, not too much or caked on, and her grey green eyes were the prettiest he'd ever seen. She seemed to be interested in him as well as he walked over and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Everyone, these four will be staying with us for a little over two months. They are from Tennessee and their department just went paid, so they wanted to come down here and see how we ran things to get some ideas for their own firehouse." The chief started explaining, "They will each be assigned a rig, and two of them are Lieutenants, and I expect you to listen to them just as you do your own lieutenants." The guys, along with Dawson and Shay nodded. Boden went around introducing the guys, expect for when he got to the one Mercedes was using for eye candy, he spoke for himself. "I'm Kelly Severide. Most people call me Severide. I'm the Lieutenant of Squad 3." He said, not bothering to look at all of them when he was talking, but looking directly at Mercedes. She blushed lightly as Boden started speaking again, "Alright, why don't you four tell about yourselves, then I'll tell you which rig your on." Mercedes nodded, she went first. "I'm Lieutenant Mercedes Edwards, there's not really much about me. I'm 23 and fire fighting is all I live for." Boden nodded, "Good to have you aboard Edwards. You'll be on Squad 3." Mercedes couldn't hide the grin that crossed her face as she walked over and stood beside Kelly.

Nick,Jason, and Eric told about themselves as well, Nick and Eric was placed on Truck 81, and Jason got on the Squad with her. "How about a little friendly competition?" Kelly asked looking at them, Mercedes hesitantly nodded, "Sure, what?" She asked, and wanted to swoon at the almost mischievous grin Kelly gave her, "I don't know how you do this line of work with you being so small. So I'm going to give you a chance to impress me." He started before going on, "Since you and I are both Lieutenants you'll go against me in drills and Forbes can go against Hadley. Let's see who can get the best times." Mercedes thought about this for a second and nodded, "Your on Severide." The four of them made their way out to the bay where they started the drills, they done a few and Jason beat Hadley on half of them. Mercedes however beat Severide on every single one, he was sweating and breathing heavily looking at her shocked, "I cannot believe you beat me on every single one" The Truck guys had started watching about half way through, they were chuckling as Matthew spoke up, "Looks like you got more then you thought eh Severide?" "You know what they say, dynamite comes in small packages." Herrmann chipped in laughing.

Boden had came in, giving them their turnout gear, Mercedes looked at hers and was shocked, "You personalized it for us?" She asked, he nodded, "Consider it a gift from Firehouse 51." She couldn't believe it, she knew first hand how expensive turnout gear was, and if it was personalized then they couldn't reissue it to someone else. And he said it was a gift, so they got to keep it. She couldn't believe it, although it did make her smile. The tones dropped, as the dispatcher came on "House fire, possible entrapment. 63 Apple lane. Engine 51,Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Squad 3."