Kate always hated moving as a child. It was hard enough being that girl, the daughter of that woman in that house. She hated the fact that her whole life could be condensed into a few cardboard boxes, hated making a friend only to have to say goodbye. She hated having to introduce herself in front different classes, hated being told "wow, you're so lucky to have seen so many amazing places!"
The trouble was that all the places were all the same. There was nothing different or special about each little country town she and her mother found themselves in. There was always a pub, where her mother spent far too much time. The houses were always small, the lawns reduced to dirt. The swings at each playground were broken or tangled, the teachers reciting the same facts straight from textbooks. Each bedroom was the same, boxes piled in the corner because there was no point to unpacking.
Because worst of all, they always left town in the end.
And now here she was, just clinging to twenty-nine years old by her fingertips, and standing in front of another group of people she's expected to introduce herself to, feeling exactly like she had at nine years old. It's not hard to guess what they're thinking. She's small, and blonde, and young. Not to mention very obviously the only female. She doesn't belong here.
"I'm Kate McGregor." She begins, because there's no other way to start an introduction than a name, is there? She turns her gaze upon each person in turn, but none of the men cloistered around the table make any motion to move. She hesitates for a moment. Knowing that it gets easier isn't exactly encouraging when she feels like a sideshow at a circus. "I... uh... I'm your new transfer."
"Oh." One of the men say, and Kate blinks in his direction. He looks barely older than twenty, and Kate fights the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious male response. 'Oh?' Had he actually said that?
"Well, I know I'm not exactly people's first pick for a firie." Kate tries to muster every ounce of confidence she has, peering at the man. "What with me being five-foot-six and blonde. But, hey, I've got the experience."
The 'oh'-er has the good grace to look embarrassed. She feels a small twinge of satisfaction, although she hates that this is even something she needs to justify. She knows that if a man had walked in, they'd have been welcomed with open arms. And, hell, she'd done her training. Always the boys club, she thinks ruefully. One of the more senior looking guys lean forwards slightly, propping their chin up with a hand. "You been in the service long?"
"Seven years this July." Kate answers promptly, because information is something she's good at. She's always had a great ability with facts, has been able to recall obscure dates and names at the drop of a hat. Of course, this is simply information about herself, but it gives her a purpose, and she jumps on it. "I've mostly been based rural for the last few years, so suburbia is kind of new to me. But I'm more than up to the challenge."
"Well..." He holds out a hand, and Kate takes it. She's not naive enough to believe she's been accepted. Not yet, anyway, as all eyes are still fixed on her. But she's determined to prove herself, so she doesn't let it worry her. Not yet. "You're just in time to help us do our checks." He rises to his feet, standing over a head taller than her. Kate forces herself not to step back. "I'm Buffer." He looks her up and down once more before turning back to his cards. "Morning briefing in ten minutes."
"Right." Kate nods, wondering if that is it. "Well, could I trouble someone to help me find somewhere to dump my stuff?" She tugs at the strap of her bag. Buffer doesn't even look up from his cards as he waves a hand lazily.
"Spider. Show her the lockers." He orders, before dropping a handful of poker chips to the table, and Kate understands herself to be dismissed.
"Uh, in here then, Ma'am." The kid that rises from the table looks barely eighteen. If he was a dog, Kate was sure his tail would be constantly wagging, as his face turns to hers, full of eagerness.
"Don't call me Ma'am." Kate shakes her head, following him.
"Right. Sorry." He nods nervously. "Ah, that's the comms. RO - ah, Robert usually looks after that. And we all take turns with the cooking. Kitchen's in there. Boss' office..." He gestures to each door as they pass. "And locker room is in here. So... ah, you can have this one." He points to an open locker, fingering the door nervously. "Ah, you need anything else?"
"Yeah." Kate nods. "Where's the briefing room?"
Kate has only heard about Station Commander Steve Marshall by reputation, but as she sits opposite him she realises that all of those stories had never quite done him justice.
"You may have noticed..." He begins, peering around at his station, "...that we have a new transfer with us." He has a knack of keeping each and every member of his team quiet and attentive. Even the 'oh'-er is straight backed and still. One of Marshall's hands gesture in Kate's direction, and she feels every eye turn on her. "I expect you all to make her feel welcome." His stare sweeps around at the crew assembled, his gaze adding a silent or else, before turning to a tall blonde man. "I'm assigning her to you, Dutchy."
The man nods but says nothing, and Kate feels her confidence fracture just a little, but she smiles at him nonetheless. A moment later a scraping of chairs announces the apparent end to the briefing as people begin moving in all directions. As Kate stands and tucks her own chair in, she sees the tall blonde man walking towards her. "I'm Dutchy. Dylan Mulholland. Ah... this way." He jabs his hand towards the door. "I'll show you around." But just at that moment, a loud, klaxon-like sound echoes through the room. "Or not." He adds, grinning apologetically and pointing towards the trucks. "Come on."
"So, you scared?" Kate turns to face the man who had broken the silence. It was the 'oh'-er, younger than her, with a wide boyish grin and blonde hair. Kate's gaze flicks towards his name tag - Kosov-Meyer - and she immediately recalls the nickname. 2Dads. "Plenty of people are. Not to many automobile accidents in the sticks." Kate shakes her head but doesn't elaborate. She knows how the game is played, knows that it's common practice to try and suss out the new recruits, to scare them. But she's far from a new recruit. "Yeah, we see some gruesome stuff, don't we?" He calls to the truck at large. "Why, Spide, why don't you tell McGregor about that croc attack we had last week?"
Spider is a nasty shade of green, and his nerves seem to calm Kate down. "Ease off, 2Dads!" Buffer orders, and the truck falls silent, or as silent as a vehicle with sirens and screeching tyres could be. She can tell that Buffer and Dutchy have seniority and bravado on their side, and that they're both quite similar, in terms of brawn at least.
Kate leans back against the seat of the firetruck, peering at 2Dads closely across Dutchy. Dutchy had basically dragged her to the truck the moment the call came through, shoving overalls and boots in her direction and then throwing her into the seat next to his. But she's far from surprised by this unfriendly welcoming, and smiles softly. "Actually, I was based in Warrimoo, on the edge of the Blue Mountains. And we backed onto the Great Western Highway, so... quite a few accidents."
2Dads blinks, having the good grace to look abashed. However, he rallies quickly, and Kate can tell he's going to be a pain in the arse - at least for the first few weeks. "Mountains, eh? So you're a cockroach? What brought you here?"
Kate knows that no story she could tell would ever satisfy him, so she adopts a dreamy gaze. "Oh, a psychic told me I'd find true love here." Kate tells him. Several eyes turn around to face her, and she waits a full ten seconds before rolling her eyes. "God, you guys are easy! You actually fell for that?"
"Ah, so it's gonna be like that, is it?!" 2Dads grins, a goofy smile on his face, and Kate just knows he's the practical joker of the station.
"Oh, 2Dads." Kate chuckles as they pull up to the scene. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
As Kate stares around, assessing the scene, she feels adrenaline flood her veins. Of course, she's no stranger to emergencies, but a desperation to prove herself has her peering around, making doubly sure she's not missing anything. 3 car accident. Car One - barely affected, driver out, no passengers. Car 2 - Driver pinned. No passengers. Being treated. Car 3 - shit.
"Get a winch. We need to secure it ASAP!" Buffer yells out, already commanding the situation and directing each member to different areas. "Charge, Spide, get extinguishers on Car Two. 2Dads, bring the jaws over. Dutchy, you've got McGregor with car three! ET, get it secure!"
"On it!" Dutchy shouts back, gesturing to Kate. The two of them jog to the spot where the third car is hanging upside-down, the ground beneath it crumbling as it slowly slides down towards the water below. The water isn't exactly deep, but it's still a drop of at least four metres that could do some serious damage to anyone inside. Right now, it seemed the only thing keeping the car from falling are the tangled wires of the broken guardrail. "So, protocol-"
"I know the protocol." Kate interrupts. "I've done this before." She knows she's being rude, but she also knows that disaster strikes in seconds, not minutes. "We secure the car first." She adds, more to satisfy his confidence than anything else. Kate hooks a cable around the tow-bar, checking it first, before handing the other end to ET. "Tow bar seems strong enough to hold it. You right to hook it up to the truck?" ET nods and dashes away, and Kate turns to Dutchy. "Send me down. I'm lighter. Less likely to disrupt the balance of the car."
"Okay." Dutchy hesitates for a fraction of a second before he throws a harness Kate's way. She steps into it quickly - years around the bush and rocky mountains have made her an expect at harnesses. "You ready?"
Kate nods, and starts to move downwards. The driver is hysterical, one arm flailing blindly behind her. She catches sight of Kate and starts to move even more, bloodied fingers fumbling with the seatbelt. "Oh God."
"Ma'am, it's okay." Kate calls out, raising her voice so that she can be heard from behind the thick windshield. "My name is Kate. I'm with the firies, and we're going to help you." Cut on her head. Blood. "What's your name?"
"J... Jasmine..." She whimpers. Her breath is coming fast, and Kate realises the woman is hyperventilating. "I... my-"
"Jasmine, are you hurt?" Kate tries to bring her back, knowing that simple questions are better at bringing someone back to reality.
"My... just my head." She raises a hand to her forehead, her fingers coming away bloody.
"Yeah, you've... you've got a bit of a cut. I'm sure we can get that fixed in no time. Okay, Jasmine. It's just very important that you don't move, okay? We're going to get you out of here, but I need you to remain calm."
"I... I can't-" Her eyes roll back into her head and she falls still.
"Shit." Kate curses. "Dutchy, she's unconscious and hyperventilating. I'm breaking a window." Digging through her pocket for her window breaker and smashes the window. The glass falls to the roof of the car, glinting like crystals. Kate reaches in and feels for a pulse. "Okay, she's alive but unconscious! Breathing is a bit shallow but-" But Kate stops as a new sound fills her ears. "Shit." Kate repeats, glancing into the back seat. "Guys, we've got a baby in here!"
She's standing in petrol, its pungent smell stinging her nostrils and raising bile in her throat. She's always hated the smell of fuel, even as a child, her head spinning every time she'd gone with her mother to fill up the car. There's no time to dwell on the scent though, as Kate finds herself peering in through a cracked window. The baby is wailing at the top of his lungs, and as much as it pulls on Kate's heartstrings to hear it, she's glad. If it's crying, it was breathing.
"Have you got eyes on the kid?" Dutchy calls through the radio.
It's there, strapped into its carseat and thrashing wildly. "Infant, approximately three months old. No injuries that I can see." A new smell is filling her lungs. "Dutchy, I smell smoke, and I'm standing in fuel! Where are the paramedics?!"
"Still two minutes. Spider, I need extinguishers. Quick! McGregor, can you get to the kid?"
Kate examines the scene for a moment, then keys her radio. "I think I'd have to go through the rear windscreen."
"Can you handle it?" If it had been her old team, Kate might have been offended, but she knows he has to ask. After all, he has no idea what she's capable of, what she can handle.
"Yes." And with that, she moves to the rear windshield. "I can handle it."
It's not the first time she's had to crawl through a windshield at work, but it's the first with a baby screaming, and Kate feels every cry tear at her heart. It's harder still, because there's no way to get to the baby through the front windows, and the rear window expands upwards towards the roof. But it's already smashed, and Kate manages to slip in, perching precariously on what had previously been the roof of the car. "Hey." She coos. "Hey, sweetie." His little face is red with a combination of screams and blood rushing to his head, and Kate longs to just cuddle him and tell him everything is going to be okay. "You're going to be okay." She whispers, as she quickly checks over him. There's a minor glass-cut on his cheek, but aside from that he looks fine, and Kate's fingers move to the buckle of the carseat that had saved his life.
"Just use the seatbelt cutter!" Dutchy calls, and Kate's ears are keen enough to hear the note of urgency in his voice that tells her time is limited. "Get the kid out. I'm sending Spide down to help."
"Okay." Kate calls back, making short work of the carseat. A moment later, the squalling infant is in her arms, and Kate feels relief flood her. "Here." Spider calls, his arms moving through the broken window towards Kate. "Give him here."
"Support his head, yeah?" Kate reminds him, and Spider nods. Loathe though she is to let him leave her grasp, she passes the baby over, watching anxiously as Spider carries him up towards the waiting paramedics.
"2Dads is going to come down with a spinal board for the driver." Dutchy calls through the radio, and Kate forces herself to get her head in the game. "Let's get this done."
"So, first emergency?" Buffer murmurs, approaching Kate as she stands in front of her locker, hair-brush in hand. She jumps at the sudden entrance, her thoughts still back on the baby. "How do you feel?"
Kate glances up and sees that Buffer isn't the only one looking at her. Spider, Dutchy, Charge and 2Dads are all standing there too, peering intently at Kate. "Any news about the mother and bub we pulled from the car?" Kate enquires, ignoring his questions about her well-being for the moment.
"Yeah, Chris, one of the paramedics, said they were doing well when they got them to the hospital." Dutchy informs her, and Kate nods, feeling a weight lift from her shoulder.
"So you know the paramedics well?"
"Eh, well enough." Dutchy shrugs. "ET's dating one of them, so we see them a fair bit. And they're based not far from us. Same district and all."
Kate glances around and realises that ET isn't with them. "Why do you call him ET?" Kate frowns, a small smile across her face. She doesn't want to think about the other stuff, about how she'd been so scared she'd wanted to cry, or how glad she was when she held that baby in her arms and he was fine.
Spider chuckles. "The amount of girls he was getting a week? That was an other-worldly power. Least until he met Nikki. But the nickname stuck, even if the lifestyle didn't." The guys chuckle, and even Kate grins at the joke.
"Pretty intense first shift with us." Buffer agrees, nodding. "But you handled yourself well. Dutchy gave you a glowing review, and between you and me, he's not impressed easily." Kate gives a small smile at his compliment, even if Dutchy averts his gaze and busies himself with his own locker.
"Well, thanks." Kate nods. "To... to all of you."
Charge grins and claps a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Well, we were all just headed out to the pub. End of shift, you know? Feel like joining us? We'll give you a proper welcome to Cairns?"
Kate closes her locker and turns to the group at large. "Thanks for the offer, but, uh... I got someone waiting at home. So another time?"
"Sure." Buffer agrees. "Another time. And Kate..." She turns back to face him. "Welcome to the team."
A/N: So I'm so not a firie and I've done as much research as I could but if anyone has any suggestions or advice related to firefighting protocols and all that please let me know. I've kind of used a bit of creative license here :)