Ships In The Night

Chapter 1

The scene was a mess. A chopper had crashed on top of an apartment building. The pilot and passengers were still trapped inside, the chopper was hanging dangerously over the edge of the roof and it looked like it was going to fall over at any second. The propeller had landed about two blocks away. Fortunately, it had landed in someone's back yard. Unfortunately, it landed on top of a woman. Hermann and Otis were working feverishly to remove it from her. Mills and Brett were dealing with someone who was in the process of illegal activity and didn't want treatment. Casey was stuck in an electric box with a live wire, a kid bleeding out, and a pool of blood that the live wire was dangling very close to. Squad was on the roof trying to secure the chopper and get everyone out safely.

Ambo 10 pulled up on the scene. PIC Madison Gates put the rig in park, jumped out and headed to the back to pull out the gurney.

"Looks like a bad one."

"They're all bad Drake. That's why they're called accidents. Let's go give Mills and Brett a hand."

Four hours later, Madison and Drake had dropped off their last patient at Chicago Med. She grabbed supplies and was heading out the door when she noticed 61 backing up. She smiled. She hadn't seen Mills in forever, and she had been blessed with running into him several times during the day. She stepped aside as he and Brett brought the gurney in.

"Hey, Mills, good job," she said as they passed.

"Thanks, Maddie. Thanks for helping us out. Appreciate it."

"No problem. See you soon," she said as she exited through the automatic doors.

She unlocked the back of the ambo and shoved the box on the floor before relocking the back door. She could restock when she got back to the house.

"So, you know Mills?" Drake asked as soon as she slid her butt into the seat and started the engine.

"Paramedic school," she said as she slid the gear shift into drive.

"I thought he was running Squad over at 51."

"Something must have happened. He's a good paramedic. 51 is lucky to have him."

"So you don't know why he's not running Squad?" Drake pressed.

"Not a clue. It's not like he's on my Christmas Card list. We went to school together and that's it."

Drake nodded. "Thought you two might have had a thing."

"No, no thing."

She pulled into traffic and started back to the house. Once back in the bay, she parked and headed to the back to restock. She felt weird that Drake had been asking her about Mills. Drake must have thought everyone who went to Paramedic school together dated a classmate just because Drake had married one of his classmates. She had quit the minute she had found out she was pregnant.

Brett glanced over at Mills as she drove back to the house. "So, Maddie?" she asked.

"Madison," Mills corrected. "She'll kill you if you call her Maddie."

"You did," Brett pointed out.

"Yeah, and she probably would have killed me too, but she was on her way out the door."

Brett screwed up her face. Mills noticed it, knowing she was choosing her next words carefully.

"We went to Paramedic school together. She's PIC over at the 107," he explained.

"You two have a thing?"

"No we didn't have a thing. For all I know she doesn't like black guys."

"You forget Peter Mills, you're half white too."

"Yeah. Don't remind me. The Mills family tree needs pruned."

"She's pretty," Brett pointed out.

"Didn't notice. Too busy trying to keep patients alive."

"So, call her. Couldn't hurt to go out for a beer and catch up."

"Brett, do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"Mind your own damn business, will you please?"