Decided to take a break from 'I Will Carry You' and "Babysitting' to write a 9/11 tribute. Hope you like it.
A sweltering day in late August of 2001 saw six men attending a reunion in Los Angeles. The men were, as follows: Retired Chief Hank Stanley, retired Captain Mike Stoker, Captain Marco Lopez, Engineer Chet Kelly, and Captains John Gage and Roy DeSoto.
Hank and Mike were the first to arrive at Station 51. "Cap." Mike grinned upon seeing his old captain once again. Hank laughed as he embraced his old comrade. His men had never gotten out of the old habit of calling him 'Cap'.
When he had first been promoted to Chief it had bugged him to hear them refer to him as 'Cap', but now, having not seen his men for over five years, he gladly welcomed the old nickname.
"Hey, Mike." Hank said. "It's good to see you again. Where the heck is everyone else?" he asked. "They should have been here ten minutes ago."
"Cap," Mike pointed out. "Did you ever know those guys to get to anything on time?"
Hank chuckled. "No, I guess not. I can tell you where they are though." he speculated. "Chet is probably scrambling across a parking lot somewhere near here, trying to find his car, having just realized he's late."
"Most likely Marco is with him." Mike put in.
"Right," Hank agreed. "And Johnny is probably trying to finish up some last minute repairs on his car, and he's most likely dragged Roy into the project. Roy is probably standing next to the car, pointing out that they're late."
"And Johnny is under the car," Mike put in. "Insisting that he's 'almost got it'."
"And Roy has probably just called a cab." Cap finished.
The two men spent the next half hour catching up on things and exchanging stories. Finally they heard the sound of car motors outside. Moments later Johnny, Roy, Chet and Marco entered the room.
"Sorry we're late." Marco was the first to offer an apology. "Chet forgot that the reunion was today and we spent ten minutes searching the parking lot for his car."
"Yeah," Roy put in. "And Johnny was working on his car, trying to fix the transmission. I had to call a cab."
"I almost had it." Johnny grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
The four late firefighters would never know why their former coworkers laughed so hard.
Greetings were exchanged and the stories began to flow. "Hey Gage remember that day I got you with like four water bombs in one day?" Chet grinned.
"Yeah, I remember." Johnny replied with a laugh. "I also remember that you got what was comin' to ya!"
"I let you win that one!" Chet insisted.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Just like old times, huh, Cap?" Mike stage-whispered to Hank.
"You said it, Michael." Hank answered with a laugh. "Those two are as immature now as they were 25 years ago."
"Hey Chet," Marco said slyly, interrupting Johnny and Chet's argument. "Why don't you tell them what you've been doing since you got promoted."
"Driving the rig." Chet replied evasively.
"Get this." Marco said to the others "Chet spent years trying to make engineer. Well he finally got promoted three years ago, and he hates it. Ever since then he's been pranking his captain to try and get demoted back to hosejockey."
This drew a laugh from the others—except Chet. "Who is his captain anyway?" Hank asked.
"Me." Marco replied.
"You're kiddin'!" Hank exclaimed incredulously. "You're his captain?"
Marco nodded. "Yeah, I like it, too."
"Only since he became wise to my tricks." Chet grumbled.
This banter continued throughout the day, with Johnny, Roy, Chet and Marco swapping stories about recent goings-on at their stations. Mike and Hank remained quiet for most of this time.
"Whatsa matter, guys?" Johnny quipped. "Feelin' left out 'cause you're both retired now?"
"Haven't you ever heard?" Hank said adamantly. "Firefighters never retire. Not really."
The day passed all too quickly, and soon it was time for the six friends to part ways.
"So where you headed after this?" Hank asked as he and Mike walked out to the back parking lot together.
"A guy that worked for me a couple years ago just got promoted to Captain with the FDNY, and he asked me to come and see his station." Mike answered.
"So you're going to New York?" Hank queried.
"Not right away." Mike answered. "I'll probably head up there next week."
"Hey," Hank said as both men approached their cars. "Send me an e-mail when you get to New York, okay?"
"Sure thing, Cap." Mike said. The two men had been close friends when they had worked together and had tried to keep in touch over the years.
As Hank watched Mike drive away, an odd sense of dread came over him, a kind of a sixth sense that told him that his former comrade was heading towards possible danger. He couldn't explain it.
A/N: Okay, so I wanted to write the entire story in one chapter so I could post the whole thing today, on the 11th, but I realized it would have been too long that way, so it looks like I'm splitting it into chapters after all.