Stuck in the middle

"Everyone, gather round." Bobby calls to his fire squad and they all follow suit. Buck and Eddy sit down on the silver chairs in front of Bobby while Henrietta and Chimney stand around waiting for the announcement.

There is a woman, with long straight brown hair and blue eyes which complimented her olive skin, standing next to him. She was small but she looked tough as nails.

"Everyone, this is Lacey, she is joining our team today." Bobby introduces the pretty girl to the rest.

"Welcome to the LAFD, my names Buck." Buck says with a smile after everyone had greeted her and dispersed to grab some breakfast that Bobby had made. Lacey smiles at Buck and he notices the dimples in both her cheeks. 'Cute as a button' he thinks to himself but immediately backs off remembering he has Abby, even though she is in Ireland he promised her he'd wait for her.

LACEY POV:

"So, where are you from?" Eddy asks me, holding a plate full of eggs and bacon. He sits down and starts munching on them.

"Manhattan, born and raised." I respond and he looks at me. "Were you in the NYFD?" He asks and I nod. "Then I met a guy, moved to LA for him and stopped the firefighting for a while because he deemed it as 'unsafe' for a lady like me." I say rolling my eyes. "Needless to say, after countless of arguments we broke up and now I'm living on a friends couch and thought hey, let's try out for the LAFD and here I am." I end and the rest join us after dishing up.

"So, NYFD hey? That's interesting." Buck says, obviously overhearing our conversation.

"Why is it interesting, Buckaroo?" Chimney asks, butting in and Buck shrugs. "Just trying to make conversation, I guess." Buck says and I look over at him. He smiles and I smile back.

The alarm goes off just as I was about to grab some food, everyone leaves their plates and jumps up. "Come on, let's go." Eddy jumps up and tells me. I follow them to the truck.

"9-1-1 what's your emergency?"

'My wife, she's about to jump… I don't know what to do she won't come down… send help now"

Buck's POV

When we reach the 7 story building down town in Los Angeles I jump off the truck and Lacey is with me. "WOW." She says as she looks up to the top floor. My eyes follow hers and I see a lady standing up at the top looking ready to jump. "Lacey, are you any good and talking someone off a ledge?" Bobby asks and she nods and runs forward, I decide to go with in case she needs assistance.

Lacey POV

"I'll be with the husband." Buck calls and I look back not realizing he was behind me. I see the husband there too and nod. "Her name is Valerie. She's been up here for an hour and I can't talk her down." Her husband advises and I nod in acknowledgement and continue on. When I reach the roof I open the door slowly.

"Valerie." She spins around and looks at me, almost losing her balance. "Woah, woah, don't worry, I'm here to help you." I say to her and she continues to stare at me in silence.

"My name is Lacey and I'm with the fire department, I've come to help you get down from up there." I inform her. She shakes her head.

"I'm perfectly fine up here." She finally speaks. "Anywhere else than it that god damn house downstairs." She adds.

"But why on a roof top? Why no in a coffee shop with some friends?" I ask her and she sighs.

"He doesn't want me to have friends. He doesn't want me to see my family, which is why I feel fine up here, where he can't control what happens." She ends.

"Has your husband ever hurt you before?" I question her and she shoots her gaze towards the door where her husband is standing out of sight.

"Not physically, but mentally." She responds.

I look back at the door where I know Buck is trying to control Valerie's husband from interfering.

I walk towards the door and poke my head in and see Buck arguing with the husband. "I need to see her" He starts but Buck cuts him off, "Sir, if you do not calm down I am going to have to escort you out of the building." Buck warns.

"Buck…" I call him over and he walks towards me, blocking the husband from view.

"You need to get him out of here." I whisper to him and he looks at me wide eyed.

"The reason Valerie is up there is because of him." I confirm and he looks back at the husband who is now standing right behind us.

He shoves Buck who falls onto me. I manage to catch my balance before I fall too but Buck's temper and authority gets the better of him. "Sergeant Grant, we have a situation up here, a first responder has just been assaulted and we need to take the accused into custody." He speaks into his radio and Athena responds. "This is Sergeant Grant; I'll be up there in two seconds." She advises and before we both know it, she's handcuffed the husband and is leading him down the stairs.

"Thanks." I say to him before heading back onto the roof, "I could use some assistance out here too." I add and he nods and follows me.

"Ma'am? " Buck says and Valerie turns around again, this time too fast, I see her foot slip and before I know it I'm holding her hand in my grip trying to keep her from plummeting to the ground.

"Ok, ok this isn't what I want." Valerie cries up at me and I roll my eyes but then look at Buck who is laughing at me.

"Your husband is in custody for assaulting a police officer so it's safe for you to come back inside." He comforts her and she nods. "My grip is slipping" I whisper to Buck in panic. He is takes a look at the situation and helps me pull the lady up. He stands right next to me and grips Valerie's wrist as I hold her hand. "On the count of three we're going to lift you up Ms." Buck informs her and she nods frantically. "We're going to need you to use your upper body strength to pull yourself up when we pull." He adds and she nods again.

"One, two, three!" Buck calls out and we manage to pull her up together.

Valerie looks at us and thanks me first before giving Buck a hug.

"No problem, let's get you downstairs so someone can check up on you." He advises and finally she agrees. I let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding and suddenly felt light headed and dizzy. "Are you ok, Lacey?" Buck asks me, holding my elbow to keep me steady.

"Go ahead, I'll be fine." I tell him and he eyes me out suspiciously before taking Valerie's hand and leading her down the stairs to the ambulance.

I take another deep breath and follow Buck back down the flight of stairs. He'd handed Valerie over to the paramedics to check if she was ok and came over to me.

"Now that the victim is ok, are you ok?" He asks me, putting his hand on my shoulder in comfort.

"It's been a while since I've done this." I let him know and he nods slowly.

"Thanks for helping me back there." I say and he smiles, a genuine smile that makes my heart melt a little. "No problem, don't scare me again." He jokes before heading back to the truck.

We head back to the station once again and I look around and think to myself 'am I in over my head?'