Playing with Fire

AU story about Bathena (Bobby & Athena from 9-1-1 on FOX), I love them and wanted to make a story about them. Athena starts working at the firehouse as a new hire, but Bobby and Athena don't get off on the right foot, can they find a way to work together?

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, purely just for fun.

Rating: Mature maybe later on, but for now general audience.

Chapter 1

"Did you hear?" Buck said, throwing the towel he had just used to wipe the sweat off his brow on the bench next to Bobby who had been reading something on his tablet, looking up away from it and staring with a heavy brow at Buck as if he should know what he was talking about, instead of using sarcasm, as he so badly wanted to do; he just shrugged a no.

"The new chick is supposed to start today, I hear she's hot," Buck answered with a smirk on his face.

Bobby just sighed and shook his head, standing up and placing his items in his locker. "Man, I don't have time to train someone new today"

Buck laughed and Chimney joined in as he neared where they were.

"Did you hear what I said boss, she's hot!" He laughed back at Bobby as he noticed the annoyance on his face and he continued "Plus, I can help with the training"

"Oh I don't think so, all new hires have to go through Bobby, that's how it goes around here, don't you remember your first day?" Chimney replied staring off as if remembering how hard it was to train AND tame Buck. Bobby laughed at that comment and nodded at Chim's comments.

"Ha ha, very funny. Well, look at me now! I'm amazing, so obviously your training is pretty good...don't go getting a big head or anything there boss. I'm excited to see what she can do though."

Bobby groaned with annoyance, he didn't care how hot or good she was, he really was having a bad day with his ex-wife trying to control who got what in the divorce, he really just didn't want to deal with a new person; especially one who from what he heard didn't have any experience out on the field beside proper training. It was just another hassle he didn't want to deal with today.

"I got this Buck..." Bobby stopped talking as he saw everyone's attention focus on something behind Bobby, he turned to stare in the direction they were looking at and found himself staring at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her skin looked incredibly silky, her hair had been parted on the side and it was short, usually, Bobby didn't find women with short hair like that attractive, but there was something about her hair that suited her perfectly and man did he find her attractive. He gulped, feeling increasingly nervous as she stared right at the three men and made her way over, with a bag in tow.

"Oh damn, I was right, she's hot," Buck said quietly, Bobby and Chim both shushed him and turned their attention back to the new girl.

As she closed in Bobby was able to get a closer look and felt his heart flutter, he felt like a teenage boy again, as if he had a crush on a school girl. He cleared his mind as she finally stopped in front of them. He couldn't let anyone know that he thought she, in fact, was hot.

"Hello, I'm Athena Grant, I'm the new hire. I was told to find a Bobby, um..." She put her bag down and stared at a piece of paper that was half crumpled "Nash" She read to them what was apparently written on the paper in hand.

"Uh yeah, that'd be me." Bobby got closer to her to reach over and shake her hand. Athena smiled at him and took his hand, shaking it, they stared at each other for a few seconds before Chimney cleared his throat.

"Um, well I'm Chimney, or Chim for short, and this annoying young man here is Evan, but we call him Buck." He waved and then stared at Bobby with a raised brow, making Bobby shrug as if he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Well, it's very nice to meet everyone." Athena smiled, and Chim and Buck smiled back, but Bobby kept staring with a serious face.

"I hear you don't have any experience in the field, is that true?"

Chim and Buck stared at him with wide-eyes, that was incredibly rude, even for him.

Athena nodded but wanted so badly to scoff at his question. "Yeah, but that's why I'm here, I'm told you are the best."

Chim and Buck stared at Bobby as if waiting to hear what he was going to say. Bobby didn't thank her instead ignored her comment, "well Buck here can you show you were everything is, the grand tour and all of that"

Athena looked slightly annoyed at his statement, Buck could sense the tension so he said quickly "Yeah, right this way Athena, I'll show you everything if you want you can place your stuff in one of these lockers. Choose wisely, because whichever you pick will be yours for...well pretty much ever."

Athena smiled at Buck but looked back at Bobby, who still looked to be studying Athena. She wanted to roll her eyes at him or say something, she wasn't one to keep her mouth shut, instead she nodded, quickly picking a locker and placing her bag inside, and walking with Buck to see the 'grand tour', which was pretty much over and done within a few minutes as it wasn't such a huge place.

"So, there you have it, this is our 2nd home. Any questions?"

Athena shook her head, smiling at Buck but then nodded "actually yes, what is with your captain?"

Buck knew exactly what she was getting at, especially with how rude he was to her, but he didn't want to really tell his story to a stranger, it wasn't his place, plus he didn't really want to die; he knew that if he did tell Athena Bobby's story, he would be in a lot of trouble from Bobby. He had already messed up too many times to make that mistake.

"What do you mean?"

Athena rolled her eyes at his response "Oh come on, what is his story? You can't tell me that he's that serious all the time? & what was with his rudeness?"

Buck chuckled at her reply "Well Cap, he's...well he's Cap, and I don't think I am in the right place to tell you about his life story"

"Is he married?"

Buck raised his eyebrow at her

"Well I just, the man doesn't look like he's getting laid is all."

Buck burst into laughter and patted her on the back "Man, I'm gonna like having you around."

Athena was actually being serious, Bobby just seemed stiff and rude, but she was hoping that it was just a minor thing, she shrugged off his comment but smiled back at him. "I think I'll go look for 'Cap' now."

She headed to where Buck said that Bobby would be. It was a small little office, barely fit a desk, but it made do. She knocked as she saw him drinking his coffee and staring down at a little book.

"Hey." She waved at him but got no response back just a nod.

"Did you get settled?"

She nodded at his question, waiting for something else to come out of his mouth, but instead he just looked back down at his book.

"Um..."

Bobby sighed and looked back up "Was there anything else?"

"Aren't you supposed to be training me?"

Bobby continued to just stare at Athena, without a single emotion on his face, she didn't like that because she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Do you see this?" He pointed to his cup, she nodded, and then he pointed to a sign by the door that she was next to "And can you read that?"

It read 'Don't disturb unless Emergency when drinking coffee'

Athena chuckled, looking back at him and smiling as if she thought it was the funniest thing she had seen in a while, but stopped as she saw the seriousness from him, he wasn't kidding, which made it that much funnier.

"Wait, you're not kidding?"

Bobby nodded "I don't kid, ever. Now, I will find you when I'm done, until then please leave me alone."

Athena continued staring at him in utter disbelief, what the hell was up with this guy. She understood needing space, needing time to have some downtime, but this guy seemed to just not care. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What?" Bobby replied to her reaction. "No, say what you have to say. Do you have a problem?"

"Yeah I have a problem, I have a problem that I am a new hire, told to talk to you and find you because you will be the person I will be working under, yet the minute I meet you-you were rude and passed me on to someone else to do the tour; and now that I'm done, you want me to leave you alone until you are ready to talk to me?" Athena huffed as she finished, Bobby looked even madder, but that didn't stop Athena from continuing "But you know what Cap, I'll leave you be, don't want to disrupt your coffee time" she turned to leave but then turned back to stare at him "& for the record, I'm a bad ass when it comes to putting out danger, you will be lucky to have me on this team" before he could say anything else she turned and walked out. Leaving Bobby staring at where she had just been in disbelief, this was going to be a problem. The biggest problem was...he liked her even more, which pissed him off.

TBC...

A/N: I've definitely been out of my game for a while, so I'm sorry if there were mistakes. Also, this is definitely AU, as I have changed a few things, like (spoiler) Bobby's wife is not dead, they are just divorced and some other things have and will change. Thank you for taking the time to read this story, I love Bathena and this show. Hope you enjoyed!