Prologue: A Typical Day...Right?
Alfred yawned as he stumbled into the glass and wood walled break room of the police station, nearly spilling his cup of coffee as his co-workers gave him worried looks from where the majority of them sat around one of the two plastic tables that made up their current dining set. Even the chief was concerned, getting up to walk over to the young blonde officer. The balding grey haired man wasn't one to show sympathy, even to children, so the fact that he was openly showing concern had the other officers on edge. The chief reached up to his face to rub his chin, before he put a hand on Alfred's shoulder, making him look up at him.
"Son, maybe you should take a few days off. You've been working so much lately, it can't be healthy." Chief Schuette frowned, trying to look stern. "Use those vacation days you've been saving, go to the beach or something."
"Whaddya mean? I'm fine, and you can't get rid of me that easily."
"Alfred, we saw you at that pile-up on Main yesterday." Another officer, Charlie stepped forward, running his fingers across the brown peach-fuzz he called hair. "Scarborough says he had to cuss you out after it."
"And at that structure fire last night. Dude, you still have ash in your hair and on your face." Arthur, the station's nearly bi-polar red-haired lieutenant frowned from where he stood by the coffee pot, watching it fill up. His green eyes narrowed when he looked over at his fellow officer again. "I'm sure Chief Cash hated you tracking all that soot through the station. Wouldn't he have made you clean yourself and the floor up?"
"Not to mention you were also at the shooting on 3rd two hours ago, and we know for a fact that you just left the hospital an hour ago. Your '99 mustang is pretty hard to miss with that massive American flag painted on it." Charlie chimed in again. "I responded to it too, and man you were still filthy when you arrived. Your supervisor probably told you to go to the hospital so you could get checked over and cleaned up, not to help out the other paramedics."
"Son, you barely had time to change from your paramedic uniform to your police and get from your apartment to here. Knowing you, there's no way you've taken any time to rest either." Chief Schuette shook his head. "I swear, if it's not Chase, it's you Jones."
"Chief Schuette, guys, I'm fine." Alfred chugged his coffee, then looked at them. "I'm just a little stressed right now because of how crazy this week has been. I've been jumping from job to job and now my landlord's threatening eviction because I'm hardly ever home."
"Stressed? Yeah, I bet you're tired too." the chief rolled his eyes. "You've got bags under your eyes darker than my coffee."
"Alfred, maybe you should take a few days off. Go visit your brother in Ottawa or something."
"No, I'm fine, and Matt's busier than I am." he tossed his empty cup in the trash, then made the others grow even more concerned when he took hold of the full pot of coffee on the burner, right before Arthur could grab it. "Shouldn't we all be working right now anyway?"
The chief exchanged looks with his officers as the blonde carried the pot out of the break room, watching him walk to his desk not far away. He sat heavily in his busted chair, staring blankly at his computer screen before he was able to remember his password. He typed away, only stopping every now and then to drink the straight black coffee from the stolen pot. His partner soon approached, sitting in the chair beside Alfred's desk. Rick Mourner, tall man with hair the color of grease and brown eyes that could be black in the dark or honey in the light, was the only man to ever successfully work alongside Alfred and his crazy schedule.
"Morning Al."
"Rick." he sighed, looking over. "You gonna try and tell me to take a vacation too?"
"Nope, no sense in trying to convince you." the man chuckled. "You're 'bout as hard-headed as they come."
"Thanks, at least you aren't being pushy about it." Alfred leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up on his desk before he allowed his eyes to shut. "Man you would not believe the day I've had."
"Oh? Try me." Rick was well aware of the other officers creeping up around them, seeming to crawl out of the woodwork that was their station. Alfred's stories were always a subject of curiosity: he was the only man on the force that was involved in three major public safety jobs. As a firefighter, paramedic, and police officer, everyone was always eager to hear about what he had done recently, even if only to have some dirt on the other team when it came time for the annual First Responder Picnic between the three sides.
"Well the day before yesterday I was with the Fire Department, and it was pretty quiet. Then come yesterday, and I was just about to get off when we got a call about a cat stuck on a building ledge. No way down, and I still have no idea how it got where it was unless it fell off the roof and got lucky. Now I just gotten the cat, this little tabby, down to the girl that owned it, when a call comes over the radio about a five car pile-up on Main. Well we were a street over so we responded and low and behold, our own Officer Lance Scarborough is busy trying to put out a fire on his own car that is completely squashed in the middle of the other four. There's a family in the car on top of his hood and the fire has already melted the rubber from their tires to his hood. So he sees us arrive and starts yelling like a mad-man "get the brats! get the fucking brats! Don't worry about this!" So I'm running for the car, and Officer Baker pulls up, and he's just kinda gawking at me 'cause I'm trying to get the kids in the back seat to duck their heads and the mom is like half-out the front window because the wreck threw her through the glass.
Finally got all three of them out and find out they were the only ones hurt in the entire wreck and I mean their car was trashed. The only one that was worse off was Lance's, whose was trashed so badly you couldn't even call it messed up, more like shredded. Anyway we get everyone taking care of and they're off the hospital. We head back to the station and I was just turning in my report to Chief Cash when we get another call, a structure fire about three streets over. So I'm hopping in the trunk, dialing up my supervisor to let him know I'll be late and what happens? We get stopped and the hydrant is completely blocked. So they throw me behind the wheel while most of the men run inside to try and help people get out and Chief Cash is in the seat beside me just like "do what you gotta do kid" so I throw the thing in drive, hit the gas and ram this old ass buick out of the way and the guys are just hooting and hollering 'cause the owner is hanging off the fire escape cursing my ass out while we hook up the hoses."
"Sounds hilarious." Rick laughed.
"Yeah so we're pretty much out there until one in the morning before we finally get the fire out, and I mean we had trucks from all over the city helping us. Well we finally get out of there and I'm hurrying to get my gear put away so I get my paramedic uniform on, and I just got in my car to head over when Chief Cyr calls me up on my cell telling me to book it on over to 3rd 'cause there's been a shooting . Well I get over to it and help them stabilize the victims, but then he turns up and tells me to head to the hospital with them. I'm stuck following the ambulances through traffic to the hospital in my mustang which is nearly on empty because of the unplanned side-trip, only to be stuck with them helping out before a nurse finally pulls me aside and points me to the restroom telling me to get cleaned up. I'm in a rush now, so I'm just throwing paper towels under the faucet and using them to wash off whatever I can. Still did a shitty job though, so I'll have to shower later I know. Anyway we get everything settled when Cyr calls me and tells me that he talked to Cash and now he wants me to head home for the rest of the day. I guess Chief Schuette didn't hear 'cause he calls me up and asks if I can come in."
Chief Schuette Schuette scoffed. "I asked if you could come in tonight, not first thing."
Alfred rolled his eyes. "Anyway! I head home to get cleaned up and changed, only to find out that my landlord is having the place fumigated, and I have about ten minutes to put all the food on my counter in the fridge and get in my uniform. I'm getting out of my apartment just in time for Brock to call again and let me know the dude's at the building, so I'm booking it down to the lobby 'cause that stuff their company uses always makes me have an allergy attack."
"Oh so that's why you came in early." Officer Charlie rubbed his neck. "No where else to go."
"Pretty much." the blonde took a big swig from the coffee pot that was substituting his coffee cup, but just as he was about to start talking again, he broke off to watch one of the secretaries walk in, looking absolutely bone tired as she walked toward the break room. Her long blonde hair wasn't even brushed, and it actually looked like it had bits of food in it. Her pine green eyes didn't give the guys even a slight glance before she disappeared into the other room. By then, the others were murmuring and shifting away from their blonde comrade's desk.
"Uh-oh."
"Jones got the coffee."
"And looks like Chase needs it hella bad."
The other officers dispersed to their desks, and just in time for the blonde woman to burst out of the break room. They had a damn good reason too: the woman was Savannah Chase, a woman who had passed through the Police Academy with record breaking achievements, partly thanks to her late-father, whom had been a Military Police. She could take someone out in a heartbeat, and the only reason she was a secretary instead of an officer was because of her son. So instead she worked some nights at a local diner, and you always knew when she had gotten off a late shift.
"Who took the last of the coffee?!"
Alfred quietly slid the coffee pot into his lap, his eyes never leaving his computer screen, even as she stalked over. Much to the amusement of his fellow officers the man went wide-eyed when his chair was suddenly jerked back, and his lap relieved of the still hot coffee pot.
"Damn it Jones, learn to stop and get your own damn coffee when you're coming in ahead of schedule." she glowered at him through unbrushed bangs. "Some of us don't have that kind of luxury."
"Your boss won't let you get some to go Savannah?" he pouted as she took away the magic elixir to make herself a cup.
"Hell no. That bastard is so cheap I'm surprised he doesn't make us split our tips." she muttered, soon returning the pot to him. "But I need the extra money for Davie."
"Yeah, must be hard feeding a teenage boy." Alfred chuckled. "I remember how much I ate, and yeesh it was a lot."
"He ate three big mac meals by himself the other day." she looked concerned. "Hopefully he won't turn out to be really lazy later otherwise those eating habits of his are come back to haunt him."
"Ha, yeah. Might want to see about getting him a gym membership and making him use it."
"You know what, I'll think about it." Savannah nodded, sipping on her coffee as she walked away. Alfred watched her disappear around a corner, only to turn back to retrieve the remaining coffee and find Arthur running away with it.
"Hey! Get back here!"
