"You are cleared to return to active duty."
Otis was so concerned to fail that it took him a few seconds to realize what the doctor was saying,
'c'mon doc just tell me the bad news... I'm ready... ' He was thinking,
'wait... what did he just said?' He started to realize.
"Yes!" he screamed that loud that everyone in the waiting room could hear that.
He couldn't feel happier.
He thanked the doctor, and jumped out of the room,
he couldn't wait to tell his friends the good news.
.
The morning briefing was done and Otis was officially back on the job.
He found himself surrounded by compliments and welcome words.
'I'm so glad to be back,' he thought;
'the cane ceremonial was unexpected, that made me feel embarrassed enough to feel fully part of the family again!
This is so damn good'
.
"We should set up some spring training to see who's best behind the wheel of 81."
"Works for me."
"Yea, great."
Otis wasn't happy at all,
he though the things already came back to normal,
he wanted to drive the truck since he was a kid, and he waited five years to be able to do that;
he wasn't going to give up, but at the same time he didn't feel quite ready to challenge Kidd.
Stella instead was sure Otis would accept: he has never given up a competition with her.
She liked driving the truck for real, but she didn't really wanted to steal Otis' spot;
She just didn't like how Hermann and Mouch was babying him, and at the end she set up all this just to make him step up, and demonstrate he his back at 100%.
.
"You got this Otis."
Hermann attempt of encouragement wasn't really good, Otis knew he was rooting for him, and he was just trying to relieve the tension, but reminding him the one time he made a stupid mistake just made him feeling more agitated.
The exact moment the truck went out of the parking lot with the sirens off they all knew he screwed up.
"Oh!" Otis exclaimed, trying to not make things worse.
'Great! I'm done...' He thought, keeping driving, and following the path Casey gave him.
'Fool, what a fool...' He kept thinking, knowing his chance to having back the driving spot were minimum at that time.
.
"He is going to peak my name, so this is my moment of maximum leverage."
Stella knew how important was for Otis to drive the truck, so she exploited his insecurity;
Otis was becoming to think she was really better than him, and he would never be back as before;
so they negotiated and made a deal.
.
"Otis, you are back as the driver."
Everyone was happy that things returned to normal, and felt like Otis finally came back for real.
Otis was relived and glad to be on full duty again, but at the end he knew it wasn't completely because of him.
Stella wasn't entirely happy to have to give the keys back, but at the end she reached her goal: she was glad that her plan worked, and that the captain approved what she did.
