Chapter 11

Buffy had been told by every firefighter she knew that she would never forget her first fire. She thought they were just blowing smoke, but after her first run, she understood completely. Her first fire hit at 1 AM at a fleabag motel. One of the "guests" had passed out in a drunken stupor. Unfortunately, they were smoking a cigarette at the time and ended up burning the place down. Buffy followed Welch, and followed his lead, making sure everyone that was alive was out safely. When they returned to the house hours later, they were all hungry, tired, and craving a shower. While the guys lined up to shower, Buffy set out making a late dinner/early breakfast. As she slid the pan into the oven, Welch put in his appearance.

"Candidate, what are you doing?"

"Thought everyone would be hungry, Lieutenant. I just put a frittata in the oven."

"But you didn't make coffee."

"I can put a pot on, Sir."

"Please do."

She nodded and set about making a pot of coffee. When it was finished, she poured a mug. "Lieutenant, cream?"

"Black," he barked.

She handed him the mug. He took it and took a sip. He was surprised. She had made it strong, unlike the last Candidate, who used about three beans per pot. He didn't want to compliment her, but she had been busting her butt all day. She had surprised him. He expected her to wash after the stair drills. She cleaned the showers and the bathrooms without being asked. She held her own in the fire, and while everyone else was standing around waiting for the shower, she was making a frittata to make sure they were all fed. He had sorely underestimated her. Maybe five shifts wasn't going to be enough.

"Lieutenant?"

He looked at her.

"Permission to clean up the kitchen?"

He nodded. 'Jesus Christ, even her manners are too good,' he thought. "Candidate?"

"Sir?"

"When you're done, hit the shower. You smell like a fire."

"Soon as the frittata comes out of the oven, Sir. Don't want it to burn."

Welch sighed. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long nine months with this Candidate. "Son of a bitch," he grumbled.

Buffy heard him curse, but decided it would not be in her best interest to say anything. She checked the timer on the oven before setting out to clean up the kitchen. She stacked the dishwasher and decided to wait until after she showered to start it. She didn't want to scald or freeze out her coworkers from their shower. They would make her pay for that for sure if she did. She poured the coffee into the thermal carafe and started a new pot. There was determined that they weren't going to want for anything as long as she was Candidate, even if it meant brewing 100 pots a shift. There was no way she was going to let them break her down and make her leave in embarrassment. While she was leery of applying to the CFD at first, she found she really enjoyed learning about firefighting and how to become a firefighter. No one was going to take that from her, Especially not Lieutenant Thomas Welch.