"Dude, take cover! Abrams has like Professor X powers! Wheels always know where we are!" Hanlon groaned as he heard the voice over his headset as his avatar exploded from a thrown grenade and the groan from his teammate.
"Hahahaha, nailed you Hanlon. Even though my mind is not that of Professor X, I do like to be believe I am one with the force like Obi Wan. Anyway Puck, you're just jealous that you have yet to beat me on this level, that's all. I am the master, yo." A string of f-bombs flew through his headset as Puck's answer for Artie as Artie piped up again, "Is Hanlon your first name or a nickname like Puck?"
"Nope just go by my last name. In my family we all have similar or even the same names so we go by different things, for me, it's Hanlon, unless you're family. And since none of you have ever changed my diaper, I'm Hanlon to you."
Puck chimed in with his two cents, "Hey we definitely are bros then, I go by my last name too, Puckerman. I hate my first name, Noah. Gah! The only person that ever calls me that besides my mom is the resident Jewish Princess from high school that went to my synagogue. She declared that Noah was a perfectly good Jewish name and I should go by it. And that is all she would ever call me unless I really pissed her off and she would say, "Shut it Puckerman!" I loved getting her panties in a twist. Besides Noah's a pansy's name."
"Yep, I gotta agree with you Puck, Noah just doesn't have the same level of badassness as the name Puck does, but this is coming from someone named Artie Abrams so whatev."
Hanlon couldn't help but laugh at the conversation until he noticed the time.
"Shit, I gotta go guys. I have a meeting in an hour. I'll catch you later since I'm off today." Hanlon threw his Xbox controller at the empty chair on the other side of his living room as he ripped off this mic and headset. He had been playing MW3 with a guy named Puck since it was his day off. He had met Puck on one of the chat areas of the game, and they had hit it off immediately. Now the two would play against each other or team up against some of Puck's friends having marathon sessions on Hanlon's days off. Hanlon quickly become friends with Puck's friends Artie, Mike and Sam whom he now regularly played against.
Through the guys talking and joking, he learned that they were all from Lima, Ohio and had gone to McKinley High School together. Artie was a senior at McKinley but had been accepted as a freshman at Northwestern University to earn a degree in Fine Arts with hopes of going to get a Masters in directing. While Sam was also a senior and was just trying to figure out what he wanted to do besides impersonations. Hanlon was excited to learn that Mike went to the Joffrey Ballet Academy of Dance in Chicago since he could talk about all the great spots in Chicago. Puck was going to a community college and hoping to get on the local police force, which the other three always laughed at, obviously an inside joke that Hanlon would just roll his eyes at. Even though they were younger than he was, he enjoyed talking to them. He was more comfortable talking to these guys then he was with most of the guys in the firehouse. It was like he'd known them since they were kids, which was strange since they were perfect strangers yet very familiar to him. Nothing they did or said surprised him.
He knew that Puck had to make crude remarks about a girl or the size of his arms. He'd even given a tutorial on how to get into a girl's pants one night. Hanlon just shook his head at that one. He could almost predict the song that Artie would start to rap whenever he made a kill or win a level, and that Mike would stay relatively quiet and let his playing talk for him. Part of him knew that this was strange, but he was so comfortable talking and joking with these guys that he had never met. It was like they were the friends he was supposed to have, but didn't.
Hanlon stood up and stretched, twisting his back until he felt the relieving pop in his lower back before glancing at his watch and sighing deeply. He had to yet again go before the medical board to see if he could be put back on active status. His suspension was finally over, now he just needed the medical evaluation board to okay him to go back on the truck. It was driving him insane just being a desk jockey, plus it didn't help that Thompson kept rubbing Hanlon's suspension in his face. Thompson just had a fork up his ass because he didn't get what he wanted, and so he took it out on Hanlon, and Hanlon just took it. It wasn't worth the fight.
Hanlon shrugged on his leather jacket and grabbed a baseball hat as he headed out the door, leaving his cane behind. He hadn't needed it for a week, his balance and equilibrium finally restored. He now could walk without the assistance of a cane or looking like a drunken Irishman, tripping and stumbling over his own feet. He hurried down the street to catch the bus, since he still hadn't replaced his car since the accident, and he wasn't sure if he was going to now. After the twenty minute noisy bus ride where he observed a little boy pick his nose, a man trying to look down the blouse of a rather large busted woman and a little girl that was making spit pictures on the window while her mother was on her phone, he was reconsidering the idea of buying a car again. Hanlon was glad when he saw his stop finally come up and he hurried off the bus, wishing he had some of Rachel's hand sanitizer that she was always squirting on both his and her hands after they talked to customers at Zammars saying, "Neither of us can afford to get sick, me for my immense talent that could be harmed by a bad case of strep and for you, you can't save people if your home sick in bed. It would be a disservice for the world not to hear my voice, as well as for you to save the people of New York." As crazy as she sounded with her logic, right now he really wished she was there with her lavender scented sanitizer no matter how feminine he would smell.
As he got closer to the FDNY headquarters, Hanlon stopped cold in the middle of the bustling sidewalk, because there was no way she would be here. He hadn't said anything about this review and it wasn't posted anywhere. He scratched the back of his neck in wonder as he kept staring at the brilliant white beret contrasting against the dark brown curls underneath. It took a granny with a walker barreling into him and snarling, "Move ya sasquatch!" to snap him out of his trance. A quick glance at his watch showed that he had about ten minutes before he needed to be in the conference room so he jogged over to her, and looked down at her while she was engrossed with her iPod, bright pink wires emerging from ears. A quick tap on her shoulder caused her brown eyes to look up directly into his green ones, a smile on her lips as soon as she saw it was him.
Without a thought he pulled the plugs gently from her ears as he said, "Hi Rach. What are you doing here? Does the Chief want a private performance or something?"
Hanlon liked Rachel, she was sweet, compassionate, loyal, determined and intense; a rather odd combination, but one that he became fond of. He looked forward to whatever story and ideas Rachel would tell him at the music store, and right now he wondered what reason he would hear for her standing outside FDNY headquarters.
Instead of a snarky retort he was caught off-guard with, "What's your first name?"
"What!?"
She tapped his chest as she talked, "What's. Your. First. Name. I know your last name is Hanlon and that you're a Lieutenant, but I don't like calling people by their last name unless it's out of respect, like to a teacher or an adult I just met. I think of you as a friend, a good friend, and I want to call you by your first name." He watched as she bit her lip and tucked loose strands of her hair into her beret as she stood up straighter and stared up at him as she waited for his response.
"My initials are C.F., but unless you're my immediate family, I go by Hanlon. I don't go by my first name, never have, never will. It's just who I am Rachel. My first name is off limits. I am happy hearing my name come from your lips though," as soon as those words left his mouth, he felt a blush creep up his cheeks. He'd never been so forward and flirty with Rachel before or any female really. The female persuasion scared him and in turn his large, loud family scared them.
A look of determination gleamed in her eyes as she stared into his green eyes as she poked his chest again with her pointer finger, "I'm going to get your first name out of you. You just wait and see. I have my ways. Besides I am a little bit psychic and can be very persuasive. If I can call Noah by his first name, despite all of his insults and grumbling than, I can do it with you too," the name Noah reminded him of the conversation he had that morning with Puck and Artie, which was odd, "But that isn't important, what is important is that I came here to give you my support since you're going in front of that board, and what if they say you can't be a fireman anymore, or they say you have to stay on desk duty or worse, they say you have no talent!" Hanlon outright laughed at Rachel's single breath rant, not to be mean, but the absurdity of what she was saying was hilarious, but he saw immediately he had offended her when she looked down at the sidewalk, her bottom lip being worried between her teeth. For a nano-second, Hanlon had the urge to lean down and pull Rachel's bottom lip out from her teeth with his lips, and kiss her softly.
That simple want made him take a step back from Rachel rather abruptly, like he had been burned, but quickly recovered and smiled at her, "Thanks Rachel. I'll be fine, but thanks for coming and supporting me. Would you like to come in and sit while my review goes on?" He couldn't hide his smile as she shyly nodded her head, because one thing he had learned quickly is that Rachel Berry was anything but shy, but he took her hand and felt instant warmth spread throughout him as soon as they touched. He led her up to the second floor and offered her one of the upholstered chairs that had the department emblem embroidered into it. He sat on the arm of the chair next to Rachel, bouncing his leg in nervousness as he waited. He hated waiting. He kept bouncing his leg faster until he felt her small hand on his knee, making him still instantly.
Her voice was soft but very reassuring to him, "Everything will be fine. You're walking without a cane, and have excellent balance if your jumping up and down off of the chair at the music store fifty times is any indication. You served your suspension that you didn't deserve, and you're a model fireman. They would be complete fools not to okay you, and if they don't my two gay dads will get ahold of the ACLU for you and we'll fight this."
At the words, "We'll fight this," Hanlon felt dizzy, his head swimming suddenly. He gripped the chair to keep from falling forward, his knuckles turning white, but just as quickly the dizziness left him, scaring him. He saw Rachel staring at him in concern, but before either one could say anything, he heard the door open and one of the board members called for him. Before he could do anything, he felt soft lips on his cheek and a breathy, "Good luck" as he stood up. He gave Rachel an unsure smile and walked towards the doors.
Rachel watched as Hanlon gave her his signature smirk the color he had suddenly lost quickly returning to his face as he got up and walked towards the man waiting for him at the door. Her eyes didn't leave him until the large mahogany door closed deftly behind him, and then she let the nerves she had been keeping at bay take over. She had never been nervous for someone else, but she was for Hanlon. His whole career depended on this evaluation. Her legs shook and her stomach twisted in knots in a sickening way as her heart seemed to speed up. This was worse than the first time she ever took the stage by herself; worse than her first NYADA audition where she choked.
She wasn't sure what had pulled her towards FDNY headquarters earlier that day, but when she had overheard Malachi talking about Hanlon's medical review to a customer the day before, she just knew she was supposed to be at it. She had even given a lame excuse of a twisted ankle to Cassandra July on why she couldn't make it to dance class that day. Even though she was still struggling in class and dealing with the nasty barbs from the drunken witch, the allure of her firefighter was too strong. She needed to be there for him, even if it was to just sit outside and wait, which she was awful at. She had no patience.
So she sat and fidgeted with her IPod in the lobby, her eyes moving towards the door whenever she heard a noise, with the hope that it would open, while listening to The Calling's Wherever You Will Go, over and over again. She finally closed her eyes as she let the song wash over her, memories surfacing of the Halloween dance at McKinley and her in her Ava Gardner outfit and a Batman, with warm whiskey eyes and a rough voice singing the song on stage. He was singing the song directly to her. She could feel his lips on hers, soft and cool as they kissed and moved to suck on her pulse point, leaving a mark. She felt his cool hands and lips all over her, feeling, tasting, exploring her. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she tried to remember this moment. It felt so real to her, but knew she had spent the entire dance with Jesse in his Phantom costume and had lost her virginity to him that night, but this dream felt so real and right.
As she lost herself to the dream, a cool hand covered hers causing Rachel's eyes to fly open in shock only to be greeted by the same warm whiskey eyes from her memories, and then quickly replaced by the greenish amber ones of Hanlon. Straightening herself in the chair, she smiled as her firefighter lowered himself into the chair across from her, a smile on his face. "So, how did it go? Hopefully good since I see a smile on your face," showing off your killer Irish dimples she wanted to add.
"Aye. I am now fully reinstated. I have no more restrictions and can go back to fighting fires. I'm on "probation for two weeks since I never got to learn all the alarm training before my accident, so after that, I'm back to being a regular firefighter." Rachel couldn't help but smile as she heard Hanlon's accent become thicker, the more talked about his reinstatement. She could tell he was thrilled.
Standing up, Rachel pulled Hanlon up into a hug; Rachel pulled back and looked him in the face, "We need to celebrate. This calls for a wonderful dinner! Let's walk and talk. We need to figure out where to go!" Rachel grabbed Hanlon's large hand and started down the stairs and out the door, relishing the feel of his cool hand in hers as she contemplated places to dine. "Do you like Italian? I know of this Italian restaurant in your neighborhood that is exquisite. My fathers took me there when they came to visit. I know you're Irish and all, but you do like Italian, don't you?"
His warm chuckle eased her nervousness as he responded while he hailed a cab, "Yea Rach. I love Italian. I am American, you know, and grew up eating more than just Irish family food. Italian sounds good."
"So chivalrous," Rachel murmured as Hanlon opened the cab door and put his hand on the small of her back and guided her into the cab, the hand on her back sent a shiver through her, despite the layers of a wool coat, sweater and shirt between his skin and hers. She watched as Hanlon ran around to the driver's side and slid into the back seat with her and waited along with the cab driver. "What are you waiting for?"
"Where are you going miss?"
"Oh. Oh yea. Maialino, on Lexington Avenue please." Rachel settled back into the vinyl seat as the driver punched in the restaurant and address into his GPS and smoothly moved into traffic. The cab was a little chilly and Rachel tightened her coat and scarf around her for warmth when she felt a strong arm pull her towards the center.
She looked up and saw a shy smile on Hanlon's face as he pulled her closer to him, "Help keep you warm," was all he said, but she wasn't about to complain. She just snuggled against him and despite his cool touch; she warmed up with his arm around her. Neither one spoke during the twenty minute cab drive. When they pulled up to the restaurant, it was only four o'clock, which hopefully meant a light crowd inside. She watched Hanlon pay and thank the cab driver and come around and grab her hand and walked with her inside the restaurant, again holding the door open.
As Hanlon led her inside, his hand never leaving the small of her back, Rachel could feel her smile grow, wondering what the evening held for the two of them.
A/N: I can't give much of an excuse for such a long wait in updates except that my life has happened and it's been rather difficult. It still is so don't expect another update very quickly. I thank you for continuing to read and review this story.