1x06

Owen didn't doubt for a second that Michelle was capable of doing her job.

He knew better than to question that.

But he hadn't been able to wrap his head around the idea of her being pregnant.

And here she was running around in the field.

He knew that she was going to be okay.

He knew that she was superwoman.

But it scared him to think that there was always a chance for something bad to happen.

So he had watched carefully and stayed close by in case she needed him.

She hadn't, of course, but he wanted to make sure he was there.

That he was always there.

Which is why he went to check on her after they made it back to the station.

"You sure you should be out in the field like that?" That wasn't exactly how he imagined the conversation going.

"I'm fine Owen." She looked slightly perturbed but she set her pen down and leaned back in chair.

He supposed maybe she was humoring him a little.

"I'm just... how did your appointment go?" He was nervous was what he was.

"I'm not pregnant." He felt his heart skip a beat and then settle into a more regular rhythm.

A rhythm he had missed while spending the last five days wondering if he was about to be a dad for a second time.

"Okay." He let out a sigh of relief and when she offered him a soft smile he smiled back.

"I was gonna come tell you earlier, but we got that call..." So that's why she had been looking for him all morning.

They kept missing each other, constantly heading in the opposite direction of the other.

"It's okay. You're sure you're not pregnant?" He knew she had said it, but something inside him begged for him to make sure.

"Blood test was clear." Which was funny, because apparently her blood work at the hospital had said otherwise. "She even did a scan. No baby. Not even a trace."

"Well that's... good. Right?" It had to be good, because he wasn't ready. "We wanted a negative? Did we want a negative?"

"I wanted a negative." That was all that mattered to him.

"Then this is good." He just wanted to make sure that she was happy and okay with whatever the outcome was, baby or no baby.

"What about what you wanted?" It wasn't about him though and he knew that.

"This isn't about me Michelle. It's not my body or my life." It was his life, kind of, because if she had been pregnant it would have been half of him running around out there. "I would've stood by you had you been pregnant no matter what. But if it wasn't what you wanted, than it wasn't what was right."

"Thank you for that. I think." She chuckled softly and he smiled.

"Care to join me for dinner?" He knew TK was going out, again, so it would just be him, all alone in his big old house.

"I would love to…" There was a but coming wasn't there. "But I made plans with my mom. Sorry."

"No worries." He respected that.

They weren't dating after all.

He had no claim on how she spent her free time.

"Rain check?" She pushed herself to stand, moving toward him as she offered him a soft look.

"Tomorrow night then." He was already debating whether he would cook her dinner or order out, whether they would bother to try and watch or movie or maybe just head straight to bed.

He was already looking forward to it.

"Tomorrow night." She looked around quickly before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'll see you then."

"See you then." He watched as she grabbed her bag and headed out, turning to offer him a smile and a wave before heading down the stairs.

He couldn't help but smile as he watched her go.

Damn he was so far gone it wasn't funny.

—

And then he found himself offering to join Judd's poker game, despite Judd's attempt to talk him out of it.

Grace had tried to warn him and Judd had tried to act like it was no big deal.

But if this Billy Tyson really was as opposed to the idea of him as Judd said he was, he wanted to get to know him better.

What was the saying, keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

He had wound up taking all of Billy's money, and despite what he thought, the man hadn't rung his neck.

So after everyone had left that night he had snuck out before Judd could make any snide remarks.

He didn't want to be the 'I told you so' man, but he totally would if it was called for.

What he hadn't expected though, was Billy showing up at the firehouse during their next shift.

Sure, the guy had been fun to play poker with, but this was a little much.

After he had left Judd had spent a good five minutes staring at him from the hallway.

"Ya know, you and Billy…" Oh what now? "That ain't gonna fly with Michelle."

"Excuse me?" What the hell did Michelle have to do with this?

And why would she care if he was hanging out with Billy.

"I'm just saying Cap, be careful." Be careful with what?

They were going to go golfing, end of story.

"Why would Michelle care if I plan to go golfing with Billy?" It really didn't make much sense to him.

Unless…

"She and Billy don't get along to well…" Ah, there it was. "He uh… he gets under her skin."

"You know something I don't?" He supposed Judd probably knew a lot about Michelle that he didn't.

"Yep." He nodded his head as he chewed on his bottom lip, his brain clearly racing as he tried to figure out what to say. "But it ain't my place to tell you. Gotta let her do that."

"Understood." He had no problem with that, he respected Michelle's privacy and he was glad that Judd did too.

"Just uh… just tread lightly okay?" Well damn, it must be serious then.

"I will." But he didn't want to upset Michelle, so while he wanted to maintain a friendly relationship with Billy, he wouldn't jeopardize whatever it was that he had with her.

Judd simply nodded his head before stepping back into the hallway and heading down the stairs.

This whole situation was just weird.

And Owen didn't like weird.

Not one bit.

—

But he hadn't said a word and choose to keep it to himself a few more days.

That had clearly been mistake though.

"You know this is a hazard Captain." Ah, just the woman he wanted to see.

Except he wanted to see her for reasons other than talking about how horrible his golf game was.

"Don't distract me." He whispered, turning toward her and offering her a smile.

She was always distracting him though, whether she meant to or not.

"If you can't putt under pressure you're not gonna be able to beat Billy." Oh fuck, who told her about Billy.

It couldn't have been Judd.

Not with the way he was worried.

"I heard you gave him a tour of the house." So someone else ratted him out.

No one else knew they were seeing each other though, no one except for TK, and he hadn't even been around when Billy showed up.

"He invited you golfing didn't he?" Ugh, yes, yes he did.

"No, I just do this because I find it relaxing." In all honesty, he hadn't played golf in over a year.

Not because he didn't want to, he just never found the time.

But damn he was bad at this.

"God!" He really needed to find another hobby. "What?!"

He heard Michelle chuckle from behind him and he rolled his eyes.

"Yes, he invited me to golf, but I haven't swung a club in quite a while so I'm a little rusty." Rusty was probably putting it nicely at this point.

But Michelle offered him a smile as he made his way toward her and he honestly just wanted to say 'screw it' to his golf date with his new buddy and instead spend his one day off with her.

Preferably alone.

Preferably naked.

In his bed or hers, it didn't matter at this point.

"Word of advice." But then her smile was fading and he felt his heart start to race. "Keep an eye on Billy."

Uh oh.

Was this what Judd was talking about?

Was this her way of telling him that she didn't want them to be friends?

"You're saying that I shouldn't trust him with our score card?" If it was as simple as that then he had nothing to worry about, right?

"I'm saying he can be a little slippery." That didn't sound good, especially coming from Michelle.

She was a pretty good judge of character from what he saw.

"I know what you're doin'." Maybe he could joke his way out of this one.

"Oh? Do tell." I mean, if there was anyone who knew her well enough at this point it was him, wasn't it?

"You're poisoning the well of a potential friendship." For what reason he wasn't sure.

"And why would I do that?" That was a very, very good question.

"You really gonna make me say it?" He bit his lip as he raised an eyebrow at her, he had gotten under her skin, he could tell. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

It hadn't taken him very long to put the pieces together.

They had clearly dated once upon a time.

She clearly didn't want her new boy toy to be friends with her old one.

"He told me you guys used to have a thing." He hadn't asked for Billy to bring it up, but he had seen Michelle in passing and commented on her presence.

Then he had told Owen that they had once been in a relationship together.

He had figured as much, but he wasn't sure about the details.

Billy didn't seem to keen on sharing them with him either.

"Who said I was the one scorned?" Oh, was that how it went down.

He turned and offered her a smile.

If there was ever a woman who could leave a man feeling a little shitty about himself, it was definitely Michelle.

"Just be careful." She said softly, the smile on her face faltering a little. "Thing about Billy, he likes to win… a little too much."

Owen watched as she leaned against the door frame and he sighed.

Something else was going on here and he hated it.

"That makes two of us." But if it came down to it, Owen would fight with everything he had in him.

Especially if it came down to Michelle.

—

That night he had wanted to go see her, but she blew him off and he knew something was up.

And he had a feeling that that something, was the fact that he had refused to cancel his golf game with Billy for that weekend.

But he was looking forward to get to know the man a little better.

To maybe find out some more about his relationship with Michelle.

To find out what had gone so horrible wrong that she was trying to keep the two of them apart.

Except, that hadn't been what their golf game had wound up being about.

And instead Owen found himself revealing to this complete stranger that he had cancer.

Something he hadn't even told his own people.

He should have known that it wouldn't work out the way he wanted.

Not that he had any idea what he wanted to come out of this.

He was hoping for good advice on taking some time off, but other than that, he really had no reason for bringing it up.

And he really, really regretted it.

Especially after Chief Redford called him into his office and tore him a new one.

He knew that working while on chemo was silly, but he could manage it.

But this, running the CPAT, in full PPE's, yeah that he couldn't do.

He would fight as hard as he could to keep the 126.

This was his home.

And he couldn't lost it.

Not now.

Not ever.

—

And to his surprise, when he arrived home that night, Michelle was waiting for him on the front steps.

He let out a sigh as he put his Jeep park and killed the engine.

He wondered who told her about the deal he had just made with the devil.

"You're fucking crazy, you know that right?" Oh he knew it alright.

"I know." He slammed his door shut as he made his way toward her, watching as she stood and ran a hand through her hair.

"Why would you do this Owen?" She had warned him and he hadn't listened and now, well now he had to deal with the consequences. "I told you not to hang out with him. I warned you."

"Yes, yes you did." He opened the door without even so much as looking at her.

It was hard to make sense of any of this right now.

"Owen…" Michelle reached out and touched his arm gently, waiting as he locked the door behind them before speaking again. "You know you can't do this. Not with the cancer… the chemo… you'll fail this test."

He let out a huff as he toed off his shoes, making his way into the kitchen and grabbing a water from the fridge.

He knew damn well he couldn't do this.

But he had to try.

"It's too late now Michelle." She let out a sigh of her own as she stopped and leaned against the counter, eyeing him softly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't take it back."

"Yes, yes you can." If only it were that easy.

"If I don't take the test, they take the 126 from me." And with his luck, that would mean fucking Billy would be in charge again.

"And if you take the test, and fail, not only will you lose the 126, but you'll probably wind up in the hospital, or worse…" Worse, there was no worse than that.

"I'll be fine Michelle." He was in better physical shape than he had ever been.

He could do this.

He had to do this.

"Why did you tell Billy you had cancer?" She looked almost, heartbroken, and it killed him.

He really should have listened to her.

"He told me about his cancer. He was being honest." He shrugged and when he looked up the look on Michelle's face was far from okay. "I thought being honest was what you did with friends."

"Billy Tyson is not your friend Owen." She shook her head as she reached up and wiped at her eyes.

She was crying and Owen hated it.

"I know that now." He dropped the water bottle to the counter and moved to stand in front of her, reaching out to take her hands in his. "I screwed up okay, I'm sorry."

"Owen…" She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, her head falling forward to rest against his shoulder for a moment.

They stayed that way for a good five minutes before she pulled back and took another deep breath.

"Billy never had cancer." Well what the actual fuck then?

"Yeah he did. Thyroid cancer." Maybe she didn't know because they were broken up by then. "He told me he took a year off to deal with it."

"That's not why he took a year off…" She sighed as she pulled back from him and started pacing the length of the kitchen.

He couldn't believe the bastard had played him like this.

What a fucking tool.

"Then why?" He had to know now.

He had probably just thrown away his entire career over this guy.

He needed to know the truth.

"He was forced to take a year off." Oh… "The chief made him do it…"

"So then why the fuck is the chief supporting him on this?" He didn't get it, he had been nothing but nice to Chief Redford.

"Because Redford hates my guts." She whispered the words as she stopped pacing, her shoulder slumping forward as she sighed. "He'll do anything to help Billy get the 126 back. Anything."

"Why do I get the feeling I don't wanna know what actually happened?" His heart was racing in his chest as he started moving toward her.

She backed up though, her head shaking as she held a hand out.

He stopped in his tracks and swallowed.

This wasn't a good sign.

"Billy and I dated…" He could tell by the look on her face that she didn't want to talk about this.

And he wouldn't force her.

But if she was willing to tell him what had happened, then he was willing to listen.

"I know, he told me." Sort of, in a roundabout way.

"It didn't…" She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, her feet kicking against the floor as she started to fidget. "It didn't end well."

"You told me you left him pretty scorned." He imagined that Michelle had a way of doing that.

"That was a joke Owen." Well great, now he felt like a complete ass.

"Oh." He started toward her once more and when she didn't make a move to run away he stepped closer, taking her free hand in his. "You don't have to tell me Michelle."

He could see the look in her eyes that said she was almost terrified to open her mouth.

He wondered if she had ever talked to anyone about this before.

"He slapped me around some." That bastard was a dead man. "At first it was nothing, I held my own, fought back."

"Michelle…" Domestic abuse was his biggest pet peeve and he would be damned if this was okay with him.

"Let me talk Owen." She pulled her hand free and walked away from him, moving to sit in one of the chairs on the other side of the island. "It was fine, no biggie, but then one day…"

"It wasn't fine anymore?" He turned toward her as he asked the question and she shook her head.

"He tuned me up pretty good. I wound up in the ER." She swallowed as she wrung her hands together in front of her. "Carlos came and took care of me. But when he found out that it was Billy, when he found out just how bad the abuse had gotten, he flipped."

"Well yeah, he should have." He made a mental note to remind Carlos how pretty damn amazing he was.

"I refused to press chargers because I was scared." Now that he couldn't imagine. "Billy had connections and the last thing I needed was to lose my job because he was a scorned lover."

"Let me guess, Carlos took matters into his own hands?" He couldn't blame the guy.

Billy would be lucky if he survived the weekend after he found all this out.

"He filed an official complaint against him with the Austin FD. Went to Redford himself, showed him evidence of the abuse." Good for him. "He never mentioned my name, never said it was about me, but he told him that if he didn't handle the situation he would make sure that Billy never had a moment of peace for the rest of his life."

"I knew I liked that kid for a reason." And he did, like him that was, this was just the cherry on top of his reasons why.

"He risked everything for me. He… he put his career on the line." She had tears streaming down her face and all Owen wanted to do was pull her close.

"What did Redford do?" He didn't know if he wanted to know the answer to that.

While the man had seemed nice at their first encounter, he was starting to really dislike the man.

"He took Billy off the job and gave him a mandatory six month probation." That didn't sound like nearly enough punishment. "But when the higher ups got word of it, they stepped in. Forced him to take anger management classes and made him take a year off. They didn't try to hide what he had done. But Redford…"

"I get the feeling he has rose colored glasses when it comes to Billy?" God he really hated that man.

"He somehow found out it was me." She shrugged her shoulders before reaching up and wiping at her eyes. "I guess Billy finally told him. He came after me, threatened my job, my life. Told me to drop the complaint or he'd make my life hell."

"I'm gonna kill them both." He scratched at the back of his neck as he huffed.

"You will do no such thing Owen." She sighed as she eyed him softly. "It's fine. It's over with. It's water under the bridge."

"How? How is that water under the bridge?" He didn't understand how she could just this go. "Billy abused you Michelle. He tried to ruin you. And so did Redford. That's not okay."

"Redford wised up that he should play nice when several 'anonymous' complaints were made to the big wigs about him." The sneaky smile on her face told him that they weren't that anonymous after all. "He dropped his shenanigans, but he's been hell bent on getting me somehow ever since."

"And Billy?" He couldn't believe that the man hadn't mentioned that their breakup had been bad.

Even without mentioning abuse.

He didn't even try to paint Michelle as a bad person.

Although, that may have been because Owen didn't give him the chance.

"It's been a year and a half since it happened." She took a deep breath, pushing herself to stand as she moved toward him. "It's fine. I'm over it. I just… I don't like him. I avoid him at every function."

"He and Judd are friends…" Which he totally didn't understand. "Does Judd know what he did to you?"

"He knows that he was mean and that we ended it." The hurt look that crossed her face but quickly vanished made Owen believe that there was more to the story. "I never told him that Billy got physical."

"You don't think he'd believe you?" Judd did seem pretty hellbent on defending Billy at all costs.

"I think Judd would have a very hard time thinking that was true." Which was the same thing. "I also think that Judd wouldn't hesitate to kill the man if he knew truth. So it's probably better that he stays ignorant on this one."

"So that's it? He just gets to hurt you like that and then walk around like he owns the place." Owen wouldn't settle for that.

Messing with him was one thing.

But going after Michelle, that was another.

"It's over Owen, just… please… don't bring this up to him." She looked terrified and it broke his heart. "I wouldn't put it past him to come after me."

"I wouldn't let that happen." He stepped toward her then, not caring if she wanted space.

He would never let anything happen to her.

"If he takes the 126 from you Owen… that's it. I'm done." He knew they would all be done and it destroyed him.

"That's why I have to do this Michelle." He reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear with a soft smile. "I have to beat him at his own game."

"At the expense of your own life?" She wasn't handling this as well as he had hoped.

"It'll be okay." He leaned in and dropped his forehead to hers. "It has to be."

She didn't reply with words, only nodding her head as she closed her eyes.

And then she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him to her, hugging him tightly as she buried her face against her shoulder.

"I promise I won't let him hurt you Michelle." He pressed a kiss to her hair and goddamn did it make his hurt to think about what this was doing her.

Why couldn't he have just left enough alone?