4x08
Andy was in her last shift as acting captain, while Maya was on bereavement. It had been a quiet one, until they were called to assist station 23 at a colossal department building fire which had gotten out of control. At that point, it had escalated to a three alarm fire and the whole battalion was there.
"Lieutenant Herrera, I need your team to take over search and rescue. There are still a few people inside and we're pulling out station 23. They're running out of oxygen." Chief Gregory ordered. "Copy sir!" She answered and turned around to give instructions to her crew. She paired and sent all of them inside, each couple to a different floor, but Warren and Hughes, who had been assigned to the aid car that day and, therefore, called to the scene before the rest.
A while and a few rescued people later, the building was almost empty, but also on the edge of collapse. Herrerera was outside with her last victim, when Chief Gregory approached her and required her to make the team retreat. "Ok guys, we're done. It's not safe anymore." Herrera told them, as she finished talking to her superior. However, Gibson and Sullivan were already on their way back up to the third floor, trying to rescue an elderly couple they had left behind before, after getting their hands full with the couple's grandkids. "There're still two victims inside, we know where they are." Jack told her through the radio, without stopping. "It's not safe, Gibson. Come back." The acting captain repeated. "We're almost there, lieutenant." Andy froze at the sound of Robert's voice. With the adrenaline high, she didn't remember until then who she had paired her ex with, so she'd just realised that it was her husband the other one running up the imminent collapsing building. Her mouth went dry, as she swallowed hard around the lump that had quickly formed on her throat. "You two, get out of there, now!" She managed to say, trying not to sound too scared, but nothing came from the other end. She could have sworn that her heart stopped for the few seconds that it took them to answer back. "We got them! We're on our way!" Jack finally replied and she breathed, relieved.
The longer moments of Herrera's entire life passed, but they got out just before the roof collapsed making a huge mess. The team quickly helped the other stations extinguish the fire, but it wasn't until a couple of hours later, that they were back to their station house and comfy bunks.
Andy was pissed, but didn't want to make a fuss in front of their team, so she just went straight to Maya's office. She took a shower and she was getting ready to take a nap for the couple of hours they had left, when she heard a knock. "Come in." She said, imagining who her visitor might be. "Hey" Sullivan answered. "Hey. Close the door behind you." She told him, sternly and not making eye contact, while she hanged her shirt. "You ok?" Her husband asked, pretty sure that he already knew the answer. "I don't know, you tell me. You know best." She snapped, visibly annoyed. "Andy, come on. You would've done the same thing. We were two minutes from-"
"That wasn't my order, Robert." Herrera cut him. "Ok. Are you going to have this conversation with Gibson too? Because he was my superior at the scene and he kept going." He wondered, calmly.
"He's not my husband!" She yelled, tearing up. "So you wanted just me to follow your order and come back." Sullivan reasoned, with a reassuring smile. After all, he knew exactly how she felt. It was how he had felt the day that his father-in-law died. When he didn't get an answer from her, he closed the space between them and ran his hands up and down her arms. "Hey. I know it's hard, I've been there, remember? And I know that worry makes you do or say things that you wouldn't do or say in other circumstances. Like going inside of a storage facility when you should've been in charge of the entire battalion." He chuckled and she did too. "Yeah, I still owe you a few yells for that." She acknowledged, brushing the lonely tear that fell down her cheek, as he kissed her on her forehead.
"Well, you just yelled at me for saving an adorable couple who had previously sacrificed themselves for their grandchildren." Robert told her, pouting funnily. "Ok, we're even." She surrendered, leaning in for a much needed kiss.
"Yeah, we are."