Enjoy!
Pruitt sighed as he walked toward the apartment building his daughter used to live in.
He wasn't totally sure why he was here, but he kinda just wanted to be back in the place Ryan had died one more time before he inevitably joined him. Pruitt knew his time was coming. It was like he could feel it in his bones that he wasn't going to be alive very much longer, and sure, he knew the cancer was fast, but something in him told him it was going to be much faster than that.
Andy had gotten married the day before, and while he wasn't sure Robert was the man he wanted her to spend forever with, he would always be grateful to have been able to walk his little girl down the aisle, even if it was just at a courthouse.
He wandered upstairs, having to stop every few steps to catch his breath. He was glad it was only the second floor that he had to make it to.
As he was resting for the last time, just a few steps from the top, he heard someone coming up. As the person rounded the corner to come up the steps, he smiled at them.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked, concern on her face, "Do you need some help? I'm a doctor."
"No," Pruitt said as the woman came up next to him, "I'm ok. I mean, I'm dying, but there's nothing I can do about that."
"What?" the woman said, clearly confused.
"I have advanced cancer," Pruitt said, "Doctors say I have about three months to live. And before you try to tell me about this or that treatment, I don't want it. I have made my peace with dying."
"I wasn't going to suggest anything," the woman said, shaking her head, "Except maybe that I help you up the last few steps. I think it is very brave to face death like you are. Do you live in this building?"
"No," Pruitt replied, allowing her to help him up the last couple steps, "My daughter used to live here, before her best friend died here and I told her battalion chief not to promote her because I was dying and her roommate and other best friend got the job instead."
"Oh," the woman said, a flicker of recognition crossing her face, "That is a lot. Why are you here then?"
"I don't know," Pruitt said honestly, "I think I just wanted to see where Ryan died one more time before I join him. He was like a son to me."
Carina nodded as they slowly walked down the hall.
"Do you live here?" Pruitt asked, "In this building."
"No," the woman said, shaking her head, "I am visiting my girlfriend. She lives on this floor."
Just then, the door to Maya's apartment opened.
"Oh, there you are Carina," she said, "You said you were on your way up and…Cap? What are you doing here?"
"Just came to see where Ryan died one last time," he said, shrugging, "And I ran into this lovely woman who helped my old ass up the stairs."
"Oh," Maya nodded, smiling a little, "Well, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Carina Deluca. Carina, this is my old Captain Pruitt Herrera."
"Hey, watch your language Bishop," he said, looking at her, "Who are you calling old."
"You know what I mean, Cap," Maya said, shaking her head.
"It's very nice to meet you," Carina said, smiling at him, "I have heard a lot about you."
"From this one?" Pruitt said, eyebrow raised, "So you heard how much of a strict, hard ass I am?"
"No," Carina said, shaking her head, "Maya speaks very highly of you. She says you are the reason she became captain."
Pruitt looked at the blonde who had become like a daughter to him over the past several years, seeing her looking down, smiling and biting her lip.
"She is an amazing firefighter," Pruitt said, watching as Maya picked her head up, looking at him with a smile and tears in her eyes.
"Thank you Sir," Maya said, smiling. Just then, Pruitt started coughing a lot and when it finished, he was clearly winded.
"Why don't you come inside sir?" Maya said, looking at him.
"Oh no," he said, shaking his head, "You two clearly had plans. I'll just head home."
"No," Carina insisted, "Come in. Have a drink and sit down for a little while. All we were planning to do was…watch movies and have dinner."
Carina realized as she was speaking that their actual plans were to have lots and lots of sex and then maybe order dinner, but that was not something she was going to tell the man Maya looked up to as a second father.
"Come on," Maya said, opening her door more, "Just for a few minutes."
"Alright," he said, genuinely feeling tired and needing to rest a little.
This was the part of cancer he hated so much. He could barely do anything without being tired and needing to rest when a year ago, he was running into fires multiple times a week with his team. Carina guided him to the couch as Maya grabbed glasses of water for all of them.
"Thank you Bishop," Pruitt said, taking the glass.
"Of course," Maya smiled, sitting down on the couch next to Carina, her hand almost automatically finding its way into her girlfriend's, needing to be calmed down a little because for some reason, the presence of her former captain in her house with her girlfriend made her feel anxious.
Pruitt smiled as he looked at Maya and Carina, knowing that the entire time he had known Maya, he had never seen the look of happiness that was on her face right now. They chatted for a few minutes, Pruitt talking to Carina about what she did for work and about her life in Seattle and Italy.
When she mentioned she was an OB and that she had helped talked to Maya while Pru was being born, Pruitt started coughing, playing it off as another cancer cough, but truthfully, it was the moment he remembered that Maya had talked about her OB friend Carina telling JJ to masturbate to help with labor.
Just as Pruitt was about to say he was going to leave, Carina's phone started ringing.
"Sorry," she said, looking at it, "It is the hospital. I need to take this."
Carina excused herself into Maya's room, closing the door behind her.
"She seems very nice," Pruitt said, smiling at Maya who had been staring at her bedroom door.
"She is," Maya said, looking at him with an almost shy look on her face, "I kinda owe meeting her to you actually."
"What?" he said, confused.
"Well, you suggested the camping trip," Maya said, "And because of that we dealt with those people with the bear attack and I brought that nose into the hospital where Carina saw me. And then, that night when I went to Joe's to forget about the shitshow that was that camping trip, Carina walked in and because she had seen me at the hospital, she said hi and asked me to tell her the story and the rest is history. So, as much as I hated that camping trip when it was happening, thank you for suggesting it."
"Well, I think you two would have met even if I wouldn't have suggested the camping trip," Pruitt said, smiling at her, "You two seem very good together."
Maya nodded a little, not sure what to say. Carina came back out of the bedroom just then, smiling at both of them.
"Everything ok?" Maya asked as Carina sat back down next to her.
"Si," Carina nodded, "I had a patient come in with preterm labor near the end of my shift and I asked the nurses to keep me updated on how she was doing. They were just letting me know she was responding well to the meds."
"Good," Maya smiled back at her.
"I am going to go," Pruitt said, "I need to get home. Thank you for inviting me in."
"Let us walk you out," Carina said as they all stood up.
"I'm fine," he insisted, shaking his head. "No, come on Cap," Maya said, "Let us walk you out. I haven't checked my mail in a few days anyways."
Pruitt wanted to argue with them, but he knew that the only person more stubborn than his own daughter was her best friend, and the only way Maya could be in a relationship that made her this happy meant the other person had to be just as stubborn so he agreed.
Also, he was feeling quite tired at the moment and knew if he fell on his way down, it would make everything worse.
The three of them made their way downstairs, Pruitt grateful that going down was so much easier than going up. They made it down, Maya and Carina walking Pruitt to his car.
"It was nice to meet you, Sir," Carina said, smiling at him.
"It was nice to meet you too," Pruitt said, shaking her hand.
"See you soon Cap," Maya said as Carina stepped back.
Pruitt then did something that startled Maya bit and pulled her into a hug.
"You have a good one here Bishop," he said into her ear, "Treat her well. I'm happy for you. She seems like a much better choice than Gibson."
"I will Sir," Maya nodded as she stepped back, a bit surprised at what just happened, "And she is."
"Thank you for entertaining this old man," Pruitt said as he got in his car, "Enjoy the rest of your day."
As he pulled out, he saw both of them waving to him in his rearview. As he drove away, he felt a twang of sadness that he wasn't going to get to see what was going to happen with that relationship or any other relationship his pseudo-children were going to be in.
However, getting to see Maya as happy as she was, especially after how hard he knew she was having it since becoming captain, mostly because of his recommendations, made him feel very happy. Part of him always felt some amount of guilt for the difficulties her team was giving her because he was the one who told Sullivan not to promote Andy.
However, he also knew his daughter was not going to be well enough to lead 19 though all the challenges they were going to face, and while he knew his death was going to be hard on everyone, he knew Bishop would be able to help the team navigate that without letting her own grief get in the way.
He made it home, heading inside to keep working on going through his personal effects, his effort to help make his death easier on his daughter.
As he sorted through another box, he came across a photo of Andy, Maya, and himself on their first day at 19. He remembered how happy and excited they both had been that day.
It had been a difficult choice to decide to take on two probies at once, but once he watched Maya and Andy work together, watched how they pushed each other and communicated so well, he knew it was going to be fine.
The day he met Maya, he knew she was going to go far in SFD. Her drive was intense and she was a natural leader, and if he was going to leave, he was glad she was the captain leading it.
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