Author's Note: This is a definite AU, set around the beginning of the second season. Assume everything that happened in the first season did, besides with Judd's family, and I'll fill in the blanks as we go along. I'm fudging up all of Judd's background, but that will be covered in the story as well. And I'm ignoring Covid, because dealing with it in real life sucks enough.
"What the hell, Probie?" Judd grunted as a box was dropped in his lap. Mateo was pulling stuff out of a sack like a firehouse Santa Claus, but it was nowhere near December. They were all sitting on their bunks, trying to get a bit of rest before the next call came in. There hadn't been any particularly difficult calls, but the night just seemed to drag on.
"A buddy of mine got a bunch of these, so I thought it would be fun for us to do," Mateo explained, tossing one to Paul who caught it with ease.
"DNA testing kits? These are supposed to be fun?" Paul asked dubiously, flipping the box over to read the back.
"Don't you guys want to know where you came from? We all come from such different backgrounds, but maybe we'll have some stuff in common," Mateo cajoled in that youthful way he had. It just made Judd feel more old and tired looking at him go.
"Might be interesting," Marjan shrugged.
"I'm fine with it, as long as I don't have to give blood to do it," TK agreed, stretching out on his bunk like a cat.
"It's just saliva," Mateo scoffed.
"Sounds easy enough," TK mumbled, ripping open the package. Judd was a little more hesitant than the others. His family situation wasn't really one he liked to talk about with other people. Grace knew all the gory details, but other than that he carried it alone.
When he was growing up, he thought he had a great family. He loved his parents and older brothers and wanted to spend all his time with them. But as he got older, things started changing. His mom and dad started fighting more, which led to his dad drinking more. Then his dad started pulling away from him, along with his brothers. Judd had no idea why and didn't find out until his mama was on her deathbed.
"Judd, you okay?" Judd jumped a little, not noticing TK talking to him until he set a hand on his shoulder. He was looking at him in concern, while the others were talking amongst themselves.
"Guess I just zoned out," Judd brushed off, plastering on one of his usual smiles. "Grace has been on me to replace some siding on the house and I'm just thinking about when I'm going to get around to doing it."
"Want some help?" TK offered.
"You know how to do something like that?" Judd asked in surprise. TK was a city boy through and through.
"No, but Carlos does. I may be persuaded to let you borrow him," TK grinned. "He grew up on a ranch and I know he's good with his hands."
"I don't need the details," Judd snorted.
"Grace and I can just sit back and watch the show while sipping lemonade."
"Now, I'm not gonna have y'all bringing my wife and I into whatever foreplay you got going on," Judd huffed, shoving TK away playfully. TK flipped him off, flopping back onto his bunk with a grin.
"Put them together by the end of the shift and I'll mail them off," Mateo instructed, tearing open his own box. "And make sure you download the app so we can all look at the results together when they come in."
"How long is this going to take?" Marjan asked.
"A few weeks, I think. But no peeking. I want us all to look at the same time so we can talk about it," Mateo warned.
"Relax dude. Are you gonna make us do a presentation on our cultural backgrounds?" Paul scoffed, eyeing the little tube that came in the kit.
"That's not a bad idea," Mateo mumbled.
"Nope, I'm not doing that. I barely even did my homework when I was in school," TK chuckled.
"I bet you charmed the teachers into forgiving your missing assignments," Marjan laughed, batting her eyelashes exaggeratedly.
"I never said I didn't turn in my assignments, just that I didn't do them," TK smirked.
"Terrible," Paul muttered, shaking his head.
"Should we be worried that you cheated your way into becoming a firefighter?" Judd questioned. Maybe before he would've taken a cheap shot and asked if Captain Strand played a part in getting him this far, but he'd seen enough of TK's skills in the field to know that he'd earned his place. But a little good-natured ribbing never hurt.
"I've always excelled at tests," TK bragged, wagging his eyebrows as he spit in his tube.
"Ugh, this is disgusting," Marjan groaned, turning away so she could collect her sample.
"You can elbow someone's teeth out of their mouth, but you can't handle a little spit?" Paul teased.
"That was once and she'd already been having dental issues, so it wasn't entirely my fault," Marjan defended.
"You can't really be squeamish in our line of work. Back in New York I helped out the paramedics occasionally and you deal with a lot of unsavory stuff," TK said, smiling at the memory. "I'll spare you all the details, but I once had to help someone with a bit of gangrene."
"Nope! Don't want to hear it," Marjan exclaimed, holding up her hands in surrender. Judd watched fondly as everyone started trying to one up each other with gross stories, distracted by his own reservations. What were the chances he would match with any relatives who'd also taken one of these tests? Even if he did, it wouldn't change anything.
Six weeks later found them all sitting in Carlos' house, chatting while a movie played in the background. They'd been meeting up more often, taking the time to really bond. Going to bars was fun and all, but lowkey nights were always welcome. Judd was nursing a beer, chuckling at Marjan and Paul who were embroiled in an intense game of war.
"Are you sure Grace couldn't come? She's always welcome to join us," Carlos asked, leaning his hip against Judd's seat.
"She filled in last minute for a coworker who had a family emergency, but thank you. We really appreciate you welcoming us into your home," Judd said sincerely.
"It's our pleasure," TK grinned, sliding up behind Carlos and wrapping his arms around his waist.
"Last I checked, this wasn't your house," Judd scoffed.
"Details," TK waved off, resting his cheek on Carlos' back. "I'm here enough that it basically counts."
"I hope you're charging him rent, Carlos."
"Oh, I pay him in other ways."
"TK!" Carlos groaned.
"Finally!" Mateo exclaimed, looking at his phone in excitement. "My results are in. You know, it really wasn't fair that mine took the longest."
"Maybe that means yours are the most interesting?" TK offered, perching on the arm of Judd's chair.
"Maybe I'm descended from royalty!" Mateo gasped, quickly scrolling through his phone. "Everyone pull yours up."
"Think you'll want to do yours too, Carlos?" TK asked, sliding his phone out of his pocket.
"One of my tias is really into this genealogy stuff. She's got the whole family tree mapped out through generations."
"That's cool. I never really cared, since it's always just been my parents and me."
"Hey Judd, aren't you going to check yours?" Marjan asked, turning her screen to share her results with Paul.
"Yeah, yeah," Judd grumbled, pulling out his phone. He'd honestly forgotten about all this stuff a while ago. He could just tell everyone which part of the world his ancestors had come from and call it a day. It didn't have to go further.
"How does this even work?" TK asked, squinting at his screen. "What am I looking at here?"
"It gives you percentages of how much of your DNA comes from different places," Mateo explained.
"I get that, but what's this link on the side?" TK turned his phone so Mateo could look at what he was talking about.
"Oh, that's just letting you know that you matched with a family member. I got one for my sister," Paul said, looking at his own phone again.
"And I matched with a cousin," Marjan added.
"Click on it and see, babe," Carlos prodded, scratching at the back of TK's scalp.
"I asked my dad if he'd ever done one of these and he said no, so it must be my mom," TK mumbled, leaning back against Carlos' hand as the page loaded. "What the hell?"
"What is it?" Carlos asked, peering over his shoulder.
"The company screwed mine up," TK grumbled, frowning at the screen. "They linked my account with Judd's."
"What? That doesn't sound right," Mateo said, pulling out one of the instruction pamphlets from his pocket.
"Why are you still carrying that around?" Marjan asked in confusion. Judd was frozen, hyper focused on his own screen. This couldn't be real.
"Let me see," Paul requested, moving over so he could compare his results to TK's.
"Maybe Judd's saliva got into my tube?"
"How the hell would that happen? Did you guys make out without any of us noticing?" Marjan snorted.
"Better not have," Carlos huffed.
"No see, this looks a lot like the match I got with my sister, just not as close," Paul explained, pointing between the two screens.
"Okay, but it's still got to be a glitch," TK scoffed, patting Judd on the shoulder. "Does yours have it too? It probably doesn't, which will prove that this is just an account error."
"Judd, are you okay?" Carlos asked cautiously. Judd couldn't respond, feeling like his mouth was filled with cotton. This was impossible.
"You don't look so good," Mateo said worriedly, staring at him with wide eyes.
"This is- wait. I'm sure it's not- it can't be right," TK stammered, forcing out a laugh. "This isn't actually saying that Judd and I are-"
"Brothers!" Mateo shouted, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Holy crap, this is wild!"
"Shut up!" Marjan hissed, yanking on Mateo's arm to force him to calm down.
"What? This is amazing! Like, what are the chances?" Mateo exclaimed. Judd forced his eyes away from where they'd been staring at nothing to look at TK. The younger man looked shocked, his skin paler than it usually was.
"Babe?" Carlos murmured, gripping his hands around TK's shoulders. TK opened and closed his mouth a few times like a fish out of water.
"Mateo, if this is some sort of prank," Paul warned.
"I didn't! I swear!" Mateo insisted.
"Judd?" TK whispered, setting a hand on his forearm. That snapped him out of his daze and he stood up in a rush, heaving out a few angry breaths. TK jerked back as if he was expecting to be hit.
"Judd," Carlos said carefully, pulling TK up and out of the line of fire. Everyone was staring at him and Judd felt trapped. His skin was prickling, like he could feel every gaze stabbing into him. He needed to get out.
"I gotta go," Judd muttered, stomping out of the house and slamming the door behind him. He could apologize to Carlos later, when it felt like his whole world hadn't just been tipped on its head. There was no way that Owen Strand was his father.
Author's Note: I've never taken one of these DNA test kits, so forgive me if I got the details completely wrong.