Chapter 3
Alex grumbled to herself as another nurse came into her little cubicle from the other side of the curtain. She swore if she was poked or proded one more time, she was going to lose whatever hold she had on her temper. The nurse smiled and started the automatic blood pressure cuff attached to her arm. Alex sighed and thought about how a nice warm shower would help a lot more than these nurses.
"How much longer?" she asked, glancing at the nurse.
"The doctor's just going over your chest x-rays and your blood tests. It shouldn't be much longer," the nurse smiled and when finished with the blood pressure, wrote down the results on her chart and walked back out into the hustling, bustling hallways.
"Why me?" she growled to herself.
"Because if it wasn't you, I'd probably be dead right now," Jimmy said, grinning as he wheeled himself into her room. "How you feeling, Champ?"
"I'm fine. I just wish they'd release me so I can go back to the station and get cleaned up!"
"Ah, Captain says we're done for the rest of the shift," he smirked.
"Damn, what time is it?" she asked, looking around for her watch and not finding it.
"Around seven or so, why?"
"I've been in here for two and a half hours. How long does it take to look at some x-rays and send me home?"
"I don't know. Guess I shouldn't tell you they're releasing me as soon as the doctor gets off dinner break," he grinned, dodging the pillow she threw at him.
Alex shook her head, "I just want to go get cleaned up. I can stand the smell of smoke and soot for only so long."
"Well, I better get back to my room before the nurses flip out on me," he turned and looked at her. "Thank you, again, Alex. I mean it."
Alex watched as he went through the curtain and headed back down the hallway. She laid back down and sighed as another nurse walked around the curtain. "What now?" she snarled.
"Nothing, just wanted to tell you that the doctor is on his way and I've got you some hospital scrubs to head home in," the nurse replied, smiling slightly.
"Thank you," Alex said, slightly embarrassed for the way she spoke to her. "No trouble. Do you need help?"
"I can manage, thanks."
"Suit yourself," the nurse said, heading back out.
Alex slowly pulled herself off of the hospital cot and picked up the hospital scrubs the nurse had left her. She slowly pulled off the johnny she'd been wearing and tossed on the scrubs. She looked around for shoes and couldn't find any. She sighed and pulled on her turnout boots and tossed the johnny onto the bed. As she bent to pick up her turnout pants, she saw a pair of loafers next to the curtain. "Hello?" she asked.
"Ms. Taylor, I'm Dr. Newman," a pleasant voice came from the other side of the curtain. "May I come in?"
"Yes, I'm decent," she replied, sitting down on the cot.
"I've gone over your test results and everything seems fine. There's some forms you have to sign and then you can head for home."
"Great! Give me the pen and the place to sign and I'm out of here," she replied, smiling. She was finally out of there and headed for bed.
* * *
"Kim, any word on Jimmy and Alex," asked Carlos.
"They're both fine. Jimmy had a slight concussion and Alex had no problems," she replied, sitting down at the table.
"That's great," said Doc, looking up from his paper.
Bobby looked around and shook his head. "I still can't believe Alex pulled him out of there."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kim.
"Whoa, I didn't mean anything by that," he replied, realizing he'd just dug himself into a hole. "I mean, someone her size pulling out Jimmy. Not that she was a female."
"Yeah, sure you did," Kim quipped. "Men are pigs. I realize that now."
Bobby watched her go, his mouth agape. "What'd I say?" He asked, looking at Doc and Carlos.
"Don't get me involved!" exclaimed Carlos.
"Don't matter, Bobby. You just said it," Doc chuckled.
* * *
Jimmy jumped at the sound of the door buzzer. He looked at his watch and thought it was odd that someone would be visiting this late in the day. He pushed himself off his couch and walked to the door. He laughed as he peeked out the window and threw open the door. "Taylor? What's up?"
"Not much, Jimmy. Just thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. Can I come in?" she asked, looking around him into the house.
"Sure, sure," he said, stepping aside to let her by. "So how's everything back at the station?"
"The same. A lot of nothing," she replied. "I did get a little something for you. Just a little get well card. Figured it was something," she shrugged.
"Well, thanks," he replied, taking the card and opening it up.
"No problem. So what are you up to tonight?"
"I was looking for something to do. Wanna go catch a movie or something?" he asked.
Alex was a little taken aback. She wasn't expecting an invite to go out. She thought a moment and then shrugged, "Why not? Its my night off thanks to you. Might as well find something to do."
"Great. Give me a couple minutes and we'll go."
"Great," she replied, wondering what his motive was.
* * *
"Hey, Kim. Check this out," laughed Bobby, pointing out the windshield of the bus.
Kim stopped reading her paper and looked at what Bobby was pointing at. "You've got to be kidding me. No way."
"No joke. Its Alex and Jimmy," he laughed.
"You think they're…?" she asked, letting the question trail off.
"I don't know. They've been hanging around together a lot," he shrugged, watching the two laugh. He glanced over at Kim, "Jealous?"
"What? No! Jimmy and I are through," she replied, going back to reading her paper.
"Yeah, sure Kim," Bobby scoffed, starting up the bus and pulling into traffic. He figured this was too good an opportunity to miss.
* * *
"Uh oh. What'd you do now?" asked Alex as she watched the bus pull up along side them.
"Huh?"
"Its Kim and Bobby."
"Well, what do we have here? I don't see any fires around here," smirked Bobby, leaning over Kim to talk out her window.
"Caffey, do you have anything better to do?" asked Jimmy, rolling his eyes at Alex
"Who me? Course not! Right, Kim?"
"Hey, Alex. Jimmy. Ignore him, he forgot his medications this morning," Kim smiled. "What are you two up to tonight?"
"Went and caught a flick. Decided to head over to the station house, see what's cooking," replied Alex.
"Doc's cooking tonight. You're safe if you want to come eat. Carlos cooks tomorrow night," said Bobby.
"Station it is then. Catch you guys there later?" asked Jimmy.
"Meet you there!" yelled Kim as Bobby sped off.
* * *
"Doc! Where'd you learn to cook?" asked Bobby, grabbing another roll off the table.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Cuz, its better than most of the garbage the rest of us whip up for each other," he laughed.
"Its definitely better than what you make," shot Alex.
"I second that," said Jimmy.
"You would," muttered Carlos, who immediately yelped as Kim gave him a kick under the table. "What?"
Alex looked around the table. Why did everyone think her and Jimmy were dating? She still couldn't figure it out. She figured she would go along with it. They were co-workers, nothing more. Let them say what they wanted. "I think, its about time I headed for home," said Jimmy, grabbing his plate and putting it in the sink.
"Me, too," said Alex, standing up and passing her plate to Lombardo, who greedily finished off her dinner.
"You two have fun. Make sure to look both ways before crossing the street," yelled Bobby as they walked out the door.
"Up yours," cracked Alex, flipping them off behind her back as she walked down the steps.
* * *
"Where do you live? I'll walk you home," said Jimmy, stepping out into the brisk night.
"Couple blocks over. No big deal, I can go by myself," she replied, nodding her head over towards the way they'd come from earlier.
"C'mon Taylor. I'm being a nice guy."
"Alright. I would feel a little better if you went with me. D.K. said Danny had stopped by the station earlier when he'd heard you'd been hurt."
"What? Now you're definitely letting me go with you," he growled.
"You know, I'm having fun. I don't get out much anymore," she said, watching the ground as they started walking.
"Why not? You're young, attractive. You don't go out to clubs or anything?" he asked.
"No, its not something I like doing alone."
"Take a few friends," he replied.
"Go clubbing for guys with my friends? Jimmy, all my friends are male."
He thought for a minute and laughed, "All your friends are guys? How'd that happen?"
She socked him, "I work in a fire station. How do you think that happened?"
"So how do you plan on dating and getting married? Or are you one of those 'My daddy was a firefighter, my granddaddy was one, I'm one, so I'm going to marry one' type women," he smirked.
"I don't know," she thought for a minute. "My family is all firefighters. But I never thought about it. The way my schedule is, I probably will end up dating firefighters. My ex-husband was one."
"You were married?" he asked, shocked.
"Yeah. For three years. One night, we ended up in a huge fight, he walked out. Was gone for four days before I thought maybe he'd left me. I packed up his things and sent them to his mother's. He came home three days later and realizing I'd thrown him out, left for good. I only saw him again when we had a meeting with our lawyers," she shrugged and sighed. "I felt so cheated. We were fighting about money and different shifts. Never did talk to him again, really."
"Wow. Just like that?" he asked. She nodded, swallowing thickly to stop the tears.
"Looking back on it now, I can't believe he never spoke to me again." Alex sighed and smiled,
"How about you? Why'd you and Kim break-up?"
He glanced at the ground, cleared his throat and looked at her. Seeing the look she shook her head and started walking again. "You didn't cheat on her?"
"Yeah. I did. I wish I hadn't though. I kinda messed things up for her and Joey both," he replied, looking away.
"With who?"
"Um, I'd rather not say."
"I told you my story, I want to hear yours."
"Her sister," he cringed.
Alex laughed and shook her head. "Slugger, you make me sick," she replied heading towards her apartment building.
"It was stupid, I know." "
Just a little bit," she replied, stopping at her building.
"Thanks for the nice night Jimmy. I had fun. I'll see you tomorrow."
"G'night, Alex."
Alex grumbled to herself as another nurse came into her little cubicle from the other side of the curtain. She swore if she was poked or proded one more time, she was going to lose whatever hold she had on her temper. The nurse smiled and started the automatic blood pressure cuff attached to her arm. Alex sighed and thought about how a nice warm shower would help a lot more than these nurses.
"How much longer?" she asked, glancing at the nurse.
"The doctor's just going over your chest x-rays and your blood tests. It shouldn't be much longer," the nurse smiled and when finished with the blood pressure, wrote down the results on her chart and walked back out into the hustling, bustling hallways.
"Why me?" she growled to herself.
"Because if it wasn't you, I'd probably be dead right now," Jimmy said, grinning as he wheeled himself into her room. "How you feeling, Champ?"
"I'm fine. I just wish they'd release me so I can go back to the station and get cleaned up!"
"Ah, Captain says we're done for the rest of the shift," he smirked.
"Damn, what time is it?" she asked, looking around for her watch and not finding it.
"Around seven or so, why?"
"I've been in here for two and a half hours. How long does it take to look at some x-rays and send me home?"
"I don't know. Guess I shouldn't tell you they're releasing me as soon as the doctor gets off dinner break," he grinned, dodging the pillow she threw at him.
Alex shook her head, "I just want to go get cleaned up. I can stand the smell of smoke and soot for only so long."
"Well, I better get back to my room before the nurses flip out on me," he turned and looked at her. "Thank you, again, Alex. I mean it."
Alex watched as he went through the curtain and headed back down the hallway. She laid back down and sighed as another nurse walked around the curtain. "What now?" she snarled.
"Nothing, just wanted to tell you that the doctor is on his way and I've got you some hospital scrubs to head home in," the nurse replied, smiling slightly.
"Thank you," Alex said, slightly embarrassed for the way she spoke to her. "No trouble. Do you need help?"
"I can manage, thanks."
"Suit yourself," the nurse said, heading back out.
Alex slowly pulled herself off of the hospital cot and picked up the hospital scrubs the nurse had left her. She slowly pulled off the johnny she'd been wearing and tossed on the scrubs. She looked around for shoes and couldn't find any. She sighed and pulled on her turnout boots and tossed the johnny onto the bed. As she bent to pick up her turnout pants, she saw a pair of loafers next to the curtain. "Hello?" she asked.
"Ms. Taylor, I'm Dr. Newman," a pleasant voice came from the other side of the curtain. "May I come in?"
"Yes, I'm decent," she replied, sitting down on the cot.
"I've gone over your test results and everything seems fine. There's some forms you have to sign and then you can head for home."
"Great! Give me the pen and the place to sign and I'm out of here," she replied, smiling. She was finally out of there and headed for bed.
* * *
"Kim, any word on Jimmy and Alex," asked Carlos.
"They're both fine. Jimmy had a slight concussion and Alex had no problems," she replied, sitting down at the table.
"That's great," said Doc, looking up from his paper.
Bobby looked around and shook his head. "I still can't believe Alex pulled him out of there."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kim.
"Whoa, I didn't mean anything by that," he replied, realizing he'd just dug himself into a hole. "I mean, someone her size pulling out Jimmy. Not that she was a female."
"Yeah, sure you did," Kim quipped. "Men are pigs. I realize that now."
Bobby watched her go, his mouth agape. "What'd I say?" He asked, looking at Doc and Carlos.
"Don't get me involved!" exclaimed Carlos.
"Don't matter, Bobby. You just said it," Doc chuckled.
* * *
Jimmy jumped at the sound of the door buzzer. He looked at his watch and thought it was odd that someone would be visiting this late in the day. He pushed himself off his couch and walked to the door. He laughed as he peeked out the window and threw open the door. "Taylor? What's up?"
"Not much, Jimmy. Just thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. Can I come in?" she asked, looking around him into the house.
"Sure, sure," he said, stepping aside to let her by. "So how's everything back at the station?"
"The same. A lot of nothing," she replied. "I did get a little something for you. Just a little get well card. Figured it was something," she shrugged.
"Well, thanks," he replied, taking the card and opening it up.
"No problem. So what are you up to tonight?"
"I was looking for something to do. Wanna go catch a movie or something?" he asked.
Alex was a little taken aback. She wasn't expecting an invite to go out. She thought a moment and then shrugged, "Why not? Its my night off thanks to you. Might as well find something to do."
"Great. Give me a couple minutes and we'll go."
"Great," she replied, wondering what his motive was.
* * *
"Hey, Kim. Check this out," laughed Bobby, pointing out the windshield of the bus.
Kim stopped reading her paper and looked at what Bobby was pointing at. "You've got to be kidding me. No way."
"No joke. Its Alex and Jimmy," he laughed.
"You think they're…?" she asked, letting the question trail off.
"I don't know. They've been hanging around together a lot," he shrugged, watching the two laugh. He glanced over at Kim, "Jealous?"
"What? No! Jimmy and I are through," she replied, going back to reading her paper.
"Yeah, sure Kim," Bobby scoffed, starting up the bus and pulling into traffic. He figured this was too good an opportunity to miss.
* * *
"Uh oh. What'd you do now?" asked Alex as she watched the bus pull up along side them.
"Huh?"
"Its Kim and Bobby."
"Well, what do we have here? I don't see any fires around here," smirked Bobby, leaning over Kim to talk out her window.
"Caffey, do you have anything better to do?" asked Jimmy, rolling his eyes at Alex
"Who me? Course not! Right, Kim?"
"Hey, Alex. Jimmy. Ignore him, he forgot his medications this morning," Kim smiled. "What are you two up to tonight?"
"Went and caught a flick. Decided to head over to the station house, see what's cooking," replied Alex.
"Doc's cooking tonight. You're safe if you want to come eat. Carlos cooks tomorrow night," said Bobby.
"Station it is then. Catch you guys there later?" asked Jimmy.
"Meet you there!" yelled Kim as Bobby sped off.
* * *
"Doc! Where'd you learn to cook?" asked Bobby, grabbing another roll off the table.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Cuz, its better than most of the garbage the rest of us whip up for each other," he laughed.
"Its definitely better than what you make," shot Alex.
"I second that," said Jimmy.
"You would," muttered Carlos, who immediately yelped as Kim gave him a kick under the table. "What?"
Alex looked around the table. Why did everyone think her and Jimmy were dating? She still couldn't figure it out. She figured she would go along with it. They were co-workers, nothing more. Let them say what they wanted. "I think, its about time I headed for home," said Jimmy, grabbing his plate and putting it in the sink.
"Me, too," said Alex, standing up and passing her plate to Lombardo, who greedily finished off her dinner.
"You two have fun. Make sure to look both ways before crossing the street," yelled Bobby as they walked out the door.
"Up yours," cracked Alex, flipping them off behind her back as she walked down the steps.
* * *
"Where do you live? I'll walk you home," said Jimmy, stepping out into the brisk night.
"Couple blocks over. No big deal, I can go by myself," she replied, nodding her head over towards the way they'd come from earlier.
"C'mon Taylor. I'm being a nice guy."
"Alright. I would feel a little better if you went with me. D.K. said Danny had stopped by the station earlier when he'd heard you'd been hurt."
"What? Now you're definitely letting me go with you," he growled.
"You know, I'm having fun. I don't get out much anymore," she said, watching the ground as they started walking.
"Why not? You're young, attractive. You don't go out to clubs or anything?" he asked.
"No, its not something I like doing alone."
"Take a few friends," he replied.
"Go clubbing for guys with my friends? Jimmy, all my friends are male."
He thought for a minute and laughed, "All your friends are guys? How'd that happen?"
She socked him, "I work in a fire station. How do you think that happened?"
"So how do you plan on dating and getting married? Or are you one of those 'My daddy was a firefighter, my granddaddy was one, I'm one, so I'm going to marry one' type women," he smirked.
"I don't know," she thought for a minute. "My family is all firefighters. But I never thought about it. The way my schedule is, I probably will end up dating firefighters. My ex-husband was one."
"You were married?" he asked, shocked.
"Yeah. For three years. One night, we ended up in a huge fight, he walked out. Was gone for four days before I thought maybe he'd left me. I packed up his things and sent them to his mother's. He came home three days later and realizing I'd thrown him out, left for good. I only saw him again when we had a meeting with our lawyers," she shrugged and sighed. "I felt so cheated. We were fighting about money and different shifts. Never did talk to him again, really."
"Wow. Just like that?" he asked. She nodded, swallowing thickly to stop the tears.
"Looking back on it now, I can't believe he never spoke to me again." Alex sighed and smiled,
"How about you? Why'd you and Kim break-up?"
He glanced at the ground, cleared his throat and looked at her. Seeing the look she shook her head and started walking again. "You didn't cheat on her?"
"Yeah. I did. I wish I hadn't though. I kinda messed things up for her and Joey both," he replied, looking away.
"With who?"
"Um, I'd rather not say."
"I told you my story, I want to hear yours."
"Her sister," he cringed.
Alex laughed and shook her head. "Slugger, you make me sick," she replied heading towards her apartment building.
"It was stupid, I know." "
Just a little bit," she replied, stopping at her building.
"Thanks for the nice night Jimmy. I had fun. I'll see you tomorrow."
"G'night, Alex."