Author: Kate Anderson
Email: sam_loves_jack@yahoo.ca
Disclaimer: The characters used in this story aren't mine. They belong to Ed Bernero and bunch of other people that I don't know. Please don't sue - or else I will sic my rat on you! Go get 'em Maisy!
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up through Season four's "Firestarter"
Summary: Can Ty and Alex give it another shot?
Author's Notes: Well, writing these other characters is certainly an interesting experience! Not sure where this one is heading, but I know it will be Alex/Ty. I just write whatever comes to mind first :-)
Hope everyone is enjoying this!
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Alex finished scrubbing the floor of the ambulance and tossed the sponge out the backdoors. "That's it! I'm done. That's as clean as we're gonna get it!"
Kim picked up the sponge and put it into a bag. She poked her head into the back and looked at Alex who was sitting on her haunches. "Looks pretty good to me." Kim replied. "If the next shift doesn't like it, they can kiss my ass."
Alex hopped out onto the ground and winced as she straightened her legs out. She tore off her gloves and put them into the same bag as Kim as put the sponge. "Feels good to be back at work." she said, looking up at the night sky.
Kim smiled. "It's nice to have you back. All that testosterone floating about in the house was starting to smother me."
"You know you like it." Alex teased her friend. Kim and Alex went into the firehouse to drop their gear off.
"Taylor! Missed you before your shift, it's good to see you again!"
Alex looked up and grinned at Walsh who was smiling wolfishly at her. "Good to see you too Walsh."
"When are you gonna be back out with us? Someone's gotta be out there to keep Doherty in check." he asked.
"Back with you?" Kim asked, putting her hands on her hips. "She's stayin' with me for a while!"
"Guys, guys," Alex said with a laugh. "Calm down. There's plenty of me to go around! Kim's right though, I'm working with her for a while."
Kim smiled smugly at Walsh and tapped Alex's shoulder. "I'm going to change." she said and headed up the stairs to the bunks.
"So Jimmy's really been hard to handle?" Alex asked.
Walsh nodded. "He's been taking too many risks, as usual. He was really freaked out after your, um, accident."
Alex nodded. "He came by to see me a few times, but then he stopped. I figured he was busy with Joey. Is he around? I should talk to him."
Walsh shook his head. "He left early today. Got a call from his babysitter about Joey and left."
Alex frowned. "Does Kim know about that?"
"Nope, and I think Jimmy would appreciate it if you didn't tell her. He said something about not wanting to worry her."
"Oh, okay. Well, I'd better get changed and then take off." Alex took the stethoscope from around her neck off and fiddled with it. "It's good to see you again."
"You'll have to cook for us soon Taylor." Walsh said. "Take over for Nieto. That kid is terrible!"
"Terrible at what?" Carlos and Doc had just gotten off their shift and had walked into the station.
"Cookin'!" Walsh said. Alex laughed and headed up the stairs to the bunks.
"Oh just great, you and Kim are probably both changin' up there!" Carlos yelled up the stairs to Alex. "You two take forever. It's all gab gab gab. As if you can't talk enough in the bus all day!"
"Shut up Nieto!" Alex yelled back. It was good to be back.
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Alex arrived home and dumped her bag on the floor with a soft thump. She went through her nightly routine of checking the answering machine for messages, but true to form, there was no flashing red light. She ran a hand through her tangled blonde hair and blinked a few times, trying to decide whether she wanted to hit the sack or watch some television. Or give Ty a call.
It was too late to call Ty, she decided and besides, he probably wasn't even home yet. If she did call, she'd most likely end up talking to Carlos and she really didn't want to have to do that. Alex decided to give Ty a call in the morning.
"Where the hell is the remote?" Alex muttered to herself, as she pulled through a pile of papers on the coffee table. "Why can't I ever just put it down somewhere where I'll find it again?"
Alex searched for a few more minutes before finding it stuffed down behind the couch cushions along with a chocolate bar wrapper and something that might have been a peanut. She flopped down on the couch and flipped the tv on. "Good old American mindless entertainment." Alex said softly as she flipped through the channels.
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"Why can't that guy just pick up his cans? And why did you buy him more in the first place?" Carlos griped at his roommate as he picked up several crushed beer cans. "All he ever does is lay around."
"Could you be less sensitive?" Ty asked.
"Oh what do you want me to do?" Carlos asked. "Boo hoo, his wife died! It's not like it just happened yesterday."
"Clearly you've never lost anyone you care about." Ty stated and took the cans from Carlos. "He just needs time to work through it."
"I doubt that laying around, being depressed on our couch is going to help! He should be back at work, actually doing something."
Ty put the empty cans into the box that they'd come from and was about to say something to Carlos when the phone rang. He shot Carlos a glare and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
Carlos raised his eyebrows and looked at Ty questioningly. "Is it for me?" he asked. "It might be this really hot girl that I met last night."
"Go away." Ty mouthed and waved his hand.
Carlos leaned in closer and tried to hear the conversation. From what he could pick out, it was a girl on the other end. "You got a girlfriend that you're not telling me about?"
Ty covered the receiver with his hand. "Go away. Go take a shower. Go clean the shower. I don't care, just go away!"
"Fine, you don't have to tell me twice." Carlos muttered and left Ty in the kitchen.
"Sorry about that." Ty said into the phone. "Carlos is just being an ass."
On the other end, Alex laughed. "Isn't he always? I still can't figure out how you put up with him."
"A lot of patience and understanding." Ty replied. "So how did your first day back at work go?"
"It went okay. We had an easy day though, the hardest call we had an old man who'd been bitten by a dog. He bled all over the bus, that clean up was a real bitch."
"That's good to hear, well not that some old guy was bitten by a dog, but that your day was okay."
"So, about coffee," Alex said. "You busy this morning?"
"Uh no. No, if you want to get together before our shifts start, that would be great. Gives me a chance to get away from Carlos!"
"Great! How about we meet at that place on Madison? You like their coffee, don't you?"
Ty nodded his head even though Alex couldn't see him. "Best in the city. How does noon sound? Can you make it there for then?"
"If I leave right now, I can."
"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you then."
"Yep, I guess you will. Bye!" Alex hung up with a soft beep. Ty stared at the phone he held in his hand and wondered what he was getting himself into.
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"You goin' somewhere?" Sully asked sleepily from the couch. Ty threw on his jacket and glanced over at his friend.
"Coffee with Alex."
"Is Carlos here?" Sully sat up and scratched his face. His hand rustled over the stubble.
"He's in his room. Don't worry about him. How long has it been since you've showered?" Ty looked at Sully, noticing the greasy hair and the unshaven face.
"Not that long." Sully replied stubbornly.
"You might want to consider taking one." Ty suggested. "I see you found the beer that I picked up last night." Sully looked over the side of his bed. "Carlos and I already picked the cans up. Do you have a session today?"
Sully yawned. "At 2:00."
"You going?"
Sully swung his legs off the bed and rubbed his face with his hands again. "Maybe, maybe not. It's all a crock of shit anyway."
"Look man, as your friend and partner, I'm telling you to go. I need you to get back out there, save me from this crappy job I've got now."
"Thought you always wanted to be more than a patrol cop. 'Sides, you're not doing it cause of me, you're doing it because you insisted on putting your nose into his business." Sully said and stood up. He swayed slightly before putting a hand on the wall to steady himself.
"He raped that woman!" Ty said angrily. "I couldn't just ignore that."
"And now you're a chauffeur." Sully stated and walked into the kitchen.
Ty shook his head with disgust and pulled up the zipper on his jacket. He heard Sully rustling around in the fridge and without saying another word, Ty grabbed his hat and left the apartment.
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Alex paced in front of the coffee house on Madison. She looked up hopefully at each tall passing stranger but none of them were Ty. "Come on Ty, where are you?" Alex muttered and stuffed her hands into her jacket pocket.
"Alex!"
Alex looked up and saw Ty waving to her from across the street. He glanced out at the road and ran across once the way was clear. "Sorry I'm late." he said glancing at his watch. "Got into a bit of an argument with Sully before I left and then I missed the bus and had to wait for the next one."
Alex shrugged. "It's alright. I was starting to think you were going to stand me up though. Do you always have to wear that silly looking hat?" She tilted her chin towards the beanie cap that Ty had pulled over his head.
"Not much hair in case you hadn't noticed Alex. I gotta keep my head warm somehow."
"Yeah I know, but it just looks so...stupid."
Ty sighed inwardly. "Did you come here to have coffee with me or insult me?"
Alex took her hands out of her pocket. "Sorry, I'm just a bit testy today I guess. That tends to happen when my hot water shuts off in the middle of my shower and my coffee date is late." She pulled open the door and Ty followed her in.
Ty breathed in deeply as the entered the small coffee house. "Love that smell." he said. Alex smiled and then approached the counter. There were a few other patrons, most of them were sitting in pairs at the small tables, talking quietly.
Ty and Alex ordered their coffees and then stood waiting while their drinks were made up. "Does your leg hurt?" Ty asked suddenly.
"Why?"
"You're kinda standing funny, like you're favouring your right leg."
"Oh, yeah. It does bother me sometimes."
Their drinks were placed on the counter in front of them and they grabbed them and sat down at one of the tables. "So was there something you wanted to discuss?" Alex asked as she took a tentative sip of her coffee.
"Nothing in particular. I guess I just wanted to see you again. I felt really bad about not seeing you in the hospital."
"Like I said yesterday, it's okay. Don't worry about it. I had more than enough company with Kim coming by all the time. Some of the other guys from the house dropped by occasionally too."
"Still, I should have come by."
Alex shook her head and took another sip of her coffee. Ty dipped a stir straw into his cup and stirred the brown liquid. "When Sully's wife died, were you there?" Alex asked.
"Not when she was shot, but I was at his place when it was burned. I found him sitting there in the rain, just staring."
"He's such a nice guy too. I remember when he invited me to give out presents at the Y with him." Alex smiled at the memory. "He didn't deserve this."
Ty shook his head. "No. No, he didn't, but he knew something like this was coming. Their marriage wasn't all hearts and flowers. He was having her followed by some detectives who were looking for Chevchenko."
"You serious?"
"Yeah, unfortunately. It was really tearin' him up inside to do that to her. He had decided to put an end to it when Tatiana was shot."
"That's sad." Alex said and Ty nodded. "But other than Sully, how are you doing? Obviously you don't like your new job."
"I'd say that don't like is a bit of an understatement. I have to spend eight hours riding around with a crusty old police chief who thinks he's doing me a favour."
"Doing you a favour?"
"Apparently a lot of other patrol officers would be just dyin' to get to where I am now." Ty said. "I'd rather be back out on the streets, arresting drunk, homeless men and dealing with wives chasing their husbands with baseball bats."
"You miss the action." Alex said knowingly.
"I take it you do too?"
"I like being a paramedic." Alex said. "Besides, I requested to be assigned to work with Kim again. After the accident, I just..."
"What?" Ty looked into Alex's blue eyes. They looked sad.
"I almost died Ty." Alex said. "And I didn't want my mom to have to go through that, not after losing my dad. I considered quitting all together but Kim convinced me that I couldn't give it up entirely."
"You're not going back to fire duty?"
Alex shrugged. "I might or I might not."
Ty blew on his coffee and watched the layer of foam on the top swirl around. "Look, I'm sorry to have laid all that on you." Alex said. "I guess it's just nice to have someone other than Kim to talk to for a change."
"That's alright. I'm glad you told me. I don't think I can really help, but you know."
"I don't expect you to help me Ty."
Ty leaned back in his chair. A couple of women the next table over glanced in Ty's direction and one of them winked at him and then giggled. If Alex had noticed, she showed no sign of it. "We should do this again sometime." Ty suggested.
"Coffee?"
"Or lunch. Whatever."
Alex nodded. "Yeah, I think I might like that."
Ty smiled at her and picked up his cup of coffee that was rapidly growing colder and took a sip.