Chapter 3

Jo had followed through on the call to Andy as soon as the doors of the elevator had closed on Carina. She had still been getting to know the DeLuca-Bishops when Aria had been born, but she was as close to a godmother as the young woman was ever going to get. Jo and Carina had adjusted their wills accordingly the day that Link had moved out. While neither of them wanted to ascertain even the thought that their daughters would ever have to lose another parent, it was a possibility. Especially given that the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 had introduced a climate surrounding Women's Health that was far from healthy for any woman living in the U.S, let alone two women working in that very same field. Whatever happened in the future, both mothers refused to let their daughters lose everything. By marking each other as next of kin, they were able to ensure that should something happen, Aria and Luna would always have each other.

It rang four times before the receiver clicked. Jo had considered calling the number printed below Andy's name, but the written number on the back had seemed more promising. She could have looked up Andy's number in the department registry on her own, so why otherwise would Carina have considered the card to be significant.

"Carina? Are you alright?"

Jo smiled. She'd been correct in her suspicions. However, Andy seemed to take Jo's silence as a cue to continue.

"I was actually about to call you, but I am guessing that since you're calling me, you probably already know about the apartment-"

"This isn't about the apartment," Jo interrupted, "Although Carina did mention that. It sure is one hell of a coincidence."

Now it was Andy's turn to be speechless.

"I understand that you must be confused and are likely wondering how I got the number that you clearly only gave to Carina. I am guessing by the sirens in the background that you are just returning from the apartment fire. What I am about to tell you is probably going to cause a lot of conflicting emotions. I know that because I just watched my friend go through all of them. And if her wife means half as much to you as she does to Carina, then this is going to be a sucker punch."

"Means?"

Short and straight to the point. It was clearly not Andy's first rodeo, and the resolve that she was demonstrating almost made Jo more reluctant to tell her the news that she had clearly already inferred.

"Captain, Maya is alive. Her plane resurfaced this afternoon and landed outside the pentagon shortly thereafter."

There was a gasp, and a brief moment of white noise during which Jo was confident that she was muted, but the woman managed to keep it together. It was remarkable, though unsurprising given that Andy worked a job where she consistently had to leave her own baggage at the door.

"I may not know Carina so well anymore, but if I ever did, I would be surprised if this was just a curtesy call," Andy finally said.

"It's not. I'm Jo Wilson. I work with Carina at Grey Sloan. She had to catch a flight, but she can't get a hold of Aria." Jo was prepared to give the fire captain an extensive explanation for why her assistance was needed but didn't get very far.

"The fire academy. Carina thinks the department will refuse to give you information about Aria's whereabouts, that they won't take it seriously enough to deliver notification. Unfortunately, she's right."

There was a brief pause on the other line, and for a split second, Jo was concerned that Andy might refuse to help.

"You know, I remember you, Dr. Wilson. I remember seeing you in the pit, at the clinic, long after Carina decided that it was too painful to be at 19. When I saw you, it gave me hope. It gave us all hope that one day she would walk in here in those pink scrubs and start yelling orders at a probie in Italian like no time had passed. Yes, I owe a hell of a lot more than an apology to both Carina and Bishop, but today I watched the home where they fell in love burn to ground, so if I have to reignite that flame under the asses of my bosses in order to reunite the family that began in the very spot that I spent 23 hours and 16 minutes trying to save during the very moments where a miracle made it possible for my best friend to come back from the dead, then that's what I'll do."

"That's what we'll both do, Captain."

"Andy. Call me Andy."

"Okay, Andy."

"I'm assuming you're coming from the hospital. I need to freshen up a little, but I'll meet you at the Seattle Fire Headquarters in twenty."

"I'll see you then."

With her phone back in her pocket, Jo briefly wondered if this seemingly harmless errand was going to land her in jail. And while she recognized that she was likely being paranoid, she figured better safe than sorry. Extracting her phone once more, she composed a text to her daughter. Luna, it's your mom. I had a breakthrough, so I might not make it home tonight. Get yourself a pizza on my card and take a bath. A little self-care is just what the doctor ordered, right? I love you, kid. I'll call when I can. Unlike her best friend, Luna was quick to respond. Don't have time for a bath, but I always enjoy a little pizza with my studies. Besides, you're one to talk about self-care. Love ya! Jo smiled. She made a note to book a mother-daughter spa day as soon as Aria was successfully on her way to DC. Luna was right. Of course, she was going to be reluctant to slow down on the way to her degree when her role model spent an increasing number of nights on an air mattress in a hospital research lab.

As she turned onto the alleyway leading up to her destination, Jo could not ignore that she was beginning to feel the consequences not only of sleeping on a glorified yoga mat, but also of the copious missed meals. In fact, Jo was not entirely sure of the last food she'd consumed that wasn't a bag of vending machine peanuts. Carina always got a little obsessed with their work when the anniversaries were looming, and Jo wasn't about to let her deflect on her own. And though her white lie to Luna had been a decoy, she and the older doctor were on the edge of a discovery, and with Carina likely about to go on leave, Jo's nights on the floor weren't going anywhere. Carina was being handed a second chance with her wife, and Jo was being offered a first chance to be the primary credited MD on a theorem that would save lives. In the meantime, she had to find a sleeping arrangement that would not result in her being admitted to Grey Sloan. She could only solve one problem at a time, though, and if the large 19 caked on the side of the red pickup that had just parked beside her was any indication, her partner in crime, metaphorical she hoped, had arrived.

Andy did not look how Jo remembered. She looked tired, warn down, a shell of the confident badass she had once been. She had ditched the ponytail, instead opting for a shaggy pixie cut that ended just below her earlobes. Her bangs were tied back from her forehead with two identical blue barrettes. Soot and blood were caked along her hair line, embedded into the creases of her forehead by the ivory soap and used towel. If it weren't for her fire captain blues, freshly washed, and ironed, she might have looked like she had just returned from hell. And now the two of them were walking back in together.

For a while neither of them said a thing. They just stared at each other.

"There was one other time in all my years at 19 that I have stormed this building with the amount of impulsivity and passion that I feel today. That decision did not lead to an appeal of Bishop's demotion, and the only bearing that my presence had on that encounter was my transfer out of the only station that I had ever known. I was forced to leave my father's legacy behind because my captain saved the life of a child which for some backwards reason pissed off the entire department. When Chief Ross finally realized that her two least favorite firefighters were her biggest assets, it was too late for Bishop. She was already consulting with Dr. Lewis about transfer papers. As it turned out, Chief wasn't the only one who had run out of time. We'd all run out of time with Bishop. So, I turned to the only thing I had left. I became the firefighter that I knew I was destined to be. I worked my way up to the top, and I extended a welcoming hand to the women who came after me. I don't know if Maya will ever forgive me, but DeLuca-Bishop is one of us, so if I come away from this today without a job, so be it."

"You are not instilling confidence in me or our plan. Carina seemed to think they'd listen to you."

"Carina is harboring feelings that she never got to hash out with me regarding my decision to renew my commitment to the department. She would never admit it, but she thinks that I'm a sellout. That my reconciliation with the institution that destroyed Maya's love for the job was equivalent to me spitting on her grave. I can't say I blame her. I got so lost in my grief, my guilt, that I guess the unhealthy coping mechanisms of Maya's past became my present. Nineteen was nothing but a workplace, and Lieutenant nothing but a title. I wouldn't stop until all of Seattle was at my disposal. I had just about reached Fire Chief before I realized that while I had buried my sorrows in paperwork, my friends had worked through theirs together. They picnicked next to Maya's headstone every Sunday to make their amends. They'd go out for a beer after shift and squeeze onto Travis's couch to watch comfort films. And I still felt just as raw as the day 828 had vanished. I asked to return to my Captaincy at 19. I shaved my head, and I got to work on my own amends."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"I don't know. Bishop isn't the first person in my life to come back from the dead. It's a lot, and I think I am finding out that my mother is alive all over again on top of being afraid that when Bishop finally does come home, that my half assed plastic bouquet apology will be less than sufficient. I also tend to overshare regardless. When we lived together, Maya told me that I had boundary issues because I frequently barged in on her in the shower to talk about boy problems."

"Wow. I never thought that I would meet someone who has a harder time with boundaries than I do."

Andy let out a weak laugh.

"It really used to seem like life or death to me back then. The supply closet proposal or the cop ex next door? It all got put into perspective very quickly once I was actually surrounded by death."

"Reality has a way of delivering some tough truths."

"Yeah, but believe it or not right now you and I have an unbelievingly happy truth to deliver. What do you say we go inside and pray that my bosses care as much about their newest recruit as they appeared to at her mom's funeral?"

"That is why we're here. And as much as I love being a therapist to a stranger in a parking lot, there are bigger forces at play."

"Hilarious."

"Please. It absolutely was."

"Whatever. You're just lucky that I never made it to Carina's with a vase full of fake daisies, or I would have already paid my debt." The playful banter continued as the women made their way towards to entrance. It helped with the nerves that they were both pretending they didn't have. Jo should have been discouraged by Andy's words, but she felt electric. There was a reason that the plane had returned, and the universe that had allowed that to happen had to be capable of putting the Seattle Fire Department higher-ups in a giving mood.

"Herrera. I haven't seen you since you got 23 shut down." Chief Dearborn was another in a long list of green chiefs, but unlike her predecessors, she had proven more than once that she was serious about the job. Andy had conveniently been absent from 19 when Chief Dearborn had made the rounds to introduce herself, because, though she was exactly where she wanted to be in her career, Dearborn would always be a reminder of her greatest failures.

"I won't lie and say that was my best moment."

"I won't disagree. Who's this?"

"Dr. Jo Wilson. She's a colleague of Dr. DeLuca's. We're here about Bishop."

"Every day it gets a little more difficult to decipher my grandmother's evening soap opera from the evening news. Doesn't make any sense but I won't say that the department isn't thrilled. Won't say they are either."

"Bishop has a daughter. She enrolled in the academy at the beginning of June. We were hoping to get in touch with her." This was the moment of truth, the moment that would determine whether Andy and Jo had to get a little creative on their quest for the young firefighter's whereabouts.

"She's not a bad recruit. Hopefully she has less of an ego than her mom did. Does." The return to present tense was proving to be a difficult transition for all of those involved.

Andy refused to take the bait. If Dearborn wanted to go low, she could go lower, but she wasn't going to lose any sleep over a bias filled incident report and hurt feelings from a self-care Wednesday gone wrong. She had only met Aria once or twice, and hadn't seen her since she was thirteen, but Andy severely doubted that Carina would have allowed her to grow up with even a shadow of the ego that Maya's father had bestowed upon her. Maya's ego had done nothing but hurt her, disappearing when she needed it most, and only reappearing in time to be the catalyst to a long history of self-destruction. Maya's ego had been her ultimate flaw.

"Yeah, I'm not here to talk shop. I'm here because my friend, who would have stormed in here herself if she weren't on a plane asked me for a favor. She wants her daughter to know that her mom is alive, and I plan on delivering that news."

"Captain Herrera, with all due respect, you gave up your privilege to know the current whereabouts of the academy the day you gave up this job. I will make sure that Aria hears about her mom, but I have a job to do. And so do you. I imagine that a five-alarm apartment fire makes for quite a lot of paperwork."

Jo Wilson had spent most of her adult life trying to contain the volcano of anger that lay dormant in the pit of her stomach thanks to her tumultuous relationship with her first husband. An anger that had only resurfaced stronger when the first man she'd allowed herself to truly open up to since escaping Paul's abuse had left her for his ex with nothing but a letter. Nevertheless, as she stood there, listening to Andy's boss shame her for choosing family over a title, Jo found herself inviting the rage as it bubbled up her chest.

"You know what, no. You might be able to fire Andy if she crosses the line, but you can't fire me. I am not going to hold my tongue while you send us off with a reassuring smile and an empty promise that you'll tell Aria just like Carina said you would. I promised her I would make you listen, and I intend to keep that promise. You need to tell us where she is, or you need to let us talk to her on the phone, or I am going to get in touch with some old contacts I have at the police department."

"Doctor, with all due respect, you are in way over your head if you think I am going to be swayed by blackmail and a couple of donut loving traffic cops with premature hair loss."

"With all due respect, there's an empty Krispy Kreme carton in your wastebasket, Chief Dearborn."

"Dr. Wilson's police connections may not mean anything to you, Charlotte, but I have an in with one of the accountants who does your books. Not to overstep, but I think if the department found out about some of the favors that my friend has done for you, there well may be an opening for me to reclaim."

Charlotte Dearborn had one hell of a poker face, but the quiver in her lip was enough to tell both Andy and Jo that they had hit a nerve.

"Alright, fine, Herrera. Have it your way. But you're kidding yourself if you think that this won't catch up to you and your 'friend' when the time comes."

Andy snuck a look at Jo, who had a devious smile on her face. One that was almost identical to her own. The truth was, Dearborn was right. If the scandal ever broke, she had just about guaranteed that it would drag her down with it, but Andy didn't care. There had been so many moments when instead of standing up for the people that she loved, she'd stayed quiet, and it was about time she put an end to that pattern. If she was going to burn out of the department, she was going to do it right.

However, neither woman had made it halfway to their car before they realized that the hard part was yet to come. For the third time that day Jo found herself preparing to drop a monstrosity of a bomb on an unsuspecting party. Andy leaned against the bumper of the truck, dangling the keys from her forefinger.

"How did you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Open your mouth to tell me and have actual words come out."

"I reminded myself that you were depending on me to tell the truth, to allow you the good fortune of knowing that your best friend was alive. Plus, you just cut up your Seattle Fire safety net like a winning basketball hoop at a championship game. If we don't tell her now, that's just dumb."

Andy laughed, then shrugged.

"Oh well."

Andy couldn't remember the last time that she'd stepped foot inside the academy. By deduction and reasoning, it had to have been during her brief stint as Station 12's Battalion Chief. She and her Captain at the time had attended the CPAT to find a new probie. Jenna Pulaski, the recruit who had joined 12's team shortly thereafter, was now a Lieutenant at 19. She was the best second in command that Andy had ever had the pleasure of working with, and it had been three and half years since a room full of Seattle's best firefighters had watched Jenna blow the existing CPAT record out of the water. A record set by none other than Olympic gold medalist, Maya Bishop. One look at the "recruit of the week" wall in the foyer of the academy, and it was clear that now Pulaski's record was on the brink of extinction. Bishop's daughter was back to reclaim the throne.

Andy felt sick to her stomach. She knew exactly what it felt like to live in the shadow of a fallen legacy. As much as she loved her dad, and she did—she would have done anything to have him back—Andy knew that if Pruitt had lived, she would still be a Lieutenant at 19 longing for the day when Captain Herrera gave her his blessing to move up. Maya had managed to be a parent for thirteen years without turning into her father but having a child in the academy was the ultimate test. Maya forced to watch as Aria surpassed her own accomplishments, perhaps even the promotions that Maya had been blackballed from. Andy hoped that there was a world were Maya came back, and Aria's picture was still up on that wall.

"DeLuca-Bishop, you've got visitors! As for the rest of you, if baby Bishop's got time to talk, I guess you've got time to run."

It might have been three and half years, but it appeared that bullying was still a well-known fixture in the academy's teaching methods. Had she taken the job as Chief, that particular facet of the curriculum would have been disbanded.

"Aunt Jo, what are you doing here? Is Mama okay?" Even Aria's voice sounded like Maya's. Andy wouldn't have thought it was possible, but suddenly she had even more respect for Carina, who had lived every day with a near carbon copy of her widower.

"Your Mama is fine, love. There's been a development, and she was unable to reach you. Captain Herrera was generous enough to bring me here to deliver the news in person," Jo replied. She reached for Aria's hands, and the young woman complied.

"Aunt Jo, you're scaring me. You say Mama's fine, but you drove all the way here with Mom's old coworker."

"I promise you, Aria, physically your mama is okay." This was turning out to be a lot harder than Jo had anticipated. Carina had halfway already known when Jo had told her. She hadn't even had to look Andy in the eye. Now her goddaughter was standing in front of her waiting for news that could potentially change the entire course of her life.

"Physically? Jo, if you don't tell me what's going on right now then I am going to ask Captain Herrera, and if I've learned anything in the past two months, it's that she will have the guts to tell me."

Jo chuckled nervously, and glanced at Andy, who gave her a reassuring smile and a nod. Aria was right. Andy wouldn't hesitate to tell her.

It was now or never.

"Aria, your mom and sister are alive. They're in DC, and your mama caught a flight out to see them an hour ago."

"Mi scusi."

"I don't have the whole story, and I am sure that your moms will explain it to you when you get there, but I spoke to someone from the pentagon directly. They're alive."

Aria's legs felt like jelly, and she was no longer able to hold herself up. She struggled to get enough air, each breath she took in harder to release. Aria never would have guessed that there was a reality where fresh air was more suffocating than a depleted oxygen tank in a room full of smoke. She had suffered from minor panic attacks when she'd entered primary school, and then again when her mom and sister had vanished into the sky, but nothing like this. Aria could sense the commotion around her, but dark spots in her vision prevented her from seeing any further than her hand in front of her face.

Thankfully, Andy was no stranger to a Bishop panic attack. She knelt in front of Aria to make herself appear as non-threatening as the power dynamic between her and the young recruit would allow. She carefully lifted a hand to each side of Aria's face. When it appeared as if she had adjusted to the touch, Andy began to speak.

"Aria, it's Captain Herrera. I was a friend of your mom's. I need you to keep your eyes on me, okay? I need you to try to breathe with me."

With each exaggerated breath of Andy's, Aria's own breathing seemed to stabilize.

"There you go, mija. Just keep those eyes on me and keep breathing."

For the first time since she'd entered the academy, Aria was grateful that her peers were doing drills. If they had seen her broken on the floor, watched as their superior helped calm her, she would have never lived that down.

"I'm sorry."

Andy gave her a look, eyebrow raised, head titled.

"Now I know that Carina DeLuca did not let her daughter apologize for feeling emotions under her roof. I might not be in charge here, but Aria, I promise you, you do not need to start feeling guilty for being human to make it in this field."

"Thank you."

"No need for that, DeLuca-Bishop. I gotchu."

"In that case, is there any way you could explain the situation to my commanding officer over there? Because apparently, I need to go see about some business in the Capitol, and I would prefer for them to not still be running laps when I get back."

"Of course. You just worry about getting to that family of yours. I'll take it from here."

"Thank you, Captain Herrera."

"Call me Andy. I'll take that back the second you break my Lieutenant's CPAT record, and get on outta here, but for now, call me Andy."

Aria nodded, but she had no intention of ever referring to a superior by their first name, even if that superior was her mom's former best friend.

"Aunt Jo, I am so confused."

"You and me both, kid. But you heard the woman. Let's get you to your family. I made a promise to your mama today, and I don't plan on breaking it."

"Are they really alive?"

"They are."

"Wow."

"Wow indeed."