Alicia woke up half an hour before her alarm was about to ring. She had to admit she was nervous, but more excited. She heard a lot of good things about that fire house, and the thought of working in a family-like environment was the last argument that made her decide to move back to Chicago.
She got up and made herself a mild cup of coffee to not trigger the nervousness anymore, and a bowl of cereal, and after she has eaten, she went to the bathroom. To make a good first impression, she decided to only put a small amount of make up on, just covering a few red spots and putting on brown mascara and combing her eyebrows with a bit of gel. She also put on her work outfit – plain blue pants, a black belt and a grey shirt underneath the fire house jacket – at home to appear at Fire House 51 completely ready. She threw a pair of plain jeans and a band shirt she bought at a concert into her bag, along side with a bag of makeup, tampons, and some towels.
Two men and a woman were already standing in front of the building, when Alicia got out of her car and walked towards them. She felt relieved when they already knew who she was. Arriving to a new work place without anyone being informed she would come was a thing she experienced and never wanted to ever again.
"You must be the new paramedic", the tall, dark skinned man greeted her with a smile. "I'm Chief Boden, welcome to our fire house!"
"Exactly, I'm Alicia Barnes. Nice to meet you!" She shook their hands.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Gabriela Dawson, I was a paramedic here before I became a fire fighter."
"I'm Mat Casey, the lieutenant of Truck 81. Let me show you around." They got thought the entrance into the common room with a kitchen in the back, where some fire men were sitting. "Everyone, this is our new paramedic, Alicia Barnes."
She shook a lot of hands and tried her best to remember the names, when she finally met her new partner, who turned out to be a woman her age, with a genuine smile on her face. "Hi, I'm Sylvie Brett. So nice to meet you! I heard you're new in Chicago?" Even thought she wouldn't admit it, she was more than just a bit relieved that she didn't have to work with some conservative, grumpy old man again.
After Brett showed her where she could put her stuff and change after shift, they didn't even get to talk for five minutes until they heard the alarm. "Ambulance 61, Truck 81. Car crash on…"
"Ah, they didn't give me a lot of time to adjust. Already into action!"
"You'll be fine, let's go. I'll drive! What kind of music do you like?"
"Erin, this needs to stop." Jay grabbed her shoulder, stopping her from leaving. Besides Ruzek in the kitchen, they were the only ones still at work, but on their way home.
"What do you mean?" Erin asked in a low voice, so Ruzek couldn't hear them.br /
"I mean you meeting my brother and the three of us hanging out. It's not gonna happen." He sighted when he saw the confused look on her face.
"I told you, I still care about you. I just wanted to do something as long as he visits you, that's all. Get to know the guy you talked about."
"Yeah and I can't do that. I don't wanna be the guy who tells you to respect my wish when I respected yours, but I have to. Look, when you told me to cool down because you couldn't tell Voight, I got it and I was fine with it. Still am. I care about you too, but when I said I'm not the 'sneaking behind dad's back kinda guy', I meant that. I can be just your partner again, but only that. I can't be an on again off again thing."
Lindsay furrowed her eyebrows. "So, you wanna give up and get back to how it was before?"
"Actually, yeah. I wanna move on, to be honest. I was ready to tell Voight and I'm fine with you not wanting to make it official." He was also really tired of playing games and hiding things. He didn't really wanna tell her, but he got why Voight was against in-house romances. It was exhausting and he could feel himself putting more energy in his work to hide the fact he liked Erin a lot more than he should. It made him feel like a teenager and not a grown man who worked an important job, so coming out with this thing was the only option for him. But he rather told her no than to guilt her into making a decision.
"Okay. Okay let's stay partner then. I get it and I don't want you to be uncomfortable. And this is not forever, right?"
"Thanks", he whispered, intentionally dodging the question as it was exactly what he didn't wanted to hear. "Partners."
They shook hands and let go the moment Ruzek stepped out of the kitchen. "Guys, Kim, Atwater and I wanted to go to Molly's tonight. You're coming too?
Erin shook her head. "Nah, thanks. I'm good, I'm too tired after this day. See you tomorrow." She grabbed her jacket before both could change her mind and jogged down the stairs.
Ruzek bumped his fist into Jay's shoulder. "What about you, man? I heard the new pretty paramedic from 51 is coming to Molly's, too."
"Oh." Jay raised an eyebrow. "Does Burgess know you think she's pretty?"
"Hey, I'm just observing, not judging. So what now, are you coming? Just for a few beers?" He gave him a knowing look. Having a in-house romance himself, Adam probably knew about them for a while now. And that it wasn't something to last.
"Sure, why not. Meet you there, Ruzek."