Hey y'all! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I've been a little under the weather the past couple days, but I'm starting to feel much better! Thank you all for your support and kind words, and I hope you enjoy the last two chapters of this story!
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Everyone comes out from behind cover as the bay door closes.
"What are we going to do?" Buck asks desperately. "I can't leave Jo in there with that guy."
"We need some time to think of a plan." Athena turns to Bobby. "Who was that man?"
"James Randall. His son, Gage, was the little boy who died in that house fire two months ago. Apparently he thinks it's our fault."
Buck butts back into the conversation. "Listen, he wants to talk to a fireman. I'll go in there and listen to what he has to say."
Athena shakes her head. "You are not going in there. You have too much in this and you're too emotional. You say or do the wrong thing and he'll shoot you and Jo, and I'll have three lives on my hands." Athena tries to reason with him. "Give us some time to think of a plan, okay?"
Buck sighs and runs his hands through his hair. Athena joins the other officers to talk about their options.
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It's been an hour since the first confrontation. James is still in a lot of pain, and his skin is pale and sweaty. He's lost a lot of blood and infection is setting in.
"Can I please help you? If we don't get that bullet out and stop the bleeding you'll either bleed out or die of an infection. You've made some bad choices, but I can't let you die."
James glares at her and thinks. "Fine," he sighs.
"I need to call the paramedics so they can tell me what to do. I promise I won't try anything. I'm just going to get the information and hang up"
James shoes her away. Jo pulls out her phone and calls Buck while running to the only ambulance left in the fire house for supplies.
"Jo!" Buck cries out on the other end of the line.
"I need you to tell me how to remove a bullet," Jo demands as she starts gathering supplies.
"You're not helping him."
"Yes I am. If I don't he'll die, and I can't let that happen."
"I really couldn't care less if he's dead."
"You don't mean that."
"Why doesn't one of us come in and treat him?" Buck tries to reason.
"He won't let you. I'm the only one that can do this."
"We can get in there and maybe talk to him-"
Jo cuts him off. "Evan, he is not going to let anyone come in here, so tell me how to do this. Please?"
"Alright. I'll hand the phone to Hen."
"Thank you."
"I love you. I promise I'll be right here when we get you out."
Buck hands the phone to Hen. After she explains the procedure, Jo hangs up and goes back to James.
"I'm not going to lie, this is probably going to hurt."
"I've been shot," James quips. "I don't think it could be more painful than that."
Jo gets all the supplies out of the bag and starts getting to work by cleaning out the wound first. They are both quiet, except for the occasional wincing from James.
"Tell me about your son," Jo says, breaking up the silence.
"Why do you care?"
"I want to know about him. You obviously loved him a lot."
"He was my whole world."
Tears fill James' eyes as he thinks about his son. "Gage was my only kid. His mom didn't want him, so I got him. He was the best thing that ever happened to me. We were best buddies. He wanted to do everything I did; he wanted to go everywhere I went. He was so smart, too. He knew his ABC's by the time he was three and was counting to 100 by the time he was 4. He loved trucks. His favorite thing was to go to the dump with me to watch those machines scoop up the trash."
"I'm sorry. I can't imagine losing a child."
"It's the worst pain in the world, and I hope you never have to experience it."
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you think these guys are responsible for his death?"
"They wouldn't go in after him. It was the middle of the night when the fire started, and I didn't know it until the fire was coming through my bedroom door. They got me out, but they wouldn't go back in for him. They said it wasn't safe because the fire was too intense. Isn't it their job to rescue people from burning buildings? If they had done their jobs, my son would be with me today."
"Their job is to fight fires, and they can't do that if they're dead. I know for a fact that they took your son's death very hard."
James scoffs.
"They did," Jo insists. "They're human, and anytime they lose someone they kick themselves. But when it's a kid..." Jo trails off, not needing to finish her sentence. "They did everything they could."
"But it wasn't enough."
"I know you're hurting, and I get it."
James cuts her off. "No you don't. You have no idea what I'm going through."
"Actually I do. I lost my mom in a house fire when I was 16."
"Because the firemen left her in there?"
Jo shakes her head. "No. We all got out, but she went back in because she thought my brother was still inside, which he wasn't. The house collapsed while she was still inside just as the firemen pulled up. They couldn't save her even if they tried. She went in because she was a fireman. That was her passion, and she knew that you don't run back into a burning building. She drilled that into our heads. But her mom instincts kicked in and she wanted to save her son. It ended up costing her life." She looks up at James, then back down. "For the longest time I blamed my brother, and so did he. It messed him up so much that he took his life a year later. Which I also had the pleasure of discovering his body."
James hangs his head quietly.
Jo continues. "I was so mad at the world. I didn't understand why that all happened, and quite frankly I didn't care. I just wanted my family back together. I wanted things to be normal. But blaming other people couldn't bring them back to life. They were gone, and I had to come to terms with that."
She meets James' gaze. "Gage is gone, and I know you would give anything to have him back, but it wasn't anybody's fault. Not the firemen's and not yours. I don't know if you'll ever get the answers as to why things had to happen the way they did, but the fact is, he is gone. Now you have to find a way to both mourn him and move past this."
"So I'm just supposed to forget him?"
"That's not what I said. There's always going to be a hole in your life where he was. You can either choose to let this destroy you, or you can make your son proud."
She pauses for a moment. "Do you think this is what he would want you to be doing? Do you think this would make him proud?"
"Don't use my son to try and make me feel bad about myself," James retorts.
"I'm sorry. But I meant what I said."
Jo finishes up by wrapping gauze around James' leg. "That will do for a little while, but you're going to have to go to the hospital soon."
She gathers up all the supplies while James quietly thinks.
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The crew is gathered outside discussing what to do next.
"This guy is armed and dangerous," Athena advises. "We've got to come up with a peaceful solution to get both him and Jo out unharmed."
"He shut the door on us," Buck says. "How are we supposed to talk to him if we can't contact him?"
"Jo has her phone," Eddie points out. "You could call her and maybe he'll agree to talk."
Athena shakes her head. "I don't want to put her in danger in any way."
"What about the bell?" Bobby asks. "When they tone us out the call goes out over the intercom. We could talk to him that way."
"That might work."
Athena pulls out her phone and calls the 911 center as she walks away from the group. Evan anxiously runs his fingers through his hair.
"Maybe you should go home and wait," Bobby says.
Buck shakes his head. "I'm not leaving, Bobby. Not until Jo comes out safe. I promised her that I would be here when she came out, and I have to keep that promise."
"Okay."
From outside, they hear the bell go off.
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The ringing bell startles both Jo and James.
"What is that?" James asks.
"It lets the firemen know when they have a run."
The bell stops ringing and Athena's voice comes over the intercom.
"James Randall. This is Athena Grant, LAPD. You came here to talk, so let's talk. Open the garage door so we can resolve this. I know you don't want to hurt that woman, and I know you don't want this to end poorly. We can work something out so everyone goes home safe tonight."
James looks to Jo. "Call her."
"What?"
"Call the cop."
"Why do you think I have her number?" Jo chides.
"Because they wouldn't be doing all of this for some random person. They have some sort of relationship with you, don't they?"
Jo nods.
"So call her so I can talk to her."
Jo dials Athena's number and hands the phone to James.
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Athena is standing with the crew waiting for something to happen when her phone rings.
"It's Jo."
"Answer it," Buck demands anxiously.
Athena answers the call. "Jo?"
"It's James."
"Thank you for calling me, James."
"You want to know what I want?"
"I do, actually."
"I want to talk to a fireman. Once that happens, I'll come out."
"I can't send anyone in there, James. If you open the door then you can talk to someone."
"I'm not doing that."
"I need you to give a little here, James. I think we've been more than fair in how you've been treated."
"You shot me!" James barks.
"You pointed a gun at us. We had no choice but to shoot. But if you don't work with us, we'll have to take more drastic measures. We don't want anyone else getting hurt, so let's work together on this."
"I talk to a fireman or I don't come out. It's your choice." He hangs up the phone.
"Well?" Buck asks anxiously.
"He won't come out unless he talks to one of you."
"Then I'll go in."
"No one can go in there, but especially not you."
"He is going to shoot my wife!" Buck cries.
"We are just going to keep trying to get him out here. If we rush in there then someone is going to get hurt. And I don't think it will be one of us out here."
Buck shakes his head and walks away. He eyes the door, contemplating what to do. With everyone's backs turned away, he quickly and quietly goes inside.
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