A/N: This may have taken me a little longer than I had intended, but here it is :) There are a few things in here that I know aren't exactly 'canon' but this is my version of the story, right? I hope you all enjoy this update and I would love to hear some feedback! xx Mariah
Why didn't you say that, you stupid bitch? You're wasting my time!
It was still weighing on her. People could be so awful over the phone with no thought to the other person on the other end of the line, especially when on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator.
Maddie understood being in pain or even in a state of panic, she had been an ER nurse and those kinds of reactions were only human nature, but that girl on the phone had taken things personally and said that to her. All because she had asked her to check the pulse on the possibly dead man she was calling in about.
How difficult was it to do that? Or to check for where he may have been injured?
She sighed and tried to push it from her mind as she got up from the floor where she was sitting to refill her glass of wine just as there was a knock on the front door. She really needed to get a couch sooner rather than later.
"Don't worry, Mads. I'll get it," Buck said, coming over from where he was setting up the tent they had bought.
It was like old times, he'd said. When they were kids it was Buck's favorite thing to do a living room camp out. Especially when their parents went away on business trips. It was a good distraction whenever she would pull out marshmallows and roast them with him in the fireplace in the living room of their parent's house.
"The money is on sitting on top of my wallet," she told him, grabbing the wine bottle and bringing it into the living room of her new and empty condo.
Buck was already closing the door by the time she sat down and brought the bag of takeout over to her.
"So what did you order for us?" He asked, pulling open the brown paper bag. "It smells delicious."
"I got a bunch of tacos from that place named Luis' down the street," she told him. "And you know, guac and queso with chips too. Only the best stuff in the whole world."
"Oh, I see. Your go-to comfort food," he said.
She hadn't realized her little brother paid so much attention to her. "How do you know that?" She asked, grabbing a handful of tacos and unwrapping one quickly. She hadn't eaten since breakfast and these smelled delicious.
He took all of the food out of the bag and flattened it out to place it on top of since they didn't have a table. "You used to order it all the time whenever you and that… what was his name?" Buck asked.
"Who's name?" She asked, despite having a mouth full of taco and just covered it with her hand to be safe and less gross.
"That boyfriend you had in high school," he said as he opened up the queso and chip bag. "You guys broke up so many times I lost count, but I can't remember his name."
"Oh, you mean Finn?" She hardly remembered him anymore and it was hard to think he had had such a pull on her when she was younger. "Yeah. He wasn't the greatest."
Finn had been the first guy she had ever told that she loved. The first guy she had ever slept with. The first guy she let break her heart one too many times before she finally let him go and he wasn't the last.
It wasn't until he had gotten another girl pregnant did she finally open her eyes and break things off for good. She had moved away for college after that. Penn State. She'd met Doug and thought everything was going to change, and God, how wrong had she been.
"You never have had the greatest type, have you?" Buck teased, and she knew it was all fun and games with her brother, but she didn't need it today.
"Look who's talking, Evan." She scoffed, uncrossing her legs to kick him lightly. "How's your boyfriend at work?"
"Just because I had one thing back in community college doesn't mean I'm into the guy. Eddie and I are just friends." He said, pandering around her question as he stood up. "So I'm sensing you had a bad day since you're poking back," he said as he went into her kitchen. He came back with the new bottle of Patron he'd bought her as a housewarming present, two plastic shot glasses as well. "And since we're having tacos it's time we open this tequilaaaa!"
She started laughing at him, shaking her head. "I do not need that hangover tomorrow. I have a ride-along remember?"
"Oh. Yeah. Crap." He sighed, pouting. He walked over to her all the same with the shot glasses. "But can we at least do a shot or two? You are looking pretty down, sis."
"Yeah, I'm excited for my ride-along, but also worried. You know me and meeting new people." She took one of the shot glasses from him and he cheered, like a grown-child, and poured them both a shot.
They both threw them back and high-fived, laughing together as they sat in her empty condo. She couldn't think of a better way to spend her Tuesday night.
"Well, since you don't like new people, why don't you request Athena?" He asked dipping a chip in queso and popping it into his mouth with a loud crunch. Buck was always so loud about how he ate. Even when he was a kid. "I think I've told you about her. She's a field sergeant, and while we got off on the wrong foot, we're so-so now. At least I would like to think so."
"Okay, yeah. I'll do that," she said, gesturing toward the tequila bottle. "Thanks for the advice, little brother. Are we gonna do another one while I'm feeling in the mood?"
Buck laughed. "Oh, hell yeah we are." He said and poured them each another.
Maddie had been sitting in the squad car for far too long by the time the EMS arrives, and she noticed the station number was 118. Wasn't that Buck's unit?
She watched as the team piled out of the fire truck and ambulance and noticed her brother amongst the many people, and that confirmed her suspicion, but it wasn't Buck that had caught her eye. It was one of his many coworkers, an EMT maybe because he carried a medical bag as he rushed into the cemetery, but he was cute and hard really nice arms.
Maddie was out of the car and leaning up against the hood so she could at least hear what was going on. She was curious for more than one reason. When Athena had pulled up to the scene there was a group of Westboro Baptist protestors with signs, preaching hate that no one with half a mind would want to listen to.
It reminded her of home, and so when Athena had told her to stay in the car she hadn't minded. She'd even rolled the window up.
But now that the 118 had arrived she wondered what the hell was going on for one, but she also wanted to get another look at the cute paramedic.
That was when she heard a voice, calm and loud enough to get everyone around to quiet down and listen.
When she peeked her head around she noticed it was the same Asian paramedic she had had her eye on before. His arms were crossed over his chest, his medical bag by his feet as he stared down at the man before him. The team was spread out around him all trying to tend to the patient that was obviously refusing care.
"Sir, you're not fine. Your bowl is probably obstructed. The contents of your colostomy bag are backing up into your system." He explained rationally. "You're about to choke on your own waste. You will suffocate and die."
"Get… away." The man on the ground demanded, his voice weak.
Maddie was disgusted. She didn't even need to listen to much more to know why this man was refusing treatment. She had worked in an ER for nearly a decade and had been on both the receiving end of hurtful sexism and had to see plenty of good, honorable colleagues be discriminated against by the general public they were only trying to help.
Do no harm echoed in her mind. She knew every person on that team would still give their best treatment, despite getting hatred in return.
The next thing she heard was a different man's voice and when she got a look at him she assumed it was Captain Nash from not only the way he looked to be handling himself but also from how Athena was carefully watching him off to the side.
"Okay, would you like me to call you another paramedic team so you can have an all-white one?" Cpt. Nash said bluntly.
"Yeah," the man on the ground said as he began retching loudly.
"He's gonna aspirate," another person on the team spoke, an African American woman with unique black glasses and nicely shaved hair look said with her arms crossed, standing next to the cute looking one she had her eye on that she didn't know his name. She had a hunch by looking around the team on who was who. "Yeah, he's aspirating."
She assumed that the young and good-enough looking guy next to her brother was Eddie and that the woman with the unique glasses was Hen, and that left the cute guy she had her eye on along with Captain Nash. She assumed that meant Chimney was the one she was interested in. Seeing a cute guy in uniform made her gut feel warm in a way she hadn't felt in a long time, and that scared her, but in a good way.
"Actual diarrhea of the mouth. Outstanding," Chimney said, at least from her hunch.
"Okay, guys, let's get to work." The woman who she guessed was Hen said and the entire team went to work.
Buck and Captain Nash assisted each other with turning the man onto his side while Hen and Chimney went to work with trying to intubate the man
It was another few minutes or so before the patient was loaded into the ambulance and it took off towards the hospital. She could already see her brother approaching and couldn't wait to get the chance to ask him later about if that cute paramedic was in fact who she thought he was.