Chapter 1: CM (Carbon Monoxide)
A/N: This story is based on my job as an alarm dispatcher. There will be terms and acronyms we use at work, but they will be explained as they come up. Terms used in this chapter: resi (residential, AHJ (authorities having jurisdiction, which are police, fire, or medical), FD (fire department), prem (premises), DNC (Do Not Call), and DND (Do Not Dispatch).
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with once upon a time. I technically own none of the alarm terms either but for the sake of this story those are mine.
Emma Swan pulled up to the building in her old yellow Volkswagen Beetle. She was ready to start her shift, and she was going to give it 110 percent as she did every night. She loved what she did as an emergency dispatch representative and it showed in her work. That hard work and perseverance earned her a place in the commercial work group after only a few months at the job. She considered this to be an honor among EDR's and she was going to give it everything she had. After the ID checks and getting set up, her friend August sat down next to her and began his setup.
"What's up Swanny?" August began "You ready to rock and roll tonight, Savior?" Emma hadn't won the coveted Golden Hero award, but everyone knew she had potential based on her high marks. Therefore, she earned the nickname Savior around the office. Emma had begun auto-streaming, which meant she was able to begin receiving alarms. However, as a commercial agent, she didn't see much action since there weren't many commercial businesses involved with White Knight Security. This ended up being a double-edged sword. On the one hand, she didn't have to worry about being overwhelmed, but on the other hand, she didn't see very many of the special commercial-only alarms. This did not give her practice when these came up. She jumped slightly when a UL certified fire alarm came in. All she had to do was follow the script on the monitoring screen. She recited it to herself before beginning the procedure.
"Okay, Emma you can do this," She began. "Call the FD, send a fire runner to disarm the system, call the prem, run the call list. Okay, I can do this." she finished before starting the procedure. She got the fire department going before looking up at the special instructions these UL alarms tended to have. "Runner required in 2 hours. Shit!" she exclaimed as she began to create the runner Job, meticulously going through and making sure she got it right. She got everything where it needed to be and called the premises. Unfortunately, she couldn't reach anyone and exhausted the call list. The zone that went into alarm had not reset yet, and she was thankful she sent the runner.
Meanwhile, in a small town called Storybrooke, a brunette woman had just tucked her son into bed, and she had just armed her system and was on her way to bed. She thought the night would play out just like any other, but events playing out one town over suggested otherwise. She didn't know how long she had slept before she started hearing it 'beep, beep, beep, beep, pause," the alarm chimed out. The woman had no idea what was going on, and before she could get to her keypad; the phone began to ring.
At the WKS dispatch center, the EDR area had just gone code black, meaning all hell was breaking loose. There were so many signals coming in; even commercial agents were being switched into the resi queue. As fate would have it; the first alarm to come in on Emma's screen was the four-beep alarm from Storybrooke. Emma's jaw dropped as she saw it; the red line, those two letters. This particular alarm was the worst thing to come in in her opinion.
"Shit!" she cursed out. August took notice and looked over
"What's wrong, Emma," he questioned. All Emma could do was point at the screen and utter one word.
"Carbon," she whispered. She hated everything about this signal. The red line, the two words, the deadly nature of something that couldn't be seen.
"Ooh, the old argue-monoxide," august childishly responded. He called it that because nine times out of ten the customer put up a fight about leaving the premises.
"Let's just hope they don't argue," Emma said as she started the call. As the phone was ringing, Emma glanced at the name on the account, 'Regina Mills.' She then smirked at the special instructions "DNC DND on CM signals." That was not going to happen. It was a life-safety device after all. Before Emma knew it; the phone was answered.
"Hello?" a low female voice husked out.
"Good evening, this is Emma with White Knight Security. I'm calling because we're receiving a carbon monoxide alarm from your upstairs Co detector. Unfortunately; by law; given the nature of this gas; I need to ask you to leave your home and I have to notify the fire department," Emma finished.
"I will do no such thing. There is nothing wrong in my home, and I do not need the fucking fire department. I have special instructions for a reason, Em-ma, and you would be wise to follow them." the woman Emma assumed was Regina ground out.
"And the person who wrote those special instructions will be reported. I am notifying the fire department, and if you don't leave on your own; I am sure they will make you leave. Please stay safe, Miss Mills." Emma finished as she hung up the phone. The next step was for her to notify the fire department. She was relieved to see 'Dialing AHJ' appear on screen.
"Storybrooke Police and Fire, do you have a panic alarm?" Emma guessed she had dialed an alarm only number.
"No," Emma had been cut off by the dispatcher whose voice she recognized.
"Please hold…" now it was Emma's turn to cut the woman off.
"I have a carbon monoxide alarm. It's residential to be exact." Emma exclaimed in a hurry leaving the other dispatcher feeling bad because carbon monoxide was just as bad if not worse than a panic or hold-up signal.
"Okay, what is the address?" The dispatcher asked.
"108, Mifflin Street," Emma replied. A few seconds went by before the other dispatcher responded.
"Alright, the fire department is on the way. I just need a little bit more info from you. What is the name of the resident?" the other dispatcher said even though she knew the answer.
"Regina Mills," Emma responded before continuing. "and the alarm is coming from her upstairs hall Co detector." Emma knew the next question as she had done this type of thing many times before.
"What is the premises number?"
"Premises number is 207-555-0121"
"and what's your company name and callback number?"
"White Knight Security, and our callback is 877-555-0552"
"Operator name or number?" the dispatcher asked.
"I'm Operator Emma, and should I just put Ruby down as yours? Actually, that is what I'm going to do," Emma chuckled before ending the call. The other operator, Ruby just stuck her tongue out after her best friend hung up.
Regina successfully got her son Henry up and out of the house. She knew no matter how angry she got; the fire department was coming. As mayor of the town; she knew all the laws and ordinances, and the alarm laws were no exception. Eventually, the fire department came and went through her home with masks, gear, and detectors at the ready. Upon finishing their inspection and opening windows and getting air turned on they reported their findings. At this, Regina just sat on the ground and cried. "There was carbon monoxide in my home. That Emma saved our lives and I was horrible to her," she sobbed out. She then went back in when they gave the all clear, picked up her cell phone, and began to dial a number.
"Thank you for calling White Knight Security. This is Kathryn. How may I help you?"
Emma had since cleared the carbon monoxide alarm, and she was trying not to focus on the wrath of Regina. Emma knew she had done the right thing, but she wasn't sure how the higher-ups would see the battle of safety versus special instructions. She simply decided to focus on her alarm signals to the best of her ability and not even think about Regina Mills. Most of what she saw after the carbon monoxide alarm were burglar alarms. It was said that these were the 'bread and butter' of every dispatcher. The fact that these signals could occur in both residential and commercial made them very easy to speed through. Eventually, she happened to get a panic alarm. Yes, a panic alarm. Since it was residential, panic was the term she needed to use during the dispatch. The process was similar to that of the carbon monoxide and the fire alarm minus the need to run the call list. She began the procedure with the premises, and concentrated so heavily on what she was doing, she didn't notice she was being closely observed.
"Hello?" a male voice spoke.
"Good evening sorry for the late call, but I'm calling because we're receiving a panic alarm coming in from the key fob. Is everything okay?" Emma finished with concern in her voice. While hold-up signals didn't intimidate her, she took them almost as seriously as carbon monoxide and fire.
"I don't know," the man said, puzzled, but at that instant his wife came in and could be heard in the background.
"Sorry hon, I was trying to arm the system and grazed the panic button," a female voice said in a British accent.
"Damn it, Fiona do not press the red button," the man ground out before focusing on Emma. "My name is Malcom Gold, and the password is neverland," Malcom said automatically.
"Thank you for your name and password, Mr. Gold. I'm glad to hear you are safe. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Emma responded.
"Yeah, take the key fob away from my wife," Malcom said playfully, causing Emma and her observer to softly chuckle.
"Well I can't do that, but thank you for choosing White Knight Security," Emma said before disconnecting the call.
"Hey Emma, can you do me a favor? Disconnect from stream, put your phone into meeting mode, and come with me? There's something I need to talk with you about." The observer said. Emma did so and followed him back to his desk. She was nervous when she considered the encounter with Regina going somewhat sour. They both sat down, and the man put on his headphones signaling for Emma to do the same.
"what are we listening to, Anton?" Emma asked trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"One of our folks in the customer service department got a call concerning an alarm you handled tonight. Do you have any idea what that might be about?" Anton asked knowing full well that Emma would know exactly what it was about.
"Anton, those special instructions were invalid. I had no choice." Emma tried to defend. Anton just smiled and clicked the play button.
K: "Thank you for calling White Knight Security. This is Kathryn. How may I help you?"
R: "I'm calling about a carbon monoxide alarm that went off at my home earlier. That dispatcher saved my son's and my life."
Anton just smiled at Emma causing Emma herself to smile. "She wants to meet you Emma. Do you realize what this means?"
"I'm up for a Golden Hero." She responded excitedly. She and Anton hugged at the exciting moment. It was explained that certain details needed to be taken care of, so she was sent back to her seat to finish out her night. Eventually, she made her way back home and locked her apartment and armed the system before going to bed. Eventually she heard a doorbell followed by knocking.
"Emma, let me in." Ruby, the dispatcher from that night yelled. Ruby was also her roommate and best friend.
"I don't know, Ruby. Do you have a fucking panic alarm?" Emma said snidely.
"Emma, I don't have my keys. You are not going to let that panic alarm thing go, are you. I was just doing my job." Ruby shouted. At that, Emma disarmed the system and let her friend in with a big grin on her face.
"what's got you so happy, Ems?" Ruby asked.
"Remember that carbon monoxide alarm that came in? Well that got me nominated for a Golden Hero award!" Emma exclaimed. She and Ruby did a happy dance like a couple of teenage girls.
A/N: Alright, first chapter down. I promise there will be more of a balance between Emma and Regina in later chapters. I wanted to say a special thanks to my beta Tristin. There will also be a cover coming soon.