Emily POV

Friday came faster than I wanted it too. We were really busy at the station all week, and as a result I got behind on paperwork. I hated doing it, but it was a necessity of the job. We were on our way back from a house fire that had spread to two other houses. It had taken too long to control the fire, and as a result, people got hurt. I was sitting in the passenger seat of the fire truck forcing my eyes to stay open on the way home. We were all exhausted; we had been up for 36 hours straight. From the moment we arrived at the station we were going nonstop until now. The only reason we weren't working overtime was because it had rained at the last minute, stopping some of the fire. We had contained the rest, and put it out within the hour. But that didn't mean we weren't tired because of it. We pulled into the station, and everybody got out of the truck.

"Ok everyone, go home. Get some sleep, enjoy your families, and eat. Enjoy the time off while you can." Everyone groaned at the last statement. No one wanted the reminder that they'd have to be back here on Tuesday. Because we had so many trucks we were able to take longer breaks between assignments sometimes. I knew I'd be back here Monday to finish paperwork, but I'd let everybody else have the rest.

Nate spoke up before they all left to clean up before going home, "Everyone bring your extra clothes home this weekend and wash them. We need to keep the laundry here down to a minimum with everybody being gone from the station so much lately."

I looked at him, "Really? Everybody's bone tired and that's all you have to say? Go home and do work that should be done here?"

He glared at me and waited for everyone to leave. People knew that when I was cranky it wasn't a good idea to get in a fight with me; it would potentially lead to blows. "I get it, you're tired and you miss Jewls. Calm down."

I shook my head at him, "I'm fine. I'll get to see her tonight."

"So you don't want to go on the date?"

I laughed, "It's not even a real date. It's just dinner."

"Oh no. Don't you start. You promised you'd give it a chance."

I interrupted him, "When did I promise that?" We walked over to clean up our gear.

"When you introduced him to Jewls. When he came here on Wednesday. It was a wordless promise. You would never introduce somebody to her who you didn't think stood a chance."

I paused for a second, "Fine. But that's not it."

He sighed, "If you really want to spend some time with Jewls you can just reschedule the date. What's his name will understand."

I wasn't even going to start this game, "No. Come up to my office and I'll explain."

We took our time going up the stairs, and stopped to get some food in the kitchen. When we got to my office I had Nate shut the door. "You can't tell anyone this; even Sarah."

"I don't know if I can promise that." He promised Sarah and I years ago that if anything was wrong with either of us that he would always tell the other. He would never promise to keep a secret from either of us.

I gave him a look, "It's not like that. It's about here, dumbass." He looked relieved, "I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't ask you to keep a major secret from Sarah." He gave me a look that clearly said 'Yeah right,' "Ok I wouldn't anymore."

"Anyways, continue. What is this secret about the station that's so bad that I can't tell Sarah?"

"I have to get rid of two trucks and their crew." We currently had about seven crews so this would be devastating to the station.

He sat down with a thump, "Wow. That's sure some big news."

I sat down across from him, at my desk, "Yeah."

"Are you going to fight it?"

"I don't know how much I can."

He started twirling his chair. He only did that when he was nervous, "Have you thought about it?"

I knew what he was thinking, "I won't fire you Nate. Our engine's safe. They're the best in the whole department."

He twirled his chair some more and grabbed the foam basketball I had. Het started throwing it against the wall. "What if you consolidated a few?"

I thought about it for a moment, "How?"

"Assigned more people to less trucks. People could rotate shifts more, and we'd have less engines."

"That could work."

He spun towards me, "Does your grandfather know about this?"

"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders, "For all I know he could be the one mandating this." I hated to lie to him, but this was something small.

"Come on Emily. Why would he do that?"

I got up and started pacing, "I don't know. Why on earth would he let me take this position? Why would he have let me join the department in the first place?" I raised my voice at the last question. Nate joined because I joined to keep an eye on my, and it just stuck. If I was questioning why I joined I knew he'd get mad. But I wanted him mad.

He started raising his voice too, "Really? We're doing this now? You decide to have a midlife crisis in your thirties? This is crap. I've got to get home to my wife and kids."

He started to leave but I egged him on. "That's bullshit. Since when am I the type of person to have a midlife crisis?"

"Well I never thought you were the type of person to become an alcoholic either!"

Now I was pissed. He knew very well why I was an alcoholic.

Jamie POV

I called Emily and didn't get an answer. After she got her forehead stitched up she did invite me up for dinner, but I settled for coffee. I got her number then, and the number of the firehouse. I called the firehouse after I called her and was told that she was on the way back from a fire. Apparently everyone at the station had heard about our date because they said I could just head over now and that she'd be ready by the time I got there.

I drove Joe's old car, hoping the antique would impress her. She told me that she'd ride with someone else in the morning so that she wouldn't have a car to drive home. I was nervous the whole way there and kept tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.

Once I got there I went in the garage entrance hoping to see Emily on her way back. I noticed the garage was full, so I assumed she was back. I walked up the stairs, avoiding the pole for people to slide down on, and arrived in the kitchen. I heard yelling coming from another room, but nobody seemed to worried about it. I recognized a few people from Emily's crew and asked what was going on.

"Oh mom and dad are having a fight." It was one of the girls who answered me.

"What?" I was completely confused.

A guy walked by me, "It's the nickname we use for Emily and Andrew. They both like to yell a lot, and at each other frequently, so we call them Mom and Dad behind their backs. They know about it too; pisses them off 'cause they're like siblings."

Ok then. It seemed Emily and Andrew yelled a lot. I didn't know if that was good or bad. I think that as long as she doesn't yell at me I'll be fine. Either way I was in for it good with this girl.

Someone led me to Emily's office and I stood outside it, waiting for the yelling to stop. "Nate don't you dare go there." Emily's voice was low. I didn't know whether to go in and stop this, or to let them have it out.

Emily POV

"Nate, don't you dare go there."

"Why? I never thought you'd question joining the department but now you are? It's the best decision you've ever made besides adopting Julia!"

I lowered my voice even more, "Nate you bring her into this and I'll do more than just yell at you." Now I was actually getting mad. I needed to calm down.

"Fine! Then don't go questioning why you're here!"

" 'Don't go questioning why you're here?' This isn't a fucking philosophy class Nate. What do you think I'm doing?" What was I doing?

"Like hell I know!"

We were both standing, facing each other, across the desk. It's a good thing the desk was between us too. Nate and I had come to blows too often to count, but it was only because we both had one hell of a temper when provoked. "Well?"

He snorted out a breath and shook his head. "Like hell if I know," he repeated.

"Screw you Nate." I really needed him pissed off if he was going to help me keep the engine, or at least the people working on that engine. I wanted him to direct that anger at our boss, and his boss, and then his boss's boss. I wanted him to be mad at my grandfather.

"God dammit Emily how you got this position over me baffles me very time!"

Good, he was starting to get mad at the right people, "Well just think about it Nate. Would they really put you in this job?" We both knew he was the first choice for this job too. Well, for a few people anyway.

He stormed towards me and I made sure to move around him. I didn't want today to end in violence. "Emily I'm warning you."

"What Nate?" He looked me in the eye, and I smiled. He finally got it.

"God damn your grandfather straight to hell!" Nate was catholic and knew how to evoke swearwords when he needed to. He stopped and stood up stock straight. "He wanted this didn't he?"

I nodded, "Yes. He doesn't want to make me get rid of a single engine, but he also doesn't want to be the bad guy."

He sat down again, "So why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

"He made me promise not to. But he didn't make me promise not to let you realize it."

"Son of a bitch."

"Yeah. He threatened both of our jobs to keep me quiet."

"Bastard."

I chuckled, "Can you come up with a response that consists of more than just swear words?"

He gave me the stink eye, "Screw you." We both chuckled.

"Well now that our argument has come full circle will you help me figure out a solution to this problem?" He nodded his head and waved his hand for me to continue. Just as I was about to add something someone knocked on the door. Nate yelled for them to come in. Jamie walked in. "Shit." I hadn't even had a chance to shower.

Nate looked at me then back to him, "How much of that did you hear?"

"All of it." He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck, "Sorry. It seemed like a pretty intense argument. I didn't want to interrupt."

Nate snorted, "Yeah right." I threw the stapler at his head. He ducked, and then threw it back at me. "You're lucky that didn't hit me in the head."

"Like you'd care. It'd give you something to bitch to Sarah about."

Jamie started laughing, "Do I need to break this up?"

Nate snorted, "Yeah Officer, do your job; be a peacekeeper."

I started laughing too. It took us all a few minutes to calm down. It was a bad joke but I was pretty sure Nate and I would laugh at anything given how tired we were. Jamie just shook his head at us. "You ready? We can pick Julia up on the way back to your place. I assume you want to shower."

Nate piped in for me, "That's just a nice way of saying you smell."

I shoved his shoulder as we left my office, "Like you smell like a bunch of roses buddy." I turned back to Jamie, "That would be nice."

The rest of the night went smoothly, and nobody noticed my antsiness about the station house.