The next day I was kind of skittish around Jamie I didn't know where to sit, or what to do. It had been a long time since I had had sex with a man, and I wasn't sure what to do. Finally Jamie just looked at me, "Come here." He had me lay down with my head on his lap like I had done so many times before, and he started playing with my hair. We sat and just watched TV for the rest of the day, and ordered a pizza. Life was back to normal.

The next week went great. My grandfather had stopped asking me to cut an engine, and we weren't working as much at the station. I was at the training station today because I was told I had two pick two more probies to train in who would rotate shifts with a few of my people. I knew the potential dangers of this because we needed those experienced firefighters to help train the probies.

I looked at them running the course. I mostly looked at the men, because females had a lower fitness test. The females on my team were not allowed that; they had to be as good as the men. It was harsh, but we traveled to other states as relief teams for other firefighters. We were some of the best in the country, and I didn't want one of my people getting killed because someone couldn't carry their oxygen tank as long as the others could. The training officer came over to where I was leaning on the fence, "There's a few that might make your team." The fitness test for my team was higher than the normal one.

"Who?"

He pointed to them as he named them off. They were the three in front, and all of them were burly males. I pointed to the guy in the back helping another recruit walk. It looked like they had sprained their ankle, "Whose that guy?" Then I pointed to the female right behind the three guys, "Whose she?" I only needed two, and I did not want the cockiest two of the group.

Nate, Jack, and Amy walked over. Jack was the firefighter directly under Nate and Amy was the only other female on our crew. There were more females in the house, but none of them were as good as she was. I looked at them and Amy spoke up, "The usual test?" I nodded and she got ready.

The training officer whistled for them to come over, "Captain Reynolds here is looking for two new recruits. You will be under her watch today and tomorrow. You will do anything and everything she says. Failure to comply will result in a lower firehouse." We all knew that meant they would be stationed in the least busy of all the bureaus.

He nodded for me to take over, "All right. I'm Captain Reynolds, this is Liutenant James, Sergeant Rivera and Technician Adams." They responded with the appropriate greeting to senior officers. "My rules are simple. We will run you through multiple series of tests. If you beat all four of us, you are guaranteed a spot on my crew. If you beat one person, you are allowed back tomorrow to compete against your fellow recruits for spots. Those of you who beat two of us will get to compete first tomorrow. If there are any spots left, those of you who only beat one person will get a chance to compete. One of us will be out of every exercise to observe you all. You cheat, or try to screw with another person, and we will know." I let them process this, and smiled when I saw a few police officers stroll over.

They liked to watch because all four of us were the most fit in our entire bureau. No one on my crew was aloud to be even slightly obese, or they were transferred out or given the option to get back into shape. Like I said, I was harsh, but there was a reason I had only lost one firefighter since 9/11. "In the off chance that there are more than two of you who pass, you will compete against each other, or prove to me that you can be of use to my crew. Keep in mind that we travel frequently and are often gone for months at a time with wildfires." I started walking around to get a better look at the trainees. "But you will be safe on my crew. I cannot promise you much, but I can promise we all do our best to make sure every single person makes it out alive. We do have a higher rate of hospital visits than most crews, but our firefighters get less burns." I knew what everyone worried about was the scars. "If you do not want to be on my crew, you leave now." I had to hide my smile. Every new class heard of the things my crew did, and how great we were. No one even batted an eye.

"There are a few things you have to deal with at my station that you may not have to deal with at others." I could tell everyone was curios. I looked back at my current crew, and they had to hide their laughs. They had heard this all before. "Spouses are aloud to sleep at my house. As long as you don't disturb anyone else, you can have sex on duty." I knew the dangers of having a horny firefighter thinking about his wife instead of the current job, "There are separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms for men and women. This does not mean that we don't share. Our plumbing backs up regularly and my crew would rather spend the money on safer gear than regular plumbing." I could see a few women gulp.

"You will be expected to learn how to cook, and do others laundry when there is the time." Not that there was much time for that lately. "You double check the tanks are full after every run." If an oxygen tank was low, and a fire took a turn for the worse, it could be deadly. Everyone nodded; they thought this was common sense. I continued, "There are a few alcoholics in my station. You will not make any crude jokes about it, nor will you judge them for it." I knew I wasn't the only one who had seen a person's skin melt of off them. At one point or another, alcohol was the only way these people could deal with it until they became fully sober. "You may not even find out who these people are, but you keep your comments to yourself." I wouldn't tell them I was an alcoholic until they were given the option to join my crew.

Nate decided to pipe in this time, "You ever have a drop of alcohol on the job, or come to work drunk-"

Jack interrupted him, "Or too hung over to work-"

Nate continued, "You will be transferred and/or fired on the spot."

I nodded and looked at the male recruits, "If any of you have a problem working with females you do not even try to join my crew. I guarantee you that Sergeant Rivera will outsmart you every time you try to mess with her." She just smiled at this, "She will be my first choice over you any day."

The female recruits smiled, "Ladies, do not think that just because I defended Sergeant Rivera here gives you any advantage over the men. You will be expected to be their equals, if not their betters, in every thing you do. Because we are thought of as weaker, we will be expected to do better." The girls all nodded.

"And one last thing before we start," The training officer just laughed, "My grandfather is the fire commissioner, and my battalion chief has been my superior officer since I joined almost 13 years ago so don't even think about going over my head with any issues you have. If you have a problem with me, you come to me, got it?"

They all chanted as one, "Yes ma'am Captain Reynolds."

"Any Questions?"

It was one of the three guys who were in front who spoke up, "Why don't you just talk to our training officer and see who the best is and decide from that? It will be obvious." He smirked.

I walked over to him, and stood as close to him as I could get, "Because I don't look at the obvious. I look to see whose the best. I look to see who can outsmart the others. I look for those who work well with my team. I look for those who don't over estimate their worth." I turned around to face everyone else, "Did everybody hear this?" the chanted their assent, "Then lets run some laps." I could tell the three men who were in front would cause some trouble.