Hello!

Welcome to the third chapter of this story.

I forgot to mention this story is also a bit inspired by song Head above water by Avril Lavigne.

Hope you'll enjoy the chapter!


As Andy got to the station she caught a glimpse of Diane through the entrance to the barn. So she's going to get the shrink's certificate about how messed up she is as well. Lately I've been getting a lot of the certificates, she thought with a grim. She liked Diane but since she has found out that some people whose profession was the same as Diane's might have helped with her adoption she was holding a grudge against all the psychologists. It was childish but she didn't really care. Andy walked past the beanery to the lockers to change to her uniform, hopefully before she would be thirty minutes late and Ross would get even more mad. As she was changing she didn't notice the figure standing behind her.

"Where the hell have you been Andy?!" Great. Now she'll have to deal with Sullivan too. Andy knew she has already told him way too much then she has intended to, so she wasn't going to lie to him now.

"I went to see Elena", she replied fastening the buttons on her uniform. The confusion

on his face was obvious. Andy felt weird calling her mother by her name too. Step mother. She had to remember that. Well, like she could ever forget that. It all seemed like a bad joke or a nightmare and she was the lead character who has always been the most unfortunate in the nightmare. When she was young her parents used to tell her she was like a stick of dynamite. Not just because she has always been full of energy but also because she could stay calm for a long time but when she had enough she would explode like dynamite. But Andy was suprisingly calm right now. She turned to face Robert and said: "Elena is my step mother's name. We had a lovely chat earlier".

"So, you are adopted", Robert said carefully.

"Indeed", and with that she was done talking to him. She closed her locker and made her way to the barn. When she walked in, everyone's heads turned to her. Andy saw the rage in Ross' eyes. For a moment they just stared at each other, then Ross cleared her throat.

"You are late Hererra," her voice was steady but she was clearly using every bit of her strength not to snap.

"Isn't it obvious?", Andy said in a sharp voice, glaring at her chief. A few people chuckled and a few inspectors drew in a sharp breath.

"That's very disrespectful of you Hererra. Do you really want a month of suspension that much? It seems like you don't care at all about your father's legacy, ruining it every second you spend at the station."

At that comment Andy's anger escalated rapidly. That woman had never been on her side. She had made Andy's life harder whenever she got the chance to do so. She even called her a murderer at some point in the context. She had taken away one person she really needed in last few weeks and she had done more than enough to made Andy's life miserable. She didn't get to say that now. She didn't get to talk about Andy ruining her father's legacy, when Andy did everything to honor it. She excepted her role as a capitan and worked her ass off to be brilliant at it. She did everything right, she stuck to the protocols, yet no one seemed to notice just how hard she had worked even though the consequences were obvious on the station 23. If anyone had been disrespectful it was the chief and the inspectors who didn't seem to care about anyone but themselves. And Andy had enough. She was done with other people controlling her life. She was like a stick of dynamite ready to ignite. So she'll let herself do that. She'll ignite.

The words came out of her mouth before realizing what she was going to say.


"If we are already talking about respect, let's talk about your little affair with the lieutenant of station 19", Robert couldn't believe that Andy actually just said that. In an instant all the heads turned to him, then to Natasha and then back to Andy. Robert's gaze focused on the floor. He didn't want to see their faces. He was shocked that Andy exposed him like that, knowing about his past struggle to keep his job. One of the inspectors asked Natasha if that was true and he heard Andy commenting something about Natasha's word being more valuable than hers. He had to admit she was right. The whole system was broken and nobody had bothered to fix it since Miller. Then the inspector called Robert's name. He wanted Robert to deny or confirm Andy's statement. He could deny it and save himself the trouble this kind of exposal would cause him. He could live on, work on like nothing had happened today. There would be people calling him names and making fun out of him, but overall life would be easy. But somehow it didn't seem like the right thing to do. He met Natasha's eyes. She was confident that he won't confirm it. Then he met Andy's eyes. She was wearing that vicious smile on her lips he had seen earlier today in the supermarket. However her eyes were full of fear but there was something else too. Determination. She made the decision of speaking up no matter the price she'll have to pay later. And they both knew the price will be high. That line between courage and boldness was very thin when it came to Andy. But this was the kind of courage not everyone was able to show. He realized he didn't want to let her down.

"Yes, we're having an affair", there, he said it and he didn't regret saying it at all.


Andy was asthonished. She didn't expect Robert confirming that statement at all. That comment really caught her off-guard, but she focoused again.

"Enough about who's sleeping with whom. Rather focous on all the things the chief — and you for the matter of fact, had done wrong this year. How many innocent firefighters had suffered because of the decissions you've made. Let's talk about how you didn't want to take sides when it came to my case — when I fought off my attacker and then almost went to prison for the act of self defense! Let's talk about how you've been treating female and black firefighters for decades now! What can you say about that? How can you change that?! That's what you should be asking yourselves right now!" Andy saw it in Ross' eyes she went too far, but it had to be said and while she had the courage she intended to at least let everyone know just how broken the system really is.

Ross took a moment before speaking: "Pack your things and go, you're fired", Andy knew something like that was coming but she wasn't expecting this. It hurt her to hear those words, but she wasn't going to fight back or to beg Ross to keep her job because that would make everything she had said before pointless. She lifted her chin and straightened her back. She put on the game face and said: "Gladly".

That wasn't at all how she was feeling at the moment but she wasn't going to let them ruin everything she has worked so hard to achieve in this place, this profession. She turned her back on them and walked out of the barn. She didn't look back. They didn't deserve to see her tears.


This is it for the third chapter!

Andy arrives late at the station where she meets Robert before going to the barn. She starts a fight between Ross and her by exposing Ross and Sullivan's affair. Andy speaks up about the broken system and ends up getting fired. Andy leaves the station heartbroken.

Now unemployed what she'll do next? What will happen now that Robert's secret is out? Will Andy try to look for her biological parents?

Follow my story and find out!