Chapter Two
"I heard what happened. I heard that you're stressed." Andy furrowed her eyebrows. "Your ex-husband texted me. He was worried about you. Figured you needed someone to talk to." Michelle explained, rubbing a hand up and down Andy's arm. Andy's face crumpled after a few seconds of the gentle touch and Michelle pulled Andy into her arms. "It's going to be okay. You'll figure this out."
Andy sighed and pulled back from the hug. "Thank you for coming, Michelle." Andy ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't know how badly I needed a hug until you came."
Michelle gave her sister-cousin a soft smile. "Anytime." Michelle pulled Andy into another hug, still able to feel the stress radiating off of Andy. "I know I can't make this better. I know I can't take your stress away but just know I'm here, okay? Whenever you need me." Andy nodded when she heard a knock. She lifted her head off of Michelle's shoulder and called out.
"Come in."
Vic walked into the office. "Hey, I just wanted to see how you were doing but I guess I have my answer, so I'll leave you two be."
"Actually," Michelle said, stopping Vic from leaving. "I just came by for a quick hello," Michelle turned to Andy. "I'll call you later, okay?" Michelle watched Andy nod and then walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.
"Did you need something, Hughes?" Andy asked, going to sit on her chair.
"I know we've been pretty harsh. I know we've all been a little out of line but…"
"Hughes, it's fine." Andy stopped her. "I get it. I need to get back to work and you all need to get back to auditing when you're done eating, okay?"
Andy watched Vic nod and leave the office, not saying another word. Andy leaned back in her chair and sighed. Focus on work. Just focus on work. You still need to find some way of cutting 10% of the budget. Andy repeated in her head. She opened her laptop and poured over the numbers until she decided she needed a cup of coffee.
Andy walked up the stairs and to the beanery. When she got there she was surprised it was empty. She figured there'd be a couple 'A' shift members who would be slacking. Andy sighed and walked to the coffee pot. She was pouring herself a cup when she stopped. She was exhausted, sure, but she decided to pour the coffee out and head to the lounge. Andy turned the TV on and lay down on the couch. She was watching the news when her eyes slowly started to close. She wanted to fight it, but she knew she needed some sleep if she was going to get through the rest of the shift.
It was 20 minutes later when Vic and Travis walked into the lounge. They stopped as soon as they saw their captain passed out on the couch, They carefully closed the doors and left the room. When Vic got in the beanery she closed the window they had to see into the lounge not wanting Andy to be disturbed.
"She's running herself into the ground, Trav," Vic said, sighing and sitting down at the table. "I don't know what to do. I've never seen her so stressed until she became captain. It's like she's a different person."
"Because she is," Theo said coming into the room. "At 23 she wasn't even this stressed and she had to deal with Barnes and Maddox and a new probie," Theo told them, and they frowned.
"What do we do?" Travis asked. "I hate seeing her like this. I hate that she got captain when the department is on a downward spiral." Theo and Vic nodded, neither knew what to say so it was quiet between the three.
"Hey, did you guys see Cap passed out in the lounge?" Ben asked, walking into the beanery.
"Yeah, that's why the doors are closed," Vic told him.
"How long has she been in there?" Robert asked, coming in behind Ben.
"No idea. We just came in 10 minutes ago." Travis told them and they nodded. Everyone sat down around the table, all taking a break from their audits when Vic suddenly stood up.
"We need to do something."
"What are we supposed to do, Vic? We know why we're being forced to do these audits. Clearly, Osman is screwing us over. Most likely because…" Ben stopped talking suddenly. "Never mind. I just, I'm as lost on this as everyone else. I want to help Herrera figure this out but depending on how much of the budget needs to be cut, wouldn't the chance of one of us being fired be high?"
"10%" Everyone turned to look at where the voice came from and saw Andy standing at the entrance of the beanery.
"Wait isn't 93% of FD's budget personnel?" Travis asked and when Andy nodded they were stunned.
"So. layoffs are going to happen?" Theo asked. Andy looked at him and nodded.
"The whole point of the audits was to see if we could cut 10% any other way," Andy told them. "I'm sorry, guys. Look, I'm trying and I'm going to continue to try until the end of the shift." Andy paused. "look, push comes to shove, I know what needs to be done if I can't find a way to free up some of the budget."
"You mean looking for x's right?" Theo asked again and Andy turned to him. "like a station with too many lieutenants?" Andy looked down but nodded. "Well, then you're safe Sullivan. And we all know you'd never get rid of your best friend since the academy, so I guess I'm gone." Theo said, standing up to leave the beanery. Andy snapped her head up.
"Whoa, Ruiz. You do know how much you mean to me too, right?" Andy waited for Theo to look at her. "You were the only one there for me when I got transferred to 23. You were the one who encouraged me. Who pushed me to be a better firefighter. You taught me how to gain the respect of a team who had little respect in general. Theo," Andy walked closer to him, "You helped me when no one else did. I'm not willing to lose you." Andy told him, resting a hand on his arm before turning to look at the rest of the team. "Look, I have until the end of the shift to figure something out, okay? No one give up on anything yet. Okay?" Andy watched everyone nod. "Good, now get back to work when you're done eating. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me."