Hard Times

After the gruesome call, Andy is frozen and stays in the engine, not knowing what to do. The bodies and the cries of the mother replayed over and over in her mind until she couldn't take it anymore. She stumbled out of the truck, ran to her office, not noticing Maya coming into the station and threw up in her office bathroom. (5:55 pm)

Maya, not saying anything, just followed Andy into the bathroom and rubbed her back. It took a few more minutes for Andy to stop throwing up.

"What the hell happened?" Maya asked as Andy slowly got to her feet and walked over to her desk chair to sit down.

"Gruesome call." Was all Andy said as she opened her laptop.

Maya, looking at Andy with concern, could see the stress written all over her friend's face. "Andy, talk to me." Maya walked over to Andy, but Andy just got up and moved away.

"No, Maya. I'm fine. I have work to do, okay?" Andy looked at Maya with her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, what are you even doing here?"

"Fought with Carina. I needed some air so I wouldn't say anything I would regret, and I guess I was on autopilot and came here." Maya explained. "Want to tell me what happened on the call?" Maya asked, concern growing for her friend.

"It was just a lot of death. Only one survivor. Kind of like the drunk truck driver call that only left one survivor a few years ago." Andy told her. "It just, it was a hard call."

Maya nodded, she understood. She had broken down to Carina about the fact that she thought she was the metaphorical truck that ran into station 19, but the call was also way too gruesome to move on from. She could only imagine what was going through Andy's head right now.

"Is there anything I can do?" Maya asked, walking closer to Andy and rubbing her arm, wanting to comfort her in some way.

Andy shook her head but then looked at Maya. "You should go home and talk to your wife."

"Good advice." The two women heard and looked toward the door.

"Car, I'm sorry," Maya told her and looked down at Carina's arms and saw Liam. Maya looked from Carina and Liam to Andy and saw her face light up. She smiled. She walked closer to Carina and grabbed Liam. "I think this little one wants some cuddles from Tia Andy," Maya said and walked closer to Andy and handed her Liam.

Andy smiled and rubbed Liam's small cheek as he settled into her arms.

Maya looked at Carina and gestured for her to exit the room. Carina turned to look at Liam and grinned when she saw Andy rocking him gently.

"Carina, I am so sorry." Maya said grabbing one of Carina's hands. "I just, I guess I'm still getting used to being a parent and I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing."

"I'm still getting used to it too, Maya. We need to be in this together, okay?" Carina watched Maya nod and then she looked into the captain's office again. She saw that Andy was no longer smiling but had a content look on her face as she bent down to kiss Liam's forehead, and she sat down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. Carina also noticed the bags under her eyes though. "Is she okay?" Carina asked, gesturing to Andy.

"No. She isn't. They had a gruesome call and it only had one survivor." Maya told Carina and Carina frowned. "She was running into the office when I came in and she threw up. Andy never throws up after bad calls so I can only imagine how bad it was." Maya sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I think holding Liam helped her settle down though." Maya smiled and her best friend leaned back in the chair, Liam laying across her chest.

"Should we stay a little longer? Make sure Andy is okay?" Carina asked, worried about her.

"If you're okay with staying?" Maya asked.

"I am. Liam's extra diaper bag is in the car if we need it." Just as they said that the alarm went off.

Full company station 19.

Andy rushed off the chair and handed Liam to Maya and ran past. "Feel free to stay in my office," Andy called over her shoulder.

It was 11 pm when the team got back to the station and Maya heard yelling. She left Liam with Carina and closed the door. She walked into the barn and heard Montgomery and Ben fighting. She frowned. Those two never fight, Maya thought.

"Warren enough is enough. You need to admit that you're injured and stand down."

"Montgomery, For the last time, get off my back."

"Your back is half the reason you're a danger to all of us."

"Say it again. Say it again! Come on!" Maya heard Warren yell and she walked around the truck to see what was going on. Montgomery and Warren were in each others' faces.

"Hey. Hey! Enough!" Maya watched Andy yell and her eyebrow raised.

"Your back is half the…" Travis got cut off by Andy.

"Enough!" Andy screamed and Maya was surprised at the volume. Up until this moment Maya had only seen Andy calmly stop arguments. Something was seriously wrong. "Montgomery, walk away. Warren, with me." Maya watched everyone walk away while Andy talked to Warren, she couldn't hear what was being said, but it was the way her friend took off her turnout that freaked her out more than anything. She was shaking, in what she guessed to be anger, and watched as Andy just dropped it in the bin. Maya frowned.

She's losing her passion for the job. Maya thought and that thought scared Maya more than she would ever admit. Andy was the most passionate about the job out of everyone here. She didn't want to think about what would happen to the morale of this place if everyone else realized she was losing her love for the job as she saw.

Maya walked back into the office. "Everything okay, Bambina?" Carina asked, worried at the frown her wife had on her face. Maya shook her head and Andy walked into the office a second later. She didn't say anything to the couple and just walked into the bathroom. Maya's frown deepened. "What's going on?"

"Nothing good, Car."

It was an hour later when the three women and Liam were in Andy's office when they heard yelling.

Andy excused herself and walked out of the office to see what was going on, Maya not too far behind her, unknown to Andy.

"I don't know who stole the spreaders." Maya heard Robert say and her mouth gaped open. She knew this wouldn't be good.

"Someone stole what?" Andy asked, looking at her team.

"Cap… Look, we, um… We believe that someone may have stolen the hydraulic spreaders, Captain." Ben said, not looking at Andy.

Maya couldn't see Andy's face, but she imagined how pissed she probably was. She knew she would be pissed if it happened to her when she was captain.

"You're kidding," Andy said, and Maya could feel the tension growing. Andy let out a shaky breath and Maya got chills. This wasn't good. "I am out here, stretching every nickel we have to find a miracle just to keep us together and you lose one of our most expensive tools?" Maya knew what was coming but at the same time, she didn't know what to think because she didn't know that their jobs were in jeopardy. "I'm trying to save your jobs!" Andy screamed. Maya looked around the truck and saw Andy look away from the group, taking a deep breath and turning back to them. Andy looked at Sullivan. "Sullivan, call the other stations because if we get a call without having them we may end up being screwed," Andy said. "Everyone else check the equipment and have your audits on my desk ASAP." Andy took another deep breath and walked away from the group. Andy was still breathing heavily when she saw Maya at the entrance of reception. Andy sighed and walked past her and into her office.

Maya followed and closed the office door behind them. "Okay, truth time. What the heck is going on and why are they auditing?" Maya's saw Andy's shoulders slump.

Andy sighed. "Osman went back on his promise to up the budget and is making us cut 10% of the budget," Andy told her. Maya walked closer to Andy.

"Andy, look at me." Andy looked up, not fighting Maya. "We'll figure this out, okay? We will." Maya tried to be positive.

"Maya, just stop. No matter what happens I know that someone here is going to be laid off." Andy told her and walked into the bunk room while Maya looked on helplessly.