The Next Morning
Several members of Fifty-Five were at MedStar checking in on Teddy and how she was.
"How is she?" Ben asked. Phoebe sharply exhaled. "We're running every test, no results yet, all she's depending on is that ventilator." She replied while hunched over in her chair.
Arnold patted her shoulder. "She'll wake up, just keep faith."
Phoebe let out another sigh. "If you guys will excuse me, I have someone else to check on." She got up, slid open the door, and walked out to another ICU room.
In the other room, a familiar person was in there with an older male.
Phoebe walked in after knocking. "Mr. McCaffery, how's your father? Any response?" She was checking in with Russ McCaffery and his father.
Russell shrugged. "No change."
An intern came in and handed Phoebe an iPad. Phoebe started looking at the lab results and then found some shocking results.
"Um, McCaffery? I- Has your Dad been diagnosed with-" Russell took over. "With cancer? Yeah… He was diagnosed long ago, the last time we checked about his cancer was a couple of months ago. And at that time he was doing just fine! Could it be possible he's…?"
"Well, since it's his first time coming here with those results, it- I…" Phoebe took a deep breath and sighed. "Mr. McCaffery, I- I'm very sorry but…" Russ shook his head, not liking what she was saying. "No… No, please don't…!" Phoebe gulped. "I'm sorry but… your Dad's cancer is terminal… I'm not e- exactly sure how long he has… Hours. Days. At most this week…" Phoebe felt her hands trembling.
McCaffery sniffled. "And what about this vent he's on?"
"It'll only help until you either decide to take him off the vent, o- or until his time comes…" Phoebe replied. "You don't have to make a decision now. I'll leave you to take some time." She soon walked out of the room.
While Phoebe walked by Arnold and Spinelli, the two had their daughter with them since their shift doesn't start until a half hour or so.
"Man, these past couple weeks have been severely unpredictable." Spinelli pointed out while carrying Andy. Arnold rubbed her shoulder while holding onto her other arm. "You do have a point. I mean, look at Gibson, and now Teddy, I mean, who else is next?" Arnold shrugged.
Spinelli sighed while Andy sucked on her binky. "Man, don't even say anything 'cause I'm just about ready for ONE good thing to happen." Spinelli looked at Andy. Andy would look back at her with a curious look. Spinelli smiled and kissed her cheek. "You cute little girl…"
Arnold smiled. "So you ask for one good thing? How about I double it? Let's go home and spend some time with our baby girl before shift. How's that sound?"
Spinelli gave a warm smile. She then leaned over and slowly kissed his cheek. "I love you, Arnold. There's a reason why you're the best husband." Arnold kissed her back. "Come on."
The two started walking away to return home and spend quality time as a family. But before they could walk away, Stella had came to the hospital in her Class A uniform, her white gloves, and her white Battalion dress cap.
"Mom? W- What are you doing here dressed like that?" Arnold asked.
Stella sighed. "I received a call of a former firefighter and Battalion Chief with terminal cancer. I'm here to pay my respects and find out more. I'm going to have to make it quick, the new Squad truck arrived at the station." She then walked past them.
"I wonder who that former firefighter can be." Spinelli looked at Arnold, who only shrugged. They soon walked away together. "Let's just get home and spend some time together. Ok?" Arnold kissed her forehead slowly, leaving a smile on her face.
Ten Minutes Before Shift
"... Peek-a-boo!" Arnold was playing peek-a-boo with Andy, who was laughing away. Arnold then got a stuffed parrot plush. "Why look who we have here, sweetie!" Arnold held the parrot high in the air while Andy tried reaching for it. Arnold slowly lowered it to her shoulder. "Looks like you have a new friend!" He handed it to Andy.
Another plushie hit Arnold around his shoulders. "Hey, don't forget about this little guy!" Spinelli walked over to the living room and soon sat on the couch. Arnold yanked the plushie off his shoulder. "Hey, who's this?"
Spinelli smacked the back of his head and got off the couch and onto the living room carpet.
"You ass! Meet my old friend, Mr. Monk-Monk!" Spinelli yanked her old stuffed plushie from Arnold's hands. He chuckled. "Spin, that thing looks like you constantly threw it at a wall."
"Shut up!" She chuckled while holding it next to Andy. "Don't be scared, sweetie, he just wants to be friends." Andy looked back and forth at both the monkey plush and the parrot plush. She stuck out her hand and grabbed the Mr. Monk-Monk plush.
Arnold and Spinelli smirked at each other.
Soon, the front door opened and closed. Pep had come home from trying to find out about the parrot Arnold found yesterday. The two looked over.
"Ugh! I went to several animal shelters and they said no one came looking for this little guy!" Pep pointed at the parrot while he flapped his wings. "I can kind of see why, this little guy didn't want to stay in his cage and kept squawking until I got him out."
"And he was just sitting on your shoulder the entire time?" Spinelli asked.
"Unless you were in the car with me, then you're just about right. This little guy was on my shoulder the entire time!" Pep walked over to the living room. "And ever since I took him out of the cage, he's been relatively quiet, for the most part."
While Arnold held Andy up high for a second and back down, the parrot flew off Pep's shoulder and onto the couch.
"I hate how early we had to wake you but at least we're getting an answer, somewhat." Spinelli shrugged. Pep shrugged as well. "Well, there's no point in sleeping no since our shift starts in less than ten." She said.
Spinelli nodded in agreement. Arnold put Andy back on the carpet and wrapped his arm over Spinelli's shoulder. "We just have to get through today and we'll have the next three off." Arnold told the two girls.
As Pep came over to sit on the couch, Arnold kissed Spinelli's forehead and let her rest her head on his shoulder for a minute.
Soon, a scene of the sunrise over the city was seen, which then transitioned over to Firehouse 55, where the three main trucks were parked out front, and a fourth truck behind the station.
The new Squad truck had its sirens on as there was a crowd there. The new Squad truck was a six wheeler. Four rear wheels and the usual front two wheels. The rear had the emblem 'Squad 55'.
"Alright, everyone! Today's not only a beautiful day to have a new team come aboard, and not only to introduce a new truck into the house, but it's also a beautiful day to save lives with our new truck and team! Let's bring this baby home!" Michelle slapped the truck twice with a smile.
All of House 55 and the crowd went behind the truck to push. And within a few seconds, the wheels slowly started moving as the truck was being wheeled inside its new home.
Slowly but surely, the new Squad vehicle was rolled behind the Engine.
Everyone whistled and cheered once the new truck was wheeled in.
And just like that, the station alarm had gone off. "Engine 55, Truck 55, Aid Car 55, Squad 55, Battalion 55, respond to a single car accident in 543 Interstate Ocean Drive. Be advised, the car swerved off the road."
"And who said it'd take long for this new truck to make its debut?" Suarez asked jokingly after checking the tools compartment which was already stocked with tools.
In the blink of an eye, everyone started gearing up, all the truck siren lights were on and flashing around the station with the engines revving.
The Engine would roll out of the way and make way for the new Squad truck to drive off and lead the way. As the Squad horn honked the sirens blaring, the Engine followed behind along with the Ladder and Aid Car. Then a Battalion pickup truck followed behind the four trucks.
"Has anyone seen McCaffery this morning? I thought he was supposed to show up today." Arnold looked behind and saw he was one member short.
*beep* "Chief, this is Cruz, we're one member short, McCaffery hasn't shown up." Cruz radioed the Chief.
"I hear you, Cruz. I'll see to it after this call." Stella replied.
An outside shot of the five vehicles was displayed as the truck horns honked with the sirens blaring.
Within a few minutes, the trucks finally showed up on the highway but they were left with no clue of where the car could be.
All of the trucks came to a stop. Michelle was the first to hop out. "Alright, people, we have a car that swerved off the road, not exactly sure the reason why but we'll soon find out. We're gonna have to close off the part of the highway until we get the victim or victims out. Let's start a perimeter search! Squad, Truck, search the area for any tire marks or damaged guardrails, Montgomery, Alexander, Warren, set up a perimeter limit a hundred feet South of the Engine!"
"Alright, you heard her, people! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Arnold told his Squad unit.
An overhead shot of many of them starting to jog off North of the trucks to find the car.
Only around six-seven minutes passed by before Squad would find something…
"... You know, one of my cousins, who lives down in Seattle, say's it's pretty great down there. One thing that unfortunately happens down there is a bunch of hospital shootings." Cruz was talking with his Lieutenant while looking for the lost car.
"It's a good thing we aren't in Seattle." Arnold replied while he briefly adjusted his helmet. He cleared his throat. "I wonder how the driver even called nine-one-one." He scratched his chin.
Cruz shrugged. "Heck, or who even called nine-one-one."
"Montgomery, you ok?" Michelle noticed Travis was rather sluggish. "I'm fine, Cap." He replied after exhaling sharply.
Michelle only sighed while rubbing his back. "I know Jalen's death still affects you, and even though he was quite a dick, he was who he was." She shrugged. "Just hang in there, it'll get better soon." She patted his back. Travis nodded. "Thanks, McShay."
She smiled. "No problem."
"Lieutenant! I found our missing car!" Suarez called out with Murray.
Damaged guardrail, a car bumper and license plate, and a slashed tire that was torn off.
*beep* "Captain, we found our missing car," Arnold radioed Michelle while he ran over with Cruz. They found the car crushed and facing head-on to a tree. "We're gonna get the truck over here to see if we can pull it out!"
Michelle looked at Stella, who gave a nod. "Copy, Lieutenant!"
"Cruz, get the truck over here!" Arnold told Victor. "Got it!" Cruz started running back to the truck. "Cap, have the Aid Car follow Squad!" Cruz radioed.
"Copy!"
As Cruz went running toward the Squad truck, the scene shifted overhead of MedStar Memorial Hospital.
Over at MedStar, Phoebe was with Teddy.
She let out a depressing exhale. "No change." She looked over at Catherine, who was slouched over at her bedside. "She has to wake up eventually. Did her labs even say anything?" The Italian woman asked.
Phoebe started to think back. "Have we run a bacterial infection lab?"
"As far as I'm concerned, no." Catherine shook her head. "All of her scans came back negative, unless…" Phoebe snapped her fingers. "Wait! Her toothache!"
"What about it?"
"She's had this toothache for a while now and didn't bother going to a dentist!"
Catherine finally understood. "Ah, I get it now! I'll get her a bacterial infection test going!" Phoebe then walked out of the room and headed to McCaffery's room.
Back at the crash site, the new Squad truck was in position and the winch was being lowered down to the car.
"Alright, we can't pull this car out, it's stuck toward the tree, he has multiple open fractures so we're gonna have to extricate here!" Vic looked back at the others.
"Alright, Squad, get the Sawzall and have a backboard on standby!" Arnold told his team as they climbed back up to their truck.
Minutes Later
After the Sawzall was turned off, the roof was cautiously peeled back since the door wasn't a viable option.
"Alright, let's get the backboard!" Montgomery shouted.
Vic and Cutler handed over the backboard to the others. Travis, Suarez, and several others started to slowly slide in the backboard.
"Alright, nice and easy, guys!" Michelle reminded. "Alright, let's get him out!" Spinelli said.
"Ready?" Michelle looked around, and everyone nodded. "On three! One! Two! Three!"
Everyone grunted as they started to slowly lift the person upright and soon lying straight down once he was lifted from the driver's seat. With caution, they slowly lifted away the man on the backboard away from the wreckage.
Soon, they lowered the backboard onto the stretcher while the Aid Car was backing up near them.
"Alright, let's get him!"
"On three! One! Two! Three!" The stretcher was lifted into the Aid Car and pushed in.
After the rear doors were closed with Vic climbing in, Donovan slapped the door twice. The Aid Car sirens started blaring as it drove away.
"Great job, everyone. Let's get this scene cleaned up." Stella told them. She then walked up to her son and patted his shoulder. "Great first call for Squad. Congratulations." Arnold smiled and nodded.
Meanwhile, at MedStar…
"You know, my Dad was a former Battalion Chief of the station I work at. I remember admiring him when I was little, and wanting to be just like him…" Russ was talking with Phoebe as he was at his father's bedside. "He had some insane rescues even as a Battalion Chief, and it's rare seeing Chiefs of his breed, you know, getting their hands dirty and joining their crews." He softly chuckled.
Phoebe also chuckled. "Yeah, I should know. Your Lieutenant tells me how his mother is a Chief like that." She then looked at the heart monitor. She sighed. "Heart rate is slowing and BP's dropping…"
"It's alright, Dad, you did everything you wanted in life… It's time to let you be…" Russell sniffled. "I couldn't have asked for a better father… You're the reason I am where I am. I love you, Dad… I can't imagine living without you, but I know you had to go eventually… At least you went out leaving a legacy… I'll miss you…"
And after Russell finished his goodbyes, his father's heart rate dropped into a flatline…
Phoebe slowly walked to the heart monitor, turning off the noise and the monitor itself. She looked at the clock and soon got latex gloves.
"Time of death… 9:08 A.M." Phoebe proceeded to remove the ET tube from Mr. McCaffery… Her pager soon went off.