Chapter One

Vic and Andy were in an open relationship when Andy got transferred to 23 she got bullied by the guys there, homophobes, hated working there. Vic could tell something was off with her girlfriend but had no idea she was being harassed and bullied. When Andy was acting captain at 23 Theo had ended up subbing at 19 one shift and let it slip to Travis that Andy was having a hard time and Travis told Vic, worried about Andy.

A couple weeks later Andy was subbing at 19 when 19 and 23 had to work together on a call, Vic overheard some of the things said to Andy. Andy didn't say another word unless it was work related the rest of the call. Ran out of the ladder truck when they got back to the station and everyone asked Vic what was going on, said she didn't know because she didn't want everyone knowing what was happening to Andy at 23, made eye contact with Travis, silently asking him to come with her.

They go and find Andy in the bunk that she used when she was at station 19 and she had her head in her hands, elbows on her knees, sitting on the bed.

"I can't do it anymore. I can't work there." Andy looks up at the pair "I hate going to work now. The job I used to love is one I now hate." Vic sits next to Andy "I need to get out of there. I have to get out of there" Andy said over and over again, breaking down in tears as Vic pulled her into a hug, Andy's face pressed up against Vic's shoulder.

As Vic was holding Andy she felt her heart break. She knew if Andy hated work and was breaking down like this that she had to do something because Andy couldn't live like this.

"Trav, call Ross." Vic told him and he just nodded his head and walked out of the room, closing the door. "Andy, I'm going to call Diane, okay? Maybe she can help advocate to get you out of that house" Andy, usually one to argue, just nodded her head. "Lay down, I'm gonna check in with Trav and call Diane and then I'll be back, okay?" Andy nods and lays down, looking defeated. Vic covers her girlfriend with a blanket and then walks out of the room, closing the door behind her and goes to find Trav.

"Trav, did you call her?"

"Yeah, she said she'll be here in half an hour."

"Okay good, I'm gonna call Diane. See if she can help."

Travis nods as Maya walks by "help with what?"

Travis and Vic just brush her off and Vic walks away to make the call, stepping outside the station, about to press 'call' when she sees Diane walking towards the station.

"Diane?" Vic asks, half confused, half relieved.

"Hey, Vic. I was just coming to check how everyone's doing."

Vic looks down for a second but looks back up at Diane "actually, about that."

"Vic, what is it? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Diane. Diane, you can breathe. It's not me."

"what's going on?"

"It's Andy."

"What happened? Everything going okay with you two?"

"Everything is great between us."

"Then what's the issue?" Diane asked, confused.

Vic decided to just jump right into it "23."

"Herrera's new house? What about it?"

"Diane, can you just come with me? Up to the conference room?"

"Vic, you're starting to worry me."

"I think you should be. We all should." Vic told her sadly, opening the conference room door. "Sit down. I'll be right back."

Diane continues to look confused but goes in the room and sits down, wondering what was going on. It was a couple minutes later when she saw Travis come into the room, behind him Vic had her arm wrapped around Andy's waist, supporting her.

"Andy? Travis? Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Diane was looking at Andy and what she saw surprised her. Andy looked awful. She had dried tear tracks on her cheeks, eyes red rimmed, hair a mess and worst of all, her eyes barely held any life. "Someone tell me what's going on."

"Diane, just hang on a minute. Ruiz and Ross will be joining us in a few minutes." Travis told her

Diane just nodded. "Vic, you said this had to do with station 23?" Vic nodded "let me guess, something is happening to Andy and you brought me here to try to help?" Vic nods again "I need some context here. Andy," Diane turns her attention to the woman wrapped in Vic's arms "is something happening to you at 23?"

Andy nods and a tear falls. "I can't take it anymore," Andy told Diane, looking her in the eye.

Diane nods as Chief Ross and Theo appear at the door.

Theo goes to sit on the side of the table next to Vic, Travis and Andy while Chief Ross stood at the head of the table and Diane sat on the side across from the group of 4 firefighters.

"Travis was vague over the phone but judging from what I just heard, Herrera," she addresses Andy and she looks up "what's going on?"

Andy, too tired to do anything about them, lets a few tears fall and Ross is surprised. All the times she's seen Herrera she's always been brave and strong and never shown weakness. This was a new side of Andy that she was seeing. "Andy, you can tell me. This is a safe space."

Andy nods and looks down "when I got to 23 it sucked. It sucked because there were no other women, it was and is like a frat house. But it only sucked. One day Vic came to the station and we kissed and when I turned around there were Maddox, Barnes and Ruiz. Maddox and Barnes were making crude jokes while Ruiz tried to stop them."

Theo saw that Andy couldn't continue so he spoke up instead. "Chief Ross, no matter what I did they wouldn't stop. When I'm around Andy they don't say anything to her but when I'm not around, or when they think I'm not, the comments start back up again and they are so terrible."

Ross looked to Andy and saw that her head was bowed. "Okay. So Ruiz. These comments?"

"Chief," Diane interrupted, "sorry to interrupt, but from the sound of where this story is going I'm going to have to guess that one of your firefighters is being bullied for being Bi." Diane looked over to Andy and saw that her head was still facing down. "Andy," Diane called and Andy looked up "have you said anything to anyone?"

Andy scoffs. "Aquino tried to deal with them. They've had punishments, desk duty, cleaning bathrooms. Stuff like that at first. Then it came to them talking behind closed doors, I can't say what was said in those but I can say that none of the meetings with Aquino stopped the name calling, the hazing, the pushing and-"

Ross cuts her off "Wait. They went from just comments to physical violence?" Andy nods "did you go to Chief McCalllister about this?"

Andy scoffs again "McCalllister was the one who transferred me to 23, Chief Ross."

Chief Ross was surprised "I've read through all Seattle firefighters records and gone through their history and I remember Maddox and Barnes having clean records." Ross saw that Hughes was about to speak up and stopped her by raising her hand "but, I looked at yours too. You did nothing that warranted a transfer, what happened there?"

Andy looked down again. "Me sticking up for my captain happened." Andy started "Bishop and I stormed into McCalllister's office the night of her wedding because he had sent out an email relieving her of her duties as captain and we went to fight against his decision. He said some bullshit about me needing to stop using my father's name or something like that. I was just trying to defend my best friend."

Ross nods. "Herrera, you're no longer acting captain at 23." Andy snaps her head up and Ross raises her hand "effective immediately. And lieutenant Ruiz'' Theo looks at Ross "you will be taking over the position." Ross turns back to Andy "Andy, you have two decisions. You can continue at 23 until I find a house for you- wait." Ross stops herself and pulls out her phone. "Let me go to my car, make a few calls. I have an idea but Herrera I do have a question." Andy looks at Ross and nods, ready for the question. "When you're acting captain how has it made you feel?"

"I feel whole. Like it was what I was made to do." Andy gave a small smile.

Theo spoke up "23 response times are quicker, everything around the house is cleaner, when she's on shift at least. Things are better around the house. She has the respect of everyone when we're out on calls. Just doesn't seem like Maddox and Barnes can be civil in house."

Ross nods at Theo. "Herrera, I haven't heard you invoke your father's name since being Chief and I know it's only a short amount of time, but it doesn't seem like you really care about having a legacy in the department?"

"My dad was obsessed with me being his legacy. When I met you said you didn't care about that, about who anyone's parents were. Now, I loved my dad, but I want my firefighter career to be just that, mine."

"Finish today at 19, then you're on a week's leave, won't go on your record." Ross told her, typing something on her phone.

"What for?" Andy asked her.

"I have a plan." Ross paused, looking up from her phone. "I need an official statement and then I'll put things in motion for you to become captain of 19." Andy looked shocked.

"Seriously?"

"I don't want you to get your hopes up, but I'm going to fight for you, Herrera. You're a solid firefighter. Only thing you did wrong was stand up for a friend to the wrong person." Andy nods. "I'll let you know before your next shift." Ross walks around the table and shakes her hand. "Please don't hesitate to reach out if you feel yourself slipping and struggling. I know you have people who care about you around you already, but please feel like I'm also a safe place to go."

"Thank you, chief Ross. I appreciate it. So much."

"You deserve so much more than you've been given in the department. It's past time for you to get further in the department."

"I agree." Andy told her.

Ross smiles. "I'll talk to you soon, Herrera. Please be safe in the meantime."

"I'll try." Andy said. Ross nodded her head and made her way out of the conference room.

Andy turned back to face the rest of her team, shocked written on her face. "Did that just happen?"

Vic walked up to her and rested her hands on Andy's cheek. "Yes. Yes, it did." Vic wiped a tear that was ready to fall from her right eye. "I'm so glad you were brave enough to bring this to us."

Andy nodded. "I didn't have much of a choice after you found out. You would've pushed me to tell someone anyway."

"True." Vic said. "But I just want you to be happy, Andy."

"We all do." Travis and Theo told her.

"Thank you. I appreciate you all so much." Andy told them. "Thank you for helping me. All of you." Andy turns to face Diane. "Thank you for helping me Diane. I don't know how this would've turned out if you weren't here with all of us."

"I'm sure it would've had the same outcome. Ross actually cares about her firefighters and the department unlike the past two chiefs." Diane stands up. "I'm here anytime you need me Herrera."

"Can I actually talk to you alone for a minute?" Andy asked Diane.

Diane nods and asks everyone to clear out. Travis and Theo are the first ones to leave, then after Vic gives Andy a kiss on the cheek and walks out. Leaving just Diane and Andy in the room.

"What's up, Herrera?" Diane asked, sitting back down.

"I know every time we talk it seems to be about someone else, but-" Andy stopped and sat down.

"But what, Herrera? Something else going on?"

"I love Vic. I'm in love with her." Andy stopped again.

"Then what's the issue?" Diane asked.

"The department is. Ross just found out about us and she didn't make a fuss about it. Aren't I breaking protocol?"

"You are. But Ross hasn't said anything yet because your mental health is the more important thing right now."

"I don't want to lose her or my job and I just don't know how to deal with this." Andy told her, rubbing a hand over her forehead.

"Andy, if you really want this you need to decide sooner rather than later. What's more important? You being with someone you truly love? Or the promotion you've been wanting for years?" Diane asked her.

Andy looked at her. "I don't know how to answer that. I know I love her. I know I love this job. I know how bad it'll look for Vic if we stay together and come out to the rest of the department, if Maddox and Barnes hadn't already gone spreading our relationship to other houses."

"Andy, that's not an answer."

Andy continues to look at Diane. "I want Vic. I love her. More than anyone I have before."

"So is that your answer then?"

"I want to be happy, Diane." Andy stands up. "If I lose this job I won't be. If I lose Vic, I won't be. So tell me what I'm supposed to do here, Diane? Seems like whatever I choose I won't be happy with the outcome."

Vic was outside listening, wondering how this would play out.

"Diane, we've been together 5 months, out to the public as Bi for a month now. I hate how I'm being treated. I hate that this is probably hard for Vic too. But the only way I see around this is marriage and we've both jumped to that conclusion before."

"Andy, I know you love her, but what's more important to you? This house? Or your girlfriend?" Diane asked her, looking her in the eyes.

"Vic is part of this house. Vic is a huge part of my life right now. I refuse to give her up. I refuse to give this job up."

"Seems like you're at a standstill here, Andy."

Andy looks down, grabbing onto a chair. "I don't know what the fuck to do."

Vic had heard enough and barged in. "Andy,"

"Stop, Vic." Andy raises her hand. "I know what you're going to say."

"Andy, this job has been your whole world for years. You nearly lost your friendship with Bishop because she became captain over you. You deserve this position Andy."

"Vic, I'm going to go after what I want."

"And what's that?"

Andy doesn't say anything but she smiles at Vic, moves closer and puts a hand on her right cheek "I want you, Vic."

I know this wasn't my best writing but I've had this story in my notes for a couple weeks now.