Chapter Text
A few days later, Athena found herself at the scene of a five alarm fire. The place had been a rather small, family-owned restaurant—Guillermo’s. The sound of sirens blared through the air and Athena turned to see the 118 arrive. She watched as the new captain climbed down from his seat and started commanding his team. He was incredible, really.
He was tall and handsome, with eyes that pierced right through every wall she built around herself. They made eye contact for a second before she made her way over. “Captain.” she greeted.
“Sergeant…” he responded in kind, dipping his head into a nod.
Athena chuckled. “Grant.” she finished for him.
He smiled slightly. “Nash.” he responded.
Athena nodded. “I know.”
He looked at her confused. “What?”
Athena laughed at his confusion. “You have your names on the back of your turn out.”
He looked at the ground. “Right, I keep forgetting about that. Everyone just calls me Bobby though.”
They smiled at each other briefly before Athena broke eye contact to look at the building. “The fire is almost out.” he told her.
“That's good news. Not like investigators are going to find anything in the charred remains.” she chuckled slightly. “I'm sorry, it's not funny. My brain went somewhere else.”
“Mmm.” Bobby acknowledged.
He never took his gaze away from the fire. Athena could see a hint of something in his eyes—a sense of worry, hurt. “Are you ok?” she asked.
He finally looked back over to her and nodded. “Yeah, just part of the job.”
Bobby glanced over to his team then around them. “Where's De'Luca?” he shouted.
Athena looked around herself, rolling her eyes when she couldn't find him. “I have no idea.” she told Bobby.
Bobby glanced around again before finding his silhouette walking towards the burning building. “De'Luca! where are you going?” he shouted towards the man.
“Doing my job!” De'Luca shouted back.
“Do not go into that building before it's safe!” Bobby demanded.
Without acknowledgement of Bobby's command, De'Luca rushed into the building. Athena watched in horror as Bobby ran towards the fire truck, grabbing CO2 tanks and oxygen for himself. She breathed a sigh of relief when De'Luca came out of the building just as Bobby was about to enter. She didn't know what it was about that man but he had knots twisting in her stomach.
“What the hell De'Luca!” she heard the captain shout.
She chuckled to herself before she walked away towards her patrol car. I hope he gets his ass chewed, she thinks to herself. Just when she makes it to her car, she hears footsteps behind her. She looks back to see Sal stomping toward the engine muttering something about just doing his job. She turns her head, her gaze following him as he makes a show like a toddler. She laughs to herself as Bobby approaches.
“What are you laughing at?” he asks her.
“Sal being a toddler.” she responds.
“Yeah, he's definitely got an attitude.” Bobby agrees.
Athena places her hand on his shoulder. “Don't take it too personally. He's always been like that.”
“Seriously?” Bobby asks in disbelief.
“Oh, you haven't even seen the worst.” she tells him.
Athena laughs at Bobby's horrified expression before she looks behind him to see his team shuffling into the engine. “We're ready when you are, cap!” Chim calls out.
“The fire out?” Athena asks.
Bobby shakes his head. “No casualties, no thanks to Mr. Tantrum over there.”
Athena and Bobby laugh in unison before they say goodbye and mount into their respective transportation.