CHAPTER ONE
━━━━ season two, episode one

bobby's new recruit!
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As he stood in the gym that was at the back of the 118 firehouse, Evan Buckley was prepared to start his weightlifting when he turned around, hearing a familiar cheer as she made her presence known to everyone. A smile instantly made its way onto his face and shook his head at the sight of Blakely Nash coming towards him. Was he surprised? Of course not. The girl normally visited them during her free time, just to come see her favourite fire-fighters.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Buck greeted as the woman finally approached him with a cheeky smile on her face. She took a look at what he was about to do before she arrived and raised a brow before teasing. "I'm seeing if you'd like a personal cheerleader to motivate you, Buckaroo."

"I'm good." Buck nodded amusingly, knowing her too well. "But thank you for the offer though." He turned back around at that to face the weights, as Blakely plastered a frown.

"Sucks for you, I would be a great one." The Nash woman commented as a joke, before letting out a sigh as she wondered. "So, where's my dad?"

"Probably upstairs." Buck replied as he picked up the weights for him to lift. Blakely nodded at him in thanks, before silently leaving him to work out, when she turned around to make her way over to the staircase. Her eyes were glued to her phone in her hand for just a moment that she couldn't see where she was going.

That was until her pathway was cut off as soon as she felt herself crash into someone. "Oh— Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Blakely felt herself apologising before she met with the man's eyes.

"No, I should apologise." He waved her off with a soft chuckle at her quick apology. "I wasn't seeing where I was going either."

Blakely smiled at the man and opened her mouth to continue, when she realised she has never seen him before. Gesturing to him with her finger, she figured. "You're the new guy, right?" Noticing the confused look on his face, Blakely chuckled softly before putting her hand out in front of him so he could shake it as she introduced herself. "I'm Blakely Nash."

"Ahh you're Cap's daughter." He nodded when he recognised the name he's heard many times since he joined the 118. "It's nice to finally put a face to a name." He commented, making Blakely tilt her head intrigued. "I'm Eddie Diaz. It's short for—"

"Ooh, let me guess... Edmundo?" Blakely guessed his full name, receiving a confused smile from the man. He didn't know that her father used his full name when he informed her about him.

"Wow. Most people guess Eduardo."

"Well, I'm not most people." Blakely said through a shrug and Eddie chuckled. And just as she part her lips open to say something else, her attention was pulled to the right of her as she saw Chimney walk past, chiming in with a response to what she just said. "Meaning she's not normal."

"Shush, you!" Blakely took a step forward like she was going to tackle him but didn't. She turned to face Eddie again and shrugged. "Well... are any of us really?" She countered, whilst referring to the term 'normal'.

"True." Eddie chuckled.

"Anyways..." Blakely trailed off as she took notice of his gym-wear. "it was nice to meet you and I'll let you get to—" She gestured to the gym that was behind her, making Eddie nod.

"It was nice to meet you too, Blakely." Eddie gave her one last smile before heading over to the gym where Buck was still lifting weights. She watched him for a moment, noticing how the Buckley man dropped his weights once Eddie joined him in the gym and began throwing hits to the punching bag in front of him.

As she felt a hand placed on her shoulder, Blakely quickly turned her head and smiled once she saw that hand belonged to her father. "Hey dad." She greeted the man before they shared a hug.

"Hey sweetheart. You okay?" The father-daughter duo pulled out of the hug as soon as Bobby struck a conversation with Blakely, who hummed before nodding her head.

Still standing by the bottom of the stairs, the duo turned back to look at the men in the gym. Eddie stood next to Chimney, and what looked like him showing something to him on his phone, as Buck brushed past them to sit down.

As they talked, Blakely looked down at her phone to check the time and sighed. "Right. I should be getting back to work. Plus, I don't know what the hell is going on over there." She waved her hands, gesturing to the confrontation that is happening in the gym as she watched Eddie approach Buck after he made another snarky comment. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely." Bobby nodded and hugged her goodbye, before leaving her to walk back out the firehouse and to her car without saying goodbye to the firefighters, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

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"Hold on—" Blakely got the boys' attention as she arrived on the scene, slamming her car door shut behind her before walking over to the firefighters who were stood by one of the members from the bomb squad. "did I hear you right? On the phone call we had just before. There's a live grenade in a man's thigh?"

"Yup. There she is." Jim nodded, gesturing to the x-ray scan that he was about to show Eddie, Buck and Bobby.

"He's got a live round embedded in his thigh."

Buck glanced at the screen and pinched his brows together, while pointing out in confusion. "Uh, I thought this thing already went off."

Eddie gestured to Charlie's x-ray scan at the start of his explanation. "The launch grenade has two components: gunpowder which makes it travel and an explosive charge that makes it go boom."

Buck was looking at Eddie as he asked. "Okay, so why didn't this one go boom?"

Blakely glanced between the two, listening as the Diaz firefighter answered Buck. "It's fitted with a proximity fuse. It's a little smart sensor that tells the cap it's traveled a safe enough distance from the shooter to explode. From his hand to his leg probably wasn't far enough."

"Well, you can't bring him inside a hospital full of people, not with that still stuck inside him." The detective reminded them.

"We called the military for help." Jim notified the three firefighters, making Buck chuckle through his confused expression. "The military? Uh, can't you do it? You're the bomb squad." He wondered.

"They can't diffuse a grenade, Buck." Blakely told the man, causing Jim to nod at her words.

"Exactly." Jim said, referring to what she had just told Buck before sharing with the group. "We need to find someone who knows how to pull that thing out of him without setting it off. They're sending someone up from Pendleton. Should be here within the hour."

Buck shook his head, reminding everyone. "He doesn't have an hour."

"I can do it." Eddie volunteered, making them all turn to look at him. "If he doesn't go into surgery soon, he'll die." 

Looking slightly unconvinced, Bobby questioned the probie firefighter. "You've done this before?"

"Well, none of the guys I served with were dumb enough to shoot a live round in themselves, but I'm familiar with the ordnance."

"I'm in." Buck also volunteered to help Eddie and looked back at his Captain at his decision.

"Alright then." Jim nodded before he and Blakely grabbed two kevlar vests, a mechanical arm and a box for the firefighters. "You get that thing out of him, put it in here and get the hell away from it. Let us deal with it."

"Copy that." Eddie nodded at him, before turning away to make his way over to the ambulance van, slapping Buck on the arm along the way. "See you inside."

Once Buck's vest was secure, he started following Eddie over to the ambulance van with the father-daughter duo walking behind him, as Bobby tried to dissuade the man. "All right, listen, Buck, you don't have to do this."

"You think I'm gonna let the new guy have all the fun?" The Buckley firefighter teased him without stopping in his tracks. "Besides, you wanted us to bond. We might end up real close."

Bobby stopped there with Blakely and watched as Buck approached Eddie who handed him the box before climbing into the back of the van.

"Soooo... how do you think this is gonna go?" The detective asked her father.

"Let's just hope they don't have another repeat of today." Bobby sighed, referring to the arguement that the two had earlier in the gym when Blakely was there. "Or that the van doesn't explode with them inside."

"Well yeah, that too." Blakely spoke quietly as she nodded her head, fidgeting with her hands while they watched Buck and Eddie talk to their patient before starting the process on pulling the grenade out of Charlie's thigh. But when Eddie was finally able to place the grenade gently into the box that Buck was holding, Blakely simply let out a breath of relief, but wouldn't be fully okay until all three of them left the ambulance van safely.

"Let's get the robot in there." Jim, the member of the bomb squad, announced through the radio as Buck and Eddie started wheeling their patient on the stretcher to the hospital until two paramedics took their place.

The father-daughter duo stood to the side, seeing Buck and Eddie turn to one another and began to have a good conversation — most likely the first one they were having since Eddie joined the 118, before shaking hands with each other.

"Nice work, fellas." Bobby complimented his two firefighters as him and Blakely approached. "I'm glad you both made it out of there."

"The guy's a professional, Cap." Buck looked back at his boss with a smile on his face. "I was never really worried."

Just as Buck said that, a loud explosion had come from behind them, and Bobby reached out for his daughter on instinct. He had his hand placed on her back as they all stood up straight, looking in that specific direction to see the ambulance van was now engulfed in smoke.

Sirens wailed in the background, as Jim sighed at this outcome before opening his mouth to speak into the radio. "Cancel the robot."

The three B's looked back at Eddie who looked at them with pursed lips. "You guys still hungry?"

"You know what... yes." Blakely nodded. "But I'm picking where we eat this time."

"You got it."

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Two days have now passed, and Blakely had took a notice of the change in behaviour coming from Athena and her father. She didn't know why, but she had her suspicions.

So here she was again at the firehouse, still in her detective uniform from her shift and walked with her father as they made their way up the stairs to meet with everyone else. Blakely, while wearing a smile on her face, told her dad that she wanted to be there when he announced to his team who had been chosen to be in the firefighter calendar that everyone had been fussing about over the past few days.

"All right, everybody, listen up." Bobby raised his voice to get their attention once him and Blakely reached the top of the stairs and turned to look at everyone. "I've got an announcement to make. I just got off the phone with the people from the calendar and they have made their choice."

Buck turned to Eddie who was playing the pinball machine. "Well, no hard feelings, no matter who won." He raised his fist for Eddie to fist-bump it, as their Captain looked over at him. "That's good, Buck, 'cause they didn't pick you."

"Well, it's obviously a fix." Buck commented as a joke before he started smiling, directing his next words towards Eddie, assuming he was picked to be in the calendar. "No, congratulations, anyway, G.I!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands once.

"They didn't pick him either." Bobby said with an amused smile, as his daughter went along with it and shook her head.

"No?" Buck furrowed his eyebrows before looking at his Captain in question. "You?" He wondered if he was the winner of the event, but Bobby stayed smiling as he turned to look at the woman stood next to him.

"Blakely, do you want to say it?" He asked, before she hummed in thought and looked towards who the winner was with a smirk. "I will. But, I'll let him enjoy his snack first." At her words, everyone followed her gaze to see her looking at Chimney who was currently crunching on his celery dipped in peanut butter.

The Han firefighter quickly looked behind him as he automatically assumed Blakely wasn't looking at him, but when he saw nobody standing behind him, Chimney snapped his head back in surprise when he realised he won. "No way. You've got to be kidding me."

"No. Congratulations, Chim." Bobby announced, with the smile on his face remaining as everyone started clapping. "Or should I say, Mr. April?"

"No way. Are you serious?" He continued to be in disbelief about the decision as his team started to approach him with cheers, congratulating him on being the winner.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Everyone turned to look in the direction of the new voice to see Athena walking over, dressed in her uniform.

"Hey, Athena!" Blakely instantly smiled once she saw the woman. "What are you doing here?" The smile on her face then dropped before raising her hands in the air like a criminal getting arrested would. "Wait, am I in trouble? You can tell Rick I did the paperwork!"

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble." The sergeant chuckled and stopped in her place just as Bobby approached her.

"Also..." Buck turned to look at Blakely, wearing a strange expression when he noticed her current position. "do you mind telling me what the hell... this is?" He gestured to her arms.

"What?" Blakely shrugged at him, before waving her arms around slightly as a gesture. "I'm a cop and I see this everyday. What do you expect me to do?"

Buck merely rolled his eyes as he tried to hide his amusement, whilst the other three went to share a laugh at her words until something else caught their attention when they saw Bobby and Athena kissing.

Chimney, Eddie and Buck shared a look of shock, unlike Blakely and Hen who saw this coming and wore beaming smiles as the new couple turned to face the group. "What are you all looking at?" The Nash firefighter asked like there was nothing to see. "There's no more announcements."

"I knew it!" Blakely exclaimed happily, before her and Hen turned to the boys who were included in the bet and gestured with their hands.

"Pay up."

Bobby looked between the two women, wearing a baffled expression when he interjected. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you two knew?"

"Uh... duh!" Blakely looked at her dad like he was crazy, before sharing a look with Hen who joined in, elaborating on her answer. "Sir, first you two were happy at the same time, then you were both pissed off at the same time." Hen was telling the two about the signs she noticed. "It wasn't hard to figure out.

"And, uh, you good with this?" Athena took a step forward at her question, more aimed towards the detective than anyone else.

"Why do you think I'm smiling for?" She let out a giggle. "Of course, I am!" The new couple smiled upon Blakely giving her approval, before looking over at Hen who chimed in herself. "And girl, I'm just mad at myself for not fixing you up in the first place."

"You staying for dinner?" At his question, Athena looked back at Bobby with a smile. "I don't know. Are you cooking?"

"In this case, you bet he is!" Blakely answered for Bobby before shoving Buck to the side to give her access to run to the couch first.

From beside Buck, Eddie attempted to hold in his laugh when he noticed the look on Buck's face as he rubbed his chest. "Damn, she's strong." Buck muttered under his breath.

"Come on." Feeling amused, Eddie patted him on the shoulder before moving past him to join the others with Buck following, leaving Chimney and Hen behind as they had a private conversation on the topic of the firefighter calendar.

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author's note!

after months, i've finally managed to publish a chapter to this! i'm sorry this is so short but this is mainly just a introduction to the story.

hope you enjoyed reading! and hopefully it won't be as long of a wait for the next one!! <3