a heartwarming gesture

✧

"The canister, it just — it exploded. I don't know what happened. Our on-set medics have been keeping pressure on the wound."

A woman, who Olivia assumed was the television host explained to them as she led through the building. When they came to a stop, they noticed the chef lying on the floor with a hole in his chest and blood surrounding the wound.

"We'll take it from here," Hen announced.

Olivia knelt beside the main and inspected the wound, trying to refrain from grimacing at the sight.

"Maurice, can you hear me?" Hen asked. "His breathing's very shallow and his pulse is drooping in real-time."

"Superficial wounds to the head and face," Olivia reported. "Blunt force trauma to the chest, possibly a few broken ribs."

Chimney pulled out shears from the medical bag and cut down Maurice's chef's uniform. When he cut enough to open up the shirt fully, that's when they began to notice the extremity of the injury.

"Cap."

"How deep is the shrapnel?" Bobby asked.

"Can't say," Chimney said. "Difference between life and death this close to the heart is millimeter, not inches."

"Mercy Hosptial, this is Captain Nash, 118. We have a patient with a penetrating chest wound. Have surgeons standing by."

Immediately, they assisted the man onto the gurney and put him into the back of the ambulance. Chimney was driving, assuring he could get there quicker while Hen and Olivia were manning the back and trying their best to control the bleeding.

Olivia thought everything was under control. She turned her back for one second and the minute she faced Hen, the older medic looked flushed, frantic, and scarily determined to do something she wasn't supposed to.

"I could do a thoracotomy."

"Absolutely not!"

"Olivia, we are seven minutes out. It doesn't matter how fast Chimney's driving. I could just widen the cut that's already there."

"That's a job for a surgeon, Hen. A surgeon! You know the ones who go to school for millions of years and do this for a living. Our job is to keep them alive, not butcher them in the back of our ambulance!"

"What's going on?" Chimney shouted.

"Hen wants to cut him open!" Olivia tattled. "Tell her not to!"

"No, Hen!" Chimney shouted. "No! Do not do that."

"I'll manually pinch the aorta just above the injury."

"Okay, then do it."

"What?" Chimney shouted. He could feel the vein in his forehead pulsating as chaos descended behind him. "Don't encourage her, Liv."

Olivia laughed, bagging the patient. "She's not actually going to — Holy shit."

Two minutes later, they arrived at the hospital and Olivia was mentally cursing her coworker out as she watched the woman. Finally, the doors opened and Chimney saw the real reason behind the chaos.

Hen's hand was literally inside of the chef.

"Steady."

"Be careful, be careful."

The stares were hard to ignore as they wheeled the gurney into the hospital doors. A male nurse rushed over to their side with a dirty expression on his face.

"What the hell happened?"

"He started crashing," Hen explained. "Too much blood loss. Did a thoracotomy to stabilize him."

"Are you kidding me? That's a surgeon's job."

"Well it's a job she's done and done well," Olivia snapped. "Now tell us where we're headed."

"Hold on. Type and cross for six units. Page Dr. Royce. We got this, medic."

"No, I got it," Hen spat. "I let go for half a second and he codes before we make it to the ER. I'm on this train till the end. Now which way?"

"Next time I'm driving." Olivia released the breath she had been holding in as she turned to face Chimney. "You can deal with Hen better than I can."

Exhausted from the day, Chimney nodded and threw an arm around Olivia. "For everyone's sake...let's hope there is no next time."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

The following day, the team ended up surprising Hen with a doctor's coat after hearing about the surprise surgery she performed in the back of the ambulance. For a paramedic, she did one hell of a job and saved his life which is all that truly mattered.

When their shift came to an end, the team decided to rally around for Red, the older man that Buck had gotten exceptionally attached to over the past couple of days. It wasn't just for Red, but for Buck, as well, they all knew that their friend had the biggest heart and needed all of the support he could receive.

Despite Red thinking that his former team had moved on and forgotten all about him, they also came out to send the man off. Since there was nothing more the doctors nor Red could do about his current condition, he wanted to spend his last few moments at home rather than in the hospital.

Buck completely respected his decisions but still wanted to send him off in a memorable way. Along with his former team and the 118, they brought the fire engine so he could take one last ride.

When the doors were pushed open, that's when Buck and Red emerged, the former was wheeling the older man while he looked around awestruck. It was truly a touching moment.

"Firefighter Delacroix, you take the Captain's seat."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

Yawning, Olivia shuffled over to the front door and swung it open after hearing a couple of knocks. It was around nine o'clock in the morning and since her home was kid-free, all she wanted to do was sleep in while she had the house to herself but clearly, the world had other plans.

Buck was on the other side of the door and sadly smiled once he saw his friend. "Hey. Sorry, I didn't think you were sleeping."

"It's fine. Come on in." She walked over to the couch, immediately plopping down while another yawn escaped her mouth. "What's up?"

"Red died this morning."

"Oh, Buck," Olivia sympathetically stared at him. "I'm sorry. I know he meant a lot to you."

He shrugged, leaning back into the backrest of the couch. "I knew it was coming. But still — it doesn't make it any less hard."

"Of course." Moving closer, she leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm here for you. I-I know I haven't necessarily done anything these last few days to prove that I'm here for you. I am. I want you to know that."

"I do. Thanks, Liv."

"I have to tell you something. Don't be pissed, okay?"

Olivia pulled her head away from his shoulder to glance at his face. Buck had a curious expression but stayed silent nonetheless, nodding and urging his friend to continue.

"Eddie and I are together."

"Like, you two are a couple?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"And you two are happy?"

Once again, she nodded but this time there was a soft smile on her face.

Buck simply shrugged. "Then that's all that matters. I'm not upset that you kept it from me. I'm sure you had your reasons. All I care is that you're happy — you're both happy."

"We are."

"Good. Now, tell me how this happened because last time I checked, you guys hated each other."

"Alright, well, you better get comfortable, Buckley..."

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author's note

-this was pretty much a continuance of the previous chapter I just didn't want to put it all on one page because of how long it would've been😅

-olivia, chimney, hen 🤝🏽 chaotic trio

-buck and liv haven't interacted much in the most recent chapters so i wanted to include a cute moment between those two besties🥰

-i also want buck to have some sort of significant other (not taylor kelly) in this story so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to message me or comment because i need some ideas!!