It has been a few days since my first shift with the 126 and I am currently occupied with inventory. It turns out Tim and his previous colleague had a system that was a little different to the one that I had in New York. It is annoying me. I don't know why it is but it is.

"I am telling you Tim no matter how hard you try I am not going to warp my head around the way you organise things," I complain for what feels like the millition time. Don't get me wrong I have no intention of forcing my will on him but still. I am new.

"Oh please...You are being dramatic. Hey Cap, can you back me up? Piper thinks the system is weird," Tim turns his attention to Michelle as she joins us.

"Sorry, Tim but I'm with Piper on this one. It is about time you switched things up," Michelle responds. With that Tim begrudgingly accepts the fact that it is time for change. As we get to work on updating the system I notice Dad comes in with an exaggerated swagger. He seems way too happy. It is weird. It is as if everything has gone right with him today. It seems as if everyone else has noticed. I decided that I am going to ask what is going on.

"I see you have a little spring in your step, Dad," I announce as I intercept him.

"Yep. I'm feeling a little more at home in Austin. I found an organic food market. I also found a vitamin shop that sells the fish oil supplements that I like, and a core power yoga studio within walking distance. I mean this place is like New York but with a lot less trash on the street," Dad explains. There is definitely more to it. I catch myself glancing at Tyler. He just shrugs.

"Here you go cap," Mateo says as he offers my dad his standard cup of morning coffee. With a few swift movements, he trades his car keys for the cup of coffee. After giving Mateo the thumbs up I turn my attention back to rearranging the ambulance.

"Captain Strand seems unusually warm. Should we be worried?" Tim asks.

"Umm...I don't think so," I responded. It has been a while since I've seen my dad this happy. Before we have a chance to do anything else in regards to sorting the ambulance the signal bell goes. After what feels like an eternity we make it to the scene. It is a shopping complex with offices on the top level.

"Tim, Piper I want you two upstairs in case anyone else is injured," Michelle orders as she joins the firefighters. After three minutes we made it to the right office. Luckily for us, the officer from the car crash scene has got things under some level of control. I turn my attention to a man who is shaking. My first thought goes to a panic attack.

"Sir, can you tell me what happened?" I ask as I get to work on making sure that he is calm enough to get good vitals.

"I could tell Liza was nervous about the pitch tomorrow, but one minute she was fine. The next she was like someone from Bird Box," My patient confirms what happened to me and the police officer between fits of shivering.

"Bird Box?" The police officer is confused.

"Netflix? Tim only adds to the confusion.

"Sandra Bullock?" I add. To be honest, the only reason why I watched the film was so that Tyler would shut up. Unfortunately, Officer Reyes is not convinced. Anyway, we have work to do. We turn our attention back to our patients.

"JT to your knowledge was Lisa on any substances?" the police officer asks the obvious question.

"No, she was two years sober. She knew better than that," JT replies. With his response something in the back of my mind clicks. We are dealing with mercury poisoning AKA mad hatter's disease. I notice Tim glancing at another victim.

"Um officer," He gets Officer Reyes' attention as he explains the situation. After finally getting his attention he tries to stop a man that has lost it. I follow him as all hell breaks loose. More and more victims succumb to the craziness. We all scramble to prevent victims from jumping. Unfortunately, I am too late as one of the victims jumps. There is nothing that I can do for him so I turn my attention to saving as many people as I can. After what feels like an eternity we have everyone rounded up and as far away from the windows as possible.

"No carbon monoxide. No sulphides," Tyler confirms as the EMS crews work through the patients one by one.

"If this was airborne there'd be forty people down, not nine," Marjan confirms. That is the annoying thing. We need to find the source of mercury before it can do any more damage. After confirming what happened with Officer Reyes dad's attention is grabbed by the latest person to succumb to the madness. Tim and I are struggling with one patient while another EMS crew plus Marjan are trying to get another patient to stay still.

"What are the presenting?" Michelle asks as she joins us.

"BP's barely detectable. Arrhythmias everywhere," Tim begins his report.

"Lockjaw, muscle tremors. I suspect that we are dealing with acute mercury poisoning," I responded.

"Ok. We need to get these people transported," Michelle delivers her orders.

"We're not going anywhere till we know what we are dealing with. Let's close this place," My dad replies. He clearly missed the part where I mentioned mercury poisoning. Not that matters as Michelle will fill him in. Before Michelle has a chance a cry for help sounds from the cubicle next to us.

"She's turning," JT screams. Paul is the first to arrive followed closely by Mchielle and I. After helping Paul get the woman under control Michelle gets to work on checking over the latest victim.

"Light aversions, convulsions...I think Piper's right. We are dealing with a severe case of erethism. Mad Hatter's disease. Nineteenth-century hatmakers used to go insane as they handled high levels of mercury," Michelle confirms what is going on with Captain Strand. After connecting the dots Tyler asks the million-dollar question.

"So why are some people down but not others?" A good question.

"That is the million dollar question," Michelle reads my mind.

"Listen you need to contact North Austin Regional, Mercy and University Medical and tell them that they are going to need to get their trauma teams ready," Michelle gives me my orders.

"Right," I acknowledge. Before I have the chance Tyler breaks off and does it for me. My dad quickly gives his orders. After a few seconds, Paul finally speaks up.

"Whose quinoa is this?" A woman intimately puts her hand up. After some back and forth from Paul and the workers he reaches an interesting conclusion.

"I know who did this," Paul announces as the special team arrives. After what feels like an eternity we are given the go-ahead to transport the worst of the worst. Right now we are on our way to North Austin Regional.

"That was a good spot," Tim compliments me.

"I resigned the symptoms. My crew in New York encountered it, however, it was accidental," I explain. This time it was a lot weirder as it was intentional this time. After what feels like an eternity we made it to the hospital. After doing the handover an interesting radio message comes through. Since the worst have been transported it is now a fire scene. I put it down to the fact that my dad would want the scene cleaned up. With that, we head back to the fire station instead of the scene.

It is the day after and for some reason I am worried about Dad. He had a medical appointment and when he came home it looked like his world had ended. A part of me knows that Dad will tell me in his own time but the rest of me wants to force the issue. Right now I am trying to shake the fact off as Dad is treating me to dinner from our newfound favourite place while Tyler is off doing his own thing.

"You look like you've swallowed a bitter pill," Dad remarks as I play with my fork.

"I'm worried about you. Ever since that appointment you've been acting odd. Like you got some bad news," I reply before taking a bite from my food. I am probably overreacting but the truth is we have been through a lot as a family. I can't help but worry.

"I'm fine," Dad retorts. He is not. My dad is never just fine.

"You know what, I'm not hungry. Thank you for dinner," I say before excusing myself. A part of me feels guilty but I know for a fact that something is off and that thing is bringing the mood down. It has been an hour since then and I am watching TV while my dad does his nighttime routine. It doesn't take long for me to be interrupted.

"You're right," Dad starts the conversation. I quickly pause the TV.

"What do you mean?" I tentatively ask.

"You're right. Something is wrong but I'm not ready to tell you or TK," My dad vaguely confesses.

"I guess I can't force you but...," I trail off as something tells me that things may not end well.

"I know. The sooner I tell you the better I'll feel," Dad counters. With that, I turn my attention back to the TV. I just hope that he will tell me sooner rather than later.

It has been a couple of days since then and I am watching on as Judd talks to my Dad. my curiosity has gotten the better of me. I am trying to eavesdrop but it is proving to be impossible as he is in his office and I am watching from below.

"You know you shouldn't be eavesdropping," Tim grabs my attention.

"I know but I can't help it. My dad admitted that there was something wrong with him a couple of days ago but he wouldn't tell me what. I feel like Judd is the only one that he told," I confirm as I join him in the kitchen area. I am going to have to let it bug me.

"Tea or coffee?" Tim asks as he gets to work on making himself a cup.

"Hot chocolate," I replied. After a few minutes, Michelle is back from her errand. With that, we turn our attention to making sure everything is good to go. As soon as we are done a medical call comes through. With that, we leave. After thirteen minutes of driving, we made it to an apartment. Our patient is a frail-looking lady.

"Why did you call them?" The lady asks a young-looking girl.

"I'm sorry Mama but I was overwhelmed. She's dying of stage four skin cancer. We tried everything but nothing worked," It sounds like she is addressing mse directly.

"You're new. What's your name?" Our patient turns her attention to me.

"My name is Piper Strand. I moved to Austin from New York," I say as I get to work on making sure she is comfortable.

"Lucy. Anyway, I need to sleep. I'm tired," Our patient responds.

"She has a DNR order by the way," The girl remarks as she reaches for some papers.

"Well we will get your mother comfortable," Michelle responds as she declines the paper. I guess that means we are waiting. After what feels like an hour Michelle decides to call it. With a heavy heart, we get to work on our last checks. That is one thing that I will never get used to. Watching people slipping away because they knew their time was up.

"Time of death?" Michelle asks.

"11:52," I confirmed before turning my attention to the girl who was with us. I pull her into a hug. Instead of pulling away, she buried herself in my chest.

"I'm sorry. I knew this was going to happen but I didn't realise how rough it was going to be," The girl apologises for some reason.

"Don't worry about it. My crew and I are here to help," I reply. After what feels like an eternity everything has been done and we are back at the fire station. What's odd though is the fact that the fire crew has gone. They must be on their own call. I just hope that it is not someone being stupid.

It has been thirteen hours since then and I am tossing and turning in bed. Why? It turns out that when my dad told me something was wrong and after helping Lucy and her daughter I realised that my dad might have cancer. It would make sense as my dad has been acting like he got the worst news of his life. Since sleep is completely avoiding me I sneak off to get some more hot chocolate. With a few swift movements, I have my drink ready. After a couple of minutes alone my dad joins me.

"What are you doing awake?" Dad asks as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

"I couldn't get to sleep. Anyway, I think I figured it out," I decided to have the conversation now.

"Figured out what?" My dad is confused.

The bad thing you refused to talk to me about. You have cancer and you don't know how to handle it," I explain. The look on his face changes. Before he has a chance to ask, we are joined by Michelle. She looks just as tired as we are. With that I excuse myself. I decided that I am going to lay on the gurney so that I don't interrupt anyone. Besides, I need some time to myself. It has been a couple of hours since then and the signal bell goes. It is an all-hands-on-deck call. After fifteen minutes of driving, we made it to a motel. As soon as we leave the ambulance my nose is hit by the smell of rotten eggs.

"Captain, if anyone is feeling sick send them our way," Michelle calls out to Dad as we set up a triage area. After a minute the first of the evacuees make their way to the triage area. I turn my attention to a man who is trying to catch his breath.

"The gas leak...Asthma...don't have a puffer," The man explains between breaths.

"Ok. I'm going to check your breathing then I want you to take two puffs," I say as I grab a puffer from my kit. I offer it to the man. Thankfully he takes it. With that out of the way, I use my stethoscope. As soon as I put the end to the man's chest I heard the familiar wheezing.

"You can use the inhaler now," With that, the man takes the required amount of medication. After waiting for a couple of seconds I double-check the man's breathing. Thankfully it is starting to clear. After what feels like an eternity the last person is out and just in time. We all flinch as the building complex explodes. After thirty minutes on the scene, everyone is finally checked out including the resident nut case.

It is the day after and I am trying to relax. The good thing is Judd managed to drag my dad to his uncle's ranch. The reason why I am not relaxed is because Tim decided that it would be a good idea to take me to one of his favourite eating spots.

"This food is good but why did you decide to take me here?" I ask. The thing is I have only known Tim for a few days so this feels a little weird.

"Well you seemed upset so I thought I'd cheer you up. Michelle was supposed to come but she told me something came up," Tim explains. At least Tim was being considerate.

"Thank you and yes I am upset. I got some bad news. I didn't realise it was that obvious," I confirm. The thing is I know Dad hasn't told Tyler yet. In fact, the only reason why I figured it out was because we helped Lucy and her daughter who had the same look as dad. The good thing is I know I will have help if I need it. The thought makes me smile. Which is something that I haven't done since moving to Austin.