"𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬, 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞."
-ˋˏ ༻✧𓆩♡𓆪✧༺ ˎˊ-

SADIE SAT IN BETWEEN CHIMNEY AND BUCK, fixing the loose strands of hair in her braid. Eddie was sitting across from her and she noticed the subtle glances he would steal from her peripheral vision.

"So Silver Star huh?" Chimney asked Eddie as they drove their way to their call. Eddie had a look on his face that Sadie was all too familiar with whenever she didn't really want to take about a specific subject.

"Yeah," Eddie replied quickly with a forced smile. He looked out the window next to him to attempt to hide the painful memories back when he was serving and Sadie noticed his uncomfortableness. The way his fists clenched and unclenched, the nervous scratch on his skin, and the way his posture tensed were clear signs to Sadie.

"You save a platoon or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that. Just a convoy."

"That's still impressive," Sadie added, finally speaking for the first time ever since they left the firehouse. Eddie whipped his head at the sound of her voice and he caught the sight of her smiling. Eddie smiled back at the girl, her contagious delicate grin frosting every edge of her lips.

"Oh my god, she talks!" Buck blurted out in sarcastic excitement. Sadie rolled her eyes in a sardonic angry manner, slapping Buck's chest gently while glaring at him.

"Eddie, uh, you heard about the hot firefighter calendar?" Hen asked while scanning her eyes at the rest of her teammates who either had an expression of jealousy or humor written on their faces.

But Buck was the only jealous one.

"Sorry, the what?" Eddie asked, genuinely not understanding what his new teammates were talking about.

"It's for charity. Everyone in the 118 are five star models, so I'm sure one of you guys will win. Except for Buck. He doesn't apply to this," Sadie smirked, looking at Buck who looked offended but was attempting to hold back his stifled laughter.

Buck glared at Sadie evilly, her reciprocating, and then turned his attention back to Eddie. "So, is your full name "Eduardo"?"

"No, it's uh—"

"—Edmundo?" Sadie asked, looking up so her blue eyes met with Eddie's brown ones. At the mention of Sadie saying his full name, Eddie smirked brightly in surprise, his spirit instantly illuminating when she said his name. "I occasionally volunteer at schools and I had this one kid named 'Edmundo' in my class, who also went by Eddie," Sadie clarified.

"Yeah. It is Edmundo." Looking down at her hands, Sadie attempted to hide the burning smile on her cheeks but failed when Eddie saw it and her contagious behavior plastered his own grin on his face.

With the small, yet high tension encounters that Eddie and Sadie had with each other, the rest of their teammates instantly knew that something sparked between the pair. Hen was already making bets with Chimney for how long it would take for them to cave into one another.

Walking out of the truck and into the auto shop, the 118 made a beeline to Hector, who had a nozzle stuck in his ass cheek. Sadie was quick to run to the man, fidgeting with the black polyvinyl chloride material of the stethoscope.

Bobby, Eddie, and Buck lifted up Hector so he was now laying down on the cold cement in the auto shop. Sadie put the stethoscope in her ears and placed the diaphragm on Hector's chest.

"His breathing is shallow and his heart is racing. His stomach is filled with air. Cap, I'm concerned about his heart and lungs," Sadie said as she looked up to her captain, waiting for his next orders.

"Eddie, start a nasal cannula. Chimney, get him on morphine." Everyone complied with Bobby's orders, but as Chimney attempted to inject him with morphine, the air in his body was refusing to let the needle penetrate his thick skin.

"I can't even air through the nostril," Eddie stated. Sadie pressed her lips in a thin line as she attempted to ponder an alternate solution to this problem.

"Jugular venous distention, tachycardia, hypotension, diminished breath, we're looking at tension pneumothorax," Hen announced, waiting for Bobby's next orders.

"Buck, I need you to get a 14-gauge angiocath. We need to start decompressing the pleural cavity."

Once Buck came back with the needed tools, he started to search for a part of the skin where he would be able to inject the tool, but Eddie told Buck that he should go lower.

Both of the muscular men gradually started to form a small argument, and Sadie noticed how Buck's facial expression turned into a mixture of jealousy and failure at the sight of her fellow teammates praising Eddie for his good work.

"Good job Eddie," Sadie applauded the probation firefighter, her signature smile rising on her face. Eddie looked deep into her eyes, noticing the emerald green flecks that accented her aquamarine eyes.

He smiled cheekily and gave her a nod of appreciation. "Thank you, Sadie."

Sadie then turned her direction to Buck who still had the same cold stone-hard expression on his face. "You did a good job too, Bucky." Sadie patted the back of her older brother figure and Buck was grateful that he still had the love and awareness from Sadie.

"Thank you, Sades."

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

Sadie was breathing heavily, situps definitely not being one of her favorite exercises, but her mind was determined with the imagination of her family next to her, screaming in her ear to tell her to keep going. Eddie walked towards the punching bag, greeted Sadie with a small smile, and threw a fist towards the punching bag viciously.

Sadie should have been used to it. It was simply exercising equipment that they used for work, but the loud popping sound of Eddie's fist making contact with the rich black leather brought back traumatic memories of when Sadie's ex, Steve, would physically abuse her. She subconsciously rubbed her arms where her bruises used to reside.

But once her ears adjusted to the fact that Steve wasn't there, and it was only Eddie, her mind relaxed slightly and she continued to do her sit-ups.

Sadie noticed how Buck grabbed extra weights to put on his barbell and she couldn't help but let out a stifled laugh, finding the sight humorous as Buck attempted to one-up Eddie. She saw right through Buck and knew exactly what he was doing and she patted Chimney on the shoulder, getting his attention.

"You see this too, right?" Sadie asked keeping her eyes on Buck.

"Oh, yeah. Should we tell him that he's acting like a little kid?"

"What do you mean? Buck is a kid." Chimney and Sadie stared at each other for a few seconds before convulsing into laughter. The duo incessantly laughed, even more, when they saw Buck taking pictures with his selfie stick.

"You're in the wrong light man," Eddie mentioned, observing Buck's antics.

"Some of us don't need good lighting to look good," Buck retaliated, and Eddie shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, going back to the punching back.

"Hey, Eddie, what'd you mean by "the wrong light"?" Chimney asked as he and Sadie walked over to him.

"The light in this room is flat and blue. Makes you look soft. If you want to look lean and muscles to pop, you need warm sidelight. I'll show you. These are the ones I sent in for the calendar."

When Eddie showed Chimney and Sadie the pictures, her jaw dropped but quickly rehinged it hoping nobody noticed it. The pictures were certainly beautiful.

"It's, uh, kind of cheating submitting pictures by a professional photographer," Buck commented, attempting to disparage Eddie's pictures.

Eddie released a whole-hearted laugh. "The photographer's twelve. She's my niece. She's a master at the iPhone filters," Eddie stated while looking at Chimney and Sadie.

"I swear, kids nowadays. They're so talented and have a unique imagination. Really, they're amazing," Sadie grinned, reminiscing back at the times she would volunteer back at the school. She didn't see his face, but when Sadie was talking about kids, Eddie's face lit up with a hint of happiness and intrigue. The way she would smile whenever a kid was mentioned, made Eddie's heart melt.

"You should ask your niece to take pictures of me. Maybe I can finally look good with her amazing photography skills," Sadie said, half-joking.

"I'm sure you look beautiful in all of your pictures, Sadie," Eddie complimented sheepishly. Sadie felt the familiar burning sensation in her cheeks and she absentmindedly looked down at her hands at his statement.

"Thank you, Edmundo," Sadie snickered with a smile. Eddie gleamed at the girl when he heard her say his full name. Typically, whenever anyone said his full name, Eddie would groan in annoyance, feeling as if he was being chastised by his family, but his name coming out of Sadie's mouth felt different.

It felt peaceful.

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

The 118 received a call about a man who had a grenade go off in his thigh. Buck and Eddie went inside the home to aid the man while Eddie and Sadie sat in the ambulance, waiting for their queue.

Sadie looked up at Eddie who seemed to have a roaring thunderstorm invading his head. It took her several tries to call out Eddie's name, and finally, he whipped his head up, his attention on her.

"Are you okay, Eddie? You look a little anxious there?" Sadie asked like a worried mother. Eddie exhaled an exasperated sigh before speaking.

"I just want to apologize back in the locker room. It shouldn't be my business to overstep your boundaries." Eddie held his head in shame, putting on the blue latex gloves, fighting with the hem of the elastic material.

"It's okay, Eddie, I promise you that you didn't overstep. It's just that sometimes certain events can trigger regrettable memories that I wish I could forget," Sadie muttered, seeing that Eddie was staring intently at her, attempting to figure her out. Eddie saw a hint of pain in her eyes, knowing that there was a significant story behind that pretty smile.

"I understand that. There are some things I wish I could forget in Afghanistan."

"To broken minds then," Sadie assured, flashing the ex-soldier a smile and he returned it, his eyes crinkling in bliss.

Just as the pair finished talking, Bobby and Buck walked out the front door, wheeling out the man. Sadie got in her position, as did Eddie, and they prepped some medical supplies while examining the man.

Buck aversively went inside the ambulance with Sadie and Eddie, definitely not wanting to be near the probation firefighter.

"I guess you've seen a lot of shrapnel wounds." Sadie rolled her eyes in annoyance, already seeing what Buck was doing.

"My share," Eddie replied monotonously.

"You ever seen a guy with a length of rebar stuck through his skull?"

"Buck, please," Sadie pleaded in a warning tone. Buck simply ignored her and continued to banter about how being a Los Angeles firefighter was a tenuous job. Sadie wishes she could smack Buck in the back of his head, but she couldn't since they were working on a patient.

Just as Sadie was about to reach for some medication, she instantly retracted her hand when Eddie's strong arms pulled her back in a protective manner.

"Oh, come on. Hold on. I thought you said this was a practice round," Eddie asked the man, his arms still protectively wrapped around Sadie.

"It is."

But oh no, it was not. If Sadie weren't in a situation where a live round grenade was in her vicinity, then she would be thinking about the arms wrapped around her, but she couldn't fathom her emotions properly, since a war weapon was right in front of her.

The ambulance pulled over in an abandoned parking lot and Sadie watched as everyone had a look of fear on their faces when the bomb squad said the military was coming, but they didn't have time.

"Military should be here within the hour," the officer said. Sadie bit her lip, attempting to quickly muster up a plan, knowing the man in the ambulance was literally a ticking time bomb.

"I can do it," Sadie abruptly spoke up, "believe it or not, I have some experience with diffusing bombs." Her teammates looked at her with wide eyes. "Trust me, it was a weird summer."

"No, no, no way in hell you're doing it." Eddie instantly spoke up, putting his hands up in a fatherly manner, as if he was scolding a child.

"Eddie, if we continue this argument, then we're just going to waste our time, so either we continue to get at each other's throats, or we can help this man," Sadie insisted, already putting on the protective gear the police department provided her.

"God, you guys are such a married couple already," Buck muttered under his breath, but both firefighters heard him clearly.

Sadie swore she saw a hint of a praiseful tug on Eddie's lips, but her adrenaline was pumping through her veins, she wasn't sure what was real at the moment. All she knew was that she had to diffuse the grenade and save that man.

Sadie got inside the ambulance, following Eddie and Buck. She started the drip line while Eddie attempted to ease a conversation to try and make Charlie feel better.

"You guys ready?" Eddie asked, his eyes mainly trained on Sadie, sensing her nervousness.

Both Buck and Sadie nodded, ignoring the incessant feeling of their heart pulsating out of their chests. Sadie placed pressure on the wound, while Buck held open the box, anxiously waiting to take out the cadaverous weapon.

Once Eddie took out the grenade, he meticulously put it in the box, closing it when they all knew everything was going to be okay.

The trio sighed in relief and smiled in alleviation. They got out of the ambulance and wheeled the man to another ambulance.

"You're badass under pressure, brother," Eddie said, Sadie, smiling seeing how Buck looked ecstatic to hear those words come out of his mouth.

"Me?"

"Hell yeah, you can have my back any day," Eddie smiled, looking at Buck. "And you, Sadie, are extraordinarily amazing. I can't wait to spend these shifts with you."

Sadie gawked in awe at Eddie and she didn't even try to hide it. Both Eddie and Sadie were staring at each other without blinking an eye. Buck looked back and forth between Sadie and Eddie, completely oblivious to what was happening, but Bobby on the other hand smirked, instantly sensing the tension.

Seeing the knowing looks from his captain and teammates, Eddie reluctantly let go of his gaze on Sadie. "A-And with the amazing crew too, of course."

Out of nowhere, the grenade suddenly went off, instantly making Sadie flinch from the unexpected loud noise. Eddie subconsciously stood in front of Sadie and wrapped his arms around her.

Everyone stared at Eddie and he nonchalantly shrugged it off.

"You guys hungry?" Sadie's eyes beamed in happiness, feeling her stomach grumble from hunger.

"I can eat, I've been craving ice cream."

I'm already loving eddie and sadie's relationship ughh 😖

hope you all enjoyed this chapter!!! definitely one of the longer ones I've written.