⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

| 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐃 |

♡ -- act one, she was whiskey in a teacup

CHAPTER ONE - under pressure
( episode one, season two)

♡

taylor didn't except her shift to start by pulling a severed arm out of a pool, then again, this job was almost always shoving things she'd never expect to see in her face.

"-did they measure the fat in your head?" chimney asks, smiling, as taylor walks out of the changing room in her uniform.

"ah, see, that would be funny, but we're about a week away from submissions being due for the hot days, smoldering nights; men of the lafd wall calendar, and i'm already at my goal weight, so it seems like my head is clearly working perfectly." buck explains, pointing obnoxiously to his head for the last part.

taylor shakes her head, "do you have to use the full title? it's kind of long and redundant."

buck's eyebrows raise and hen continues for taylor, knowing they're thinking the same thing. "you could also just say, 'that idiotic, reductive, sexist calendar that insults the dignity of this organization and furthers the myth that all firefighters are male."

bobby, their captain, exchanges glances with chimney.

"yeah, that's not any less words." buck replies.

"c'mon, hen, it's for charity." bobby says, smirking.

"not you to, cap." taylor sighs.

"they say a man is at his sexiest when he reaches fifty."

chimney chuckles. "i think sororities everywhere are ready for their next asian sex symbol." he flexes.

"yeah, well good luck."

bobby looks to buck. "oh, because you don't think we'll win."

"did i say that? i'm just saying they're only picking one candidate from each station." buck replies with cockiness.

chimney gets lost looking at something in the distance. "okay, that is a good-looking man." he points.

hen looks beyond chimney's hand, taylor following suit. "where is the lie? and i like girls."

buck turns and pulls taylow closer to him. "who is that?" he whispers just loud enough for bobby to hear.

taylor holds bucks' hand in shock as bobby answers. "eddie diaz. new recruit. graduated top of his classes just this week."

"guys over at station six were dying to have him but i managed to get him to join us."

"what do we need him for?" buck asks, smoothing the part of taylor's hair he messed up.

"he served in afghanistan and has a silver star, it's not like he's wet behind the eras."

"wow, silver star... better drop some more body fat there, butch." hen says, walking off.

taylor let's go buck and follows the group past the changing rooms, nodding at eddie on her way. eddie lifts his head and meets her eyes.

"hey."

she waves back and keeps walking.

anybody with a brain could see this man was fine as hell, that only made taylor a bit peeved. they couldn't have hired someone who was like... super smart or something?

୨ৎ

the sirens on the truck were blaring and people pulled off to the side when they drove by, off to another call that was put in.

taylor sat in the middle of buck and chim, hen on the left in front of her and eddie on the other side of hen, "hey, eddie, have you heard of the hot firefighter calendar?"

he laughs. "the what?"

"it's for charity!" she explains with a teasing smile towards buck who was obviously annoyed.

"so is your full name eduardo?" he pipes up.

"no." eddie replies simply.

buck contimues. "people ever call you diaz?"

"not if they want me to respond."

he scoffs. "somethings gotta give i mean, we have cap, hen, chimney, tay- we can't just call you eddie." he says pointing around to everyone.

"i can't tell if he's being serious or not." eddie replies looking at chimney.

chimney nods. 'i like to always preform under the impression that nothing he says is serious."

taylow smiles and begins to speak. "what if his nickname is already eddie, then what, buck?"

eddie smiles at that.

"forget it." he scoffs again, looking out the window.

୨ৎ

"the air nozzle is embedded in his ass cheek."

oh... alright. don't spare any time i guess.

"i shut it off but i was afraid to move him." he continues.

bobby races and leans down beside the man.

"hector can you hear me?" a few seconds go by and keeps talking. "okay, let's get him on his side, let's go, three, two, one."

buck and bobby lift and place him on the concrete ground, hen leans down to listen to his breathing and heart.

"this is one-hundred pounds per square inch of air pumped through his entire body."

hen looks up at bobby. "breaths shallow and hearts racing. air's filled his stomach, his chest, even behind his eyelids."

"eddie, get him some nasal o2, and taylor give him some morphine."

taylor kneels beside hector, grabbing the capsule of morphine and a spare needle, meanwhile eddie grabs the oxygen tube.

"i can't get the needle into his hand, cap. it's like stone." taylor says with a concerned expression, then she turns to eddie.

"I can't even get air through the nostril."

"jugular venous distension, tachycardia, hypotension, diminished breath, we're looking at tension pneumothorax." hen says to the team.

bobby glances to taylor. "the air pressure is collapsing his organs we need to get in there and drain the fluid. taylor i need you to get a fourteen gauge angiocath. we need to start decompressing the pleural cavity."

taylor pulls hectors shirt open slightly and eddie stopes her hand. "go lower."

she'd be lying if she said there wasn't a small lightning shock to her hand with that touch, but it could've been friction shock.

she looks into his eyes. "no, second intercostal space. midclavicular line."

"the chest wall is thinner at the fifth intercostal at the anterior axillary line. there's a decreased chance of injuring any vital organs." he looks to bobby for approval. "I've treated guys with collapsed lungs in combat."

bobby nods. "do it."

eddie holds his hand out for the materials.

this wasn't the first co-worker that had undermined taylor in front of the whole team. yes, sure, they wanted what was best for the patient but both times it happened, the guy was buff, stubborn, and didn't take no. eddie fit the stereotype.

men loved to tell women how to do something better, even if they were both trained in it.

"can you help me out with the shirt?" he asks taylor.

she unbuttons the shirt a few more down and waits for him to move, then, he punctures hector's chest with the needle and interest the tube. air hisses out.

"that's it hector, breathe. nice and slow."

taylor watches eddie as he works. one part of her wants to admire him, the other wants to literally fight him outside on the sidewalk.

the team puts their supplies back into the truck after giving hector an exam and loading him into the ambulance. everyone congratulates eddie, including cap. everyone except taylor and buck.

eddie notices both their silences on the way back. especially taylor's.

maybe she was just jealous he had more experience, he thought. or maybe she was just simply not in the mood to argue. could be the latter.

୨ৎ

"what' your problem, man?" edddie asks, buck in the workout area.

taylor walks by just as eddie says that, making her spin back around and look at the situation. her long ponytails swings with her, landing on her pink tank top that covers her.

when she turns she sees eddie standing in front of buck with dripping hair and a black tank top, covered in sweat, his arms showing. across from him is buck wearing a blue top and far less sweaty for sure.

"okay, you." buck says. "you're not meant to just walk in here and act like you've been here for years. there's meant to be a getting-to-know-you period."

taylor walks over in silence and lets her bag fall to the ground next to the treadmill.

eddie and buck both turn to her because of the noise. buck very quickly redirects his attention to eddie but eddie's eyes linger for a few seconds longer. then, he turns back.

"i never mean to walk on anybody's toes, man. i know you're going through some personal issues right now so i'll let this slide." he pats bucks' shoulder.

"personal issues?"

eddie smiles sympathetically. "i know your girlfriend recently broke up with you and you're coming to terms with that."

"no, i'm not and she didn't break up with me. who told you that?" buck looks at chimney who is already looking at him. he looks back in front of him and keeps counting his reps, trying to stay out of it.

"i'm just saying, i know you're going through some pain right now and that's fine and all but there's no need to take it out on me. there's no need to be threatened by mean either, i mean, we're on the same team." eddie responds.

buck stands taller. "why would i be threatened by you?"

eddie doesn't match his stance. "exactly, we both do the same thing. i've just done it while people are shooting at me, that's all."

taylor starts the treadmill, stepping on. eddie walks to the punching bag next to her. "hey, taylor, we good?" his eyes are filled with frustration.

the black-haired girl turns to him with determination in her eyes. "i'm not sure yet."

he nods, the begins punching.

୨ৎ

after getting a call about a guy who made a grenade go off in his own home, which somehow nicked an artery in his leg, taylor and buck load him into the ambulance.

"okay, taylor ride with eddie sine buck can't play nice."

buck rolls his eyes as taylor nods, slight annoyance filling her head.

eddie smirks and holds a hand out to help her in. taylor ignores it and trys by herself. she lifts her foot up and a piece of metal pulls her other foot back as she's climbing, leaving her to either fall or well, fall.

eddie quickly grabs her arm and pulls her in, closing the door behind her in one motion.

"you okay, princess?" he jokes.

taylor rolls her eyes and sits down, trying to get away from him because she might punch him.

a few minutes of driving goes by and taylor grabs gauze to change the dressing on the guys leg.

eddie grabs her hand, yanking it back.

"not to be extremely unprofessional but seriously, what the hell are you doing?" she asks, anger in her voice.

"i thought you said this was a practice round, sir." he looks at the man, not letting go of taylor.

"it is."

eddie shakes his head, fear engulfing him. "practice rounds have blue caps, live are gold."

he swings to the front, pounding on the roof, dragging taylor with him. "pull over, now!"

the same fear fills taylor, her hands growing shaky and her breath shallow. "eddie..."

he turns to her, hiding some of the fear in his eyes. "hey, it's okay, we're stopping."

୨ৎ

"we're sending someone from pendleton to come get this thing. we need someone to get it out without it exploding."

"can't you do that? you're the bomb squad." taylor asks, her voice riddled with fear.

"we can't diffuse this thing. the only option is to get it out quickly and carefully."

eddie rubs taylor's shoulder knowing she needs some sort of comfort. he may not be able to stand her stubbornness sometimes but this was a time he needed to forget about his distaste.

"-he doesn't have an hour."bobby says.

she must've zoned out from the shock. clearly everyone else was taking this better than her.

"i can do it." eddie interjects. "if he doesn't go to surgery soon, he'll die."

"you've done this before?" bobby asks.

eddie nods. "none of the guys i served with were dumb enough to get a live round stuck in their leg but i'm familiar with the ordinance."

a few minutes later, eddie is in the bomb vest, holding the box and a retrieval device.

bobby stops taylor and his voice is stern. "you don't have to do this."

taylor smiles weakly. "i'm not gonna let the new guy get all the fun, cap."

she slides the vest on and buckles it, heading towards eddie.

five minutes go by and eddie meets taylor's eyes with a look no one has ever given her before. "you ready to get this thing out, tay?"

she blinks a few times then nods. "better now than never."

eddie lifts the cloth covering charlie's leg and grabs the pair of claws.

his hand is ever so slightly shakey as he reached into the man's leg.

"the key is not to rotate it, it measures distance traveled by its rotation." the claws surround all sides of the round and eddie begins to lift it slowly. "very slow."

"please don't get us killed."

he almost chuckles at that but the reality of the situation keeps him serious. "doin' my best."

the claws fully remove the round and eddie gently puts it into the bomb box that taylor is holding.

she closes it and clasps it shut.

the bomb squad takes the box from her and eddie and taylor jump out, wheeling the man into the hospital for surgery.

not long after eddie and taylor meet outside where the team is waiting for them.

"i guess, you're an alright team mate, eddie."

he laughs. "my name's eduardo, by the way. don't tell buck."

she tries to smile. "deal."

୨ৎ

this afternoon, taylor sat on the couch on the upper level of the station, the rest of the team was doing their own tasks up there as well.

"how about 'G.I.?' like G.I. joe." buck explained to eddie to was playing an arcade game.

they had finally become friends, good for them.

"sounds like gastrointestinal." hen said without looking up from her phone.

eddie chuckled. "yeah, i don't think so."

taylor hummed along to the music coming from hen's phone. whatever she was watching was catchy.

"alright, listen up everybody, i've got an announcement." cap revealed walking up the steps. "i just got off the phone with the people from the calendar, and they have made their choice."

buck and eddie straighten up and excitement fills their eyes.

taylor looks behind her from the couch, turning on her knees. "maybe they didn't choose any of you and they chose me."

buck scoffs. "no matter who won, no hard feelings." he turns to taylor. "be quiet."

cap smirks. "that's good buck, 'cause they didn't pick you."

"well, congratulations G.I." he fist bumps eddie.

ew. bromance.

"they didn't pick him either."

before anyone can say anything, taylor launches up from the couch and hugs chimney.

"congrats, man!" she exclaims.

moments later of congratulations go by and athena arrives at the top of the steps.

"i hope i'm not interrupting anything."

bobby eyes her and takes a few steps towards her.

she leans into him and apologizes, then they kiss.

"woah..." taylor gasps.

buck goes slack jaw and grabs taylors arm in shock.

"what are you all looking at? there's no more announcements. " bobby say's to the team watching them.

money gets exchanged and people exchange laughs, before bobby preps the table for dinner.

୨ৎ

everything was going taylors way. she woke up this morning without her usual migraine, she ate and didn't burn the toast for once. things were looking up. 

then the earthquake hit. level six.

it happened while she was on her way to work, her shift had been schedules later than everyone else so she was arriving later. 

the moment she started to pull into the station the ground shook with an uncontrollable anger. 

she stopped the car, jumped out and slid. straight into buck. he immediately grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, shielding her.  bobby grabbing the two of them and running them somewhere safer.

everything was looking up until it wasn't.

when buck saw the stab wound on her leg from a fallen piece of glass, he knew the earth was something to be reckoned with.

and taylor knew that suddenly, losing blood wasn't her biggest fear. 

losing her best friends were.














currently not proofread, 2,624 words