••••

VICTORIA SAT NEXT TO CHIMNEY AS THEY WATCHED BOBBY COOK. Honestly, she loved working here because if it wasnt for Bobby, she would not be eating good. She could cook but not as good as Bobby could. "You ever feel like you missed your calling, cap?" Chimney asks him curiously. Bobby looks over at him.

"What are you thinking? Michelin-rated restaurant or short order cook?" Bobby questions.

"I was thinking TV chef. I mean what you do, it's like performance art." Chimney answers as he gestures toward the food.

"Mhm, much like watching cooking on TV, we never get to taste anything. Usually by the time it hits the table, the bell goes off." Hen tells them, shaking her head as she walks to sit down next to Victoria.

"Speak for yourself, I shove as much food in as I can and run." Victoria states with a laugh, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"All right. Speed round. If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?" Bobby asks them, looking at the trio.

"fighter pilot, top gun. Call sign Shogun." Chimney tells them with a smirk on his face. Both Hen and Victoria let out a laugh but Chimney seemed to be telling the truth.

"Seriously?" Victoria asks him, a bit amused.

"What? I could do that." Chimney responds. Bobby shakes his head, smiling at the group.

"What about you, Hen?" He asks the woman who thinks about it for a moment.

"Editorial cartoonist, The New Yorker." Hen tells them. They all stare at her for a  moment. "I have a lot to say." She admits with a shrug.

"You draw?" Bobby asks her.

"She does not." Victoria denies. Hen hits her arm causing her to laugh a little bit.

"No, it's a dream. It's not supposed to be attainable." Hen points out as she shrugs her shoulders before looking toward Chimney. "Top gun? You can barely drive, you rebar head." She states with a bit of a snort.

"Hey." Chimney replies, a bit offended.

"I would be a stripper." Victoria tells them. Everyone glances in her direction, a bit surprised. "Kidding." She says as she rolls her eyes. But she wasnt really. She had been a stripper when she first got out of high-school to help pay bills.

"No, i see that. You totally have the body." Hen tells her with small wink. Victoria laughs a bit, leaning on Hens shoulder.

"Who would be a stripper?" Buck's voice comes into the room as he comes up behind them, having not heard the full context.

"Vic if she wasnt a firefighter." Hen answers him. Buck just looks at Victoria for a moment before glancing away. Victoria raises an eyebrow at him.

"What, no sassy comment from you?" Victoria asks. Usually he'd say something snarky but he had kept his mouth shut which weirded her out.

"Oh, Buckaroo. If you were not a member of the LAFD, what would you be doing?" Chimney asks him curiously. Buck furrows his eyebrows.

"Uh, I don't know." He admits, shrugging his shoulders before his eyes widen. "I'm not getting fired, am i?" Buck asks them, becoming nervous all of a sudden.

"That's inevitable." Chimney mutters.

"I pray to God every single day and I'm not even religious." Victoria admits with a smirk as she meets Buck's gaze. Buck just makes his way to one of the empty bar stools.

"He'd be a golden retriever." Hen says with a smirk on her lips.

"No, a bartender." Chimney corrects her before a gasp leaves his lips. "No, no, no, bouncer at a bar." He states, looking toward Hen who points her finger at him.

"Bouncer at a strip club." Hen adds.

"The one where Vic works." Chimney says. They smirk at each other, high giving the other as they laugh. Victoria glared playfully over toward them.

"Hey, don't rope me into it. It's bad enough I have to see him here." Victoria admits as she crosses her arms against her chest. Once more, Buck said nothing. Bobby looks over toward him.

"What's going on with you, kid?" Bobby questions, wondering if something was wrong. Buck just lets out a sigh.

"This traffic sucks in this town unless you're driving ten tons of engine with sirens. It took me almost two hours to get from Abby's place to the call center downtown, then back over here." Buck explains to them. Victoria looks over at him, her stomach twisting in the slightest when she realized he was still staying at Abby's place. "Just told Maddie she needs to start ubering." He mutters, running his hand over his face.

"Oh, right. The mystery sister. Is she hot?" Victoria hadn't met her first but she hoped she was the complete opposite of Buck. Buck seemed a little taken aback, his nose scrunching up.

"Uh... why would I answer that?" Buck asks, a bit disgusted. Victoria rolls her eyes. Why else would she ask?

"Do you have a picture?"

"I'm not showing you a picture of her." He denies with a small scoff. Victoria placed her hand on her hip.

"Why not?" She asks curiously.

"Because." Buck responds simply. Victoria just narrows her eyes a bit.

"He doesn't want you hooking up with his sister." Chimney teases her. Victoria smirks as she tilts her head.

"She's probably more interesting than you." Victoria points out as she looks ar Buck. Buck rolls his eyes slightly as he glances away from her.

"She doesn't even swing that way." Buck denies. Even though he didn't know that for sure, she had only ever dated. She has horrible taste but thats another thing.

"Oh, honey. She would for me." Victoria says with a wink. She could see Buck turn a bit red as he clears his throat.

"How's your sister settling in down there?" Bobby asks Buck, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, she's a Buckley. Practically running the place." Buck states with a proud smile on his face. It was silent, the trio just giving each other a look. Suddenly, they all grab their plates, making their way to the table and leaving Buck with a confused look on his face as Bobby just shakes his head with a smile.

••••

A GROAN ESCAPES HER AS VICTORIA STRETCHES HER BODY OUT. She honestly couldn't wait to get a call because she hated being stuck inside all day. Her eyes move around the room, seeing Buck on his phone as he leant against the wall. Glancing around, she makes her way over to him. Buck seems to notice her, staring at her curiously. She just leans beside him.

"So, you're still staying at Abby's, huh?" Victoria asks him, rubbing her hands together. Buck nods his head, placing his phone into his pocket.

"Yeah."

"What about your apartment?" She questions, wondering if he was still paying for his. And she also wondered whether or not Abbys was rent controlled or not.

"I said I'd look after it for her." Buck responds with a shrug of his shoulders. Victoria just didn't see why they stayed together though. She was gone, left him without really any warning. And yet here he was, getting angry when somebody suggested they had broken up.

"She's not coming back for a while though." Victoria points out. Buck knew that. He knew Abby was traveling to find herself. He did like Abby and wanted to stay with her. But there was an underlying reason as well. Because he couldn't have someone else.

"I know, but I'll be here when she does." Buck saw the way she glanced away from him, hiding the obvious annoyance in her face. "What?" He asks with a sigh, crossing his arms against his chest. Victoria just acts innocent.

"I didn't say anything." She denies, looking down at the ground making Buck roll his eyes.

"Clearly you want to." Buck confronts her, a slight glare in his eyes. Victoria takes a deep breath. She didn't want to be rude or dismissive of him but he was holding onto hope that was nonexistent.

"I just... it feels odd that you're still there and that she's kind of stringing you along." Victoria explains to him. Buck shakes his head.

"She isn't."

"She just left. She didn't even offer for you to go with her. And now she's in Europe, barely even communicating with you." Victoria explains seeing Buck's jaw clench slightly.

"She texts me when she can." Buck defends it making Victoria scoff a bit. Abby didn't care about him, if she did she wouldn't be stringing him along like this. She never liked the woman anyways, she was so much older than him.

"And you're not the least bit worried?" Victoria questions. If she had a boyfriend who went off to Europe for months by himself, she would be worried about him cheating.

"Why do you care?" Buck all but snaps at her. Victoria knew it wasn't her place to say anything but, not that she would admit it, she did care for him.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt." She admits with a small sigh. Buck just stares back at her. It was clear he wanted to say something else but doesn't, just keeping his gaze on hers.

"Vic!" She hears from behind her. The voices sound all too familiar but she hasn't heard them in a while. At least not in person. Her eyes widen as she turns around, her gaze focusing on the two women walking toward her.

"No way." Victoria mutters as she wasnt sure what she was seeing was real."Gabby? Shay?" She asks, a bright smile forming on her face as she starts to move toward them. They were from her house back I'm Chicago, being the paramedics. The three had gotten really close up until Victoria had left. They had kept in contact but it still wasn't the same.

Victoria reaches them, pulling them both into a hug. "What are you guys doing here?" She asks curiously. She was glad to see them honestly. Victoria felt bad for always saying she'd see them one day but never making the move to get on a flight. She just wasn't ready to return to that city yet, even after all these years.

"Visiting." Gabby tells her in an obvious tone making Victoria roll her eyes playfully.

"I'm here too." Kelly points out as he peeks his head up from behind them. Victoria was about to hug him when a confused expression washes up on her face.

"Wait, Boden let you all come at once?" Victoria asks them. She didn't want to leave Boden with having to find multiple replacements. But it seemed he was fine with it if he allowed it all.

"Well, I'm still recovering. Gabby has been meaning to visit. And Kelly tagged along without being asked." Shay explains to her making Kelly glare at her, hitting her on the arm.

"Hey." He scolds her while as Shay just smirks back at him.

Victoria remembered the attack on Chicago last week. There had been a bomb that had gone off at the hospital. 51 had responded and Shay had gotten injured within it all. Luckily she was okay now and they had also found Gabby who had been trapped under the rubble having been inside of the hospital.

"Right, how are you?" Victoria asks her friend, concern in her eyes. She hated how she wasn't there for her in person, but she made sure to check in often while the woman was still in the hospital.

"Doing better." Shay assures her, not wanting her to worry.

"And why didn't you say anything about it?" Victoria accuses her, a bit angry that Shay allowed herself to pass out before getting the help she needed. Shay just shrugs her shoulders.

"People needed help, I wasn't just going to let them die." Shay tells her and Victoria narrows her eyes a bit. She was glad the woman was okay, but she didnt know what she wouldve done if they call she recieved from Kelly was one telling her Shay had died.

"Mhm." Victoria hums, shaking her head a little bit.

From a few feet away, Eddie stopped next to Buck, glancing toward the group of newcomers curiously. "Who are they?" He asks, wondering why they were here. Clearly, Victoria knew them so they must be some of her friends.

"Well, he is her old lieutenant from Chicago and I'm guessing they used to work with her as well." Buck answers him. Eddie glances toward the man he was referring to.

"She's originally from Chicago?" Eddie questions, not realizing she had come from another state as well. Buck nods his head as his jaw clenched slightly, seeing Kelly place his hand on Victoria's back.

"Yeah."

"I'm guessing they were a thing?" Eddie suggests, not even needing an answer to confirm it for him. Buck's face said all he needed to know.

"Why would you say that?" Buck asks, furrowing his eyebrows but he hadn't moved his gaze from where it was set and this alerted Eddie. The man smirks as he chuckles a little bit underneath his breath. Buck really did make it obvious.

"Because you look like you want to rip his head off." Eddie points out. This causes Buck to snap his head in Eddie's direction, his eyes widening as his cheeks turn a deep shade of red.

"No-- I... I mean they were a thing." He stutters out, not wanting to make it too obvious that he cared but they were way past that. Especially with the look Eddie was giving him.

"Eddie, Buck!" They glance over, seeing victoria was waving them over. Eddie just pats Buck on the back before starting to walk toward the group. "Guys, these are my friends Gabby and Shay."  She introduces with a smile as the two men stop beside her.

"Buck, you've already met Kelly." Victoria points out and Buck nods his head. Kelly extends his hand toward the man.

"Nice to see you again, man." Kelly Saya and Buck meets his gaze, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, you too." Buck responds, a tight smile on his lips. He didn't exactly have a problem with the man, he just hated the fact he got to have Victoria whenever he pleased.

"This is Buck and our newest recruit Eddie." She tells them, pointing to each of them. Eddie steps forward, holding his hand out to Kelly which he shakes before offering it to the two women.

"It's nice to meet you all." Eddie tells them and they all smile back and nod their heads at him. But Gabby's eyes got toward Buck, tilting her head. Victoria sends her a warning look.

"Ahh, right. You're Buck." Gabby says, her eyes running over him before she looked over at Victoria.  Victoria was silently telling her to keep her mouth shut.

"Guilty." Buck answers with a slight laugh. He was curious why she had such a smirk on her face as she said it and why her eyes had flickered toward Victoria.

"Before you even start, she's taken and she's gay." Victoria tells him, narrowing her eyes a little bit toward the man. Buck looked a bit taken aback, given how he wasn't going to flirt with either of them.

"I wasn't but okay." Buck denies with a small scoff. Sure, they were pretty but his eyes were on someone else. Not that they cared or even acknowledged him.

"What brings you to LA?" Eddie asks, bringing the conversation away from them. Gabby just smiles as she wraps an arm around Victoria.

"It's been a while since I've seen this one so I decided, since she wasn't going to come to Chicago, we'd come here." Gabby tells them, looking at Victoria. Eddie crossed his arms against his chest.

"I didn't know you were from Chicago." He says, looking toward her. Victoria knew she hadn't mentioned it, but frankly she didn't think she had to.

"Yeah, I am." She responds, clearing her throat a bit as she looks down toward the ground.

"We are going out after your shift." Shay announced, easing the slight awkward tension in the air. Victoria raises an eyebrow as her head turns toward the blonde.

"Are we?" Victoria asks but she had not one objection toward it.

"Mhm." Gabby agrees as she nods her head before a gasp leaves her lips. "Wait, I wanna see Rosie. Oh, my god from the pictures she's grown up so much." She points out, having not seen the girl since she was ten.

"She was always such a smart kid." Shay admits with a deep sigh. Victoria notices that Eddie and Buck had moved away to allow them to have a conversation together.

"You can see her later, she's at school." Victoria answers them. Gabby instantly smirks as her eyes move from Eddie and Buck, landing on her.

"They're cute." She admits, placing her hand on her hip. Victoria's eyes widen slightly as she parts her lips slightly.

"What?" Victoria asks but Gabby just raised an eyebrow at her. She knew exactly who she was talking about. "Oh, I guess." She mumbles, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Oh, please. You find them attractive." Shay adds with a roll of her eyes. She could always see when Victoria was into someone.

"She gets this certain look in her eyes." Kelly teases her with a slight wink. Victoria clenches her jaw, glaring at him.

"You, shut it." She warns him as she points a finger toward the man. Kelly just smirks as he laughs a bit.

Suddenly the whole room started shaking massively. Everyone stumbles as they try and stay up right. "Holy shit." Gabby says as her eyes widen. They see things falling over everywhere.

"Earthquake." Victoria says, trying to get everyone to a safe place in the firehouse, or more toward the outside. Beams were falling down causing them to have to avoid them.

"Okay, that's at least a six." Chimney states as he rushes toward them from his place behind the truck.

"A seven!" Hen corrects him. It was a massive one, that they knew for sure. It lasted a few more seconds, causing havoc on the firehouse before finally calming down. Everyone was rattled to say the least.

"Are you okay?" Kelly instantly asks Victoria, his hand going to her cheek. She nods her head, assuring him that she was fine.

"Yeah, yeah. You guys?" She asks, her head going to the group.

"Everyone all right?" Bobby asks as he makes his way over to the group. Everyone nods their heads at him. "We're gonna probably get called out soon so everyone gear up." He tells them before his eyes land on Kelly. "Leutenient." He says, nodding his head a bit.

"Captain." Kelly responds, doing the same.

"Hell of a time to visit." Bobby says in a joking tone. Kelly chuckles a bit, sighing as he glances around the firehouse.

"You're telling me." He mutters, crossing his arms. "If you need us to pitch in, we can." Kelly assures him, knowing after that massive earthquake, there was gonna be a lot of things to do.

"That's your choice, but we'll probably need all hands on deck." Bobby answers him and Gabby instantly nods her head.

"Of course." She says with a smile but Victoria frowns as she shakes her head.

"You guys came to visit." Victoria didn't want to force them to work when they were supposed to just be visiting LA. But it was in their nature, they were not going to see this disaster and just ignore it.

"And there was just a major earthquake. We're helping." Kelly responds as he looks down at her. Victoria couldn't help but smile up at him, unbeknownst to the jealous eyes resting on her.

••••

BUCK WAS SAT IN THE FIRETRUCK, across from Victoria who was sat next to Kelly. His eyes kept flickering between them. He couldn't help it, he knew of their past. He knew of Kelly's last visit. Clearing his throat, he decided to make conversation. "Wheres Gabby and Shay?" He asks curiously, seeing as they weren't in the truck with them. But really, there wasn't the space anyways.

"Riding in the ambulance. Theyre both paramedics." Victoria answers him and Buck nods his head. Kelly glances toward the woman.

"You get in touch with Rosie?" He asks curiously, knowing Victoria must be worried about her. Victoria sighs, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Trying to." She admits. She tried to remain calm, knowing she shouldn't really be overwhelmed when she was going into a situation to help people. But she just needed to know her sister was okay.

Kelly places his hand on her knee, rubbing it a bit which catches Buck's eye. "She's probably fine." He assures her and she nods, trying to force a smile onto her face.

"Yeah." Victoria responds, placing her hand ontop of Kelly's. Buck just glances away from them, trying to stop the scoff that was threatening to leave him.

"Is everything okay?" Buck asks, seeing that Eddie was just staring down at his phone, seemingly worried about something.

"Yeah, there's no service. Texts won't even get through." Eddie tells him with a small sigh. Buck nods his head, a bit confused.

"Who are you trying to get a hold of?" He questions curiously. Eddie seemed reluctant to say but he just ended up clearing his throat as he looks down at his phone again.

"My son. I'm trying to reach my son." Eddie answers him. Victoria was shocked for a moment, just staring at Eddie. He didn't seem like he had a kid. But she didn't know much about him anyways.

"Woah, you got a kid?" Buck asks, raising his eyebrows. Eddie nods his head.

"Christopher. He's seven." Eddie says, turning his phone and showing them a picture. Victoria smiles softly, looking at the picture.

"Aww, cute." Victoria says, looking at Eddie who nods.

"And super adorable. I uh, I love kids." Buck admits with a smile on his face. Victoria just furrows her eyebrows, crossing her arms a bit.

"You've never once said that." Victoria denies making Buck just glare toward her, not really amused.

"I love this one." Eddie says, staring at the picture for a second. "I'm all he's got. His mother's not in the picture." He explains to them. Victoria's smile turns into a frown. Not only was he was a dad, he was a single dad. It must be hard working long hours at the firehouse.

"He's at school?" Buck asks him carefully.

"Yeah." He replies.

"I'm sure he's fine." Buck assures him. He didn't know for sure but he really did believe that Christopher was okay.

"Buck's right. Schools the safest place to be." Victoria adds. It wasn't good having any of them in this headspace. They just had to focus on the task at hand. Eddie nods his head slowly.

"Yeah."

The group get out of the firetruck as it comes to a halt. They all glance up, seeing a whole building on a tilt. Victoria was surprised it was still upright, her eyes widening slightly. "Woah, that's definitely something." Kelly mutters as he glances up at it before looking around the surrounding area.

"You guys ever deal with something like this before?" Eddie asks them curiously, glancing toward them. It was his first week on the job, he had only seen injuries in combat.

"No." The group replies at once. Victoria shakes her head as her eyes go to where they were putting what seems like ply wood under the building.

"How is that even staying up?" Victoria asks them. Surely it would he too unstable that it would just come down quickly if there was an aftershock.

"They seriously think that's gonna hold it up?" Buck questions with a small scoff, not seeing what the point of what they were doing was.

"Let's go find the incident commander." Bobby tells the group, needing to get an eye on the situation and figure out where they were needed.

"Any word from Athena?" Hen asks him as they start to walk down the sidewalk but Bobby just shakes his head.

"Haven't heard from her. What about you? Karen, Denny?" Bobby asks her and Hen just lets out a sigh.

"Same." She answers him. "Cellphones are toast everywhere, the system must be overloaded." Hen states. Victoria frowns as she hates that none of them could get in contact with the people they cared about.

"Captain. Chief Williams, Incident commander." She says as she holds her hand out toward him which he accepts.

"Captain Bobby Nash, how can we help you?" He asks her curiously, glancing around. Chief Williams sighs as she turns around, beginning to speak.

"Hotel manager said they were between checkout and check-in when the quake hit so they were light on guests. We've made contact with most of those. Multiple evac operations in progress. All but twelve of the sixty eight staff have been accounted for. It's been a little chaotic." She explains to them as they get over to the main layout table.

"That family back there said their little girl is still missing." Hen says, recalling a mother and father screaming for their missing daughter.

"As long as it's still safe to do so we'll be looking for any survivors." The chief tells her. But there was no real way of knowing how long they had.

"What do your engineers have to say?" Bobby asks.

"Looks like we had a brittle failure in the prestressed concrete section of the building's underground parking garage causing it to pancake at an angle. Right now, reinforced steel is the only thing keeping it from completely collapsing. One good aftershock..." She trails off, shaking her head. They all knew what it meant.

"And the whole thing could come down." Bobby responds, looking toward the building.

"Is an aftershock common after an earthquake?" Kelly asks. Chicago didn't have many massive earthquakes so he didn't know what they were dealing with.

"Most of the time." Victoria answers him with a nod of her head.

"A high rise is supposed to be the safest place to be when an earthquake hits." Buck points out. Although in this particular situation, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Not when you're built right on top of a fault line. This quake was a 7.1." Chief Williams tells him. It was a big earthquake, there was no telling the damage it did all over the city.

"Northbridge was just a 6.7" Hen points out.

"7.1, that makes it the largest in SoCal in twenty years. And the last one was in Joshua Tree." Chimney tells them, a bit shocked at the fact.

"How many crews do you have in there?" Bobby asks the chief curiously.

"Not enough. We've put in a request for Heavy rescue 3, but they're on the way to a freeway collapse. We can use every hand we can get."

"Thank you." Bobby says with a sigh before glancing toward the group. "Okay, listen up. Here's how you're gonna make it to the end of the day. You don't worry about the things that you can't do anything about. focus on one task at a time." He explains to them, not needing them to do more than they could handle. "I can't order you guys to go inside that building and I'm not gonna judge you if you decide not to." He tells them.

Everyone was silent for a second. Chimney was the first to speak up. "Hen, you've got a kid and Vic, you're all Rosie has... so." Chimney points out. He wouldn't want them to put their lives at risk unless they really wanted to. Victoria understood that, but she signed up to do this job, she wasn't going to abandon it now.

"And I'd hope if someone whose job it was to save him had the chance, they'd do it. No matter what." Hen retorts as she shakes her head.

"I'm with Hen." Victoria agrees, placing her hands on her hips.

"Where do you want us?" Eddie asks Bobby curiously but before the man could say anything, someone interrupted them.

"Hey." A police officer says as he stops next to the group. "You guys will want to see this." He tells them. They all glance at each other curiously before following after him.

Victoria was shocked to say the least when they made their way to the building and looked up. There was a man stuck on the window which was the farthest tilt in the building. He was lucky the glass hadn't given in yet. "We should set up a bag window side incase that window gives." Chimney tells them, looking toward Bobby.

"Nobody works under that side of the building. Somebody's gonna have to go get him from the inside." Bobby explains to them making Eddie glance up for a moment.

"Buck, you say that's the eleventh floor?" Eddie asks him curiously.

"I would. I bet we could take the ladder up to that fourth floor. Cut that distance in half." Buck explains, gesturing to the building. They both glance over to where Bobby was standing, waiting for him to give the go ahead.

Bobby nods his head at them. "Head on up. Vic, with them." He commands and Victoria instantly starts to walk toward Eddie and Buck. But a hand around her wrist stops her.

"Hey." Kelly says gently. She just looks back at him. "Don't do anything stupid." He tells her, not needing her to get hurt because she wanted to be heroic. Victoria rolls her eyes playfully.

"When have you ever known me to do something stupid?" Victoria asks him, tilting her head a bit. Kelly only silently stared at her for a moment.

"Do you really want me to answer that." He asks her, raising an eyebrow at her. Victoria hits him lightly on the arm, shaking her head.

"I'll be fine. Stay safe." She tells him, squeezing his arm before heading toward the truck ladder.

••••

VICTORIA HAD HER HANDS ON THE WALL, trying to carefully get inside of the building from the ladder. Eddie had gotten in first and was watching her. "You got it?" Eddie asks her, wondering if he should stick out his hand and try to help her. Victoria nods her head, although she wasn't too sure. Her foot got to the window sill.

"I think." Victoria responds with a shaky breath. You'd think being on the job for years would get rid of the shakiness. But it wasn't everyday you were in a building that could tilt and fall to the ground instantly.

"Right behind you." Buck assures her, his hand pressing on her back to keep her from falling backwards. Victoria felt a tingle be sent up her skin as he touched her. She finally gets inside, making room for Buck to follow in behind her.

"Its' only six flights. Not exactly Mount Everest." Eddie tells them, starting to make his way up, both of them following behind.

"Yeah, except Everest might not tip over and crush you like a bug." Buck mutters as he looks toward the opening they had just come through.

"Can we not talk about this thing tipping?" Victoria asks them with a sigh as it was already in her head. The men became silent. That was before a small shake caused Buck to go stumbling toward the wall. Victoria's eyes widen.

"You good, Buck?" Eddie calls out toward him. Buck had taken a few seconds to gather himself before nodding.

"Yeah, lets keep going." Buck says, making his way up to where Victoria was standing.

"Are you sure?" She asks him, not wanting him to continue if he was hurt. He meets her gaze as she places her hand on his arm.

"Yeah, yeah. All good." Buck assures her with a soft smile. Victoria hesitated but started to follow after Eddie.

They climb all of the stairs, getting to the floor where the man was. They open it, seeing the way the whole hallway was on a slant. "You ready?" Eddie asks as he gestures to the wall. Victoria takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, on three." Buck tells them, looking at both of them. "One, two, three." They all slide down, trying to get to the flat surface of the wall. Victoria had gone too fast, smashing her arm against the hard surface.

She winces as she brings her hand to her arm. "Fuck." She mutters as she squeezes her eyes shut for a second. Buck moves his gaze to her, worry flooding him.

"You hit your shoulder?" Buck asks her and she nods her head before just taking a few deep breaths.

"I'm fine." Victoria tells them, gesturing for them to keep going so they could find the victim.

"Hello? LAFD!" Eddie shouts, moving down the hallway.

"In here!" They hear a woman yell. Victoria glances toward them. They hadnt seen a woman but maybe there were two victims and not just the one.

"This one here." Buck says, gesturing toward the door. They open it, making sure not to fall straight through.

"Thank god, please get me out of here." The woman pleads, holding onto the table.

"Okay, ma'am. Just sit tight. I will come and get you." Buck tells her, not wanting her to move and be at risk of shattering the window. He makes a move, sliding into the apartment with a shaky breath. They needed to get to a good spot to anchor themselves.

"I'll go." Victoria says, causing Eddie and Buck to both give her a wary look. "You can be a better anchor." She states as she looks straight at Buck. Victoria could see he was reluctant but took the harness and started to put it on her.

She clears her throat as he was practically leaned against her. It was either that or fall toward the glass. Victoria tried to keep her eyes away from him but she couldn't help but watch as he starts to secure the harness, his hands gripping her body. His eyes look up to hers for a split second. Victoria bit her bottom lip instinctively as she gazed back at him.

"No offense, but i think this may be a situation where women and children first does not apply." The man interrupted them causing Vicroria to snap out of her daze, looking toward him. She just shook her head.

"This guys an asshole for sure." She mumbles, no doubt about it.

"Did you just say no offense? Everything about you is offensive." The woman snaps toward the much older man.

"first date?" Buck asks as he finishes securing the harness around Victoria before starting to connect it to his.

"Yeah, god. He wishes." She mumbles with a scoff causing Victoria to raise an eyebrow. "Amazingly, that sweaty, fat, pock-marketed pig is married with five kids didn't stop him from asking  me to shower with him." The woman explains to them with a disgusted expression.

"Man, have you not watched the news at all over the past year?" Buck asks him, his hand still on Victoria's waist to keep her safe until she started to move. He was practically holding her against him. She knew it was all professional and she hated how she melted at this gesture.

"All right, you good?" Eddie asks, looking toward Victoria after they were all secure.

"Yeah." She says as she nods her head. Victoria goes to turn but Buck stops her.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Vic?" Buck questions, concern in his eyes. He wasn't going to let her go if she was having second thoughts. But Victoria tilts her head a bit.

"I'll be fine, Buck." Victoria assures him before slowly starting to make her way down the sloped apartment floor.

"Seriously, catch up with the times." Eddie mutters, shaking his head as he headed toward the man as Buck and Victoria made their way in the direction of the woman.

"All right, fine, so I'm a dinosaur. A forgotten relic of a forgotten age. for god's sake, just get me the hell out of here." The man says with a scoff. Victoria couldn't help but roll her eyes. She knew she wasn't supposed to judge victims but she couldn't help herself in this scenario.

"Well, we will if you shut up for one second." Victoria tells him, shaking her head before her eyes go to the woman in front of her. "I'm gonna come get you, Buck is gonna throw you a rope." She tells her.

"Try and secure yourself." Buck says and  the woman nods her head.

"Okay." Buck throws it and she catches it, starting to secure it around herself.

"Don't move!" Eddie suddenly shouts causing Vicroria to flinch a bit. She looks over, seeing the glass begin to crack slowly. "Don't breathe." He warns.

"Hurry! Hurry, it's starting to crack." The man pleads to him.

"I'm gonna come around to you. You need to stay totally still, sir. Don't even talk." Eddie explains to him, glancing toward Buck and Victoria who were still trying to get to the woman.

"Please don't let this be the end." The man nutters.

"I'm gonna tie this webbing around you and we're gonna get you away from the glass." Eddie says, but before he could do anything, the building started to shake violently. Victoria gasps as she tried to stabilize herself.

"Aftershock! Aftershock!" Buck shouts, hoping that the building remained stable enough for them to get out. But unfortunately,  the window gave out from the shock, the glass cracking fully and causing the man to fall out of the building.

Victoria watches in shock, her eyes wide before she hears a scream from beside her. The woman had been drug toward the now open window. Victoria quickly rushed toward her, grabbing her hand and luckily getting stopped from the attachment to Buck. "I got you!" She tells the woman, holding her tightly.

As she went to pull the woman up, she heard a snapping noise and she was free falling toward the open window. "Shit!" She calls out, trying to stop both herself and the woman from falling to their deaths but there was nothing she could grab onto.

"Vic!" Buck shouts, fear in his voice as he knew he wouldn't get there in time. "Eddie! Grab her!" He tells the man who instantly starts to run toward the women.

Luckily Victoria had grabbed onto the side of the building, holding the woman as she dangled out of the window. But she felt a pain go through her as she hit the wall, squeezing her eyes shut. Eddie grabbed a hold of her just before her hand could slip, pulling them both back inside. Victoria rested against Eddie for a moment, the man's arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asks, his voice in her ear. Victoria groans but nods her head, feeling the rope that Eddie had secured around her to make sure she didn't go anywhere.

"Just get her. I'm fine." She assures the man who hesitates but grabs the woman, helping her move up toward the door. Victoria gets up with a wince, holding onto the chair next to her. She holds onto the rope that Eddie had given her, following after them.

None of them noticing the trail of blood they were leaving behind them.

••••