Her day couldn't have started any worse. And by that, Ollie Bloom meant that it started way too early.

She had been a firefighter for years now, so she was supposed to be used to waking up early so that she could go off and work twenty-four hour shifts, but it would never be easy for her to get going the minute her eyes opened. Plus, today was her first shift as an official double-certified firefighter paramedic, so the nervous feeling swirling in her stomach made her want to call in sick and stay in bed.

Sadly, Robert Nash, her new captain, probably wouldn't appreciate that very much, and she couldn't risk getting on his bad side before they've even worked a shift together. She had only seen him when she had come in for an interview, and she hadn't even met any of her coworkers yet. They had all been off when Captain Nash had both interviewed and hired her.

The coworker part didn't bother her, though. She'd know them at work for twenty-four hours, and then she'd leave them for a good forty-eight hours by herself. That's it.

Ollie stared at the ceiling. It was so early that the sun had just barely started to rise, but she needed the extra time to get ready before she walked to work. She was just about to get up when the door to her bedroom was slammed open, and an annoyed groan left her lips as she pulled her white duvet up over her eyes. "Ellis, no."

Before she could even finish her demand, a body was landing on her bed beside her, an arm draping lazily over her waist. "Get up, Olivia, you have work today. A new job, my little firefighter!" Ellis cooed, pulling back her cover with her hand and grinning at her. Her abrupt landing on her mattress had made the strands at the front of her messy head of hair fall over her eyes, and she reached over to flick them out of the way.

"Fuck off." She responded, before furrowing her brows. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Haven't slept." Ellis chirped, moving so that she could situate himself under her blanket, laying her head on her pillow. "You have a better bed and a darker room. I was gonna steal it from you when you left, which is why I am ready for you to leave. Go! Get ready! I wanna see you in your firefighter gear, sexy girl!"

Ollie laughed, pulling her blanket back and subsequently yet purposefully tossing it over her best friend's face. "Shut up." She stood up, gripping her bed frame so that she could turn around and crack her back. Then, she made her way to her closet, pulling out her button-up and work pants before turning around to show it to the girl on her bed, beaming in pure pride for herself.

Ellis whistled loudly, clapping her hands. "That's my girl! Now go get dressed!"

She rolled her eyes before turning for her en-suite bathroom. There, she stripped out of her pajamas and slid on her uniform for the first time, adjusting it in all the spots it clung to her tightly. After she buttoned up all of her buttons and fastened her belt on her hips, she brushed her teeth and brushed out her hair before throwing it in a ponytail.

After applying minimal make-up to make sure she didn't look dead, she stepped out, smiling at the sight of Ellis sleeping soundly on her bed. She was exceptionally quiet as she slid on her work boots, bouncing on her toes a bit to test how comfortable they were, before nodding in acceptance and glancing at herself in the mirror. Usually, firefighters would show up in normal clothes and change at the station, but with her walk, she didn't think she'd have time when she got there.

Ollie knew it would be extremely hot when she did start walking, so she had put a water bottle full of ice in the fridge the night before. She had also kept her overnight bag for her shift light so that it didn't stick on her and make her sweat. It was just her luck that she was starting when Los Angeles had a horrible heatwave, and she wished with all of her heart that she could just take an Uber.

But, alas, that wouldn't happen, so she started her walk the minute she had everything sorted out. It was early, but people were already out and about, jogging in athletic wear or just walking their dogs before it got too hot. The sun hadn't properly settled in the sky, so the day was still cool, but she knew that she'd be sweating by the time she got to the 118.

Ollie's stroll was nice, and she was glad she got to glance at her neighborhood. She had lived in San Diego with Ellis when she was a paramedic, but then she had been accepted into the 118 and had to relocate for it. So, even though Ellis' lease hadn't expired yet, she put a deposit and first and last rent on a two bedroom, two bath apartment in Los Angeles, and Ellis and her had moved in less than two weeks after she had gotten the job.

Despite the niceties of her walk, sweat made her uniform stick to her thighs and her back, and she was extremely grateful when she spotted the station in the distance, but it was quickly washed away with nerves. Butterflies sprouted low in her stomach and she felt extremely queasy as she stopped in front of the looming garage doors, which were open to reveal the large firetrucks inside.

"Nervous, Firefighter Bloom?" An older voice spoke from behind her.

She flinched before whipping around, a hand crossing over her racing heart as she sighed. "I'm sorry, you scared me. Yeah. I am." Her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

The woman, who was dressed in a yellow shirt with white accents and jeans, chuckled. "No, but Bobby told me about you. You're our new recruit, right?" She held out a hand. "Henrietta Wilson, a fellow firefighter paramedic, but call me Hen. Everyone does."

Ollie reached out to shake her hand, giving Hen a friendly smile that didn't carry to her eyes. "Olivia Bloom, new firefighter paramedic, but call me Ollie. Everyone should."

Hen nodded, before gesturing to the firehouse. "Should I introduce you to everyone and give you the tour? Who knows how long we have until your first call." She added, adjusting the strap of the backpack on her shoulder.

"Lead the way." She mumbled, taking a step back so that Hen could walk past her.

The seasoned firefighter stepped inside, obviously extremely comfortable with the place. As they walked, she pointed out a bunch of different things, like where paramedic supplies were situated, the locker rooms, where they slept, the stairs that led to the kitchen and sitting area. It was huge, bigger than the house she had in San Diego, and it made her excited to stay here.

"C'mon, I'll show you what locker you can take." Hen piped up when Ollie's tour was done, starting to make her way down the stairs. Ollie stayed quiet, following directly on her heels like a lost puppy. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, their bags still in hand, they heard the voice of Captain Nash, who was spreading compliments to people left and right. "You are cheery." She commented.

Nash just gave Hen a big smile in return. "Why shouldn't I be?"

Hen shrugged, keeping an indifferent face on. "I don't know, maybe because you've been like this for weeks and it's starting to get on my nerves. What's going on with you?"

The captain shrugged before turning to Ollie, grinning even brighter, if possible. It was true that he was annoyingly happy, but she was just glad that everybody seemed to be on good terms with him. Her last captain was a hardass that nobody wanted to speak to, even professionally. "Olivia! Nice to see you in 118 gear. Welcome to the team." He greeted, reaching a hand out to give her a friendly pat on the shoulder.

The newbie chuckled awkwardly, tilting her head. "Thank you. Hen, here, was just giving me the tour. This place is huge." She commented, taking a look around before back at him. "But, please, call me Ollie. I like it a lot better, and I might not respond to Olivia at times."

"Ollie, it is. Call me Bobby." He replied, pulling his hand off of her shoulder and giving her a dip of his head in acknowledgement.

"I got another DXA scan, and guess who dropped another half percent!"

The deep voice made Ollie's friendly smile drop from her face immediately, and she shuffled her feet so that her face was hidden behind Bobby. Her stomach began to churn again, but this time it wasn't because of her unfamiliar surroundings. It was because of the familiar one.

Hen furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

Buck walked closer to the group, holding up his phone for Bobby and Hen to see. "A DXA scan measures your body fat. You can see your percentage in every part of your body." The way he spoke the explanation made it seem like everyone knew what a DXA scan was, and Ollie felt like throwing up.

"Oh, yeah? They measure the fat in your head?" Another voice piped in from behind her, and Ollie turned to look at him. It was a shorter Asian man, chewing on a bite of his doughnut as he moved on to the opposite side of Bobby. She scooted a little farther behind Bobby when the captain turned his head, not wanting to leave in fears of being deemed as rude, but not really wanting to stand face-to-face with Evan Buckley.

The man she was hiding from took the insult in stride. "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."

Hen rolled her eyes. "Do you really need to use that whole title? You could just say 'that idiotic, reductive, sexist calendar that insults the dignity of this organization and furthers the myth that all firefighters are male." She spat out in one, long sentence, her lips forming a straight line.

"See, that's not any less words." Buck chirped.

The group kept arguing, with Bobby, Hen, Buck and the new guy (who she still hadn't caught the name of) all debating who would get the calendar, and that it didn't matter because the calendar was stupid, even though it was stupid. The group only trailed off when the unfamiliar guy's eyes wandered, and he pointed towards the locker rooms. "Now, that is a beautiful man."

"Where's the lie? And I like girls." Hen trailed off, and Ollie would've given her a fist bump if she wasn't still concealing her identity.

Everyone's eyes, including Ollie's, trailed to where the unfamiliar guy's fingers had pointed, and Ollie's heart jolted in joy at the sight of the shirtless man. But not because he was shirtless, of course.

"Who the hell is that?" Buck questioned, tone laced with jealousy.

Bobby's hands moved to his hips. "Eddie Diaz, new recruit. Graduated top of his class just this week. Guys at station six were dying to have him, but I convinced him to join us. And this," he turned to gesture to Ollie, only to frown when he noticed that Ollie was a lot farther behind him than he thought, grabbing her shoulders to pull her around, "is Ollie Bloom. Our third firefighter paramedic. Ollie, you've met Hen, but this is Chimney and Buck." He introduced.

Ollie's cheeks flushed, and it took everything in her not to cover her face with her hands. Instead, she plastered on a fake smile, holding out her hand to Chimney before out to Buck, avoiding his eye contact and forcing the words out of her mouth. "Nice to meet you, Chimney, Buck."

Chimney happily wiped his doughnut crumbs off on his pants before welcoming her, but when she moved to Buck, he just stared at her, his lips parted in surprise. She saw everything flashing behind his eyes like it had done in her mind the minute she had heard his voice, but she really hoped he wouldn't try to hash everything packed up right in front of these people she had just met.

Buck cleared his throat, and she let out a huge sigh of relief when he simply shook her hand. "Welcome to the 118." He deadpanned, and she rolled her lips in before nodding. He nodded before turning back to Nash, pointing at Eddie. "And what do we need him for?"

Bobby laughed, completely unaware of the string of tension connecting Ollie and Buck. "He served multiple tours in Afghanistan as an Army medic. Guy's got a Silver Star. It's not like he's wet behind the ears. Come on, I'll introduce you guys to him. He likes to be called 'Eight Pack.'" He teased, causing Buck to scoff as Hen threw in another comment, before they started moving towards Eddie, Chimney and Ollie following right behind. Ollie avoided Buck's eyes, a grin growing on her lips as she took lead in the group.

"Ester Diaz." She announced as she stepped in the locker room, causing everyone's heads to turn towards her in surprise.

The man looked up, his face lighting up at the sight of the girl in front of him, and he immediately moved forward to pull her into a hug. "Oliver Bloom."

Ollie laughed as she hugged him back, shaking her head as she stayed tucked under his shoulder, turning to the group. "No offense, Captain Nash, but I think I got this. Eddie, this is Hen, Chimney and Buck," she hesitated on the last one, avoiding eye contact with the boy before continuing, "Hen, Chimney and Buck, this is Eddie."

"Nice to meet you guys. And nice to see you, Oliver." He grinned as he glanced away from the group to her. "How have you been?"

"Good. Just got this new job, you know, so it's kind of crazy." She deadpanned, and he laughed.

Bobby blinked. "You guys know each other?"

Ollie glanced over at the confused group of firefighters, chuckling. "Eddie and I met when I lived in El Paso for a year. He was working as a mechanic, and many other things, and we hung out a bit before I moved. We're friends." She finalized, glancing at Eddie and giving him a subtle nudge in the ribs that caused him to squeak out a confirmation.

The group in front of them only managed to nod their understanding before the alarms above them started going up, and Ollie's eyebrows raised in excitement.

She turned towards Eddie. "Ready for your first call?"

"Only if you are." He responded, giving her a nudge with his shoulder before starting to hurriedly get ready.