The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1

CHAPTER FIFTY , CERTIFIED WORRIER

a/n : Big MAJOR steps in the Emibuck storyline!!! (GOOD STEPS BTWWWW <333)

The last couple of scenes in this chapter are going to be fucking WICKED 🤭

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"Wait, so you think...what?"

Emery had to speed over to Chim's house. He was ready to kick in the doors of the 911 dispatcher's office. He was worried about Maddie telling him she loved him. Especially after letting him know last night, she couldn't say those words. And since he was worrying so much, he decided to call the "certified worrier".

Emery didn't understand why he called her. All she was going to do was make him worry more than he already was. And that's exactly what she did.

"What if...Doug came back from the dead?"

Chimney tangles his hands in his hair. Emery raises her brows, "Could be!"

Emery paces one side of the room while Chimney paces the other. "Wait..." she stops and points at Chimney. "Did you call 9-1-1 yet?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"They didn't answer."

Emery throws her arms up. "What kind of 911 dispatch doesn't answer?"

"That's what I said!"

Emery bites her thumbnail and her brows furrow. She softly hums, trying to concentrate. "Have you called Buck?"

Chimney snaps his fingers and points. "Calling him now." He grabs his phone and dials.

Emery taps his arm, "Put it on speaker."

Chimney complies and places the phone on the counter.

"Yep. Go for Buck."

"How come 9-1-1 doesn't respond when u call?" Chimney asks.

Buck pauses for a moment. "Uh, is this some kind of riddle?"

Emery then taps Chimney's arm. "Hostage situation."

Chimney's heart sinks deeper into his stomach. "Shit."

Buck gets more confused. "Is that the answer? And...is that Emery?"

"Yes, hi. It's me." Emery speaks.

Buck then opens his mouth. "Ohhh so it is one of those riddles like "Who watched the Watchmen"."

Emery's face scrunches. "What? No. Why would you think this is a riddle?"

"Because you love riddles." Buck shrugs like the answer is obvious.

"I love solving riddles. Not making them. I suck at that—"

"Can you two stop flirting? This is serious and neither one of those things are riddles."

Emery opens and closes her mouth. "I wasn't flirting..."

"Look, I just tried calling 9-1-1 and I got the high call volume message. Did I miss, like, an earthquake or something?" Chimney asks.

"Nope. Pretty chill morning." Buck then stops. "Wait, why are you calling 9-1-1? Is everything okay? Are you guys hurt?"

Chimney lets out a breath. Emery taps his shoulder obnoxiously, "Tell him what Maddie said."

"W-Wait, Maddie? Is she okay?" Buck sets his water down.

"Your sister said that she loved me."

Buck blinks. His head was starting to hurt. "Yeah...wasn't that the whole point in that big date you had last night? You declare your love and she declares hers?"

"Yeah, I know, okay—but she didn't, all right?" Chimney says. "At least not last night. Look, she made this big deal saying that she couldn't say those words and then this morning she blurts them out and hangs up on me."

"It's still not quite sounding like an emergency." Buck sits on his couch.

"Because I sound insane." Chimney exhales like he's relieved. Emery pulls her brows together.

"She's at the call center. What could happen there, right?" Chimney then nods his head. "You know what? Forget it." He hangs up the phone.

Chimney looks over at the girl and she shakes her head.

"Dude, I'm telling you. She's giving you a code or something." Emery says. Chimney shakes his head, "Maybe I was being paranoid."

"And what about the other possibility of you not being paranoid?" Emery arches a brow. She shakes her head, "No. you know what? You're lucky you called me instead." She grabs her bag. "Let's go."

"And where are we going?"

"To the dispatch center."

Chimney's eyes widen, "I called you here to talk me out of going down there."

"And now I'm talking you back in." Emery motions her head to the door. "I'll drive."

Chimney's jaw goes slack. He's invited a monster over. He goes to the next room and calls Buck.

"Chimney?"

"Quick. How do I get Emery to stop freaking out?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She wants to drive down to dispatch and check on Maddie."

Buck shifts, "Maybe it's not a bad idea to go down there."

Chimney freezes, "What?"

"Maddie didn't pick up for me, either," Buck informs. "I tried calling Josh and it went straight to voicemail."

Chimney nods his head, "Now I'm definitely going."

A knock is heard at the front door. Emery shifts her gaze to the door. "Did you want me to get it?"

"Yeah!"

Emery walks over to the door and looks through the peephole (obviously).

"What if something is wrong?" Buck asks Chimney. "Maybe we should call the police."

"Chim...?" Emery calls out.

Chimney walks into the front room and is greeted by Athena and Emery.

"Did you call Athena?"

Chimney sucks in a breath, "Buck, I think someone already did."

☆

"I know, Captain. CAD's been glitching all morning."

Chimney was sitting on the arm of his chair with his phone to his ear, while Emery was pacing back and forth.

Buck begins to grow nasty not hearing any updates. "What's she saying now?"

"She's making her case." Chimney answers.

"Yeah, I'll wait to hear from you."

Emery stops pacing and holds her arms out, "Athena!"

"Now she's folding like a cheap suit." Chimney shoots up from his seat.

"All right, let me talk to Athena."

Chimney puts the phone on speaker. After finishing her call, Athena walks over to Emery and Chimney. "Captain needs to make some calls. As evidence goes, an "I love you" is less than convincing."

"Bet they sent you down to my apartment for an assault with a deadly onion. That feels more convincing." Chimney tries to further prove his case."

"Well, she's gonna talk to Operations, see if they can get eyes in the building, see if anything's wrong."

Like they almost were sharing a brain, Emery and Buck speak.

"No, no, no."

Chimney and Athena turn to the girl. Emery holds up her hands, "You can't send in SWAT. What if there is something going on? You'll just tip them off and they'll know something's up."

Athena slightly opens her mouth and nods her head. "Let's go for a drive." she points at Chimney.

Emery frowns and nods, "Y-Yeah, you two do that. And I will head home."

Athena lets out a laugh, "Oh, you thought I was just talking to Chim?"

Emery blinks, "I-I mean, you were pointing at him, so...yeah."

"After last time? Stealing Chimney's phone from the crime scene. You're coming with." Athena motions her head to the door.

Chimney and Emery walk over to the door. Emery holds up her pointer finger, "Just saying, that was Buck's fault."

"You told me to do it!"

Emery looks at Chimney's phone. "Oh...I didn't know you were still on the phone." she looks at Chimney and whispers. "Hang up."

"Em, I can hear--"

Emery then ends the call. She lets out a breath, "That would've been awkward."

...

"I feel like I was just sent to the principal's office."

Athena softly chuckles as she cruises down the street. "No, you two aren't in trouble."

"We're like the three musketeers." Chimney adds with a smile.

Athena immediately shakes her head. "Oh, we are not partners."

Chimney's smile drops.

"You two are here so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything foolish--"

A jeep quickly speeds past Athena's squad car. Emery squints her eyes at the familiar jeep, "Shit..."

"Is that who I think it is?" Athena squeaks. She flips her lights and sirens on. The jeep slows down and pulls to the side of the road. Athena points at Emery and Chimney, "Stay here."

Emery holds up her hands and presses her lips together. Where else was she going to go?

Athena gets out of the car and walks over to the Jeep. As soon as she walked up to the window, the boy had a bashful smile across his lips. "Okay, now don't be mad."

"Get out the car, Buck."

Buck shamefully gets out of his jeep and walks back over to the squad car with Athena. She pulls open the back door and Buck slides in next to Emery.

"Hey, Buck." Chimney's the first to greet him.

"Hey, Chim." Buck exhales.

Emery shifts her gaze to Buck and their eyes connect. "Welcome to the party." she presses her lips into a small line. "I was wondering when you were gonna join."

"Was that before or after you hung up on me?" Buck asks.

Emery softly hums, "After. Most definitely." she raises her brows. "And guess what?"

Buck pulls his brows together as Emery smirks.

"I did it unapologetically."

A chuckle leaves Buck's lips and he looks to the side. Emery keeps her eyes on the side of Buck's face for a moment and her chest warms. There was a part of her that still wanted to be cold towards Buck, but she also knew that right now he was most likely in his head about how Maddie was doing. So, she decided to ease up on him. Just for today.

"You three tell anyone else what's happening at the call center?" Athena questions.

The three firefighters shake their heads. "Good, 'cause I'm running out of room in here."

Athena continues driving down the street. Emery taps each of her fingers against her fingertips. They soon get to the dispatch building and Athena parks the car.

"Okay, we're here. Now what?"

"Well, if everything's normal, I'll be able to walk in that front door and go inside." Athena takes her shades off. "Take a look around and see if everyone forgot to charge their damn cell phone."

"And if it's not normal?" Buck asks.

Athena sucks in a small breath, "I guess we'll find out." she gets out of the car and walks into the building.

The three firefighters sit in silence, dealing with their thoughts and worries. Emery blows air out of her mouth, picking up on Chimney and Buck's nerves. She couldn't help but feel like this was her fault.

"I'm sorry...if I made you guys worry more than you should've," Emery speaks up.

Chimney and Buck look at the girl. Emery clicks her tongue, "I normally use logic, but this time it went right out the window."

Emery taps her fingers against her lap. "We don't even know what's really going on in there, so who knows? I could be wrong."

At the same time, Buck and Chimney's faces drop. Emery rolls her lips into her mouth and nods her head. "You're right. I'm never wrong."

Athena soon came back to the car and she was already on the phone. The three firefighters all turn their attention to her. They quickly tense when Athena doesn't say a word to them and immediately starts driving away from the building.

"I'm sure, Captain," Athena speaks. "They knew I was downstairs."

"Yeah, they're using the CAD to monitor our locations. That was Sue Blevins on the radio giving me the code 77. Who's ever running this, they're doing it from inside the dispatch center." Athena then ends the call.

"Athena, what's a code 77?" Emery asks, slightly leaning forward.

"Ambush. Proceed with caution."

It's almost like everyone's hearts simultaneously dropped into their stomachs. Once they put enough distance between them and the dispatch building, Athena parks the car and pops the hood.

"Okay, so it is a hostage situation." Emery sucks in a sharp breath. She gets out of the car and follows Athena to the hood of the squad car.

"There has to be a way to communicate with our people inside." Chimney voices.

Athena reaches into the hood of her car. "Well, if they're tracking our vehicles, you gotta assume they're monitoring our calls too." she pulls an object from the car.

"The screen went blank," Buck says.

"Okay, good." Athena holds up the GPS. "We're off the grid."

Before Chimney could get back in the car, Buck taps his shoulder. "Hey, hey, hey."

Chimney turns his attention to Buck. "I know you're worried, okay? I am too. But Maddie is smart. She can take care of herself until help gets there."

Chimney inhales a breath before speaking. "That's what I'm afraid of. Nobody inside that building knows we're coming for them. What if they get tired of waiting?"

☆

"How we doing with those RA units?"

The police had taken camp outside the dispatch building as soon as Athena explained the entire situation.

"The 122 and the 133 just got here and there's two more houses en route." Chimney states.

Buck points at the vehicle that had just pulled to a stop. "Captain, who are all these people on the bus?"

"Off-duty dispatchers." The captain answers.

Emery glances back at the bus.

"Once we take back the building, somebody has to handle call response."

"Take it back?" Chimney questions. "You're not gonna negotiate, see if they surrender first?"

"I don't think they're looking to surrender, Chim." Emery softly speaks. "I mean, there's a reason why they tried to take the building as quiet as possible."

The captain nods her head, agreeing with Emerson's words. "If we reach out to them, we're gonna lose the one thing we've got going for us: the element of surprise."

"We do this right, we hit 'em fast, take the building before they even know we're outside."

"And if you don't?" Chimney asks.

The three firefighters wait for the captain to answer.

"Why do you think we asked for so many RA units?"

Emery could've sworn she shit herself. The girl then slowly looks down at her pants. Clean.

The captain walks away from them and Emery lets out a sharp breath. "Okay, so, obviously don't think too much about what she said." she grabs both Chimney and Buck's arms.

Buck looks at Emery and he lets out a small breath. "How can we not think too much about that?"

Emery's eyes soften and she looks back at the bus. "Because you know that first responders sometimes have to think about the worst case scenarios." She looks at Buck for a moment before looking at Chimney. "Those people in there that took Dispatch. They would be gone by now if they had finished their mission. So, if they're still in that building—"

"That means that everyone's still okay." Buck softly speaks.

Emery nods her head a comforting smile on her lips. "Exactly."

...

It all happened so fast. Seeing the SWAT rush into the dispatch building made her heart begin to race. The three firefighters were all tense, waiting for anybody to walk out of the building. Out of the corner of her eye, Emery noticed Buck's hand trembling. Her heart sinks just thinking about the fear Buck had for Maddie. She didn't even care how it would be read into. She didn't care if she was mad or had some sort of animosity toward him. Emery still reached to her side and slips her hand into his.

Buck slightly jumped from the sudden contact. He looks down at Emery's hand in hers. Buck then looks at Emery, her eyes were still glued to the dispatch building. His quick heartbeat begins to settle and he looks back at the building.

After a few minutes, the doors had been forced open and people spilled out. Emery lets out a quick breath of relief when she sees Maddie come out of the room. "Guys, she's..." she trails off her words when she sees Chimney and Maddie quickly hug. Emery hadn't even noticed that Chimney had gotten closer to the building. Emery softly smiles as she watches the couple stay in each other's arms.

"I'm surprised you're not over there with your sister."

"She already has everything she needs," Buck says a small smile on his lips.

Susan then shifts her eyes to Emery and Buck's hands are interlocked. She softly smiles and walks away from the two.

Emery kept her eyes on Chimney and Maddie and a small smile ghosted her lips. She pulled her brows together and once again she found herself looking at Buck. Emery couldn't wipe the small smile off her lips even after everything that happened. She still smiled.

"You know..."

Buck looks at Emery and her eyes are already on him.

"...I saw a food truck a few blocks back if you're hungry."

Buck pulls his brows together, "Did you seriously take a mental note on a food truck when we were worried about Maddie?"

Emery presses her lips together and bunches her shoulders. "Yeah, I needed to make a note of where Maddie was going to have her victory meal."

Buck softly chuckles, then he stops when he remembers what Emery said. "Wait, you want to go get food? With me?"

Emery blinks, "Well, yeah."

"Like a date?—"

"Aht, aht, aht." Emery holds her finger up. "Absolutely not a date."

"You were worried about Maddie and I think you deserve a break," Emery says with a soft one-shoulder shrug.

Buck couldn't help but smirk, "Well, thank you for keeping me in your thoughts."

"What are coworkers for?" Emery arches a brow.

Buck chuckles but he looks down and notices their hands are still interlocked. Emery's mouth drops open and her face gets hot. She pulls her hand from his and nervously chuckles. "Just so you know, I only held your hand to comfort you."

"And just so you know. I thought you held my hand to try and make a move on me."

Emery's eyes bulge out of her skull. "What?!"

Buck's smirk drops and so does his stomach. "N-No. I was kidding, Em."

Emery's face relaxes and she shifts. "O-Oh..." she bites the inside of her cheek. "Sorry."

Buck watches as Emery's energy becomes timid and his lips part. "It's okay, Emery. Seriously." His voice was soft. "I should've made it more clear that it was a joke."

"Then it wouldn't have been funny," Emery replies. "I know that much when it comes to jokes."

A small smile finds Buck's lips. Emery inhales a breath and before she looks away from him her heart jumps. "It's a taco truck, by the way." She walks down the street.

Buck catches up to Emery and as he walks beside her, his arm brushes against hers. "I like tacos."

"Yeah? What's your favorite taco?" Emery asks.

"Birria tacos are the shit."

Emery pulls her brows together and wrinkles her nose. She looks at Buck and he looks at her with a blank expression. "What?"

Emery couldn't help but laugh. She holds a hand up to him and shakes her head. "Don't ever say "are the shit" in any context again."

☆

"Okay, why did I let you talk me into this?"

Buck lets out a low laugh that forces a chill down Emery's spine. She rolled her lips into her mouth, making sure she didn't reveal any reaction to Buck. Buck had his hands on both of Emery's shoulders and he was building her through the station while she had a blindfold on.

"Because I'm your best friend in the whole wide world..."

"Oh, you are pushing this acquaintance-ship." Emery softly chuckles.

After the two ordered their tacos for their non-date, they awkwardly didn't eat in silence. They caught up with each other's lives. Even though they had worked together it didn't mean they knew what was going on in one another's lives. Well, Buck knew what was going on with Emery. Whenever he had dinner with her dad, Elijah always made it his responsibility to inform Buck about Emery's life (no matter how many times Buck would say "I don't think Emery would be comfortable with this"). Elijah would try the same thing with Emery, but she was the definition of "went into one ear and out the other" when it came to Buck's personal life.

But in that moment eating tacos on the curb of a street and catching up. Emery felt at ease. Whatever this was with Buck right then and there. She felt like this was enough for her.

Emery never told Buck the words "we should take this friend thing slowly" but she did say "Thank you for the dinner, Buck. I'll see you tomorrow."

She normally would say "thanks" and be on her way. But this time he got "thank you". Buck had been racking it over in his head for days, trying to understand it. Maybe there was nothing to it, but with Emery, there were always small meanings behind her simple words because it was too much for her to put it into deep complicated words. Emery wasn't that much into her healing where she could really communicate how she was feeling. But she's getting there.

"I don't get why I need the blindfold. I mean, I know we're at the station."

Buck's hands slightly tense around her shoulders and Emery smirks. "Wait, how did you—"

"I recognize your boots against the floor." Emery smugly answers.

Buck rolls his eyes playfully, but he can't help but be impressed. "You are so weird."

"Oh, please. I make your life interesting." Emery slightly turns her head to him, her smile wide. Buck's heart jumps and his face heats up.

"Eh."

Emery then snorts and shakes her head. Buck carefully guides Emery up the stairs. His hands move to her waist and Emery chuckles. "Oh, Buck, you animal. Keep it in your pants."

"Oh, come on. I was just making sure you don't fall." Buck chuckles.

"Yeah, yeah—sureee." Emery shakes her head. "Is that why you've been clawing your way back into my life this past year?"

Even though he and Emery have somewhat moved in the right direction for their relationship. He still felt like shit for what happened with the lawsuit. Emery trusted him. And the way Buck shared her secrets and allowed his lawyer to use them against her as a bad thing made him hurt for her.

Buck wanted to bring it up, but he didn't want to make things tense or awkward again. He especially didn't want to do that in this moment.

"Right, right. I've been doing all this, but to help you up the stairs." Buck pushes away his internalized thoughts. "My life has been fulfilled."

Emery then shrugs, "Of course it is. My waist is amazing."

Buck frowns and nods his head. It is.

"Okay. Halt."

Emery giggles, "Halt." She shakes her head. "You're so white."

"Well...yeah."

Buck lifts his hands up and unwraps the blindfold off Emery's head. Before he pulls it off he speaks again, "Keep your eyes closed."

Emery closes her eyes. "Okay..." she softly sings.

Buck pulls the blindfold off her eyes. "You can open them now." A small smile graces his lips.

But before Emery could even open her eyes she heard a loud boom and what sounded like an audience yelling. "WELCOME BACK!!!"

Emery lets out a curt scream before slapping her hands over her mouth. Every muscle in her body had tensed in fear over the sudden screaming. Once she took a look around at the banner that said "Welcome Back, Firefighter Sharpe!" Her body relaxed. She takes her hands off her mouth and sheepishly smiles.

"You guys didn't have to do this for me." Emery beams. "I mean, I've been working desk duty. So, technically I've still been 'Firefighter Sharpe'."

"That's true. But we also know how excited you are being back in the field." Hen walks over to Emery and shakes her shoulders. "So, just say "Thank you" and smile."

Emery was already smiling, so she inhaled a breath. "Thank you, guys."

Hen returns a smile and pulls Emery into a tight embrace. Soon the entire team makes their way over and wraps their arms around Emery.

Emery clears her throat, "So...what flavor cake is it?"

"Strawberry with cream cheese frosting."

Emery pouts her lower lip, "My favorite." She then looks at the ground. "So, uh..."

Everyone exchanged a look, already what she was going to ask.

"Bobby baked it."

Emery smiles, "All right! Let's dig in!" She runs over to the cake.

☆

"It still fits."

"Well, yeah, Em." Hen chuckles. She looks over at Emery and notices her looking in the mirror at herself in her turnout gear in astonishment. "I think your weight is fine."

"Well, I mean...have I been eating? Yes. Have I been eating olives? No."

Hen smirks, "I dunno. Looks like you're eating Buck's olives just fine."

Emery snaps her eyes over to Hen. Chimney raises his brows and shoots up from the bench. "Whoa, whoa—what?! You ate Buck's what?!"

Emery covers her ears. "Oh, god!" Her face heats up. "As of late. I have not eaten Buck's anything." She moves her arms from side to side.

Chimney and Hen look at each other.

"I...I think I stepped into the wrong conversation."

The three firefighters turn to Tom. He was standing in the glass doorway. His face was beet red.

Emery's mouth drops open. "Shit, Fletcher—it was all them! They were accusing me of weird things."

"No, I said you were "Eating Buck's olives just fine"," Hen says. "I meant the jar of olives in the refrigerator upstairs."

"But Chim said—"

"That was Chim that said it. Not me." Hen smirks. "I am my own woman, Emerson."

"Yeah, Emerson." Chimney folds his arms.

Emery looks between Chimney and Hen. "Am I...being punked right now?"

"Maybe..." Hen shrugs. "Depends on your answer to this question. What's going on with you and Buck?"

Emery's eyes widen, "Nothing—nothing!"

"You and Buck left to get tacos outside of the dispatch building." Chimney nudges Hen's arm.

Hen gasps, "A date?!"

"Wait, you two went on a date?" Tom's jaw goes slack.

"No—no." Emery shakes her head. "I offered him tacos because he was worried about Maddie."

"I was worried about Maddie." Chimney holds a hand up. "I didn't get any tacos."

"That's because you were already with Maddie, stealing her hugs from me!" Emery snaps. She then points at Chimney. "She was mine first."

"Hey, you get your own, Buckley." Chimney swats her finger out of his face.

"Well, she kind of already does..."

Everyone turns to Tom in shock. Hen and Chimney had large impressed smiles on their faces while Emery had a look of shock and betrayal. "E tu Brute?" She gasps.

Tom's jaw goes slack and he waves his hands. "No, no, no. I didn't mean to stir anything up. I was just teasing too."

"E tu?!"

"Emerson, I'm sorry!"

Hen and Chimney erupt into laughter. The alarm blares through the station, catching the firefighter's attention. Emery immediately felt butterflies begin to form. Chimney grips her shoulders and massages them as he guides her toward the fire truck. "Here we go, Firefighter Sharpe is back!"

And Emery couldn't stop the smile from forming on her lips.

...

"This brings back old memories, doesn't it?"

Emery softly smirks as she walks beside Tom. The brunette boy then smirks, "Except now, you don't get to call me, Probie."

"Oh, I can still call you probie." She places a hand on his chest. She tilts her head and arches a brow which causes his stomach to flutter. "Do you know how long I called Buck "Probie"?"

"Uh...until you started having a physical relationship with him?"

Emery's eyes widen and she laughs. "That was a rhetorical question, Tom." She turns and continues walking through the abandoned warehouse.

Tom slaps his hand against his face.

"But, I still called him "Buck" during the first couple of months of our physical relationship." Emery flashes her light up and down the hall.

"Oh...good to know...?"

Emery snorts, "Hey, man. You started this."

"Fair point." Tom sighs. He flashes his light in the opposite direction of Emery's.

Dispatch had received a call about a serial fire starter aiming for this building. Which is why they were in here with the police waiting outside, waiting for the 118's signal that they found the fire starter.

Bobby had split the team into separate groups. Hen and Chimney, Eddie and Buck, and Emerson and Tom.

The warehouse was empty and looked like it hadn't been used in years. It's certainly a strange place for a serial pyromaniac to start a fire. Then again, maybe this pyromaniac wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Emery was hoping that was the case.

"Shit..."

Emery and Tom stop at the split halls.

"Which way should we go?" Tom asks.

Emery shines her light down the left hall then the right. She gnaws her lower lip and softly hums. "We should split up."

Tom snaps his eyes over to Emery, her eyes were already on him. His heartbeat was quickening with every second Emery stared at him with a dead-serious expression.

Then she chuckles. Her chuckles quickly grew into laughter and she leans back. "Oh, you should've seen your face." She nudges her elbow into his side which causes Tom to stumble. "Let's go left." Emery then begins to walk.

Tom lets out a breath of relief and follows after her. "Your jokes are starting to get better."

Emery turns to him, "Ya think so?"

"Yeah. For a second, I thought you were really gonna make us split up."

"In this creepy warehouse?" Emery snorts. "No..." she trails off her words when she sees a door that is cracked open. She and Thomas exchange a look. Emery speaks into her walkie.

"118, this is Firefighter Sharpe and Fletcher. We're in the west wing, heading into a room numbered 708."

"Copy that, Sharpe. Let us know if you need anything."

Tom inhales a breath, "K always wondered why they had us come in here first." He looks at Emery. "I mean, what if this person has a gun?"

Emery hums, "Duck and run."

"Not funny. Emerson."

"I wasn't being funny. You run in zigzags." Emery then moved her hand in a zigzag motion. "That's a thing."

Tom's mouth opens, "Oh."

"Did you not have that A.L.I.C.E. video shown to you at school?" Emery softly scoffs.

"I probably did. But I was too busy being a teenage dad." Tom bunches his shoulders.

Emery squints her eyes, "I guess you get a pass."

She lightly and slowly pushes the door open, trying her best not to make the door creak. Emery was the first to step in with her halligan in hand. Her eyes examine the room.

"Em, I've got a body."

Emery quickly turns to see Thomas running over to the lifeless body in the corner of the dark room. "What?"

Thomas crouches beside the man. "Do you think it could be the Pyro?"

"Maybe, but..." Emery trails off her words, her stomach turning. She pulls her eyes away from Thomas and takes a moment to look around.

Emery had been healing from the many losses and trauma she had experienced. Recently she has finally been trying to heal from the loss of her late wife, Helena. Dr. Sai wanted to get more into the loss of Amaya, but Emery couldn't do it. Reminiscing about Amaya was amazing and it was like a breath of fresh air. But trying to heal from the pain of losing her...it was something Emery couldn't bear.

That's why some things had slipped her mind about Amaya. Not Amaya personally, but more so conversations they have had.

"You've gotta promise me to be safe."

"Thomas..."

Emery looks around the abandoned warehouse, while Tom sets his duffel down next to the victim. Her eyebrows pull together, the gears finally turning in her head.

"Right, be careful from 'The Firesnatcher'?"

"Something's not right." Emery shifts her eyes to the brightly lit place. Why would there be newly put-in lights in an abandoned building? This all just felt like a huge fucking setup...

"I'm serious."

"I've got a pulse!"

Her breathing hitches and her eyes widen. "Thomas, we've gotta go."

"Em, what are you—"

"Tom, let's go now!" Emery turns to her partner, only to find him on the ground unconscious. And there was no lifeless body next to him.

"Yeah, okay, I promise I'll be safe."

Emery felt immediate fear settle into her body. She hears footsteps behind her and she spins on her heel and comes face to face with him.

The girl pulls her brows together and looks across the man's face. That immediate fear quickly changed to a mix of confusion and betrayal. She couldn't stop but notice the bitter taste that was left in her mouth.

"J-Joe?"

Joe softly presses his lips into his signature disarming smile. "Hey, Em."

He then raises his hand up and punches her across the face.

And Emery's vision immediately goes dark.

━━━━━━━━━━

Penn Badgley

As

FireSnatcher

author's note.

AHHHHHHHHH we're getting INTO IT nowwww (I feel like we've already been IN IT, but whatever)

Did any of y'all figure this out?? I've seen some people comment and pick up on some of the little hints I would give and I'm soooo happy you did! I'm even happy about the people who kept bringing up the Firesnatcher, I was so scared nobody would remember 😭😭

This next chapter (idk if it's only going to be one or multiple chapters) is going to switch between Emery & Tom's storyline and the storyline of everyone trying to find them. AKA worried Buck hehehe 🤭

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