𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚.
𝙞 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗔 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗 blew through the long, dark hair of the Gallagher siblings as they drove down the busy Los Angeles roads. "So, after five whole years, Naiara Gallagher touches back down in sunny L.A." A smile was plastered onto Theo's face, quickly glancing at Naiara before focusing his attention back on the road.

"Eh, Seattle just wasn't endgame for me." She smiled, looking over to her brother. "I mean, sure, I made friends, but L.A's my home."

Theo laughed, "You can try all you want to say that you belong in the lovely city of Los Angeles, but we both know that you truly belong in the fields of Austin."

"Austin will always be home, but I love L.A too much." Naiara ran her right hand through her hair, "It's less muggy out here."

"So, tell me, Theodora, how's the group been since I left? They, uh, made it a point to completely drop all contact the second I left." She asked, turning her head back to face her brother. He shook his head, pulling a hand through his hair and taking a quick glance at his sister.

"Nai, they took you leaving as some sort of betrayal. You left and they haven't seen you in five years. They were hurt, still are." He paused briefly, taking a breath. "Nora and Will are still together, we're all pretty confident that Will's gonna propose. Dusty owns an art gallery in Santa Monica, he's loaded now. Will started his residency two years ago, also loaded. Nora works as a nurse in the same hospital, and of course, she, too, is loaded."

Naiara nodded, still hurt by the original statement. "And Tess?" She asked, grabbing her water bottle from the cupholder beside her.

"No idea. She went AWOL about five, maybe six months after you moved. Will reported her missing, but she walked into the police station saying that she left voluntarily. We found her a year ago, she was living in a motel that some pimp owned. Said that it was where she belonged, wanted us to leave her alone. Haven't seen her since." He explained, turning down a busy road.

Stopping at a red light, Theo sighed, tapping the steering wheel with his fingers. Turning to look at Naiara, he shook his head. "I don't think it had anything to do with you. After the fire, she spiralled, couldn't even go near a candle without freaking out. She was trying to get over her fear and she accidentally burned her apartment complex down, lost her on the streets a week later."

Naiara used her left hand to rub her forehead, sinking further into her seat as she did so. "Just wish I would've been here for her, I mean, the streets? It's just not the place you'd expect a Mercer to end up. We were all supposed to make it. This wasn't supposed to happen to us."

Theo shrugged as he continued on through traffic, turning down streets, closer to the station. "You're right, it wasn't. None of us were supposed to leave." He commented, glancing at Naiara through the corner of his eye.

The conversation fizzled out as Theo continued down the road, pulling into the parking lot of Naiara's new job. "Well, go kick some ass, tiger." Theo smiled to his sister as she got out of his car and grabbed her duffel bag from the back seat.

"Oh, I will, don't worry." She said, flipping the bag over her shoulder and walking into the station.

The firehouse was quiet and empty. "Hello? Anyone here?" Naiara called out. The only response Naiara received was in the form of the beeping of a reversing firetruck.

Stepping out of the way, Naiara dropped her bag to the floor, sticking her hands into her pockets. The doors to the ladder truck opened and a group of firefighters hopped down to the floor. The firefighters began talking and laughing amongst themselves, not noticing Naiara standing behind them.

"Excuse me? I'm looking for Captain Nash." Naiara called, walking up behind the group. The firefighters who were facing away from Naiara turned to face her, analyzing her.

A familiar looking man looked Naiara up and down, like he was analyzing her. "That's me." He said, walking up to her, sticking his hand out to shake Naiara's.

When Naiara's hand met his, he pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you, Gallagher." He said into her neck, pulling away and turning to introduce her to the team.

"No way." One of the firefighters marveled at the dark haired woman. "You're the woman from that dorm fire a couple years back. You saved like twenty three people. It was crazy, I saw it on the news." He continued, hitting the firefighter beside him on his forearm. "Naiara, right?" He asked.

Naiara smiled and nodded, "Shocked anyone actually remembered that." She expressed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "That day is actually what got me here. Captain Nash was the one who urged me to join the academy."

Nash nodded, a smile plastered on his face. "That I did. Nai here graduated top of her class and joined Seattle FD. Saw her transfer request slide across my desk a couple weeks ago." He explained.

Naiara surveyed the group, analyzing each member. "I can see this house is more of a boys club." She acknowledged, glancing over to the only other woman in the room.

"Aren't all firehouses?" The woman questioned, taking a step towards Naiara, placing a hand on her hip.

"You'd actually be surprised. The station I worked at in Seattle? I was one of four. One of them was actually our captain." Naiara raved, smiling to the other woman.

"Damn, I think I might have to move to Seattle. I'm Hen." She grinned, putting out her hand to Naiara. She took Hen's hand, shaking it.

"That's Buck, Eddie, and Chimney. The leaders of the 118 boys club." Bobby introduced, as the three all sent small waves Naiara's way.

Bobby dismissed the rest of the team and walked Naiara over to her bag. Naiara picked up her bag off the ground, slinging back over her shoulder before the two of them continued towards the locker room.

"Your uniform's in your locker, far right. Turnouts and your helmet are with every else's. We'll be upstairs once you're in your uniform." Bobby explained, turning to walk out of the room, before looking back over his shoulder, "Welcome to the team, probie." He grinned before leaving the room.

"I am definitely not a probie." Naiara shook her head, laughing to herself before walking to her locker and grabbing her uniform.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗨𝗣𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗦 was loud, laughter and chatter echoing through the firehouse. Naiara walked upstairs, pushing her shirt a little further into her pants.

The group she had met previously were all crowded around the island, picking at various snacks in front of them. Naiara walked up behind the group, joining them by the end of the island beside Hen, who greeted Naiara with a friendly smile.

"What're y'all talking about up here?" She asked, grabbing a small handful of pretzels from the bowl closest to her.

"Our craziest calls. We had a pretty wild one earlier, so we thought we'd reminisce." Bobby explained, chopping up a cucumber.

"What's the craziest one so far?" Naiara questioned through pretzels. The five all looked between each other, before ultimately deciding their answer.

"The case of rebar brain." Hen answered, a grin covering her face.

"Rebar brain?"

"Nice to meet you." Chimney smiled smugly, waving as he did so. Naiara's face dropped, pointing to him with a shocked expression.

"You're rebar brain? You had rebar in your brain? For real?" Naiara questioned. Chimney nodded slowly, the smug smile still plastered on his face.

"What about you, Naiara? What's your craziest call?" Eddie asked, pulling the bowl of pretzels towards him. "Or the craziest thing that's been through your brain?" He jested, glancing between Chimney and Naiara.

Naiara tilted her head, popping a few more pretzels in her mouth and thinking. "Mm, I got one." She said before swallowing the pretzels. "My third year, we worked a fire in some factory. It was an arson case, we found the guy who did it on the top floor when we were putting out the fires." She began, leaning forward on the counter.

"The guy was holding a molotov and a lighter on some balcony above these massive barrels of a paint like chemical mixture. We had just added some hotshot probie to our team and he thought it'd be a great idea to spray him with a hose before he could light the cocktail."

"Well, because of the pressure, the dude went off the edge, straight into the barrel." She continued, "I guess I was a bigger hotshot than him. I'm pretty sure I broke a record getting out of my turnouts. I nosedived straight into the barrel behind the guy. The chemicals burned the hell out of me, and the guy, but he lived. Lived to get convicted, and I almost lost my job." She finished, a smile on her face as she held up her hands, burn scars covering the back of them both.

Hen grabbed Naiara's right hand, running her fingers across the scarred skin. "That's badass." She commented, letting go of Naiara's hand.

"Nosedive, that's it." Buck said, drumming his hands on the counter. Naiara titled her head, making eye contact with Buck. "We were trying to come up with a nickname for you. Most of us just shortened our names and then there's Chimney, but we had to come up with something for you." He explained walking over and behind Naiara.

"But now we've got it," He continued, placing his hands on Naiara's shoulders. "Nosedive."

Naiara shook her head, shrugging Buck's hands off of her. "That's somehow worse than the nickname I got in Seattle." She joked, turning to fake punch Buck in his stomach.

"And what was that nickname, Nosedive?" Bobby teased, taking one of the slices of cucumber and popping it into his mouth.

Naiara grabbed another pretzel, popping it into her mouth and wagging her finger at Bobby. "So not happening." She replied, walking away from the counter and over to the table, pulling out a chair.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗟𝗔𝗫𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 interrupted the teams dinner, causing them to all rush to their turnouts and the trucks. "A motel in Santa Monica went up about five minutes ago, suspected arson and an unknown number of victims." Bobby explained, turning to face his team from the front seat.

"Do we know how many people were staying at the motel? Should give us a rough estimate of rescues." Naiara asked, fidgeting with the helmet in her lap.

Bobby shook his head, "The police think he got stuck in the main office, so there hasn't been any contact. So far we only have the name of one occupant, confirmed by a family member. Her name is Tessa Mercer. She was one of the victims of the dorm fire." He explained, turning back to face the road.

The mention of Tessa's name froze Naiara in place, unable to say anything. "Hey, Nosedive, you good?" Eddie asked, leaning forward to get closer to her. His voice snapped her out of her daze and she nodded slightly, making eye contact with him.

"Chim and Hen have triage, Nai and Buck have search and rescue, everyone else is on fire control." Bobby assigned as they parked and everyone filed out of the trucks.

Everyone began their specific assignments immediately. Chimney and Hen set up a triage tent to help the wounded who found their own way out as Bobby, Eddie and others began fire attack. Beside the trucks Buck and Naiara got their oxygen tanks ready so they could go get those stuck in the motel.

"Hey, back in the truck," Buck began, securing his tank. "You know the girl don't you? Tessa?" He asked, watching as she secured her own tank. Naiara paused before slowly nodding.

"Used to. I probably won't even recognize her when I see her." She answered, before strapping her mask on and walking over to the building.

"PD just informed me that the Mercer girl is the only one unaccounted for, room 14." Buck informed Naiara as he walked up beside her. Naiara nodded and put her helmet on before running over to the room.

The fire got stronger as they got closer to room 14, the strongest flames coming exactly from the room. Grabbing her radio and pressing the microphone button, Naiara spoke, "The fire started in room 14, we need hoses over here."

𝗦𝗠𝗢𝗞𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 the rubble of the motel as the 118 worked to put out the last few spot fires. Naiara pulled off her turnouts, hanging her jacket on the ladder truck, before walking over to the triage tent.

"Need a hand?" She asked as she walked over to Hen. She nodded and pointed to a patient hidden behind a group of people, all facing away from Naiara.

"Patient there needs to be treated for second degree burns." Hen explained, handing the supplies to Naiara. The dark haired woman nodded, taking the supplies and moving over to the patient.

She walked around the crowd surrounding the patient and stopped the second she saw her face. Naiara knelt beside Tessa, preparing the gauze.

"Naiara?" A familiar voice questioned. Naiara looked up to meet the eyes of her old roommates and her brother. "The hell are you doing in L.A?" Will asked, anger lacing his voice.

Naiara sighed, placing the first strip of gauze over her burns. "I got transferred, William. Now I work here and now i'm treating your sisters burns." Her voice was monotone, not an ounce of emotion detected.

"You came back and you didn't tell us. Just like you didn't tell us when you left." Nora scoffed as Naiara finished putting gauze over Tessa's burns.

Standing up, Naiara met everyone's eyes. "I told you guys that I was leaving. Heaven forbid you actually listened though." She snarled, pulling the gloves off her hands.

Nora shook her head, walking around Tessa and beside Naiara. "You didn't tell us squat, Naiara. Don't feed me that bullshit." She whispered to her.

"Gallagher, I need a hand over here." Hen called from behind the group.

Naiara grabbed the supplies off the ground and walked past Nora. "I know you guys don't approve of me being here, but I have a job to do, so maybe don't get in the way of it." She said.

"Are you fucking serious right now, Gallagher? Leaving, without a word, again?" Will seethed, turning to watch Naiara walk over to help Hen.

Naiara knelt down beside the patient, helping Hen intubate them. "And she's just gonna ignore us, that's always what she's done best, right?" Nora muttered, purposefully making her voice loud enough for Naiara to hear.

"Nora, seriously? Don't you guys think you're being too hard on her?" Theo began. "She's right, too. She told you guys that she was moving to Seattle, you guys never listened to her. Everytime she brought up moving and joining the academy, you ignored her. Not the other way around." He scolded, turning to look at his sister work.

"You're siding with her, seriously? After ever she put you through? Honestly, Theo, that's pathetic." Will barked, rolling his eyes at Theo. "It's her fault Tess is even on the street."

"Seriously, Will, shut up. Tessa wouldn't want this." Dustin warned, pushing Will back slightly.

Naiara stood, pushing herself off the ground and away from the patient. "You're right, Dustin. She wouldn't want this." She spoke, stepping past Hen.

"She wouldn't want this." Naiara gestured to the group and the motel rubble. "She wouldn't want us to be fighting about me while she's fighting for her life, but I'm sure that's gonna be the least of her concerns when she wakes up considering the fact that she's gonna be booked for possession and arson."

"The fuck are you talking about?" Will questioned, stepping towards Naiara. The rest of Naiara's team began to crowd behind her, unable to keep away from the scene.

"The fire started in her room and when we were getting her out, Buck and I found a drug stash. That's what the police are currently pulling out," She began. "I seriously doubt that Tessa wants to be a junkie. I doubt that she wants to be terrified of fire. I doubt she wanted to burn a motel down and almost kill twelve people, I doubt she wanted that." Finishing her rant, Naiara stepped forward again.

"You're the reason she's terrified of fire. You're the reason she did this." Will spat, gesturing to the rubble. "You set the dorm fire. You almost killed us. You gave Tessa this PTSD." He accused, getting into Naiara's face.

Naiara laughed, taking a step away from Will. She opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but was stopped by Bobby placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm Captain Nash, we met the night of the dorm fire." He stepped up beside the dark haired woman, pushing her back.

"I remember that night very vividly. One of the proudest moments of my career- we didn't lose anybody, the fire was put out with minimal damage, and I managed to help make one of the greatest firefighters i've ever met." Bobby explained, pointing to Naiara as he said the last line.

"I also helped investigate. The fire did start in your dorm, in the kitchen, but from all the witness accounts, including yours, William, that fire wasn't on Naiara." He continued as Naiara dropped her head. "The person who made dinner that night didn't turn the burner off all the way and they threw a towel onto the stove. That's what started the fire and that person wasn't Naiara, it was Tessa." He finished.

"And that was explained to you, but, of course, everything was always my fault." Naiara spat, ripping off another pair of gloves. "Everything was always on me."

"Why'd you leave then? This could've been prevented, we were all so happy." Dustin faltered, stepping past Bobby and facing Naiara.

"Happy?" She objected, "I was never fucking happy. I was miserable." She corrected, looking Dustin dead in the eyes. "My friends ignored every single problem I ever had. My parents fucking hate me and my brother resents me for leaving as a kid. I was going to school for something my parents wanted." She ranted, pointing at everyone as they were mentioned.

"That night gave me something I had never had before. I knew exactly what I wanted, I knew there was something out there for me- people who would actually be proud of me for something. I found people who understand me, who get why I want to do what I do. That's something you guys never gave me."

"You want happy? This. This is happy." She fumed, before throwing her gloves on the ground and walking away from the triage tent, tears streaming down her face.

Naiara sat beside her jacket on the ladder truck, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Wanna talk about it?" Asked Buck as he and Eddie walked up to the truck.

"My parents live a couple blocks away from the dorm the four of us lived in. They made sure to keep a close eye on my brother and I. Had to make sure I didn't drop out, or do anything stupid." She began, pulling her jacket off the truck and onto her lap. "That is why I went to Seattle. My parents would've made my life hell if they knew I joined the academy, so I had to get far enough in my career that they couldn't screw me over."

"They never understood. Theo pretended he did, but I know my brother, he was just trying to be happy for me. I thought that- maybe- Will would get it, I mean, he's a surgeon, he should understand me wanting to save lives." She explained, tugging at her suspenders.

"He always said it was different. Which it is, obviously. He said that he never wanted me to end up on his operating table. The last thing Nora told me before I left was that she never wanted me to come back. Dustin wished me luck, told me that I had to graduate top of my class. Theo cried the whole drive to the airport. It was only Dustin and Theo who came with. Tess, on the other hand, cut contact the second I said anything. Freaked when she heard the word 'fire.'"

"I tried. For them, I tried to be happy there, tried to love my board exams and the thought of becoming a doctor, but the second I got to Seattle and busted my ass through the academy and got into a station, thats when I was happy. That life was my parents, not mine." She finished, leaning her head back against the truck as Eddie and Buck sat on either side of her.

"Even without the others, you still have your brother and Dustin, right? Maybe, in time, the others will see how happy you are, come around, apologize." Eddie said, staring off at the group in the triage tent.

Dustin and Theo had separated from the group, standing closer to Bobby and the rest of the 118, and Will and Nora were now sat on either side of Tessa, both of them crying.

"The 118 is a great family though, if you wanna be apart of it." Buck stated quietly, getting a questioning look from Naiara.

"I know I've only been here for a day, but I thought I was already part of the family?" She laughed, lightly hitting Buck in the arm. "I'd be happy to be part of this family." She smiled, looking back at her old friends.