Chapter 11
ELEVEN
HARMONY
When Vega drove the ambulance into the covered apparatus floor after a harrowing call, she was exhausted and didn’t even want to get out of the cab.
She had more than half of a mind to just put her feet up on the dash and close her eyes.
She heard the gearshift sink into Park and she sighed. “Just leave me in here, ‘kay?”
The driver’s door opened and she waited for the chassis to rock as Vega got out of the ambulance, but that shift didn’t happen.
“Uh, Harmony?”
“Hmmm?” She picked up her jacket from the floor near her feet and pulled it up and over her to the chin to keep warm.
“I think you’re going to want to get out.”
She raised a brow at his words but didn’t open her eyes. “Why?”
“Uh… because you’ve got a visitor.”
Visitor?
Frowning at his words, Harmony sat up a little and lowered her jacket so she could sit up a little more.
Right around the time that her mind kicked in and started to work again, she caught sight of the man who was walking across the floor in her direction.
Crois.
A quick click of her brain cells told her that he was done with his shift.
Why he’d come to see her, she didn’t know, but seeing the look on his face, she quickly released her seatbelt and slipped out of the cab.
He was faster than she was and was on her side of the ambulance when her feet touched ground.
“Hey,” she spoke softly to him, “are you-”
He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off of her feet.
Harmony wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to bring him in ask close as she could.
He hadn’t said a word, and she didn’t expect him to.
She could see how upset he was, she just didn’t know why but finding that out could wait until later.
When he stopped walking, he lowered her down to the ground, but she didn’t let go of him.
He was hurting. She could feel it.
She wanted to help him, holding him tightly to her chest, letting him hug her tightly in return.
When his hold on her loosened, Harmony finally took in a full breath. She didn’t try to pull away, but she stepped back enough that she could look into his eyes, her hands moving over his arms. “What’s going on?”
He shook his head and she wanted to press him for information, but she couldn’t bear to do it when he seemed like he was on the edge of… something.
Instead of asking again, she stood there and gently rubbed his arms.
His uniform shirt of choice was the horn sleeved version which ended midway to his elbows. His parter wore the long-sleeved version. While she smoothed her hands up and down his arms, she felt the warmth of his kin under her hands and the gentle scratch of the hairs on his arms.
She wasn’t all that easy showing this kind of closeness with anyone. Her own family had taught her that personal relationships weren’t easy to navigate.
It was probably why being an EMT was a good middle ground for her.
She could have a positive effect on the patients that she treated, but following up with them like the staff at Cole Medical did?
She didn’t have to see them again and again, day in and day out. It was the best of both worlds.
She could do what she loved… and be herself.
“You’re good at that, you know.”
It took her a moment to shake herself out of her thoughts. “Good at what?” She heard the slight edge in her voice, and she tried to back it off, but she couldn’t hold back her somewhat snarky thoughts. “Overthinking?”
They looked at each other for a long moment and then something almost miraculous happened.
They both laughed.
Not a belly laugh or anything that exciting, just a little laugh that eased the awkwardness she was feeling.
He let out a long breath, and she stepped closer to see his expression.
Crois lifted a hand and moved it over her hair, barely brushing against the loose wisps of hair. It was a gentle touch that she almost leaned into, but she held herself back.
“I was saying that you’re good at calming me down.”
She widened her eyes and smiled. “Yeah?”
He nodded and he smoothed his hands over her arms.
Harmony realized that he was trying to reciprocate, but his touch on her arms wasn’t soothing.
The slow, gentle touch of his hands on her arms, even over her long-sleeved uniform shirt was stirring up emotions and physical feelings that she wasn’t used to.
Part of her wanted to lean into it, silencing asking for more, but another part of her tried to throw up walls between them.
“Uh…” She pulled back, but almost at the same moment, the Klaxons went off again and it gave her almost an excuse for the sudden and jerky movement. “I’ve…”
“Rescue Two. Engine Forty-seven. Truck Forty-two. Ambulance Nineteen. Structure fire at-”
She passed her tongue over her lower lip. “I have to go.”
Her heart seized for a moment when Crois took hold of of her shoulders and leaned in.
Harmony froze, wondering where he was going to go with this.
What he was planning to do.
Then she felt him kiss her forehead.
“I know, Harm. Be safe.”
She frowned and looked at him. “I’m not the one in constant danger, Crois. That’s you.”
“Harmony! Let’s go.”
She heard Vega and nodded, even though her partner probably wasn’t looking. “Yeah.”
Her voice had barely any volume to it.
She looked at Crois. “Call- I mean, message me later, ‘kay?”
She took off running then and stepped into the cab of the ambo a split second before it moved forward, falling into line with the other vehicles.
Harmony took one last look in the mirror on her side of the cab.
Crois was standing there, watching them go.
What a strange thing.
And yet, it made her smile.
Later, when she returned to the firehouse, it was to find a vase of flowers in the common room with her name on it.
Flowers!
She looked at the arrangement and when Greco reached out a hand to pick the card up, she gently slapped it away. “Don’t touch.”
He grinned at her. “Got a boyfriend, Harmony?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Stop.”
He shrugged, still smiling. “Girlfriend?”
“I wouldn’t tell you either way, Greco.”
He shrugged. “Just curious.”
She picked up the vase and walked it into the bunk area and set it on the bedside table of her bunk while she was on shift.
Braun came in a few moments later, standing off to the side, waiting for her to acknowledge him.
Harmony rubbed one of the petals between her fingers for a moment and then looked up at him. “Lieutenant.”
“Harmony. Everything okay?”
She frowned at his question. “With what?”
His easy manner was always a balm for her.
“Sounded like Greco put his foot in it back in the common room.”
She shrugged. “I don’t like silly questions.”
Braun nodded. “I guess it probably sounded like it.”
Harmony frowned. “What else could it be?”
Braun blew out a breath and ended up almost smiling at her.
“Curiosity, maybe. Everyone at Twenty-nine likes you, Harmony. You’re part of our family.”
She swallowed at that word and looked away, just a little.
“I just don’t like to share too much about myself.”
“That’s fine, Harmony. No one here is going to make you say or do anything you don’t want to. I just…”
He paused and she looked back up at him, trying to see what his expression could tell her.
“I just think that some of the people here at Twenty-Nine might seem a little… much sometimes.”
She lifted her chin and lowered it down, slowly. “More than sometimes.” She managed a smile. “I… I appreciate that you’re trying to help me.”
Braun shrugged. “I just feel like… we’re a bunch of different people working toward the same goal, stuck in a big brick building.”
Harmony smiled at him, really smiled. “That’s how I see it sometimes.”
He nodded, smiling like she did. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “But most times, I feel like I’m just kind of here and everyone else is… there.” She shook her head. “That probably sounds stupid.”
“Actually, Harmony,” he sighed, “not everyone sees things here the same way. Some days I feel like I’m in a bad dream about a frat house.”
She thought about it for a moment, frowned at the idea. “I’ve never been to a frat house, but I guess I’ve seen movies.” Harmony felt a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “I guess it fits.”
Braun shrugged. “Crazy, but true.”
Harmony plucked a flower from the vase and held it between her fingers, twisting it back and forth. When she looked back up at Braun, she was smiling from ear to ear. “Thanks, Lieutenant.”
He shrugged. “I just want you to know you don’t have to ‘fit in’ the way others do. We appreciate you for who you are.”
He left a moment later and she sat there on the edge of her bed, enjoying the flowers and her new mindset on Firehouse Twenty-nine.
She took her phone out of her pocket and started to dial Crois’ number.
The klaxon sounded again. “Ambulance Nineteen. Possible heart attack at-”
Harmony was up and running while she listened to the rest of the call.