She checked in with Thuy at the nurse's station.
"What's going on?"
Thuy blew out a breath and shook her head. "One of the Rescue Crew is going into surgery to fix some deep tissue damage in the back of his thigh. There is-"
Thuy pulled her closer to the wall, the furthest they could get away from the counter and anyone who could overhear them.
"There's a chance that there might be permanent damage to the muscles."
Lexie turned her head and saw Kaleo standing against the wall with two of the other men on the Rescue Crew. Greco had a bandage around his head, but Halo, who was between them, looked unharmed.
They were all standing close, but not so close that they were trying to overhear, but it was impossible with the hard walls of the hall and the soft fabric of the curtains that they couldn't hear some of what was being said.
"Kate- Babe, don't worry."
"Martin Ferris, how can I not worry? Who told you to go out and get injured by some assholes?"
Rock laughed, but it was a rough and brittle sound. "Didn't plan on it, honey, but shit happens. Okay?"
"You should have had more police back up at the scene. I should have sent more." Kate's voice was thin, pulled tight. "I should have-"
"You weren't even on duty today, honey. Don't do this to yourself."
"Rock, man... I don't know how to apologize-"
"Faust, what the hell are you talking about? You have nothing to apologize for, man. Shit happens."
Lexie had heard about Faust through Kaleo, and she understood the reference well.
It was kind of sad. She knew that they hadn't given him the name to be cruel, but in a way that's what it had become.
Cruel.
As Faust talked to Rock and Kate on the other side of the curtain, she felt like she could see how this was affecting him.
It was all weighing down on him.
Some of the weight was from the expectations of others, but somehow, Lexie knew that much of it was put there by the man himself.
She shook her head and put her hand over her heart trying to ease the ache in her chest.
"Rock!" "Kate!"
Lexie turned to look at the outer doors at the newest arrivals.
Thuy touched her arm. "He's the fire chief at Twenty-Nine," she explained. "Aldo Campanelli."
Lexie nodded. She'd heard the name in the news before, but she'd also heard about him from Kaleo.
Aldo was a man who led with his heart. That was easy enough to see.
The look on the fire chief's face was full of concern.
"And that," Thuy gestured to the woman at his side, "is his daughter Vitalia."
Vitalia.
Lexie had never heard that name before, but it fit the other woman somehow. She was tall and athletic like her father, and they bore almost identical looks of concern.
