The transformation was instantaneous and stunning. One moment we were sitting around a dinner table, laughing and arguing about seasoning techniques. The next, every firefighter in the room was moving with purpose and speed that defied belief.
Chairs scraped back. Plates were abandoned mid-bite. The comfortable, familial atmosphere evaporated, replaced by focused urgency.
"Working fire," Izzy said, already standing. Her voice had changed completely — gone was my warm, laughing girlfriend, replaced by Lieutenant Delgado, calm and authoritative. "Let's go, guys."
Thompson paused in his rush toward the apparatus bay, doubled back to the table, grabbed a handful of cheesecake with his bare hand, shoved it in his mouth, and mumbled "Oh myGod" through the mouthful as he ran for the engine.
Even in the middle of the controlled chaos, I had to smile. That was the highest compliment my dessert could have received.
"Izzy," I called out as she headed for the bay.
She turned back, and for just a moment, I saw both versions of her — the lieutenant and the woman I was falling for.
"Be safe," I said.
Her smile was quick but genuine. "Always am."
And then they were gone, bay doors rumbling closed behind them, sirens fading into the distance. The station fell silent except for the hum of fluorescent lights and the distant murmur of dispatch radio traffic.
I stood in the sudden quiet, surrounded by the remnants of dinner and the echo of laughter, feeling like I'd just witnessed something profound. The speed of the transition, the way they'd moved as one unit despite having been completely relaxed moments before — it was beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
"Quite something, isn't it?" Sophia said beside me.
I turned to find her starting to clear plates, moving with the automatic efficiency of someone who'd done this many times before.
"I've never seen anything like that," I admitted. "The way they just... switched."
"It never gets old," she said. "Jack's the same way. One minute he's telling terrible jokes, the next he's loading someone into the back of an ambulance and saving their life."
I joined her in clearing the table, grateful for something to do with my hands. "How do you handle it? The not knowing if they're coming back okay?"
Sophia paused, a stack of plates in her hands. "You learn to trust their training. And you learn to focus on what you can control." She gestured around the kitchen. "Like making sure there's food waiting when they get back."
We worked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, loading the dishwasher and packing up leftovers. There was something oddly intimate about it — two people who caredabout the same group of first responders, taking care of them in the only way available at the moment.
"You know," Sophia said eventually, "you should think about transferring to days. We could use someone with your skills, and the schedule's more predictable. Join the ‘real world’. Better work-life balance."
I looked up from wrapping the remaining mac and cheese. "Are you trying to poach me?"
"Maybe." She grinned. "Is it working?"
I smiled. “I’m flattered, Sophia, but I’m a creature of the night. The vibes are better.You’rethe one who should come over to the dark side. We have better snacks.”
“Better snacks aren’t going to save you when you’re three deep in the waiting room and holding six ICU patients.”
“That’s why we need you!” I countered. “Kellen’s nice, but … let’s be honest, he can’t be long for the ER. The man is totally burned out.”
Sophia shook her head. “Nah. I did nights for two years. It’s not for me.” Then her expression shifted, becoming more thoughtful. "You know, Kellen was my preceptor when I started at Metro General."
That surprised me. "Really? I would never have guessed."
"Yeah, he’s been around longer than any other nurse in our ER. He was a different man back then," she said, her voice soft with something like sadness. "Getting him to smile was almost as easy as getting him to volunteer for overtime."
I frowned, leaning against the counter. This was entirely unlike the Kellen I knew. "He seems... I don't know. Burned out, I guess. Like he's just going through the motions."
"Kellen's still one of the best nurses I've ever worked with," Sophia said firmly. "His patients trust him completely, he never misses anything critical, his clinical judgment is flawless. But that many years in the ER …” She trailed off, looking for the right words.
"What changed?"
