Thirteen Years Later...

The ambulance slowly backed up into the bay of the firehouse. The backup sounds stopped beeping as Sarah Mack, the Paramedic in Charge, stopped the ambulance.

Jinx Grey quickly got out and slammed the door closed. The call was a tough one. Jinx hated to see death, but it was just part of the job. It never did get easier. The sounds and things they saw, haunted the woman.

Jinx walked into the living room of the firehouse. She was greeted by the guys from Truck 85. "How was the call?" Zayne Carr asked her.

"Tough." She replied to him. Zayne dropped any more questions he had for her. He understood that she didn't want to talk about the call.

"We got food cooking." Samantha Cain called out. "It's grilled chicken."

"Mm, smells good," Sarah told her.

"Hopefully it'll taste good." Sam laughed. "I'm not the best cook, as we have realized."

"I helped," Victor called out.

Jinx sat on the couch and turned the TV on. Her escape from reality was movies. She had grown up watching movies with her dad before he died.  Movies were their favorite way to enjoy time together and that was taken from her when he died.

Her brother Jj, didn't take his death well. He was only six. Jj had grown up to be a great cop. Jinx was proud of her brother. She admired his dedication to the police department.

Their mother wasn't all too pleased with the idea of him being a cop but accepted it when Jinx decided to be a paramedic. She knew Jinx would take care of her little brother. And she did. Jinx couldn't count all the times she had patched JJ up.

Jinx felt someone sit beside her. "You good?" Mark asked.

"Peachy," she replied.

"You know I'm here to talk right?"

She nodded. "I know. I have a therapist now. it's twice a week." She told him.

Mark had suggested she get a therapist to help with some of her traumas on the job. She may be a paramedic, but there was always a danger on every job.

Jinx knew this. She just didn't expect all the nightmares and night terrors that came with it. It was rough, but the therapy was helping.

"Good. I'm happy for you. Is it working?" He asked her.

"Somewhat. I've got my moments, but that's normal." She replied.

The anxiety and her stimulations would get the best of her. She had her moments, but the therapy helped. She was glad she didn't have to worry about it all that much. With her job it was difficult.

"How's Sarah's wedding planning going?"

"It's fucking hell. she's making me wear pink." she groaned.

Mark chuckled. "I figured you'd complain about that sooner or later." He told her. "Sarah you owe me twenty bucks!" Mark called out to Sarah.

"fucking hell, Grey you weren't supposed to complain." Sarah pouted, giving Mark twenty dollars.

"You guys betted on me complaining about wearing pink.?" Jinx asked the two.

"Of course we did. We know how much you hate it. so might as well bet on it." Sarah shrugged.

"You guys fucking suck." Jinx laughed.

The fire tones blared.

"Truck 85, Squad 3, Engine 13, Ambulance 63 Structure fire."

The three of them hurriedly got up from their seats and rushed to the trucks.

The firefighters put their turnout gear on and ran to the trucks. Jinx got into the passenger seat of Ambulance 63, while Sarah got into the driver's side and quickly started it up. Pulling out of the firehouse, Sarah took a right, following the fire trucks in front of them.

***

arriving on the scene, Jinx looked around quickly, making a note of spectators. The fire roared, and smoke was rising into the dark sky. Stars were not able to be seen.

The apartment building was half burned, and Jinx knew the inside of the building would be much worse. The smoke was getting thicker as the seconds ticked by.

"This is going to be a long night," Jinx commented to Sarah. "Ambulance 63, we're going to need additional ambo's to my location, multiple smoke inhalation victims, along with burn victims."

"Copy that, Ambulance 63. Ambulances are en route now." Cara told her from the other end of the radio.

"10-4. Sarah let's start triage." Jinx ordered.

Sarah nodded. More fire trucks started to roll up to the fire scene. Sarah and Jinx began to get victims from the firefighters that had come from the building.

Jinx was worried that there would be issues with the fire blocking exits, making things harder to get victims out.

She mostly worried for Mark and Squad 3. She knew Mark would take care of his guys. But she worried that he would overwork himself. She trusted Victor to watch his back.

"Firefighter down! I repeat firefighter down!" The words echoed in Jinx's mind. "We need an EMT, now." Jinx recognized the voice as Captain Elias Brooke.

"On my way," Jinx replied. "You good here?" She asked Sarah.

"Good. Go. Other Paramedics will be here soon." She told her. Jinx started to run toward Zayne.

"Where's the downed firefighter?" She asked him running up to him.

"I'm not sure. I heard they were on the left side of the building." He told her.

"Shit." the woman said under her breath. Jinx looked up to Zayne. "Do we know who it is?" Zayne looked down at the ground quickly, before looking back into her eyes. He didn't want to answer her. "Zayne, you better fucking answer me, or I'll be slashing three of your tires."

"It's Mark."