CHAPTER ONE. Grumpy Beginnings

( Pilot )

Trigger Warnings: mentions of drug addiction and overdosing.

__________

"What atom is the reactant atom in a nuclear reaction?"

Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Bradford's brows pulled together at her uncle's question, spreading cream cheese on her bagel as she thought. After a moment, her dark eyes lit up as she looked towards Carmine. "The parent atom."

A grin pulled up at Carmine's lips as he looked up from the study guide, he held it out towards his niece. "See? You'll do fine on that test. You've aced practically every question on here, kiddo."

"I hope so." Elizabeth returned the paper to her folder, finally stopping to take a bite of her breakfast.

"You will." Carmine's smile faltered subtly as his phone vibrated in his back pocket, retrieving it and glancing down at the text message that came across his screen.

We need to talk.

Carmine's chest tightened. Anyone texting someone with that sentence was nerve-wracking, but considering the text came from his lawyer it made him feel nauseated even looking at it.

"Everything okay?"

Carmine looked up from his phone screen to see Elizabeth looking at him, face scrunched together in concern. The male nodded, forcing himself to return his previous smile as he put his phone back into his pocket. "Yeah. All good. Come on, we've gotta get going."

__________

A heavy exhale filled the air of Carmine's parked car, thumb hovering over the call icon on his phone screen. His blood felt cold running through his veins, his heart beating far too quickly for his liking and the overwhelming anxiety only worsened the moment the phone began to ring.

"Hello."

The welcoming but nausea-inducing voice of Derek Hughes came across the speaker phone, Carmine breathing out slowly before parting his lips to respond.

"Hey. Good morning, Hughes." He swallowed. "I got your text; sorry I haven't responded I just pulled in to work."

"No worries," Derek responded and Carmine knew by the tone of his voice that this likely wasn't a no worries situation.

"So. Matthew gets released this week."

Carmine swallowed. "Yes, I know."

"Have you talked about this with Elizabeth?" Derek questioned.

"I don't force that topic on her. I told her we can talk when she's ready. She knows he's being released," Carmine replied. "And, honestly, I don't really know what there is to talk about, Hughes."

A heavy exhale echoed from Derek's lips through the speaker. "You know exactly what there is to talk about, Carmine."

Carmine's stomach clenched. He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as he released a breath.

"You knew this was coming when you took her in, Carmine–"

"I know."

The male opened his eyes, fingers of his free hand drumming against his thigh. "I know, Hughes."

Returning custody of Elizabeth to her father.

"She's almost sixteen, can't she like...Tell the court who she wants to stay with?" Carmine forced himself to not waver.

"Has Elizabeth expressed who she wants to stay with?"

Carmine scoffed. "I doubt she wants to stay with her drug-addicted father who overdosed a week before her birthday."

"Matthew's been in rehab, Carmine. He's gotten clean. Better," Derek responded.

"Yeah." Carmine drummed his thumb against the steering wheel. "He said that last time. And broke his probation not even a month into being released."

A pause. Then Carmine exhaled with a breath so heavy his chest moved in sync with it.

His breath caught slightly. "I just don't want her to get hurt again, Derek. She's been through enough, far more than any kid her age should have to go through... I'm just trying to make sure she gets to be a kid for as long as she can."

"I know you are," Derek answered. "And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you keep up with that. I'm not the court, though. And Elizabeth can tell them everything she wants to, but there's no guarantee they'll listen to her preferences. Or even take them into consideration."

'Trust me,' Carmine thought. 'I'm all too familiar with how the justice system fails victims.'

"Thanks, Hughes." Carmine's voice had returned to a professional standpoint. "Look, my shift's starting soon so I've gotta go, but I'll call you again soon."

"Alright, Carmine. Have a good day," Derek replied, and Carmine could picture the face he was pulling. That scrunched-up expression where his brows met, and his lips rolled into his mouth. He didn't care. He wasn't going to let Elizabeth's remaining childhood years be ruined by a man who thought drugs were more important than having a relationship with his daughter.

"You too."

The phone call dropped, and it took Carmine all the strength he had in him to not throw his phone at the windshield.

"I'm telling you. The suit is a major aphrodisiac."

Carmine's nose wrinkled up and his eyes squinted as he rounded the corner to the top level of the station. "Well, hello to you too, Chim."

Henrietta looked up as her teammate approached the three of them. "Chimney was just saying how his idea of foreplay with Tatiana is telling her all the stories of him running into burning buildings or jumping into icy lakes."

Carmine raised a brow as he transferred the spaghetti from the pan into the bowl Bobby had gotten from the cupboards. "No offense, Chimney, but when was the last time you ran or jumped over anything during a call?"

"I embellish a little." Chimney shrugged.

"So," Carmine replied, "you lie."

A laugh escaped Henrietta's lips, though it faded into a halfhearted attempt of a cough once Chimney cut his eyes at her from across the counter. Carmine noticed Bobby smiling out of the corner of his eye and he almost mirrored it before he heard the beeping of a firetruck as it backed into the station. Instead, he grabbed the tray of garlic bread and walked it to the table with a heavy exhale once he saw the familiar face of Evan Buckley rounding the corner. His eyes rolled as he watched the blond try to dip his finger into the bowl Henrietta held, grinning in secret as he was scolded almost immediately by the other.

"Woah, woah, woah. Wash your hands." Henrietta held the bowl of spaghetti away from the younger. "We don't know where they've been."

"Probably in someone," Carmine muttered to himself as he sat down.

He heard Chimney snicker from across the table and he almost grinned back before Bobby's heavy sigh caught his attention. He ducked his head, beginning to serve himself while watching Buck and their captain from the corner of his eye.

Bobby turned his attention to the blond. "What if we had a call?"

"I was in the neighborhood." Buck grabbed the plate Bobby was holding and proceeded to eat off of it. "I was just, uh, getting it washed."

"They charge you extra for the full detail?" Chimney questioned in an unamused tone.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah." Buck laughed.

Carmine's gaze flitted beside him at Henrietta. "Can I still not hit him?" he muttered. He earned a soft exhale from the woman, clearly unimpressed by Buck's attitude as well.

"Listen," Bobby started, "I like you. You're a good firefighter. I know we've got this thing... You call me 'Pops' and I give you a hard time for being a dumbass kid. We went to a Springsteen concert together–"

Carmine swallowed his water, nearly choking in the process. "You two did what?"

Bobby shot him a glance and Carmine's ears burned as he cleared his throat. His gaze dropped, suddenly finding the asparagus on his plate extremely interesting.

Bobby cleared his throat. "But this is not a family. It's not a clubhouse," he continued. "So, I'm writing you up."

"Oh, come on, Bobby," Buck complained. "See the fire, put out the fire. The rest of blah-blah-blah."

Carmine's facial expression shifted into one of irritation, nearly opening his mouth to snap back but one quick glance from Henrietta made him fight that urge.

"No. The system and the rules are not arbitrary," Bobby clarified. "First infraction. Two more, you're out."

He took the plate from Buck's hands, the younger letting out a soft noise of offense. "Wash your hands."

Carmine's vexed gaze followed Buck as he made his way over to the kitchen sink. His jaw was clenched, tongue poking at the hollow of his cheek as his knee bobbed under the table in quiet anger and annoyance.

"You know." Chimney's voice caused his attention to turn back to the table. "You're not helping by going easy on him."

"He just needs a little direction."

Carmine's gaze fixed itself on his captain. "Bobby, this selfish and egotistical perspective he has on this job is gonna get someone killed."

"Carm, it's fine. He's a good firefighter, he's just got some things to learn," Bobby replied.

Chimney breathed out a half-laugh. "I'll remind you of that after he gets you killed."

Carmine shifted in his seat, twirling the spaghetti around his fork only for the alarm to blare. He groaned in unison with the rest of the table, shoving the forkful of food into his mouth as he stood up. He swallowed, glancing towards Buck who was hurriedly drying his wet hands.

"Come on, Probie!"

__________

"Where are we headed?"

Bobby glanced at Buck briefly. "The fourth floor."

The younger blond whooped in excitement. "I'll race you!"

"Ah, race yourself, Rambo," Bobby responded as he brushed the male off. "I'm fifty years old, I'm taking the elevator."

Buck's brows bunched together. "Who's Rambo?"

All Carmine could do was suppress a sigh as he glanced over his shoulder to the confused male. "You are so painfully uncultured, Buckley."

Standing in the fourth-floor apartment's living room, Carmine felt like an utter fool. The whole room smelled like cannabis and there had been no indication of a baby being trapped behind the walls they all now stared at.

Bobby walked back into the living room. "I don't hear anything."

"Look, I'm telling you. I heard a baby crying," the man who had made the call explained. "Someone flushed a baby down the toilet."

Carmine's brows lifted as he picked up the bong that was on the table beside him, attention turning towards the man as he shook it gently to draw attention to it.

"Oh, I'm not high."

Carmine pulled a face as he lowered his chin, gaze flitting from the bong he held to the man standing in front of them.

"Okay, I-I'm pretty high," the man corrected. "But it's a sativa. You know? It makes you happy. It doesn't make you hallucinate."

"Better answer." Carmine placed the bong down in its original place.

"It could've been a cat, right?" Chimney suggested. "Sometimes rats get stuck in the wall."

Carmine shifted his weight. "Cat, baby. Both deserved to be saved."

The sudden appearance of faint crying made the male tense, glancing up as Bobby shushed them. "Did you hear that?"

"Sounded like it came from the bathroom," Carmine pointed out.

The team followed behind their captain, watching as Bobby tapped on the wall. He turned to face the group. "Hey, do you know what, can you give me a stethoscope?"

Henrietta handed over her stethoscope, Bobby put the earpieces in and placed the diaphragm against the wall. He tapped against the paint a few times before taking one of the earpieces out to face the team again. "Give me a pen. Give me a Sharpie."

Carmine's eyes flicked toward the man who had made the call, noticing the pen he had sticking out of his pocket. He stepped over, grabbing it and muttering a quick 'thanks' as he tossed it towards his captain.

Bobby marked a small 'x' on the wall. "We need to open this wall up."

"No, no." Chimney shook his head as he looked at the older. "We're being punked. It's a tape recorder or something. Right, Spicoli?" He glanced towards the owner of the apartment.

"Mm-mm. Maybe he's right," Henrietta interjected. "Maybe a mother gives birth on the toilet and flushes it."

Carmine grimaced at that imagery.

"Okay, first of all. That's terrible," Chimney stated, and Carmine nodded quickly in agreement. "Second, do you not know how a toilet pipe works? There's this piece of serpentine pipe that takes the waste from the toilet to–"

"Premature babies' bones aren't fully developed," Carmine cut in. "So, if by chance this baby is premature, its bones can bend and compress far more easily than a baby who was carried to full term."

Bobby nodded. "He's right. We need to go in there."

Carmine opened his mouth to offer to go get the saw when Buck's voice cut him off. He turned to look at the blond as he flipped the axe, his brows pulling together. "Buck, what are you–"

"I've got this."

Carmine's eyes widened almost immediately as Buck stepped closer to the wall and prepared himself to swing the axe into it. He didn't realize he was moving until his fingers were circling around the other's arm and Buck's bewildered gaze was meeting his appalled one.

Bobby grasped onto the handle of the axe, his expression mirroring Carmine's (as well as pretty much everyone else in the room). "Did you even stop to consider that you might hit a baby?"

Carmine scoffed as Buck's mouth fell open in realization.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Bobby took the axe from Buck's hands. "Go get the saw."

Carmine's hand dropped from Buck's arm and the blond's gaze flitted back to him briefly as he stammered nervously, nearly stumbling over Carmine's foot in the process of leaving the apartment. The dark-haired male cringed subtly as Buck's boot crushed down on his.

Chimney turned to shout over his shoulder. "Try to find some common sense while you're down there!"

"Can him stepping on my boot be his second infraction?"

Carmine's question was met with a blank, unimpressed stare from Bobby.

The moment Buck returned with the saw (Carmine was quick to take that from him too), the rescue mission was put into action. Out of the corner of his eye, Carmine saw Henrietta standing back and watching them tear apart the wall with brows bunched together.

"What's wrong?"

"That pipe services a quarter of toilets above us; that's gonna be messy."

Carmine took a moment, registered what the woman meant, and his nose wrinkled up in disgust. His gaze flicked back towards the pipe in front of him, breathing in heavily as he heard Buck curse from beside him.

"Oh, shoot."

"More like oh shit," Carmine muttered, and he pretended to not notice the small grin that formed on the blond's lips.

"Even with the water off, if somebody flushes a toilet above us... It could drown the baby." Henrietta dropped the medical bag she was holding, Carmine turning to see her rushing out of the apartment.

"Carm." The male turned to look at Bobby. "Help Hen."

The male got to his feet with a small nod. "On it."

As he ran up the stairs Carmine was reminded of his gratitude for taking track in high school. He could hear Henrietta yelling out on the floors below him, demanding people to not flush their toilets.

"LAFD! Do not flush your toilets!" He banged his fists on apartment doors as he ran past them, muttering apologies as he brushed past alarmed residents who had stepped into the hall. "Nobody flush your toilets!"

"Hey, Carmy. How's it going?"

He looked over the stair railing to find the familiar face of Athena Grant. He offered her a breathless smile, shrugging a bit.

"Could be worse," he spoke through heavy breaths.

Carmine planned to head back and meet with Henrietta but paused when he noticed an older man watching the two of them from his doorway. He squinted, glancing sideways as he heard Athena's footsteps coming up behind him.

"Thena." He inclined his head towards the apartment door.

The officer's own eyes narrowed as she made eye contact with the man, nodding towards Carmine in acknowledgment. "I see him."

Carmine watched briefly as she approached the man, jaw clenching as she was immediately met with a slammed and locked door.

Henrietta's face appeared on the stairwell beneath him. "Carm!"

"Coming!"

The scene Henrietta and Carmine were met with when they reentered the apartment made both firefighters' eyes widen in shock. Carmine swallowed as he watched Bobby pour the lube from the defibrillator into the pipe. "So... It wasn't a cat."

Henrietta's gaze didn't wander from the scene in front of them. "Wow, wow, wow..."

"Okay, this is gonna be a scoop and run," Bobby spoke up. "Hen, get the ambulance ready."

Chimney positioned his hands at the side of the pipe opposite Bobby. "I'm ready here."

Carmine stepped over as Bobby began to push the baby out of the pipe by its legs. He let out a small breath as he noticed the baby moving towards Chimney's hands.

"It's moving."

"Okay, pull her out." Bobby's voice held urgency. "Pull her out."

The moment the baby's small body was out of the pipe, Carmine noticed the fact that her chest wasn't rising and falling and his stomach coiled. He lowered to his knees beside Chimney, dark eyes wide. "She's not breathing."

"Starting CPR."

Carmine watched as Chimney's fingers rhythmically tapped on the baby's small chest. He swallowed after realizing that it wasn't working.

He looked towards Bobby briefly. "Her airway... Maybe her airway's blocked."

"I-I'll get the.." Buck stood up. "The, uh, suction."

Carmine's gaze followed him as he ran out of the room.

"Buck, come on!" Chimney exclaimed over his shoulder.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Chimney pulled his hands away from the baby as Buck reentered the room, the blond kneeling beside Carmine to put the suction in the baby's mouth. It felt like everyone was holding their breath as they watched, panic elevating within their chests. Buck turned to look back at their captain with wild eyes. "Bobby, i-It's not working."

Carmine swallowed and shifted his weight, pushing his finger into the baby's small mouth. He grimaced subtly as his fingertips brushed against something almost immediately. "Hold it, hold on. There's something in her mouth." He hooked his pinky and curled it around the phlegm, pulling it away from the baby's mouth. The moment it was removed, a small cry left the infant's lips, and a relieved smile formed on Carmine's.

"There we go, there we go, yeah.." He watched as Buck wiped the little girl's face. "You're okay, sweetheart, you're okay. Welcome to the world, little one."

"All right," Bobby spoke up. "Okay, wrap her up."

Buck wrapped the baby in the towel he was holding before handing her off to Bobby. "You got her?"

"Yeah." Bobby nodded. "Down to the lobby. Here we go."

As the team filed out of the apartment after their captain towards the elevator, Carmine's heart sank as he realized none of them were open. Based on the exhale Bobby let out, he had noticed as well. "Nobody held the elevator?"

"Guess not. Sorry, Cap." Chimney immediately jammed at the elevator button. "Come on, come on, come on."

"Yo, give her to me." Buck turned towards Bobby who hesitated. "Yo, come on, I'm twice as fast."

At Buck's insistence, the captain placed the infant in his arms. "Alright, you go."

Carmine watched with a cautious eye as the blond rushed down the stairs, seemingly taking two at a time as he murmured comfortingly to the infant in his arms. A soft breath left his lips before he followed Bobby into the awaiting elevator.

The moment the three firefighters left the apartment building they were greeted with the sound of arguing. Carmine's brows furrowed as he jogged over to the ambulance to find Athena standing outside of it with a teenage girl at her side, blood staining the young girl's clothes. His gaze flitted towards the baby Buck held and the teenager as he put two and two together.

Buck's jaw was set. "No, screw her! Look what she did!"

"She's bleeding out!" Athena shot back and Carmine inhaled a breath. "She's a child!"

"What are you waiting for?" Bobby questioned as he approached the scene. "You gotta go!"

Athena's angered gaze focused itself on the captain. "He's refusing to take her!"

Carmine let out the breath he had been holding and his gaze met Bobby's briefly, the captain nodded his head subtly, barely noticeable but Carmine knew what he was saying. "That's not your call to make, Probie!"

He could hear Buck scoff at him as he took the teenager from Athena's side to help her onto the stretcher. "I've got you, easy," he murmured to her.

"Yo, if this baby dies, it's on you." Buck's vexed gaze never left Athena's face.

Carmine's head whipped towards the blond, eyes widening as the ambulance doors shut behind them. Silence spread between them as their eyes met for a second, Buck's green-blue eyes boreing into Carmine's brown ones.

The male turned to attach the oxygen monitor to the infant's foot, the monitor beeping. Without looking away from the child's face he said, "You do realize she can arrest you, right?"

His only response was from Bobby reading the monitor. "O2 sat 59."

Carmine glanced towards his captain. "I can't get a pulse."

"I'm so sorry," the teenage mother spoke up, heartbreakingly remorseful. "Is she gonna die?"

"Come here, give me your hand." Bobby reached for the girl's hand and directed it to the infant to wrap the baby's hand around her mother's finger. "It's alright. It's okay."

The rhythmic beeping of the EKG monitor made a smile tug up at the corners of Carmine's lips.

The moment the ambulance parked outside of the hospital it didn't take long for Buck to hop out of the back with the baby still in his arms.

"See? Told you we'd make it, didn't I?" He placed the baby on the stretcher the nurses had ready for them. "They're gonna take care of you now, okay?"

Carmine assisted the mother on her stretcher, offering her a tiny smile as she was wheeled in alongside her newborn daughter. The firefighter turned and prepared himself to leave when he saw Buck going to follow the victims into the hospital and stopped short.

Bobby pressed his hand against Buck's chest to stop him. "Woah, hey, where are you going?"

"That baby is alive because of us." Buck glanced towards the hospital. "Don't– Don't we have some kind of obligation?"

"I'll give them a call, we'll be lucky if they tell us if she's okay." Bobby's hand moved to hold Buck's shoulder. "We did our jobs very well today, so far. Just be proud of that. Now, it's their turn."

"There's gonna be more people who need our help, Buck," Carmine pointed out. "It sucks, but we can't get stuck up on a singular victim."

Buck's lips parted to open but they immediately shut as the sound of screeching tires made the three firefighters turn. Carmine sighed as he noticed the familiar face of Athena stalking towards them, stepping sideways (and out of the line of fire).

"Hey!" the officer pointed her finger towards Buck. "You do not get to choose who lives and who dies!"

Buck looked at her and Carmine wanted to slap the smug grin off his boyish face. "Really? Cause I was under the impression that kind of was my job."

"That mother was no less a child than her baby. You're gonna get someone killed," Athena reprimanded.

"Well, maybe." Buck glanced over his shoulder towards the hospital briefly. "But, not today."

Athena took a step closer to the blond. "Yeah, you keep making jokes."

Carmine didn't know whether to laugh at Buck getting scolded or cheer Athena on for being the one to put the other in his place.

"I promise you, the next time you screw up, it'll be your last."

The moment Athena was out of earshot Carmine shuddered; muscles tense as if he had been the one being yelled at. "Angry Athena is scary."

__________

"L.A. Fire!"

Bobby glanced back at the team. "Alright guys, check all these rooms."

Carmine was beginning to think they had gotten a prank call as he as well as the rest of his team members came up empty-handed after searching through every room of the house, meeting back in the main room. They all stopped short the moment they realized what was in front of them.

"Oh, my God..." Chimney murmured as his wide-eyed gaze looked up at the snakes. "Bobby, I can't do snakes. They scare the crap out of me. That scene from Conan the Barbarian with the giant snake, it traumatized me for life."

"Who's Conan?"

Chimney's gaze turned to Buck, who once again wore a face of confusion. "Conan the Barbarian. Arnold Schwarzenegger. 1982. Geez."

"Dude," Buck replied. "As far as I'm concerned the world began the day I was born."

Carmine rolled his eyes, attention trained on the snakes in front of him.

"How are you not freaking out over this, Carm?" Chimney questioned as he looked at the other as if he had suddenly sprouted two more heads.

Carmine blinked, bunching his shoulders together. "Snakes are cool. My best friend in middle school had two corn snakes named Bonnie and Clyde."

Before Buck could ask who that was, Bobby was calling for them.

"Guys, in here! Back here, guys, now!"

The scene they were met with when entering the back room made Chimney jump and grab onto Carmine's arm, the latter of whom shot him the tiniest of grins. Chimney cleared his throat and let go of the other's arm, smoothing out his jacket and straightening himself up. Carmine stifled a chuckle before turning to look back at the woman in front of him who currently had a snake wrapped around her neck.

"We've got to help get her some air, guys," Bobby informed the group.

"Oh, my god," Chimney groaned in fear. "Oh, I... This is not good."

Bobby attempted to pry the snake off of the woman's neck, only to sigh in defeat when it did nothing.

"Bobby," Henrietta stated. "It's no use. That thing is, like, ten feet long. Its constriction strength is, like, fifty pounds per square inch."

"Besides, if you keep disturbing it, it's only gonna become tighter. Boas can feel their prey's heartbeat, which in this case is her, and they don't typically loosen their hold until it stops," Carmine added.

"Oh, my god! I'm gonna start calling y'all Snake-ipedia!" Chimney exclaimed. "Stop it!"

"All I'm saying is that you'd stand a better chance of tearing down a cement wall with your bare hands," Henrietta replied.

Carmine shrugged. "And all I'm saying is this thing is unlikely gonna stop until her heart stops beating."

"Why don't I just punch it in its face?"

Carmine's head turned to Buck with an expression of shock. "Did you not hear a single thing I just said about not disturbing the snake?"

"It's a snake, Buck," Bobby spoke up. "You can't punch it in the face. It's not some guy at an El Torito happy hour."

"Look, I have Dilaudid," Henrietta informed. "We can inject the snake. It'll pass right out."

Bobby looked up at her. "How much time is that gonna take? Minutes. And minutes we don't have." He glanced back at the woman. "I think we're gonna have to put it down."

"Kill it!" Chimney urged.

Carmine shook his head. "No!"

"Kill it?" Henrietta echoed. "No! No, um, no! It's a snake. It's doing what nature intended for it to do." The paramedic's attention shifted as the woman grunted beneath the lack of oxygen. "Nobody told this fool to bring a snake into her house!"

"Yeah, well I'll make a donation to PETA for you," Bobby grunted as he once again tried to lift the snake.

"Don't give anything to PETA," Carmine retorted.

"Crap," Bobby muttered. "It's getting really tight."

An impatient breath left Buck's lips and Carmine turned to see him wielding the axe yet again. "Stand back, we don't have time for this!"

Carmine's eyes widened. "Buck–"

He was silenced by the sickening squelching noise of the axe slicing off the snake's head. The male jumped back slightly as the decapitated snake head rolled towards his boots, gagging audibly as Chimney dry heaved.

"Wow," Henrietta spoke up after a beat. "Why is that always the first option for you white boy, macho tough guys?"

"Big ass ego." Carmine's gaze shifted to Buck with a grin. "Though, it's such a shame your ego is the only big thing about you, Buck."

The blond's mouth parted, offended by the statement. Carmine didn't miss the embarrassed flush of his cheeks, though.

"Guys, I am totally gonna take credit for this with Tatiana," Chimney announced with a grin. "It's gonna get me laid for a week. Thank you."

Carmine snorted. "Yeah, go right ahead."

The woman looked towards where her dead snake lay. "Sparticus.."

Buck looked towards her from where he was crouched in front of her face. "Yeah, well it was him or you, and, uh, when faced with a situation like that, I always choose to save the more attractive one," he told her with a grin on his face.

Carmine could have thrown up.

The girl giggled. "Is that right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right."

"I think I'm actually gonna puke this time," Carmine muttered as he began to walk towards the doorway.

"Yeah. Hard pass. I'm gonna skip the part where the idiots flirt." Henrietta grabbed her medical bag and followed after the other.

Carmine glanced at her as the two walked out of the house, rolling his shoulders with a soft breath passing by his lips. "How much money you wanna bet Buck's gonna be hooking up with snake girl before the weeks over with?"

Henrietta's head fell backward as a laugh escaped her mouth.

__________

When Chimney told Carmine that Buck had been fired (and caught hooking up with snake girl), he almost laughed at how perfectly everything had fallen into place. However, Bobby had given him a sharp glance before he could even get a chuckle out. So, as he walked past the locker room to see the blond packing his things with Henrietta at his side, he halted slightly and hovered in the doorway. Buck's eyes flickered upwards at his footsteps, staring at him for a moment before looking back at his things.

"I guess you two heard?"

Henrietta let out a breath, glancing at Carmine momentarily. "Yeah. For what it's worth, everyone thinks it sucks."

"It's my own fault." Buck didn't look up.

"Yeah."

Carmine stepped into the room, leaning back against the glass windows with his arms folded over his chest. "Everyone thinks that too."

Henrietta's head swiveled towards him with widened eyes and a slacked jaw. Carmine bunched his shoulders up as he held his hands out to the sides of him in defense. "What? It's the truth, Hen!"

"No." Buck looked up. "He's right. And I don't blame anyone for thinking that."

"I'll be honest," Henrietta changed the subject. "When Bobby first brought you on board, I told him he should just get a Dalmation instead."

Carmine straightened. "We could've gotten a dog?" he questioned. Henrietta's gaze once again found his face and he pressed his lips into a thin line with a duck of his head. "Right. Sorry, continue."

"But, I'm legit sorry to see you go," she finished softly.

Buck managed a small, thin-lipped smile, looking at Henrietta from the corner of his eye. "Thanks."

Henrietta offered him a sympathetic smile as she squeezed his shoulder, getting to her feet. She left the two men alone, stopping to mutter "Be nice." under her breath to Carmine as she passed him. The male scoffed in offense, looking at her over his shoulder for a moment.

"I am nice!"

Carmine's attention shifted back to the blond in front of him as he remembered he wasn't alone. He hesitated, clearing his throat to break the silence that had built between the two of them. Buck's head lifted and their gazes met.

"You don't seem as happy as I expected you to be," said Buck.

"Happy?" Carmine echoed with his brows furrowed. "Why would I be happy?"

A half-hearted laugh left Buck's mouth. "Come on, man. You hate having me here."

Carmine's heart squeezed with guilt at that response. He hated that it did. Looking into Evan Buckley's eyes was like looking down at a kicked puppy and Carmine Bradford felt conflicted as to why he suddenly felt bad for him.

"Buck," he said hesitantly, "I don't hate you."

Buck's head tilted, disbelief clouding over his eyes.

"Really." Carmine sat down beside the other on the bench. "I don't."

Buck's gaze followed the other male as he sat down, lips parted slightly in surprise. Carmine exhaled as he rested his own gaze on the floor, quiet as he thought of how to say what he wanted to without it feeling awkward.

"Are there other people I like on this team more than you? Sure. But I don't hate you, okay?" He looked towards the blond. "You're good at what you do, Buck. You have skills, I don't doubt that. You just don't have... discipline. And unfortunately, you need that to be a firefighter."

The sides of Buck's lips rose upwards slightly. "You like me."

"Tolerate." Carmine pointed his index finger at the other. "I tolerate you. Never said liked, Buckley."

Buck's hands flew up in surrender, but he chuckled softly. "Okay, okay."

Before Carmine could say anything else, the alarm broke through the peacefulness of the station. He glanced at Buck briefly before he got to his feet. "Good luck out there, Buck."

Buck nodded. "Yeah. You too."

__________

Carmine's conversation with Henrietta cut itself short when he heard the firetruck's backup lights entering the station. He glanced towards the woman beside him, brows bunched together as he searched her face for an answer, only to receive a shrug in response.

Buck hopped out of the driver's seat, face falling the moment he realized the team looking at him. "I know what this looks like."

"It looks like you took the engine out in your street clothes," Bobby replied.

Buck's gaze flicked to his attire before back to the captain with a defeated expression. "I didn't really have time to change."

"Athena Grant called me, wanted to tell me what an asset you are," Bobby continued. "Told her she was half right."

Buck's brows furrowed. "You giving me another chance?"

"You've used all your chances, so have I," Bobby pointed out. "Because somehow I have failed to communicate to you how lucky we are to do what we do."

Carmine's face scrunched up in confusion, gaze following the captain as he began to walk away only for Buck to follow behind him.

"You're wrong, Bobby. I absolutely do get what a privilege it is to serve here," the blonde called out. Bobby halted. "And you know what? You were right to fire me. I was a punk. Uh, I still am one. But I'm a punk who understands what he lost."

Carmine nudged Henrietta's shoulder with his own. "At least he's self-aware," he muttered.

Henrietta nodded, her gaze not drifting from the scene in front of them.

"Just needed you to know that."

"I hope you mean that," replied Bobby. "Go get dressed."

Carmine went slack jawed. "What the hell?"

As Bobby walked away, Buck turned his gaze towards the two remaining firefighters with a grin pulling up the corners of his lips. "I think I'm not fired."

Henrietta chuckled as she walked away. "Your shift's not over yet."

A chuffed breath left Buck's nose as he looked back towards Carmine, his grin widening. Carmine met his gaze and rolled his eyes at the eager expression the blond wore.

"Just don't screw it up again, Probie." 

__________

authors note!

chapter one done! hopefully you enjoyed it, i honestly struggle a bit writing from the scripts but once we get more in to the story and i get more creative levity with carmine and his storyline(s) i promise it'll get better :")

this leads me to the question of if you guys want me to write full episodes as one whole chapter or split it up throughout various chapters?

carmybuck is so important to me they're so <33. their relationship is kind of a slow burn since buck has the whole thing with abby in season one/season two but i'm thinking of having carmy take place of taylor i'm not sure yet (she'd still be a character but bucktaylor wouldn't happen) and have like hookups at first but then the whole lawsuit era happens ;). so while carmybuck may seem like they move a bit fast their relationship will 100% have ups and downs as the series continues 

anyways, i hope you all enjoyed chapter one, starting chapter two as we speak! <33