Jamie - The Journey Begins Ch. 33 - Lights Out

"All good, Jamie. You and Ben?"

"Yeah, all good. He's starting to decorate the yard for the July 4^th weekend. His and mine have invited half the state, no the country! Did you guys get an invite?"

"Not sure. I'll ask the boss tonight."

"If y'all missed out, let me know. Oh wait - I'll just add you to the chat group I've got going."

"Let me know what we can bring, ok? Cathy will pitch a fit if I don't have that info straight up, you know, right!"

Laughing at Jeff for a second, I replied, "Man, these wives-partners are all obsessed with what to bring. It's not like the whole thing isn't going to be over-catered already. I've never in my entire life left a family event and been hungry. Most of the time I'm like, 'stomach pump now. for the love of God,' but I hear you. I'll ask Ben - see what he says."

Jamie: Hey you.

Ben: Hey you back. Are you coming home so I can finish you off, please say yes. 

I couldn't help the smile and sudden blush. My mind switched to what we were up to just before Jeff arrived.

Jamie: OMFG love too but work right. Grrr hey.

Jeff looked over with a smile on his face. "That's a lot of typing there, Jamie. Shit - how much does he want us to bring?, Cath will be up for it, but..."

Oh, shit. I blushed again. "Umm, sorry Jeff. Haven't gotten to that that yet. Just had some housekeeping to settle on, kinda."

"Damn, Jamie! Ben seemed like a nice guy. He's busting your balls over housekeeping?" Exhaling a little, he continued, "That's tough right there."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that, bust my balls. THAT was exactly what he wanted me to come home for... "Umm yeah... Ben can be a bit of a ball breaker sometimes."

It seriously was getting super hard not to laugh. I didn't want to freak Jeff out, so kept the conversation private and light. We've only been working together for three weeks, and yeah he was totally okay with us, me and Ben, being gay, lol. He thought Lucas and I were a thing the first time they met. Lucas called into work one day, funny.

Jamie: Shit man, Jeff thinks you're being a ball breaker because I said we were talking housekeeping.

Ben: See, you need to come back home and go in a little late. So what if the regional director is having meetings with everyone. Offer is there... all day.

Instantly felt my face - it was like it was on fire. I'm sure my neck was glowing red hot as well. Desperately, I snatched up my drink bottIe, chugging down half of it. 'Well, if it works at work...' and yeah, almost dropping my cell too.

Okay deep breaths...

Jamie: I've invited Jeff and Cath to ours for the 4^th. What can they bring?

Ben: Biscuits and some table sweets if they like. Thank them, please.

Jamie: Love you.

Ben: Right back at you.

Damn Ben's using one of my lines on me -right back at ya.

"Ok Jeff, Ben says biscuits and table sweets if you like."

"Thanks, Jamie, I'll let her know when we get to the station house."

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. "Oh damn, need coffee!" The thought raced through my mind and out my mouth before I could pull it up. "Only problem - there's no pods for our 'fancy' coffee machine, Jeff." A few of us had chipped in for it and I needed a coffee to distract me from Ben... man he was in my head today something bad, yeah and on my clothes too, I could smell his faint musk on my collar.

"I guess after the meetings, we can go get some Jamie, yeah?"

"Thanks Jeff, fantastic idea."

..o0o..

"Morning, sir," I cheerfully greeted the boss who was set up in the meeting room. As he stood wearing a smile and sticking his hand out, he made me feel like a kid almost. Like I'm 6'2" isn't super tall but wow at 6'5" and close to 180lbs, Jack was a huge man and still built, he might look like some big guy, but he was smart, I mean stupid smart: free tuition offered at Stanford and Berkeley, a bloody honors student. His scholarship was academic, although he played football and baseball. I'm telling you - for a big guy he's quick on his feet.

"Jamie, please... for like the twentieth time, Jack will do."

I felt a little weird with how casual 'Jack' was - unlike most of the command I'd encountered - casual to say the least. "Oh sorry, Jack. How was the flight down from DC?"

"Uneventful, but look what I get in return - warm Texas sunshine, all these smiling faces, and, if I'm lucky, maybe a going job or two, dust off my turnouts."

My eye caught his gear bag off to the side. I could tell by the way it was filled out, it had been packed with care and set to go.

"Well, Jack," shit it feels weird, "I've arranged with a local ranch to do a controlled burn with us and a few of the local FD guys. We need a superintendent to run one of the fire flanks. If you're interested, you know..." I nodded.

His eyes lit up, no pun intended. "Oh no, Jamie. I just can't come in and take someone's place, can I?"

"Yeah, of course you can, Jack. We haven't assigned anyone that sector, so if want you to. Can you be back, say, in 5 days? It's yours."

He was smiling on the inside, try as he may I could tell. "Very kind of you. I'll see what I can do." His face changed a little just subtle enough for me to know he was super excited, the thought of being back on the fire ground slipped away, he was back in boss mode now, sitting back a little in his chair, hands in front of him with fingers interlaced. "So, Jamie, the department is going through a management shift."

I took a breath. Oh fuck, here we go.

"I can see from that look that swept across your face, you're not a fan?"

Keeping my face as neutral as possible this time, fuck it. "Um... no sir... I mean, Jack. It's just when there is a restructure, sometimes we lose more than we gain in the long run." Shit, Jamie, what if it's his idea and I've just shit in his lap?

"That's true. That has been the outcome before, but this is a little different. Look at this."

A map of the lower part of the US appeared on the wall behind me. With his pointer, Jack explained.

"So, the issue has been that the whole lower southern region was too big and resources hungry for little return. Plus, Florida, stuck out on its own, was often neglected." Pausing for a moment to take a sip of his water, Jack pressed on. "The current region was going to be reorganized, re-aligned if you like. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona would become the Southern Central Region, with Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama becoming the Lower Mid-Region. Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas would become the lower Southern Region."

I just sat there for a moment in silence. It's actually a good idea putting similar fire topographies together and aligning them. "It's a pretty good idea, Jack. Wow! Has DC signed off on it?"

There was that smile again. "Yes they have. There will be a few new positions coming up, and that's where you come in!"

"Me? How so, sir... Jack, sorry." I shook my head.

"I'd like you to consider applying for the Deputy director role for Southern Central. That's unless you can't tear yourself away from the trucks. Anyways, with new interagency arrangements, you'd most likely end up as a Sector-Superintendent or running the job in Ops."

I started to search my mind. It would be nice to advance along a bit. I'm getting older now, right - in my 30's, so ... "Yeah," I nodded, "that sounds like a great idea, but where is it based?

"There is a position here in Texas, the other in Arizona with the Regional Director for the moment based at the Offices in New Mexico. But at the end of the day, remote workplaces mean you can be anywhere and, if needed, catch a flight as we do now out of Georgia."

I nodded my head a little. Sounds like a great chance to start the climb up the ladder. "Sure, Jack - I'd like to apply. Sounds like a great idea."

"Excellent!" And with that, he closed the laptop and looked all finished up.

"So, do I have to apply or sit an interview?" I was a little lost as what to do from here.

"Hm...ok, sure. Sorry, I should have said. There will be an application form in your email. Just get it back to me by Friday, please. The Interview... well, we've just finished that."

I laughed a little -- well, it was more of a quiet snort. "So how did I go with the interview?"

"Very well, but let's talk about that over a coffee. You've run out of pods and I'm not drinking that other stuff. You've ruined my coffee taste buds now. It's totally your fault, Jamie. Come on, let's head out and talk about that burn and your new job."

..o0o..

As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw Ryan, one of my colleagues, and his partner Dillon pulling in behind us. "Hey Jamie," both guys yelled out. Ryan's face tightened to see that Jack was with me.

"Hey guys. Down for coffee before your shift, Ryan? Hey Dillon, how's things?" Jack looked over his shoulder and waved to the guys. He'd been on the phone sorting something out.

As I climbed out of the truck, I said to Ryan and Dillon, "been on the call the entire way over," I thumbed at Jack, pulling on my Tom Brady Jersey - the Pats aren't my team but Tom and Gisele are, OMG - I have a crush on both of them - who doesn't, right? I don't walk around outside the station in uniform - just something that was drummed into us as recruits in Australia.

Anyways, Ryan walked up beside me, chatting as we headed across to the café on Montopolis Drive, when some dick from across the lot yelled out, "Brady's a fag! The Pats are fags!"

Ryan shot me a look of surprise. "Guess the local rednecks are out," he said at barely more than a whisper.

I nodded in agreement. "Five rings AND Gisele!! Fuck, I'd be a fag for that! Oh wait, I am, right? Hahaha." I replied at a conversational level, and waved over my head in the direction of the voice.

As we got close to the café, the smells of the amazing food this place, plus the coffee -- yes, here for the coffee, but the place was just an explosion on my senses. "Dillon off to work after here, Ryan?"

"Nope - he's on afternoon shift. Starts at 16:30h. He's heading over to my mom's place to help her with the dressing on her ribs after the fall last week, then I think he's catching up with Billy and Ben for a coffee."

"Oh, nice. These lazy men of leisure - taking coffee all day while we're hard at it working." At that, we both started to laugh.

My regular wait staff and barista were on today, so the order was easy, just adding "an extra macchiato double shot to the list for Jack, please". Yeah, okay, that's totally my doing. I've got him hooked on these now.

After chatting to guys in the café for a bit, we gathered our goodies and headed out the door back across to Jack, who was still on a call. Dillon was quietly standing next to their car having a smoke, or a 'nail' as I call them. "You'd reckon that a cardiac nurse would know better than to smoke, hey," I joked with Dillon as we got back to the cars.

"Says you. Alcoholism is a much bigger problem, hmm..." He replied, giving me a smart-ass answer.

Jack, by the way, was like a bloodhound, sniffing the air for the coffee when his big-ass hand stuck out the window for his hit of caffeine. I turned and headed over to the work truck. "Back in a sec, Ryan. Better keep the caffeine up to the boss, else we both get stationed in the Artic Reserve, hey."

"Ok," Dillon held up his free hand in mock surrender. "Ryan, you want me to drop you at work, or you going with the guys?"

"Jamie, Can I get a lift with you guys to work?"

"Sure Buddy, I called out over my shoulder. Damn... still on a call. I leaned in the cabin. "Here you go boss - coffee and a little something to go with it." I offered, handing over the little pastry creation with his coffee.

"Thanks, Jamie," he replied as he went back to the call.

"I'll just chat to Ryan and Dillon for a moment." Jack smiled and gave me the thumbs up, returning his attention to the call. Taking a sip of his coffee, his face instantly wrapped in a smile.

"Hey Ryan, plenty of room in the back seat. Chuck your bag in the tub." As I turned, seeing Ryan nodding as he moved over, pulling open their car door whilst giving Dillon a quick peck on the cheek when all hell broke loose. I didn't understand for a moment what had happened. All I saw was a quick movement... something ... then Ryan fell sideways, away from their car, as I heard a screaming voice, "FUCKING FAGS."

As my mind's eye caught up with what was going on, I realized it was the loudmouths from earlier. They'd driven across the lot, jumped Ryan and Dillon, knocking Ryan out cold.

Instantly my eyes were drawn to the pieces of 2x4 in their hands. They looked like off cuts from a building site.

"Hey, what the hell!" I yelled out, dropping my coffee, quickly closing the gap between me and the thug that was kicking Ryan who was passed out on the ground. "Try that shit on someone that can fuck'n hit you back, you gutless prick!" I dropped to my knee for a second, dodging the piece of lumber that was swung at my head as the redneck turned around. 'Oh shit, really?' I laughed to myself. 'That's the best these guys can do? Fuck, Mason fights better than this and he's an ass.'

"Hey, dickhead - I could see that move coming before you even thought about it, dumb ass."

Using his weight and stupidity against him, I sent him crashing to the pavement with a crunching sound. "Yeah okay, that's gonna hurt." There were sounds of people, passers-by, yelling out to call the cops in the background, like a muffled crowd.

Like a dog whistle almost, redneck two - 'red hat' we'll call him - looked over his shoulder, looking at where his buddy was.

"Hey, dickhead!" I called out, trying to get his attention before he killed Dillon. I could see his bloodied face and head just lolling around with each blow directed at him. The bastard had him pinned against his own car. "Come on, you pussy! Want some? Come get yourself some faggot, hey! Come join your boyfriend on the ground. Come get yourself some, hey!" I blew him a kiss.

Yeah, I was pissed off, really pissed off. I've not been that pissed or in a fight like this since... that fight Mason and I had in the kitchen back home when I was 16, deciding that I'd had enough of his bully-boy shit. Yeah ok, so mom and dad grounded me -- I'm still grounded technically - guess that's why I had to leave the country, haha?

Ok, but I was freaking worried about Ryan. Glancing at his lifeless body over to the side, at least I could see his torso rise and fall a bit, but he was in a bit of a bad way.

A loud 'crack,' followed by a whole heap of hurt, loss of breath hit me, well, courtesy of the piece of lumber that hit me in the stomach causing me to double over and lift a little off the ground with the force of the blow.

"You gonna pay FAGGOT!" Redcap yelled out as I took another hit to the ribs. Okay so don't take your eyes off these guys. Jeez Jamie, such a dick move.

"Oh fuck, that's gonna leave a mark!" I managed to get out as I moved forward head down into him, kicking out his leg as I collided with his fat gut, sending his ass over to the ground. Pinned to the pavement, I screamed at him, "Had enough of getting your ass handed to you in a hat by a faggot, hey?"

"You gonna pay pretty boy, he squeaked out," looking at something behind me. Without warning, I felt the impact of a fist to my jaw just below my cheekbone. Damn, I could hear the crack from inside my head.

'Hope that didn't break' was all I could think. I tried to deflect the blow by tumble turning off 'red cap'. Thankfully absorbing some of the mystery hit, I scrambled to my feet as I saw 'new guy.'

"Fuck, how many are you? Did someone open the zoo gates or something?" 'New guy' was a whole different problem - the stance, that look in his eye, he wasn't a hack like his buddies.

Taking a deep short breath whilst holding my ribs, I prepared to get my ass handed to me in a hat when there was a blur from the side with an almighty crunch and muffled cry.

"Oh! Awesome!" Jack had smash tackled 'new guy' to the ground, hard. "Fuck boss!" I yelled with a mix of breathless 'Awe shit!' He was good. So, my boss was an outside linebacker when he was at college, played baseball too - so strong and fast. Yeah ok, that was 15 years ago now, but unfortunately for 'new guy', Jack was well into his pre-season and was literally a man-mountain. He still played football and baseball with a couple of local clubs outside of DC and was always trying to get us guys to come up and play.

"Yeah, well..." Jack managed to get out while subduing 'new guy'. "Guess you didn't think that through too well, boy, hey?" Yeah, the last bit was through gritted teeth and a bit of spittle. "These boys, my boys," he was pointing to us with one hand while the other was busy holding new guy in place, "put their lives on the line for dumb shit like you every day. You call 'em fags! Try to beat their ass? How's that going for you? They're MY BOYS! You touch them, you have 185lbs of ME ON YOUR ASS!"

Okay so my boss was pretty pissed off. He looked fucking scary as shit too. I'm not sure if 'new guy' pissed his pants, but I almost did. My head turned in the direction of the rapidly approaching whaling sound of sirens. Man, that was never so welcome. A few of the locals pinned these meatheads down while I went to check on Ryan and Dillon.

Dillon was conscious and moaning a little. He looked like shit, face all bloodied up. "Jamie," he croaked out, "is Ryan OK? He hit the ground hard when he fell back."

I scrambled over to Ryan, checking for vitals. "Pulse, a little slow but strong," I yelled out to Dillon. Ouch, that hurt! I winced a little with the sharp pain in my side... Jamie, no yelling for a day or two, okay? "His airway is clear. Gonna leave him in safe position till the crews come.

..o0o..

"Dispatch, 7-Michael at Montopolis, Fire, and EMT on-scene."

"Roger 7 Michael." I heard someone yell out. "Pulse, a little slow but strong." I knew that voice for sure. Stepping through the gap between the old Chevy pickup and the Mustang, I saw him. "Jamie! The hell!"

Aiden was all up in my face for a moment, looking me over as if I had a lucky ticket or something on me. The EMT guys dropped down beside me.

"Spence? You ok?" The paramedic asked, looking between Aiden and myself. Aiden's face was a mix of 'cop on duty' and worried about his little cousin maybe, haha.

"I'm ok, Honré."

"Yeah?" he nodded.

"Alain." I'd met most of the guys over the past year or two through Ben. "Oh shit, I've gotta call Ben," I said, rubbing my face with my hand. "He's gonna have a fit."

Looking at Alain while he was starting to assess me, I realized I hadn't told him who Aiden is. "Sorry, Alain, this is my cousin Aiden Spence ... Lucas' brother." A look of 'oh yeah' washed over his face.

Aiden looked at both of us, offering that not-surprised look. "Of course he knows Lucas, right? You two are tied at the fucking hip! I swear, Jamie."

"Ryan here," I placed my hand on his shoulder gently as he was still lying face down a foot or so from me, "is a 28yo male, suffered blunt force blow to the back of the skull, losing consciousness while falling to the ground. I've checked his airways-clear, most likely broken nose. Hasn't regained consciousness - not been moved."

"Thanks for the handover," Alain replied. I let out a long breath, feeling a little happier that the guys were looking at Ryan and Dillon now. The whole scene got busy pretty quickly. Cops had taken our rednecks away and were loading them into what we would call 'a brawler van' transporter.

Aiden grabbed my arm, helping me up. "Whoa!" I was a little unsteady on my feet for a second.