Sudden Response (EMS #1)(60)

"Are you okay?" Eric asked as they climbed into the ambulance and shut his door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, forcing a smile as she accepted her hot chocolate and chocolate frosted coffee roll from him. She took a sip of her hot chocolate before placing it in the cup holder above the control unit located between their seats. She shifted until her back was against the door and used the steering wheel to rest her elbow as she nibbled on her coffee roll.

"I think Nathan's still pissed at me," Eric said, sounding pleased.

"Can you blame him?" she asked, inwardly wincing on Nathan's behalf.

After Amber stormed off Sunday evening Eric decided to make his brother's life a living hell by taking Alice aside and explaining that Nathan felt left out and would really like her to help him find someone special, but he was too embarrassed to ask. Unfortunately for Nathan, Alice jumped on board with that plan and if she wasn't afraid to draw Alice's attention to their relationship and any type of future she would have said something.

Maybe......

The whole thing did promise to be rather entertaining and she did love a good laugh at family dinners so maybe she'd just sit back and enjoy it for a while. She had a feeling that Nathan wouldn't be able to sidestep his mother's efforts as easily as Eric had. He was a pushover so he'd probably end up taking at least a few of them out to please his mother. Of course she'd have to tag along and she'd bet every last cent she had that Eric would be more than happy to join them.

"You know that Teddy tried signing Greg out of third riding this weekend?" Eric asked, drawing her attention.

She frowned at that little announcement. "He can't sign him out. He's not a trainer," she said, wondering what the hell was wrong with Teddy. Even he should realize that Greg didn't belong on a truck.

"Bill already chewed him a new one," Eric said, opening his bakery bag and grabbing his coffee roll.

"Why the hell would Teddy do something so stupid? There's no way he did it to get Greg as a partner. If he worked with Greg he'd have to do all the work and there's no way in hell Teddy would willingly screw himself over."

"I think he was hoping that Greg's uncle would put a good word in for him to get him the supervisor job over at the 603," he said with a shrug as if he hadn't just said something truly frightening.

Teddy as a supervisor? She prayed that never happened. Bill wouldn't allow that and thankfully the city council didn't have a say when it came to promotions. She knew that Teddy wanted a supervisor position to get the hell off the truck and sooner or later he'd realize that that wouldn't happen as long as he worked for the city.

A private ambulance company was a different story all together. She'd heard horror stories about ass**les being promoted who didn't deserve it. As much as she hated to admit this she'd seen incompetent supervisors from private ambulance companies show up at the scene of an accident and screw everything up.

As much as she loved her job she wasn't sure she could ever go the private route. From what she'd seen there was too much drama and backstabbing. A few years ago when overtime became tight Eric looked into working part time for a mom and pop ambulance company. The guy had been an ass**le with a chip on his shoulder against Bill and spent the majority of the time trying to convince Eric that Bill was an ass**le who had no business being a supervisor. Halfway through the interview Eric got up and walked out. It wasn't too hard to find out that the man used to work for the city and had been fired for stealing equipment.

"Never going to happen," she said, shaking her head as she popped another bite of coffee roll into her mouth. She looked towards the coffee shop and saw Greg leaning against the counter, talking up one of the servers through the large storefront window.

Eric cleared his throat and she couldn't help but look over at him. He looked suddenly nervous as he toyed with his coffee roll. "What do you want to do tonight?" he asked, throwing her a nervous glance.

"What I do every Tuesday night after our shift," she said slowly, wondering what the hell was going on with him. He was never like this around her. Then again the dynamics of their relationship had changed so maybe she should give him a little slack, she thought as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"And, ah," he cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable, "what are your plans tomorrow?"

"Unless I get overtime I thought I'd clean up the house and relax a little. Why?"

He cleared his throat again. "I was thinking that maybe we could-"

"Echo seventeen?" dispatch chimed in over the radio, cutting off whatever he was about to say.

Shooting Eric a sideways glance she grabbed the mike. "Echo seventeen."

"Echo seventeen, I need you to take a priority three call at Hillsmith nursing home for an unknown medical."

"Priority three at Hillsmith nursing home, received," she said, returning the mike to the dashboard. She placed her half-eaten coffee roll in the bag and handed it to Eric, who looked surprisingly relieved. She was curious about that, but it would have to wait until later.

She started the ambulance and gave the horn a little push to get Greg's attention. He held up a hand, indicating that she should wait while he finished up his conversation with the cashier. Shaking her head in disbelief, she threw the ambulance in reverse and headed for the road.