BURNOUT! ━ 911.

five.

   A lot had happened in her first week at the 118, but Ollie could feel the pressure only fueling her. She had been pulling her weight on calls, she had gotten nothing but positive reinforcement... well, other than the fact that Nash had brought up a few times that she wasn't bonding with the team well, other than Eddie. Despite that, she didn't see any familial bonding happen soon.

    The whole station was really nice. Hen had a motherly appeal to her, Chimney was funny and spunky, Nash had a sense of humor despite his high rank. In a perfect world, she would love to be completely incorporated into their team, become friends and go out for drinks, call them when she got stressed.

    But this world wasn't perfect. She had lost enough people to know not to gain anymore. Her mother and father had both been taken from her in a robbery gone wrong when she was younger, left to bleed to death on the sidewalk of Pennsylvania while a guy who still hadn't been caught ran off with their wallet and wedding rings. She could still hear the sound of the sirens outside, the knocks on the door, the feeling of her sister holding her close as she was made aware that she was now the legal guardian of her sibling. It had been too much to bear then, too much to bear overall, and she couldn't handle it again.

    Until she did.

    Ollie didn't have time to think about anything else when she was brought out of her trance by Eddie's voice, snapping her back to reality. She nodded in response to the question she hadn't heard, looking around. They were walking closer to Christopher's school, Eddie's son walking in-between them. Eddie had offered to give Ollie a ride to work after realizing that she walked everyday, and she didn't have the heart to tell him no, even despite the fear that gripped her every time she stepped into the passenger seat. The only thing that he was wanting from her was to go with him to drop off Christopher first.

    Which is why they were both dressed in their thin firefighter t-shirts, walking along the sidewalk outside the school. The sun bore into their skin from where it perched in the sky, baking them slightly underneath the UV rays, but she didn't mind it. It felt nice.

    "Hey, Dad, do you think dogs know they're dogs?" Christopher asked.

    She held back a soft laugh, watching as Eddie's hand moved behind his son to keep him steady on his feet. "It's a good question." She admitted, raising her eyebrows as she looked up at the man.

    Eddie gave her a look before sighing softly. "What do you mean?"

    Christopher smiled at the question, but continued anyway. "You-you know, like I'm a person, and a dog is a dog." Eddie leaned down to listen to him better, with Ollie continuing to stand along the side. "But do dogs just think we're bigger, less harrier, smarter dogs that walk funny?"

    She chuckled softly at the question, raising a brow in thought, before simply watching as Eddie said goodbye to Chris. She had always admired his care for his son, the soft look that graced his eyes when he looked at him. Despite everything Eddie had told her when they had become friends in El Paso, she never doubted his love for his son. He looked at Christopher the same way that her parents used to look at her.

    "Your kid's really smart." Ollie noted once the boy had disappeared into the school building, turning around to start the walk back to the car. She couldn't bring herself to look up from the sidewalk, watching as her and Eddie's footsteps started to match up once she sped up a little bit.

    He rumbled a laugh from beside her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "He wants to know the answer to every question, from how the first person learned how to walk to that question right there – if dogs know they're dogs. His curiosity is never-ending, thank God."