One Night Stand

Chapter 4

Gray started her shift the next morning the way she always did, taking inventory in the ambulance. Cabello hadn't joined yet which was fine by her at the moment. It gave her some quiet time to figure out how she would answer questions about her night out if it came up. She hadn't decided if she was going to tell Cabello she went out by herself or not. Of course the bigger question was if she would bring up the topic of Nicole Davin.
Thinking about the beautiful brunette easily took her mind away from how many chest tube kits there was in the ambo. Nicole may have infuriated her at first but the woman had also completely intrigued her at the club within only a few minutes of conversation. Gray had enjoyed the rest of the night both at the club and once they were back at Gray's place where Nicole had effectively exhausted her with pleasure. Gray smirked to herself and thought they ha both done a pretty good job of exhausting each other.
"Earth to Gray!" Cabello said, waving her hand in front of her partners face.
"What?" Gray shook her head and focused on the present. "Oh hey Cabello."
Her partner laughed, "That must have been a really good day dream."
"You have no idea." Gray said absentmindedly then shook her head. She needed to focus on the present. "I mean I'm just taking inventory." She said holding up what she had been counting.
"Well I didn't know gauze were so mesmerizing." Cabello said with a smirk.
Gray looked down at her hands and realized she didn't even know what she was counting. "Damn it!" She said as she threw the clipboard and gauze on the gurney.
"Relax girl." Cabello said as she climbed into the rig. "What's wrong?"
Gray threw up her hands. "I don't know what I've been counting."
Cabello wasn't sure what was going on but she knew keeping Gray calm was necessary. "No worries. How about you call off items and I'll give you a count."
Gray sighed then grabbed the clipboard and started from the top. They quickly made their way through the list. Luckily Gray hadn't messed anything up.
"So now that we have that done, you wanna tell me what's up?" Cabello asked.
Gray looked at her partner and instantly knew she would tell her everything. "Well Saturday night..."
The call siren went off, "Ambulance 61, difficulty breathing."
"To be continued," Cabello said as she jumped out of the back of the ambo.
Gray jumped into the drivers seat ready for the call to distract her from Nicole Davin.
When they arrived at the scene the first thing they noticed was a big ass snake loose in the house as the man's son led them into the house.
Gray thought she could be tough but with one hiss from the snake she quickly realized that wasn't gonna happen. "Hey can you lock up the snake?"
The boy nodded, "Yeah, I didn't want to leave my dad when I first called and you guys got here really quick."
Cabello smiled, "No problem, where's your dad?"
He pointed, "Through there."
The partners quickly got to work assessing the man. They soon determined the cause of the distressed breathing, the man was bitten by a snake.
Cabello turned and saw the son. "Where's the snake that bit your dad?"
He hesitated then said, "Over there in the tank. Dad was feeding him and he grabbed dad's hand instead of the mouse."
"Okay, we've gotta get your dad to the hospital. Can you write down what type of snake that is as specifically as you can?" Gray said.

On the ride back from the hospital to 51 Cabello spoke up, "You're making me sound like a broken record girl, what's up with you?"
"Just tired, that's all." Gray replied knowing the doge was shaky at best. Earlier she had been ready to tell Cabello everything but now she wasn't so sure. She hoped if she could evade the questions a bit maybe her partner would lay off the questions.
Cabello shrugged, "I guess that could be the case but you are usually grumpy when you're tired not spacey or evasive and you never have a goofy smile on your face when you're tired girl. And don't deny this because you know I know you better than most people, right?"
"Yeah I know and I'll be fine. I just need some coffee when we get back to the house." Gray quickly responded.
"Alright." Cabello said knowing that pushing her friend too much could make her mood worse rather than better. The odd thing to Cabello was that Gray seemed distracted but happy. As she had said a few moments ago, normally if Gray was tired she was grumpy verging on bitchy so this was something entirely different.
They traveled in silence for a few moments then the radio broke the silence, "Ambulance 61 we've got another run in your area, you available?" Cabello replied affirmatively and they were off on another call.
The two maintained an awkward silence until they reached the address of the call. Once they entered the house Gray again became completely focused on the call, a gun shot wound. These were always tense calls because as a first responder, you can never be sure if there would be a shooter present or how many of the people around may have guns just waiting for a reason to use them. Luckily there were few people in the street and only one other person in the house. Her and Cabello quickly assessed the patients condition and prepared the woman for transport to the hospital.
    It didn't take them long to get to Mercy Hospital and get the patient into the ER where one of Gray's best friends was the doctor in charge. Once all the paperwork was done and they had retrieved their gurney they stated to head back to 51, again.
    Gray headed straight for the kitchen after parking the ambo, remembering her explanation of being tired and got some coffee. She could see that Cabello was keeping an eye on her but was giving her space as well.
    It was quiet so Gray flipped through a magazine that was on the table just for something to do but she really had no clue what she was looking at. Her mind was back on Nicole, only the thoughts now were how to get this woman out of her head. Hell it was a one night stand, why couldn't she just move one.
    After about a half an hour Cabello finally decided to join Gray and quietly said, "Okay you've had your coffee Gray, are you gonna tell me what's going on now?"
    Gray just shrugged and tried to give her friend a reassuring smile.
    "You can talk to me about anything Gray, you know that right?" Cabello asked looking concerned.
    The look on Cabello's face did her in and Gray quickly nodded her head towards the rigs, "Let's go to the ambo."
    Once the doors were closed on the back of the ambo Cabello spoke up, "So I have a feeling this has something to do with what you and Rafferty did the other night."
    "Why would you say that?" Gray asked, surprised by Cabello's assumption.
    She shrugged and said, "Well you weren't like this last shift so I figured it had to be something that happened the last couple days."
    "Well this had nothing to do with Rafferty. Saturday night he stayed home and watched the baseball game. I went out by myself." Gray admitted.
    "You went out by yourself?" Cabello answered, obviously surprised.
    Gray laughed at her friend's expression. "Last time I checked I am old enough to go to a bar by myself."
    Cabello rolled her eyes, "Well I know that but..." She didn't finish her statement because she wasn't entirely sure where she was going with the comment.
    "I know I took Carli leaving a little tough, both times. I just needed a me night, you know?" Gray finished with a shrug and a smile.
    "Makes sense." Cabello also shrugged and nodded. "This may be a dumb question but did you have fun?"
    "Yeah I did." Gray responded trying to keep the grim off her face.
    Cabello just looked at her smiling friend and couldn't help but laugh.
    "What's so funny?" Gray quickly asked.
    Cabello just smiled and asked, "Who is she?"
    "Who's who?" Gray replied trying to sound innocent.
    "Don't play dumb with me Amber Gray. Did we not already establish I know you better than most people!" Cabello raised her eyebrows at Gray before she finished, "You met someone on your solo night out."
    "Well I talked to lots of people. I was out for the social experience." Gray answered evasively deciding to mess with her friend a bit.
    Cabello shook her head, "Never mind, I'll just go ask Rafferty. I'm sure he met her before or after you guys made it to your room." She said turning towards the door.
    "Gee thanks for making me sound like a total slut Cabello." Gray responded laughing.
    "I kinda did, didn't I?" Cabello said with a smile then added, "But at least you're a lovable slut!"
    Gray's only response was to smack Cabello in the shoulder since she had moved away from the door putting her well within Gray's reach.
    "Ouch!" She said laughing, grabbing her shoulder where Gray had hit her.
    "You deserved that." Gray said matter of factly.
    Cabello nodded, "Yeah maybe a little."
    They both laughed together for a bit. After a minute or so of quiet Gray turned to Cabello, took a deep breath and said, "Her name is Nicole. She's really hot, we had fun and it was only a one night thing."
    "I knew it!" Cabello. Said with a smile then quickly asked, "Why only one night?"
    "She lives in Milwaukee for one."
    "Yeah that would do it." Cabello nodded.
    "Yeah." Gray echoed. "She may have put her number in my phone but we agreed this was just a one night thing."
    Cabello eyed her again, "But you kinda wish it could be more, don't you?"
    Gray nodded. They both remained silent again. Gray finally broke the silence, "Bet Morris has lunch ready by now. I'm kinda hungry."
    "Me too." Cabello said. Both women moved towards the back door of the ambo. Before she opened the door Cabello turned back to Gray and said, "It's nice to see that goofy smile back on your face. Even though it was a one time thing I think meeting this woman did you a world of good."
    Gray just smiled and nodded in agreement as they jumped out of the ambo.
    Rafferty strolled up smiling, "I was wondering where you girls were. You telling Cabello about your firefighter Gray?"
    Gray rolled her eyes and said, "She's not my anything Kyle, it was a one night stand."
    Cabello ignored Gray's comment because she was more focused on what Rafferty had said. She turned to Gray and asked, "This Nicole chick is a firefighter?"
    Rafferty chimed in, "Yeah the hot, fit type." Then he smirked before adding, "You know kind of like a female version of me."
    Gray couldn't help but laugh at Rafferty's assessment of Nicole and nodded in agreement. "The man speaks the truth at least about Nicole being hot and in tremendous shape." She turned and playfully stuck her tongue out at Rafferty.
    Cabello laughed too but also rolled her eyes and said, "You two are such guys sometimes."
    The roommates looked at each other in silence for a moment before laughing harder than they had already been as they headed in for lunch.
    Later after another call Gray and Cabello, "Do you think I'm reading too much into the connection I felt with Nicole?"
    Cabello thought for a moment then said, "It's possible but then again maybe not. I mean you did say she gave you her number but then again there is a two hour commute between you guys. It really could go either way."
    "Oh that clears it right up." Gray replied with a laugh.
    "The way I see it, what's meant to be will be. If you and Nicole are supposed to be together you'll get another shot sometime. If not you'll find a different wonderful woman. You're a good person who deserves to be happy Gray, it'll happen eventually." Cabello said with a genuine warm smile.