Chapter 8
(A/N: Besides repeating that I do not own CF or CPD or F&tF, I want to post two quick notes so I don't get messages about how my information is wrong. I know in the Fast and the Furious series, Brian was a LA cop. In this, he was just on loan to the LAPD for the big truck case. Also, remember this is an alternate universe when you see people's ages and their work experience not adding up. Some characters are younger than they should be if they got the correct schooling for their field. I just wanted Alex to be younger than the firefighters ;-) . So besides that, on with the new chapter!)
"Dominic Toretto."
Severide leaned against the closed door and frowned.
"I'm supposed to know who that is?" he asked.
Alex growled and stood from the desk chair he had sat down at. He rubbed his forehead.
"Remember me telling you about that final case my brother had before he left the force?" he asked.
"The truck jackings?" Severide guessed.
Alex nodded and sat on the bed in the office.
"That's the one. I would have thought there would have been charges against those guys but there he was, hanging out with Brian." there was acid in his last words.
Severide was silent. It was always best to just let Alex spew his frustration and let it all out. They had spent countless times trying to interrupt Alex to calm him down. But it had always been in vain. So most in the house had learned to just let him go until he was burnt out.
"Brian does what he wants. Cody's always in the crossfire. He doesn't have my brother's best interest at heart Kelly. Someone's going to get killed." Alex vented, leaning his forearms on his knees and resting his face in his hands.
Severide sat down on his office chair.
"Why do you let him get to you?" he asked.
"Family is all I have Kelly. The past few years have caused this family to drift apart. I'll defend Cody to my dying breath. You know that." He could feel a headache coming.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Severide asked.
Alex shook his head.
"There's no point. Brian only has one defense. That's to blame it on someone else." he mentioned.
Severide frowned. Sometimes Alex saw stuff in tunnel vision. He was always so bet on protecting Cody that he forgot the family he had in Brian.
"What do you know about this Dominic Toretto?" he asked the paramedic.
"Enough from Brian's stories. I know how these people are Severide. I did grow up with Hank Voight."
Kelly chuckled. He knew all about Alex's childhood. The young paramedic was seven years younger than the firefighter. While Severide had had a tense childhood, Alex had seemed to have a terrifyingly crazy one. Alex had been a problem child. He had grown up in Chicago alongside his brothers and his father. Their mother had passed away when Cody was only a few years old. Alex always acted out. His father, a police officer who Alex hardly remembered, struggled to keep him in line but it just made Alex rebel even more.
When Alex was twelve, he had been caught by Hank Voight trying to boost a car. Strangely enough, Voight hadn't arrested him or anything of the like.. Instead, he had given him his card and told him if he had caught him boosting cars again, the outcome would be different.
Alex hadn't used the card until nearly a year later. His dad had been working and Brian had been studying for the final police graduation test (not to mention watching a three year old Cody). Alex had gone out and gotten himself in trouble again and as things went south, he had called Voight.
Incidentally, Alex's dad, who had remarried a woman Alex despised, made arrangements for Alex to stay with Voight. Voight had never really told Alex how he had known his dad and Alex had never asked. Brian was out of the academy and on patrol, their father and his new wife were taking care of Cody and while Alex knew his father wasn't around enough for even Brian or Cody to remember, he felt that he had his own problems to deal with.
Once Brian had made detective and their father had been killed in the line of duty, their step mom had left Cody with an estranged family member. Things settled until Brian was loaned to the LAPD for the truck jacking case. Ever since then, there had been a build up of underlying stress between the two eldest children.
Severide wasn't sure what Voight had done to straighten Alex out but he was glad. Alex had turned out alright.
"You know you've got strong family here at House. We've got your back." Severide told him.
Alex smiled lightly.
"Yeah, I've got plenty of annoying older brothers here. That's a definite." he joked.
Severide growled and reached out, pulling Alex into a headlock. Alex laughed and dug his knuckles into Severide's ribs. The firefighter grunted and let go, rubbing his tender ribs.
"You always play dirty." he complained.
Alex smirked and jumped up from his seat, adjusting his shirt.
"I'm scrappy." he justified.
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter the cave of wonders!" Alex called, earning him a smack on the side by Severide.
Mills poked his head in.
"You wanna get started on the ambo inventory? It's closing in on break with ambo two taking over and I'd like to get a few zz's." he said.
Alex rolled his eyes and shared a knowing look with Severide.
"You just wanna smell nice when Dawson gets here to check in." he dug.
They could swear that Mills blushed.
It was no secret to anyone at 51 that Mills had the hots for Gabriela Dawson, the PIC of the secondary ambo.
"Maybe I just want to take a shower. Nothing wrong with that." Peter stuttered. Alex clapped Mills on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. Everyone believes you Petey." he said, high tailing it from the offices.
The card game at squad's table was still going but it seemed as if the tempers had cooled off. Mills had left the ambulance open and an official checklist sat on the gurney inside. Alex hopped up inside to grab it.
It was like clockwork for the next hour as he carefully counted syringes and small bottles of drugs. Anything that had been used during most of the overnight shift was recorded and what was left was written down. Anything that had been used was also recorded and some of what was written told what it had been used for.
As the Paramedic In Charge, Alex was held accountable for making sure inventory was done.
Outside the open truck door, a light breeze blew, ruffling his papers. He held the ends of his papers down and turned to count gauze packs.
A presence next to him caught his attention.
"So I heard you had a bad run in." Matthew Casey remarked as he leaned against the open door of the ambulance.
Alex slammed his clipboard down on his lap and looked up at the ceiling and huffed before glaring at Casey.
"Is my life on a ticker tape? Is there a newspaper?" he asked incredulously.
Casey laughed.
"No, there's just a Kelly Severide." he reassured.
Alex shook his head and turned back to his inventory.
"Big mouth." he muttered.
"He's just worried 'Lex." Casey supplied.
"I've told you not to call me that." Alex didn't look up as he wrote down a few numbers.
"Hey Alex! You've got a visitor!" Joe Cruz yelled from the Commons door.
"Dude, you know how prison guard that sounds?" Casey yelled back. He glanced at the man with Cruz. It was the same man that warned them about the drunk driver earlier in shift.
"You need me to stay?" he asked.
Alex glanced out of the ambulance.
"Nah. I'll yell if I need you." he promised.
"Yeah, like a little girl." was Casey's snide remark, the ending result being a well aimed shot in his upper arm by Alex. Casey grabbed his arm in mock hurt.
"Ow. You do play dirty. I'm telling Connie on you." he complained, mentioning the House secretary. He then walked away with a careful eye on the new man.
Alex rolled his eyes and looked at the newcomer.
"Vince right?" he asked.
Vince nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Just thought I would see how Jason is." he said.
Alex glanced down at his clipboard and signed the bottom. He ignored the urge to ask how Vince knew which House the ambulance had come from.
"He's good. Some cuts and bruises, minor concussion and a bruised up wrist. He was released to his mom. It was a good thing that the truck wasn't going faster than it was." he reported.
"That's good. He seemed pretty chipper." Vince all but mumbled.
Alex hopped out of the ambulance and shut the doors.
"What are you running from Vince?" he asked, resting the bottom of his shoe against the ambo's bumper, leaning casually on it. He gave an inquisitive stare to Vince that didn't seem to phase him, at least not on the outside.
"What makes you think I'm running from anything?" Vince asked smoothly.
Alex laughed. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's the middle of the night. A report on Jason wasn't going anywhere. You obviously knew where to find me so you could have come in the morning. So again I ask, what are you running from?"
TBC
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