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He wanted, no, he needed, a reset button. He wanted to go back to the night he met Maeve and ask more questions. That night should’ve been a hookup, nothing more. And yet, it became something that would stick with him for the rest of his life. No matter how things turned out. He’d always have this, whatever the hell this was.
Kent sighed heavily and glanced around the parking lot. He hoped to find an ambulance to take him back to the station. Or he could call Damian and ask if he could pick him up. That would be the smart thing to do, but Kent didn’t want to be smart. He wanted to walk down the street to the corner bar and drown his sorrows in pint after pint of his favorite IPA. Technically, he was still on shift, and hadn’t reached out to his captain about any time off, and he never saw her at the accident scene to explain why he couldn’t perform his duties. Drinking on the job would mean automatic removal from his duties, and there was nothing more important to him than his job.
Soaked, he finally sought shelter under an overhang and pulled his phone out. He’d call Damian because they were partners. Damian would come and take him back to the station. He’d stand by Kent and be his friend.
After he made the call, Kent stayed outside despite the urge to go back into the hospital. He wanted to see Maeve and ask her more questions. Mostly, why. Every question in his mind started with why, and to him, there wasn’t a reasonable answer. She’d lied to him. She’d put him in a situation he did not want to be in, and now she was pregnant. Expecting a child that may or may not have been his. He was right to ask for a paternity test now, and not later. It wasn’t fair to him to have to wait seven to eight months to find out if he was a father or not. He didn’t ask for this. He didn’t ask to be someone’s affair.
Damian pulled into the parking lot not long after Kent called. He hopped into the truck, slammed the door, and thought about waiting for Damian to say something first. He told his friend the entire story on their way back to the station.
“Are you going to go home?”
“No, why would I?” Kent asked. “There isn’t anything at home but wallowing and self-pity, neither of which I need right now. I need to work and be around friends.”
Damian said nothing as he parked. “Captain Greig wants to see you.”
Kent waited, and then finally opened the door. “I figured. I’m probably suspended. I failed to do my job out there and could’ve cost people their lives. Thanks for picking me up.”
“Do you want to know about the driver?” Damian asked.
Kent paused for a moment and then shook his head. “No, I don’t.” He got out of the truck and made his way to the second floor, where the offices were. He hoped he wouldn’t run into the deputy chief of EMS, Jacob Matthews, but it was likely. Kent enjoyed working for the deputy chief, and they got along well, but he wasn’t naive enough to think a good working relationship outweighed his actions earlier.
He knocked on Greig’s door and was told to come in. Deputy Chief Matthews sat in the chair across from Greig, as if he’d expected Kent to show up. They probably knew Damian had picked him up from the hospital. It wasn’t like they could drive an ambulance around town without tracking their mileage.
“Have a seat,” Greig said, her hand out over her desk, signaling where Kent should sit.
“I know why I’m here, and I want to apologize for my behavior. It was very unprofessional of me to not function at a call today.”
Matthews turned slightly in his chair and let out a low, deep rumble as he cleared his throat. “We called you in here to see how you’re doing and whether you need any time off. You’re not in trouble for your reaction at seeing your girlfriend. You’re human, and it’s in our nature to react the way you did.”
“I’m a medic,” Kent said. “I was in the army. I knew better.”
“Regardless, we don’t hold it against you,” Greig added. “Now, about time off—”
“None needed,” Kent interrupted. “Everything is fine.” There was no need for him to explain. He was a private person, and if the accident hadn’t happened, neither of his bosses would know about his girlfriend. Now ex-girlfriend. “Am I cleared to return to duty?”
The deputy chief and captain excused Kent. He took the stairs to the third floor and found Damian sitting in the lounge. “Where is everyone?”
“Staging or on calls. Ready to roll?”
