Hi hello yes I submit for your consideration: heat stroke. LA gets fuckin *hot* in the summer, turnouts are heavy and fighting fires involves lots of running and hard work. Dehydration can set in fast.
Don’t ask me why this scenario came to me, but it did, so I must share!
Picture this: There’s a stand in captain at the 118 while Bobby is out and recovering from the gunshot wound. And the stand in? He’s quite the fucking tool. He knows what he’s doing but he’s the wrong shade of bossy and a bit arrogant. It doesn’t help that Buck responds super well to communication, whether it’s about something he did wrong or something he did right. This captain? Even if he does a fantastic job and does everything right, he won’t acknowledge it. The entire team could be clapping him on his back and the captain won’t even glance Buck’s way. And that doesn’t bother him. What bothers him is that if he even breathes the wrong way, he’s got the captain giving him a ear full of how he needs to be better.
The captain can’t stand Buck (and to make it a little more believable, he doesn’t like a few other 118 guys for no apparent reason). Maybe it’s literally just something about Buck and the other couple people being millennials.
But things finally come to a head when they’ve had their busiest day all summer and they need to go back to the station to restock, and hydrate. Buck says as much when the acting captain tells them to pack up so they can get moving to a fire a few blocks down where extra assistance is needed. Buck takes one look around at his team mates and they’re all sharing the same look. They will if there’s no one else to respond— it’s their job— but if another station can afford to, they should take this moment to go back to the station. They don’t even need a break, they just need walk instead of run. So he says something.
The captain doesn’t like this suggestion one bit. Not because it’s unreasonable but because it came from Buck. It leads to all of them getting pushed beyond their limits when the fire they respond to takes a turn for the worst. Everyone makes it out okay, but by the time they make it back to the station, Buck’s legs are numb and he feels like he’s going to pass out.
He does when his feet hit the ground as he exits the fire truck and instead of stepping forward, his legs crumble below him. Someone is on him in an instant and they can feel his racing heart rate and how fucking hot his skin is. The captain nearly blows a fuse over Buck being dramatic until he sees another firefighter take a tumble because they’re right on the brink of being as far gone as Buck.
The chief definitely hears about this when they receive several reports throughout the next week from various members of the 118. That captain is gone before Buck ever has to see his face again.
Sorry this turned into a prompt.
