Eddie snorted. "The end of the internet? Did you get a trophy?"
Just as defeat began to settle into the station like a low fog, the bell rang. Not the emergency tone. The front doorbell. At 3:34 AM.
"A ghost," Lucy agreed. "A beautiful, absurd ghost."
It was 2:47 AM on a Tuesday, which, for Firefighter Lucy Chen of Station 24, was the official witching hour of boredom. The bay doors were closed. The truck was waxed. The beans in the pot were older than some of the pranks in the lieutenant’s notebook. Searching For- Tacoma FD S04e01 In-
Lucy turned the tape over. The label was handwritten in smudged Sharpie: Tacoma FD - S04E01 - "The One With the In-Continent Patient"
"…Maybe," Lucy said.
They were found.
"You've been saying that for three hours," Eddie grunted, retrieving the plunger from the floor. "If you were actually dying, we'd have a reason to leave this place."
Eddie crossed the room and sat on the coffee table, his knees touching hers. This was serious. Tacoma FD was their religion. The sacred text of firefighter stupidity. They had watched the first three seasons so many times they could quote Chief McConky's rants verbatim while repacking the hose.
The plunger clattered to the floor again. This time, Eddie didn't pick it up. Eddie snorted
It was beautiful.
Lucy lay sprawled on the worn leather couch, phone clutched to her chest like a lifeline. Her thumb hovered over the keyboard. Across the room, her partner, Eddie, was attempting to balance a plunger on his nose. He failed. Again.
"Worse." Lucy sat up slowly, a haunted look on her soot-smudged face. "I'm looking for Tacoma FD ." Not the emergency tone