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A/N: *Title taken from one lyric version of "Taps".

"As We Go…"*

(Band of Brothers)

by Ariane Rivendell

The air horn blasted as Garrison "Dee" Deitrich backed the Engine up the driveway and into Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 51's empty apparatus bay.

A-shift's Engineer Mike Stoker and Captain Hank Stanley trailed out of the office to watch the Engine crew of C-shift return. The Squad crew of C-shift had been on another call when the Engine crew got called out. The Squad had since returned, but been toned out not long after A-shift's roll call, sending Johnny and Roy on their first call of the morning.

"You guys are late," Captain Stanley joked, bouncing on his heels.

"Hooowee! Glad to be home. That was a helluva run, but a whole lotta fun." Dietrich called down from the cab, smirking at Mike and Hank.

"Garrison, sometimes it's a pleasure serving with you. But most of the time, it's a real headache." Captain Hookrader of C-shift unclawed his barrel-chested, grinning engineer, opened the cab door and stepped out.

"I do what I can 'cause it's all in the plan, Cap," Dee called after him.

Hookrader made his way over to Stanley and shook his head. "Ai yai… You see what I gotta put up with every shift?"

"You oughta work with this one," Stanley jibed after Mike.

"If you need a ride, I'm your guide," Mike deadpanned.

"Oh, don't you start," Hookrader made a face at Stoker before turning his attention to Captain Stanley.

"You see what I mean?" Hank responded, winking at his engineer out of Hookrader's sight. Mike smiled back at his captain as they shared the joke.

Lineman Gavin Platko jumped off the Engine and trumped over to the locker room, singing "Our shift is done, gone to have some fun…" Charlie Wilson ran after his shift mate to the locker room and a yell with epithets and hearty laughter was heard soon after.

The dark-haired, mustachioed C-shift engineer looked down from the cab at his A-shift counterpart, his expression turning serious. "Hey, Mike, I think we musta run something over when we left that last scene, just now."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, she was handling fine on the way over. But on the way back, I don't know, the transmission seemed a little flaky. She could shift, fine, but…I don't know, Stokes, just be careful, huh?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Dee."

"You bet." He caught sight of Mike inspecting Big Red out of the mirror and curled out the window to see him better.

"Hey, Hey," Dietrich scolded. "I know how to take care of my baby. Besides, you know she prefers me over you."

"Not with the way I see you handle her."

"You might stroke her, Stoker, but I can make her scream." The air horn went off again.

"Hey! Knock that off!" Hookrader spun around, glaring, his hands on his hips.

"Garrison! Not in the bay, huh?" Captain Stanley threw Deitrich a dark look as the two captains conferred. Hookrader waved him off and shook his head.

"Sorry, Caps." The C-shift engineer swung down from the cab, a smile tugging at his lips.

"What's this long scratch over here?" Mike pointed to a long, noticeable yellow mark near the driver's side wheel-well beneath the white strip on the cab.

"Some dweeb at 29s wasn't watching where he was going and scratched up my girl with the ladder."

Mike grimaced. Great. Hope fixing that's not gonna interfere with…

Mike felt a gentle swat on his shoulder, "Hey, Mikey, I gotta go. Return without a burn, alright?"

"Will do."

The two engineers exchanged a club handshake and Dee followed his shift mates into the locker room, his whistling echoing throughout the bay.

Marco sauntered out from the dorms, looked around for some kind of commotion and spotted Mike. "Hey, what's with the air horn going off?"

"Dee's fooling around. Hey, lookit this," he pointed to the scratch on the door.

Marco felt it. "Aw, you're kidding! You gonna have time to fix that up?"

Stoker shrugged and turned to see the Squad backing in and the captains heading to the office, trying to get out of its way.

"Hope so. Where's Chet?"

"Kitchen. Oh good, Johnny and Roy are back."

"Yup. So we're still on target?"

"You betcha! Just waitin' for C-shift to empty out of there."

Johnny slipped out of the Squad, looked around, and ducked over to the two firefighters. "Hey guys, we miss anything?"

"Nope. But Mike's gotta fix this scratch, so you guys might have to take over. So you'd better get started on your end," Marco advised.

"Be careful. Hookrader's still here."

"They just got back?" Johnny asked.

Lopez nodded toward the back of the bay, "Yeah. G, Dee, and C are still in the locker room."

"Okay." The junior paramedic beamed and was gone.

Marco smiled. "I'm afraid to say it, but I think we might just be able to pull this off."

Stoker nodded. "Yup. It might just all come together."