Work Text:
When Sarah called the fire department because her… roommate, Jillian, had gotten her hand stuck in the sink drain, well, she never expected to meet someone like them.
The two para… pair-of-medics, something like that… the two men who came to help her immediately made her a little nervous, both were young enough that it reminded her of every other man who flirted with her. When they had knocked on the door and she let them in, she had to pause as they breezed by her, their hips nearly brushing as they walked side-by-side.
She worriedly followed their footsteps as she directed them into the kitchen, and to her girl… ahem, roommate, who squinted at the two of them before sighing.
"What are your names?" One of them, she wasn't sure, asked, and she jumped to attention.
"Oh, I'm Sarah. Sarah Duley, and this is my roommate and best friend, Jillian Tanner," she introduced.
Immediately her nerves settled as they got to work, nothing but professional as they approached Jill, no wayward looks, no small comments, not even a glance downwards.
"So, uh," the skinny, dark-haired fireman started, stopping shy of Jillian and peering down into the sink. "Got yourself stuck pretty good, huh?" His coworker silently set up the things he was carrying before walking around Jill and also looking in the drain.
"What made you stick your hand in the drain?" The other para-whatever asked, grabbing her arm and pulling a little.
"Ow, hey, that hurts," Jill instantly chided, trying to yank her arm away from him but being held in place by her hand. "Don't do that."
Sarah kicked her lightly and Jill turned to glare at her, and Sarah just narrowed her eyes. "Be nice, they're trying to help," she pointed out, as the two men stared at each other and had a silent conversation.
They came to some kind of conclusion, and the skinny paramedian gently grabbed Jill's wrist, right above where it disappeared into the drain, while the other turned towards her. "Do you have any…Crisco or butter or something greasy?"
"Yeah… yeah of course, I'll grab it," she hesitated, giving Jillian her best behave, or else look she could muster, before hurrying away to grab what they had asked for. Walking back across the kitchen, she heard the two firemen having a hushed discussion away from Jill.
"Roy, I don't think she's stuck too badly," the skinnier of the two said, nodding towards Jill.
The other one, Roy, nodded. "No, it's just barely tight enough that she can't get her hand out. I don't think we'll need to call Rampart, do you?"
"No, no I think she'll be fine as soon as we can get her untrapped. Did you get an answer for why she stuck her hand down there?"
"No, I didn't, Johnny," and she had a name for the skinny one, "Every time I asked she got agitated."
"She dropped her ring," Sarah told them as she held out the Crisco. "It was her grandmother's," the lie came easily, the same thing they told everyone who asked. The truth was that Sarah had given it to Jillian when they first started dating, but their relationship was a secret neither could share so, they just came up with cover stories instead.
The firemen gave her a look that made the hair on the back of her neck raise, but she simply held out the item in her hand.
"A ring?" Johnny asked, tilting his head and sharing a look with Roy. "I don't understand why this is such a common occurrence, it's just a ring."
"Yeah, well, Junior, you're not married, so you wouldn't understand–Thank you," Roy turned to her and nodded with a grateful smile, taking the Crisco from Sarah's hand and turning back to his partner. "Besides, it's not the ring, it's what it means that's so important."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Johnny waved his hand as the two of them made the short trek back to Jillian. Sarah followed, hovering nervously as she watched them work.
"Alright, I'm going to need you to relax your hand, so we can get you out of here, alright?" Johnny told her, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder. Roy carefully worked the Crisco around her wrist, making sure not to pull on the limb.
"But-" Jill began to argue.
"He's right, Jill, just relax your hand. It's just a ring after all, I'd rather have you safe and sound than that stupid ring."
"Sarah! That 'stupid' ring means a lot to you–I mean me. You know this," Jill immediately argued, turning her head as far as she could to give Sarah a helpless look. "Don't make me do this."
"It's the only way to get you out. Would you rather be stuck there forever?" Sarah shot back pointedly. "Do as they say."
Jill bristled but relented with a sharp sigh, relaxing her grip, and most likely dropping the ring.
"We're going to carefully pull your hand out now," Roy told her, no, both of them. "I just want you to relax and let us do the work. Can you do that?"
Jill sullenly nodded, and Roy grabbed her elbow while Johnny wrapped his hands around her wrist, and the two of them slowly, surely, worked in tandem to carefully maneuver her hand from the drain. It gave easily, with the Crisco slicking her hand and her now relaxed fist giving no resistance anymore, and soon she was free.
She backed away from the sink with a glare, rubbing her hand as she turned to the firemen. Roy lightly grabbed her hand, and when she gave him a barely disgusted look, he clarified, "I'm just checking for any injuries, miss. I know it'll be tender and probably numb from the awkward position but I want to make sure nothing is broken. Is that okay?"
"Oh, no–I mean, yes, that's fine, sorry," Jill blushed, giving Sarah a sheepish look as she completely misjudged the man. "I didn't know what I thought you were doing, I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Jillian, you didn't do anything wrong. I should have told you what I was doing before grabbing you, that's on me," he soothed, checking out her hand with a sharp, attentive eye and skillful touches. "Does anything hurt?" Jill shook her head and Roy nodded. "I think you'll be okay, just don't stick your hand down anymore drains, okay?"
"Right," she snorted, smiling for the first time since the men entered the house. "Thank you, and sorry about all the trouble, that ring just means a lot to me."
"It's no problem, we're just doing our jobs. Johnny, ready to go?"
"One second, Roy," Johnny mumbled, making all three of them turn to the somewhat forgotten fireman who was peering at the sink with a thoughtful look, fingers tapping his chin.
"What do you think you're going to do?" Roy asked wearily, standing slowly and pacing over to his partner.
"Well, they both said the ring was important, right? Well, my wrist is smaller than Jillian's–uh, no offense, by the way–"
"None taken?" Jillian confusedly replied.
"And while I don't, ya'know, get the fuss about the ring I thought that if it was so special why not, uh, try and get it back. One more try."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Roy started cautiously, but both girls spoke over him accidentally.
"Oh, do you mean that?" Sarah exclaimed, hope coloring her voice with bright hues.
"That ring means more than you could imagine," Jill told him seriously, leaning forward from where she had been seated.
"Well, seems we have it, Roy. Can't disappoint them, can I?" Roy just shook his head, exasperatedly, his eyes pinched in what could only be worry to Sarah's untrained eye. "I'll just be a minute, promise."
"I'm not getting you out if you get stuck," Roy sighed, but stepped away.
"Aw, Roy, I won't get stuck, promise," Johnny grinned, before taking his place in front of the sink.
Sarah could only see his back from her position at Jill's side, but she could see the movement as he blindly reached down, and could see the taught set of his partner's shoulders, the way the other man's eyes didn't leave Johnny, how his hand hovered over the blocky shape on his hip (a radio of some kind?).
Johnny was quick, shouting out in triumph as he pulled his hand up, ring pinched between his fingers and shining in the light. "Here we go, got it!" He rinsed it under the water to make sure it was clean of anything that might have been stuck on it from it's time in the drain before turning around with a flourish. "I believe you dropped this?"
"Oh my god," Jill nearly screamed in excitement, springing from her chair and taking the ring from his hands reverently. "How can I ever repay you?"
"Oh, now listen, I'm just doing my job," he smiled at her, wiping his hands off on his pants before turning to his partner with a wink. "Isn't that right, Roy?"
"Yeah… yeah just our jobs. I don't remember reading it in the job description that we stick our hand into sinks and pipes to fish out rings, though," he snorted dryly, gathering up their unused equipment.
"Well, think of it this way, if I got it out then we won't need to come back here because one of them got their hand stuck trying to get it, right?"
"You know what, that actually makes sense, and that scares me," Roy gave Johnny a look over his shoulder that Sarah couldn't quite make out, but it made the other pair-a-whomever grin and laugh as he stooped down to get the rest of their stuff. "Did you hit your head on the last run?"
"Hey, I have good ideas all the time, I dunno what you're insinuating. I'm a little offended, Pally," he knocked his hip against Roy's with a cheeky grin, all he got in return was a slow shake of Roy's head and an exasperated scoff.
"Yeah, right, like that time you-" Roy teased back, only for Johnny to interrupt, seeming knowing exactly what Roy was going to say.
"Hold it, now I admit that wasn't my best idea, but it was far from terrible! It worked out in the end!"
They stood up and headed towards the door, engrossed in their conversation and only barely remembering to wave goodbye to the two women.
"Because I helped you," Roy pointed out as he held the door open for Johnny. Johnny stopped for half a second, glancing over his shoulder as the two women who feigned being busy checking out Jill's hand, before he shifted everything into his left hand and grabbed Roy's free hand with his.
"Yeah, I owe you," he huffed, squeezing Roy's hand making Jill and Sarah shared a shocked, raised-eyebrow look because oh.
Roy froze and looked at them too, but they again feigned being busy and not looking at either of the firemen, but out of the corner of their eyes they saw him squeeze his hand back.
"Should we,,, say something?" Jill hissed under her breath, and Sarah simply took her hand in her own, mimicking the two firemen, and brazenly looking up.
Roy caught sight of her looking and almost pulled his hand from his partner's before he saw the two women in the same pose and he blinked. Grabbed Johnny's attention by pulling on his hand a little, effectively cutting off his rant, and jerked his head towards Jill and Sarah. Johnny cocked an eyebrow and turned his head behind him only to see them staring at the two of them and froze.
Roy whispered something to Johnny who looked down, and then beamed, simply raising his and Roy's still-intertwined hand, and waving. Then he and Roy ducked out of the house, the front door shutting behind them, and they were gone.
"You think we should… I dunno, invite them out to dinner or something?" Jill asked, running her thumb across Sarah's knuckles and staring at the ring on her own hand.
"I think so, but how?"
"Well, their uniforms said '51' on it, is that the station they're with? We could always call and find out. Say it's because we want to thank them for getting my ring back."
"I think that would work, you're absolutely right! I'll call later, then. First, I need to ask: how did you drop the ring in the sink, and why did you immediately stick your hand down after it?"
Who'd've thought that when Sarah called the fire department because her girlfriend got her hand stuck in the sink that she'd meet a pair of people the same as her? Because it was obvious, even to an outsider's eye, that those two were closer than normal, and that interaction they had just proved it.
Maybe her and Jill weren't so different from the rest of the world.