*********

"Shh, go back to sleep," Eric said softly sometime later as he curled his large warm body around hers.

"Get out," she mumbled even as she snuggled against him.

When he chuckled she buried her face in her pillow and decided to ignore him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, gently running his fingers through her hair.

"Like kicking your ass," she muttered into the pillow. "I can't believe you called mom on me."

"You didn't leave me with much of a choice on the matter, now did you?"

"Bastard."

"Get some sleep," he said, pressing a kiss against the top of her head.

"I'm going to work tomorrow," she informed him, inwardly daring him to argue, because if he did she was going to kick his-

"I know," he said, surprising her.

"You know?" she repeated slowly, not sure if this was a trap of some kind.

"Mmmhmm, I know you're too stubborn to listen to the doctor. I already talked to Bill and he figured as much, which will actually work out because we have Greg again."

That got her attention.

She rolled over, shoving Eric away so that she could face him. "Why the hell is he still third riding?" The man should already be assigned to a more senior partner to finish his probation period, especially since they were only required to do five ride alongs and he must have done at least a dozen by now.

"He's nervous as hell. Every time he comes close to a patient he loses his lunch and if it's an emergency he loses it when the ambulance comes to a stop. No one's even let him get behind the wheel, afraid that he'll black out and crash," Eric said, lazily scratching his bare chest as he lay back on the bed.

"If it's that bad then maybe he should consider doing something else," she suggested, feeling bad for the man, but not bad enough to suggest someone that would endanger patients should work on one of the ambulances.

"Bill wants you to take another crack at him and see if you can help. If he doesn't improve within a week he's going to have to let him go," Eric said, fighting back a yawn.

She sighed heavily as she flopped back down on the bed and laid her head on Eric's shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist. As she tried to figure out a way to help Greg deal with his nerves she snuggled closer to Eric. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

"I'm not sure if a week's enough time to help him," she said as she absently traced circles over Eric's chest and stomach, loving the way the light dusting of hair felt against her fingers.

"No, it's not. Normally I'd offer to grab a few extra shifts, but with you injured," she rolled her eyes at that, "and the Fireman Muster games this weekend we won't have a chance. I'm hoping Bill will give us until next Friday before he makes his decision."

As bad as she felt for Greg her mind had moved onto another pressing matter. She couldn't believe she almost forgot about it, especially since she was competing again for the first time in four years. "We're going to kick ass this year," she said, knowing it was true.

For years they competed together in the ambulance portion of the Muster, a competition between neighboring fire departments to put their skills to the test, they always won. The last four years she got stuck behind the scenes helping out, but she was sick of that and told Bill he could find someone else to deal with the venders because she was going to kick some ass instead.

Eric gently ran his fingers through her hair, careful of her cut. "Are you sure you're up to it?" he asked softly.

She snorted her disbelief. "Hell yeah, I'm up to it. We are so going to kick some Blackford ass this year!"

"They kicked out asses last year and the year before," Eric pointed out.

"That's because I wasn't competing," she reminded him.

"There is that," he admitted, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Get some sleep, Joe. Tomorrow's our twenty-four hour shift and I have a feeling we're going to need every minute of rest that we can get."

Frowning, she tilted her head to look at him. "Why do you say that?

He sighed heavily as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Because we have Greg for the entire shift," he announced, making her groan and bury her face against his chest.

"I'm demanding a raise," she muttered against his chest.

"Damn straight."

*******

"Wow, you look like you got your ass handed to you by a psych patient," Jeff said brightly as he held the side door open for her.

Joe shook her head as she walked past the man. "No, this is what Eric did to me when I talked back," she said with a shrug.

"She needs to learn her place," Eric informed Jeff with a straight face.

"They all do," Jeff agreed quickly, earning a playful glare from Joe.

He followed Joe to their bunkroom, wondering how exactly he should tell her. He'd considered making a run for it while she was in the shower this morning and leaving her a note, or send a test message, but he knew that would just piss her off more. Maybe he should just tell her.

It was probably for the best that he just tell her and get it off his chest where they had a modicum of privacy for the fight that would no doubt follow. No doubt she'd be pissed at him, but he could make her understand and he would. This was only temporary anyway, well hopefully it would be.

Actually, he hoped to have her the hell out of this line of work and somewhere safe soon. He was still hoping against hope that Nathan would change his mind and let Joe come work for him, but if that failed, and it probably would, he would find something else for Joe. If worse came to worse he could, and probably would anyway to help out, move in with Joe and take over her bills while she figured out what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

If she wanted to go back to school that was more than fine with him. He'd take care of her, pay off her regular bills and take as much overtime as he could get to help pay for college. Hell, if she just wanted to relax for a few months he'd be more than fine with that. As long as she didn't have to worry about her any longer he'd be more than fine with whatever she wanted to do.

He closed the door behind them as Joe began the tedious job of making her bed. She sent him a questioning look, but thankfully didn't say anything as she tucked the top sheet in. After a minute he realized there was no point in putting it off any longer. She'd find out soon enough and really it was better that they handle this in private.

Praying she wouldn't kick him in the balls, he said, "You're on light duty."

She paused mid-tuck. "What did you just say?" she demanded without looking back.

"I said you're on light duty," he repeated, trying not to wince when she abruptly stood up and glared up at him. "For the entire shift. You're not allowed to lift or drive," he quickly explained, mentally kicking himself for not wearing a cup.

"If I'm not allowed to lift or drive then what the hell am I supposed to do?" she asked evenly as she walked over to him, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for his answer.

"Rest?" he suggested seconds before she slammed her foot down on top of his. When he leaned down to check his poor abused foot she shoved him out of the way and stormed out of the room, probably to track down Bill and give him a piece of her mind. He just hoped the man didn't sell his ass down the river and inform the grouch that it had been his idea to keep her on light duty.

Of course the man would rat his ass out. His only hope was that Joe didn't turn her anger on his balls.

Chapter 14

"Are you still in a pissy mood?" Eric asked as he sat next to her on the couch and threw his arm around her shoulder.

In answer, she rammed her elbow into his side. "Shit!" he gasped as he bent over and sucked in a breath.

If she wasn't stuck on light duty she might feel bad about it, but she was. Some people might enjoy light duty, but she was not one of them. Neither was Eric. It was boring, incredibly boring and now she was stuck on it for at least this shift, a twenty-four hour shift, she'd like to point out.

The only thing she was allowed to do for the next twenty-four hours was sit around, walk with Eric and Greg to get patients. She wasn't allowed to drive, help with the stretcher, move a patient, or even fill out paperwork, because apparently that would be too strenuous, she thought dryly. Hell, if they ended up with a heavy patient she wouldn't be allowed to help them. They'd have to call for a lift assist, another ambulance or an available supervisor would be asked to come help lift the patient, while she stood around feeling useless.

She liked staying busy during her shifts, especially during her twenty-four hour shift. It made the time pass by quickly. As much as she loved her job, and she did, it could get a little boring when there was nothing to do and it appeared that she had nothing to do for twenty-four hours.

"Such a baby," Eric said, sighing heavily as he stood up, grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet so that he could steal her place on the couch and yanked her back down onto his lap. "There. That's much better," he mused as he settled back into the corner of the couch and got comfortable.

Most of the guys were used to their odd relationship and didn't care enough to tear their eyes away from the game. Greg on the other hand wasn't and every few minutes sent them a questioning look that she decided to ignore. She was pissed and in no mood for any bullshit today. She swore if he asked her out again she was going to stomp on his foot, too. The only thing she wanted to do was sulk all day.

Of course she also wanted to get the bastard who was absently running his fingers over her arm back for yet another betrayal. She couldn't believe he'd sold her out to mom, but this worse, much worse. This was twenty-four hours of boredom and he knew damn well that she did not do well with downtime. He knew that and it pissed her off like nothing else that he'd gone behind her back and did this to her. He was her best friend and was supposed to have her back, not screw her over.

With a muttered groan she climbed off his lap, barely resisting the urge to ram her elbow into his stomach. She ignored his questioning look and walked away.

"Uh oh, looks like someone's in trouble," one of guys said, but she ignored him and the snickers and snorts of laughter that followed and walked outside.

With nothing else to do she walked over to the picnic table on the side yard and sat down on the table. Barely an hour into her shift and she was already feeling useless. She thought about washing the ambulance, but Eric already did that and when she tried to help he actually had the nerve to shoo her away.

True to his stubborn word he hadn't allowed her to do anything. She hadn't been allowed to grab more run slips, check the ambulance out, get more supplies, or make the stretcher. Standing around watching them work had been boring and kind of embarrassing.