Page 188 of Controlled Burn
“They want women quiet or perfect,” she said aloud to her reflection. “I’m neither.”
She didn’t tell anyone she was going to the hospital. She just showed up.
Dean was in a private room on the fifth floor—IV in his arm, chest bandaged. He looked rough, but alive. The bruises on his face were starting to yellow. His wedding ring was gone.
He glanced up when she walked in. Didn’t smile. Didn’t flinch. Just whispered, “You came.”
She sat in the chair beside him. Folded her hands in her lap. For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Outside the window, clouds rolled across the sky like smoke.
Finally, he broke the silence. “I heard you made lieutenant.”
She nodded.
“You deserve it,” he said. “You always did.”
Talia’s eyes burned, but she didn’t look away.
“You shouldn’t have been there,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“You almost died.”
“I know that, too.”
She stood, walked to the edge of his bed, stared down at him like she was trying to memorize him one last time.
“I didn’t pull you out so we could have another secret,” she said. “I did it because I wasn’t ready to lose you.”
Dean’s throat moved. His eyes glazed.
“You didn’t,” he said. “Not yet.”
She could’ve kissed him. Could’ve climbed into that bed, curled into the warm, broken space he left behind. But that wasn’t what this was.
She touched his cheek with her fingertips. Soft. Just once.
“Take care of yourself, Dean.”
Then she turned and left. She didn’t look back.
It was early evening by the time she returned to the station. The bay was quiet. No tones. No chatter. Just the hum of the engine cooling from a check-off run.
She climbed onto the bumper, sat down, and cradled a coffee in her hands.
Outside, the sky bled pink and orange. She used to sit here and wonder if she belonged.
Now, she wondered who else could’ve survived it.
She slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out the black hair tie she’d left in Maddox’s bunk. It was tucked into her locker this morning—silent, deliberate.
King passed by, nodding once. Respect, not pity. Like he saw her now.
She looped the band around her wrist.
This was her firehouse now.
