Ginna Mackey and Blake Gallo
Takes Place After Episode 9.4
I saw Gallo walking through the halls, and I stood up from the table and followed him to the locker rooms. He was opening his locker when I came in. I went over to my locker, the words catching in my throat. I opened my locker and looked around, but I didn’t really need anything.
Suddenly I got the courage and I spun around.
He looked up. “Oh, hey Mackey.” He smiled, which made me smile.
“So, the other day you thought I had a kid,” I said, smiling at the mistake he made, thinking that I had a son.
He chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
I smirked. “Well, you told me about a park that you read about.” I turned back to my locker so Gallo couldn’t see me blush. “I was just wondering if that was you asking me out on a date?”
I looked over my shoulder when Blake didn’t say anything back. He had a smile on his face and when our eyes caught his face brightened.
“You caught that.” He shook his head.
He leaned against his locker and laughed. “Yeah, I mean I was trying to see if you wanted to go to a park with me and watch your kid play on the playground.” He shook his head. “I still feel so dumb about.” He smiled down at his feet.
“It was sweet.” I shrugged.
“It was stupid.” He looked up at me.
“Well…” I fiddled with my fingers. “Would you like to go on that date? I mean not at a park or anything, but maybe dinner?”
Blake smiled. “Uh… yeah.” He nodded. “I would like that.”
“Good.” I smiled with a nod. “Um… Friday night?” I suggested, knowing that we would be off shift by then.
“Okay, see you then.” I smiled and walked out of the locker room and back to the lunchroom where I sat down next to Brett.
“You look happier than normal.” Brett nudged me in the shoulder.
“I asked Gallo out,” I whispered to her, unable to hide my excitement.
“Ohhh.” She smirked at me.
“ENGINE 61 TO FIREHOUSE 51 WOMEN SHOT IN HOME.” The alarm went off. I turned to Brett and she nodded. We got up and ran to the ambulance and loaded in.
“Don’t think this doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear everything about you asking Gallo out.” Brett smiled at me as we drove out of the firehouse.
We got on the call and Brett rushed out while I grabbed the medical kit. I ran into the house after Brett who was already assessing the women’s injuries.
“Where is the shooter?” Brett asked.
“He… He ran off.” The women explained in pain. I knelt down beside Brett and took over holding the injury while Brett got out the gauze.
“Did the bullet go through you?” I asked the women.
“I am not sure.” She shook her head. “I hate seeing blood, so I haven’t actually looked.”
“It’s okay.” I nod. “My mother can’t stand the look of blood too,” I say, trying to make her feel better. “Brett, I am going to take a look,” I informed my partner.
“Of course.” Brett agreed.
I took my hand off for a second, and when I didn’t see anything I nodded and reapplied the pressure. I then turned the women slightly to look for an exit wound.
“The bullet is still inside,” I told Brett in a calming tone, trying not to frighten the women.
“Is… Is that bad?” The women asked.
“It just means that the doctors at the hospital will remove it, ma’am,” I told her.
“Oh, no need for the ma’am thing.” The women smiled through the pain. “My name is Doris.”
“Well, hello Doris.” Brett smiled. “My name is Silvia Brett, and this here is Ginna Gallo.”
“Oh, nice to meet you, ladies.” The woman nods. “I wish it was under different circumstances.” She tried to joke.
“I know.” Brett smiled. “How about we load you into the ambulance.”
“Oh, I am more than ready.” The women laughed.
I assisted Brett in getting the women on the stretcher. Brett sat in the back with the women as I drove to Chicago Med. The lady kept apologizing over and over for the inconvenience she had caused. Brett assured her that it was no trouble while I smiled at how nice this woman was.
When we arrived the hospital staff came out and took Doris in for surgery to remove the bullet. I was helping Brett to clean the back of the ambulance when the police came to ask us questions.
“Did you see the shooter?” Burges asked.
“No, they had left the scene before we had arrived,” Brett answered for us.
“Did Doris say who did this to her?” Burges asked. “Did she know the person?”
“We didn’t ask. We only wanted to know if the shooter was still in the area and then we got her here.” I said, refilling my med bag as I talked.
“Alright.” Burges nodded. “I will contact you if there is anything else I need. Nice save girls.” She said before she left.
Brett and I finished the cleanout of the ambulance and then we headed back to the station. We had just pulled out of the station when Brett started talking.
“So, how did you ask him?” She smiled.
“Ask who?” I said, taking one last check in the back before settling into my seat.
“Gallo. How did you ask Gallo out?” Brett laughed.
“Oh, so a few days ago he offered to take me and my kid to a playground in town that he heard about.” I started to explain.
“Woah! A kid!” She turned to me in shock. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”
“I don’t.” I laughed and grabbed her shoulder to calm her down. “I had said something about one of the kids that my mom watches at her daycare but I referred to him as my kid and Gallo thought that I had a kid,” I explained.
“Oh.” Brett nodded. “At least he was listening.”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “So anyways he asked if I wanted to go to a park but when I explained he just laughed it off. So did I.” I shrugged. “Then that night I realized that he was asking me out, but then got scared off.”
“So this morning when I got on shift I asked him out,” I said as a matter of fact.
“The fire station? You asked him out at the fire station?” Brett laughed. “I wouldn’t say that is the most romantic place to ask someone out.”
“Oh please. I have heard many stories about the fire station’s great love affairs.” I laugh. “And it was actually the locker room in the fire station where I asked him.”
“Oh, that's so much better.” She said in sarcasm.
I laughed. “So we are going out on Friday night after shift,” I said as we parked in the fire station.
“Oh, where are you going?” She asked.
“I was thinking Molly’s.” I shrugged and got out of the truck. “I don’t know of many good places for a first date.”
“Well if you’re going to Molly’s maybe I can talk Stella into closing the outside patio so you guys can have your date under the stars.” Brett nudged me.
“I don’t know.” I smiled. “I mean we never actually made the plans. We just set a date. What if he wants to go somewhere fancy?”
“Molly’s can be fancy.” Brett shrugged.
“I get that be we always go to Molly’s,” I say, closing the back of the ambulance after I inspected it.
“How about I do some digging around and see where Gallo plans to go and then tell you.” Brett put her arm around my shoulder. “It’s the least I can do, partner.”
“I would like that.” I smiled.
Brett and I walked into the lunchroom which seemed to be emptier than normal. In fact, at this time everyone was usually watching something on tv or playing games at the table and there was no one in the room now.
“HE SHOOTS… HE SCORES!!!” Loud screaming came from outside.
I looked at Brett and she seemed to think the same thing. We walked out the doors and to the backside of the firehouse where everyone was. There was a crowd cheering while another group raced around a homemade obstacle course.
“RUN!!” They shouted at them.
“What is going on?” Brett said asking Mouch who had a score sheet in his hands.
“Stella needed some practice so she challenged the firehouse to a race,” Mouch explained. “It sort of got out of hand and now we are all betting on who is going to finish the course with the best time.”
“Who is winning?” I asked, leaning over to see the score sheet.
“No the race hasn’t started yet. This is practice.” Mouch said.
“When is it starting?” Brett asked, looking at everyone running.
“In an hour.” He explained. “This is for them to warm up and you to see who you are going to bet on.”
“All bets must be placed in 20 minutes,” Mouch said.
I turned back to see all the commotion. Stella was running in first but Casey was in close second and then Gallo and Sevoride were in a close tie. Stella was trash talking and the crowd was cheering them on.
I turned to Brett and laughed.
“So, wanna place a bet?” Brett asked me.
After I grabbed my wallet from my locker I put $30 down on Gallo. Of course, Stella was amazing and could run the course no problem, but I was hoping Blake would win.
Brett also placed a bet and if I was to guess I think she put it in Casey.
It was explained that half of the money would go to the winner and the other half would go to buying drinks for everyone at Molly’s. I thought that was a good cause.
“Placed your bet?” Brett asked me.
“Yes. You?” I asked, sitting down beside her on the outdoor chairs that had been brought out to watch the race.
“I have never seen Stella so determined.” Brett laughed. “I think she even cursed Casey.
“What?” I turned to Brett for an explanation.
“She muttered something under her breath and then told me that Casey was “taken care of”. She laughed.
I laughed. “Competition can bring out the worst in people.”
We sat and watched as Stella, Casey, Gallo, and Sevoride ran the course a few more times. Brett pointed out things that, if they avoided, would save them time in the end. I nodded in agreement.
“I am going to get some drinks. Want any?” I asked Brett and the practice ended.
“Water please,” Brett said.
“On it.” I go inside and grab a few bottles of water for the runners and Brett and me. My hands were full when I walked back outside.
“WATER!” Is said loud enough to get the competitor’s attention. I handed Brett her water and walked over to the panting group as they were recovering.
“You are a lifesaver, Mackey:” Stella said as I handed her water.
“What I am here for,” I said, handing out the water to Sevoride.
I turned around and gave water to Casey who was now laying on the ground. “You good?” I asked.
“Yeah. Never better.” He said waving his hand in the air.
“I’ll take water?” Blake’s voice said from behind me.
I turned around and handed him a bottle. “So how did you get roped into this?”
He laughed and took a big gulp of his water. “Stella wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “Are you sure you will have enough energy to run this race?” I leaned on part of the obstacle course.
“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I do this for a living you know?”
“I know,” I smirk. “Stella was smoking all of you.” I nudged him.
“Hey, I was saving my energy.” He nudged me back. “And I don’t see you running this course.” He said in a challenging tone.
“Oh, that’s not going to work on me.” I shook my head. “I am perfectly happy watching you.”
“Oh is that so?” He said making me blush.
I looked down at my shoes, noticing my mistake. I glanced back up at him which only made him laugh.
“What’s happening over here?” Cruz said, walking over to us.
“We are just talking,” I said to Cruz, knowing that he is just seconds away from going into big brother mode.
“Talking about what?” Cruz came over and took the water out of my hands.
“We are talking about who is more likely to win the race,” Gallo said and then he took a sip of his water.
“Oh, well my bet is on Casey. He has always been able to smoke anyone who challenges him.” Cruz says as he looks right at Gallo.
They just look at each other like they are waiting for someone to make the first move.
“Stella is pretty good though.” I interrupt their little staring contest.
“I think I can beat them.” Gallo relaxes on a post.
“I can,” Gallo says confidently.
“We’ll see,” Cruz says before walking off. He kept glancing over his shoulder back to us. When he was inside I turned to Gallo and laughed.
“So, who did you bet on?” Gallo asked with a dorky smirk.
“Why should I tell?” I teased him.
“Because I am curious.” He smiled.
“You,” I said quietly. “I bet on you.”
“Well, then I have motivation not to lose.” He grinned from ear to ear. “I can’t have you lose your bet.”
“You better not.” I joked.
“What is going on!” Boden shouted, making everyone turn to him.
“Chief,” Severide said first.
“Someone please explain why there is an obstacle course back here!” He turned to look at every one of us. Probably taking a mental photo of everyone involved.
“We are helping Stella.” Severide stepped up to explain. “We started out as helping her train but it became a competition.”
“And you are placing bets!?” He turned to Mouch who was going through the money.
“Yes, Chief.” Severide nodded.
“And no one thought to involve me?” Boden turned to Mouch. “I want to place a bet.”
After Boden placed his bet I went back over to Brett and sat in our seats. The competitors got into their gear and Ritter held a flag.
“Yep.” Gallo winked at me, making me blush.
“Let’s go!” Stella said, pumped up.
Ritter waves the flag and the race begins. Of course, Stella shoves over Casey who falls into Severide and that makes Brett and I crack up. Stella stays in the lead but Gallo follows close on her tail.
“GO! GO! GO!” Boden cheers on. From the looks of it he placed his bet on Stella.
“This is fun.” I turn to Brett who is laughing.
“Much better than sitting in front of the tv and watching Mouch and Herrman fight over the remote another night.” Brett laughs.
She was right. I haven’t been working here long but I did notice that when we had overnight shifts, everyone would gather and watch tv until super. This was much better. And Mouch and Herrman always make a big deal about the shows they watch, and I never get to watch the ones that I want.
“So true,” I said while taking a sip of my water.
“How long do you think this will last?” Brett turned to me.
“What do you mean? The race?” I turned to her.
“Yeah. I could see them calling for a rematch until midnight.” Brett laughed. “Casey would say that he didn’t have a proper start and wants a re-do.”
I look back at the race and they seem to be at the end of the course. Casey and Severide are laughing and shoving each other out of the way like boys and Stella is by far in the lead. Gallo is running in second but he looks like he is having fun.
“Come on, you are so close!” Boden yells at Stella. “Cross the line!”
When Stella breaks the ribbon that Mouch and Herrman hold, everyone stands up and cheers. Brett hugs Stella just as Gallo crosses the line.
“WINNER!” Boden holds up Stella’s hand.
“I… I want… a rematch.” Casey says, out of breath, as he crosses the line.
“Same.” Serveride leans on Casey for support.
Everyone laughs and I look right at Brett. “I was right.” She says to me.
“Yes, you were,” I say as I come over to Stella. “Nice one Stella. I think this means you are ready for your fitness part of the Lieutenants exam.”
I then walk over to Gallo who is taking a drink of water. “Nice race,” I say to him, leaning on a post so that I am facing him.
“Well, I thought that Stella should get the win.” He smiled.
“Oh, sure.” I rolled my eyes.
“Sorry, you didn’t win the bet.” He leaned closer.
“Oh, it’s fine. Half of my bet goes to drinks at Molly’s.” I shrug.
“That’s true.” He smirked. Then he just stared at me.
I stared back at him. The blood rushed to my cheeks, but I held his gaze.
“What?” I asked after a minute.
“What?” He had a dorky smile on his face.
“You're staring at me.” I blush even more. How red can a person get?
“I am not.” He didn’t leave my eyes as he said it.
“Oh really.” I lean closer.
“Pizza!” Cruz jumped in the middle of us, scaring me half to death. “We are getting pizza tonight and I am taking orders. What do we want.” Cruz said, giving Blake a deadly glare.
“Um… Cheese.” Blake answered, a little afraid.
“Cheese is fine with me,” I say, pulling on Cruz’s arm. “You have our order now.”
“I am going to need someone to help with getting the pizza.” Cruz’s eyes didn’t leave Blake’s. “Gallo, want to help?” He said more of a threat.
“No, I will go.” I offered, trying to save Blake the humiliation of being in the car with Cruz.
“I… I should start cleaning this up before it gets dark out.” Blake said, talking about the mess of an obstacle course that was laying on the ground.
“Yeah. You should.” Cruz spats.
“Cruz, how about you get everyone's order and I will meet you at your truck.” I step in front of him so he is forced to look at me. I glare at Cruz.
“Fine.” He says reluctantly.
I turn back to Blake and sigh.
“I think he was going to kill me.” Blake laughs.
“He might still.” I joke.
“That’s not funny. He totally could kill me.” Blake laughs.
“I should get going before he comes back here and drags you into a dark alley.” I laugh.
“Yeah, I have a mess to clean up anyway.” He smirks.
I nod and then walk back inside. Before I go through the doors I look back at Blake and he now has a broom in his hand, but he turns and looks at me. His dorky smile sends butterflies to my stomach and I blush and duck inside.
When I get to Cruz’s car he is already in the car with a notepad of everyone's order. I take the paper and look it over to make sure that everyone’s name is on it.
“So two large Candian Bacon. two large Pepperonis, and three large cheese?” I confirm.
“Yep,” Cruz says in a better mood than before.
“Are you ever going to stop glaring at Gallo when I talk to him?” I ask, leaning back in my seat and enjoying the ride.
“Nope. Never.” He says firmly.
“I am not a little kid anymore. You don’t have to protect me.” I argue.
“You will always be like a little sister to me. That means that no one is good enough for you.” Cruz says like it’s a matter of fact or something.
“But you like Gallo. You think he is a nice guy.” I say, remembering all the times Cruz was telling me about his friends at 51 while I was still training.
“But it’s different if you date him,” Cruz says.
“Look, I like him,” I confess. “I know you're just trying to look out for me, but I can do that for myself. So please, will you lay off?!”
As we drove into the pizza place, Cruz stopped the car and grabbed the notebook. Before he opened the door to his car he turned to me. “I will try.”
“Thank you.” I sighed. Then we got out of the car and went inside to place an order for pizza.
When we got back to the station everyone was already inside shouting about a rematch or how they want their money back. When we walked through the doors with pizza everyone started to crowd us now.
“Oh, that smells good.” Gallo came over and took the pizzas I was holding out of my hands and set them on the counter.
He handed me a plate as he opened up the boxes to find the cheese. I took a few slices and grabbed a pop from the fridge. I sat next to Blake who was talking to Ritter about a story or something.
“Yeah, and then right as I was about to jump down, I heard a ripping noise and knew that I had ripped my pants.” Gallo laughed as he was telling Ritter his story.
“You ripped your pants?” I chuckled.
“Oh yeah.” Ritter laughed. “This smooth talker thought that if he could climb a tree and get a volleyball out of it that he would get a girl's number.” Ritter filled me in.
“It didn’t work and I lost a pair of pants that day.” Blake pretends to be sad about it.
“Oh my.” I shook my head and laughed.
“So, you have any embarrassing stories?’ Ritter asked me. “We are sharing after all.”
“Nope,” I said as I took a bite of my pizza.
“You have never done anything embarrassing?” Blake asked, questioning me.
“No. I don’t get embarrassed.” I said while sitting up a little straighter.
“I don’t believe that.” Ritter laughed. “Hey, Cruz!” He said to Cruz who was sitting in front of the tv. Cruz looked up. “Got any embarrassing stories of Ginna over here?”
I glared at Cruz, not wanting him to spill anything. If anyone knew embarrassing things about me it would be him. Cruz seemed to know this so a smile spread on his face.
“I might have a few good ones.” He stood up and walked to our table. “How much time do you have?”
“Oh, I don’t have that many stories,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, I think you do.” Cruz sat down next to Ritter and across from me and Blake. “Where should I start? How about the time you thought that the guy at the pool was actually selling popsicles but actually you bought drugs?”
I put my face in my hands. I forgot about that one.
“Okay, I think I need to hear this,” Blake said, shifting in his chair to pay more attention.
“Well one day at our neighborhood pool, Ginna really wanted an orange popsicle.” Cruz started. “So when she saw that there was a sign for popsicles outside the pool gates, she grabbed money from her mom’s purse and went over to buy it. How much money did you take again?” Cruz asked me.
“Okay, so I didn’t know how much money they would cost so I grabbed a hundred dollars.” I looked up at Cruz. “But you are forgetting that before that I had asked you to buy me one and you refused.”
“Yeah, well I knew they weren’t actually selling popsicles.” Cruz throws it back at me. “Anyways with the hundred bucks she walks right up and orders three popsicles.”
Blake looked over to me, smiling from ear to ear. I might not have been such an open book as I had thought.
“When I asked him for them he told me to bug off,” I said, taking over the story. “When I started to get mad he confessed to not having any orange popsicles left. I showed him the money and said that I wanted some now.”
“You showed him the money?” Ritter said, laughing off his chair.
“Yeah. I was dumb and showed the tiny drug dealer a hundred bucks and asked him to give me what he had if he didn’t have any orange ones left.” I shook my head. “So when he handed me a popsicle box I didn’t care to look inside before I handed him the money.”
“You didn’t even check!?” Blake held his side and he was laughing so hard.
“I was five. I didn’t think that drug dealers were eleven-year-old kids.” I said to my defense.
“And then tell everyone what happened.” Cruz wiped a tear from his face because he was laughing so hard.
“I jumped into the hot tub at the pool with the box in my hands to hand it out to everyone.” I covered my face with my hands. “The hot water and the drugs didn’t mix well and in like three minutes we had a hot tub that looked like weed tea.”
“The pool had to be closed for two weeks because this girl got drugs into the filtration system.” Cruz laughed.
“I am not proud of that.” I shook my head. “It was an accident.”
“And what did you do the next time you saw that drug dealer?” Cruz edged me on.
“I gave him a wedge and shoved him into the pool in the deep end,” I said in a quiet voice.
“What was that?” Blake leaned in closer. “Did you just say you gave him a wedge and shoved him into the pool?”
“You heard me correctly.” I looked up to meet his gaze. He was laughing so hard and I hadn’t noticed before but everyone in the room seemed to have heard my story and was laughing with me.
“So, what you are telling me is to watch out for any popsicle stands?” Brett said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
“Ha Ha.” I looked up at her. “I was young.”
“Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to talk to strangers?” Casey asked in a joking tone.
“They did, but I wanted an orange popsicle,” I argued. “He was just eleven. I had no idea that his cardboard sign was just a ruse to hide his real business.”
“What did your parents say when they found out you bought drugs with their money?” Ritter asked.
“They weren’t happy but they got mad when I told them that I spent the whole hundred on the drugs.” I laughed.
“Okay, can we just take a second? So, if you thought it was actually popsicles in that box, did you really spend a hundred buck on it?” Blake said thinking about it for a second.
“Yes,” I grumbled as I put my head on the table.
Then there was another burst of laughter.
“So I might have ripped my pants for a girl, but you bought drugs from an eleven-year-old.” Gallo laughed. “I think you win with the most embarrassing story.”
“Yeah, I so wanted to win,” I said sarcastically.
We sat around the table sharing jokes and playing card games together for about an hour more. We laughed and after telling a few more stories around the table I didn’t feel so embarrassed. Everyone shared and it soon became a competition to see who had the worst story.
I looked over to Blake a lot and watched as he bluffed in poker and failed in Janga. He would catch my eyes every once and a while and give that dorky smile that sent butterflies to my stomach.
It was late and people were starting to get tired. I myself was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, but didn’t want to miss a thing.
I felt a warm hand squeeze mine under the table and I looked over to Gallo who was looking at me.
“You should get some rest.” He said softly so the others didn’t hear.
“I am not tired.” I lied but my body betrayed me as I yawned afterward.
“I beg to differ.” He smiles at me. “Go to bed.”
I smile in defeat and nod my head. I slowly slip my hand out of his and stand up. I tell everyone I am going to bed and then leave for the sleeping quarters.
