Don't you honey me

[Annabeth Tucker]

'You've gotten into my bloodstream' Beth had wandered into work and made the discovery that she had a new partner. Well that was just wonderful. She made a face. Great just what she needed, another reassignment. Shani was still here she’d seen her so why did she have to get reassigned? That was when her partner had been eyeing over her. "What's wrong honey? I know that face wasn't because of me." Beth had done a double take. "Excuse you? I am NOT your honey." She spouted out. Oh this was not going to go over well at all. “You could be” He had not gone there. Beth didn’t see herself as belonging to anyone like being called honey by people she didn’t know. Yes, she was seeing someone but that was not the point right now. Alright Beth, professionalism at work. “I’m looking for Aiden Christopher.” She hadn’t failed to notice the man’s uniform. This had better not be him. “Only my mother calls me Aiden... you can call me AJ.” She wanted to show him what that smirk looked like upside down right about now, but Beth wasn’t the type to lash out at people or cause a fight. No she was more of the retreat type. A little quick thinking went a long way. “I left something at another firehouse from last shift. I'll be back.” She hadn’t worked at fifty-one at all to be fair. Well there had been that one sub shift but she was mostly lying through her teeth. She could be a good liar when she wanted to be. Heading back out of the office she got in her car and headed to fifty-one. As soon as she got to fifty-one she first bumped into Matt Casey “Um… Lieutenant Sutherland. Is he here?” She quiered quickly. “Yeah.. Might want to check his office?” The Truck Lieutenant replied and quirked a brow. “Tanner!” Beth’s voice rang through the halls. She kept her radio in close promiximity in case she needed to dash off to a call. She turned it down as she tapped on his door. She was looking like she had just strangled something, which was very much not the case. Tag: Tanner Sutherland, @aj OOC: AJ used with permission from @aj from skype conversation

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Deleted]

AJ was just wondering why out of all the paramedics in Chicago he had managed to get himself paired up with this uptight woman when she had fired off some lame excuse about leaving something at another house and took off. He called after her, "Look... I'm sorry I didn't mean anything by it, but it was too late as he heard the door close." 'Great AJ... Scare your partner so bad she runs away from you before you've even been properly introduced.' He thought to himself. Deciding to follow the woman so that he could properly apologize, he quickly hopped in the Ambo in case they got a call and followed her.

AJ parked the rig outside of fifty-one and looked at the building for a moment, he'd heard rumblings about this house and the chief. As he walked in the door he bumped into a blonde paramedic, he eyed her up and down before reminding himself why he was there in the first place. "Hey there, I seem to have misplaced my partner... Annabeth Tucker, have you seen her?"

Sylvie rolled her eyes as she saw him check her out, but smiled nicely and answered him all the same. I saw her headed somewhere in a hurry, looking for Tanner, uh Lieutenant Sutherland. So you might want to check his office, but she seemed kind of upset so you might want to give it a few minutes." Sylvie shook her head as AJ had taken off towards the offices ignoring her advice to wait. "Can't say I didn't warn you!" She called after him.

AJ smiled back at Sylvie, and almost ran right into another Lieutenant. He read his shirt before addressing him, "Lieutenant Casey, can you please point me in the direction of a Lieutenant Sutherland's office please? Seem to have lost my new partner and I need to speak to her."

Tag: Annabeth Tucker, Tanner Sutherland

[Tanner Sutherland]

Next time you decide to try BASE jumping from the roof of the station without a parachute, Taylor, don't. That wasn't really the best way to open a conversation with a subordinate, but who didn't have allergies to anything remotely resembling paperwork? Tanner would have preferred Steph's stack of medical documentation, each form requiring signatures—in triplicate, of course—to disappear, never to be seen again. But the odds of that were miniscule. So he held his tongue and settled for a more professional approach. "Per department regulations," Tanner explained, pushing a pile of legal papers in her direction—a noticeably smaller stack than his own. Somehow the person involved in the accident had less to fill out than he did. That just made him hate this more. "You need to read over these. Then sign and date them."

Tanner let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. As a firefighter, you were always prepared for the next emergency. The next 911 call. He could risk his life and not bat an eyelash. That isn't what he got. The tap on his closed office door caused him to look up. He wasn't expecting anyone and, by now, he'd been here long enough that the rest of the station knew to give him a wide berth when it came to paperwork. "Give me a minute," he told Steph, heading over to the door.

Fully intending to usher the uninformed along their merry way, Tanner threw open the door, only to find a familiar, but visibly upset face looking back at him. "Beth?" He didn't think twice about Steph in his office, pulling the uniformed paramedic into a hug. Neither he, nor Beth, had actually used the words 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend,' but the two of them had been on a couple of dates now. Things were just... complicated. And they were still working on un-complicating their relationship—or whatever it was they had. Steph could think what she wanted. "Talk to me. What's wrong?"

Annabeth Tucker , @aj

[Annabeth Tucker]

'You've gotten into my bloodstream' Matt saw the whole exchange between Sylvie and this Paramedic from another house and let her handle things. Okay so the other paramedic who ran by must be Annabeth, but she looked like she was trying to run from something. This character maybe? Matt didn't think anymore on it. After all the kid asked for Sutherland when he approached him. "I wouldn't bother the Lieutenant at the moment." He thought about adding the fact that Stephanie was in the office but he decided not to, this genius could figure out what a bad idea this was when he got there. Beth saw he had someone in the office and she wiggled out of the hug and went into his office and then hugged him from behind. Her head pressed against his back. Right, talk... explain things. "Get me the hell away from my partner." Well, she probably needed to say more than that, but she noticed Stephanie quirked a brow. Though the woman made no comment. What had the paramedic so on edge? Why did paramedics always complain about their partner? "Do guys really only ever think with their second head? I swear the next person who calls me Honey I will pepper spray in the face." Beth didn't appreciate being treated as an object. That's exactly what the whole situation had made her feel. The one reason she had issues with relationships, the one reason she kept people at arm's length. Tanner somehow understood all that, he'd never pushed her into anything. Stephanie stayed where she was, signing the paperwork. There was no point in leaving the room. She had a feeling things were about to go South. She knew if roles were reversed and it was her and Ben in the situation, the partner would fry before he had a chance to talk. The last thing she wanted was her boss in jail. She decided to keep Tanner from doing anything stupid, the paramedic looked scared out of her mind. @aj, Tanner Sutherland

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Deleted]

AJ heard the Lieutenant's warning about bothering Sutherland right now, but chose to ignore it. He didn't want to mess things up with his new partner within the first hour, and it seemed like he already had. As he approached the office he heard Annabeth tell the man in there to get her the hell away from her partner, this caused him to stop in his tracks and think about what had gone wrong. Sure he had flirted with her, but he flirted with anybody. He really hadn't meant anything by it and he surely hadn't meant to upset her this much. When she went on to ask if guys only ever thought with their second head he chuckled and made a mental note to buy her some pepper spray before next shift.

He stood silently outside of the office for a few more minutes before he approached and knocked on the door. "Annabeth... I really need to apologize to you, I didn't mean anything by it. It's how I am, I flirt with everyone and if I laid it on a little thick this morning it was because I was nervous so I promise I won't ever call you honey again. I'll even..."

Annabeth Tucker, Tanner Sutherland

[Tanner Sutherland]

Tanner chuckled at Beth's comment about men and their second head. He knew she didn't mean it—at least not about him. She wouldn't be here, if she did. "Not all of us, honey," he quipped, trying to get at least a smile out of her, but pet names were in the same unused space as labels. As much as he wanted to know exactly what was going on, he didn't push her for an explanation. She would either tell him when she was ready, or her partner would walk through that door and tip his hand. In the meantime, Tanner let Beth hide her smaller frame behind him, as he stood between her and the door to his office. Whatever this clown had done, he'd be lucky to not get a fist to the face. Tanner had never seen Beth like this before.

At least Steph had buried her head in the paperwork in front of her—or, at the very least, had the decorum to pretend she was busy. Even if she was caught between a rock and a hard place. Tanner would have to apologize to her later, but right now, Beth had to be his priority. He reached back for her hand, giving her something to latch onto, if she so chose.

Beth's new partner took that exact moment to all but barge into his office. Tanner sized AJ up, instantly deciding he didn't like the man. But Tanner had grown up in the Deep South. Southern charm was simply a way of life. You didn't flirt with everything that moved—the obnoxious playboy thing something of a foreign concept. He'd seen the type once or twice before, but this was different. Oblivious or not, AJ had picked Beth: the woman he was dating. He narrowed his eyes, ready to throw the letter of the law down. "Do the words 'workplace' and 'sexual harassment' mean anything to you? Because you just admitted to a serious offense—the type that can get you fired—in front of a Lieutenant and another firefighter. Not your smartest move."

Annabeth Tucker , @aj

[Annabeth Tucker]

'You've gotten into my bloodstream' When Tanner started calling her her honey she shot him a glare. Though it didn’t last long as it was replaced with a smirk and a chuckle. “Of course not, dear” she returned the sentiment with a bit of a tone that suggested if he was going to start something she was going to try and finish it. Beth wasn’t ready to really discuss things but it turned out she didn’t have to do much explaining because AJ was explaining himself. Beth lightly took the hand that Tanner had offered. She liked to think that she would really pepper spray someone in the face but Beth wasn’t one to really like conflict too much. She was by definition fragile. Annabeth was going to open her mouth and make some retort about being called by her full name. No one called her by her full name. It just wasn’t done; she held her tongue from correcting her partner. She decided it was better to just let Tanner handle this. Though she kept his hand, hoping that Tanner didn’t flatten this guy. Beth stayed pretty much glued to Tanner and glanced over to Stephanie finishing up paperwork. Beth felt bad for interrupting whatever this was, because this was his work and it was hardly professionalism at it’s finest but her other option had been to run to the police station. That would have turned out so well if the police chief or internal affairs captain became involved. Even Beth considered that much overkill. Tag: Tanner Sutherland,@aj

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Deleted]

Aiden almost laughed when the Lieutenant called Beth Honey and she glared at him, but knew better. When Tanner started throwing out terms like workplace and sexual harassment it made AJ cringe just a bit. "I'm not here to cause problems, I only followed Beth here because I saw how upset I made her and knew I needed to apologize." He shrugged, "It all seemed fairly harmless at the time, but I hate that I made her uncomfortable and wouldn't dream of doing anything like that again... ever."

AJ was nervous and when he was nervous he rambled a bit and fidgeted quite a lot. Eyeing Tanner warily he looked to Beth, "I'm sorry Beth, I didn't mean anything at all by it... Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, and now that I know it does would never dream of doing anything like it again. I promise I'm not a bad guy, and wouldn't ever hurt you." Deciding that if the two of them made it past their first shift together next shift he was going to bring in her very own can of pepper spray labeled AJ repellant... not that she'd need it, but it would be a funny way to break the ice a bit.

Turning back to Tanner he rocked from foot to foot, wishing that if the other man was going to hit him he'd just go ahead and get it over with already. Aiden knew he probably deserved it and would stand there and take it, but didn't want to be caught off guard. "Sir, I need to apologize to you as well. I swear I would never hurt Beth and nothing like this will ever happen again. I'm sorry I made your girlfriend so upset that she felt she needed to run away from me, that was never my intention." Swallowing hard he waited for the other man's reaction, he had to fight the urge to flinch anytime Tanner moved. "With all due respect Lieutenant, if you're going to hit me can I ask that you just go ahead and do it already... I know I deserve it, and that way it's over with and maybe then we can all just move past this."

Annabeth Tucker, Tanner Sutherland

[Tanner Sutherland]

Tanner's hand had begun to ball into a fist. And the more AJ spoke—the more he protested how he hadn't meant for things to go as far as they had—the more Tanner wanted to plant that fist in the paramedic's face. Regardless of whether the other man had 'meant it' or not, it was far too late for apologies. He'd seen the look on Beth's face—the one that told him just how far things had really gone—and that kind of scared didn't stem from a simple misunderstanding.

But at least Beth seemed to be more comfortable now that there were people she could trust in the same room. She'd even gone so far as to banter back with him, giving him a pet name of his own, which had drawn a small smile at the time. Oh, Tanner still intended to deck AJ, but not before putting the fear of God into him. "Believe me, you're not getting off that easy. Captain Severide—you know him? Because," Tanner pointed out for AJ's benefit. "He's married to my sister. And he'll be keeping a close eye on his new troublemaker. I suggest being exceptionally well-behaved."

Provided Kelly didn't take more drastic measures. Because, at the end of the day, Firehouse 23 and its personnel fell under Kelly's supervision. It was his job to keep it in order. And, while Tanner would certainly make sure his brother-in-law was appraised of the situation, his own authority was limited. "But let me be clear. If I think you're looking at Beth the wrong way… if I even think you're flirting with my girlfriend, Captain Severide will be the least of your concerns. Understood?"

Annabeth Tucker , @aj