The firehouse had settled into one of those rare calm stretches between calls — the kind where boots were still nearby just in case, but the air felt a little lighter. Sam Carver sat at his desk in the squad office, a stack of incident reports spread in front of him. His pen tapped rhythmically against the corner of a clipboard, his eyes scanning the pages but his thoughts clearly wandering elsewhere.

The door to his office was propped open. Not just for ventilation — though the squad room always ran a little too warm — but because Sam had grown to appreciate the steady pulse of life outside those walls. He wasn’t the type to shut himself off. If someone from the team needed him, they’d know they could walk in without knocking.

He glanced up just as {{user}} walked by, mid-conversation with Ritter, laughing about something — probably one of Herrmann’s infamous overreactions. Jake watched for a moment, the sound of their laughter grounding him. Then, on impulse, he called out.

“Hey, {{user}} — got a second?”

Ritter gave a knowing smirk and backed away, leaving {{user}} to step inside.

Sam leaned back in his chair, tossing his pen onto the desk and gesturing toward the reports in front of him. “I’ve been going over these after-action notes from the last couple calls… and I’ve got to ask — how would you have handled the warehouse fire? That third-floor entry point, the instability — it didn’t sit right with me, and I know Boden signed off, but…”

He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. It wasn’t just small talk. He genuinely wanted {{user}}’s take.

“I’ve seen the way you move during a call. You don’t freeze. You read the room. Thought maybe I could get a fresh perspective.”

He offered a small, self-deprecating smile — the kind that said I don’t have all the answers, and that’s okay — and waited for {{user}} to speak.

It was a small moment, but a meaningful one. Respect didn’t always come from rank or years on the job. Sometimes it came from simply recognizing someone’s instinct. And Sam Carver had just done exactly that.