Therapy

Millie sat in the front seat with her arms crossed and glaring at the building in front of her. Eddie had kept his promise from November. He had put her in therapy. She'd been doing it since January, but there was no progress. 

She wasn't going to talk about what happened. Eddie desperately wanted to figure out a way to help her cope, but she wouldn't speak. Not to him, Buck, or even Maddie. He thought that if he found a therapist, especially one who focused on children who had been abused, Millie would open up. 

No luck so far.

"We have to go in now," Eddie says. 

"I don't want to! I wanna go home!" Millie grumbled. 

"You don't have a choice, kid. The more sessions you spend not talking, the more I'll schedule until you do." 

"I don't want to think about it anymore!" Millie shouts, her eyes filled with tears. 

Eddie sighs, putting a hand on the side of Millie's face. "I know, baby. But talking about it will help. Even if you don't think it will. I can't help you; you won't tell me anything. But Doctor Gilmore, she can help." 

"I don't want to go, please, Daddy," Millie begs. 

Eddie runs a hand over his face before looking at the clock. He had five minutes to get her inside. 

"Millie, one more, okay? If you go in there and at least ask about her day, I'll consider ending this." Eddie says. 

It was easy to lie, even though he didn't necessarily want to. He just had to get her in there. 

"Really?" The smile that came to Millie's face almost made him regret lying. 

"Really," he nodded. "Now, can we please get inside?" he asked, wiping her tears with the pads of his thumbs. 

+

Millie sat silently at Doctor Gilmore's office, at the arts and crafts table. She had walked into the office, and her brain had shut off. She wanted to ask how the lady felt, but her mouth wouldn't move. 

If her father could see her, he'd be so disappointed. 

'I'm sorry, daddy.' Millie thinks to herself, her eyes filling with tears again. 

"Millie," Doctor Gilmore says, across from the girl. "Are you alright?" 

Millie nods and uses her sleeve to wipe her tears.

"Millie, I'd like to hear your voice. You always listen to me, but I've never gotten to listen to you." 

That wasn't true. Millie knew that Doctor Gilmore heard her screaming at the top of her lungs at the beginning of every other appointment. She was lying to make Millie feel better, but it didn't help. 

Her grip on the crayon got tighter, and she pushed it onto her paper. "Alright, how about I give you something?" 

Millie perked up, watching as Doctor Gilmore walked to her bag and pulled something out. 

"I have some candy," Doctor Gilmore pauses, setting a piece of chocolate in front of the girl. 

Millie frowns, "I-I c-can't eat it." She mumbled. 

Doctor Gilmore smiled widely before going back to her desk. She replaced the chocolate candy with one of the pre-approved ones she'd gotten from the girl's father. "How about this one?" 

"I can have it?" Millie asked, her eyes shining as she looked at the doctor. 

"Go ahead, sweetheart." Millie wastes no time opening the candy and shoving it in her mouth. 

After she swallowed it, Doctor Gilmore took a chance. "All right, Millie. I want to ask you some questions. Is that alright with you?" 

"I guess," Millie sighs. 

+

"How'd it go, kiddo?" Eddie smiled, his hands on Millie's shoulders. 

"I wanna go home," Millie mumbled, raising her arms for Eddie to carry her. 

Eddie frowned but picked her up. "Mr. Diaz, go ahead and schedule another one. Today went very well," Doctor Gilmore says. 

"Oh?" Eddie asks. 

"We talked about it quite a bit, and the candy helped." 

"I knew it could potentially," Eddie shrugged. 

Doctor Gilmore nodded, shaking Eddie's hand. "Two weeks from today, okay?" She asks. 

"She'll be here." Eddie nods before they walk out. 

Eddie unlocks the truck, buckling Millie into the backseat. "Hey, bug. I really appreciate you talking to her. I'm very proud of you," Eddie says, kissing the side of her head before getting behind the wheel, the grin never leaving his face.

Millie smiled at her hands. Maybe therapy and Doctor Gilmore weren't so bad. 

+

+

Millie sat on the loft stairs, watching Bobby speak to Harry's class about emergency calls and who to call if something terrible happened. Eddie had tried bribing her to join them, but she'd woken up angry today, so he didn't try very hard. She just wanted to be at home, but that's where Shannon was, and she didn't want to be there if she were there. 

It's been months since Shannon re-entered the Diaz family, and Millie hasn't enjoyed it a single second. Of course, she was happy for Christopher. He got his mother back, and he was delighted. All while Millie's mother was on the run, and Millie had nightmares about her every night. No amount of meds or therapy was going to help her nightmares; that's what Millie thought every night. 

Ever since Shannon came back, Millie has been forced to sleep in her room—except that she doesn't sleep at all if she's alone. Sometimes, she'll beg Buck to come and stay the night—he hasn't found his own apartment yet, and Maddie's son is still recovering—or Eddie will give in and sleep in Millie's room with her. 

Millie knew that when she cried for Eddie every night, it upset Shannon, but she'd stopped caring. If Shannon could waltz back into their lives like she didn't abandon Christopher, then Millie could make it where Shannon hated being there. She hoped that the woman would leave again, this time never returning. 

"Millie?" Eddie says, climbing the steps and sitting on the step below her. 

"I ain't going down there," she says immediately.

Eddie furrows his brows before chuckling. "I wasn't going to ask you to. Maddie and Buck are going to come over tomorrow and introduce Zane to us." 

"And?" Millie picks at the edge of her shorts, not looking at Eddie. 

"And I need you to be in a better mood. It's our first day off in over a week. Buck doesn't have to do this, but Zane says he's ready. And if we can get you and him to meet, then maybe you can start hanging with Maddie and Zane while I'm on twenty-fours." Eddie says, pulling Millie's hand away from the fringe of her shorts. 

"No, thank you." Millie shrugs, getting up and heading to the loft. 

"Hey, we're not done talking," Eddie follows behind her. 

"Well, I am," Millie says. 

Hen choked on her water before looking at Millie with wide eyes. 

"Amelia," Eddie says in a warning tone. 

Millie stops in her tracks. She doesn't turn around, but she also doesn't move. Eddie hadn't called her that name since the hospital in Washington. It didn't bother her as much as before, but it still made her angry, and all the bad stuff returned. 

"Come back over here and talk to me," Eddie says, crossing his arms. 

Millie takes a deep breath and huffs. She walks with her head down until she's in front of her father. "When we get home tonight, you will take a bath and then go straight to bed. I will not sleep in your room again, and you will not ask Buck to come over." Eddie bends down to her height. 

"You hear me?" Eddie asks when Millie stays silent. 

"But I can't sleep alone!" Millie mumbled. 

"You have all your stuffed animals and your baby dolls." 

"But they're not real! They can't protect me." She cries. 

"Millie, please just do this for me?" Eddie sighs. 

Millie nods a little, and Eddie lets her go. He hesitates before he turns and goes back to ground level. 

+

+

Eddie rushed through the firehouse, searching for Millie. He'd let her wander the firehouse, and now he couldn't find her. He hadn't told anyone because he didn't want them to worry. More than likely, the kid was hiding. 

"Millie?" Eddie poked his head into Bobby's office, but it was empty. 

"Fuck," He mumbled, continuing from the office. 

"Hey, Diaz?" Buck shouts. 

"What?" Eddie says, still moving forward. 

"Looking for this?" Buck asks, a grin covering his entire face. 

Eddie turns around too quickly and almost falls over. His heart drops when he sees Buck holding Millie over the edge of the railing on the loft. 

"Oh my god, Buck, get her down from there!" Eddie shouts, taking the steps two at a time. 

Millie was laughing, though, even as Buck set her back on two feet. 

"That was not funny, Evan," Eddie says, lifting Millie in his arms. 

"It was too fun, Daddy!" Millie grinned, leaning back and squeezing Eddie's face in both hands. 

Eddie shakes his head and sighs. "No more doing that, please?" 

Buck nods, "No matter how much she begs, Buckley." Eddie says, glaring at the taller man. 

Buck raises his hands, "Alright, but I just thought you should know I did say no at first."  Buck grinned. 

"No, he didn't; he agreed right away." Hen calls from the couch. 

"Hey!" Buck shouts, jumping over the back of the couch. 

"Come on, bug, we gotta talk," Eddie says, carrying Millie to a table away from everyone else. 

"Millie, you can either go with us on every call or go home and be with Chris and Shannon," Eddie says, getting right to the point. 

"I want to stay," Millie says immediately. 

"I figured." Eddie runs a hand over his face. 

"Well, get your backpack packed then. There was a system-wide power outage in the area. That means we're going old school."

"What does that mean?" She asks. 

"We'll drive around in the trucks until we're told where to go. The alarms won't go off here." Eddie says. 

"We're gonna spend all day in the trucks?" Millie asks, confused. 

"Yes, but you can go home, bug." Eddie reminds her. 

"No," Mille shakes her head until she's dizzy. 

Everyone jams into the trucks, and they start driving around Los Angeles. Millie has her iPad and is watching a movie. She doesn't care much about the conversation the adults are having, but there is no way she will be alone with Shannon. 

+

"Guys," Millie says, leaning out of the window. "I don't think this is the right place." 

"Thanks, kid," Bobby sighed, returning to the radio. 

Millie listens to Bobby talk to dispatch as she looks around at the empty lot they'd been told to go to. There wasn't even a broken-down old car here. "Scooch," Eddie says, opening the door. 

Millie returns to her seat, and the 118 return to the truck. During the entire ride to the correct building, Millie talks about her stuffed animals and the new game she created for them. 

"All right, kid, stay out of the way. Just stay right here." Buck says, leaving Millie near the door as the rest of the team rushed to a couple in the middle of the lobby. 

Millie glared at him, but she figured the woman was having a baby just from the screams and bits of conversation she could hear. 

She watched from the side as Hen and Eddie worked to help the couple. Not long after, they told the woman, Sonia, that she needed to push. It was time for her baby to come. 

Sonia was crying that something was wrong with the baby as Millie moved closer, staying near the woman's face. Sonia was freaking out, and Millie knew that it wasn't good for her or her baby. She wanted to help. 

"Hi," Millie says, kneeling next to the woman. 

"Millie!" Eddie snaps, but Millie ignores him. 

"I wasn't old enough to remember my baby brother being born, but I remember being there before he was. I remember the crying and the screaming. They told his mommy that it wasn't good." Bobby and Eddie make eye contact, and Bobby shrugs, but neither of them stops Millie. 

Sonia's face twisted in pain, and she let out another scream as another contraction hit. 

"So his mommy stopped worrying, and she just pushed. She was calm, and then my baby brother was born. It was so easy. All you have to do is breathe." Millie says, moving the woman's hair from her sweaty forehead. 

"What's your brother's name?" Sonia says, breathing deeply. 

"Christopher! He's my favorite person in the world." Millie grins. 

"Sonia, it's time to push," Hen says, and Sonia smiles at Millie. 

"Thank you, Millie? Was it?" Sonia asks.

"Yup," Millie nods before backing away and standing beside Bobby. 

"Good job, kid. You helped calm her down." Bobby smiles at her, holding out his fist. 

Millie bumps her fist against his. "Thanks," she says, hiding her smile as she turns her attention back to her dad and Hen. 

Not long before, Hen is holding a screaming baby and repeating, "He's here!" 

"Baby's got a set of pipes," Eddie says, nudging Sonia's husband's arm. 

Millie doesn't listen as the 118 takes care of the baby. She watches Sonia's face, and when she sees the woman's eyes are wide open and she's stopped moving, she reacts. 

Millie shakes her shoulder, but Sonia's eyes stay closed. "Daddy!" Millie shouts, shaking Sonia's shoulder harder. 

"Millie! Stop that!" Eddie shouts, pushing her hands away. 

"She closed her eyes, Daddy. She hasn't opened them." Millie shouts as Bobby grabs her wrist to keep her next to him and out of the way. 

+

Millie gripped Eddie's arm tightly as they rode to the hospital. Sonia's husband and the baby were sitting across from her, and all Millie wanted to do was cry, too. She didn't expect things to go so badly. She just wanted to help. 

They arrive at the hospital after the ambulance, and Millie slowly gets out of the truck, following behind Eddie. 

"How is she, guys?" Sonia's husband asks, the baby now asleep in his arms.

"Guys," Bobby says, motioning for everyone to stop. "I am so sorry," 

Sonia's husband is silent as he moves toward the woman, and he starts whispering. 

"Daddy, is she okay?" Millie asked. 

Eddie pauses, looking at Bobby for an answer. 

"Millie, you did an excellent job back at the apartments. You kept Sonia talking long enough for the baby to come." Bobby says, jumping in. 

"But is she okay now?" Millie asked as Eddie walked away. 

"She, uh - " Bobby stutters before Eddie yells out. 

"She's got a pulse!" Bobby is relieved he doesn't have to lie to the poor girl. 

Millie backs away from everyone. Sonia wasn't okay, and they were going to lie to her. She walks back to the truck and sits down. She puts her headphones back on and returns to her iPad, ignoring everyone when they return. Eddie goes to speak to her, but she pushes his hands away and turns her body away. 

+

+

"Millie," Eddie says, touching her shoulder to stop her. 

Eddie waits until it's just him and Millie before he lifts her and sets her on the side of the firetruck, so she's the same height. "I know that call was hard; you did well, bug. You didn't have to come in; you could've stayed where Buck had left you, but you saw that the woman was upset and having a hard time." 

"You came over, and you calmed her down. She did die, Millie. For a few minutes, and I should've told you that at the hospital. But she will be fine, and so will her baby." 

"What if she isn't okay?" Millie mumbled. 

"How about tomorrow after shift, we go take her some flowers. Maybe something for the baby?" Eddie suggests. 

"Really?" Millie asked, her eyes shining. 

Eddie nods, "Okay, now, do you want to stay behind for a while? I'll tell Bobby I'll be the man behind for a couple of hours." 

Millie thinks about it, but ultimately, she decides that she doesn't want Eddie to have to stay behind with her. He's not left her at the station with another co-worker since the day she was taken, even after firefighter Rodrigo apologized repeatedly. Eddie had ignored the man for weeks; eventually, Rodrigo transferred to B Shift. 

 +

Millie's eyes were wide as she looked out the truck's window. Buck was right - the entire neighborhood was on fire. A man starts banging on the windshield, and Millie jumps. 

"Hey," Eddie says, snapping his fingers, but Millie still looks out the window. 

"Millie! Listen to me," Eddie shouts, turning her so she can look at him. 

"Stay in the truck! Do not leave it, do you understand me?" Eddie says. 

"Yeah, I promise." Millie nods repeatedly. 

"I love you!" Eddie kisses the top of Millie's head before joining the others. 

Millie watches from the truck as Buck climbs the ladder. "Buck!" She screams when the ladder snaps, and he's hanging from the bars. She wanted to leave the truck, but she'd promised. 

Eddie looks back at Millie before making a big decision. 

Millie watches Eddie run to the house, and she gets out of the truck. She runs straight to Buck, who has jumped down and is now on his feet. She didn't care about the promise now, not when her dad had literally just run into a ticking time bomb. 

"Buck!" Millie shouts. 

"Hey, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Buck asks, catching the girl before she knocks them both over. 

"I thought that you were gonna be hurt," Millie mumbled, her arms wrapped around him. 

"I'm okay, Millie. Promise." Buck says. 

"Is Daddy going to be okay?" Millie whispers. 

Eddie had made it to the house's roof, and Millie held tightly onto Buck as she watched her dad. After securing a rope, Eddie kicked in a window and disappeared inside. "He's going to be great, kid. I promise." 

"I got him, cap!" Eddie's voice sounds weird coming from the walkies, but at least they'd be out soon. 

Hen comes running over, and a loud boom makes Millie jump. 

"Negative on the evac, cap. Pinned down on the south side of the house." Bobby's walkie goes off again. 

"No! Someone help him!" Millie cries, her heart breaking as she watches the house in front of her continue to burn. 

Buck starts heading up the ladder, but Bobby stops him. 

"No, wait!" Bobby says, and he starts looking above them. 

A few seconds later, it's loud. "Incoming! Everybody, take cover under the trucks now!" Bobby shouts. 

"Now! Go, go!" He shouts again when no one listens. 

Millie doesn't know what to do. She just wanted her dad. 

"Millie!" Buck shouts, grabbing her and pulling her down. He pulls her under the truck and covers her body with his. Even under the trucks, Buck knew that the water could reach her. 

Millie keeps her face hidden in her arms until Buck pulls her out. Her clothes were soaked, and Buck knew he should have just put her into the truck. "Where's my dad?" Millie asked, her face still wet with tears. 

"Eddie, do you copy?" Nothing on the other end. 

"Daddy!" Millie screams, her voice cracking as she watches the house. 

And then, there's Eddie. Walking out of the front door with a kid in his arms. 

Millie is the first person to reach him after he sets the kid down. Eddie lifts her in his arms, and Millie smiles at him softly. "Are you okay, daddy?" She asked.

"Yeah, bug. I'm okay. But why are your clothes soaked?" Eddie asked, raising a brow at her. 

"'Cause I got out of the truck." Millie shrugged, grinning at him. 

Eddie laughs as he takes her back to the trucks. "Let's go back and get you into some dry clothes." 

+

A/N: I had no idea how to start or end this chapter, so it's probably the worst one I've written. I should've skipped the episode entirely, but I already wrote 3k words. I didn't do that for nothing. 

Anywho, the next chapter involves Millie and Zane's meeting and the bank heist that the 118 is accused of pulling off. I have no idea how I'll add Millie to that, but I do have a little idea. 

Thank you for reading! Please don't be a ghost reader. I appreciate it when you vote, comment, and especially add to a reading list! 

I love all the support I've been getting on this fic, and I'd be nowhere without my readers. 

- Kam <3

Slight edits: March 2026