Chapter 2 of The Paramedic’s Choice does something genre readers consistently reward: it builds out the found-family ensemble at Station U with new characters who are funny, warm, and quietly tragic all at once. Readers who love urban fantasy with a strong supporting cast — the kind of series where side characters feel as real as the protagonist — will find this chapter especially satisfying.

The night-shift paramedics Brook and Tammy are introduced bantering about a reality court TV show, giving the chapter an easy, lived-in workplace comedy rhythm before anything serious happens. Then there is Freddy: a zombie, a former chef, and currently the de facto cook and housekeeper at Station U after surviving a hate-crime arson attack that everyone initially believed had killed him. Freddy was cursed by his voodoo priestess girlfriend after he cheated on her — a backstory that is darkly funny and genuinely poignant in the same breath.

Why readers love the “found family takes in a damaged survivor” trope

Freddy’s arrangement at the station — a curse victim and attack survivor given a home and a purpose by the people who originally treated him as a patient — is exactly the kind of found-family payoff that urban fantasy readers search for. It transforms Station U from a workplace into a genuine sanctuary, which raises the emotional stakes of every future threat against it.

The badge ceremony and what it represents

Dean receives his full paramedic badge in this chapter, marking the official end of his probationary period. The scene is deliberately understated — Chief Ari arrives, hands over the badge without much fanfare, and leaves for a meeting. For readers who appreciate competence arcs that resist over-dramatizing earned success, this matter-of-fact treatment works in the story’s favor. Dean has spent two books proving himself, and the series trusts the reader to feel that weight without needing a grand speech to underline it.

The dispatch call that turns the chapter

Just as the celebratory mood settles, dispatch announces an assault call at Dean’s own former street address. Readers who love urban fantasy thrillers that use dramatic irony — where the audience feels the dread building before the protagonist fully processes it — will recognize this as the hinge moment of the chapter. The reader already knows, from chapter one, that Dean just visited that address that morning. The unease is immediate, and it sets up the central crisis of the book without a single line of exposition needed.

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CHAPTER TEXT

The Paramedic’s Choice — Chapter 2

Dean pulled into the station parking lot about fifteen minutes early, then went inside to see the two nightshift paramedics, Brook and Tammy, seated in recliners, watching some syndicated, reality court TV show. He laughed because he knew they were hooked on the show, and they talked about it all the time.

“What’s Judge Jane up to now?” Dean asked as he walked by. “Is she slapping down some idiot who thinks he doesn’t have to pay his ex-wife’s car payment or something?”

“You have no appreciation of what good entertainment is all about,” Tammy quipped. “Judge Jane tells it like it is and she doesn’t take any sass from anybody.”

“Did you really just say ‘she doesn’t take any sass’?” Dean asked, laughing aloud.

“That’s what Judge Jane calls it, and I don’t know a better word to use than what she uses,” Brook, the younger of the two, defended her partner then changed the subject. “Hey, how’s the new digs downtown? Is the apartment classy?”

“It’s nice, but it’s not the same as being home in my own place,” Dean said. “It’s kind of like a high-end hotel suite, as in a fun place to stay, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

“Wouldn’t want to live where?” Brynne, Dean’s partner and supervisor, entered the squad room, catching the end of the conversation.

“We were just asking Dean for details on his new place downtown,” Tammy explained. “We wanted details on how the other half lives. You know, Brynne, like when you have a sugar daddy.” Dean knew that Tammy referred to Brynne’s boyfriend, James Lee. He was more than just wealthy. He was also the vampire overlord of all the Unusuals in the Elk City region.

“Oh, ha ha,” Brynne said. “James is not a sugar daddy by any stretch of the imagination.”

“He just pays the bills and gives you a free place to stay,” Brook chimed in. “I don’t know. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck … you know.”

Dean jumped in. “You should see the penthouse apartment on the top floor, ladies, all full of artwork and fancy furniture, personally selected by an interior designer. I thought I’d stepped into a museum. Plus he’s got a big screen TV that is as big as that entire wall,” he said gesturing at the wall with the bookshelf and the station’s small flatscreen television.

“Okay,” Brynne said. “That’s enough of that, Dean. Anyway, since your probationary period is over, we need to be ready for when the Chief arrives to present you with your new badge. He approved it effective today, and he will be here any minute to give it to you personally.”

“Hey, congrats Dean,” Tammy said. “I had forgotten that was going to happen this morning. It is well deserved, and about time.”

“Yeah,” Brook added. “Kudos. You’ve definitely got the right touch for this kind of work.”

“Yes,” a raspy voice said from across the room. “Congratulations, Dean. I should whip up something special for the occasion.”

The voice came from a shambling, gray figure in the kitchenette area of the squad room. It was Freddy, a zombie and one of the undead Unusuals cared for by the Station U paramedics. He was also one of the best chefs in the country, or at least he had been. Unfortunately, Freddy had cheated on his voodoo priestess girlfriend and paid the price when she laid this curse on him. A few weeks earlier, when his trailer was burned down by The Cause, everyone had thought he perished in the fire. After it had been discovered by the paramedics at Station U that he had survived, they had decided to put him up in their station. Since then he had become the de facto housekeeper and cook for the paramedics there. It was a good arrangement for everyone, as long as he kept track of his digits and other body parts while he was cooking.

Dean murmured thanks to the congratulations from his friends. He felt the blush spread across his face at the praise, but he didn’t care. This was something he had been waiting for, and it had finally happened. No longer on probation, he was now a full-fledged paramedic and member of the team at Station U.

Ari, the Chief of EMS for the Elk City Fire Department arrived a few minutes later, and in a very brief presentation, without much ceremony at all, handed Dean his new badge that read “Paramedic,” without the probationary qualifier of his former shield. Everyone shook his hand and congratulated him again. The Chief left, waving off an offer to stay for breakfast saying he had an early meeting. He did tell Freddy that he’d take a rain check, stating that his favorite breakfast was Eggs Benedict.

Brook and Tammy came over and shook Dean’s hand one more time. Then the two ladies grabbed their gear, including a takeout container of fresh breakfast from Freddy for each of them, and headed out the station door to go home.

Dean watched them leave, still basking in the glow of the promotion. Brynne broke his reverie. “Don’t you have some bags to check at the beginning of the shift? Get them checked out and then I’ll let you drive to the first call.”

“Yes, Mistress Brynne,” Dean said with a flourish and bow. “I’ll get right on that.” He headed out to the ambulance bay to get started on the shift work. He was going to get the chance now to trade off on most calls with Brynne. He would drive some and act as primary patient care paramedic on others. He climbed into the back of the ambulance and began to go through the bags to make sure that everything they’d need for the shift was available and in the right place. It did not take him long. Brook and Tammy had done their end of shift checks within the last hour, and everything was fully stocked and in its expected place. He was just finishing up when the alert tones sounded on the overhead speakers.

“Medical Box 423, injured subject from an assault. 1258 Sparks Road, Elk City,” said the dispatcher over the radio.

Dean’s head jerked up when he heard the address. That was his former street address. He hoped the Baxters were alright. Brynne popped her head around the open door at the back of the ambulance.

“Hey, Dean,” she said. “Isn’t that —”

“Yeah,” Dean said, already moving. “That’s my old place.” He climbed into the cab and started the engine before she had even finished the question, a knot of dread tightening in his stomach.

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