Page 3 of Her Braun
The man was a powerhouse, but he could be grumpy as hell. If he hadn't been given the name of Pits years before when he joined the CCFD, the others at House Twenty-Nine would have called him Grouch instead.
The last of his crew, Theo Noble, didn't have a nickname like most of the firefighters working at House Twenty-Nine. He didn't really need one, either. Theo was just himself. Solid as a rock. He'd recently fallen in love with one of the 911 Operators and together they were insanely happy. He found himself more than a little jealous of their lives together. When Theo left the station after every shift, he was out the door like a shot.
Gibson knew that he was crazy excited to get home. Knowing that his wife Irish was still at work, he'd work out in their garden or get to work on their next project around the house. The man was handy with construction and before he'd married Irish, Theo had helped him on some of his work as a contractor. Eventually, when they'd reinforced their home and fixed it up the way they wanted to, Gibson knew he might get Theo to work with him again, but he also knew that Theo and Irish were hoping to start a family, sooner, rather than later.
No, Theo hadn't shared the information with him specifically, but Gloria Campanelli, the wife of their Fire Chief at the house had asked him about it in a roundabout way and Theo had smiled from ear to ear and announced that they wereworking on getting pregnant and he'd mentioned in his own unabashed way that he was dedicated to succeeding.
No one doubted his word. Theo was head over bootheels in love with Irish before he even talked to her. To say that it was love at first sight was an understatement.
"Hey, Gibson?"
Smiling, he turned to look at Theo who was walking up to him. "Yeah?"
Theo lifted his chin and gestured to his bunker gear. "Should we bother changing into a clean set?"
Narrowing his gaze at Theo, Gibson turned his head slightly to the side. "What's going on?"
The other man shrugged. "Just a feeling."
Gibson's chin dropped. "Meaning?"
Theo lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. "That we're going to get called out-"
The speaker above their heads on the apparatus floor blared out a message.
"Truck Forty-Two. Ambulance Sixty-Five. Single Structure Business Fire. Corner of-"
Gibson gave Theo a look. "Jinxed it."
Theo shrugged. "Just a feeling."
Pits gave Theo a nudge with his shoulder as he walked by to get to the driver's seat. "Let's move, slowpokes!"
Kay caught up to Roan later in her shift. He was early for his shift, but then again, Roan Ashley almost always was.
He was standing at the nurse's hub in his street clothes, handing files over to the nurses at the back. "Thuy, if you could, please have those records filed for me?"
"Absolutely, Doctor. It'll be done before I leave."
Kay walked up beside him and put her hand on the top of the counter.
She wasn't tall enough to easily rest her bent elbow on the desk, so this was what she could manage.
"How are things going in the outside world?"
Smiling, Roan turned to look at her. "Good. You should get out sometime and see for yourself."
It was a joke they tossed back and forth at each other. "Maybe. But in about an hour, I'm headed back to my house for a long, hot bath and whatever takeout order tickles my fancy."
Roan shook his head. "You know how to live, Kay."
"I'm a master of non-peoply life."
He gave her a strange little smile. "Maybe you ought to venture out."
"No thanks. I'm fine on my own. So many people at work." She tapped her fingers on the counter and chanced a look at the clock on the back wall. "But, I do have a question for you."
Roan must have heard something in her tone.
