3.5yr old Stephanie Cortez ends up in the care of the 118 fire team but her past puts everyone in danger. Can the team balance work whilst looking after Steph and keep everyone safe?
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"Ummm earth to Eddie?" Hen called, waving her hand in front of Eddie's face and clicking her fingers.
"Woah Jesus you scared me" Eddie groaned, rubbing his face and running his hands through his hair in an attempt to wake himself up.
"Its 9am and we gotta get the little menace cleaned up before social services get here at 10 and throw us judgemental looks because we can't look after a child for one night." Replied Hen, gathering up blankets from the floor and books and toys and scraps of food and anything else that was used as an attempt to settle Steph last night.
"Oh geez right I'll help," Eddie strained, squinting his eyes and groaning as Hen parted the curtains and shone blinding sunlight into his eyes. He stood up and stretched his back like an old man before starting to help Hen tidy slowly.
"Where is she anyway?"
"Oh Karen is just giving her a bath, we gave her jam on toast for breakfast and now she's sticky and covering my house in jam so i figured a bath wouldn't hurt," she sighed.
"Mhm" Eddie replied.
"You good?"
"Never better."
Hen rolled her eyes and then stood up straight, hands on her hips, "you're attached aren't you?"
Eddie looked up at Hen for a moment before realising he didn't want to admit he was but didn't want to lie and say he wasn't so he put his head back down and kept piling the kids books into a neat stack.
"Why don't you take her in?" Hen asked boldly.
Eddie took a few minutes to reply. He didn't really have a reason to not take her but his mind was fighting him for some reason. A reason he couldn't place.
"Who would look after her?" He said after a while, "I can't stop working I'm the only income in the house"
Hen knew at this point he was just making up reasons to argue with himself but she figured she would side with the part of him who was in on it.
"Well I'm sure Carla wouldn't mind an extra, after all Chris isn't really dependent on her anymore," she argued, sending him a hopeful glance.
"What about Chris though, would he want another kid in the house? What if I can't give him enough attention and he feels neglected? I'm all he has Hen," Eddie responded, fishing around for more excuses.
"Are you kidding? Chris was made to be a big brother, have you seen how he is with Denny and Jee and his little cousin, what's her name... um.. oh right, Lexi," she pleaded, knowing he wouldn't stay strong for long.
Just before he was about to make another point, a thought returned to Eddies mind. The name Lexi, well Lex, the name Steph had given him last night. What was the other name? Oh right 'Bill'. Who were Lex and Bill. Maybe he should tell Hen or social services.
After some pondering he decided to tell Hen and see if she could make sense of it all.
"When you went to bed last night, and i was talking to Steph," he started, "she told me she had mama and then she had Bill and Lex who were her new mommy and daddy, and she told me she had a new home too. I tried to make sense of it and i was going to ask her more but she ran off to play. I think that's when i fell asleep."
Hen was silent for a few moments, trying to depict it all herself.
"Should we tell Social services? Or maybe Athena?" She finally suggested
"I don't know. Maybe its stuff they already know. She might be adopted or something we know nothing about her."
Just as they were deep in thought, the doorbell rang through the house.
"Oh seriously!" Hen protested, "they're half an hour early and she's probably not even out of the bath yet and the kitchen is a mess and this room is still a mess and my clothes have jam on them and-"
"Hen it's fine. Just explain we are running behind schedule. Its not a crime to run a little late" Eddie reassured her, chuckling at her comical, panicked state.
"Right yeah thanks"
"But you should probably let them in before they break down the door"
"Oh shit yeah" Hen proclaimed, rushing out of the guest room and to the front door.
"Arthur McGuire, I am here to see Stephanie Cortez."
A short man was at the door. He was barely reaching 5'5 and both Hen and Eddie had to bend their necks to look down at him. He had a blue and white striped suit which resembled 'Bananas in pyjamas' and he wore brown loafers which looked a few sizes too big. Behind him stood a taller, sharp looking lady, with a triangular jaw, slicked hair in a tidy bun and a pressed suit. They looked like an evil duo from a cartoon. Neither you would want to be around for too long.
"And this is my supervising assistant, Bertha Hart."
Eddie and Hen both stood at the door for a moment, trying to take in this unusual sight. It was really like something out of a movie. It took them a good while to realise they had just been stood staring at their guests so they snapped out of it and hurriedly invited them inside. Hen offered them a seat at the table and Eddie got the coffee machine running.
A moment later footsteps pattered towards the living room and Steph entered, giggling and running around with socks on her hands. Karen chased after her, completely unaware of the guests sat a few metres away, observing the chaos from over the top of their spectacles.
"Come back here you little-" Karen smiled awkwardly once she realised they had company and Steph ran towards Eddie who scooped her up and put her socks on her feet.
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——————————————————- Authors note: This chapter is slightly longer its like double the length of the others but i think i rambled a bit tbh. Thanks to anyone still reading I can't wait to get to the exciting parts but we gotta get through the boring bits first. Pls comment suggestions to make it more interesting and any stories i can add further on in the book. I appreciate anyone who is here ❤️
