Disclaimer: I don't own the characters you recognize, they belong to Saban.
Author's Note: First in the "Life After Lightspeed" one shot series.
"There's something about a man in uniform," Dana whispered to Kelsey as they sat under the sun at the Mariner Bay Softball Complex. The day would've been unbearably warm if it hadn't been for the breeze coming in off the mountains. Clouds loomed above the mountains, and they were praying it didn't rain. The two friends sat in the middle of a sea of red and yellow t-shirts. Dana wore a red bandanna to keep her hair out of her face, and Kelsey sported a neon yellow tanktop with MBFD painted on it in red letters.
The Fire vs Law softball game was one of the biggest fundraising events for both organizations, with 50% of the profits from tickets for the game and barbecue split evenly between the two organizations, and 50% went to the Family Fund, the fund set up for the families of police officers and firefighters who were killed in the line of duty, or officers/firefighters that were on medical leave due to an accident or mishap in the field.
Kelsey bumped Dana with her shoulder. "Speaking of a man in uniform...here they come." She and Dana were on their feet as Carter and the other 12 players on the Fire team came out onto the field. Dana recognized a couple of the guys on Ladder 4- Zach Anderson, Tyler Walsh, Lane Busby, and Anthony Smith from Engine 7. She also recognized some of the men her father knew from his time on the squad- John Olliver, and Keith Tyler. Dana spotted Carter easily. Her boyfriend towered head and shoulders over everyone else on the team, wearing number 13, sporting his yellow baseball cap with the fire shield on backwards, and a pair of blue sunglasses. As the Fire team took their spots on the third baseline, Carter looked up into the bleachers and spotted the two girls. He waved. Dana waved excitedly back.
"Howdy, ladies," Joel Rawlings said as he clambered over the people next to Kelsey and plopped himself in front of the girls. He was joined by Chad and Ryan. Ryan was wearing his Sky Cowboy hat he'd gotten from Joel for his birthday. "We miss anything yet?"
"Yeah, the toes of that lady right there, I think you stepped on everybody else," Kelsey said, pointing to a woman who looked slightly miffed at the boys. She mouthed 'sorry' to the woman, and looked at Joel. Joel tilted his hat so the lady couldn't look at him.
"Did Ryan give you his other ticket?" Dana asked, and Chad nodded. Ryan had gotten two tickets for the game from Chad for his birthday. "You made Joel pay for his. Good for you."
"Hey, now," Joel protested to his friends, but smiled to show it was all in good fun.
The National Anthem was sung, and Captain Lance Connelly from the Mariner Bay Police Department, Precinct 26, got the coin toss. They took the field as Fire got ready to bat. Dana counted. Carter was batting fourth, the cleanup spot.
Joel disappeared after the second batter, returning for Carter's turn at the plate with a box of popcorn. He avoided eye contact with the woman in the row next to Kelsey as he sat down again and popped the tab on the box. "Let's go, Grayson!" he yelled. Dana saw her boyfriend's shoulders twitch at the sound of his name. Then, he was focused. Anthony Smith was on second base and they had no outs.
He had an advantage being tall with a long wingspan. Chris Connelly, Lance's son, pitching for MBPD, sent a fast pitch on the outside corner of the strike zone, and Carter connected, sending it into right field above the first baseman's head. Then, he was off, sprinting for first base. He made it there easily as Anthony swung into third. His cheering section yelled wildly, turning him a nice shade of fire engine red.
"And that's the shortest amount of time it's taken him to get to first base," Ryan kidded his sister, poking her on the knee. Dana hit him in the shoulder.
Three batters later and Carter was stranded on third. Zach Anderson, a good friend of his, was up to bat now, and Fire had two outs. "Come on Zach!" Dana heard Carter yell from third base. She crossed her fingers. The count was full-three balls, two strikes. Chris Connelly threw one right across the center of the plate and Zach swung hard. It headed straight for the shortstop, who tried to get his glove low enough to scoop it up, and it sailed just under the tip of the glove. Carter took off in a dead run for home base and sailed across the plate.
2-0 in favor of MBFD. Carter walked back to the dugout and tipped his baseball cap to Dana before settling in. Chad wolf-whistled, and both turned bright red. Ryan gave Chad a high five.
A few innings later, the score was 3-2 in favor of Fire, and Fire was in the field. Carter stood on first base off Anthony Smith on the pitcher's mound. It was easy to see why Anthony was their pitcher. He had a really mean curveball, and Chad couldn't figure out how he wasn't just pitching a no-hitter. For all his martial arts background, he was pretty sure he didn't have the concentration or coordination to hit that curve. It was why he was a swimmer in high school instead of a baseball player. "This guy's pitch is crazy," he told Ryan. Ryan was studying the pitcher intently.
"No kidding," Ryan replied, as Anthony sent another into the catcher's glove for strike three, and the teams changed again.
At the top of the seventh, the score was tied 3-3, and Fire was up to bat. Joel had finished his box of popcorn and was now splitting a second with Chad and Ryan. Tyler Walsh was up to bat. Chad wanted to boo him, as this was the guy who'd tried hitting on Kelsey and Dana at a bar one night-in full view of their boyfriends. But as Tyler was on the same team with one of his best friends and the game was for charity, Chad bit his tongue and ate popcorn instead. At least he was more tactful than Ryan and Joel. Ryan had told Joel about that night at the pier bar, and Joel was trying to decide if it was worth getting in his plane to airmail a softball to hit Ty on the head from 3,000 feet. Ryan was trying to talk him out of it, saying it was much easier to bribe Chris Connelly on the Law team to hit him with a pitch instead.
"It's their last at-bat, boys," Kelsey said, overhearing the conversation and rolling her eyes. "Give it up."
He ended up striking out, and Ryan, Joel and Chad silently cheered. Up next was Carter's captain, John Olliver, and then they'd start at the top of the lineup. Olliver was almost twice as old as the other players on the team, save for Keith Tyler, who headed up the Arson squad. But you wouldn't know that the way he played-Olliver hit a high fly ball to center field and made it to first base before the ball hit the ground behind the center fielder.
Little Lane Busby was next. Lane was the rookie at Ladder 4, and he was just nineteen. He played right field, and Dana highly suspected it was because his glove wasn't very good. But he had a lot of enthusiasm and had been cheering on everybody on the team by name. Dana had been watching Carter, and it was obvious that her boyfriend was looking out for the younger man, and coaching him on. So when Lane hit a single and landed on first base just ahead of the the throw, Carter was cheering the loudest. She smiled.
Two batters later, John Olliver was on third, Lane was on second, and Anthony Smith was on first. Carter was up. There was only one out.
"Bases loaded! Come on Carter!" Chad yelled.
"Let's go Carter!" Kelsey yelled. Dana was biting her lip nervously.
Chris Connelly threw his first pitch. It was low and outside, and Carter let it sail past. Thunder rumbled, threatening to call the game. Joel watched John Olliver and Lance Connelly have a quick conversation at third base. Come on, let them play. It's almost over anyway. They were pointing to the sky and talking animatedly back and forth.
"Hey Dad!" Chris Connelly yelled, at the same time Carter called, "Can he just pitch it already?"
The fans in the stands broke out into a laugh.
Joel watched John shrug and return to standing on third. Yes! Captain Connelly returned to the Law dugout and Carter zeroed in on Chris's next pitch, a quick fastball that was in the catcher's mitt before Carter could blink. Strike One. Carter looked out at Chris as the fans groaned. "Where was that all game?" he yelled to the pitcher, and Chris just winked as the ball was returned to him.
The next ball hit the inside corner, and Carter took a step back for ball two.
"They're gonna drag this out," Chad whispered to Kelsey, and Kelsey nodded.
Chris's next pitch was a change-up that Carter swung at and missed. Strike two.
"They're gonna battle to a full count," Ryan sighed. Thunder rumbled again, as if adding to the tension.
The next pitch was about four inches from the outside of the plate, and Ryan was right, it was now a full count. "Come on Carter!" he yelled, and the other Lightspeed Rangers echoed the sentiment- except for Dana, who had her hands over her eyes.
Chris wound up. Carter's hands tensed on the bat.
There was a crack of lightning as the ball connected with the bat, and Carter took off like a bat out of hell for first base. He wasn't even watching when the ball sailed over the right field fence and into the parking lot.
"Yeah!" Joel was on his feet. "Grand slam, baby, yeah!" The crowd cheered as the rain started to fall as Carter rounded the bases and was met by his entire team at home plate.
"Best baseball game ever!" Ryan crowed to Chad, who was being hugged mercilessly by Kelsey.
Carter glanced up into the stands to where Dana was standing, clapping excitedly for his team. He threaded his way through his teammates and easily hopped the chain link fence, coming up to join her in the stands. "Enjoy the game?" he asked her, rain dripping off his hat.
"It was okay," Dana shrugged.
His eyes widened. "'Okay'?" he repeated. "I battle to a full count and hit a grand slam, and you're calling it okay?" He picked her up.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. "Put me down!"
"Nope," he told her. "I guess the game wasn't very exciting for you," he said. "So..."
He brought her to just behind home plate, where a puddle of rainwater was starting to form. Then, Carter dropped Dana in the puddle. Mud splashed everywhere, mostly on her, but some on his shirt and shorts and sneakers too. "That'll get the adrenaline pumping!" he told her with a grin.
Luckily, Zach Anderson and Ryan Mitchell had her back. Two seconds later, Carter was in the puddle with her.