Johnny pulled his Rover into the driveway and hopped out. He opened the gate to the backyard and was instantly greeted by his German Shepherd, Chief. Chief jumped up, placing his front paws on Johnny's shoulders and stood facing him nose to nose. Johnny took both hands and rubbed them vigorously up and down the dog's back. "Hey, Chief, did you guard the family while I was gone?"
Chief kissed him in the face.
"Good boy," Johnny rubbed is ears.
Chief turned his head, catching sight of a squirrel running across his yard. Chief took off in pursuit.
Johnny smiled and opened the back door. He leaned against the door jam and took in the kitchen scene. Hunter sat in his booster chair, awkwardly holding a spoon and feeding himself cheerios in milk. Johnny noticed that he was wearing about as much as he was actually getting into his mouth, maybe a bit more. His dark hair stuck up in all different directions. Ainsley stood at the stove, he could smell bacon frying and given the few pieces of potato peel still on the counter Johnny was willing to bet she was frying potatoes in the other pan. He watched as she moved to set the spatula on the counter, but placed it too close to the edge, and it fell to the floor.
He couldn't help but chuckle as she attempted to bend over to pick it up only to find her protruding belly wouldn't let her bend over. Ainsley looked in his direction. "This is your fault you know," she scolded lightly, her hand on her belly. The smile on her face gave way to the fact that she was pleased with her situation.
"I know," Johnny said proudly as he walked into the kitchen.
"Daddy, eat," Hunter held up a hand.
Johnny bent over and let his son stuff soggy Cheerios into his mouth. "Numnumnum," Johnny made eating sounds, pretending to nibble on Hunter's fingers, as well as the Cheerios. The little boy squealed in delight.
Johnny kissed him on the head before moving over toward Ainsley. He grabbed a paper towel off the rack, getting half of it wet. He bent down, picked up the spatula, wiped up the grease and then used the other half of the towel to dry up the water. He ran his hand across the floor to make sure it wasn't slippery. The last thing he wanted was Ainsley slipping in her current condition. He stopped to kiss her belly as he stood up. He rinsed off the spatula and turned to hand it back to her.
"Thank you, my husband," Ainsley smiled at his thoughtfulness.
"Anytime, my wife," Johnny dropped a kiss on her lips. She went to turn, but he put his hand on her waist and turned her back for a deeper kiss. Ainsley slipped her arms around his neck and leaned into her husband.
"I'm gonna burn your breakfast," Ainsley said, finally pulling back.
Johnny was half tempted to tell her to forget breakfast, but he was hungry. Hunter made the decision for him, "Daddy, done," the little boy held up his arms for his dad to pick him up.
Johnny gave Ainsley another quick kiss and then moved to scoop his son up out of the seat. He carried him down the hall toward his bedroom. Johnny stopped at the dresser and picked out an outfit. He carried Hunter over to his bed and laid him down. He quickly changed his diaper, dressed him and attempted to brush his hair. Johnny laughed as the little boy's hair immediately stuck up again every time he tried to brush it flat. "It's gonna have to be good enough, son."
Johnny gave Hunter another kiss and then let the little boy go, who immediately ran out of the room and down the hallway toward the kitchen. By the time Johnny got back to kitchen, Hunter had already attached himself to his mom's leg.
"Breakfast is ready," Ainsley said, sliding the pan back on the stove. "I'd serve you, but I don't want the grease too close to Hunter."
"You gonna have any?" Johnny said, reaching for a plate.
"A little."
Johnny grabbed a second plate and loaded them both with eggs, bacon and potatoes. Ainsley moved toward the table, moving Hunter with her. She sat down and then pulled the little boy into her lap.
She fed Hunter a piece of potato. "How was your night?"
"Actually pretty quiet," Johnny said. "In fact, I was thinking we should all go down to the Boardwalk and spend the day. They've got a lot of activities going on today for kids."
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Ainsley fed Hunter a small piece of bacon.
She went to put a piece in her mouth and his little hand touched her arm. "More, momma," Hunter reached for the bacon in her hand.
Ainsley let him have it and as she did, Johnny slid a piece of bacon off of his plate on to hers.
"It's okay, Honey, eat your bacon," Ainsley smiled at him.
"Uh-uh, you're eating for two, you need it."
Johnny cleaned up the kitchen while Ainsley went to finish getting ready. Johnny let Chief back in the house and dumped some of the leftover food in his dog dish. Chief quickly scarfed it down and then turned to go follow Hunter who was walking out of the kitchen. Chief walked along next to the little boy, blocking him from getting near the front door, and then following him back into the kitchen. Chief again blocked him from getting to the stairs that led down to the foyer and out into the backyard.
"Good boy," Johnny said, tossing Chief another piece of bacon.
"You know you're not supposed to feed him people food," Ainsley said, walking back into the kitchen.
Johnny just looked at her, knowing she frequently slipped the dog pieces of her food.
Ainsley just laughed. "Get Hunter's stroller from the garage would ya; I'll get Chief's leash."
Johnny took Hunter's hand and helped the little boy walk down the two steps and out the door. He loaded the stroller into the Rover and secured Hunter into his car seat. He opened the other door for Chief to jump in. He turned as Ainsley walked out of the house, stopped and frowned.
"Everything okay?" Johnny moved toward her.
She looked over at him, "I've got to pee again," Ainsley said, frustration in her voice as she turned and walked back into the house.
"Just another month, Sweetheart."
Johnny got in the Rover and started it up, turning the radio to his favorite station and waited for his wife to join him.
E
"Isn't that Mike," Ainsley jerked her head in the direction of a tall man with sandy brown hair standing probably 30 yards from them, her hands too full to point.
"Hey, Mike," Johnny called out.
Mike Stoker turned around and smiled at his friends. He then turned to the woman with the long red hair standing next to him, leaned close and said something to her that had her turning to look at them as well.
"Who's that?" Ainsley asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Don't start," Johnny warned.
"What? I'm not starting anything; I'm just curious."
Johnny rolled his eyes as he looked at his wife. Now was not the time to have this conversation, Mike and his lady friend were almost over to them.
"Hi, Mike," Ainsley said, as the Engineer approached.
"Hey, Ainsley," Mike leaned over and kissed her cheek. "How ya doin' bud?" Mike reached down and ruffled Hunter's hair. "This is Caroline," Mike introduced the woman next to him.
"Hi, Caroline, nice to meet you," Ainsley said reaching out to shake her hand. Ainsley worked to keep a smile on her face, even as she looked the woman over.
Chief moved between the woman and Ainsley, sitting on Ainsley's feet, looking up at Caroline.
"And this is Chief," Ainsley introduced the German Shepherd.
Caroline moved back slightly. "Is he friendly?"
"Oh, sure," Johnny assured her. "He's just protective of Ainsley and Hunter. I'm Johnny, I work with Mike."
"Johnny's one of the paramedics I was telling you about," Mike clarified.
"Oh, yea, I'd never heard of a paramedic before. It sounds like an interesting job," Caroline said, reaching out to shake the hand Johnny extended.
"It definitely is," Johnny said.
"Did you see the python they had at the end of the pier?" Mike asked. "It's huge!"
"No," Johnny said, looking down toward the end of the pier where a large crowd was forming.
Ainsley visibly shuddered. "You go ahead, I'll stay here."
Johnny smiled, Ainsley was terrified of snakes. "I'll hold your hand," Johnny offered.
"You'll have to administer CPR 'cause I'll have a heart attack. No, thanks. You can take Hunter, he shouldn't develop my phobia and maybe Caroline and I can go walk over and look at some of the vendors," Ainsley pointed to several booths that were set up selling everything from jewelry, to clothing, to useless little knickknacks.
"Uh-oh, give me your purse first," Johnny said, jokingly.
Ainsley winked at him, reached down and pulled her purse out of the stroller, and started to move toward the vendors. "C'mon Caroline, let the boys go play with snakes and we'll see if we can't find pretty things to play with."
Mike laughed at Johnny's expression and gave Caroline a smile and a nod, encouraging her to go off with Ainsley.
"You know Ainsley's gonna be trying to find out what's wrong with her; she's still disappointed things didn't work out between you and her friend Meg," Johnny said, as the boys moved toward the end of the pier, Johnny was pushing the stroller and Mike kept ahold of Chief's leash. Chief kept looking back at Ainsley walking away and trying to turn and follow her.
"C'mon, boy, she's fine," Mike encouraged the dog to move forward. "I've never seen him so focused on Ainsley, usually he prefers to stay with Hunter."
"I think because Ainsley is so close to delivering the baby. Dogs can sense that kinda stuff."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense."
"So because Ainsley is gonna grill me later and I'll be in the doghouse if I don't ask, what did happen with you and her friend Meg?"
Mike shrugged his shoulders, "Nothin'. Meg was really great. But, she told me she wasn't sure how long she was gonna be gone with her dad being sick and she said she needed to focus on her dad and it wouldn't be fair to me to try a long distance relationship. I met Caroline about two-weeks before Meg came back, and I like her, ya know. There's something different about her."
"She's pretty," Johnny commented.
"Yeah."
The men stopped to look at the Python. The guy holding it saw Hunter and he moved closer to see if Hunter wanted to touch the snake. Chief went berserk. He lunged at the snake nearly pulling Mike off his feet, teeth bared and a growl that even had Johnny taking a step back. Mike planted his feet and pulled back on the leash to keep Chief from reaching the snake, but Chief was not having any of it. He dipped his head trying to slip out of his collar.
"No, Chief! No!" Johnny commanded, but he wisely grabbed Hunter's stroller and moved it back and off to the side of the pier away from the snake. Chief continued to struggle to get free of his collar, but as he realized Johnny was moving the baby away he began to pull Mike in that direction, instead of toward the snake. Mike eased up his pull on the leash and allowed Chief to start moving back toward Hunter and Johnny.
"Well, that was interesting," Mike said, looking at Johnny, who couldn't help but start laughing when he looked at Mike. His hair was messed up, his shirt was untucked from wrestling with the dog and his hands had leash marks from pulling so hard.
"Next time, we'll let Ainsley take the dog," Johnny said, turning the stroller around to start heading toward the vendors and away from the snake.
E
Ainsley stopped at the first vendor and looked over the selection of turquoise and silver jewelry. "So how did you and Mike meet?" She asked Caroline, trying to sound casual.
"We literally ran into each other at a grocery store, and he knocked me on my butt. He was very apologetic and sweet; but after helping me up and making sure I was okay he walked away. Later that day, we saw each other at a gas station and he paid for my gas as a way of saying sorry again. Then, yet again, on the same day, we ran into each other at a taco stand at the beach. He made a comment about having never ran into someone he didn't know 3 times in one day, and I said fate must be trying to tell us something and I offered to buy him a taco; which he refused to let me buy and instead he paid for them. We had tacos and walked on the beach for a bit; I gave him my phone number and he called me a few days later to go see a movie. We've only known each other a few weeks, I wasn't really planning on meeting his friends just yet."
"One thing you need to know about the guys at Station 51 is they are not co-workers, they're family. You're gonna have to meet us sooner or later, so at least you get to do it in stages. Mike could've just brought you to the fireman's picnic next month and had you meet everyone at once," Ainsley smiled, but felt disappointed that it had been so close to Meg coming back from taking care of her dad. If they hadn't met for just a couple more weeks Mike would have probably called Meg when he heard she was back in town. Instead, he'd sent her flowers with a card saying he was sorry for her loss and when she called him to thank him, he'd admitted he was seeing someone. Meg had been pretty bummed.
Caroline wandered to the next vendor and began to look at tie dye t-shirts. Ainsley moved past that vendor and instead moved over to a person selling knitted baby blankets. She looked at several with gender neutral colors.
"When are you due?" Caroline asked.
"In a month," Ainsley said. "Which is not soon enough, the last few weeks are the hardest."
"Yea, but I bet you're excited," Caroline said.
"I am. Hunter is growing up so fast, I can't wait for him to have a little brother or sister."
"Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"
"I know you're supposed to say, as long as it's healthy, I don't care; and that is true, but at the same time I would love to have a baby girl."
"Any feelings?"
"This pregnancy is very different from my last pregnancy so I'm hoping that's a sign this one's a girl."
Caroline smiled as they moved toward the next vendor together.
"Momma," Hunter called out when he saw her.
Ainsley turned around. "Wow, that was fast, did Hunter not like the snake?"
"Chief didn't," Mike said, showing his hands that still held marks from the leash.
"Oh, no, is everyone okay?" Ainsley looked at Mike's hands and quickly looked over Chief.
"Everyone's fine; but I think next time we go to show Hunter another animal, we'll leave Chief with you," Johnny said.
"Does it hurt?" Caroline traced a leash line in Mike's hand with her finger.
He smiled at her, "Nah, I'm tough."
"My big strong fireman," Caroline said, leaning close to him and kissing him on the lips.
Mike smiled down at her and leaned in for a second kiss.
"Get a room," Johnny coughed the words to pretend he wasn't really saying anything.
Ainsley swatted his arm.
Mike laughed. "Please, like you're any different. We should get going though; I promised Captain Stanley I'd come by tonight and help him finish the siding on his garage."
"Oh, I didn't realize you had other plans. I was hoping we'd go over to Traver Park, they're having a movie in the park night."
"Sorry, Cap promised his wife he'd have this done last week. He'll be in the dog house if he doesn't get it done before we go back on shift and he still has a lot of work to do."
"You guys need any help?"
"I hate to take you away from your family," Mike said, knowing they could use the help.
"He can spare a few hours. He can help me bath Hunter when we get home and then head over. I'd say before the bath, but it's gotten really hard for me to kneel down and lean over the tub," Ainsley smiled, running her hand over her belly.
"I'll come for a couple hours and I'll bring Roy with me," Johnny said.
"Great, we'll see you guys later tonight then. I'm gonna drive Caroline home and head over in just a bit," Mike slipped his arm around Caroline's shoulders and turned to head toward the parking lot.
"She seems nice," Johnny commented as he watched Mike and Caroline head toward his truck.
"I guess."
"Ainsley," Johnny's voice grew serious. "Mike likes her and she seems nice. I know you're disappointed that things didn't work out with Meg, but Mike told me, it was her idea to end things when she left to go take care of her dad. She told Mike that she needed to focus on taking care of her dad and she didn't want him waiting for her. Mike likes Caroline and wants to see where this goes."
"I know. But, Meg is so sweet and she's had a tough life. She deserves a guy like Mike."
Johnny wrapped his arm around Ainsley's shoulders and pulled her close kissing her temple. "I'm sure she'll find someone."
Ainsley shrugged. "I guess. I can see why Mike is attracted to Caroline, she is very pretty."
It was Johnny's turn to shrug, "I guess."
Ainsley playfully swatted his arm. "I may have pregnancy brain, but I'm not that stupid, I know you noticed she was a beautiful woman."
"What can I say, I'm partial to blondes," Johnny pulled her in for a kiss.
"You know what Mike would say," Ainsley smiled at him.
"Get a room," Johnny did the same coughing thing he had done with Mike.
Ainsley laughed.
E
Mike pulled into the parking lot for Caroline's apartment complex. He parked the truck, got out and walked around the truck to open her door.
"You don't have to walk me up," Caroline said, getting out of the truck. "I know you need to get over to your Captain's house." She leaned up to give Mike a kiss, but he took a step back.
"Nonsense, I have time to walk you to your door." Mike took her hand and walked toward the building. "Which one is your apartment?"
"1D. But, really Mike, you don't have to walk me."
"Do you not want me to walk you?" Mike asked, stopping and looking down at her.
"It's just…," Caroline paused. "I just moved here a couple days before I met you and I still have boxes and stuff everywhere. I want the place to be unpacked and organized before you see it."
Mike smiled. "Then, I promise, I'll say good-bye at the door."
Caroline smiled and let Mike take her hand and lead her to her apartment door.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her slowly, enjoying the smell of her perfume as he held her close. She tasted like the cotton candy he had bought her on the way back to the truck. She had eaten a few bites in the truck and then insisted on leaving the bag with him, stating that she had to watch her weight.
Mike hummed to himself as he headed back to his truck. He wasn't sure what it was about Caroline, but she intrigued him. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, but she made him slightly uneasy, while making him feel wanted and important at the same time.
Mike jumped into his truck and headed toward Captain Stanley's house. He didn't see the car that pulled out of the apartment parking lot less than a minute after him, and followed him to Captain Stanley's house.