Disclaimer: I don't own this story or its Third Watch characters in the story. I do own the original characters in ths story.
Someone mentioned there are not enough Carlos stories so I decieded to write another. I really like writing from his perspective since he is always a bit of a smart aleck.
#
"Hold on in there Carlos! Help's on the way!" Doc shouted from somewhere behind him.
"Yeah, no problem." Carlos muttered feeling the dashboard press further into his side. 'This is what I get for being so stubborn. Why did I volunteer?'
"Mr?" A voice said. "Mr? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Carlos said trying to not to scare him as he pulled the smaller child closer. "I'm fine. We're both fine."
"Are the policemen gonna save us?"
'Damn well better.' Carlos thought to himself imagining the scrambling of his colleagues outside of the car. "Yeah, the firefighters are gonna come and pull us out and then you'll be able to see your mom."
"Firefighters with fire trucks and everything?"
"Yep," Carlos smiled amused that the young boy was so focused on shiny red fire trucks and not the situation at hand. It was all an adventure to him. "That's their job. They'll be here any minute."
"Wow! This is so cool. Wait'll I tell everyone at school."
'Wish I could say the same kid.' Carlos thought hearing his colleagues shout for him from outside.
"A wonderful day today, huh Davis?" Carlos Nieto asked stretching his arms high above his head. What a glorious day indeed. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping a joyful song outside their windows. Even the news on TV had trouble finding any bad news to report on so far that morning.
"Great." Ty Davis said from behind a newspaper. He barely acknowledged his paramedic roommate with a nod as he continued reading the sports section.
"The sun is out and everything is going to be great today." He smiled heading past the kitchen table to the top of the refrigerator to grab his favorite cereal, Lucky Charms. He hummed as he went along not seeing the arched eyebrow passed on from Ty before he busied himself back into the New York Giants.
Carlos bent over to look into the fridge eying everything inside before peaking back up at Ty. "Where's the milk?"
"Oh, uh I kind of used the last of it." Ty said slowly lowering his paper revealing a half empty bowl of Lucky Charms. "Sorry. I was hoping you were going to sleep in today and skip breakfast."
"Skip it?" Carlos said not believing his ears. 'No Lucky Charms?!' "How could I skip it on today since it's-" He was cut off by the phone as Davis eagerly jumped up to get it hoping Carlos didn't notice he also stole his cereal too. "Hello?" He said snatching the phone up.
Carlos grumbled to himself as he picked at his cereal trying to eat it dry but somehow, the yellow moons, pink hearts, rainbows, and red balloons just didn't taste the same. 'I'm going to kill him.' Carlos decided seeing Ty hang up the phone coming back to the kitchen trying to ignore the look he was getting from Carlos.
"Who was it?" Carlos said.
"Work," Ty said glancing at his watch.
"What?"
"Going in early."
"Ha ha! That's what you get." Carlos said pointing. "Eating all my cereal."
"Not me, you. Someone got pulled off in the middle of their shift today so you gotta cover part of their shift. That's what you get." Ty said stuffing his mouth with with cereal. "They want you in at twelve thirty."
Carlos did the math as he watched the wasted milk drip from his laughing roomates mouth. If it was ten thirty now and with lunch rush hour in another hour and the normal traffic in the neighborhood...
"You've got about forty five minutes." Ty smiled.
"Damn it."
#
"Okay, who the decided to get 'sick'?" Carlos said dropping his bag on the floor of the fire station. There was no way he was going to be called in early on his Birthday without a good explanation!
"Morris. His mother's sick." Jimmy said glancing away from the TV set. "He had to go to Boston."
"Oh," Carlos muttered feeling about two inches tall as crawled up the stairs. "Whoops." He thought going to his locker getting ready to change into his uniform. He'd had to pick it up at the dry cleaners earlier and had to leave even earlier than he thought. He looked opened his lock hoping to see a little something from the guys but all he found were the same old pin ups that were there from the day before. 'Not everyone's here yet. I bet they're just waiting to surprise me.' He thought taking off his jacket. 'That's what I would do.' He decided against telling anyone what day it was and would wait for someone to give him his present. This was his second year at the 55 and last year he hadn't gotten anything at all except Doc had paid for his dinner that night at some greasy diner. Carlos had excused that because they didn't really know each other at all. But this year was different. They been through enough together as partners for him to atleast get him a present. 'It'll be something sentimental, like a watch or something boring like that.' He thought straping on his utility belt over his uniform. 'I'll take it and fake like I really like it.' He checked himself out in the mirror running a hand through his hair. 'Who's that sexy devil?' He thought posing for himself and the bikini clad Miss April in the mirror. 'You don't look a day over twenty two.' He gave his reflection a suave smile that he was sure would knock the ladies dead. 'Who could resist this?' He asked himself turning around to shake what his momma gave him clicking his tongue. 'No straight woman in her right mind could resist--'
"What are you doing?"
Carlos stopped in mid smirk slamming his locker shut as he spun on his heel seeing DK looking at him like he had smelt something awful. Nope, just the cologne Carlos had poured on in buckets. "Nothing. Just getting ready to come down stairs."
"Right." He nodded trying to fan away the musk that was making the inside of his nose burn. "Do yourself a favor Nieto, wash some of that stuff off. You're a fire hazard."
"Huh?" Carlos sniffed the air around himself frowning. "It's Jungle Rain. It cost a lot of money."
"Well keep wearing it and you'll give me and the boys something to do once you catch fire." DK said heading to his own locker.
"Don't be so jealous. This smells great."
"Right."
#
"Oh! What is that?" Kim said covering her mouth along with Bobby. "Did another opossum get stuck in the wheels of the fire truck?"
"What? Not again." Lt. Johnson said looking at Jimmy. "I thought you checked all the equipment already?"
"I did!" Jimmy said already heading to the garage. "I didn't smell anything earlier."
"Doherty, check everything this time." Lombardo said laughing at the embarrsed firefighter.
"Hey, you go help." Lieu said pointing after him. "The more people, the faster that smell goes away."
"C'mon lieu." He started to argue but he was already off to help anyway.
DK cast a glance at Carlos who was shrinking back upstairs to take a quick shower. 'What did I tell you?' He mouthed to the reddening paramedic.
'How was I supposed to know?' He mouthed back. D.K. Simply shrugged seeing that Carlos didn't want to see it his way so what was the point?
#
"What do you want?" Carlos asked seeing Doc parked on a park bench. They weren't having many calls so they had time to simply sit and literally smell the roses at the park.
"A hotdog, just mustard." Doc said going back to reading the paper.
Carlos turned back to the vendor ready to order his own snack. "One vanilla cone and one hot dog with mustard."
"No problem." The man said going to work behind the stand. Carlos cast a sideways glance at Doc who was still reading. Maybe he would bring it up after they ate. 'Then why isn't he buying me something to eat?' Carlos thought. 'It should be on him this time instead of me paying.'
"That's five bucks sir." The man said holding out the food in his other hand.
"Here," Carlos said handing him the money while grabbing the hotdog and icecream cone in different hands. "Thanks."
He heard a grunt from the vendor as he walked towards his partner who had folded up the financial section of the paper. 'Boring!' Carlos thought sitting down beside him handing him his dog.
"Looks like rain." Doc said before taking a bite.
Carlos looked up seeing the sky that used to be bright blue, now turning to a murky dark grey. "There goes my good weather too." He said. He happened to see a pigeon fly above him obviously looking for food in the park. His inner voice told him to move out of the way but when was the last time he listened to that annoying pesky thing?
"Shit!"
"I'll say." Doc said laughing as he saw the gift on top of Carlos' ice ream cone.
Carlos had a fleeting thought to throw the cone at the stupid bird but the pigeon had already flown away after delivering its' present. "Why today?!" He shouted to nobody.
"Cool it Carlos. Just go get another cone." Doc said almost finished with his hot dog.
"Yeah, you're right. I can just get another one and everything will be okay." Carlos decided striding over to the cart. "Hey, I need another cone."
"Why?" The man asked seeing the angry man gesture to his ice cream.
"A bird crapped all over it is why. I need another one."
"Huh, what are the chances?" The vendor said.
"Pretty rare." Carlos growled. What did he want? The US Bureau of Statistic's stats on Birds shitting on ice cream cones?
"Well, I can't give you another one because of our policy."
"Policy?" Carlos asked dumbfounded. "Street vendors have policies?"
"It's Park Vendors and they're right there." The vendor said pointing to a bright yellow sign on the bottom of the silver cart.
NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES. ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
"That sign." The vendor said seeing the man read it twice
"C'mon man. You see what happened. Can't you make a tiny exception?"
"Nope."
"It's my birthday today. I'm already having a bad day."
"Happy Birthday." The man said crossing his arms over his gelatinous stomach obviously not giving an inch.
"Give me another cone buddy." Carlos said leaning forward over the counter.
"Yeah? What are you gonna do?" The man laughed looking the smaller man over.
"I'm gonna drive this vanilla cone and drive it straight up your-"
"Carlos! We gotta call. let's go!" Doc shouted still talking into his radio as he dumped his trash.
Carlos looked back at the vendor giving him the evil eye that Carlos knew just had to scare him. "I'll be back afterwards and I'm gonna expect a fresh cone." He said pitching the soiled cone in the trash as he trailed over to Doc.
"Have a nice day!"
#
"Why today?" Carlos mumbled already seeing the car accident ahead of the ambulance.
"Well, I guess we could just ask the people in the accident to not be hurt and just walk to the hospital themselves." Doc said putting the ambulance in park.
"You know that's not what I meant." Carlos whined seeing Doc get out. 'Then we wouldn't have a job, duh!' He thought getting out of his side.
Doc had already forgotten their hourly spat as he saw Davis running up to him. "What do we got?"
"Two car accident. The truck t-boned the minivan in the intersection. The driver in the truck's fine but the two in the minivan aren't!" Davis said turning back to jog with the two medics. "There's a kid in the backseat and the mom's in front."
Carlos could see Sully talking to the driver who was still inside of the minivan obviously bleeding woman. He looked as jolly as always, which really wasn't ever much by Carlos' standards, as he waved them over.
"Good to see you Doc." Sully said nodding to the older paramedic. "She doesn't look to bad considering what happened and the kid looks fine."
"Ahem." Carlos saw everyone glance at him momentarily before comtinuing and effectivly ignoring him.
"Kim and Bobby are on the way to look at the other driver." Doc said. "Carlos, you take the minivan and I'll check on the the other driver until help comes."
"No problem." Carlos said already grabbing 2x4's and pressing them to the woman's forehead. "Ma'am, what's your name?"
"Caroline Tavers. I'm fine," She said but her voice was shaking as she did so. "How's Ben?"
"Ben?" Carlos questioned before looking over her to the backseat where he could see the undeniable eyes of a little kid peering back at him.
"Hi."
"Uhh...yeah he seems okay for now. He's still strapped in." Carlos said looking quickly back at the woman quickly checking her over for any physical defornities as he patted her neck. "Are you hurt anywhere else besides your head there?"
"No."
"That's good. It could have been a lot worse." Carlos didn't see any other injuries and decided it was okay to move her out of the van. He moved back from the open door to pull the guerney closer before coming back to the woman's side. "Okay, Caroline, I'm going to help you lay down on this guerney behind me and then I can go check on your son, okay?"
"I don't want to leave him there by himself." She sniffed.
"I'll be in there in just a minute." Carlos said seeing Kim and Bobby roll up. 'Thank goodness.' He thought waving Doc over. "My partner will take you to the ambulance and I'll stay here with Ben."
"O-okay." She said to Carlos feeling him unbuckle her. "Ben? Mommy'll be right across the street okay? I'll be right there waiting until you get out."
"Okay." Ben said seeing his mom get helped out of their van by Carlos.
"You got it?" Doc asked feeling the heavy rain start to soak through his uniform.
"Yeah, it'll only take a second." Carlos said seeing Ty come over.
"Anything I can do?" He asked seeing Carlos go to the backseat passenger side as he went to open the door. He pulled it again before going to the other side trying again but no such luck. "Looks like the power locks are stuck." Ty said pulling on one himself. "You're gonna have to go through the front."
"It's never easy." Carlos muttered.
"You need any help, man?" Ty asked already seeing Sully was done taking the statement from the other driver and was now directing traffic in the rain. 'He could use a little help.'
"No, just tell Doc I'll be a few minutes." Carlos said still not over him forgetting his Birthday.
"Fine." Ty said hurrying to the older man.
Carlos got in the front seat before crawling into the back trying not to trip over the arm rest. He set his bag down on the seat and looked at the boy with the bowl hair cut named Ben. 'Kids.' He cringed. He was never that great with them but he wouldn't let Doc give him another speech about 'not trying to understand.' He decided to give it his best as he smiled, "Hey, Ben. My name is Carlos. I'm just going to check you out to make sure you're okay before we get out of here." He said putting his left hand down to steady himself as he pulled himself all the way into the backseat. His knee landed in what he assumed to be rainwater puddling on the seat from the thunderstorm outside as he already felt it soaking through his clothes.
"I dropped my ice cream."
Carlos smiled humourlessly as he chuckled. 'Kids.'
#
Everyone was busy trying to get the scene controlled as they heard another pair of tires skidding on the wet pavement. Things were going in slow motion as Kim looked up from the back of the bus with Bobby helping splint an older man's arm when she saw the Dark Blue SUV come careening past the line of cars in the wrong lane. The vehicle set off a chain of horn honking as the SUV clipped side mirrors knocking them off as it sailed by. "Bobby!" She cried making the him look up from the task at hand. The vehicle was heading towards them!
Sully could hear the commotion behind him as he turned seeing the car speeding towards him. 'Oh Crap.' He thought still holding his whistle in his mouth. He was stunned before the world turned sideways knocking him off his feet and into the pavement creating a spray off rainwater.
"Sul? You okay?"
Sully turned to look at his parnter that had knocked him out of the path of certain death. "Fine." He said slowly taking his partner's help in getting up.
"Oh no!" A woman cried.
They both turned seeing the SUV careen towards the disabled minivan.
Where Carlos was still working.
#
"You look okay." Carlos muttered to himself seeing the child eagerly ready to get out of the car.
"I feel fine." Ben said looking at the shiny badge on Carlos shirt.
"Well let me be the judge of that." Carlos said pulling himself into a better position on the backseat. He was careful not to cut himself on the small shards of glass as he opened his kit. "You're not hurting anywhere?" He asked feeling around his neck.
"No. Is my mommy okay?"
"I'm sure she is. My partner and my friends are working on her right now. They're the best around." Carlos said checking his arms.
"Really?"
"The best but not as good as me." Carlos said hearing tires screaching in the bad weather.
"Carlos!"
He heard Kim scream his name from outside as he turned around to look. He saw an SUV heading right at them. He spun around not having time to warn the little boy what was going to happen. He simply threw his arm around him not caring about any injuries he might have as he pulled him against him shielding him from the imminent impact.
It was as hard as he imagined if not worse as he felt the vehicle get pushed into the parked cars on the side of the street. The front of the minivan lifted up into the air trying to rival the pure power of the SUV like two mounted knights dueling. Carlos pulled Ben in tighter hearing him scream in fear for the both of them. Carlos felt the back of the front seats push dangerously against him as the car got smashed like an accordion. Finally, the vehicle was slammed back down on the hood of the minivan with a crunch as whatever glass was leftover was broken into thousands of pieces. Carlos slowly opened his eyes after a few seconds of silence. 'I'm still alive.' He thought. "Ben?! You okay there bud?" He could still feel him clenching onto his uniform not wanting to let go. "Ben?" He tried again lightly pulling him back from him. The small boy was looking wide eyed at him as he didn't risk looking around, afraid of what was there.
"Another car hit us, okay? We're gonna be okay but you have to do what I say." Carlos could hear his voice wavering as he looked at their current surroundings. The passenger side was crushed against what he assumed to be another car but he couldn't see that well in the low light. On his left he could see a bit of light but what was most disturbing was that Carlos could see a tire blocking most of that light. He slowly put two and two together starting to mirror Ben's face. The SUV was parked on top of them! That was what was causing him to fold up like a bad impression of a human accordion. He couldn't move far enough to see if there was a possible way out. 'Everyone's right outside.'
"Carlos? What happened?"
"I think another car hit us." Carlos said in disbelief. He looked down not too sure what to tell the little boy. Ben had to be scared more than he was. "So tell me something about yourself." He said deciding to get Ben's mind off of the chaos around him.
"What?" Ben asked.
"You don't want to start? Okay," Carlos sighed trying to not let the panic seep in his voice. "Well today's my birthday. I turn Twenty five."
"Really? Mine's Saturday."
"How old are you turning?" Carlos asked looking for any escape from the vehicle.
"Six." He said holding up five fingers. "I'm having a birthday party too. Bob the Builder is gonna be there."
"How 'bout that." Carlos said hearing voices getting closer to him.
"Carlos! You hear me?"
He looked down seeing Ty's face against the cement. "I can see you! What happened?"
"There's a car on top of you but FD is on the way. You guys okay in there?"
"Yeah, we'll be better when we get out of here." He shouted back. He risked moving his body from it's wedged position. As soon as he did, he could hear the metal shift and groan.
"Carlos!" Ben shouted grabbing back onto to him.
"It's okay! It's okay." Carlos said breathlessly but he was already shielding him just in case. "We just can't move around to much until we get out of here."
"Why?" Ben asked starting to get upset.
"We just can't." Carlos said not sure how to explain it. 'What am I going to do?' He struggled to think of something before he got Ben too upset. The last he wanted was an upset kid crying all over him. 'Think stupid!' He could hear the obvious sounds of crying as he heard more shouts outside the crushed car. "Hey, we're going to play a little game while we wait."
"I don't want to play." Ben cried. "I wanna go home."
"I know, I know but we can't right now. You gotta help me out here." Carlos said quietly. "We're gonna make up a story together."
"I don't want to." Ben said shaking his head back and forth.
"Yes you do." Carlos said. "It'll be fun and it'll take your mind off what's going on."
"Could you tell me a story?" Ben asked quietly.
"I don't really remember any stories." Carlos said honestly.
"Didn't your mom tell you no bedtime stories?"
"No." Carlos remembered going to bed scared many nights and waking up from nightmares with no one to comfort him at all. He just had to stay up and pray his dream wasn't going to come from out from under the bed and get him.
"Can you make one up?"
"Yeah..." Carlos said slowly trying to think of a good plot. 'What would be a good story?' A light went off in his head as he smiled. "Well, once upon a time, there was a man called Ca-Carl, yeah his name was Carl. He was the most handsomest man in the entire world. He was what we would call a ladies man."
"What?"
"Nevermind about that," Carlos said quickly. "Everybody respected and loved him where ever he went..."
#
"Damn." Jimmy looked over the two cars that were sitting on the sidewalk twisted together and stacked like children's blocks.
"C'mon!" Doc said waving him over. "There're stuck inside!"
Jimmy could already see the street filling up with emergency vehicles ready to help as he jogged over to the accident. He didn't see Kim and Bobby anywhere and immeadiately thought the worse. He got close enough seeing Sully and a few other officers trying their best to help the occupants inside but they weren't having any luck. They all knew better than to try and move anything too much just in case the vehicle shifted and possibly hurt whoever was inside.
"Thank God." Sully said pointing to the two crushed cars. "Drunk driver crashed the SUV into the minivan that had already been in an accident here nearly running me over in the process. Nieto was inside working on a little boy when the crash happened."
"Nieto's inside?" Jimmy asked slight relieved but feeling guilty that he was glad it wasn't Kim.
"Yeah, he says everyone's okay but he said they're pretty pressed inside." Sully said over the heavy rain.
"Pressed?" Lt. Johnson asked coming up beside Jimmy.
"The car smashed him tight against the backseat with the kid." Sully said. ""Right now he's just trying to keep the kid calm."
"There's also small opening where the passengar window is." Doc added seeing the other firefighters already snapping into action not waiting for orders after hearing one of their own was trapped.
"Okay," Lt. Johnson said already snapping into the role of leader he'd perfected over the years. "D.K, disconnect everything you can electrical on these cars and start spraying them down."
"Already on it." DK said practically reading the man's mind. They didn't want any sparks setting fire to anything. He was briefly reminded of the day's earlier incident making him smile more determined to get him out. 'We're coming.'
#
"So, in the end he ended up defeating the evil fire breathing James the terrible and was a hero to everyone. The end." Carlos said having to stretch the story out as far as he could.
"So the James was turned into a lizard?"
"Yes, an ugly frog." Carlos smiled to himself. He'd used a few familiar names for his story and had the satisfaction of being the only one knowing what he was really talking about. Naturally, his character was the hero.
"So a princess will find James and kiss him and turn him into a prince, right?"
Carlos clicked his tongue seeing his fault in his almost perfectly crafted fairy tale. "No, he was just a plain ol' ugly frog that spent the rest of his days in the swamp catching nasty flies." There, how could you like that character?
"I like frogs. I think they're cool. I catch 'em after it rains and scare the girl who lives next to me." Ben said cheerfully.
"Of course you do." Carlos said to himself. 'I'm not even able to get the upper hand in my own made up story?' He thought slightly amused.
"Hey Carlos!"
"Jimmy?" Carlos questioned wondering if the fireman heard any of his story.
"Yeah it's me!" He shouted finally scooting close enough on the ground to get a peek inside. His face was in a puddle of water as he saw the face of his colleague and a younger boy looking scared but okay considering the facts. "We're about to use the jaws to get in there so make sure you shield him in there, Nieto."
"Got it." Carlos said.
"Your name's Ben right?" Jimmy asked seeing the little boy nod.
"Well, there's gonna be a lot of noise and it'll sound scary but you have to be brave in there okay?"
"Yeah."
"Your mom's waiting for you when we get you out of there so you just hang on for a few more minutes."
"Okay."
"Great." Jimmy said giving Carlos one last look. Carlos nodded seeing him slide back out of view.
"Are you scared?" Ben asked.
"No, Jimmy's the best firefighter around. He'll get us out." Carlos said feeling his stomach knot up in anticipation of getting out.
"I'm not scared." Ben said trying to be as brave as Carlos.
"I didn't think you were." Carlos said hearing Jimmy's voice over a loud crack of thunder. "He's about to start now. "You just grab onto me as tight as you want to."
"I will." Ben said.
Carlos heard the buzz of the jaws of life starting to roar up as he rested his head on top pf Ben's making sure if anything fell or moved, it would have to work twice as hard to get to the younger child. He didn't have to think twice about putting himself in between Ben and any danger. It was something he wished he would have had growing up. Someone willing to risk their own life for his. He heard the buzzing go on for short intervals before hearing metal getting bent and pulled before the buzzing came back on. He knew they were getting somewhere when he was able to finally see the ground outside the small opening where Jimmy and Davis had previously been able to squeeze in at. He could see the street lights bouncing off the wet pavement and boots moving around. "Jimmy!" He shouted knowing someone had to hear him. He only had to wait a few seconds before he saw Jimmy's face and most of his upper body this time around as he looked inside the van.
"Yeah?"
"The space is big enough for you to take Ben. He can slide out now." Carlos said.
Jimmy looked at the small space and then at the small boy making a quick judgement. "Okay but slide him out gently Nieto. Gently." He said letting his eyes roam over the structure of the car.
"Okay." Carlos said looking down at Ben. "Hey, Ben? I'm gonna let the Jimmy take you out of here so you can go be with your mom."
"Are you coming too?"
"Yeah, I'm coming right after you. You just wait for me outside." Carlos said giving the boy a smile reassuring him as he finally let him go.
"Okay, here we go." Jimmy said see the boy slide slowly down the slight incline using his hands to stop from falling as he reached Jimmy's who helped slide him out. "I got you." He said sliding the boy out to Sully who helped take him over to the back of a rig where Kim and Bobby were waiting to take him to Mercy to get checked over.
Carlos made shifted a small bit now that he was the only one inside. He knew it was the right thing to do but he was stuck inside alone now as he heard the saw start up again. "Only a few more inches and I can get out of here too.' He thought heaing more voices as they were getting more and more done. He heard a loud groan of metal bending and a pop before he completely paniced. He was quickly shoved against the back of the backseat as the front seat pinned his left arm to his side. 'Oh shit.' Carlos thought getting his own arm smashed against his chest. "Stop!" He shouted feeling himself get pushed into the backseat cushioning. 'I'm gonna get crushed in some soccer mom's minivan-on my birthday?!' "Stop!" He screamed scaring himself at how loud he could get.
"Carlos!" DK was the one who answered him this time.
"I can't- I can't-"
"Whoa! Okay, hold on." DK said already seeing the problem. "Carlos you hang tight."
"No shit." Carlos said quietly taking a breth feeling the seat stop him from breathing all the way. He only waited a few seconds longer before the entire roof practically popping off as Carlos felt the first drops of rain on his face as he saw the faces of his colleagues. 'Finally.' Carlos thought seeing DK drop down inside the topless SUV patting Carlos on the shoulder before getting to work pushing the front seat forward relieving the pressure off the young medic. "Nieto, good to see you."
"Same." Carlos said rubbing his sore arm not even caring that he was getting soaked.
"You're taking over my job." DK joked to Carlos seeing Doc coming over to check him out before they moved him. "You don't see me trying to start IV's around here."
"You good Carlos?" Doc asked not giving his partner a chance to answer as he checked him over himself.
"Just sore but I think I'll survive." Carlos said feeling his arm tell him different. "How's Ben?"
"Ben? He's fine. He was asking about you." Doc said. "You must have left an impression on him. Who would have thought, you and kids?"
Carlos closed his eyes smiling. For once all day, Carlos felt satisfied knowing the little boy was okay and maybe that was his Birthday present.
#
Carlos slowly leaned against the elevator ignoring the sounds of the elevator whirring as it lifted he and Ty up five floors as he just wanted to go home and forget his cruddy day. He had a feeling of Deja vu before shaking his head.
"You're gonna be all over the newspapers tomorrow." Ty said looking at his friend. "It was amazing what you did."
"You would have done the same." Carlos said.
"I don't know...Today was special."
"Today is my Birthday." Carlos said just as the bell dinged and he stepped out. "But then of course, no one cared at all. No presents or nothin'. Not even a stupid card or a simple 'Happy Birthday Carlos.'"
"Oh." Ty said lagging back a bit. "I didn't think about it. That's why you were so moody all day today."
"W-Yeah!" Carlos said in a rather 'duh' tone as he fished out his keys. "You'd be the same way."
"I guess but you should have just said so earlier instead of being so dramatic about it." Ty said waiting for him to open the door so he wouldn't have to keep listening to Carlos complain.
"Dramatic? No one cared to remember! I thought I was finally starting to fit in around here." Carlos said angrily flipping on the lights.
"SURPRISE!!"
Carlos looked up to see everyone in the living room with a few favors around the room as they clapped finally seeing him. "What's going on?" He asked. "I thought everyone forgot?"
"Nah," Ty said coming up from beside him handing him a colorful party hat. "We just had to make you think that."
"Why do you think Morris had to leave 'midshift'?" Doc said seeing the utter surprise on his face. "We had to get someone to help Davis decorate before you got home."
"I was tempted to forget about it after this morning." Ty said smiling pushing him toward the table where there was a cake already out. Ty told himself to make sure and remember to get whoever managed to get the cake there.
All twenty five candles were lit up on the cake surrounding 'Happy Birthday Carlos' written in bright red letters with a FDNY theme since there was a skyline for the back round and the emblem on the upper right corner. "This is great." Carlos said admiring, something he would tell Doc much later, his first true Birthday cake in his entire life. "Thanks you guys."
"Go ahead and blow out the candles Nieto." Bobby said from beside Kim and Doc. "You earned it."
"I'll say." Sully said standing back as he nudged Ty with his elbow. He dropped his apartment keys in his hand no longer needing them after letting everyone in.
"Wait!" Morris said whipping out his camera. "Let me get a picture for the firehouse."
"I look like crap Morris, c'mon." Kim whined quickly trying to do something with her hair while swatting Bobby's hand away to stop him from messing it up.
"Get in there Zambrano, you look fine." Morris said waving his hand for everyone to squeeze in.
"Okay people. Lets see some smiles," Morris said fitting everyone in the frame. "Say 'Birthday Cake'!"
"I'm not say-" Sully started.
"Birthday cake!" Everyone shouted.
Click
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The picture was hung on the bulletin board a few days later. Carlos in the middle over his cake with Doc on his left and Davis on his right. Jimmy, DK, and Lombardo were on the other side of Doc smiling up a storm with everyone else. Bobby and Kim were on the other side of a very unsmiling Sully holding each other around the waist.
It was hung next to the front page newspaper clipping picture of Carlos and Ben.
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The End