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Thank you to: Dixiewinxwrites12, Gryffindor4eva, kickenkid7, lilbritt4u2, and mandy-chick00, fiction-girl18 for following!
Lilbritt4u2: I'm so happy you like the story. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart when people like my work. I am already working on chapter two and my goal will be for it be up if not next Thursday then the one after it. I'm going to try to keep a better update schedule, but if I get really bad, you all are welcome to PM me like mad and tell me to get my ass working. I don't want to lose followers again (If I did before…)
She'd been at the studio for four hours straight. She'd practiced her solo, practiced the group dance and taught a minis ballet class. She was stretching herself out when her sister stormed through the door.
"Come on monkey" she demanded.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked in a panic as she pulled herself off the floor and started stuffing things back into her duffel.
"Something happened… I think you should come home" Gaby told her.
Emily took in the sight before her: her sister wasn't in her pants and blue t-shirt, she was wearing jeans, a blouse, a leather jacket and those brown booties she always wore.
"Tell me what happened" she insisted as she finally zipped up the bag.
"There was an accident" Shay blurted.
"An accident? Is everyone okay?" Emily asked.
"Heather Darden went out to take her mind off today. She made a bad decision to get behind the wheel. There was an accident. She's headed to the police station." Gaby explained to her.
After having managed to fit the strap comfortably on her shoulder, Emily's duffel bag slid off and landed with a thud on the floor, making Basil sit up with a whine. Emily could only stare at them in shock.
"What?" Emily froze and looked up at her, "How? How could she… why is she? What?" She stammered
"Come on baby, let's go" Gaby said.
She moved forward and pulled the bag off the floor, allowing Shay to take her sister by the shoulders and lead her behind Gaby to the door.
Stunned, Emily could only follow. She was at a loss for words. How could she do that? How could she do that to her kids? Emily knew exactly what it was like to lose your parents. Ben and Griffin had nowhere to go… at least she had her brother and sister and her aunt. But the boys had nowhere… no one.
"Matt is going to take care of the boys for now" Emily could only nod; there was nothing to say.
She passed by everyone in the studio with a blank stare and glossy eyes. Gaby walked in front, carrying Emily's bag, Emily was in the middle of her and Shay, being led by the latter. Shay led her out to the car and filed her into the backseat, stepping aside to let the wolf in next to her. Gaby set the bag inside and got in the driver's seat and drove them off toward home.
She was awoken in the morning at her normal time, took her shower, ate her breakfast, got her medicine, and got herself ready.
"We're gonna leave early today" Gaby called to her from her spot in the kitchen.
"Why?" she asked back.
"I wanna stop at Matt's and check on the boys." Gaby explained.
Emily rolled her eyes, is this how things were going to be now? "Fine, but I still have to make it to school on time today" she responded, "OH! And today is early release, don't forget!" she told her sister.
Gaby pressed her palms against the counter and let out a long sigh- she had forgotten.
The car ride was quiet as Emily made conversation with Seth and Alexxis via text message. She took a few photos, sent a few unhappy emojis about the 'stopping at Matt's' thing and explained to them the whole situation. They didn't really know Ben and Griffin, but they'd heard all about them- their dad, their struggles.
The tires of the car scraped the curb as Gaby pulled up to Matt's house.
"Why are we doing this?" Emily asked, annoyed.
"Emily, honey…" Gaby said, and then sighed.
She was about to tread shallow water, "When the accident happened and you finally woke up, do you know how many people from the firehouse and otherwise came by and tried to help out? They came by night and day to see what they could do… this is the absolute least we can do… is come by in the morning and give them a cereal bar. I tell you Matt damn well hasn't got anything good for them to eat."
Emily's eyes had filled again but she swallowed down her feelings. They got out of the car and Emily took a fistful of Basil's fur in her hand. Gaby came around and slung an arm around her shoulder, squeezing Emily against her before taking her hand and leading her to the door.
She rang the doorbell they heard the light thumps of running feet. The lock clicked over and the door was pulled inward. Ben's happy face in his dinosaur pygamas stood on the other side.
"Gaby! Emmy!" he cried, pulling Gaby through the door, whose hand slipped out of Emily's. Emily followed them in and closed the door behind them, following at a slow, annoyed pace. As they neared the kitchen at the end of the hall, Gaby leaned forward.
"BOO!" she screamed in Griffin's ear.
He jumped and smiled, said hello.
Gaby gave them a challenge to get dressed in under two minutes in exchange for a breakfast bar and Emily sidestepped into the living room and sat down. She listened to Gaby and Matt talk, listened to Gaby talk about the accident and how she felt when she had a just a child dumped into her care. Tears trickled down Emily's cheeks as they talked. Gaby described how hard it was to care for a disabled child and how Matt may just have it easy. It was overwhelming. She sent a text to Lexxi asking where they were on their way to school.
She gave them the address to Matt's house and asked for them to grab her on the way there.
Tell me what happened –SGaby wanted to stop by Casey's to help out and she started telling him how hard it was to take care of me and just… I don't want to sit here any longer –E
Are you okay? –S
I feel angry and sad and there are too many emotions... it'll be a miracle if I can stop crying –E
We're close –S
Thank you –EIt only took a few minutes for them to show up and Emily's chest was still heavy and thick. Breathing was hard with the lump of her tears and she had just been sitting on the couch. There were tear streaks on her cheeks and full eyes. She went into the kitchen and Gaby looked up at her worriedly, Matt the same way- brows knit together.
"What's wrong baby?" Gaby asked.
"Umm…" Emily croaked, "Lexxi and Seth are here to pick me up."
"Why did you call them?" Gaby asked.
Emily's leg bounced and a few water droplets spilled from her eyes, "Because, I have to get to school and because you don't know how to watch what you're saying."
Gaby's eyes went hard, "Don't talk to me that way"
Emily's face pinched as she whirled on the balls of her feet and made her way to the door. She pulled it open to see Lexxi slamming her car door and running towards Matt's house and Seth throwing her backpack into the back seat. Emily brought herself away from Gaby's pursuit and down the stairs, crashing into Lexxi who wrapped herself around the younger girl.
Gaby stood in the doorway, stunned at this outburst and watched and listened as Emily cried into Lexxi's chest. The older girl looked up at Gaby with a disgusted look and led Emily away to the car. Gaby looked up at Matt, standing next to her, feeling like she was helpless and watching her baby sister get kidnapped. The car, still running, pulled off the curb and left.
Three hours later, only a half hour before school let out, Emily sent a text to her brother, a plea to pick her up from school because of the early release.
Will you get me from school? –EWhat about Gaby? –A
I never get to see you, please? –E
Fine. But tell my why –A
A thing happened this morning… please come –E
I'll be there when you let out –A
Gracias, Hermano. Te amo. –E
Y tu –A
And he kept his word. At 11:30 when the bell rang for the release of school, she went to the front, telling Seth and Lexxi that her brother was getting her, and there he was. The new model jet black car he was leaning on contained another face in the passenger seat. He came off the vehicle as she approached and she recognized the face of none other than Julia Willhite. Five feet from the car, she skipped forward and wrapped her arms around his face and he bent to place his lips against her head.
"¿Qué pasó? What happened?" he asked, pulling the backpack from her shoulders and opening the door for her. Basil allowed him to pass her the bag before jumping over the girl herself.
"Hey baby doll! What's goin' one? Why are we here today?" Julia asked, her energy causing Emily to grin widely.
"Hi Julie!" She responded as Antonio slid into the driver seat and put it in park.
"Talk" he demanded
"So Gaby wanted to stop at Matt's and check on him and the boys this morning and then she sat down with him and they started talking. Well, she was all 'I know how hard it is to have a kid dumped on you' and 'you're lucky you aren't only 23 when it happened' and 'it's tough to have damaged kids more than normal ones' and blah blah blah, but it made me feel so awful and I had to get out of there, so I texted Alexxis and asked her to come get me so she did" she huffed out.
She watched as Julia turned her head towards Antonio and as he turned to look at her. Emily could tell that there was a silent exchange, but she couldn't seem to care. Just as Julia looked back at her, Basil let out a small pained cry and lay down to wiggle her nose up under Emily's hand so it sat on her head.
"I'm sorry that happened, tootz" she said to the girl who gave her a small, sad smile.
"Thanks"
"Hey, how about you come hang at the station ah? Finally meet some people?" Antonio said.
"Sounds good!" it made her excited, she had wanted to meet the few other people she hadn't already.
He pulled up into a parking spot in front of the district building and she hopped out with him. She took his hand and Basil walked between, under the bridge they'd created. Julia walked on her other side, a hand protectively between her shoulder blades.
"Hi Sergeant Platt" she greeted upon entry.
The woman gave her a half snarl and they climbed the stairs- she'd never figure her out. The cage opened and he allowed Julia to go first, and then it was Antonio, followed by Emily and then her wolf. At the top, they were met with a hallway, doors on either side. It opened to desks in a strategy room where everyone seemed to be at a desk.
She pressed herself a little closer to Antonio, "This is my sister, Emily" he decided to go ahead and blurt.
A woman looked up, a man leaned out from behind some file cabinets- he looked homeless- and Voight appeared from his office.
"Look who it is!" he exclaimed happily.
As many differences as he had had with the people around her, he had his reasons and Emily wasn't one to judge. It seemed like he got his act together and his mind screwed in right. She smiled and leaned into him with a one-armed hug as he approached her with both of his spread widely.
"That's Olinski" he pointed to scruffy one behind the cabinets, who waved.
"You know I knew you when you were about this big" he motioned with his hand about three feet off the ground.
"Doesn't seem like it would have been that long ago" Emily said, making the woman let out a chuckle and everyone else laugh. She really wasn't much taller, just a foot pretty much. She'd always been tiny, but dance and car accidents didn't help you grow really.
"And this is Lindsay" he pointed to the woman.
"Hey hon, how are you?" her voice had an interesting tone to it. It was sort of raspy, but not gravelly like Voight's. She liked the way it sounded.
"I'm alright. Happy to finally get to meet everyone" she responded.
"Yeah, why didn't that happen sooner?" Lindsay asked, looking sarcastically to Antonio.
He scoffed, gave her a look, "Timing?"
He went to his desk and took a seat, "You have more to introduce" Lindsay told him as he kicked his legs up and leaned back, clasping his hands behind his head.
She stood and walked around her desk, kneeling to say hello to the service dog, "Hi sweetness, who are you?" Basil barked a response that only Emily could decode in her brain.
She dropped to her knees, running a hand down the wolf's fluffy spine, "Basil, she's my service dog" Lindsay lifted her eyes, her lips pursing together.
"She's gorgeous"
"She's half wolf" Emily explained just as Basil collapsed to her side and rolled to expose her stomach, her tongue lolling out to the side: "But umm… she doesn't always act like one" Emily finished with a giggle.
Lindsay let out a laugh, rubbed her belly for a moment and then stood, returning to her perch at her desk.
"Come here, I wanna show you something" Julia said.
Emily stood and followed her behind her desk where she allowed Emily the seat in her chair. Her arms came around her shoulders and one rested her against the desk and the other gripped the mouse. A few clicks and a program came up, lots of little facial feature icons appeared on the right side, a blank 'canvas' in the middle.
The detective clicked on a few of them, a face taking shape on the canvas, and then she went about adjusting the nose and the eyebrows.
"You can create whoever you want. Wanna give it a go?" Emily nodded and took the mouse from her. She cleared the screen and picked a head. Julia, once she'd gotten her base features down, moved the chair, pulled the girl off of it and sat, placing the girl on her lap. Antonio watched as she started to do this, gauging his sister's reaction. She didn't seem to notice really, or she didn't care. He leaned forward, intrigued- she had been so weird and conservative lately. As soon as she settled on the woman's lap, she went right back to creating whatever it was she was going to create.
He went along with his own work, not noticing Emily glancing up at him every few seconds and then tweaking something on the computer. Julia did her work around her, filling out incident forms and setting them aside, taking notes on files and writing down scenarios for current cases. Emily worked for only 20 minutes, before reaching over and tapping Julia's hand.
"Oh my god…" the detective whispered.
"What?" Antonio asked, alarmed, looking up.
"It's like… exact!" Julia exclaimed.
"What is?" he demanded.
Emily giggled as the female detective turned the computer monitor so he could see it. Lindsay looked up from her desk and studied the face on the screen. It was definitely Antonio, but she had given him a mullet and a goatee. As Lindsay let out a loud cackle and then continued to laugh, Emily's pleasure built in her stomach as she watched her brother's face as he pursed his lips and bowed his head to shake it.
"My own family" he remarked.
Emily lost it, she began to laugh and giggle: "My own family would do this to me!" He cried.
Emily let her head back against the detective's shoulder, who also rode out her own laughter. Dawson shook his head before glancing at the clock.
"Vamos, mona. Let's go, I don't have anything for lunch for you. Let me take you to the firehouse." Her features changed to those of annoyance, but she twisted on her lap to hug Julia and hopped off, waving to her new 'friends' and following Antonio out.
As he pulled up outside the firehouse, he studied his sister in the review mirror, watching for possible clues of distress on her face.
"This is your stop mona" he told her.
She unbuckled, emotionless, and leaned forward to press a kiss to his stubbly cheek. She slung her backpack onto her shoulder and hopped out of the car, checking diligently both ways for cars before jogging across. Antonio pulled away once she was in the driveway and she stopped to stare with teary eyes as he drove away.
The slamming of a car door pulled her attention away from the one retreating. She looked around before seeing a dark haired woman pulling the back door open to her car. It was Renee.
"Renee!" Emily squealed happily, dropping her bag and running over.
"Em!" she greeted, stopping what she was doing to accept the oncoming girl in a hug, "How are you sweetheart?" she asked, squeezing her tightly.
"I'm good, do you need any help?" she asked, pointing to the woman's bags.
"No honey, I'm alright" she told her.
"Well I gotta get inside, nice to see you" Emily told her, turning to go inside.
"You too honey" Renee called after her.
Her sisters are in the shower when she gets there, and Cruz and Otis are in their towels, banging on the door and harassing them for entry. She smiles, amused, and chuckles. Cruz looks at Otis with a horrified expression and they both look back at her like deer in headlights. But she shakes her head and moves on towards the common room.
That night, she went back to her brother's and spent it with him. She and Eva talked about girl stuff and she got advice about how to put up with Gaby from her brother. Basil got in some good play time with Diego and she had a better home-cooked meal than she'd gotten in a while.
She spends the next two days at the studio, practicing, practicing, practicing. She made sure to eat and drink and take breaks and give herself her medicine at the right time. And the day after that is a shift day that she goes to the firehouse for.
Her sisters go out pretty immediately on a call to an unresponsive woman and she is left with the men at the firehouse. She takes a nap and wakes to someone yelling, it's Clarke. She listens and grows bored and then runs into Mills on her way out of her sister's bunk and he seems to be suspicious of Clarke, as he mentioned to Casey.
That night, her sister goes to Matt's for dinner. All of sudden it seems like Emily has dropped entirely off her radar and she only has eyes for Ben and Griffin and Matt's wellbeing. She spends the night with her brother again, but this time, she holes up in the guest room and won't talk to anyone- that is until her aunt unlocks the door from the outside.
She hears her working at the lock, but doesn't care; she's too busy writing in her journal. She heard, but she didn't pay attention enough to the outcome of it.
Hi mumma, hola papa.
Gabriela doesn't seem to care anymore… I don't know how I feel… forgotten I guess.
It's like she didn't care that I would hear when she talked to uncle Casey about me and the accident and all of that, and then she cares more about helping out with Griffin and Ben and I'm just a distraction.
I get to see hermano much more though. I like being with him. Though I'm old enough and everything not to have it happen, he's stronger and he holds me more than she does. I remember I never wanted anyone to touch my legs… they never just hurt, but I didn't want anyone touching them because I was afraid they were gonna hurt if they did. I guess that was a little stupid. And then when I could finally walk again, I was super afraid of hurting them again. So I took dance and gymnastics really seriously and made absolutely sure that I was doing it all correctly –all of my moves –so I wouldn't get hurt.
But now, I feel like such a child sometimes. I cry a lot and I like it when people hold me or when I curl up on the couch or if they prop me on their hip. And I'm tiny…which makes it easier for them to do it. I don't know… I guess I just don't really know what to do.
Anyway, I miss you, but I'll always love you.
Emily
Her aunt Laura pushed the door opened and leaned against the frame as she watched her niece write. She seemed so into it, she didn't want to interrupt her creative flow. Emily didn't really seem to notice as she moved closer, or when she sat on the bed and the mattress sank. But she jumped and stared wide-eyed at her when she rubbed a hand down her clothed leg.
She closed the book slowly and set it to the side, "Do you wanna talk?" her aunt asked
Emily shrugged, "May I?" Laura asked, motioning towards the journal.
Emily shook her head and moved her hand to press the journal under her bent knees. Laura let out a sigh and bowed her head, suddenly becoming interested in the pattern on the comforter. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Emily, studying her. She had tried to have heart-to-hearts with the girl in the past, but she shut herself away. Sometimes she thought her niece didn't like her, but whatever it was, she never quite broke through the wall.
"Gaby doesn't care anymore…" Emily muttered weakly.
"But she does sweetheart, her mind is just elsewhere" her aunt explained sweetly.
"Not one week ago she wouldn't lie down with me for two minutes to break my schedule when I was struggling, and today and this past week she just… doesn't care" she vented.
"Oh honey" Laura sighed, sucking quietly on her teeth, moving up toward the headboard and wrapping herself around Emily as she started to cry. Emily set her head on her chest, sniffling into the soft fabric of her shirt.
"It's gonna be alright. You should get some sleep." she instructed.
"Do you know anything about the accident? Has anything come up?" Emily asked her.
Laura let out a sigh, hoping she wouldn't bring it up, "Your brother just went over to Lieutenant Casey's to tell him the Heather's friend didn't make it…" she felt Emily stop breathing and rubbed her hand down her shoulder, "She's facing manslaughter charges" she finished.
Emily nodded weakly, "Will you lie with me while I fall asleep? It'll help keep the nightmares at bay" she explained.
"Of course I will" Laura told her, squeezing her niece against her one last time.
Emily moped for the next two days, thinking about how awful Heather is to have been so careless and do that to her friend. The man who hit Emily was drunk. Heather was drunk. The man who nearly took her life and stole so many others was drunk. And though Heather only took one, she was still almost just as bad in Emily's eyes. There was probably almost nothing the teen could think of that Heather could do to make things better.
There was another shift at the firehouse and Laura was off that day, so Emily spent some of it with her. But, when her sister phoned her after a call, and said they were headed back to the house, and she wanted her there, she got worried.
"What happened? Something again?"
"You know that arsonist? The one after Kelly?" she asked.
"Yeah, what happened? Is he okay?" She began to panic.
"He's okay" her breathing returned to normal, "But he set fire to Peter's restaurant" her breath caught in her throat again.
"I'll have aunt Laura drop me off" she said and hung up.
When they got there, all of the trucks were there, but it looked like they had just gotten back, the doors to the bay were still up. She thanked her aunt and went in search of everyone. She could hear talking in the common room, saw a woman, tall, dark hair, maybe 40s or early 50s, talking to a group of unhappy firemen.
"Unauthorized tours…" she heard and went wide, deciding to enter from the other side, "Especially a child…" she froze.
She came in kitchen side and slunk to the back of the group, standing halfway behind Gaby and taking her hand. The woman noticed and stopped short.
She leaned to the side, "Hello?" she said.
Gaby pressed Emily behind her back protectively, as if there were a gunman staring them down. The firehouse parted like the red sea until the three girls-Emily, Shay, and Dawson- were standing, vulnerable at the end. Emily's grip tightened on Gaby's jacket and the older sister took a step back, placing both of her hands behind her where they landed semi-lightly on either of the girl's hips.
"That's not necessary, I don't bite" the woman said
"I think some of us would disagree with that statement" her uncle Wallace said to her.
She whirled to look at him to her right. Cruz, feeling uncomfortable for her and her safety when he first caught site of her, took this moment of her inattention to swoop around and pull her up, backing from the group.
She sat on one of his hips, on the left. He turned slightly away from the woman and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His left arm held her securely against him around her back and his right hand came up to wrap his thumb around the top of her arm and his palm and fingers to come to rest against her back and shoulder.
"Who is this?" She asked, stepping forward.
Cruz took a hasty step back and Emily was so stunned, she didn't know what to do.
"I'm Emily and I have every clearance to be here." She finally informed her
Her uncle's heart filled with pride.
"Really? Is that so?" the woman asked.
Emily nodded.
"Yes, well we'll have to see about that" she said and turned.
"Don't let it happen again" she said to Boden and he only looked at the ground and stuck his arm out, motioning to her where the door was.
Once out of site, Gaby moved back towards Emily and Cruz and he set her down so that Dawson could wrap her in a hug. She was shaking.
"I don't like her"
"No one does, monkey" Herrmann said.
Shay pulled out a syringe and an alcohol pad and swabbed at Emily's hip before wiping her hands down with it, it took her less than three seconds to administer her medicine and cap the needle back with the plastic cap.
"You alright?" Cruz asked and she nodded, allowing herself to be led away from the group and towards the bunk to settle down.