Chapter Three
Joe pulled his car up to the house a little after eight. The call from his father, "Get over here" shook him pretty good. Jamie insisted Frank and Eddie were fine but it was indeed an emergency. He hurried up the steps and into the kitchen. Eddie was standing in Jamie's arms, he was rocking her quietly. Joey's eyes fell on the fire commissioner, "Commissioner McKay?"
"Joe, I'm glad you came son,' Jamie sighed. "Your sister is going to need all of us now."
"Oh, no," Joey sighed. "Molly told me when I got up about that fire but I thought Flatbush companies had it under control. What happened?"
Commissioner McKay looked at Joey, "Flatbush had the main blaze covered but I used companies from Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton and Rockaway to handle the spread to other buildings. Steve was inside Delmonico's restaurant when it exploded. We found his remains a few hours ago."
"How do you want to handle this Dad?" Joey asked.
"If you can perhaps go and get the twins, bring them into Grandpa's room. Mom is concerned that Lila will scare them or temper her real emotions because they are in the room. Can you do that? Once they are settled on grandpa's bed…"
Joey nodded, "Got it covered." Taking the steps two at a time Joey quietly retrieved the twins, "Hey little ones, Uncle Joey got you…"
"Jaah…" Reagan cooed and smiled. Finn remained quiet as Joey carried both the children to Frank's bedroom. When Joey pushed the door open, Frank was already awake. "Grandpa, I didn't mean to wake you up but…"
"I've been awake, I heard the commotion but my chest was a little tight so I figured I'd wait until Jamie knew what he wanted me to do. I guess we are going to watch these little ones…" Frank took Reagan who was busy chewing on her own hands. "Hi baby girl…hi…I'm so sorry sweetie pie. I'm so glad you have no idea what's happening."
Lila woke up and went to check on her babies. She found them missing and smiled. Steven must have come home and taken them for a cuddle downstairs. Lila pulled on her robe and headed downstairs to the kitchen, but instead of finding her husband she found two stone faced parents and the fire commissioner.
Lila stepped down off the last step slowly walking into the room eyeing the fire commission curiously. "Lila," the fire commissioner greeted with a frown.
"What's going on, is everything okay?" Lila glanced her parents looking for an answer as to why the fire commissioner was there. A visit from the top was rare except in serious situations. She knew that much from many years as the daughter of the top cop.
"Mom? Dad? Where's Steve? Is he okay?" Lila turned her head looking between her parents wide eyed starting to get scared.
Jamie heaved a sigh, stepping forward volunteering to give the news. "Baby, Steven…" He began but found himself unable to speak the words he knew would crush his little girl. Jamie looked at Commission McKay, "Roy…"
The commissioner stood up and sighed, "Lila, I'm so sorry…Steven was killed early this morning in an explosion at DelMonico's restaurant."
"What?" Lila asked in a tiny squeaky voice as the tears threatened to choke her. "No, he's just…" Lila put her hands up over her face in shock and disbelief. Slowly, Lila began to back up towards the door as if wanting to run. Jamie moved quickly and reached out for her, pulling her close to his chest. "Daddy's got you baby," Jamie whispered as Lila stopped struggling and began to sob into Jamie's soiled suit jacket.
Eddie stood up and stepped over to her put her arms around her baby girl. She felt Jamie slide his arm around her and slowly sway as Lila sobbed in their arms.
Joey looked over at Frank speaking silently. Frank was busy occupying the twins, "Go on, go be a big brother then when she's ready sent her in to me."
Joey smiled then headed out to the kitchen where Eddie stepped back and led Lila to a chair. "Take a glass of water, honey," Eddie offered. "Or I can make you some tea, that honey tea you like."
Joey knelt down by his sister, "I'm sorry, Lil…I can't even imagine…"
Lila laid her head on Joey's shoulder then gasped, "My babies. Mom, where the babies? There weren't in the beds."
"I took them in with grandpa," Joey soothed. "They are being so good, he said you can come in when you ready."
Eddie handed Lila her tea while Jamie walked out with Roy. "We'll handle notifying his parents," Jamie told his colleague. "Thanks for your support. Let me know when I can come down and sign for…"
"Unfortunately Jamie, new laws require that Lila be the one to ID him but you and Eddie can come down with her. I am so very sorry. Remember, FDNY takes care of their own, your daughter and her children will not be forgotten."
Jamie nodded, "I've always known that was small comfort to the widows and orphans I've spoken to over the years, but I didn't know how downright condescending those words were until just now. Not your fault, Roy, just the job…"
"Sadly, yes it is," Commissioner Mckay replied. "Let me know if you need anything, I'll handle it personally."
Jamie nodded and watches his colleague leave. He quickly shut the door and sat on the sofa to catch his breath and telephone Jack, Jamie knew he would not be at the office today or for the foreseeable future, he had a much more important role to play. If this didn't convince the mayor that Jack could fill his shoes, nothing could.
"What's wrong Jack?" Rita asked sensing her husband's body language was off.
"That was Uncle Jamie, Steven's dead," Jack said still in a state of semi shock. "I have to get to work early, he's going to need to be home with Lila for at least the first couple of days. He was killed last night in the line of duty."
"Oh my goodness," Rita sighed. "That's horrible, do you think I should go over and help or…"
"I think that we should just sit tight, my uncle is very private, his branch of the family tends to close in on itself during the rough stuff so they'll let us know what they need," Jack advised. "You can do me a favor though and call my father and my aunt, let them know what's going on. I have to run, I'm sorry honey."
Rita nodded and slid out of bed to start a cup of tea and call her in-laws.
Danny pulled the car up to the family home and hurried inside. Nothing Rita said was going to keep him home during a family tragedy. Sean was accompanying him, he was always close to Lila and hoped he'd be able to help. Linda stayed home with little Lizzy loving the role of doting grandma even more than Eddie said she would.
Both babies were crying when Danny stepped inside. Eddie was holding Finn while Lila bounced Reagan on her lap. "Hey, Lil," Sean said stepping over to his cousin. "How you doing, Kiddo?"
"He's dead, Sean," Lila sniffled. "I can't believe he's dead…We just were starting to talk again like before…"
Sean wrapped his arms around Lila and held onto her. Reagan was kicking and fussing to be let go, she didn't want to be held on her mommy's lap, she wanted to crawl and explore. "Put her down, Lila. She wants to play, let her go play, she doesn't understand."
Lila gave Reagan a snuggle and put her down on the floor. No one was surprised when she crawled over to frank and pulled up on his pants to stand. Jamie leaned over and picked Reagan up so she could sit on Frank's lap. Frank entertained her with a small teddy bear and allowed Sean and Jamie to focus on Lila.
"Lila, when you think…I think it's best if we go over now and ID Steven's remains, honey. That way it's done and we can focus on the arrangements and speaking to his folks. I have to make that call honey."
Lila took a breath, "Sean, can you stay with Grandpa and the babies. I want Mom and Dad to come down with me and Uncle Danny."
"You bet that I will, anything you need," Sean replied. "Let me put on some tea."
Sean pulled Eddie aside, "She's in shock, I'm seeing a few normal reactions but not much, she's biting it down. I'm going to give her some tea before you leave for the morgue to make the identification."
"That is wrong she has to go and do this, ridiculous rules!" Eddie snapped. "Jamie…" Eddie moved to the living room to pull Jamie into the kitchen. "You are the Police Commissioner at least a few more weeks and this is your little girl! How can you just let this go? Surely there is some string you can pull, someone you can call…"
Jamie sighed, "Eddie, if there was anything I could do, anything I could possibly do to make this easier or to make this stop I would do it. Rules and rules and in this case that is just the way it is. Joe went down already, he's moving the process along as quickly as he can so we are there for just a few minutes. I know you hate this, we all hate this, but my hands are tied."
"Your damn hands are always tied when it comes to our kids!" Eddie sighed. "Well, then I will be right there with her, I'm not letting my baby go through that by herself."
Eddie hurried upstairs to dress and soon Jamie, Eddie, Lila, and Danny were headed to the city morgue. Lila held onto her mother while Jamie drove Danny's car up to the back of the building. At least he could use his influence to spare his girl the press surrounding the front of the building.
Joey met then outside the ME's office. "There's another family in there right now then we can go in. Lil, Scottie, he let me have a look at Steven and…you are probably going to have to identify him by his ring or his watch, the damage…"
Lila turned her head into Jamie's chest to block all of this out. She wished she was a little girl again when the horrible things were hidden from her by her mother and father and usually Joe. Lila heard tales of her mother's illness when she was four and five years old, but had no memories of it. Once Joe had disclosed he had gone out of his way to shield her from all of the unpleasant things associated with that. Sometimes Lila wished they had let her have more exposure, perhaps she'd be a stronger mother and wife…well now it was just a mother.
Eddie stroked Lila's hair, "It's okay, sweetie. I'm going to be right there, so is Daddy." Eddie's look told Jamie if he even thought of not being there he'd need a slab next to Steven's. The ME stepped out and called them back.
Danny chose to wait outside while Eddie and Jamie escorted Lila to the ME's office so she could identify Steven's body. Holding her arm they followed the woman down to where bodies were kept waiting as she pulled Steven's out.
Taking a deep breath Lila nodded that she was ready watching the zipper run down uncovering the body. As the wrap was pulled apart Lila gasped not expecting that state of her husband, burned so badly she couldn't be sure if it was him. Tears stinging her eyes Lila looked him over spotting the ring on his finger. Carefully, Lila slid the ring off his hand, bringing with it bits of charred skin. Lila inspected it and saw the markings, their wedding date and her name.
"It's him.." Lila gasped bursting into tears unable to hold back any longer. Choking sobs wheezed deep from within forcing Lila to turn and run out to the safety of her brother and uncle leaving Jamie and Eddie to finish the paperwork.
A/N: Most of you guessed this was coming. Kris would love to thank everyone who is reading, favoriting and reviewing. She hopes by Thursday to be posting herself again.
We would like the dedicate this chapter to those who run into danger when everyone else hides under the table…
Kristen asked me to reach out to her Danny fans, she regrets the comments that upset a few of you. Those are not her thoughts of Danny, just conveyed through a character that will appear again later in the story, mainly as an adversary for Jack. This story will turn Danny heavy in the middle, and she hopes that everyone especially one of her dear friends, that is a Danny fan, will enjoy it. She sends her love to you all.
Next Update – January 26th – Jamie and Danny make the notification Steven's parents.