Chapter 12: Vacation: Week 1

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?"

"I'll be fine. And they will be too."

"Are you sure kid? I can always forward Chase's check."

"It'll be okay."

"If you say so."

"Didn't know you cared so much Chief! Uh... chief? He hung up on me!" Alfred whined, putting his phone down to look at Savannah as she adjusted a short blonde wig on her head. "He calls to check on us, and he hangs up on me!"

"It's his way of showing he cares." she turned to him. "How's this one?"

"Still think the red one suits you more."

Savannah cringed, picking up a longer auburn wig. "This one? Really?"

"It fits your personality more. You're a bit too hard headed, stubborn and scary to be a blonde." Alfred smirked, perking up when Davie walked into the apartment. "Hey Davie, help me out?"

"Go with the red mom." Davie snickered when she muttered. "Looks better."

"Ugh... so what did the school say?" Savannah pouted, but pulled off the blonde wig to replace it with the red, cringing when she realized it really did look better. "Are they going to try and make you come back sooner?"

"No, they are freezing my grades, gathering all my missed work, and the secretary will be bringing me my daily work until I return to school at the end of the month. Then again," the teen sent a smirk Alfred's way. "Having Alfred provide pictures of my and your injuries to show them exactly why I'm not coming in didn't hurt."

The blonde returned the smirk. "So how's Levi?"

"Transferring to my new school as we speak." Davie scoffed. "He's worried as hell... keeps sending flowers and shit..."

"And a giant "get better soon" teddy bear?" now his mother was smirking, pointing at the four foot high teddy bear sitting in a corner of Alfred's apartment as she moved away from a mirror Alfred had recently put up over a side table in the living area. "I think Alfred will end up throwing us out if Levi keeps showering you in get well gifts."

"Nah," Alfred grinned, making a few cups of coffee. "As long as it stays in the shrine corner I'm fine."

"Shrine corner?" Davie grimaced. "Is it that bad?"

"Oh yeah." "Definitely."

The teen grumbled, plopping down on the couch but jumping right back up when he hit a bruise against the arm. The two adults exchanged a solemn glance, then chuckled. Feeling his face heat up, the teen lifted a small pillow to hurl at the man, pouting when he simply caught it and tossed it back.

"There's a reason I'm the quarterback for the which ever team I show up with at the First Responder Picnic."

Savannah smirked. "Yeah, you're the only one that can throw straight."

"And catch the damn ball, sheesh." Alfred rolled his eyes. "The guys at the fire department can catch a falling cat like it's nothing, the others at the EMS can catch a needle or a baby or a damn cup of piss, and the other officers can catch a knife tossed at their heads, but not a single person I work with can catch a damn football!"

Davie's head popped up. "Who's throwing cups of piss?"

"Every old person we've put in the back of a truck so far." the man shuddered, remembering a particularly nasty old lady he and a colleague had once been forced to wrestle down the flight of stairs then into the ambulance. She had actually thrown blood and urine on them, not mention throwing up all over the back floor. "Kid, don't ever become a paramedic. Seriously."

"Noted."

Savannah smirked, reaching over to poke the man's shoulder as he carried two cups of coffee over to the couch to sit by the teen. "Is that why you don't like to switch straight from a paramedic shift to anything else?"

"Yeah." Davie sat up to take his cup before his mother joined the men on the couch. "Hey, we already know you don't like getting off a late shift at the diner to come to the station."

"No I do not."

"Hey mom," Davie sent a smirk her way. "When are you 'n Alfred gonna start dating?"

Alfred choked on his coffee as the woman sent her son a bewildered look, feeling her face go bright red. "What? What kind of question is that?! What makes you think the two of us would date?!"

"'Cause you obviously like him and I've seen the way he's always staring at you, hoping up to do stuff 'cause he thinks it'll make you happy or help you out, stuff like that." he teased. "Plus, you stopped wearing dad's ring, and you always said the only way you'd stop wearing that ring was if you fell for someone else."

Alfred stood abruptly, leaving his glass on the coffee table. "Well, you two obviously have something to talk about so I'm gonna go shower."

Savannah watched the man all but run from the room to the bedroom, and it only made Davie arch a brow.

"See? He got nervous."

"Obviously! With you saying stuff like that I wanted to run away too you little brat!"

"Ask him out."

"Why?"

"Because I need a dad, and you need a new man in your life."

"I do nOT!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet. "Since when have I ever needed a man in my life?"

"Since you stopped being able to cook a plate of ribs without the super coming up to our floor with a fire extinguisher." Davie gave a twisted grin. "And if you don't ask him out, I'll just have to resort to locking you two in the closet until you do."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I, mother dearest? Wouldn't I?"