Chapter 20

Dawson had to work on Friday, overnight into Saturday. So I decided to surprise her with *my* culinary skills, and made baked French toast for her Friday morning. I even waited to brew the coffee until the dish was out of the oven, so that the aroma of cinnamon and baked apples filled the house.

"What is that amazing smell?" She wandered in the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, then looked at me. "And what are *you* doing on your feet, mister?"

I smiled back. "I wanted to treat you this morning… give you a little of the pampering you've been giving me. And besides… check this out!" I scooted from behind the counter to show her my ingenious idea. I had gotten the rolling office chair from my desk in the back room, and just put my right knee up on it, and used it to motate around the kitchen sans crutches. "Kinda brilliant, right?"

She laughed, coming to sit on one of the stools by the counter. "Brilliant. But don't get any ideas and start going crazy with that… You still need to be taking it easy. No heavy housecleaning or anything," she teased.

"Nah, I won't get much more done than this. It doesn't work well on carpet, just hardwood and tile. So I guess if I want this kind of rolling freedom, I'm contained to the kitchen. It does feel good to get up and do something, though," I shrugged.

"Well, you won't be down for much longer. Jerry said he wants you back to walking by Monday, so you can get your strength built back up in your leg." She looked to the casserole dish atop the stove, and inhaled appreciatively. "So are you gonna tell me what it is?" she grinned, eyebrows raised.

"This," I said, using a spatula to serve some onto a plate for her, "is a dish I used to reserve for special occasions at the house… when the guys worked overnights on Easter, or Christmas, or Thanksgiving. It's called baked French toast, but it has all the baked apples and raisins and cinnamon in it. Looks cool, tastes amazing, but is really relatively easy to make. You make it the night before, and just toss it in the oven the next morning. Easy peasy." I grinned, wiping my hands off on a dish towel and slinging it over my shoulder.

She kept her eyes on me as she savored her first bite. I watched with raised eyebrows, expectantly awaiting her evaluation.

Slowly, her eyelids closed, and she made that sound… "Mmmmm…", the one she makes when she eats her grandmother's chicken mac and cheese. I had a winner.

"Wow. This is great, Casey. You'd better not let Mills know you have cooking skills… he'll want a day off!"

I smiled back, receiving her compliment. "Mills knows I can cook. He also knows I'm his boss. Plus, let's face it… he knows how much *you* love to cook, and he knows he can get a little ride-along time with you in the kitchen."

She looked at me, a bit of a playful challenge in her eyes. "Do I… detect a note of envy? Jealousy?" she teased.

I scooted my improvised mobility device around the end of the counter, sidled up next to her, and replied, "Nope. Just appreciation. I know what I've got," as I put my arms around her, giving her a sweet peck on the lips. "And so does he," I concluded with a tiny smirk.

Gabby threw her head back in a hearty laugh, and I took the opportunity to steal kisses along the side of her neck. She growled playfully in response, and then gently put a hand to my chest, pushing me away. "Now let me eat this deliciousness before it gets cold."

I smiled, rolling back to the other side of the counter where the coffee was now done brewing, and poured a mug for both of us. I got myself a plate of food, and popped the height of the rolling chair up so I could sit on it on the opposite side of the counter.

"Multi-purpose tool, how handy," she quipped.

"Yeah, I'm like one of those grannies with the walker that doubles as a seat when you get too tired," I groaned.

She reached over and rubbed the back of my hand. "You and I both know you'll be back to running around in no time, and you can return that chair to its rightful place at your desk in the back room."

We smiled at each other, and finished our breakfast sharing easy conversation. She planned on dropping me off at Children's Hospital on her way to work, so I could hang out with the babies in Elyse's area again today, and then someone would come give me a ride back to the firehouse. If Gabby wasn't on a call, she wanted to do my PT with me, and it'd be good to just hang out with the guys for a while.

Elyse met me at the front desk, in her usual mode with one baby in her arm, and the other hand holding a phone to her ear. The glories of being in charge, she had said one day. I just smiled and nodded, and went to my assigned area. I knew I had my work cut out for me when I walked in, because there were a lot of fussing babies this morning. I wasn't sure if they were short-staffed this morning, or if the babies were just restless. But I was glad I could be of assistance.

I had decided while getting ready this morning that, since I was no longer restricted from putting weight on my foot, I could hobble around with the boot, and no crutches, when I only had short distances to go. I made my way around the sink, washing my hands, and putting on a gown. I chuckled, remembering that Gabby had told me I looked like a doctor in my yellow cover-all smock. Nope, wrong member of the ex-fiancee crowd, I thought to myself.

I settled into the glider rocker, not sure that Elyse would like my carrying one of the babies with my unsteady gait. She came in the room at that same moment, and brought me Squeaker. I really needed to stop feeling so happy that she was still here – it wasn't necessarily a good thing for her that she wasn't placed yet. And the more attached I was, the more heartbreak I'd have when she did finally go.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you today," Elyse said while gathering supplies for me at the little side table. "We were just nuts with deliveries last night, and the social workers are still fighting some tough battles with drug-using moms who aren't going to be allowed to keep their babies in their current state. I've got eight up here now, and can't take more unless I get more nurses to come in. Just you helping to feed them will be such a blessing this morning!"

"Hey, I'm glad to help. You know this is more of a reward to me than a task!" I pulled Squeaker's blanket around her a little more snugly, and offered her the bottle Elyse had brought me. I noticed that it was a four-ounce bottle rather than the little two-ounce ones I had been feeding the babies. My Squeaker was growing up, I thought wistfully to myself.

"Well, I'm just glad for the help. I'm going to keep calling to see if I can get any float help or find any nurses that want to come in for extra hours, but we're at capacity at the moment, with the staff we have."

"Hey, I don't know what your rules are here, but… I can kind of get around with just the boot. It isn't pretty, but… if it's okay with you, I should be able to get them back and forth to their cribs, and even help with changing. But if it's unsafe, or against your protocol to have me hobbling around…"

"Lieutenant, I'd take the help of a one-legged pirate right about now. If you're up to it, you can help with just about anything today. Know how to start IVs?" she laughed.

"Well, I *am* EMT certified… all firefighters are… buuuut…" I looked at her dubiously.

She laughed. "I'm just teasing. Doing what you're doing right now is probably the best help I can ask for!" She smiled and walked back to the front desk, to answer a ringing phone.

I looked down to see Squeaker staring at me, wide-eyed and intent. I smiled, and she paused in her bottle-drinking. I could tell that her eyes were starting to change. All babies seemed to have this dark-blue color to their irises when they were first born. Hers were staying dark, but turning to a beautiful hazelnut-brown color. It was so interesting to look at them, with the deep blue around the pupil still, but clearly defined brown around the outer edge. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that, at that moment, the little corners of her eyes narrowed, and her cheeks pulled back into a tiny grin. I smiled back.

"Hey there… Did you miss me? I sure missed you, Squeaker. You're getting to be so big… look at you with your big four-ounce big-girl bottle!" She hadn't started drinking again since I started talking, she just continued her mesmerized stare into my eyes. "And your eyes are starting to turn brown! How about that? I know some very pretty brown-eyed girls, you know that?" I cooed to her, thinking of Gabby and the flecks of gold in her deep brown irises.

I spontaneously began to quietly croon Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" to her. She was still staring, as if transfixed by our interaction. It made me a little sad to think how already she was probably attention-starved for human affection, and that she probably only had a few faces that were consistent in her world. As I sang, my heart warmed to the fact that I was probably becoming one of those familiar faces.

Afraid she wouldn't finish eating, I used my pinky on the hand holding the bottle to gently rub her cheek, which encouraged her to start sucking again – a trick Elyse had taught me the first day I volunteered. She indeed started eating again, and her eyelids drifted closed as I sang. Her little chest puffed up, and she let out a big sigh, continuing to suck on the bottle. As she drifted off to sleep, coming just to the very last drops of the bottle, I studied her features, and how they had changed, just in the few days since I had seen her last. I marveled at God's creativity, and daydreamed about a day and time when I would get to witness my own children's growth every day of their lives.

A/N: So sweet, Casey and his favorite baby friend! Sorry it's been so long since I updated (well, I mean before I posted chapter 19)… RL has been challenging at best! I didn't want y'all to think I had forgotten about you. I've got some direction for the next few chapters. Please R&R, and tell me what you'd like to see more of! I love reader suggestions… already written a few of my one-offs based on comments and ideas shared in reviews! If you've never reviewed before (I know, it was a long time before *I* got brave enough to review others' work), it's easy… read some of the other reviews! You don't have to give any elaborate literary review, just say what you liked! I used to not understand the big deal either, but now that I'm writing, I GET IT. Reviews really do keep an author inspired and encouraged!

-MH