"She's bluffing!" Billy said and DK looked at Alex's face. She looked more annoyed than bluffing. Alex hissed and poked her stomach a moment, she moved and then looked more comfortable. Billy laughed and went back to making dinner. JD looked at DK for a moment, before asking for 3 cards.
"So, what you getting Bridget for Valentine's Day?" JD asked DK, who looked over, asking for 2 cards. He shrugged and took his 2 cards, looking at them. He looked at JD.
"What are you getting Morgan?" DK asked JD, who examined his cards before folding. He smiled big and went to his locker, opening it, showing what he planned to get her. He had a Teddy bear, with a large heart shaped box of chocolates, and a receipt for a dozen red roses, and a black velvet box. He showed a gold bracelet and blushed a little. DK shook his head and smiled.
"That's it? Lemme school Alex on how to really play poker, then I'll show you Bridget's." DK laughed and shook his head. Everyone watched as he raised, then Jimmy folded. Jimmy leaned back and yawned. DK raised again and Alex called him. DK put his hand down and then Alex put hers down. DK's mouth dropped when he saw she had a Flush, which beat out his Straight. Alex smiled and looked at them, moving the chips towards her. DK looked at Billy for help and Billy shrugged.
"Might have been the baby, I don't know." Billy turned fast, to mash potatoes. Stu laughed and shook his head as DK stood up and went to his locker. He opened it and nodded, with a smile. Everyone looked at the locker as DK pulled out a simple slip. It read TRUMP on it and he smiled big, then showed a long, blue velvet box, which held a diamond necklace.
"One of the best restaurants and most impossible ones to get into. Bridget is a high class girl, who needs high class food, never mind the necklace cost a months salary." DK smiled and nodded again. JD shook his head and laughed. Billy sighed, listening to the men argue over who got the better gift. Stu looked at Billy and asked, in front of everyone.
"What you get Alex?" Everyone looked at Billy, including Alex, and Billy froze. He thought a moment and then shrugged. Alex watched him, wondering what he would say. Billy turned around, not saying anything. Alex smiled, knowing he had something planned. Stu shook his head at Billy, who glared at him. Stu laughed at his face, then moved to the table, putting the sides and salad down. He got out condiments and placed them out too. Alex moaned and held her stomach, moving positions. Billy turned to plate the steaks and saw her.
"Alex, you ok?" He asked and she nodded, shifting again. She stood up and moaned in pain, panting. After a moment of moving she sighed and smiled with relief. The entire Squad watched her as she did this, wondering what was wrong. Alex looked at them all and smiled.
"Baby's foot was stuck under my ribs, I just needed him to reposition." She smiled to them and went back to her seat, getting ready to eat. Within a few minutes, everyone was eating and talking about Valentine's day. Everyone plated their food and prepared to dig in when the alarm went off.
"SQUAD 55, ADAM 55-3 BOYD 55-3, MVA WITH FIRE AND TRAPPED. PD ON SCENE. 59th AND COLUMBUS."
"Holly! Come on!" Alex called out and Holly came down the stairs. She stared at the red meat like it was a horror, and then grabbed an orange and an apple. Alex looked at them and then Billy as they walked down.
"Her fruits are like our relationship." She smiled and Billy patted her stomach. He kissed her on the stairs and then just laughed at her comment about how she and Holly got along. They all went in their directions and headed to the scene.
When they arrived on scene Alex ran to one of the cars and looked inside, seeing a man, who was crushed between the steering wheel and his seat. She leaned In checked him pulling her hand back, finding brain matter. She made a face and kinda put it back, tearing the gloves off and getting new ones. She looked at Billy and shook her head, moving to the passenger side. She looked in and saw his passenger, her face crushed against the broken windshield.
"Don't wear your seatbelt, see where it gets you." Alex mumbled to herself as Joe came over with the saw and started to cut the dead driver out. She leaned back, after checking the woman and shook her head at Joe. Joe nodded and Alex moved to the gold Camry that was hit by the DOA car. She leaned in and saw a three year old girl in the backseat, unconscious. Alex leaned up fast.
"WE GOT A KID IN HERE!" Alex pulled the door open, since it worked, and leaned in, checking the little girl. She touched her cheek gently and the little girl coughed and started to cry. She opened her eyes and Alex smiled to her. Alex couldn't tell who she was, it was dark, but she heard her voice and gasped.
"Auntie..Alex.." The girl said and Alex got a closer look and gasped again. She leaned out and yelled for Billy to come over as fast as possible. Billy was instructing Grace and Holly, who had arrived a moment before, when he heard Alex. He walked over and Alex leaned near him and whispered to him. Billy looked in and stared in shock. Alex ran around to the driver's door and saw Linda, Joe's ex-wife in the seat. She had already been black tagged, but somehow, they missed the quiet little girl in the back. Alex looked at Joe, then to Billy.
"She's dead, but based on the smell of whiskey, I don't think she felt it. I'll take her to the hospital, you let him know. She seems alright, I still have to do a primary check, so let him know, and if he jumps in the bus, so be it." Alex said to him and Billy nodded. He thought, as he walked, about how he would tell Joe his ex-wife was dead, and his three-year-old daughter was in the car. Billy stopped next to Joe and motioned him over. Joe passed the saw over to DK and moved with Billy. Joe looked at him, as if waiting for something.
"Joe, don't freak out, but the car that T-boned this car, Linda was driving. She was drunk, and she didn't make it." Billy said and went to talk when he saw Joe's face. Billy watched as Joe took his helmet off and ran his hand over his head. Joe looked towards the car and sighed, and shook his head.
"Stupid drunk. That is why we got divorced in the first place!" Joe got upset and Billy shook his head, waiting for him to stop ranting. Joe eventually stopped, after a moment or so, and then Billy let in the hard news.
"Joe, we found Joanne in the back seat too. Alex thinks she is fine, but she was unconscious, so Alex is waiting at the bus, in case you want to go with.." Billy didn't even get to finish as Joe's face got pale and he ran towards Alex. Alex looked over to see him running and then stop next to Joanne, who was now belted to the stretcher and had a collar on. Joe looked at his only child, and then Alex. Alex pushed her in and got in, with Joe next to her. Billy watched them leave and then went back to the task at hand. He saw the Squad staring at him and he pointed to the scene.
"Back to work. We will go see Joe as soon as this mess is cleaned up." Billy leaned against Linda's car for a moment and shook his head. He sighed and shook his head, looking in as Stu and JD removed Linda's body, putting on a sheet and covering her. Billy looked at the three sheets, all dead bodies, and thought of how lucky Joanne was. He stopped leaning and went to help, with a sick feeling in his stomach.
At the hospital, Alex leaned against the counter as Holly wrote up the paperwork. She watched Joe, sitting in with his daughter, who he had barely seen since he and Linda were divorced eight months ago. Alex heard the Squad come in and looked over her shoulder. She saw Billy come up behind her and slide his arm around her waist, where the guys couldn't see and rubbed her swollen stomach. Alex smiled and looked up at him and started to tell him what was wrong with Joanne.
"She has a concussion, but other than that, she is pretty lucky. At least Linda had the sense to put her in her booster seat and buckle her. She wasn't in very tight, which is why she has the concussion, but if she weren't buckled in." Alex just trailed off and her hand fell over his. Their fingers interlaced, they rubbed her pregnant stomach together, watching Joe in the Trauma room.
"Joanne, hunny, stay awake and answer my questions, alright? Where was mommy going, and where were you before you were in the accident?" Joe asked his only child softly. He looked at her and she looked back. Joanne shook her head and looked like she was trying to remember. Joe watched her and then looked out the window, to the Squad. Seeing them there helped him deal with this trying situation. He looked back to Joanne as she started to explain it to him.
"Mommy gots me from school. She say that we going to my new daddy's house. I met my new daddy, and he gave me a coloring book. I asked mommy why I needed a new daddy and she told me that you no want me no more. Why you no want me no more daddy?" Joanne looked at him with the largest pair of brown eyes Joe had ever seen. Listening to her talk, Joe was crushed. He shook his head and touched her face, holding her hand tightly.
"Jo, hunny, there was never a time I didn't want you. You are my life and there is never a minute I don't think about you. Mommy didn't mean what she said." Joe said to her, but he knew the real reason why Linda told Joe that. He zoned out for a moment remembering the bitter, horrible battle their divorce was.
"You can't take my daughter from me! You will never get her! I will fight for her until the day I die!" Joe screamed at Linda in her apartment, which used to be theirs. Linda hissed and glared at him.
"I will take my daughter anywhere I want, and you have no say! Hell she might not even be yours! Good chance she is Jimmy's! What you think of that? Huh? Doesn't matter though because you married me when I was pregnant. This baby cold be from a crack pimp and you will have to cough out a third of your paycheck to me and you will never see her again!" Linda poured salt on the already open wound. Joe looked at her and reared back to hit her, but knew it was wrong, stopping himself. Linda smiled to him.
"You always were a useless piece of shit! I am leaving New York in a little while and when I do, I will tell her you abandoned us and she will get a new father, a better one, with a better job!" Linda kept going and Joe got more upset. He stormed out of the room and looked at her one last time.
"I will get my daughter from you. You psychotic bitch." Joe heard his words linger with him. He thought about that night and looked down at Joanne and smiled. He kissed her forehead when the doctor came in.
"We have a bed for her upstairs in pediatrics. She will be head for 24 hours for observation, so she will end up going on home morning or early afternoon on the 16th." The doctor said and Joe nodded.
"I will be staying with her through it all, so that is no problem." Joe said and when they moved her, he went to the Squad and told them what was going on. Billy listened and nodded, letting go of Alex and patting his shoulder.
"I'll get coverage, you take whatever time you need. Just take care of that precious daughter of yours." Billy said and watched as Alex hugged Joe and told him to call them if he or Joanne needed anything. Joe nodded and then went upstairs. Billy looked at Alex and they went to leave, saying they would meet up at the house. Soon the Squad and the medics dispersed, heading back to their jobs.
A few hours after they had left, Joe was sleeping on a cot next to Joanne's bed, when the doctor woke him up. Joe went out into the hallway and followed the doctor to an X-ray room. Joe wiped his eyes, trying to wake up as the doctor held up Joanne's x-rays. Joe looked at them like they were a roadmap to hell. He had no idea what this stuff meant. He looked at the doctor, who started to ask odd questions.
"How long has it been since you last saw Joanne?" The doctor asked Joe, who looked at him and shrugged, trying to remember.
"Five or six months, why?" Joe started to wonder what was going on as the doctor pointed out areas of the x-rays of Joanne's head and chest area. Joe blinked hearing what he saw in the x-rays.
"These are old fracture marks. Whoever was taking care of her was hurting her, and badly. We found bruising on her chest and arms that don't go with the accident." The doctor said and Joe looked at him with wide eyes. He shook his head and put his hands out, shaking them.
"No way! I lived with Linda for 3 years! She never once hit Joanne, or me, or anything else. No way, not Linda." He said and froze. "New daddy" went through his head and he looked at the doctor.
TBC...