"Happy first day of school sweetheart", Andy smiled as she woke Amelia up the next morning.
"I'm going to school today?" Amelia asked sleepily as she rubbed the sleep from her little eyes.
"Yes you are! What new outfit do you want to wear ?" Andy asked as she pulled a denim overall dress and a pink short sleeved shirt out of the closet. "How does this look?"
"I like it", Amelia grinned as Andy helped her into her outfit.
"You should, you picked it out my friend", Andy smiled as Amelia twirled around in her new dress with her blonde bedhead going in several different directions. Andy sat on the edge of the bed combing Amelia's hair into two even pigtails while Amelia brushed her dolls' hair and tried to tie an elastic around it. Jack walked in just in the nick of time and snapped a picture with his phone.
"This is too cute to pass up", he chuckled to himself as Andy fastened the last elastic around Amelia's hair. She turned to see him in the doorway with his phone and raised an eyebrow at him.
"What? You two looked so cute together. I had to. I need some more photos for the locker", he defended himself as Andy stood up and pulled a pair of flowered sandals from the closet.
"You and your pictures. Before you know it, you won't have any more room in there for pictures", she teased as he shook his head and stood in the doorframe. "Did Lexie come by to take the boys to school yet?"
"Yes, she did. Out the door in exactly an hour. Timing's getting better", he laughed as Amelia admired her new dress. "Does she really have to go to school today?"
"Yes, she does. Jack, she is three. She needs friends. Besides us. And I want her to learn. She is so incredibly smart", Andy answered as Amelia took the shoes from her and put them on her feet.
"I don't know Andy. Did we even look into this? Because I don't remember us having a conversation about sending her to St. James's", Jack answered nervously.
"Last week when I asked you about sending her there you said, and I quote "That's a great idea. She needs friends. You even went out and bought her a monogrammed backpack like the boys have", Andy reminded him.
"I did say that and do that. Okay, I was just checking. Just making sure we talked about it", he covered as he tried to hide the fact that he was scared out of his ever-loving mind. His little girl, that has been his little girl for three weeks thus far was going to school for the first time.
"Jack Gibson, are you scared?" Andy asked pretending to be shocked.
"No? Where would you get an idea like that? I wanted to make sure we both talked about this. That's all. We don't want to be late for that meeting with her teacher" he covered as he turned to Amelia. "We taking the airplane or going downstairs ourselves today?"
"The airplane", Amelia giggled as Jack sat her high on his shoulders and ran down the hallway making airplane noises. He ran down the steps announcing that the plane was hitting turbulence while Amelia laughed like crazy. He loved hearing her little laugh.
"Be careful on the stairs you two", Andy smiled as Jack sat Amelia down at an island stool.
"Thank you for flying Air Gibson. You have reached your destination", Jack announced
"You're very welcome", Amelia grinned as she worked on her blueberry muffin.
Andy went over and started brewing two cups of coffee when Jack came over and slid his arms around her waist.
"Someone's in a better mood", Andy smiled
"Are you ready for your first day back at work? Are you sure you're feeling okay? I know the morning sickness was a little rough yesterday", he asked as she turned around and kissed him
"I am, perfectly fine Jack. This weekend was the best sleep I've had in weeks. No dreams", Andy smiled
"That is wonderful news. How are our little probies doing this morning?" he asked
"They're growing. You'll have to wait a little longer for them to kick and party it up in there. Thank God for that", Andy answered as he rested his hand under hers on her stomach.
"Daddy? What's a pro-bee?" Amelia asked as both Andy and Jack remembered she was behind them.
"A probie Amelia, is what Mommy and Daddy call the new guys at work. Your Uncle Emmett was once a probie. And a really interesting one at that", Jack explained.
"Why was he inresting?" Amelia asked
"You want to answer that Mama?" he smirked as Andy slapped him in the shoulder with an oven mitt.
"He got in trouble a lot with your Aunt Maya because he was afraid to be new and he did a lot of things wrong. It made your aunt very mad" Andy laughed as she remembered what Emmett had been like before quitting and openly dating Travis.
"What didn't he do?" Amelia asked
"Eat your muffin", Andy answered as she pointed to the half-eaten blueberry muffin still on the plate. "Oh, Jack today's the second, right?" she asked
"All day, we have Rowan's concert at exactly 6:30pm tonight. While you were getting little miss over here ready, I already put out his dress shirt, his tie, his pants, and his shoes for tonight. He's a Herrera Gibson. He'll be too focused on practicing to remember any of that stuff", Jack answered as Andy cut up a banana and put it on Amelia's plate. "Oh, and Maya, Dean, Vic, Travis, Emmett, Ben, and Teddy are coming too. They'll meet us at the school at 6:00. And Rowan needs to be dropped off by 5:30 sharpa"
"What would I do without you? My stupid pregnant brain forgot…again", she laughed.
"Well, you're lucky because I can remember for the both of us, Captain Herrera Gibson. That name never gets old", he chuckled as she reached up and kissed him.
"Hello, eating here", Amelia stated matter of factly with her little hands on her hips as she has seen Vic do. They couldn't contain their laugher as they each took a seat next to her and enjoyed their coffee. Fifteen minutes later they were in the car and on the way to school. They pulled up in front of the building. It was attached to the church and had been and old catholic school at one time. Teddy loved this place and by the sound of it, so did Allison. Jack was out of the car first and opened the passenger side for Amelia. She unclipped her from her car seat and put her on the ground where he put a neon pink and green striped backpack with her initials "AJHG" embroidered into the front pocket on her back. Andy caught sight of Teddy who had just dropped Allison off and called her over while Amelia looked around the parking lot in awe.
"First day of school?" Teddy asked
"Yes. She wouldn't stop talking about it, last night. She was so excited she couldn't sleep", Andy laughed
"Allison loves it here. After the whole thing with Owen, I wanted to find a different place for her, closer to the station, so I did. Best thing about this place is that its year-round" Teddy smiled
"It'll definitely help when the boys are out for the summer", Andy answered
"Do you guys want a picture in front of the sign?" Teddy asked as Andy readily agreed. Andy and Jack got in front of the sign as Andy held Amelia between them. Amelia smiled brightly when Teddy asked for a smile as did Andy and Jack. "And done. I'll see both of you at the station, good luck"
Amelia grabbed onto both Andy and Jack's hands between them as they walked into the school and down the hall to a classroom. In the classroom, a group of the kids were playing dress up. Some were reading a story with a teacher, some were in the kitchen, some were painting, and some were playing with blocks. There looked to be about fifteen kids with everyone doing some form of activity. Amelia stared wide eyed at the room as she hid behind Jack. Andy spotted Allison playing with the baby dolls in the kitchen with another boy. She could never miss the head of red hair that Allison had. A woman with black curly hair and a skirt came up to greet them and shook their hand.
"Marjorie Thompson. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so glad Amelia's in my class. Is this Lia over here?" she asked as he saw the flowered sandals behind Jack's sneakers.
"Yes, it is. Lia, sweetheart say hi to your teacher", Andy asked as Amelia peeked her head out from behind Jack. "I gots to be brave" she thought as Mrs. Thompson knelt down in front of her.
"Hi Lia, my name is Miss Marge. We're going to have lots of fun together today and I have lots of toys you can play with. Do you want to see?" Marge asked as Amelia nodded quietly. Allison stopped what she was doing and skipped over to join her once she realized her friend was here.
"Lia, Lia! You camed to school today! Declan maked this biigggg tower", Allison laughed as she grabbed Amelia's hands and skipped off to the block shelf with her. Jack looked at Amelia. Something wasn't right. He just shook off the feeling as him being nervous and talked with Andy and Marge about what the day was going to look like.
"It's only for four hours. Besides, I go to work every day and leave her with Lexie", Jack thought to himself. He didn't like this one bit. Having his little girl go off into the world of school where she could be bullied or teased, or something could happen to the building. He looked around and located all of the exits and fire extinguishers. He barely even noticed that Marge was asking him a question.
"Mr. Gibson, are you okay?" Marge asked as Jack shook his head
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" he asked wondering how long he spaced for. He looked next to him and Andy was nowhere to be found.
"Your wife left for the bathroom. Who's picking Amelia up in the afternoon at lunch?" Marge asked
"Oh, yeah, of course. That would be our babysitter Lexie Snyder. Some days it will be me, or her, or Andy", Jack explained. "Oh and her Gigi, Marsha Roland, will pick up some days. Either us or Lexie will drop off. Marsha is also her emergency contact. As is Victoria Hughes and Dean Miller"
"You ready to go?" Andy asked Jack as they went over to Amelia and kissed her goodbye. "Alright baby, you have all the fun today!"
"Bye Allison! I'm going home", Amelia called as she walked to the door with Andy and Jack.
"No, Lia sweetheart, you need to stay here. Mommy and Daddy have to go to work but we'll see you super soon", Andy answered as Amelia gripped onto Jack's leg. His heart broke for her. If she didn't want to do this, then why were they making her do it?
"Don't leave me", Amelia cried as Jack knelt down and hugged her one more time
"Maybe we can send her tomorrow", Jack suggested as Andy shook her head.
"Hey, listen, I know. Jack, my heart is in a million pieces too right now and I'm probably going to cry my eyes out the minute we leave, but we need to. Its good for her and good for us", Andy answered looking away from him.
Marge stepped in and picked Amelia up as Andy and Jack kissed her one more time and left. Jack winced as he heard the heartbreaking sound of her cry all the way down the hall. He wanted to run back in and tell her she didn't have to be there and make her happy again. Andy walked out the door, staring straight ahead and climbed into the passenger side of the car. She let all the tears flow as Jack gently squeezed her hand and wiped away a stray tear of his own.
"She'll do fine", Andy assured herself out loud. "She's a Herrera Gibson. Not biologically, but she still is one. She'll do perfectly fine".
"Well, that was hard", Jack answered "We literally walk toward fire every single day at work and that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do"
"Tell me about it. She was so excited to go this morning, but I think she got scared when she found out that we weren't going with her", Andy expressed as Jack pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the station.
"Like you said, she needs to be with kids her own age", Jack reminded Andy as he pulled into the station parking lot and parked the car. He smiled at the distance from the school to the station. Less than two minutes away.
"I need to distract myself. I need to keep busy with work if I'm going to make it through today. Can you go take inventory of the Aid Car after your group workout today?", Andy asked as they walked into the station.
"You read my mind. I was just about to ask if you needed me to do that. I need to be busy too", he smiled as they kissed quickly before Andy went in to her office. Jack walked into the beanery to grab a quick cup of coffee before team workout. Travis met him in there when he went to go grab a glass of orange juice from the fridge.
"I saw that Andy's back this morning. I'm glad she's feeling better. Hey, are you okay?" Travis asked as Jack looked out the window.
"I can't do this. What if there's a fire? Or the building collapses? Or she falls off the jungle gym and breaks an arm?" Jack asked
"Who's falling off a jungle gym? I'm confused.", Travis asked as Vic walked in.
"He just dropped Amelia off at preschool for the first time. I think Mr. Tough Guy here is scared" Vic teased as Jack refused to face any of them.
"I am not scared", he huffed. "Anything can happen over there. Fire, flood, tornado, earthquake?"
"Okay. If there was a fire, we would get called there to put it out. Saint James is like what, a minute away from us? All the kids would evacuate, and your kid and my kid would be safe and sound. If there was a tornado, which rarely ever happens here, they know what to do. Same with an earthquake. Jack, I felt like this on my first day when I dropped Allison off. It's normal. You care. Welcome to parenthood", Teddy assured.
"Wait, did I just hear that Jack Gibson has feelings?" Vic teased
"Hahaha, very funny Hughes" Jack laughed. "Its just that she's never been away from us, or Dean and Vic, or Lexie for any length of time like this before since any of the kids came to live with us"
"I know how you're feeling, its new. I still remember the day Miranda dropped Tuck off at Kindergarten. She called me twenty times during my observation of my first laparoscopic surgery to tell me that he let go of her hand. She was a wreck. She spent the whole day yelling at the attendings for making a mess of the lounge. Recently, she cried for a whole week when we dropped Joey off at college", Ben reminisced as Jack paced the beanery.
"I never thought I would have to do it. I never thought I would have to worry about this. At least not for another few years. She was crying out for us when we left her" Jack remembered
"And she'll be going on and on about what she did today when you and Andy get home. Believe me", Ben smiled as he put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Welcome to fatherhood, its like this sometimes. The hardest part is letting them grow up"
"Hey, anyone know why Herrera was crying in her office?" Maya asked concerned as she stepped into the beanery.
"They just dropped Amelia off at Preschool today", Vic reminded her as Maya thought for a minute
"Ohhhh, that explains it. Alright then. Who wants to do a group workout? Andy's having me run that because she thinks I do a better job than her", Maya asked not divulging the news about the twins as Vic exchanged a knowing look with her. "You know?" she mouthed at Vic who nodded.
"With you Bishop? I'm good", Travis laughed
"Count me out. Last time you had me try to move the engine. Not doing that again", Dean answered
"I actually have things to do in here", Jack answered trying to sound less suspicious.
"Come on guys, does anyone want to workout with me?" Maya asked "I don't bite"
"Yeah, but you cause people to strain muscles and nearly go into cardiac arrest. We can't all be Olympians like you. Love you though", Vic answered seriously
"Fine, if you think you can do better Hughes, then you run the team workout", Maya suggested
"Fine by me. Who wants to go see what we can do?" Vic asked as they were interrupted by an alarm.
"Engine 19 Aid Car 19, Shady Acre Apartments Unit B for a kitchen fire", the loudspeaker sounded as the crew went in to grab their gear. They ran down to find Andy with her jacket and hat on already in the engine.
"Let's go guys", she yelled as Jack climbed in next to her.
"Woah, wait a minute Andy, you're 2 months pregnant. You can't be going into any active fires right now. You should be on Aid Car", he suggested concerned as she pulled out of the bay, followed by the aid car.
"Who said I'm going into the fire? I'm outside. I'm in charge", Andy noted
"As long as you aren't going in there, you're fine. I mean I can't really say to start desk duty right now because for one thing, you're my boss and another thing, both you and I know that wouldn't go over well. Pregnant and still an unstoppable powerhouse. God I love you", he smiled as she raced towards the address.
"I would kiss you if we weren't driving", she laughed as Jack looked out the window next to him and spotted Amelia playing tag on the playground at her school. He saw her and her friends stop in their tracks as she pointed at the tuck and waved to them. A smile crept to both his and Andy's lips as they blared the horn and thought of what she must have been saying to her friends.
"She looks like she's having fun" Jack smiled
"I'm so glad we saw that. I was so worried about her. Seeing that, oh that made my day", Andy added
"She's going to be absolutely fine there", Jack added as they made their way to the scene.