The night is a blur and a whirlwind, and a kaleidoscope and it feels like it will never end. When the house - their home - is down to embers, soft glowing in the dawn light, TK and Carlos look at each other, look at their fathers and their fathers' guilty expressions, and they book a hotel room. Real planning can start tomorrow, or never. All he wants to do is hold Carlos close and never let go.

They wake slowly in the morning. The hotel bed is soft, and the sheets are clean, and this room is safe. It could almost be peaceful if not for the dread and deep sadness that still sits heavy in his chest. TK contemplates just falling back to sleep when he hears a knock at the door. TK groans softly into the pillow and contemplates who it might be.

TK expects the first person to show up at the hotel room to help them post the fire to be Judd. Big brother showing up to solve all problems and then pretended like it was a nuisance and he didn't want to help anyways, Grace made him.

Or TK expects Paul to show up, with steady support and a constant conversation on all the ways it could have been worse. He'll gently lay out all the very silly reasons why he'll be making fun of TK for the next year for not having more than one fire extinguisher in the home, and they will all be some version of "that white boy's whipped real bad".

Or TK expects Marjan to show up, ready to whip him into shape and get a plan in action and figure out what he and Carlos are going to do next.

Or at least it'll be Nancy, who would show up with an arched eyebrow and a "are you fucking cursed Strand?" and a pint of mint chocolate chip and a bottle of wine. She'll remind him they made a very serious agreement one night that he's not allowed to be in danger ever again because Nancy is a strong, capable, independent woman, but Tim's death broke her, and TK's death would shatter her into pieces.

But it's none of them who show up first. No, instead the first person who graces his door is Mateo. He shows up not 15 hours after the fire. TK can still smell the smoke in Carlos' hair, no matter the number of times he showers. They both ache all over, physically and mentally, and are testy and tight and processing.

They can never deal with just one thing at a time. Instead they get to deal with paternal espionage and arsonist revenge and home loss and relationship damage and all the other underlying currents that have cursed 2020 and projected 2021 into the twilight zone. So, all's that to say that TK was ready for a few of his fellow firefighters to show up and help him start dealing. What he wasn't ready for was Probie.

"Hey Mateo," TK says, standing in the door, a pair of too large sweatpants from the responding truck company slung low across his waist. The fire back at the 126 fire station had taken even his back up clothes from him, and TK knows that at some point today they'll have to rally to figure out life. Or at least underwear.

"Hey TK," Mateo greets back with that puppy dog grin that is exhausting to look at in the mid-morning. "How are you and Carlos doing?"

"We're fine man, just processing. Look…" TK sighs. He just doesn't have the energy right now for small talk, "we're pretty beat. I appreciate you stopping by, but we're not really ready for people yet." Liar TK's brain hisses back.

"Nah man, I totally get it. You're probably super going to hide out from you dad for a while. But like, I just thought of a few things you might need," Mateo says, holding up a red duffel bag in his hand. "Figured I'd drop off and then get out of your hair."

TK immediately feels like shit. Which he didn't know was even possible given all the other emotions he's currently working his way through today.

"Oh hey, that's awesome. Thanks man"

"No problem dude, just the essentials."

And it is. Mateo shows up with the right stuff. TK opens the duffel and it's just packed. It is full of soap and face wash and deodorant and underwear and apples and peanut butter packets and phone chargers and just the things. The things you need after your world goes up in smoke. And TK has never really realized how accurate that expression was before. How painfully true it can be. But that's what happened. His whole life was in ash now.

The duffel has even more inside, like a Mary Poppin's bag of starting your life over again. There are soft shirts in his and Carlos' size, and softer joggers. There's a box of allergy medicine because TK complains about pollen all the time, which TK holds up almost in astonishment.

"Mateo, how did you even?" TK asks

"Dude seriously, you complain a lot about the pollen. It's like your most complained about part of Texas besides bagels."

"There just should be better bagels here," TK grumbles, almost to himself. Mateo laughs as TK continues to look through the bag. Toothbrushes in blue and yellow. Energy bars. Tea bags (ginger and chamomile). And a stuffed dog?

"It's only fair dude, I sort of stole Buttercup." Mateo says, with a smile. Which TK thinks with internal shrug, is sort of true. "There's also a mini checkers set somewhere in there, in honor of game nights."

"Mateo, man, this is incredible. You didn't have to do this. But I appreciate it. There's stuff in here I haven't even thought about yet." TK says.

And Mateo just shrugs, smile still on his face, "Nah man don't even worry about it. I mean my apartment burned down, like what three weeks ago? This was just all the stuff I ended up needing."

The world pauses for a second. TK's stomach drops to the floor. He realizes that you can feel even worse than shit. He knew that right? Knew that Probie had moved in with his dad because of an issue with his apartment. And at some point, TK vaguely remembers it being about a fire, or a gas leak or something. But then there was his dad and his surgery and the intervention – it all took up his brain space so quickly.

"Man, I, uhm, I don't…" TK knows how to use his words. He does. But there are all gone at this moment.

The team had done something for Mateo, right? They had helped him get clothes and snacks and hygiene products, right? But TK's brain is blank. There had been jokes about Mateo being hungover from drinking tequila with his dad, and some passing comments about Mateo wearing the same AFD shirts for a few days. But TK's not sure anyone did anything. Anything like standing in front of him with enough things to make it feel like his world wasn't ending.

But Mateo keeps speaking, "So that should definitely get you through the first few days. Happy to do another run for you guys in the next few days, or whatever."

"No, Mateo, seriously, this is enough. Thank you." TK says. It's a start.

"No problem at all, like you always say, we're family! Fire fam!" Mateo says, twisting the knife he's not even aware he stabbed TK in the heart with.

A rustling of noise behind TK means that Carlos is also awake now, and TK feels him rather than hears him, come up to stand beside him. Mateo nods to Carlos, smiling even brighter. "Hey man, hope you're doing okay."

"Yeah, thanks Mateo. This is just what we needed. Not to be rude, but I'm just going to grab a toothbrush right away. I was about to go crazy without brushing." Carlos smiles, taking hold of the duffel bag, and briefly touching TK's shoulder before retreating into the room. TK and Mateo laugh when they hear the faucet running in the bathroom shortly thereafter.

"Anyway, I'll get out of you and Carlos' hair," Mateo says, and with a quick handshake hug of the fraternal order, he leaves.

And TK just stands there. This is something that needs to be addresses. A member of the 126 who had been left alone when his crew should have been there to back him up. It's more to process. More to think through. More piling up on the top of a very shitty day and week. But that doesn't mean this isn't something he can fix. And he will fix it.

But first, maybe he should brush his teeth too.