Summary: Zelda's job as an emergency dispatcher has made her good at handling stressful situations that force her to keep a level head, even when the person she's sending into a dangerous fire is her boyfriend.

*note: I am not a dispatcher or a firefighter, so if any of this information or the instructions Zelda gives are drastically incorrect, just pretend it's fine hahaha. I tried to do research, but I ended up taking liberties with stuff I couldn't find.*

Word Count: 6595

"Engine 2, what's your status?"

Zelda stared at the screen, and impatiently tapped the outside of her headset, waiting to input the arrival time of the firetruck to the scene. It was in response to a fall down some stairs, and as unfortunate as that was, Zelda felt sickened by the relief she felt when it wasn't a real fire.

She had her reasons. And they were beyond selfish, but she had them all the same.

It was the feeling she'd felt almost every day since taking the dispatch job working for the City of Hyrule. It wasn't that she wasn't trained for what to do, or that she felt unprepared to deal with it. She'd literally walked people through CPR on the phone, been on a call with someone hiding in a closet from an intruder in their home, and helped frightened strangers through car accidents. She worked the lines anytime someone called the 991 emergency line, and the standard lines whenever someone called the station to report a crime. She worked with the paramedics, and the police.

But she dreaded every single time she had to work with the fire department.

"Engine 2 to 853: we've just arrived on scene at 174 Castle Drive."

"Received Engine 2," she said into her headset and proceeded to type the information into one of the three screens in front of her. This one had the status log of everyone on duty for the day.

She always had her cheat sheet of codes nearby in case she needed it, but after enough time on the job, she knew nearly every combination of numbers and colors there was. The main frequency, Zelda and the other dispatchers, was '853', so that was what people used to communicate with every dispatcher as a sort of home base, essentially. Then everyone else had their codes.

Zelda was 853. Ravio's team was Engine 2. Ruto and Lulu were Car 3. She knew them all.

So, as she clicked and typed, she didn't even need to pause to think, inputting locations and numbers with a typing speed that had only improved over the last few years.

What didn't improve was her patience in the quieter moments while waiting in the dark room that was only lit by the harsh glow of blue and white lights from the screens for the next call.

She grabbed a twisted chip from a bag and chomped on it loudly. Even after all this time, she still sometimes worried she'd left her mic on while doing something obnoxious like talking or chewing. But the light was off, so she grabbed another chip and bit into it with a deafening crunch.

But of course, with her mouth full of three more chips, the 991 phone rang.

"Paya!" she practically choked out, half mumbled and unintelligible.

Paya turned and saw Zelda struggling to swallow her food and took the call instead while Zelda quickly chugged her water down.

Zelda had long since tuned out the other calls happening in the room. There were four of them working in this section at once, two more in another room who were working with another department, and two more who were on their dinner break for that hour. The room could get loud very easily on a busy day.

Unfortunately, this was a busy day.

Almost as soon as Zelda had swallowed her water, the words from Paya's typed note crossed her screen, a line in blue that requested Zelda's action. A structure fire at 729 Eldin St. She put her headset on and was very quickly reminded by the twisting nerves in her gut why she hated fires.

Still, she cleared her throat, making sure she wouldn't choke on any remnants of the chips before speaking. "853, 853. There is a 2-9 in progress at 729 Eldin Street."

Her eyes kept skimming the notes, some of which were spelled almost illegibly in Paya's haste to record information while on the phone. Zelda began typing as she spoke into the radio, looking at a map of the city that had each police car, fire engine, and ambulance's last reported location on it.

More notes popped up, and her eyes darted to the side where her other co-worker, Granté was also on the phone. At least two callers reporting the fire, from the looks of the notes.

"Caller reports active fire, flames and smoke in the vicinity. Reports from outside the building say flames are visible from the… south side." She pulled up the address. "Structure is a multi-level office building. Requesting nearest unit to respond immediately to the scene. Engine 2 is currently unavailable."

"Confirming the address is 729 Eldin Street?"

Zelda's heart clenched and she closed her eyes for a moment, remembering exactly why she hated fires. She recognized the voice on the other end all too well.

But this was her job, and that was his. She'd been well aware of that from the beginning. So she signed to herself, giving all her nerves an exit before she hit the button again. "Affirmative."

"Engine 6 is approximately three minutes from the scene. Will reroute from station to the scene."

"Received. Engine 6 headed to 729 Eldin Street." She pushed her hair from her face and reluctantly grabbed her mouse, clicking into the search bar to type the one name into her computer that she never enjoyed typing.

Link.

She clicked his name and changed his status from yellow, which meant he was returning to station, specifically after responding to a car accident with injuries today, to red, which was busy or in route to scene.

The status of his entire team changed to red.

She could hear several of the police cars responding over the radio, and she acknowledged each of them as she kept typing in information, changing status', and especially transferring calls off her screen. She wasn't meant to answer calls today; she was on the radio.

More notes crossed her screen and she grimaced before hitting the button again. "853 to Engine 6: multiple reports of alarms sounding nearby. Be advised, callers are reporting that the smoke is thick and covering the area." Without a breath, she tapped a button to switch channels from the fire trucks to the police cars as she checked her other screen. "853 to Car 14: reports of onlookers close to the scene. They have been informed to get back, but according to the caller, there are few who will do so. Car 12 is also en route. Please assist."

More notes across her screen. She flipped back to the channel connected directly to the fire trucks.

"853 to Engine 10: two women have left the building. Caller says they appear to be coughing heavily, though they have stepped away from the immediate area. Reports that there are more inside on their way out. Requesting rescue immediately."

"Engine 10: Received. On our way."

"Engine 4: Should we head out?"

Zelda made a face to herself, clicking Engine 4 on her screen where they were still listed as busy.

"853 to Engine 4: Have you cleared your 5-8?"

"Affirmative. Just finished."

Zelda groaned. They were her biggest pains, rarely reporting times or calling in. She turned to check the time. "853 to Engine 4: I will clear you at 15:37, please head to 729 Eldin Street to assist Engine 6. Engines 11, 3, and 17, please confirm you received the summons alarm."

She was typing again, each engine reporting in as they headed to the large fire. Link's team was arriving first, but with the press of a button, Zelda had already sent out the alert to the others to provide their assistance.

Time passed infinitely slowly and all at once as she relayed information. Occasionally, she checked in, but mostly, she was listening to communication between the trucks among themselves.

From the radio chatter, she could tell Link was almost there. Grabbing her phone, she quickly tapped her texts. He was easy to find. The top one. "Be safe."

Almost immediately, he responded with a heart emoji, and she put the phone down again, content with his response. She felt like she should probably break the habit, but whenever Link was sent somewhere that was considered dangerous, she couldn't stop herself from sending him that text, even if it meant distracting him for a moment.

She began shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she kept reading the notes from the calls. It was an easy way to pass the time, but also to keep in the loop. Most of it was information that wasn't necessary to relay over the radio: caller's name, address, etc.

"Engine 6 has arrived on scene."

She typed the time. "Received Engine 6."

Zelda's phone buzzed with a news alert about the fire, and she swiped it when it said there were photos.

"Oh shit," she breathed. It wasn't a fire. It was a fire.

She turned to see Paya off the phone, and she slid her chair over. "Did you see this?"

Paya grimaced. "Yikes. That happened fast."

"Yeah. You wonder how they didn't see it earlier, or what made it spread so fast."

"I wasn't wondering, but now I am. Thanks Zelda."

Zelda smiled and scooted her chair back to her desk.

For some time, each police car, firetruck, and ambulance began arriving. People were coming out of the building, and everyone was focused on that while a few engines worked to douse the flames. The communication on the radio was mostly to each other rather than to her, back and forth with information that Zelda understood to an extent, but not in all its technicalities.

Link had explained some of it to her when she'd complained that she had no idea what he was saying about a hose once. She freely admitted that she wanted to eavesdrop on his calls and to know what he was talking about when he said he started going off about master streams or egress or something to that effect.

He'd taken her to the fire station on one of her days off, and he thankfully hadn't been called out until after she left. That's how, on her day off, she'd gone home to listen to his scanner, knees bent up close to her chin, bouncing her foot with anxiety. He'd crawled through collapsed rubble that day, and there was nothing she could do from her couch. It's the main reason she preferred working whenever Link went out somewhere. At least then, she rarely felt helpless.

Why couldn't he just have to respond to people falling? Or someone needing assistance breaking into their own cars? That was safer.

But she'd always known what she was getting herself into.

They'd met at a bar, both getting off from work around the same time. Zelda's hours were absurd, and she was still getting used to them even after close to a year on the job. Link was with a group of his coworkers after they'd been called out that night. She'd even seen him there several times before, and she recognized their names as people she often spoke to over the radio every day, but she still drank alone, just needing to relax after work rather than socialize. She just wasn't interested in drinking in her apartment by herself.

Though she was usually more assertive when it came to relationships and friendships, there was something different about Link when she saw him. She didn't want to mess up their non-existent relationship by doing anything. At least if she said nothing, she could admire him from across the room. If she had to change watering holes because she'd embarrassed herself trying to talk to the most attractive firefighter on the force—in her humble opinion—she'd die a little bit. So, she was beyond surprised when he'd broken from his group one night and offered to buy her a drink once he also realized she was the voice on the other end of the radio.

He'd spoken first, but hours later, Zelda had been the first one to offer her number. And that's how Link realized he'd left his phone at the station.

"I really am not lying! I'm not trying to blow you off or anything. I… do you have a napkin or something?" He'd been frantic, patting his pockets and having his team member, Urbosa, call his phone repeatedly.

Zelda thought it was cute. "I can just text you. What's your number?"

He'd frozen. "I—uh—I don't know. It's in my phone. I broke my old one and changed carriers, so it's new, and I don't know it yet." She'd rolled her eyes, feeling like she'd completely blown it, embarrassing herself by trying to give him her number when he didn't seem interested. When he'd seen her expression, he'd grabbed her hand. "No, wait! One of them will have it."

"Are you sure you want my number?"

"Gods, yes!"

His enthusiasm was what had her smiling again, and she held his hand tighter while she reached over the counter to grab a pen from a cup. Then she spread his hand out in hers and wrote her number on his palm like a middle schooler.

"Don't sweat it off," she winked, grabbing her bag. "I have to get up in a few hours for my next shift, but if you do lose it, you know where I work."

"Right. Right, I do. That's right."

He was cute and easily flustered. Even still, after almost three years into their relationship, she knew how to make him stutter nervously.

"I'll… I'll text you as soon as I get my phone. So, you know who I am."

She'd laughed as she pulled her jacket on. "Okay, Link. I'll talk to you soon, I hope."

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Goodnight, Link," she'd said with a smile that had melted him that first day and every day since.

"Goodnight, Zelda."

She snapped back to the present when she heard the 991 phone ring at her desk.

Looking around, she saw everyone else was busy, and Paya had run to the bathroom. She wasn't really meant to answer calls while on the radio, but the light kept flashing and no one else was available. She switched headsets and pressed a button that answered the call.

"991: this line is recorded; what's your emergency?"

She was already clicking into the system to start a new call log, her fingers poised over the keys. Zelda flinched as she was met with muffled noises loud in her ear.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? What's your emergency?"

"—and there's smoke everywhere and I don't know what to do! I have my son and my father here. He's in his nineties and—"

"What's the address of your emergency, sir?"

"—the handle was hot so I don't know what to do here—"

"Sir, please, you have to remain calm so I can help you. What's the address of your emergency?"

Caller panicked. Mentioned smoke. Son and father present. Address _

Zelda listened to the man compose himself as she typed.

Address 729 Eldin St. Shocker. Another call about the fire.

"I don't know what to do!" the man cried again.

"Sir, we already have firefighters at the scene. Can you tell me your location exactly?"

"Um, um, we're on the fourth floor. My office was down the hall, and my father was here to drop off my son, but he's old and he's having a hard time breathing, and I don't know what to do!"

Zelda's eyes bugged out and she looked at the notes. That couldn't be. The manager stated everyone was accounted for.

"Could you just confirm for me: you're inside the building, correct?"

"Yes! The fourth floor! Oh gods, the smoke is so thick. Please, my son is here!"

"Sir, you need to leave the building immediately. Help is outside and they'll look at all of you."

"I can't! There was fire on the stars, and now my office door handle is too hot and that means the fire is on the other side of the door—right?— and the smoke is in the room and my son and father can't stop coughing!"

"Okay. Is there another exit you can use?"

"I- I don't know!"

"Stop and think. Is there a second door out of your office that you can try?"

"No! No, it's just the one."

"Is there a window in your office?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Is there a fire escape out your window? You need to get out of the building, sir."

There was a shuffle, and Zelda took the pause to frantically type her notes. Spelling errors, abbreviations, everything to get the information down for someone to relay over the radio.

"I can't get it open, and my father is struggling!"

"Okay. Stay calm. What I need you to do is to use anything you have to block the underneath of the door, okay? Use a towel, a jacket, anything. You want to stop the smoke from coming in so quickly."

Her voice was level, but she couldn't help the rising panic she was feeling as no one else was taking the call over the radio.

"Okay, okay, I did it!"

"Good. What's your name?"

"Thadd."

"Thadd. Is your father breathing, Thadd? Can you check for me?"

A pause. Zelda spun in her chair, looking around as everyone else was still occupied.

"He is. He's breathing, but it's sounding raspy."

"Keep him low to the ground. Smoke rises, so you're better off close to the ground. How old is your son?"

"He's ten."

"Okay, have him keep an eye on your father for a moment. I need you to try to open the window again. Don't hang up. I'm here. I'm letting the firefighters know where to find you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay." She switched to the handheld mic, muting the 991 call and interrupting the chatter between the ambulance and one of the other trucks on the way. "This is 853: there are three people trapped on the fourth floor, east side of the building. Room is rapidly filling with smoke. Occupants are the caller, his elderly father, and his ten-year-old son. Caller's name is Thadd."

There was a long pause, presumably so everyone could yell at each other on the scene. She let go of that button and unmuted Thadd. "How is it going?"

"I can't!"

"Break it, Thadd. You need to get it open. You need air, and a way out."

"They'll make me replace the window! I can't afford that!"

Zelda scoffed to herself that that was his first thought. "I guarantee you, that's not going to happen. You need to break it."

"Okay, okay, what do I use?"

"Anything heavy. How old are you Thadd?"

"I'm 43. This has never happened to me before! We were just swapping my son after he'd spent the night with his grandparents."

"It's okay. We're going to get you all out. Break the glass." The other radio called her, and though she recognized Link's voice, she couldn't understand his words. "Keep trying, Thadd. Don't hang up." She muted him again. "853: repeat please?"

"You're sure they're inside? The manager says everyone is accounted for."

"I'm on the phone with him right now, Link. He's in there. Fourth floor. Forty-three-year-old male, struggling to get his window open. Door handle is hot to the touch. He's blocked the smoke underneath his door, and says the stairwell was already on fire when he and his family tried to get out. His father is struggling to breathe, but he still is. The young boy is monitoring the grandfather's condition so the caller can try to break the window open for rescue."

"Shit," Link muttered, not taking his finger off the button fast enough.

"I got the window open! There's nothing! No fire escape! What do we do now?"

"Get everyone near the window. Get some air if it's safe to move your father. He's still breathing?"

"Yes."

"He didn't sustain a fall or other head injury, correct?"

"Right."

"Get to the window then, and stay low to the ground. Help is coming. Stay by the window; they'll likely try to get you out from there."

"Okay, okay."

Zelda muted him again before her head whipped to Paya, as she entered the room again. "Paya! I need you to take over the radio for me now! I'm on a call with someone inside the building still. Three people."

"Oh, shit!"

"No kidding."

She slid her headset back over her ear and unmuted Thadd, began typing some of her backlogged notes, starting with him getting the window open. "Thadd, can you give me some more information about where to find your office? Does it have a number on the door?"

"Yeah, it's room 4F. The door is blue, but I think that might be too—"

"F as in Fronk, or S as in Selmie?"

"Fronk. F like Fronk!"

"Alright. And it's at the end of a hallway on the fourth floor. Is there another door in that hallway, or any other halls? What side should they be looking at? We want them to get directly to you if they have to go inside."

"No, no, no, no the end of the hall. Straight at the end. It's the only one, they can't miss it!"

"Okay, Thadd. You're doing great. Just hang on. Someone is—" she froze for a moment, realizing it was Link's name in the notes. Link and a few others were going in. The alley to get to Thadd's window was too narrow for the trucks. Of course it was his team going. "—someone is coming in for you right now. They're already inside, so I need you to stay calm and stay near the window. How is your son doing? Is he breathing alright? Are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine, it's my father!"

"How about your son? What's his name?"

"Azu."

"Azu is okay?"

"He's in my arms. I have him near the window. I have you in my other hand."

"Okay, good. Now how's your father? He's still breathing, correct?"

She could hear him say yes, but her attention drifted back to the busy radio. And her breathing picked up when she heard each member of Link's team struggle to make it up the stairs in the rapidly crumbling office building.

Her hand shook as she pressed the button to speak. "853 to Engine 6 Team?"

"Go ahead, Zel."

Zelda smiled slightly. Link slipped up far more often than she did on the radio, but she'd already messed up today too. Their names came out of each other's mouths before they could even think about any numbers they were meant to use.

"Caller reports that the room is at the end of a hallway, directly down the hall on the fourth floor. There are no other halls to be confused with on that floor. The door is blue and marked as 4F. That's F as in Fronk."

"Received; 4 Fronk."

Letting go of the button without saying anything else was always difficult, but she returned her attention to Thadd until she heard the radio go off again.

"Get it out of the way!" Revali shouted, and it was clear that he didn't realize their radios were clicked on in the first place. "Move it, Link!"

"I've got it," Daruk's voice said steadily. There was a thud.

"Mipha! Look out!"

Another crash.

"The building is shaking," Thadd whispered, bringing her attention to a dividing point as she tried to keep listening to them both.

Zelda swallowed hard. "It's probably the wind. Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to you or the building. They're almost to you."

"Revali, hand me that axe!" Urbosa called out over the radio.

"I'm going up this way," Link grumbled.

"Don't! That's not going to work!"

"Daruk, help me up!"

"No problem, Little Guy."

"Link!" Mipha shouted, panicked, before the radio turned off.

Zelda pressed her hand to her mouth to stop a noise from squeaking out. She turned to Paya, who was already looking at her sympathetically before the girl held down the speak button.

"853: be advised that exchange was broadcast."

"Engine 6 Team: we have a possible injury. Requesting medical team on standby for physical injury as well as smoke."

"I heard something!" Thadd said, his voice low and trembling.

Zelda spun back to her desk, shaking. That was Link. Link was injured, but she couldn't request more information, or even pay attention to the radio. She had Thadd to worry about, and that was her job. "That's help coming for you. You're going to be fine." She let go of the button to wipe a tear from her eyes and shake her shoulders out so her voice didn't shake. "Tell me what you can hear without leaving your place by the window. Is it voices you can hear, or just noises?"

"I can't…" Thadd was coughing heavily now. "I can't tell."

"It's okay. You're doing so well. Just another minute, okay? They're nearly to you. Just keep staying low."

"Okay. Oka—" he whispered just before there was a thud on the line, the sound of a bang, and then raspy breathing and coughing on the other end.

"Thadd? Thadd? Can you hear me? Are you there? Thadd? What just happened? Hello?" Each time, she paused, but each time, she heard nothing but the raspy breath of someone near the phone. "Is anyone else there?" She hoped she'd been on speakerphone.

She kept trying, her attention divided between listening for a response, and listening to the chatter on the radio, occasionally turning to Paya for good measure.

A bang on the phone brought her back.

"Thadd, is that you?"

"Thadd?"

Link's voice, muffled though it was, rang out clear in her brain. Zelda let out a long breath of air as she heard Link trying to communicate with the three of them in the room before his voice was distant and turned away. "Revali, get the kid! Daruk, the old man! Mipha, go with them! Zel said he was the one struggling. Get him oxygen ASAP."

"Link?!" Zelda tried into the receiver, though she doubted he'd be able to hear her through the phone that was not on speaker, with the fire around him, and all his gear on.

"I'll bring him down," Urbosa said. "You're hurting."

"It was a just scratch," Link said dismissively.

"Okay, sure. That's what I'd call it."

"Just don't tell Zel how I got hurt. I don't want her to worry."

"She'll figure it out. It was on the radio."

Zelda squeezed her fist together and her palm hit her desk several times. "Link! Get out already!" Not that he could hear her. Paya turned around with a curious glance though.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," Urbosa said, making a strained noise as she lifted Thadd. The line disconnected with a final thud as the phone presumably fell.

Zelda sucked in a deep breath and wrote her notes quickly before pulling her legs up to her chin while she swiveled on her chair as she stared at the radio.

"—confirmed: we have the ten-year-old boy and the ninety-year-old male. They are in the ambulance now."

"Good, where are Link and Urbs—"

"Shit!"

A deafening bang.

Zelda was on her feet, both hands covering her mouth as she started to pace. Paya stayed on the radio as she checked on Zelda.

There were a thousand silent seconds. The world stood still in that infinite moment where Zelda existed, and the sounds on the radio existed, and nothing else.

There were no other thoughts in her brain, no subconscious commands telling her to breathe or blink. There was nothing to stop the silent tears that rolled down her cheek, and nothing that allowed her to process any of the words on the screen, over the radio, or even Paya's voice behind her.

Her fingers itched to grab her phone, to call Link just because she knew he was in danger, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was like she was sitting at home while he crawled through collapsing rubble all over again.

It wasn't until her ears pricked at the sound of Link's voice in the background of someone else's radio call that she could breathe again.

She sat back down in her chair as the world came back to her. The notes on the screen read: Thadd has been brought to Engine 10. All accounted for. Building clear. Structure unstable. Gas lines potentially causing explosion in the breakroom kitchen, allegedly.

Wiping her eyes, Zelda grabbed her phone and sent Link a text. "You're okay?"

"I am," he sent back almost immediately, as if he'd already been reaching for his phone to text Zelda first. He continued to type. "Can't talk. They strapped me to some oxygen. I should probably come home early today."

"I agree," she responded, choking out a laugh. She added the laughing emoji for good measure. She was going to simply say she'd see him later, to let him go back to work. But she ended up typing "I love you," instead.

"I love you too."

Zelda set the phone aside and put her headset back on, nodding to Paya that she was ready to swap back to the radio.

Paya gave her a thumbs up just before the phone rang, and she Paya answered it before typing.

A note came across Zelda's screen.

She cleared her throat. "853 to Car 7: there is a 7-5 in progress on Veiled Avenue. White sedan, travelling northbound on highway 10 out of the city. Informing the kingdom police that it will likely cross the jurisdiction line."

"Car 7 to 863: we are in pursuit."

"Received."

Zelda returned home to an empty apartment. Link's car wasn't in the lot yet, and it gave her a minute to set her keys down and put water on the stove for tea.

Paya had been willing to swap her dinner break with Zelda so she could leave early instead to get home a little sooner, and though Zelda would normally have turned down the offer, she hastily accepted it and hurried home.

She sat on the couch in her leggings and a loose shirt that she'd sleep in. By the time she'd drank half the cup of tea, she heard the rattle of keys in the door's lock, and she set the mug down.

Link pushed the door open and locked it again before he dropped his keys into the bowl by the door. When he looked up and saw Zelda, a large smile broke out across his face.

She was already heading across the room towards him, but he held out a hand to stop her.

"I didn't have a chance to shower. I reek, and I'm still covered in ash. It's going to get all over you."

"I don't give a shit, Link," she muttered before wrapping her arms around his neck.

He chuckled and his arms went tightly around her waist, even lifting her up playfully before he kissed her.

She wasn't content with just the brief kiss he offered, and she snaked her arm up to his neck to guide him right back to her again. And again. And again.

She didn't even care that he absolutely reeked like smoke, or that it was like kissing a campfire. His lips were chapped, and he was grimy, skin stained with soot and dried sweat, hair matted and stiff.

Finally, he pulled back laughing at her enthusiasm. "Let me shower first, okay?"

She whined and put on the pouting face she knew Link struggled to resist.

"Oh, stop," he snorted, kissing her again. "You did good today."

"Just today?" she joked, noting that he was distinctly hiding a limp. She crossed her arms and waited for him to admit to his injury.

"Yesterday too," he teased, going to the pile of laundry to grab some clean clothes neither of them had put away.

"I'd say you did good, too, but you're hurt, aren't you?"

He froze and bit his lip before turning to her. "Maybe."

"What was it?"

"Piece of wood got me good."

"Where?"

He cleared his throat and undid his belt, tossing it to the ground before he stepped out of his pants and tossed them into the empty laundry basket. His entire thigh was a mess of blacks and blues and purples and reds.

"Link!"

"They already made me get it X-rayed, just in case. That's why I was late. It looks like it's just a bad bruise, not a break or sprain or whatever."

"I heard you tell Urbosa you were going to lie to me. That guy's phone was on when you were in there."

He didn't seem surprised that she knew, but apologetically grabbed her hips and pulled her close enough that he could lightly run the tip of his nose along her ear, which always tickled Zelda and sent a chill down her spine. "Well, I didn't tell her to lie. I told her not to tell you how I got hurt so you wouldn't worry."

"Did you think I was going to miss the massive discoloring of your leg?"

"I'd hoped you might have, at least for tonight."

She scoffed and nuzzled her face into his neck, still too relieved to be annoyed.

His hands went soothingly through her hair several times, before she realized that he was the one shaking, not her.

"Link?"

His expression was distant when she wasn't looking at him, but he smiled as soon as she looked back at him. "I was just thinking. You know how much I love hearing you on the radio when I'm out there? And then I come home and I get to hold you. And, lucky bastard that I am, I get to do that anytime, even when I'm not in a burning building."

"Save a kitten tomorrow, Link. I'll hold you then, too, and I think we'll both breathe easier."

"I want to marry you."

Zelda froze for a moment, and pulled back to look at him. "You what?"

He nodded and sighed. "I love you. I think about you all the time. I want to be with you until I die. And I want you to be safe, protected and taken care of if anything were to happen to me at work."

Zelda let out a breath. They'd talked about marriage before as some vague future plan. They'd talked about death and re-written their wills one night when Link had gotten into this mindset and then gone to their lawyers the next day to make it official. But they'd never put the two concepts into the same sentence. Both seemed inevitable, but Zelda didn't want them to be spoken in the same breath.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, and you shouldn't ask me to marry you just because we had a rough day at work. You're fine. I'm fine. Nothing is going to happen to either of us, okay? I won't let it. You have me on the radio with you, so obviously you're going to be fine. Ask me another time, okay? Tomorrow, maybe, when it's not so morbid and spur-of-the-moment."

Link nodded again a wide smirk on his face at her non-answer answer. "You're right. Can you grab my socks from the top drawer for me? My leg, you know?"

She made a face. "Why'd you put your socks there?"

"Safekeeping."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay, weirdo." Sure enough, she pulled the drawer Link used for his trinkets—bookmarks he wasn't using, a gum packet filled that he'd pop into his mouth at random—and saw one single pair of socks. "You're so strange sometimes, Link."

But when she grabbed the fat, rolled up ball of socks, it wasn't soft. She met with the sharp corner of an object inside.

Glancing at Link in confusion, he just watched her, his eyes on hers with a slight gleam in them, one he was trying hard not to show.

Suspicious of his expression, she unrolled the socks and for maybe the fifth time that day, she absolutely froze. It was a ring box.

"Can I open it?" she asked in a surprised whisper.

"Well, it's yours if you want it, so of course you can."

Inside was a simple diamond on a gold band, one that Zelda recognized immediately.

She closed the lid and bit her lip as tears aggressively sprang to her eyes, and she crossed the room to throw her arms back around Link, burying her head straight back into his neck. When she pulled away, her tears left two streaks of clean on his dirty skin. Still, she couldn't bring herself to care and kissed him long and hard.

"How long have you had this?"

"Two weeks or so? I spoke to your father a while ago about it, but I had to get it sized."

"And was willing to give it to you? He gave up my mother's ring?"

"Well, he gave it to you, technically. I'm not the one wearing it."

She wiped her eyes and held out the box. "So, this actually isn't spur of the moment?"

He shrugged, "I was thinking of asking on our anniversary, so maybe the timing is a little bit, but not the sentiment."

"Please, don't get on your knee, but will you do me the honors?"

"Of course," he said, grabbing the ring and tossing the box onto the bed before sliding it onto her finger, letting out an audibly relieved breath.

Zelda pulled him into a quick kiss before giggling giddily. "Why are you so nervous? Did you actually think I'd say no?"

Link made a face. "No. I thought it wouldn't fit. I borrowed one of your other rings and just prayed to the Goddess that it was a ring for the right finger."

"You're so cocky, Link," she chuckled.

"Just in love."

"Shut up," she laughed before she really found herself laughing. "Oh Goddess, Link… you just proposed to me in your underwear."

He looked down, bruise on his thigh still glaring at him. "Yep, I did. On par with us though, I think."

"We'll have to leave that detail out when anyone asks."

"Why? Do people really think you've never seen me without pants before? We've been living together forever."

"Oh sure, let me remind my father that I'm used to seeing you without pants." She shrugged in mock disgust.

He chuckled and spun her so she was in front of him, and he rested his chin on her shoulder. "Maybe not, but speaking of no pants, I really do need a shower. And since you've been jumping all over me, you now also reek of fire and need a shower. And it just so happens I know one that's about to be running."

"Is that so?" she laughed. "And I thought today was going to be a bad day when you had to run into a burning building."

"Nah, I had someone I trust calling the shots on the other end of the radio. Hearing her voice while I'm stressed at work is never a bad day."

Zelda pulled him by the hand towards the bathroom, her ring shimmering in the lamplight. "No, that's not a bad day at all."