"Christopher, Jake, Claire! The movie is starting in 5 minutes," Emma yelled from the kitchen. After dinner, the three children had gone to get their pajamas on while Emma cleaned up. She had promised them earlier in the day that they could watch the newest release on the Disney+ app before going to bed.
Just as she turned on the dishwasher, her phone rang. A smile graced her face when she recognized Eddie's ringtone.
"Hey, love. How's your shift going?" she said when she answered the call.
"It's been okay. We've had some crazy calls so far," Eddie said with a sigh. "How's everything going there?"
"Good! The kids are getting their pajamas on and then we're going to watch that new movie they saw a preview for at Disneyland yesterday," Emma replied as she moved to the room she shared with Eddie to change into her own pajamas. They had decided to go ahead and move in together after he asked her to marry him. Their wedding was set for the next month at Athena and Bobby's house.
"I wish I was there with you guys," Eddie groaned.
"I wish you were here too," Emma sighed. "At least we're both off tomorrow before I have to go back to work."
"Thank God," Eddie said. "What time is your brother coming to pick up Jake and Claire?"
"He should be here around 9:00 in the morning, and Carla is coming to pick up Christopher at 9:30," Emma said as she pulled her pajama top over her head. The sound of giggles in the living room let her know that the kids were ready to begin the movie.
"I forgot he wanted to spend the day with her tomorrow," Eddie said quietly.
"Is that still okay?" Emma asked. "I can call Carla if you'd rather him stay home."
"He'd be so mad if we did that," Eddie laughed. "Plus, it will be nice to have some time alone. We haven't had the house to ourselves in weeks."
"That will be nice," Emma said dreamily. "We have some more wedding planning to do too."
"Let's knock as much of it out tomorrow as we can," Eddie said. "Are you sure you don't want to just go to the courthouse?"
"And have your mother and mine kill us both? No, thank you," Emma said as she walked down the hall to the living room.
"I don't blame you on that one," Eddie said with a laugh. Emma laughed along with him as she pulled up the Disney+ app on the television. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud roaring noise and then the unmistakable sound of an explosion that rattled the house.
"Emma! What was that?" Eddie yelled through the phone, but got no response.
Emma had fallen to her knees at the force of the blast and dropped the phone in the process. Once the house stopped shaking, she grabbed the three children and ushered them quickly into the bathtub in the bathroom closest to them. All three of them were terrified, and Emma paused a moment to calm them down.
"You are safe," she said. "Stay here while I go check out what happened outside. Do not leave this room!"
"No! You can't go by yourself!" Christopher yelled at her.
"Christopher, I will be fine," Emma said soothingly. "I promise."
Emma closed the bathroom door behind her and went to grab her gun, badge, and keys. She grabbed her phone from the floor as she ran towards the front door.
"Eddie?" she said into the phone.
"Oh thank god!" Eddie exclaimed. "What on earth happened?"
"I don't know yet," Emma said as she jogged outside. When she turned around to face her old house, a fireball lit up the sky the size of a mountain.
"Eddie, we're going to need you guys here ASAP," Emma said as she moved closer to the fireball. Less than half a mile from their house, she found a scene straight out of a movie. Remnants of an airplane were strewn all over a section of a neighborhood where houses once stood. The whole area was engulfed in flames.
"What happened?" Eddie asked. Emma could hear the sirens from the firetruck in the background.
"A plane crashed," Emma said. "The fire is out of control!"
"You need to get away from there," Eddie yelled at her.
"I know," she replied as she turned to head back to the house. "I'm going to get the kids and take them to Athena and Bobby's. This fire is huge and it's going to get bigger with the amount of jet fuel leaking from this plane."
"Be careful," Eddie warned. "I love you."
"I love you too. You need to be careful too. Come home to me safe and sound," she said before she hung up. As she got closer to the house, she saw neighbors coming out to investigate.
"You all need to go somewhere safe until the fire department has this area secured," Emma said as she jogged past them. When she returned to the house, she ushered the kids out of the house and into her car just as Engine 118 went roaring past.
"That's dad!" Christopher yelled.
"It sure is," Emma said calmly. "We're going to go to Athena and Bobby's house and wait until it's safe to come back."
"Is Eddie going to be okay?" Claire asked with concern from the backseat as Emma maneuvered the car out of the driveway.
"Yeah, baby. He's going to be fine. He does this kind of thing all the time," Emma said as she smiled at her niece in the rearview mirror.
On the inside, Emma's heart was beating faster than normal. She knew this was not your typical fire and that scared her more than she wanted to admit. A wave of nausea passed over her as she pulled to a stop in front of Athena and Bobby's house. She and the kids went to the door and were greeted by Athena and Maddie.
"Hey kids!" Athena greeted them. "Harry is outside on the patio getting games ready for you guys."
The kids followed Christopher outside as Maddie engulfed Emma in a friendly hug.
"I'm so glad you guys are okay," she said as she released Emma. "Buck called when Eddie couldn't get you on the phone. I came over to Athena's to see what we could do to help."
"Bobby said the fire was awfully close to you guys," Athena said to her partner. "I'm happy to see you were able to get the kids out of there before it got really bad."
"I've never seen anything like it," Emma said. "It was like watching a horror movie unfold before my eyes."
"Bobby said the FFA is reporting that it was a commercial flight out of Houston that crashed," Athena said solemnly. Maddie shuddered while Emma quietly hung her head.
"Let's just focus on keeping things light and positive for the kids," Maddie said.
"Great idea," Athena said. "I can make us some popcorn."
"That would be great," Emma said with a weak smile. "I'm going to go to the bathroom for a minute."
"Sure, take your time," Athena replied. "We'll keep an eye on the kids."
Emma quickly made her way to the bathroom and barely managed to make it to the toilet before she became sick. Several moments later, she emerged from the bathroom to see Maddie waiting outside the door.
"How far along are you?" Maddie asked as she handed Emma a wet paper towel. Emma took it, and gulped loudly.
"Six weeks," she whispered as she moved the wet paper towel across her face.
"Does Eddie know?" Maddie asked quietly.
"No," Emma sobbed. "I was going to tell him tomorrow after the kids left. I just found out the day before we went to Disneyland."
"Oh, honey," Maddie said as she wrapped Emma in a hug. "Eddie is going to be thrilled about the baby."
Emma nodded her head unable to speak at the moment.
"It's never bothered me before that he puts his life on the line every time he goes out to a fire," Emma said. "I get it because I have a dangerous job as well, but for some reason today, it scares me to death to think of him out there in danger."
"That's completely understandable. You love him, and you just found out that you're carrying his child," Maddie said as she rubbed Emma's back soothingly.
"You're right," Emma said quietly. "I wish I would have told him about the baby yesterday."
"You'll be able to tell him when he gets home," Maddie said. "I smell popcorn. You want some?"
"That actually sounds good right now," Emma laughed as they headed out to the patio to be with Athena and the kids. Even as Emma smiled and tried to act like nothing was wrong in front of the kids, her stomach rolled and she fought off the feeling that something awful was going to happen.