"I am late. I am so late!" Kate's voice is almost a song as she dashes through the apartment in search of her bag. "Bee, where's my bag?!" She turns and very nearly trips over a cardboard box. Not even bothering to see whether it's in the right room or not, Kate nudges it none-too-gently with her foot, sending it skidding into the opposite wall, and spies her bag on top of a blanket box. She transfers a piece of toast between her teeth and rummaging around for a moment, searching for her keys, all the while chanting late late late over and over in her head.
Tugging the toast from her mouth once more, Kate raises her voice once more. "Bridie! Come on! We've got to go!" She hates yelling, hates feeling like she's the bad guy, but this is the fourth time she's announced that they need to leave, and her patience is running thin. "Bridie Mae! We need to go!"
The ten-going-on-fifteen-year-old dashes down the hall, her wild blonde curls flying all over her face as she shoulders her schoolbag. "I still need you to make me lunch, Mum!" Bridie grumbles, definitely not a morning person. At least she's dressed now though, although Kate notes that one sock is taller than the other and her hair is a tangled mess. "And I can't get my hair to unknot."
"Urgh. Head down." Kate grips the toast between her teeth once more as she scoops Bridie's long blonde hair into a messy bun atop the young girl's head. "We'll tackle the knots later. That's tonight's job. And..." Kate rummages in her bag once more, extracting her wallet. "Canteen?"
"It's not open Tuesdays and Thursdays." Bridie points out, hands on her hips and looking every bit as stubborn as ever.
"Of course it isn't." Kate rakes a hand through her own hair, ushering Bridie out the door. "Let's just get going, and we'll grab food from the servo on the way. But we need to go! Car!"
"I'm running low on socks too." Bridie calls out as she slides into the back seat. "And I need you to iron a school dress for me for tomorrow. And can you find some of my pyjamas so I don't have to sleep in your clothes?"
Kate nods distractedly, running a hand through her hair once more. "Yeah, I know, Baby. Sorry. I need to unpack the rest of our clothes and... and hopefully I can get a load of washing on when I get back tonight."
"You said that yesterday." Bridie mutters as Kate starts to drive.
"Well, I was expecting Cal home." Kate grumbles. "But once again..." She trails off. "Look, let's just get to where we need to go on time. And we'll sort out the rest later."
Kate's car skids into the carpark twenty minutes later, inwardly cursing. Of course, she was usually so punctual, but today it seemed her good luck had run out as she found herself faced with a broken alarm clock, a grumpy daughter and an uncooperative hot water system. She scoops her bag up, glancing at her watch, and breaks into a run as she skids into the building. If she just managed to get her bag down in time-
"Sir!" Kate exclaims, just managing to avoid crashing into the imposing figure of Steve Marshall, their unit captain. She has to throw a hand out to the wall to steady herself, just managing to keep her feet before she pulls herself into a somewhat dignified standing position. "Uh... sorry. I was..."
"Five minutes late for your shift?" He finishes, glancing pointedly at his watch.
"I'm sorry." Kate winces. "It won't happen again, Sir."
He shakes his head. "See that it doesn't. In the meantime..." He jabs a hand towards the garage. "You can clean the gear."
"Late on your third shift. Not a good start, McGregor." 2Dads clucks in mock admonition, crunching an apple between his teeth. "And nearly crashing into Marshall along the way..."
"Piss off, 2Dads." Kate groans, scrubbing at a stubborn piece of dirt on the side of one of the helmets. In terms of punishments, it's far less than what she had been expecting, but her ears still burn at the inescapable feeling of failure, and 2Dads' shit-eating grin is almost too much to take.
"So what had you running late anyway?" He presses, taking a seat opposite her and grinning. Kate squeezes the sponge and resists the urge to toss it at his head.
"Urgent appointment with my nail technician." Kate grumbles, though the corners of her mouth twitch as she sees 2Dads' eyes widen, just a little. A moment later, he seems to pick up on the fact that she's teasing him, and rolls his eyes. Kate clears her throat and grins. "What'd I miss at the pub?"
"Uh, Dutchy met a girl. Robert was insufferably boring as ever. And the boss was in a foul mood." He grins. "As evidenced by... this. At least he didn't make you scrub out the toilets. That's a favourite punishment of his."
"That's a Navy punishment." Kate corrects.
2Dads' brow furrows. "And how would you know that?" He presses.
"I was in the academy. Dropped out though."
"What?!" 2Dads looks as though Christmas has come early. "Why?"
"I flipped a coin. Stay or leave."
"You're kidding." 2Dads narrows his eyes. "That's a joke, right?"
"Of course. But, hey, it led me here. Just working with fire instead of water."
"That's..." He frowns. "I can't picture you in the Navy."
Kate smirks. "Well, I-" But Kate is interrupted as a siren rings out. "Duty calls." She mutters.
"You guys actually get called out to tend to stuff like this?" Kate frowns as she peers at the cat stuck in the tree.
"Well, I'd say we're here more for the guy who is dangling by his belt buckle trying to rescue the cat, but yeah." Dutchy grins, as he watches Charge position the ladder, Spider readying himself to climb. The kid looks terrified, and Kate wonders if he's one of those new recruits who didn't quite think through how a fear of heights could affect his new career choice. Of course, he's nowhere near as terrified as the man hanging face-down from the tree-branch.
"Can one of you please help me?!" He shouts down at Kate and Dutchy.
"Help's on the way." Dutchy calls back, before turning to Kate. "So, are you ever going to join us for a night out? It's not all drinking until we pass out." He peers towards the spot where the two team medics, Nikki and Chris, are waiting. "Might give you the chance to get to know more of the team."
"Look," Kate exhales heavily. "Things are..." But she's cut off as her mobile rings. Glancing at the caller ID, she sees the name Cal across it once more. "Finally! Sorry, I've got to take this. You right for a second?"
"Sure." Dutchy nods. "But you should get one night off every once in a while, shouldn't you?"
Kate is beyond frustrated, pacing in tight lines against the fire truck. "Cal, you have to expect I'm going to get worried when you don't come home! Can you just-" Kate cuts herself off as she spots Dutchy walking down the hall. "Look, I'll call you back. I need to get back to work." She hangs up the phone and turns to face Dutchy, plastering a smile across her face. "Hey."
Dutchy grins, bumping Kate's shoulder lightly. "You all good?"
"Yeah." Kate nods, shoving her phone into her pocket.
"Boyfriend trouble?" He presses.
"What?" Kate mutters distractedly. "No."
"Oh. Sorry. It just sounded like-" He trails off. "Don't worry. So... uh... tonight?"
"I can't make it. Sorry." Kate gives a regretful smile. Dutchy's brow furrows as they watch Spider successfully freeing the man from the tree and help him onto the ladder, but he says nothing more about her going out with them for the rest of the call.