"You want to put the siren on?" The young boy sitting next to her grins eagerly and nods, sitting up a little straighter. His plastic fireman's cap slides down so that it's a little lopsided, but this only makes him look even more adorable.
"Yeah!" He nods eagerly, so that his hat slides even further over his eyes. Kate laughs and fixes it for him, lifting it back up, before moving her hand to hover over a switch.
"Alright. Flick this switch and-" The siren blares. Kate lets it ring for several seconds before switching it off again, leaving a deafening silence in its wake. The boy's smile widens. "Cool, right?"
"This is the best day ever!" He agrees, his grin wider still.
"So, you guys do this often?" Kate enquires as she escapes the crowds of young families to take a swig from her water bottle. "The open days?"
"Eh, every six months or so." Dutchy shrugs, smiling as they watch several children skipping around an unimpressed-looking Robert. "Good for public relations. Community spirit and all that." He lowers his voice conspiratorially and adds, "Plus, if we're good, the boss lets us on the jumping castle at the end of shift."
Kate very nearly chokes on her water as she imagines the team bouncing on a Frozen jumping castle. In particular, the image of Charge and Robert causes particular amusement, and Dutchy has to give her three hard blows to the back. When she's recovered, spluttering slightly, Dutchy presses his favourite question upon her.
"So, pub tonight?" He adopts a puppy dog expression as Kate remains stony-faced. "Come on! You've gotta come out with us once! Spend some quality time with your favourite firies!"
"And I will. One day. But I have plans tonight." Kate flashes an apologetic smile. "Hey, I'm living out of cardboard boxes at the moment. I need to get my place in order." She glances around, checking for eavesdroppers and spies, before she lifts up the hem of her pants to reveal odd socks, one rainbow and stripey, the other purple and fluffy. "I'm down to bed socks. Odd bed socks at that."
Dutchy snorts in amusement, although hurriedly stifles his laugh as he catches Marshall's unimpressed gaze. "Oops. Better get back to greeting the community." He leans closer to Kate. "Did you know there's a little boy who wants to be a firefighter when he grows up?"
"Who'd have thought it, hey?" Kate winks back, twisting around to the crowd once more. "See you on the other side?"
He gives her a mock salute and disappears.
Somehow finding herself roped into the facepainting table while 2Dads takes, in his words, a well-earned trip to Point Percy, Kate finishes yet another child's painting and waves goodbye. Spider approaches, eyes darting around nervously, perhaps on the lookout for the group of twelve-year-old boys who had decided to make it their days' mission to chase him around. "I am exhausted." He mutters. "Can I hide here for a bit?"
"Look busy." Kate mutters, not looking up from her paints. "Boss is watching."
"Dammit." He mutters. "You need a hand here? Uh... I can paint spiders?" For something to do, he shuffles the paints around aimlessly.
The next kid in the queue, a young girl decked out vibrantly in brightest pink, crinkles her nose. "No!" She shakes her head, pointing to Kate. "I want the girl to paint me. I don't like Spiders."
Kate grins. "Sorry, Spi. Fresh outta luck." Kate turns to the girl. "And what would you like?"
"Whoa." 2Dads grins, returning to the table with an impressed look on his face. "Did you paint the dragons? They're wicked!" He takes a seat next to Kate, fanning himself with a pamphlet on smoke alarms. "It's hot in here, hey!"
"Only cause you've been hiding out in the aircon for fifteen minutes." Kate frowns, holding out the paintbrush. "You gonna take over again?"
"No way, Mozart. You look like you're doing smashingly."
Kate rolls her eyes as she begins on the butterfly design the girl had requested. "Mozart is music, not painting." She points out, but 2Dads merely shrugs, taking a gulp of a Coca Cola can.
"Eh. Whatever it is, you've got the knack for it. I'm gonna..." He trails off before he's even bothered to give an excuse, melting back into the crowd, and Kate rolls her eyes once more, working dutifully on the different designs until Dutchy approaches.
"I'm hiding." He reports. "But I tell you, there's some desperate housewives out there."
Kate snorts, looking up in time to see several women eyeing Dutchy with interest. "You love it. Bet you applied for the calendars and all."
"So what if I did?" He defends, waving a hand over his body. "Some people deserve to see perfection."
"Hmm... Mister October." Kate grins, just as the next child steps up to the face paints.
"Mum!" Kate's head snaps up and she finds herself face to face with Bridie, her blonde curls a lot neater than they had been the other day, secured in two pigtails.
"Bridie!" Kate sits up and wraps her daughter in a hug. "I didn't think Cal could bring you?"
"Surprise!" Bridie grins. "Can I get face paint? Batman?"
"Sure. Only because you've queued up. And this means we've gotta wash your hair tonight." Kate pats the seat, before catching sight of Dutchy. "Oh, Bee, this is Dutchy. I work with him. Dutchy, this is my daughter Bridie." A woman with shoulder-length indigo hair comes to stand behind Bridie, and Kate's eyes narrow. "And this is my sister Cal, who I am absolutely going to strangle-"
"Hey, it wasn't my fault." Cal fires up at once, holding her hands out in mock surrender. "We were peaceful!"
"And yet you still got arrested." Kate finishes, beginning the Batman mask around her daughter's eyes. "Can you please try not to get arrested when I need you to take Bee to school?"
"Certainly wasn't my intention." Cal winces, readjusting her nose ring.
"You don't think it's your face full of piercings and bright hair that makes you look more threatening?" Kate presses.
"Always at me about the piercings. Geez, Kate! And I've seen photos of the stuff you used to wear when you were bartending! Don't lecture me!"
"Wait?" 2Dads frowns, popping up out of seemingly nowhere and gesticulating wildly to Kate. "I mean, we'll come back to those photos later, but... Cal's not your husband?"
"No." Cal spits, raking a hand through her hair. "What gave you that idea?"
"Uh, her getting angry on the phone?" Dutchy suggests.
"And the name." 2Dads adds, tipping his head. "Typically, Cal is a male name."
"Oh, that." Cal grins, and they catch a flash of a silver tongue piercing. "Well, it's actually short for Callista, but no one calls me that."
"But... you're young." 2Dads turns to Kate, who is still dutifully finishing the face painting. "You're too young to have a kid! I mean..." He flushes, apparently realising how rude that sounds.
"I was nineteen when she was born, if that's what you're trying to calculate." Kate raises an eyebrow in his direction. His face goes, if possible, even redder. Bridie grins.
"She likes to keep me a secret." She giggles. "So..." She admires her face paint in the mirror. "You gonna show me around?"
"It's bigger than the last station." Bridie muses, peering around curiously and taking in the different equipment and vehicles around. "More people, I guess?" Kate nods in agreement, and Bridie smiles softly. "You like it better?"
"It's... different." Kate settles on eventually, which is the truth. She still misses the closeness of her old team, but she can't deny the excitement of the different calls are thrilling here, not to mention that she doesn't have to worry about her car engine freezing over in the tropics. "But... it's good."
"Dutchy's cute." Bridie adds, peering at Kate closely as if trying to gauge her reaction.
Kate rolls her eyes and turns to her daughter. "He's so not my type. And I don't date firies."
"You dated Lachlan." Bridie points out, raising an eyebrow in Kate's direction.
"Yeah, and look how that turned out." Kate waves a hand, before her eyes narrow. "And you weren't supposed to know about that!"
"Mum, I'm almost eleven. The time you could tell me you were going out for work drinks with a special friend have long since passed." She slows down and catches her mother's eye. "It would be nice to actually meet one of these guys."
"Well, I... I'm not introducing anyone to you unless I'm... sure." Kate bumps lightly into Bridie's side, and the young girl clicks her tongue.
"Sure?"
"Look," Kate rolls her eyes. "Can I just show you around the firehouse without you trying to set me up? Where's your aunt anyway?"
"She was flirting with someone." Bridie shrugs her shoulders. "Same old."
"So, you have a kid." Dutchy muses, moving to stand beside her. The crowds are thinning out now, with most families heading home. Most of the remaining families are cloistered around the jumping castle, trying unsuccessfully to coax unwilling kids off, or else chatting to other parents.
"Why is that such a big shock to everyone?" Kate laughs, holding her arms up. "I mean, do I look sterile or something? Or do I have the gaze of some eternal virgin?"
Buffer overtakes them. "It's just usually something you tell people when you meet them, is all." Dutchy says nothing, but points goodnaturedly, as though in agreement with Buffer's words.
"Well..." Kate hesitates, then rolls her eyes. "Guys, I'm the only woman joining a firehouse where no one knows me. Being a short-arse is one thing, but a single mother is another. I... I didn't want to give you guys any more reason to think I was weak."
Buffer says nothing, but keeps walking. Dutchy, however, gives a sad sort of smile. "So you are a single mother, then?"
Kate lets out a dry laugh. "I thought you'd gathered that by my sad living conditions with my baby sister?"
"Eh." Dutchy grins. "Not sad. Not by a long shot."
She opens her mouth to argue as they make their way into the garage, but a shout distracts her. "Help! Help, please!" Kate and Dutchy exchange a glance before they both start running, already halfway to the man before anyone else has moved. His eyes are wide and terrified as he clutches his daughter in his arms, and Kate does a quick mental assessment. Girl, maybe 11 or 12. Blue lips. Limp. "Please, someone help! My daughter's not breathing!"
"Okay, put her down." Kate commands, and the man lays the girl down onto the concrete. Kate leans down, listening for breath sounds while she feels for a pulse. A second later 2Dads skids to a halt beside them. "What's her name?"
"R- Rose. Rosie. We... we were just standing outside and... she just started having trouble breathing and I didn't know what to do." He's panicked, but Kate doesn't have the time to calm him down right now. She knows he'll be okay, as long as his daughter is. So she works on the girl.
"Dutchy, do a nose-to-toes." Kate turns her gaze to the man. "Sir, did she take anything? Eat anything unusual?"
"No." The man seems genuinely bewildered, eyes wide as his gaze is fixed on his daughter. "We were just standing... Rosie!"
"Got a sting here." Dutchy murmurs, indicating a red mark on her upper arm. "Bee sting?" He turns to the man. "Is she allergic?"
"I... I don't know. She's never been stung."
"I think she's going into anaphylactic shock. 2Dads, grab-"
"On it." 2Dads finishes the thought for her, dashing off and returning a moment later with an epipen. Kate takes it from him and uncaps it.
"One, two-" She stabs the epipen into the girl's thigh, holding it there. "Come on." Kate mutters. "Come on."
A gasp of breath, and Rose's eyes fly open. "Rose, can you hear me?" Kate asks. "Squeeze my hand if you can hear me." A tiny increase of pressure. "Good girl. An ambulance is on its way, okay? You're going to be fine."
She turns her gaze towards the man, who's still standing there, and she touches a hand to his shoulder. "She's going to be fine."