Although Jennifer and David swore that they were nothing more than just friends, they were doing a fantastic job at playing house. If David was off during the weekday, he would usually make breakfast for Jennifer as she got ready for the hospital or a shift on the squad. On the weekend, if he was coming home from shift, she had breakfast waiting. If they were lucky enough to have a whole day off, they would cook breakfast together. It was an activity that allowed them both to do something they enjoyed, not just the cooking but being in each other's presence Usually Saturday nights, Chris DeSoto would come over and as Jennifer put it "to drive me crazy."

Saturday morning rolled around, Jennifer had showered and started breakfast by 7:00 AM. She knew that he loved banana and walnut French toast with whipped cream and had stopped at the grocery store on her way home from the station the previous night. She wanted to do something special for the note that he had left for her. When it was 8:00 and David wasn't home yet. She got a little concerned. She was unsure if he was pulled into working over time to cover for someone or if there was an accident. Her mind started to think of the worse, as he tended to be strict to a schedule.

Meanwhile, David wanted to do more than just the note that was left in the locker. Station 51 was supposed to be the one station without the sexual harassment that has been wearing her down. On his way home, he thought about a little flower shop that he would go to every week growing up. His mother loved flowers and his father made it a point to stop and get her fresh flowers weekly. When she passed away, his father continued the tradition by having red camellias sitting in the entry way. It had been a few years since he had gone to Financial Flowers, but he knew the owner and it was worth the hour drive. That is, if it was still open as it had been several years since he had been to the storefront. He parked in the parking garage and walked the two blocks to the store front. It was 8:00 am and the store didn't open up until 9:00 AM. He decided to give it a knock and see if anyone was around and if they would be willing to help a man in need.

Within a few moments, he was greeted with a short, balding man with thick glasses barely hanging on the tip of his nose. He tapped the window next to the sign. "We're closed. We'll be open in an hour." It was his time to prepare orders without being disturbed. The man was about to turn around to walk away but he decided to adjust the glasses and focus on the man. "Mr. Dixon?" he then squinted while he opened the door. "Come in, come in," he quickly ushered in David in while locking the door behind him.

"My boy, it's been a long time? How are you? How is your father? Are you working with him? Does he need a special order of flowers? He already got his weekly order delivered." The questions started to make David a little uncomfortable, but he had to be friendly to a man he hoped would do him a big favor.

"It has been a long time, Mr. Danello. I've been doing well. I'm not working with my father at the moment. I actually joined the fire department."

"Oh, why don't you come on back. Nicole is here, have you met my daughter." Nicole was about ten years older than him and David had a feeling that she was single. Mr. Danello introduced himself, hoping that there might be a few sparks develop. "So, what can I do to help you today?"

"I have a special friend that deserves to get some nice flowers. She's not too traditional so I don't want to do roses."

Mr. Danello couldn't hide his disappointment, but he also didn't want to loose a sale. "How serious are you with her? What do you want to say?" The florist loved the meaning behind the different flowers and would usually go off on a meaning of a flower.

"We're not serious or in a relationship or anything. She's just a close friend, who lives with me."

Mr. Danello didn't believe a word he was saying. The truth was written all over David's face. "Let me try to come up with something." He spent 10 minutes in the back room before returning with a small floral arrangement of pink camellia with gardenia in the middle. Leaves surrounded the flowers.

"What do you think?" Mr. Danello asked excitedly.

"Perfect!" David knew he was waiting for the question. "So, what's the flowers mean?"

Mr. Danello's face lit up. "I know you said, you're just friends, but your face lit up. The camellia means longing for you and the gardenia means secret love."

All David could do was shake his head. For a brief moment, he agreed with the old man. But then quickly, he reminded himself of just friends. He repeated that mantra several times in his head.

After David paid for the flowers and said his good-byes, Mr. Danello spoke to his daughter about David's relationship status. "Too bad he's taken, we wouldn't have to worry about selling flowers any more," he said with a chuckle.

"You mean he has money? I thought he said he was a firefighter. They can't make that much money!"

"He comes from money and a good family. Shame about his mother though. She passed away when he was a young boy."

Jennifer tried to keep busy in the kitchen while trying to drown out her worries about David's lateness with the help of a boom box. It was about 8:15 when there was a knock at the door. Her face lit up. "What did you do, forget your key?" She hollered. She trotted to the door and quickly opened it. Disappointment spread across her face as she realized that it was not David, but her father.

"Dad, um, what are you doing here?" Her father didn't visit too often, she usually went over to their house once or twice a week. She didn't like being in a quiet apartment. She was used to a household of four people, one of which she liked to refer to as a loudmouth, a loving loudmouth. When she looked at her father, she saw that he appeared tense. She moved her hand to the door frame and gripped it. Her father was here and David wasn't. Her mind began to race. Was he hear to let her know that David was hurt or worse? "David, is he okay?" She whispered.

"What?" Roy had been confused. "He left before I did. He didn't get back yet." Jenny tried to process, but it was her turn to be confused. "One of the paramedics got sick after you left and I filled in. David left before I did. I stuck around a little bit talking to C shift." He could tell that his explanation did little to calm her nerves. "I'm sure he's fine. Probably just running errands or something. So, can I come in?" Jenny realized that they were still at the door.

"Come on, I made breakfast. Don't want it to go to waste." Jennifer quickly made up a plate of food and a cup of coffee for her father while he sat at the table, watching in disbelief as to where the time had gone. Standing before her was a young woman. He tried to figure out where the time had gone. She joined him at the table carrying her own plate and mug of coffee.

"How was your shift?" He asked.

"It was just peachy keen," her voice dripped with sarcasm. She took a long slow sip on her coffee.

"Jenny Bean," he answered. It was automatic from childhood. Instead of peachy keen, jelly bean, he used her nickname that only dad could get away with "Jenny Bean." It brought a brief smile to her face, but as soon as it was on her face, it was gone.

"I'm sure the guys filled you in. It was a disaster. One guy called me 'incompetent.' I flipped on Uncle Johnny. I yelled at David. And then there were the pictures that Uncle Johnny was making a big deal out of. Which in the grand scheme of things, really isn't as bad as other stations," she rattled off. She was sure that he had all that information already, but she noticed the look of surprise on his face. She placed her hands in her lap and began to fidget with her cuticles while staring into her coffee. She didn't want to see any more expressions on his face.

The pieces of the puzzle were slowly being put together. He figured Randy was the one who put pictures in the locker and called her incompetent. He wondered how her 'flip out' looked, because that could have earned her a black mark in her file. He struggled to paint that picture. "It sounds like it was a rough shift."

"When isn't it a rough shift?" She whispered. He moved his chair from across the table to sitting next to her. His arm went across her shoulders as he pulled her into a hug. Daddy's girl was hurting and it was Roy that Jenny went to. Even though she was eighteen, it was still one of daddy's hugs that she needed. She latched on to him as he kissed the top of her head. The dam finally broke and she let the tears show. After a moment she pulled away. Her hand shot to the napkin and she tried to rid her face of the evidence. "You know you were right?"

"I'm right about a lot of things," he joked. "What was I right about?"

"That I'd get hurt. Just probably not in the way you thought." It was something that he did not want to be right about. Seeing the strength his daughter had at the fire academy graduation to the broken woman sitting before him was tough to witness. Even though he had not wanted her to become a paramedic, he never wanted to see the hurt he was witnessing now.

Her heart began to race as she wanted to ask the question. Her mind debated, but she felt that she needed to know the answer. "Did you not want me to join the fire department because I might get hurt or because I'm a woman?" There was no taking back the question.

Roy paused, making Jenny fidget more with her hands as she waited for the answer. Did her father think she could handle the job?

"If I could put you and Chris in a plastic bubble to protect you, I would. That's just a parents job to be protective and it's hard to see you two grown up. I've seen a lot of good men get killed on the job and that is a fear that I have every time you're on shift. It only took me about 25 years to realize the worry your mom had for me. That was why I didn't want you to join the academy. But I want you to be happy too, even if it means some risk."

"So, it wasn't about being a woman?"

He thought back to early in his career. "When I first started out in the fire department, I didn't think a woman should be firefighter. Call me young, dumb, or immature. I didn't think they could handle the job. Wasn't strong enough." Jenny's eyes widened with surprise as she sat back. It was polar opposite to the man who always said she could do great things. For just a moment, she wondered if it was all a lie. Maybe he didn't think she could achieve any thing. But what was scarier, was that maybe he was right. "It's not like that now. There was a female paramedic trainee who saved my life when you were just a baby." He had always tried to hide or play down the bad injuries, but she had never heard the story about her father's electrocution. For most of the time she could remember, he had minor injuries, it was Johnny who always seemed to be the accident prone one.

"Karen. Oh, she was hard nosed. She trained with a chip on her shoulder, but I guess any woman coming in would have that chip. She wanted to do everything on the first day. But we tend to take it slow with the trainees, cause there's a lot to learn. Some of the guys played jokes on her, life faking a brain aneurysm." He gave a quick chuckle. "She got back on that one with a chest rub. Maybe it could have been seen as harassment, but we liked to joke around a lot more when we were younger. We responded to a fire and Johnny and I had to get out of the top floor. A few people threw up a ladder but it slide. I reached out to grab onto something, anything. I grabbed on to a live wire. Johnny was stuck inside as they tried to get the ladder set again. Karen did CPR and shocked me. She saved me. I know first hand what a female paramedic can do. She's the reason I was able to come home to you all."

She moved in close for another hug. She thought back on all joyous moments that she had with her father and the thought of him not being there crushed her soul. A few more tears fell as her thoughts continued to race. He pulled her in close and held her for several minutes. He did not want to let go of this moment. She has always tried to be so independent and moments where he still felt like he was her father and she was his baby girl were fleeting.

She slowly rustled from the hug and sat up. "I'm going to have to heat all this back up." She pulled the two plates from the table and moved to the microwave and put one in at a time. As she waited, she worked on picking her cuticles. Her father's wall was finally a down, which might only be a rare moment. "How do you deal with the bad calls, there was a rough one last shift." She thought about Jerry's input earlier and was alway curious as to how her father handle it. It was as if nothing hurt him, but she was starting to think that maybe it was all an act, something buried deep from the family.

"Hank did well knowing all of us and calling us in to the office to check in with us. We were lucky, because debriefing after bad calls never happened back then but Hank knew the importance of talking it out if need be. The department is now wanting us to start debriefing after serious incidences. I'd come home and just remember how thankful I was for what I had. I would talk to Jo, but not give the details. I never wanted her to know all the bad that I saw. Then doing the clay pots and projects around the house or fishing and camping trips or those silly money making schemes Johnny came up all helped take my mind off of things. I guess it just kept me too busy to think about the ugly."

She thought about the past few weeks when she was riding with the squad. She worked on a few people who suffered from broken bones, but no great saves. Especially not her. She's been like a errand boy, being sent to grab things for others. She just wanted to do her job and was eager to show her skills. At the hospital, she always excelled and was given tasks on par with the other men in the program. She knew that she had to give thanks to Dr. Morton's relationship with her family.

She swapped plates in the microwave and sat down the plate in front of her father.

"You've had a chance to ask me a few questions? I think it's my turn." There was no argument from Jenny. He knew that he had to decide what direction he wanted to go in as he wasn't sure he could get all the answers. Although he wanted to know about what happened on 51s, he could still tell she was preoccupied with David's absence. "You and David, just friends?" He needed to know so he could wrap around his head of his little girl having her first serious relationship.

Her back was still turned, staring into the microwave. Her shoulders slumped as she thought about it. She could say that they were just friends, but her dad had been honest answering her questions. "I don't know what we are. I guess if we were just friends, I wouldn't be as concerned about where he was." She turned around and gave him a weak smile. She walked to the closet and rifled through her duffle bag finding the small piece of paper buried underneath her clothes, she had yet to clear out.

She returned with the note in hand and placed in front of her father. She returned to the microwave to retrieve her plate and sat down at the table. "We'll he's not wrong, you are an amazing young woman. What happened on shift?"

A large piece of waffle was shoved in her mouth. She chewed slowly trying to buy herself time as she thought about the amount of information to disclose. "In some ways it was the worst shift. A young lady about my age passed away in a car accident. Nothing we could do, I was told. I didn't handle it to well. All I could think about was her family. Did she have siblings? What was she doing with her life? Let's just say that one of the guys, shared his opinion of how I handled it."

And it was Johnny who was going to protect her from the criticism. He was unsure of what exactly had been said, but it was starting to make sense and he was relieved that his partner still had his back, even after all these years.

"Let's talk about something else," she didn't want to think about the fire department, the men, or the accidents. The two chit chatted to pass the time. It almost two hours had passed when Jennifer realized that his father was waiting with her until David came home. She also knew that he was pushing back his weekend routine of completing the honey-do list. "Dad, I'm a big girl. I appreciate what you're doing but I can wait on my own. I know that you have stuff on your list and you said that you were going to be painting the deck." He checked his watch. He forgot about the guys coming over to help paint at noon. She could see the conflict over his face. She pushed herself from the chair and interlocked her arms with his, pulling him from his seat. "It's okay."

"Call when he gets home, leave a message with your mom if he comes home before I get home."

"Okay, dad." He gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head before leaving.

As Roy was walking down the hallway, he saw David heading to the apartment carrying flowers in his hands and his duffle draped over his shoulder. Roy went quickly from relief to anger back to relief.

"Hello Mr. DeSoto, is every thing okay? Is Jenny okay?" Jennifer was a planner and when the DeSotos had come over in the past, Jennifer usually let him know when. The whole family seemed like planners, except for Chris. He then thought about when they left shift and Roy didn't mention coming over.

"I think she'll be okay now knowing that you are okay. Beautiful flowers," his tone insinuated more than just friends.

His cheeks reddened as he tried to come up with something to say. Roy decided to end the embarrassment, "I know that you both are just friends, but she cares about you. I decided to stop over cause I figured the shift was probably rough for her. The first thing I did when I left was to call Jo and let her know I'd be late. Being a firefighter with people that care about you means trying to lessen that worry as much as you can."

It was clicking and he could kick himself for the lapse in judgement. "Aww man, did she have breakfast made and everything?" He thought about the usual weekend events. Roy gave a slight nod. "How could be I be so stupid?"

Roy couldn't help but smile, he could see the care that David had for her. Although a small part of Roy wanted to brow beat David, he realized he couldn't make David feel any worse then he already did. "When you go in there, let Jenny know that you ran into me, okay?"

"Yes, sir," he whispered. David walked slowly to the apartment with his head down. All Roy could do was watch and shake his head.

Jenny sat on the couch staring at the door. Her mind played David entering several times, each with a different way she handled it. She had wanted to yell and scream at him, but she reminded herself, yet again, that they were just friends. She thought about Linda and how she had no clue what she was doing at this time and that that was okay. She started to tell herself that she needed to build up her walls bigger so that no feelings could enter. It was bad enough having to deal with the emotional abuse at work, but then to also sift through the waters of a romance, would just be too much to handle. Just friends, she said out loud as she pushed herself from the couch. She decided to keep busy by tidying up the kitchen. As she pushed herself from the couch, in walked David.

"Hey," she turned to the kitchen and went to the sink to wash the dishes.

David slide the duffle from his shoulder to the ground, blocking the door and followed her to the kitchen. "I should've called. I'm sorry. Really sorry. I wanted to do something nice for you." She slowly turned while washing a glass.

She had tried to ignore David when he got home and had been oblivious to the flowers. But now she got a full view of the arrangement. He moved in closer. A part of her was relieved they weren't roses. Those really meant another level of intimacy. She thought that this was probably a good friendship bouquet.

"Thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful!" She smiled as she took the flowers and placed them on the table. She continued staring at the flowers, willing herself to be angry at him for putting through so much worry. Part of her was angry with herself for growing too attached to a friend.

"Jenny." No response. "Jenny." He took her arm and spun her around. Her head down low. "I can't remember the last time someone cared about me. Truly cared. I don't know how to act. I'll try to do better so you're not worried."

"I think I'm always going to be worried. But a phone call would be helpful," she smiled. She couldn't stay angry at him. Not someone she cared so much about. "Come on, I'll whip up some more of your favorite waffles."

She joined him at the table with just a cup of coffee while he devoured the waffles. That's when he filled her in on what happened after she left. Captain Gage stuck to his guns. She was angry until she realized he was another person who cared about her and she couldn't be angry any more.