He led her back towards their room so they could relax and talk.
"What did I do to him to cause him to target me like this?" she asked softly, looking out at the star filled skyline.
Bobby had been changing clothes and couldn't believe what he'd heard her ask.
"What?" he asked somewhat startled, turning to face her.
"What did I possibly do to him to cause him to target me like this?" she asked once more feeling a ball of nervousness build up in her stomach.
He crossed the distance of the room to where she was standing and turned her to face him, taking his right hand and raising her chin so that she was looking into his eyes. "You can't blame yourself for this. You didn't do anything to warrant what he's done to you. None of this is your fault sweetheart, none of it," He replied softly, encircling her with his arms hoping to ease her worries.
She slipped her arms around his waist and placed her hands on the small of his back as she rested her forehead against his chest. He gently rubbed her back with his hands as they stood there. It made no sense to him why Craig had targeted her for all of this, all he knew was he hoped it ended soon. He hated seeing her living with the constant worry of whether Craig was watching or planning on doing something to her. Till this was all over he doubted things would ever be back to the way they were before. She looked up into his comforting brown eyes and for a moment forgot about all her worries.
He felt her tense up briefly and figured she was thinking about something.
"You ok?" he asked softly as he led her over to the edge of the bed and sat down beside her.
"Yeah, just thinking about what I looked up earlier after you brought me home." She replied.
"Did it have to do with cyanide?" he asked.
She slowly nodded her head in response and he figured whatever it was really bothered her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset her if she didn't want to talk.
"Craig could have killed me yesterday, if he's the one that did this. I don't know how much he put into the bottle, but 0.05 g of that stuff is enough to kill a 154-lb human. I'm no where near that size so it would have taken less than that to kill me." she said shakily.
He had no clue such a small amount of that stuff could be so lethal. Hearing her words truly frightened him, and made him realize how close he came to actually loosing her.
"You're right we don't know how much he put into the bottle but you're alive and that's all that matters. Maybe it was a miracle we got that call and you didn't finish the bottle of soda." Bobby replied softly.
Kim sighed softly and lay back on the bed, still unable to stop thinking about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours and said softly, "I feel so pathetic because I can't stop worrying about what he could pull next."
"You're far from pathetic Kimmy. You have every right to worry about what he could do next. You're one of the strongest people I know and nothing could ever change that." He replied gently, resting his hand on her cheek; "So many people would just give in and accept what happens, but not you. If the average person went through what you've been through they would probably loose their will to go on and succumb to whatever happens. You're a fighter, one that won't back down and let someone like whoever did this win. If it was Craig then he will get what's coming to him. You know that as well as I do."
She listened to the words he'd just said and knew he was right.
"You're always so logical, its almost uncanny." she said softly, a small grin spreading across her face.
Seeing a grin on her face made him smile and replied, "One of us has to be."
A small laugh escaped her lips at his answer and she saw him smiling at her as she said back, "And it's safe to say it's not me."
"You have your moments where you're just as logical as I am." He replied, helping her sit up.
"Yeah, every once in a blue moon." She said smiling as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved her closer to where he sat.
He gently turned her head towards his and said softly, "You're an amazing woman Kimmy. You've been overcome so much in your life and it's made you a better person in so many ways."
She began to blush slightly at his words when he leaned in and gently kissed her. All the worries she'd been having began to go away, at least for the time being. They wouldn't be completely disappear till Craig left her alone for good. She slipped her arms around his neck as he gradually began to deepen the kiss between them. As the kiss ended, he caressed her cheek gently with his right hand. She sighed softly at his touch and closed her eyes briefly.
He stretched out on the bed and slipped his arms around Kim's waist and gently pulled her back to where he lay. She eventually lay down and he slipped one arm around her waist and gently caressed her abdomen with feather light strokes. He heard her breathing deepen as she fell asleep and soon he too had drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Kim woke up to find Bobby's arms still wrapped around her. She turned in his arms till she was facing him and began to place gentle kisses on his face before softly kissing his lips. Glancing over at the alarm clock she saw it was only 5:30 am and went back to sleep, resting her forehead against his chest. He felt her soft kisses on his face and smiled to himself. Feeling her rest her forehead against him and feeling her breathing deepen once more as her warm breath hit his chest each time she exhaled told him she was going back to sleep. Around 9:30 the two awoke rather unexpectedly. Joey was surprised no one was up. He quietly slipped into their room and hopped up onto the bed beside his mother. Unfortunately the way she'd been laying, her face ended up in Bobby's neck when the bed moved and she quickly jerked her head back, but didn't realize she was so close to the headboard of the bed.
Bobby had felt the bed move sharply and felt Kim's face pressing into his neck. A split second later he heard a loud thump and heard her moan. After pulling her face away from Bobby's neck, the back of her head hit the headboard from the startle of being woken up.
"Joey! What was that for?" she asked, feeling a splitting headache coming on from where her head had slammed into the headboard.
Kim rolled over onto her back and looked up at Joey, who had an apologetic look on his face.
"I didn't mean to scare you." he said softly; "Is your head ok?"
"I know you didn't mean to sweetheart. It will be as soon as the headache goes away." She replied softly, seeing Bobby sitting up beside her.
Bobby saw the worried look on Joey's face and said, "She'll be fine Joey, just be more careful next time. With everything that's been going on she's a little jumpy."
"Will you go see if your sister is up yet?" Kim asked her son.
Joey nodded his head and headed across the hall to check on Keira.
"Your head ok?" Bobby asked.
"Other than having a headache from hell its fine." She replied, rubbing her temples gently.
"Want me to bring you an aspirin?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied, seeing Joey coming back into the room.
"She's awake. When I went in she was babbling at the toys hanging off the mobile." Joey said.
"Ok, thanks sweetheart." Kim replied, getting ready to get up.
Bobby saw her moving to get up and said, "You stay put, I'll change her and bring her in to you and get a bottle for her."
"It's just a headache, I'll be fine." She replied, getting ready to stand.
"No piense acerca de lo Kimmy." Bobby warned; "Usted necesita descansar." {Don't think about it Kimmy. You need to rest.}
He put a whole new meaning on the word overprotective and it was getting rather annoying. Granted at work or something she wouldn't have complained but they were at home and it was starting to bug her. She huffed in annoyance but complied with what he asked and he got up and headed towards the nursery.
"Hey Joey, can you go get a bottle out of the fridge for your sister?" Bobby asked.
"Sure," he replied, heading to do what Bobby had asked.
When Bobby walked into the nursery Keira had heard the door opening and began to babble contently to herself again and when she saw her father cooed excitedly.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning." Bobby said smiling as he picked his daughter up and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
Keira squealed loudly when he picked her up and smiled, kicking with her tiny little legs against his stomach. He quickly changed her and the whole time she babbled to herself, she was starting to make consonant sounds and he figured it wouldn't be long before she said her first word. When he picked her up after changing her, she squealed loudly once more and he knew that if she did that with the headache Kim had it would only make things worse.
"Ssssh sweetheart, mommy's not feeling good. Try and be quiet." He said softly, even though he knew she had no clue what he'd just said he did know that she would pick up on emotions and realize something wasn't right.
He carried her across the hall to where Kim sat in bed, propped up on pillows against the headboard. Keira babbled the whole time and squealed excitedly when she saw her mother.
He saw her wince at the squeal and tried to quiet Keira down.
"I'll be right back with her bottle and your aspirin." He replied, passing Keira to her.
"Ok," Kim replied as he left the room.
She looked down at her daughter's smiling face and brushed her dark hair back from her face and said, "Good morning sweetie, aren't you an active one today."
Several minutes later Bobby returned with the aspirin and water for her and a warmed bottle for Keira.
"I'll get started on breakfast." He said, taking a seat next to Kim; "Do you want to meet with the guy who might have seen the perp leaving the station after work?"
"Yeah, I'm interested in hearing what he saw." She replied as she fed Keira the bottle; "I'll be in as soon as she's finished with the bottle."
Bobby nodded his head and placed a gentle kiss on her lips and a tender kiss on Keira's head before he left the room to fix breakfast. As he walked past Joey sitting on the couch watching cartoons he asked, "Want to help me fix breakfast?"
"Sure," Joey replied, heading into the kitchen with Bobby.
"What should we fix?" Bobby asked, looking in the fridge to see what all they had.
"Pancakes?" Joey suggested.
"That sounds good, why don't you get out the strawberries and start cleaning them to go with the pancakes." Bobby said, getting the materials he'd need to make home made pancakes.
Joey got the container of strawberries out of the fridge and grabbed a stool and put it next to the sink and got a large bowl and filled it with water and put the strawberries into the water to soak for several minutes. After the strawberries had soaked Joey asked, "Can I go ahead and cut the tops off them?"
"Go ahead, just be careful." He replied, looking over at Joey as he got started cutting the tops off the strawberries.
An hour later Keira had finished the bottle and began to coo and laugh. The aspirin Bobby had brought her and helped ease the pain from the headache so her laughs and squeals didn't make the pain any worse. Kim scooted over and lay Keira down beside her and gently tickled her, causing her to laugh and giggle. She managed to get a hold of one of the sheets on the bed and pulled at it, pulling it over her face, laughing and kicking the entire time. Kim smiled and pulled the sheet back away from her, which made her babble, laugh and kick excitedly at the game.
Bobby had finished making the pancakes for them and had gotten everything ready for the three of them to eat breakfast. He heard the loud giggles and squeals coming from the bedroom and decided to go see what they were doing. Joey set the table for the three of them while he went to get Kim and Keira. He stood in the doorway and saw Keira pulling the sheet over her head and Kim lying on her stomach next to her pulling the sheet back away causing her to laugh even harder.
"Come on you two, breakfast is ready." Bobby said smiling from the doorway watching the game two of them were playing.
Kim rolled onto her back and sat up, looking over at Bobby and said, "What did you two fix?"
"You'll see when you come in," he replied as she picked up Keira and headed towards him.
She put Keira in her playpen in the living room and let her play while they ate. When Kim came into the kitchen she saw that they'd made pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. After they'd eaten, Joey went in and played some video games while Kim headed in with Keira to give a bath before she took a shower. Keira was full of energy and was kicking and splashing around in the water giggling and laughing the whole time. After she'd finished she wrapped her in a towel and headed back to the nursery to get her dressed. Bobby came in to see how they were doing and noticed that it looked like there had been a water fight because of the water spots on Kim's top and wet hair.
"You two get into a water fight?" he asked.
"No, munchkin here wanted to splash the whole time." She replied fastening the snaps on the outfit she'd just put on Keira and scooping her up from the changing table.
Keira had started to yawn and settle down and Bobby took her from Kim and said, "I'll rock her to sleep while you go take a shower."
Kim placed a gentle kiss on his lips and whispered into his ear, "¿Por qué no me une usted después que ella está dormida?" {Why don't you join me after she's asleep?}
"Acabo de hacer eso." he replied with a smile. {I just might do that.}
Keira had gone to bed ten minutes later and he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before laying her down. He saw Joey playing video games in the living room and headed into the bathroom. Kim had just finished washing her hair when she heard the bathroom door open and then close. He slipped into the shower with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and began to nuzzle her neck with his lips. She pivoted in his arms to where she was facing him he gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed her as the hot water flowed over them. The two spent fifteen minutes together under the soothing hot water when Kim heard Keira starting to fuss down the hall.
"I'd better go see what she wants," Kim said softly, reaching for a towel as she stepped out of the shower.
Bobby placed one final kiss on her lips before she headed to check on their daughter. Kim headed quickly down the hall to check and see what was wrong.
"What's the matter sweetheart?" she asked softly, picking Keira up. She began to stop crying as Kim rocked her gently and rubbed her back trying to calm her down.
Five minutes later Bobby emerged from the bathroom and headed in to see if everything was all right.
"She ok?" he asked, crouching beside the rocking chair.
"I think something must have scared her because she doesn't need changed and she just ate." Kim replied, looking over at Bobby.
"I've got an idea of what might have scared her." Joey said as he headed past the doorway of the nursery.
"What's that?" Bobby asked, gently rubbing Keira's back.
"I heard what sounded like a car backfire outside. It was pretty loud so that might have frightened her." Joey replied.
After she'd settled down, Joey went to play with his gameboy in his room and Bobby had picked up Keira so Kim could go get dressed. As he held her he spoke softly to her in Spanish noticing the soothing effect it had on her. He moved the rocking chair close to the window so he could hold her in his lap and let her see what was going on outside. She squealed excitedly whenever a pigeon flew by the window and watched the people down below.
When it was time for him to go to work he'd gotten everything together and said to Kim, "Try to have those two in bed by the time I get off work so we can talk with the officer who might have seen something."
"Ok, call me to let me know if something changes and he doesn't come with you." Kim replied.
"I will." He replied as Joey came into the room.
"You be good kiddo," he said to Joey, ruffling his hair.
Joey laughed and replied, "Don't worry I'll be good."
He gave Keira a kiss on the forehead and then kissed Kim goodbye as he headed out to the firehouse for his shift.
When he arrived that afternoon he changed and was talking with Alex while they worked on the rig when Faith and Bosco came out looking for him. He heard them talking as they crossed the street and noticed the topic was of Craig and began to wonder if they'd found anything out when they ran him through the system. Faith noticed the doors to the rig open and took a hunch and figured Bobby was getting ready for his shift and headed towards the open doors.
"Hey Bobby, nothing came back when we ran Craig through the system." Faith said.
"So he's a first timer, he certainly thinks like someone who's done this before." Bobby replied.
"I agree with you there. You and Kim still want to meet with Kevin?" she asked.
"Yeah, she wants to hear what he saw." He said in return.
"When is good for you two?" Faith asked.
"Is tonight after the shift too soon?" he questioned.
"Bosco, go see if Kevin's here yet and if so bring him out here would you?" Faith said to her partner.
He nodded his head and went into the station looking for the young officer.
"If he's here I'll let you two work out the details." Faith said.
A short time later Bosco found Kevin getting ready and said, "Hey Kevin, would you like to meet the husband of the medic that got poisoned the other day?"
"Sure, does he know that I'm the one that saw the guy leave?" he asked.
"Yeah, we told him yesterday." Bosco replied.
Bosco and Kevin headed across the street to where Faith was. She noticed him coming and said to Bobby, "Bosco found him."
When the two men made it back over Faith said, "Kevin this is Bobby Caffey."
"It's nice to meet you Kevin. Thank you for coming forward with what you saw the day my wife was poisoned." He said, shaking the young man's hand.
"I'm glad to help. How is she doing by the way?" Kevin asked.
"Much better. She'll be back to work Monday. The doctors wanted her to take a couple days off to get back on her feet after what happened." Bobby replied.
"I can't imagine what that must have been like for you when you found out what happened to her." Kevin said sadly.
"It was one of the scariest moments of my life seeing her condition change so rapidly. In a span of 30 minutes she went from talking and laughing to being able to hardly breathe and going unconscious." Bobby said; "Would you like to meet her?"
"Sure. I'm sure you both are probably wondering what I saw so I'd be happy to fill you all in. Plus you all might be able to come up with who might have done this to her." Kevin replied.
"When would be a good time for you?" Bobby questioned.
"I'm going out of town for a few days so would tonight be too soon?" he asked.
"That sounds fine to me, I'll call her and let her know so she can have the kids in bed before the end of the shift." Bobby replied.
"Ok, I'll see you at the end of the shift then." Kevin said, noticing it was almost time for roll call.
"Sounds good, you all have a safe shift." Bobby replied watching the three officer's leave.
Bobby quickly called Kim and let her know that they would be meeting with the young man who'd seen the perp leaving the firehouse that way she could get the kids in bed before he got home so they could talk without having the kids be an interruption.
"Hey Kimmy, I met the guy who saw the person leaving the firehouse and he said meeting tonight wouldn't be a problem." Bobby said.
"Ok, I'll have Joey and Keira in bed by 10 or 10:30 that way they won't be a nuisance while he's here." Kim replied; "What's this person like?"
"He's relatively young for a cop but is very well mannered. He makes Bosco look like an uncivilized hot head." Bobby replied laughing.
Kim couldn't help but laugh and said, "Sounds like a complete opposite to Bosco."
"He is trust me. Gotta run a call just came in. I'll see you soon sweetheart." He said, heading to the driver's side of the bus.
"Ok, have a safe shift and I'll see you this evening." She replied before hanging up.
After her conversation with Bobby she found Keira and Joey playing in the living room floor.
"You two having fun?" Kim asked stretching out in the floor with them.
"Yeah." Joey said smiling; "Was I this hyper when I was her size?"
"Oh yes, if not more so than her." Kim replied smiling.
Joey laughed at his mother's response when she said, "When you were little the slightest thing was amusing to you."
"Really?" he asked laughing as he held Keira so she was sitting up.
"Yep," Kim replied smiling, gently tickling her daughter's stomach, making her laugh and giggle.
Keira contently sat and babbled out loud to them and they talked back to her as if she were making perfect sense, making her smile and squeal excitedly. When it was time for her bottle, Joey kept her occupied while Kim heated the bottle for her. After making sure it wasn't too hot to burn her mouth, she came back into the living room and sat the bottle and towel down on the couch and picked Keira up off the floor and cradled her in her lap. Joey started up playing video games while she fed Keira and noticed her glancing towards the TV screen seeing what was going on. Her thoughts drifted back to meeting the young officer who might have seen who had slipped the powder into her soda at the firehouse and wondered what she was going to hear from him, but knew only time would tell that story.
~~~
Spanish Translations:
No piense acerca de lo Kimmy. Usted necesita descansar.
Don't think about it Kimmy. You need to rest.
¿Por qué no me une usted después que ella está dormida?
Why don't you join me after she's asleep?
Acabo de hacer eso.
I just might do that.
"What did I do to him to cause him to target me like this?" she asked softly, looking out at the star filled skyline.
Bobby had been changing clothes and couldn't believe what he'd heard her ask.
"What?" he asked somewhat startled, turning to face her.
"What did I possibly do to him to cause him to target me like this?" she asked once more feeling a ball of nervousness build up in her stomach.
He crossed the distance of the room to where she was standing and turned her to face him, taking his right hand and raising her chin so that she was looking into his eyes. "You can't blame yourself for this. You didn't do anything to warrant what he's done to you. None of this is your fault sweetheart, none of it," He replied softly, encircling her with his arms hoping to ease her worries.
She slipped her arms around his waist and placed her hands on the small of his back as she rested her forehead against his chest. He gently rubbed her back with his hands as they stood there. It made no sense to him why Craig had targeted her for all of this, all he knew was he hoped it ended soon. He hated seeing her living with the constant worry of whether Craig was watching or planning on doing something to her. Till this was all over he doubted things would ever be back to the way they were before. She looked up into his comforting brown eyes and for a moment forgot about all her worries.
He felt her tense up briefly and figured she was thinking about something.
"You ok?" he asked softly as he led her over to the edge of the bed and sat down beside her.
"Yeah, just thinking about what I looked up earlier after you brought me home." She replied.
"Did it have to do with cyanide?" he asked.
She slowly nodded her head in response and he figured whatever it was really bothered her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset her if she didn't want to talk.
"Craig could have killed me yesterday, if he's the one that did this. I don't know how much he put into the bottle, but 0.05 g of that stuff is enough to kill a 154-lb human. I'm no where near that size so it would have taken less than that to kill me." she said shakily.
He had no clue such a small amount of that stuff could be so lethal. Hearing her words truly frightened him, and made him realize how close he came to actually loosing her.
"You're right we don't know how much he put into the bottle but you're alive and that's all that matters. Maybe it was a miracle we got that call and you didn't finish the bottle of soda." Bobby replied softly.
Kim sighed softly and lay back on the bed, still unable to stop thinking about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours and said softly, "I feel so pathetic because I can't stop worrying about what he could pull next."
"You're far from pathetic Kimmy. You have every right to worry about what he could do next. You're one of the strongest people I know and nothing could ever change that." He replied gently, resting his hand on her cheek; "So many people would just give in and accept what happens, but not you. If the average person went through what you've been through they would probably loose their will to go on and succumb to whatever happens. You're a fighter, one that won't back down and let someone like whoever did this win. If it was Craig then he will get what's coming to him. You know that as well as I do."
She listened to the words he'd just said and knew he was right.
"You're always so logical, its almost uncanny." she said softly, a small grin spreading across her face.
Seeing a grin on her face made him smile and replied, "One of us has to be."
A small laugh escaped her lips at his answer and she saw him smiling at her as she said back, "And it's safe to say it's not me."
"You have your moments where you're just as logical as I am." He replied, helping her sit up.
"Yeah, every once in a blue moon." She said smiling as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved her closer to where he sat.
He gently turned her head towards his and said softly, "You're an amazing woman Kimmy. You've been overcome so much in your life and it's made you a better person in so many ways."
She began to blush slightly at his words when he leaned in and gently kissed her. All the worries she'd been having began to go away, at least for the time being. They wouldn't be completely disappear till Craig left her alone for good. She slipped her arms around his neck as he gradually began to deepen the kiss between them. As the kiss ended, he caressed her cheek gently with his right hand. She sighed softly at his touch and closed her eyes briefly.
He stretched out on the bed and slipped his arms around Kim's waist and gently pulled her back to where he lay. She eventually lay down and he slipped one arm around her waist and gently caressed her abdomen with feather light strokes. He heard her breathing deepen as she fell asleep and soon he too had drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Kim woke up to find Bobby's arms still wrapped around her. She turned in his arms till she was facing him and began to place gentle kisses on his face before softly kissing his lips. Glancing over at the alarm clock she saw it was only 5:30 am and went back to sleep, resting her forehead against his chest. He felt her soft kisses on his face and smiled to himself. Feeling her rest her forehead against him and feeling her breathing deepen once more as her warm breath hit his chest each time she exhaled told him she was going back to sleep. Around 9:30 the two awoke rather unexpectedly. Joey was surprised no one was up. He quietly slipped into their room and hopped up onto the bed beside his mother. Unfortunately the way she'd been laying, her face ended up in Bobby's neck when the bed moved and she quickly jerked her head back, but didn't realize she was so close to the headboard of the bed.
Bobby had felt the bed move sharply and felt Kim's face pressing into his neck. A split second later he heard a loud thump and heard her moan. After pulling her face away from Bobby's neck, the back of her head hit the headboard from the startle of being woken up.
"Joey! What was that for?" she asked, feeling a splitting headache coming on from where her head had slammed into the headboard.
Kim rolled over onto her back and looked up at Joey, who had an apologetic look on his face.
"I didn't mean to scare you." he said softly; "Is your head ok?"
"I know you didn't mean to sweetheart. It will be as soon as the headache goes away." She replied softly, seeing Bobby sitting up beside her.
Bobby saw the worried look on Joey's face and said, "She'll be fine Joey, just be more careful next time. With everything that's been going on she's a little jumpy."
"Will you go see if your sister is up yet?" Kim asked her son.
Joey nodded his head and headed across the hall to check on Keira.
"Your head ok?" Bobby asked.
"Other than having a headache from hell its fine." She replied, rubbing her temples gently.
"Want me to bring you an aspirin?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied, seeing Joey coming back into the room.
"She's awake. When I went in she was babbling at the toys hanging off the mobile." Joey said.
"Ok, thanks sweetheart." Kim replied, getting ready to get up.
Bobby saw her moving to get up and said, "You stay put, I'll change her and bring her in to you and get a bottle for her."
"It's just a headache, I'll be fine." She replied, getting ready to stand.
"No piense acerca de lo Kimmy." Bobby warned; "Usted necesita descansar." {Don't think about it Kimmy. You need to rest.}
He put a whole new meaning on the word overprotective and it was getting rather annoying. Granted at work or something she wouldn't have complained but they were at home and it was starting to bug her. She huffed in annoyance but complied with what he asked and he got up and headed towards the nursery.
"Hey Joey, can you go get a bottle out of the fridge for your sister?" Bobby asked.
"Sure," he replied, heading to do what Bobby had asked.
When Bobby walked into the nursery Keira had heard the door opening and began to babble contently to herself again and when she saw her father cooed excitedly.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning." Bobby said smiling as he picked his daughter up and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
Keira squealed loudly when he picked her up and smiled, kicking with her tiny little legs against his stomach. He quickly changed her and the whole time she babbled to herself, she was starting to make consonant sounds and he figured it wouldn't be long before she said her first word. When he picked her up after changing her, she squealed loudly once more and he knew that if she did that with the headache Kim had it would only make things worse.
"Ssssh sweetheart, mommy's not feeling good. Try and be quiet." He said softly, even though he knew she had no clue what he'd just said he did know that she would pick up on emotions and realize something wasn't right.
He carried her across the hall to where Kim sat in bed, propped up on pillows against the headboard. Keira babbled the whole time and squealed excitedly when she saw her mother.
He saw her wince at the squeal and tried to quiet Keira down.
"I'll be right back with her bottle and your aspirin." He replied, passing Keira to her.
"Ok," Kim replied as he left the room.
She looked down at her daughter's smiling face and brushed her dark hair back from her face and said, "Good morning sweetie, aren't you an active one today."
Several minutes later Bobby returned with the aspirin and water for her and a warmed bottle for Keira.
"I'll get started on breakfast." He said, taking a seat next to Kim; "Do you want to meet with the guy who might have seen the perp leaving the station after work?"
"Yeah, I'm interested in hearing what he saw." She replied as she fed Keira the bottle; "I'll be in as soon as she's finished with the bottle."
Bobby nodded his head and placed a gentle kiss on her lips and a tender kiss on Keira's head before he left the room to fix breakfast. As he walked past Joey sitting on the couch watching cartoons he asked, "Want to help me fix breakfast?"
"Sure," Joey replied, heading into the kitchen with Bobby.
"What should we fix?" Bobby asked, looking in the fridge to see what all they had.
"Pancakes?" Joey suggested.
"That sounds good, why don't you get out the strawberries and start cleaning them to go with the pancakes." Bobby said, getting the materials he'd need to make home made pancakes.
Joey got the container of strawberries out of the fridge and grabbed a stool and put it next to the sink and got a large bowl and filled it with water and put the strawberries into the water to soak for several minutes. After the strawberries had soaked Joey asked, "Can I go ahead and cut the tops off them?"
"Go ahead, just be careful." He replied, looking over at Joey as he got started cutting the tops off the strawberries.
An hour later Keira had finished the bottle and began to coo and laugh. The aspirin Bobby had brought her and helped ease the pain from the headache so her laughs and squeals didn't make the pain any worse. Kim scooted over and lay Keira down beside her and gently tickled her, causing her to laugh and giggle. She managed to get a hold of one of the sheets on the bed and pulled at it, pulling it over her face, laughing and kicking the entire time. Kim smiled and pulled the sheet back away from her, which made her babble, laugh and kick excitedly at the game.
Bobby had finished making the pancakes for them and had gotten everything ready for the three of them to eat breakfast. He heard the loud giggles and squeals coming from the bedroom and decided to go see what they were doing. Joey set the table for the three of them while he went to get Kim and Keira. He stood in the doorway and saw Keira pulling the sheet over her head and Kim lying on her stomach next to her pulling the sheet back away causing her to laugh even harder.
"Come on you two, breakfast is ready." Bobby said smiling from the doorway watching the game two of them were playing.
Kim rolled onto her back and sat up, looking over at Bobby and said, "What did you two fix?"
"You'll see when you come in," he replied as she picked up Keira and headed towards him.
She put Keira in her playpen in the living room and let her play while they ate. When Kim came into the kitchen she saw that they'd made pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. After they'd eaten, Joey went in and played some video games while Kim headed in with Keira to give a bath before she took a shower. Keira was full of energy and was kicking and splashing around in the water giggling and laughing the whole time. After she'd finished she wrapped her in a towel and headed back to the nursery to get her dressed. Bobby came in to see how they were doing and noticed that it looked like there had been a water fight because of the water spots on Kim's top and wet hair.
"You two get into a water fight?" he asked.
"No, munchkin here wanted to splash the whole time." She replied fastening the snaps on the outfit she'd just put on Keira and scooping her up from the changing table.
Keira had started to yawn and settle down and Bobby took her from Kim and said, "I'll rock her to sleep while you go take a shower."
Kim placed a gentle kiss on his lips and whispered into his ear, "¿Por qué no me une usted después que ella está dormida?" {Why don't you join me after she's asleep?}
"Acabo de hacer eso." he replied with a smile. {I just might do that.}
Keira had gone to bed ten minutes later and he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before laying her down. He saw Joey playing video games in the living room and headed into the bathroom. Kim had just finished washing her hair when she heard the bathroom door open and then close. He slipped into the shower with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and began to nuzzle her neck with his lips. She pivoted in his arms to where she was facing him he gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed her as the hot water flowed over them. The two spent fifteen minutes together under the soothing hot water when Kim heard Keira starting to fuss down the hall.
"I'd better go see what she wants," Kim said softly, reaching for a towel as she stepped out of the shower.
Bobby placed one final kiss on her lips before she headed to check on their daughter. Kim headed quickly down the hall to check and see what was wrong.
"What's the matter sweetheart?" she asked softly, picking Keira up. She began to stop crying as Kim rocked her gently and rubbed her back trying to calm her down.
Five minutes later Bobby emerged from the bathroom and headed in to see if everything was all right.
"She ok?" he asked, crouching beside the rocking chair.
"I think something must have scared her because she doesn't need changed and she just ate." Kim replied, looking over at Bobby.
"I've got an idea of what might have scared her." Joey said as he headed past the doorway of the nursery.
"What's that?" Bobby asked, gently rubbing Keira's back.
"I heard what sounded like a car backfire outside. It was pretty loud so that might have frightened her." Joey replied.
After she'd settled down, Joey went to play with his gameboy in his room and Bobby had picked up Keira so Kim could go get dressed. As he held her he spoke softly to her in Spanish noticing the soothing effect it had on her. He moved the rocking chair close to the window so he could hold her in his lap and let her see what was going on outside. She squealed excitedly whenever a pigeon flew by the window and watched the people down below.
When it was time for him to go to work he'd gotten everything together and said to Kim, "Try to have those two in bed by the time I get off work so we can talk with the officer who might have seen something."
"Ok, call me to let me know if something changes and he doesn't come with you." Kim replied.
"I will." He replied as Joey came into the room.
"You be good kiddo," he said to Joey, ruffling his hair.
Joey laughed and replied, "Don't worry I'll be good."
He gave Keira a kiss on the forehead and then kissed Kim goodbye as he headed out to the firehouse for his shift.
When he arrived that afternoon he changed and was talking with Alex while they worked on the rig when Faith and Bosco came out looking for him. He heard them talking as they crossed the street and noticed the topic was of Craig and began to wonder if they'd found anything out when they ran him through the system. Faith noticed the doors to the rig open and took a hunch and figured Bobby was getting ready for his shift and headed towards the open doors.
"Hey Bobby, nothing came back when we ran Craig through the system." Faith said.
"So he's a first timer, he certainly thinks like someone who's done this before." Bobby replied.
"I agree with you there. You and Kim still want to meet with Kevin?" she asked.
"Yeah, she wants to hear what he saw." He said in return.
"When is good for you two?" Faith asked.
"Is tonight after the shift too soon?" he questioned.
"Bosco, go see if Kevin's here yet and if so bring him out here would you?" Faith said to her partner.
He nodded his head and went into the station looking for the young officer.
"If he's here I'll let you two work out the details." Faith said.
A short time later Bosco found Kevin getting ready and said, "Hey Kevin, would you like to meet the husband of the medic that got poisoned the other day?"
"Sure, does he know that I'm the one that saw the guy leave?" he asked.
"Yeah, we told him yesterday." Bosco replied.
Bosco and Kevin headed across the street to where Faith was. She noticed him coming and said to Bobby, "Bosco found him."
When the two men made it back over Faith said, "Kevin this is Bobby Caffey."
"It's nice to meet you Kevin. Thank you for coming forward with what you saw the day my wife was poisoned." He said, shaking the young man's hand.
"I'm glad to help. How is she doing by the way?" Kevin asked.
"Much better. She'll be back to work Monday. The doctors wanted her to take a couple days off to get back on her feet after what happened." Bobby replied.
"I can't imagine what that must have been like for you when you found out what happened to her." Kevin said sadly.
"It was one of the scariest moments of my life seeing her condition change so rapidly. In a span of 30 minutes she went from talking and laughing to being able to hardly breathe and going unconscious." Bobby said; "Would you like to meet her?"
"Sure. I'm sure you both are probably wondering what I saw so I'd be happy to fill you all in. Plus you all might be able to come up with who might have done this to her." Kevin replied.
"When would be a good time for you?" Bobby questioned.
"I'm going out of town for a few days so would tonight be too soon?" he asked.
"That sounds fine to me, I'll call her and let her know so she can have the kids in bed before the end of the shift." Bobby replied.
"Ok, I'll see you at the end of the shift then." Kevin said, noticing it was almost time for roll call.
"Sounds good, you all have a safe shift." Bobby replied watching the three officer's leave.
Bobby quickly called Kim and let her know that they would be meeting with the young man who'd seen the perp leaving the firehouse that way she could get the kids in bed before he got home so they could talk without having the kids be an interruption.
"Hey Kimmy, I met the guy who saw the person leaving the firehouse and he said meeting tonight wouldn't be a problem." Bobby said.
"Ok, I'll have Joey and Keira in bed by 10 or 10:30 that way they won't be a nuisance while he's here." Kim replied; "What's this person like?"
"He's relatively young for a cop but is very well mannered. He makes Bosco look like an uncivilized hot head." Bobby replied laughing.
Kim couldn't help but laugh and said, "Sounds like a complete opposite to Bosco."
"He is trust me. Gotta run a call just came in. I'll see you soon sweetheart." He said, heading to the driver's side of the bus.
"Ok, have a safe shift and I'll see you this evening." She replied before hanging up.
After her conversation with Bobby she found Keira and Joey playing in the living room floor.
"You two having fun?" Kim asked stretching out in the floor with them.
"Yeah." Joey said smiling; "Was I this hyper when I was her size?"
"Oh yes, if not more so than her." Kim replied smiling.
Joey laughed at his mother's response when she said, "When you were little the slightest thing was amusing to you."
"Really?" he asked laughing as he held Keira so she was sitting up.
"Yep," Kim replied smiling, gently tickling her daughter's stomach, making her laugh and giggle.
Keira contently sat and babbled out loud to them and they talked back to her as if she were making perfect sense, making her smile and squeal excitedly. When it was time for her bottle, Joey kept her occupied while Kim heated the bottle for her. After making sure it wasn't too hot to burn her mouth, she came back into the living room and sat the bottle and towel down on the couch and picked Keira up off the floor and cradled her in her lap. Joey started up playing video games while she fed Keira and noticed her glancing towards the TV screen seeing what was going on. Her thoughts drifted back to meeting the young officer who might have seen who had slipped the powder into her soda at the firehouse and wondered what she was going to hear from him, but knew only time would tell that story.
~~~
Spanish Translations:
No piense acerca de lo Kimmy. Usted necesita descansar.
Don't think about it Kimmy. You need to rest.
¿Por qué no me une usted después que ella está dormida?
Why don't you join me after she's asleep?
Acabo de hacer eso.
I just might do that.