"She was too demanding all the time, I can't handle all that, man." Walsh explained from where he was sitting, beside his best friend.
DK shook his head, "You'll never find a decent girl if you can't handle a little bit of pushiness."
"There's a fine line between being pushy and being demanding. I can handle pushy." Walsh replied.
DK laughed and leaned back against the wall of the firehouse staring up at the sky.
"You don't still wish on stars do you?" Walsh asked, as Bobby and Kim walked up returning from a call.
"Oh yeah, he's wishing for that hot chick from last night to come back!" Bobby teased walking by before DK could get a word out.
"Hot chick? What hot chick?!" Kim exclaimed intrigued.
"Another day, Kimmy." Walsh laughed.
"Oh, I'm not good enough for your guy talk?" Kim smiled heading inside.
DK shook his head and laughed, "Yeah, she was hot wasn't she?"
"Yeah she was. Her friend wasn't too bad either," Walsh smiled tossing a small rock across the sidewalk.
DK smiled but then changed the subject, trying to forget about the embarrassment he suffered when she left him at the bar, "Is it gonna be hotter tomorrow?"
"Probably," Walsh replied still skipping rocks. This time his eyes followed the rock all the way down the sidewalk to where it stopped, right in front of 2 familiar sets of legs that were walking towards them. His jaw dropped and he reached over tapping DK's arm with the back of his hand, "I thought you said that you didn't wish on stars!"
"What?!" DK exclaimed turning to Walsh. He followed Walsh's eyes and caught sight of what he was referring to. Or rather, Who. Unable to speak he somehow managed to stand up."I'll leave you to your business," Walsh smirked turning and walking inside, w/Keira catching up to and joining him.
Before DK could respond, Brianne had already reached her destination, him.
"Hey," she said flashing the bright smile that mesmerized him the previous evening.
DK gave a slight nod, "How are you?"
Brianne's smile faded to a slightly embarrassed grin, "Actually, not so good."
He gave her a confused look.
"See, I feel really bad. I met this great guy last night, and I ended up leaving him hanging. The more I think about it the worse I feel and I realize it was pretty rude of me, and I need to apologize," Brianne replied.
DK's face was now an off shade of pink..."Think... DK...Think!" he said to himself, "You don't have to apologize for anything," he managed to get out.
"Yes I do. It was very rude of me, and I'm sorry." She looked down, shuffling her feet and quietly continued, "I was also sort of wondering if the offer for a dance still stood?" Smiling sheepishly, almost like a schoolgirl with a crush on the boy sitting next to her.
DK felt his stomach do a nosedive. Here was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on asking him if the offer still stood for a dance.
"Sure, anytime you want." DK smiled, "I don't get off for another couple hours though."
Brianne grinned, "Well how about now?""Now? Here?" DK asked, almost confused.
"Why not?"
DK looked around for a second, "Alright."
He stepped towards her and allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her back. Similar to the position they danced in the night before.
"Never danced outside before huh?" she inquired as they began to slowly move back and forth.
"Can't say that I have," he smiled back, overtaken by the electric vibes this woman was sending through his body.
"First time for everything," as they continued to dance.
"Are you seeing this?!" Jimmy exclaimed looking out of the window in the front of firehouse.
"Is that...." Bobby started.
"The hot chick from last night." Walsh said finishing his sentence.
"Lemme see!" Kim exclaimed rushing over to get a glimpse, "not bad at all."
"Down girl." Walsh said moving back in so he could continue investigating the ongoing situation, with Keira just walking towards the pool table chuckling.
Dancing in the street, DK allowed Brianne's scent to fill his body, triggering more vibes. The attraction was definitely building between the two.Enjoying every single second that passed by, he took a deep breath, "So what happened last night?"
Brianne felt a rush of embarrassment and panic take over her as she tried to come up with what to say. She stopped dancing and looked down while she thought. "Um..." she started.
DK stopped dancing as well and watched her for a few minutes as she thought. "Well?" he asked w/a soft smile on his face, knowing that she felt embarrassed by what had happened.
Brianne remained silent as she continued to look down. DK brought his hand up to her face and gently tilted her head so that she was looking up at him. He studied her face for a second then was overtaken by the extreme urge to kiss her. Tracing her face with his fingertip, he slowly leaned in. All of a sudden ....
"SQUAD 55, ENGINE 100 RESPOND TO 113 AMSTERDAMN. REPORT OF SMOKE INSIDE A DEPARTMENT STORE. 113 AMSTERDAM........" The loud speaker blared.
Looking up to where the announcement was coming from, "You need to go?" Brianne smiled slightly blushing, as she looked back at DK.
"Yeah," DK sighed while smiling as well, as Billy and the guys got their gear on and shouted for him.
"Be safe," she said as she backed up towards the wall of the building to stand out of the way.
DK stood there for a second just looking at Brianne.
"DK let's go!" Jimmy shouted holding DK's gear.
He turned and rushed into the bay area, hopping into the engine just as they were taking off. Brianne smiled and waved to all the guys as they all waved back driving off.
"What in the HELL was that?!" Walsh exclaimed from the front seat.
DK just shook his head, "I have NO idea."
"Come on man, you HAD her!" Jimmy teased.
On their way to the call, DK just leaned his head back and hit his head on the wall of the truck over and over as the guys busted on him. The entire time going to the call, the only thing that DK could think of was how he wished he could have kissed her.
'Dammit,' he thought, 'damn alarm. Couldn't it have waited just a few more minutes?'
Brianne stood there up against the building for a few minutes. Staring at the area where she and DK were just dancing, all she could do was smile. Picturing every moment they just had together, from when she walked up to when she waved to the guys hoping that they'll stay safe. The thought that kept playing over in her head though was the "almost kiss".
'Dammit,' she said out loud to herself, looking up in the direction of where the announcement came from, 'damn alarm. Couldn't it have waited just a few more minutes?'
Leaning her head back up against the building, she looked up to the sky and just stared at all the stars.
Sighing, "God what I would have given to have just kissed him."
Eyes closed for a second, she then realized that she needed to go get Keira so they could leave. The bay door was closed, but the other door was open so that Keira could leave.
"Keira!" Brianne called up the stairs, "Keira, come on! We need to go!"
Realizing that her friend didn't hear her, or more than likely wasn't listening to her, Brianne started up the stairs.
At the time of the call, Joe was in the middle of cooking dinner (you know, like Jerry). "Lasagna"! Keira was still upstairs when the guys had to leave, so Bri made her way up to look for her and just took in the scent of the food.
Finding her, Brianne said, "Keir., we've gotta go."
Brianne stopped and thought about how good all of the food smelled. She mentioned that to Keira and how it's a shame that the food is going to be wasted. They just looked at each other, thinking the same thing.
"I'll turn the oven back on," Brianne said, doing just that and then continued to work on preparing Joe's lasagna.
"I'll just get to work on this garlic bread," Keira added. Brianne smiled because Keira was such a good cook.
A little over an hour later, the squad returned. Everyone was walking up the stairs when Kim asked if they forgot to turn off the oven. They looked at Joe, who was the one who was cooking and he said, "I turned everything off. I know I did."
All worried, they rushed upstairs to see everything being set up for all of them. Lieu asked what was going on (it's HIS house, right?). Brianne and Keira looked to see everyone standing there, most of them wondering whom they are.
Again, Lieu asked, "excuse me, but what's going on here? Nobody's allowed to be here when we're out."
The girls had wanted to make things nice for the guys since they were going to have dinner before the call came in. But now they began to worry because Lieu sounded really upset.
Brianne's tone was almost a little scared, "Um, well after you all had left, I knew that Keira was still upstairs so I came up to find her so that we could leave. Everything smelled so delicious and we saw everything that would have possibly gone to waste. We didn't want that to happen, so we thought that it might be nice for you guys to come back and have dinner ready and waiting for you."Keira added, "We didn't mean to cause any trouble or break any rules. We're really sorry."
While the girls attempted to explain things to Lieu and everyone, Brianne would often shoot her glance over at DK.
Shifting her focus back to Lieu, Brianne continued, "I hope that's ok," w/this sweet, innocent look that instantly wrapped him around her finger.
She saw him softening up to her and she flashed that smile that hooked DK and that sealed the whole thing.
Lieu looked at Brianne and Keira and then around the room at everyone. "Females that I barely know, in MY kitchen. Definitely needs to happen more often."
Brianne and Keira sighed w/relief and continued making dinner after Lieu had gone into his office. Joe tried to help, but they told him to just go and relax. That they would make him dinner.
Asking if he minded and he replied, "Are you kidding? Someone cooking me dinner? I'll take that any day," and he walked away w/a devilish grin on his face.
Kim smacked him on his arm for being so sarcastic to 2 people as nice as Keira and Brianne and told him to watch his manners. DK tried to steal a little of the bread that was by Brianne.
Bri. tapped his hand and said, "Ah ah ah. Not until dinner's ready."
Looking at her, "Oh come on."Bri. continued working on the salad, "Go on. Go do what you normally do when you get back from a call."
Keira mumbled, or so she thought, "Yeah like take a shower."
"Keira!"
Looking at each other and a smirk on Brianne's face, Keira answered, "what?"
Kim stepped in, "no, she's right. You guys reek. I know that I can't enjoy my meal w/you like that. I don't know how these 2 would want to." Kim winked at Keira as the guys left to go take showers and get changed.
Just as DK stole just a little before moving along, Bobby came over and just took everything in. He then snuck a little taste.
Brianne tapped his hand as well, "hey!"
But he managed to get his piece and tasted it. The girls heard Bobby on his way up, "Yo DK. Man, if you don't claim this girl as yours, I'm going to!" Then more to himself, but the women heard him anyway, "Damn this is good."
Brianne traded glances w/Keira w/a grin on her face as DK turned around and looked at Bobby sarcastically. Everyone downstairs chuckled.
Kim walked over and intro'd herself to Brianne, "Hey. I'm Kim Zambrano."
Brianne looked over, "Brianne O'Malley. Wanna taste?" Kim looked at her surprised. "I just won't let the guys have a taste. They have to wait."
Kim laughed and graciously accepted. She thought that she'd died and gone to heaven. "Mmmmm. This is soooo good."
Brianne and Keira both thanked her and Alex came over and asked if she could have a little. Of course they gave her some and she agreed about how good it tasted.
The guys returned to see that everything was ready at the table and when Lieu came into the room, he was just as surprised as the guys. Pleasantly surprised.
"Mmmm," Mac (Capt. John McNamara) said, "Joe you definitely need to take some lessons from these ladies. Your sauce could definitely use their touch."
Keira just paid attention to eating and Brianne, who just couldn't seem to eat, looked down turning a couple of shades of red.
Looking like he just died a very happy man, Bobby complimented, "Mmm. This is fabulous. Brianne, would you marry me?"
Brianne chuckled, leaned forward w/her chin in her hand w/her elbow on the table, "Oh, but this is only one meal. How do you know that you'd like whatever else I'd make?"
The guys smirked waiting for his answer. Even DK was getting a kick out of this. He knew though that Bobby was only horsing around.
Bobby responded, "yeah but if the rest of what you can cook is as good as this, I'm sold."
She laughed and told him that he's sweet.
During dinner, the guys were sort of giving Brianne a hard time about not eating.
"I'm good," she tried telling them.
"Seriously, you should have some," Lieu said, "You both made a great meal."
Brianne smiled and answered, "Really. I'm ok. I'm just not all that hungry tonight."
"Come on," Lieu continued, "Joe, pass her some food."
As Joe passed over the lasagna tray, Brianne tried to say no thanks, but Lieu wouldn't give up so she took the tray and put a little on her plate. It's not that she wasn't hungry, she just for some reason felt a little awkward eating in front of them.
Obviously something that didn't occur w/Keira. She was enjoying every bit of the meal that they had prepared. Brianne thought to herself how she wished she could be as at ease as her friend was all the time. But after her last relationship, she was usually on edge.
Nervousness was taking over Brianne. Here she was, sitting next to a guy who sent feelings through her that she never experienced before and she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Her stomach had so many butterflies in it that she didn't think that she would be able to keep anything down, and she was worried that it was showing how she felt about DK.
After a couple of minutes of the guys razzing her on not eating, she turned to Kim, who was sitting on Brianne's right side and asked where the rest room was. Kim noticed a look in Brianne's face and paused. Then she told her where it was and Brianne was relieved that there was one downstairs.
After a while, Kim excused herself and went looking for Brianne. She found her sitting on the front bumper of the squad. Sitting down next to her, Kim asked if everything was all right. Brianne nodded her head yes as she just looked outside.
"Don't worry about the guys up there."
Brianne answered, "It's ok. I just sometimes get a little nervous eating around people. Almost like, ...."
Kim knew, "Almost like you don't want them to think that you either eat too much or too little, right?"
Brianne looked at Kim and smiled. Nodding her head, chuckling and looking down, "yeah." Looking back out, "I don't know what it is though."
Kim looked at Brianne, "About DK?" Brianne looked surprised at Kim. Kim continued, "I saw you guys dancing."
"Yeah, we were dancing at Haggerty's last night too after the guys helped us out w/these 2 idiots."
Kim grinned, "I heard about that."
"You did?"
Grinning, "Bobby told me. You handled that cue stick really well."
Brianne laughed, "Well, that's what happens when you've got 3 older brothers. You learn to defend yourself in a few ways. (Kim laughed as well) I was glad though when DK and the others helped us out. I didn't think the jerks were going to leave us alone."
Kim said, "Well, they're like that. They hate to see what was going on."
"You know, your friend is a really good dancer."
Kim looked puzzled, "which friend?"
Brianne couldn't remember Bobby's name off the top of her head, "Oh man. Umm ... he's tall, the dark hair,"
Kim interrupted, "Jimmy?"
"He's the one w/the dimples, right? (Kim smiled and nodded) No not Jimmy. He actually tried to goad me into a game of pool. Didn't seem to believe that I could actually kick his butt."
Kim laughed, "You know, I'd like to see you do that. Maybe bring that ego of his down a few notches."
Giggling, "I actually did."
Kim laughed out loud, "Good for you!"
"No your friend. He's got the deep voice, the puppy dog eyes and man, can he move when he dances."
Just the way that Brianne had said that w/the sigh included, Kim knew right away then.
"You mean Bobby."
"He's the paramedic, right?"
"Yeah. That's Bobby Caffey. And you're right. He definitely can dance."
"You said it. I had fun dancing w/him." Brianne paused, got up and walked to the bay door.
Kim walked over to her, "The guys were giving DK a bit of a ribbing about dancing. You said that you guys got to dance over at the bar?"
Nodding, "Yeah. But I bolted in the middle of it."
Leaning against the opening of the door across from Brianne and folding her arms, Kim asked, "How come?"
Brianne looked at Kim and replied, "It was really nice. We were dancing to some nice music and it felt really good. I mean REALLY GOOD." They both chuckled. "Then I looked at DK and it just sort of freaked me out."
Kim knew where this was coming from but she let Brianne continue w/out muttering a word.
"I mean, I saw him and the other guys come in to the bar and I couldn't help but check him out every now and then."
Kim said, "He is easy to look at."
"Tell me about it." She laughed. "Anyway, he was really sweet when he wanted to buy me a drink and when we were dancing." She paused, "but I just couldn't get over how attracted I was to him. I mean, you can't imagine how good it felt w/his arms around me when we were dancing."
"Oh I have a pretty good idea." Brianne looked at Kim wondering. "No, no. DK and I have never danced or anything like that. But I do know that feeling. Jimmy Doherty, the one w/the dimples," Brianne nodded, "he's my ex-husband."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And Bobby and I were together at one point. But we're just friends and partners here now. I know exactly what that feeling is." Kim paused for a second, "Can I ask you a question?"
Brianne went back over to the truck and sat on the bumper again w/her hands just under her thighs. "Shoot."
Kim sat beside Brianne, "Why did you leave Haggerty's then?"
"It felt so good to be dancing w/him w/his arms around me, that I thought it couldn't get any better than that. Then I looked right at him and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I just melted looking into his eyes and since I thought he could definitely see how attracted I am to him, it scared the hell out of me." She chuckled. "So I just bolted." Looking out at the street, "I couldn't believe that I had done that to him. Leaving him there in the middle of the room like that. That's why when I came by here tonight to apologize, I was surprised that he even wanted to talk to me."
Brianne then realized, "Oh man. We're not in any kind of trouble w/your boss or anything are we?"
Kim said, "You mean because of dinner?"
"Yeah. I mean, we shouldn't have even been here when you all left. And here we started cooking and stuff. He's not pissed is he?"
Kim smiled and said, "You've got nothing to worry about. Lieu is the sweetest guy there is. The greatest boss too. Besides, you won him over w/that smile of yours."
Brianne laughed, "Get out of here."
Kim replied, "Seriously. I happened to catch him when you had asked if it was alright that you two were here and when you smiled at him, you've got him wrapped around your finger."
They both laughed. "Kim, I'm sorry that I'm just rambling on and on like this to you. You must think I'm some weirdo here."
"Not at all. I could tell that you're attracted to DK." Brianne looked at her in shock as Kim continued, "don't worry about it. Women can just tell these things. Men, well let's just say that it takes them a little longer to figure these things out."
Brianne giggled and then sighed. "God, he's so gorgeous," Kim agreed, "but I seriously don't think that he'd be interested in me."
Kim looked puzzled and confused at what she was hearing. Here's a beautiful young woman that Kim KNOWS her friend would love to go out with and she doesn't realize it.
"He's probably got a string of girlfriends waiting on him all the time."
"No, you've got it all wrong. He'd definitely be interested in you. He'd be crazy not to be. And just so you know, he doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment. So he's all yours for the taking."
They looked at each other and chuckled.
"But I just don't know why he'd be interested in me."
"Why would you say that?" Kim asked, "DK would be nuts not to be interested in you."
"Come on, Kim," Brianne began, "He's a firefighter. A New York City firefighter no less. He's gorgeous, he's got a great personality, he seems to be a lot of fun to be around, and ....." she blushed, "and he knows how to hold someone when dancing w/them."
Kim smiled.
Brianne continued, "Me? I'm someone he had to come rescue from some groping idiot and when he agrees to dance w/me, what do I do? I leave him in the middle of the floor w/everyone staring at him. I could barely say a word to him because I'm afraid it would sound stupid. He'd have to be nuts to want to go out with me."
Kim could tell that something or SOMEONE had Brianne totally convinced of what she was saying and she couldn't believe it. Here she was talking to a beautiful woman whose personality lights up a room, if her smile didn't already take care of that. She enjoyed teasing the guys upstairs, and in Kim's book, she was good because of that. She knew by just the dancing that she witnessed ealier and by the stolen glances between DK and Brianne that DK was DEFINITELY interested in this girl.
Yet, Brianne really believed that DK couldn't be interested in her. While she wanted to ask Brianne about this, she knew that they had only met 2 hours ago and that it wasn't her place to ask such a question.
DK went back upstairs to the kitchen. Yes, he was standing there about 90 of the time and heard basically everything that was said. He originally went down to find Kim and Brianne, since it had been a while since they were upstairs. He wanted to make sure that everything was ok.
When he got to the middle of the stairs, he heard them talking and was going to leave when he heard his name mentioned. While he knew better than to stand there eavesdropping, curiosity got the better of him and he stayed. The conversation confused him a little, but the one thing he was glad that he was sure of, was that Brianne shared his feelings. Question was, what to do about them and when.
He got to the living room and Jimmy asked where Brianne and Kim were. He told them that they were downstairs just shooting the bull.
With the look on his face, Jimmy knew that they were talking about DK. "So, how much crap did Kim give her on you?"
DK looked at him, "what?"
Jimmy chuckled, "the look on your face says it all. Those 2 are down there talking about you and it must be something good or you wouldn't have that smile on your face. So come on. Spill it."
Just then, Kim and Brianne returned.
Billy said, "There you are. We were beginning to worry. Especially this one here," pointing to DK, who gave Billy such a look. Bri. just kind of looked at the ground as Billy went on, "so come on. What had you guys gone so long? Hmm? Spill the juicy details."
Kim, noticing that Brianne was uncomfortable and embarrassed for being gone so long, came to her rescue, "Just girl talk Billy," walking by and tapping his stomach.
"Oh come on. That's it?"
Kim looked at Brianne and winked, "That's all you're going to get."
Brianne smirked as if to say thank you.
Billy put on his best hurt look as Brianne began to clear the table. Lieu walked over, "What are you doing?"
Brianne looked up at everyone, who was watching her, "I'm cleaning up. .... Is ... that ok?" Wondering if she'd stepped over some line or something like that.
"No no no," continued Lieu, "these guys can clean up."
"No really. It's ok. We don't mind. Right Keira?" Keira was engrossed in some conversation w/Billy and didn't hear her friend's question. "Kiera!"
Keira finally looked over, "what?!"
"I was just telling everyone that we don't mind cleaning up." Keira began to help Brianne as she agreed.
Lieu wasn't having any of this, "No. Now you girls fixed a fabulous meal. These monkeys can clean up and do the dishes."
Looking at the fab 4 (Billy, DK, Jimmy & Joe), the guys knew that he meant them.
The guys began to clean up when Brianne argued, "Really guys. We can take care of this. Go do something. Watch tv, shoot some hoops .... Jimmy, why don't you go practice your pool over there."
The guys knew what she meant and busted on Jimmy about how he was thinking that he could beat Brianne in a game of pool.
Jimmy smiled and said, "Oh you're on my friend."
Lieu AND the guys tried to argue, but Brianne and Keira won out by telling them that they would be doing the dishes and that was all there was to it. Brianne looked at Lieu w/a look that he caved in at.
"Alright. But you can't be doing this too often because these clowns will be expecting it all the time."
Brianne and Keira laughed and thanked their 2 new friends. After finishing, they ventured over to see what the guys were up to.
Every so often, Brianne would connect eyes with Mac. He is very easy on the eye, and she enjoyed sometimes exchanging glances w/him. As he went over and talked to her, Kim made her way to DK, "Hey."
DK turned and saw his friend standing there, "Hey Kim."
"Can we talk?"
They walked to another side of the room, Kim making sure that Brianne didn't see them. She was not about to break a confidence, but wanted to somehow have DK understand what he was heading into.
DK asked if something was wrong.
"I know that you heard my conversation w/Brianne."
DK looked down, still a little ashamed at himself for listening to the earlier conversation. And embarrassed that he was seen doing that.
"It's ok. She didn't see you. I didn't tell her either after you had gone upstairs."
"Thanks. It's not like I intended to eavesdrop. I was just looking for her since she'd been gone so long. When I heard the 2 of you talking, I was going to come back upstairs but my curiosity took over when I heard you mention my name."
Kim smiled, "Don't worry about it. She knows nothing about you standing there and I'm not about to tell her. While I'm not going to tell you what we talked about after you left, I will say that she did confide some things in me. You know, by hearing it from her, that she is very attracted to you. (DK nodded) And I know that you feel the same about her. (He smiled and blushed) Just take it slow w/her. If she seems like she's pushing you away, don't take it personally. Just go with it and don't push her."
DK asked if everything was ok w/Brianne and Kim told him yes. But also that Bri's been through a lot and she thought that DK should just know to take things slow. DK looked over at Brianne, who was engrossed in a conversation w/Mac and just stared at her.
'God,' he thought, 'what I wouldn't give to just walk over, wrap my arms around her and kiss those beautiful lips.' Those lips that looked so soft and loving.