I know last week was rough! I hope this chapter will make you smile a little even though 51 is going through a rough time. Thank you for all your reviews! I appreciate each and every one of them! Love Ya'll.


Marlene groans as she rolls over on the floor. Her body had finally given in to exhaustion, but she had only slept for a few hours. Myra had cried for what felt like hours. Shauna and Christina had done what they could to try to comfort her. When she said she couldn't even think about sleeping in the bedroom she shared with Will, Christina suggested they pile blankets and pillows in the living room. They all passed out after Myra cried herself to sleep.

Marlene reaches for her phone and she sends a quick text to her parents that she was okay and would call them later knowing they had seen the news. Her stomach twists at the thought of having to tell them about Will.

To her surprise, there is a message from Caleb. She bites her lip as she twists to see everyone else still asleep. She gets up and goes into the kitchen to not wake them.

Caleb: Please tell me you are okay? Chris told me what happened when I was trying to find Tris.

Marlene: I'm alive, I can't really say that I'm okay.

Caleb: Would it be okay if I came over, I just want to see you.

Marlene puts her head down on the kitchen table for a minute. How was she falling for this guy so hard already? They had only really had one date so far, she still hadn't even mentioned what was happening to Prior because Caleb said he wanted to talk to her first. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him. It was how badly she wanted to.

Quickly she tells him where she is and shoots him the address. She grabs her boots and then looks down at her clothes. Well, he was about to see her at her worst.

Caleb pulls up 15 minutes later and Marlene walks down the stoop. She looked like hell, but he expected that.

"Hey," He tells her as she grabs his hand. She still couldn't believe he was here.

"Hey," She says softly. It was strange all the feelings running through her. The butterflies he gave her were there but also the grief. It felt like a storm was brewing inside her.

He pulls her into a tight hug and she immediately feels herself comforted and melting into his embrace, taking in the smell of his cologne and enjoying the tight squeeze of his arms around her back.

"lo siento mucho (I'm so sorry)" He whispers in her ear as he continues to hold her. He knew losing someone in your unit was difficult but losing your best friend like this was devastating.

Marlene doesn't say anything, she just nods against his chest.

"How is his fiancée?" Caleb asks after a few moments.

"Finally sleeping" It has been a long night. Marlene had only gotten a few hours herself, she was so tired but she wasn't sure when she would be able to actually crawl into bed.

Caleb brings his hand to cup her face. He could still smell the faint scent of smoke in her hair from the fire. He gives her a soft gentle kiss. She wraps her arms around his neck. He rests his forehead against hers and they stand like that for a few minutes.

"Can I help do anything?"

"I don't even know what to ask for right now, his sister and mother are on their way here from Seattle, Myra's parents are on their way from Florida, I still have to tell my parents…" She responds honestly. Marlene feels her voice crack and tears well up in her eyes again and Caleb runs both his hands over his arms to comfort her.

"I know you said you two were close, I didn't realize how close," He remarks softly.

"He was my best friend since we were kids. When my parents moved us here from Puerto Rico when I was 6, I barely spoke any English, but we just clicked. He shared a seat with me on the school bus and held my hand to make sure I knew where to go. Kids would pick on me because I didn't speak English well and he would fight anyone he caught teasing me. I never had any siblings so he was always there, we spent so much time together"

"Did you two ever…." Caleb asks hesitantly.

Marlene smiles. Everyone always assumed that she and Will had dated. Even Myra had been intimidated when they first got together by Marlene and Will's relationship.

"No, never, he was…we just clicked but we never thought of each other that way. El era mi alma gemela (He was my soulmate) but only the best friend kind, if that makes sense"

"Yeah it does, Entiendo que ( I understand that)" Caleb says running his hand over her hair.

She feels more tears fall and Caleb wipes them away before pulling her into another hug.

"Estoy aquí para ti (I'm here for you)" He whispers.

He wanted nothing more than to make her feel safe and comforted right now. She nods looking into his eyes and feeling her knees go weak.

"Is Tris still asleep? I called her first but she didn't answer."

Marlene furrows her eyebrows.

"Prior isn't here. I think Dawson said she was going home, she had it rough last night. She and Will were the last two in the building"

"Fuck…" Caleb wipes his face. "I need to go check on her"

He gives Marlene one last kiss and she promises to call him later that day.


Tris jolts out of her sleep as she hears a loud banging coming from the front door. She blinks her eyes and Tobias jumps up next to her.

"What the fuck" Tobias barks as he grabs a pair of loung pants to throw over his boxers and goes out to see what idiot was banging on his door at 9 am.

Tris slides out of bed and sits on the edge, she bends her neck and Tobias continues to grumble toward the front door.

"What is your fucking problem" Tobias yells as he opens the door.

"Where's my sister? Where is she?" Caleb shouts looking over Tobias trying to see inside his apartment.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tobias asks, still half asleep.

"Caleb! What the fuck? Why are you here?" Tris screams as she walks out the bedroom hearing her brother yelling.

"Tris, ¿No pensaste en llamarme y decirme que estabas bien? (You didn't think to call and tell me you were okay?) Caleb yells as he pushes past Tobias.

"¡Lo siento, estuve demasiado ocupado casi muriendo anoche!" (I'm sorry I was too busy almost dying last night) She screams back.

Tobias stands there bewildered as the two yell at each other in Spanish. Now that he was more awake he realizes he'd seen Caleb around on a few fires where there was a potential crime but he had never been with him and Tris together. All the pieces were starting to come together in his sleep deprived mind. He had no idea what was being said but he hears Christina and Marlene and figures Caleb had called them looking for Tris.

"¿Cómo supiste que estaba aquí? (How did you even know I was here?)" Tris demands.

"Soy un detective de la policía, ¿cómo crees que te encontré? (I'm a police detective! How do you think I found you?), you weren't answering your phone. I called Christina after I saw the news and she said you went home. And then I went to check on Marlene this morning and no one had heard from you. I went to your place and…Owwww!"

Caleb screeches as Tris starts to slap him across his arm and shoulder with her good arm. He tries to dodge her hits covering his head. At first Tobias thought he should intervene even though he couldn't follow the conversation but he didn't have to wonder what "estupido" translated to and decides this was too entertaining to stop, it was like he was watching one of the telenovellas Marlene and Tris would watch in the evenings on shift. Tobias tries to keep from laughing, Caleb was just as tall as he was, and to see him trying to get away from his sister who was almost a foot shorter was downright hilarious.

"You traced mi Teléfono?!" Tris yells half in English and half Spanish.

"Estaba preocupado (I was worried), Geez, will you stop it" Caleb defends as he tries to get away.

"You have some nerve," Tris tells him, putting her hand on her hip.

"Me! You're practically naked, what do you even know about this guy?"

"Don't you dare go there Caleb! Wait..Wait…. What do you mean you went to check on Vega?"

Caleb gives his sister a sheepish smile. He and Marlene had been getting to know each other and only managed one date so far. They were planning on inviting Tris out for dinner to tell her before Will and Myra's wedding in two weeks since Marlene had asked him to come as her date. Caleb felt his legs go out from underneath him when he turned on the news that morning and saw a firefighter had died, and Tris, Christina and Marlene's house had responded.

Tobias thought the show was over and then whatever Tris put together in her head caused her to get riled up and she smacks her brother upside the head again.

"Basta! Loca! Caleb whines.

She glares at him and spins on her heels and marches toward Tobias' bedroom.

"Y no pienses ni por un minuto que no le voy a decir a mamá (And don't think for one minute I'm not telling Mama)" She threatens pointing her finger at him before slamming the bedroom door.

Tobias raises his eyebrows not sure if he should risk going into the bedroom.

"Want some coffee?" He asks Caleb as he walks to the kitchen.

"Uh, Yeah that would be good"


Zeke hears whispering as he blinks while waking up. The sheets smell like Tori's vanilla lotion and he remembers he was at her place.

"Careful" Tori whispers to Dallas who was talking tiny steps with a glass of orange juice.

Zeke smiles as he focuses on Tori holding a tray with breakfast on it and Dallas focused on his task.

"Hi Daddy, Look we made you breakfast to make you feel better"

"Thank you bud, You helped mommy?"

"Yeah, I did," he says proudly handing Zeke the glass of orange juice as he scoots to sit up.

Tori sets the tray down and Zeke gives her a grateful look.

"Dallas, let Daddy eat in peace, you need to go grab what toys you want to take Grandma's today, She's going to be here soon"

Zeke eats a few bites to put on a good face for Tori and Dallas even though he really wasn't hungry.

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night, I'm not sure how I would have been okay alone"

"It's okay Zeke, I wouldn't have wanted you to be alone last night"

"I know we said we didn't want to confuse Dallas…"

Tori nods her head. She hadn't even considered trying to hide the fact that Zeke was here when she got up that morning. She knew he needed to be near his son last night. Sure she hadn't planned on them making love again but she needed him just as much as he needed her last night.

"I told him you had a long night at the firehouse and were really tired and wanted to be here when he woke up." She pauses as Zeke closes his eyes for a second

"We need to think about how to tell him."

Zeke sighs as Tori sits down on the edge of the bed. How was he going to explain this to his son? Dallas knew everyone on Truck 81, Marlene, Will and Myra would all babysit if he and Tori needed them to. He was going to be the ring bearer in the wedding and he was so excited about it.

Tori sees the anguish on Zeke's face and she grabs his hand giving it a squeeze.

"We'll get through this" She assures him even though she knew there were going to be some tough days ahead.


Christina pulls out her phone and she chews her lip. She had gotten home about an hour ago. Myra's parents had arrived from Florida and her mom had encouraged Christina, Marlene and Shauna to go home and get some sleep. Christina had spent the morning breaking down the list of wedding vendors to call and cancel while Marlene started helping with the funeral arrangements. Chief Boden, Amar, Zeke and Tobias had all shown up around mid morning. She could tell Myra was barely holding it together.

She and Tris sat together to check in. Chris had been worried about how she was handling everything. She smiled when Tris told her she spent the night with Tobias. They sat on the couch and cried together again but Christina practically fell off the couch laughing when Tris reenacted how Caleb had shown up that morning and she had let him have it. She knew Tris and Tobias would be good together if they could work out things between them.

"So what happened next?"

Tris scrunches her face up causing Christina to laugh again.

"We talked. He apologized for real and he told me he was going to ask me if it was okay since Vega asked him to be her date to the wedding but they had already been on a date!" Tris huffs.

"So you're okay with it?" Christina hedges.

"I mean, yeah I guess. I love Vega and Caleb deserves someone who gets how hard he works…, I should have known after all that flirting the night we went out after your first date with Uriah they would get together."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Tris, you and Eaton, you spent the night together" Christina reminders her best friend, wanting to get the truth out of her of what happened.

Tris wanted to flop back on the sofa but she didn't want to land on her shoulder but she rolls her eyes instead.

"We didn't sleep together, we just…needed comfort, with what happened"

Christina raises an eyebrow as Tris tries to explain.

"But you showered together….naked…"

Tris hangs her head and chuckles. She knew how it sounded but it made sense to her and Tobias.

"It was just what we needed to get through last night"

Christina reaches over and squeezes her knee. If it made sense to them, that was all that was important. Tris needed help with her hair, so Christina made sense of what Tobias had done the night before. She checked the bruising on her shoulder and knew Tris would be back in action in about a week if she kept her sling on.

Afterwards she made Tris take one of her pain pills and Christina went to shower and turn on a movie. She kept trying to relax but she was restless, her mind running over the events of the night before. She sees her phone light up with a message and sucks in a breath with a smile when she reads it.

Uriah: I'm off shift, are you up for company?

Christina holds the phone to her chest. She hadn't really dated since undergrad, Medical school was just so much she was focused on studying. Out of the few real relationships she had, no one had intuitively known what she needed like Uriah. It was hard to believe this man was so in tune with her, it felt special already and she could admit she had fallen for him hard.

They had only had about 4 real dates, but still texted while they could on shift or had late night phone calls at the hospital and firehouse when things were quiet. Christina felt like she had known him for much longer than a year. She was trying to remind herself to take things slow, but she just couldn't.

Christina: How soon can you get here?

Uriah: Leaving the hospital now. Be there soon.

She checks on Tris who was now knocked out after taking her pain pills. Then she runs to her bathroom, brushes her teeth, and fluffs her curls, wanting to make sure she didn't look completely hideous. Christina furrows her eyebrows as she looks in the full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. She had on a pair of extra short biker shorts and a t-shirt but she didn't want to look like she was trying too hard.

There had been a few heated make out sessions but she and Uriah hadn't gone further than that yet. She turns and smiles, yeah these shorts made her ass look great. She picks up a few discarded clothing items on the floor of her room and hastily squirts some body mist in the air and then smooths out the bedspread. She takes a deep breath through her nose when she hears a soft knock on the door to the apartment.

"Hey," he says softly when she opens the door.

He plants a soft kiss on her lips as she steps to the side so he could enter. She grabs his hand after shutting the door and leads him to her room. She bites her lip, he looked so handsome in his maroon scrubs.

"How are you feeling? Have you gotten any rest?" He knew how hard it was to come down from experiencing a tragedy after the years he spent in the combat zone. He'd lost soldiers and it was always hardest when things were quiet and you were left with your thoughts.

"A little, I'm glad you decided to come over" She smiles as she settles on her bed against the pillows and Uriah takes the hint, slipping off his shoes and joining her. He holds his arms so she can rest against him.

"Want to watch a movie?"

He gives her a kiss on the forehead. He figured she wanted to just zone out and he wanted nothing more to relax with her. He hadn't known Will that well but Zeke was a mess and the ER had been crazy that day as well.

"Yeah, you can pick whatever"

He starts to flip through her Hulu account on her TV landing on a romantic comedy, to keep the mood light.

"How's Tris? Is she keeping the sling on?" He asks as the movie started.

"Yes, I took a look at it a few hours ago, it looks good, she has good range of motion with a little pain. I made sure she took a pain pill and she's knocked out now"

Uriah was always so impressed with how her brain worked when it came to medicine. She was a natural. They stay cuddled together watching the movie, lightly caressing each other. At one point he looks down at her and leaves a kiss on her lips. She was so effortlessly beautiful and the way her ass curved in the little black shorts she was wearing was making it hard for him to stay calm. Chrisitina kisses him back and moves to straddle his lap enjoying the way he ran his hands over the small of her back.

"Uriah, I'm falling for you, I know it's kind of fast but after last night…I just wanted to tell you how I feel," She whispers as she looks down at him.

The last 24 hours had her feeling like she didn't want to waste any more time with him. She wanted to be with him for however long they had.

He smiles as he sits up to pull her closer to him, "Good because, I'm in love with you Chris, I fell for you even before our first date, I would sit at Dauntless and just hope that I could impress you enough to get to know you and every conversation, every night I would walk you to your car, I fell deeper and deeper"

"You had me the first night we met at Dauntless," she grins and goes back to kissing him.

Their kisses multiply but are still soft and sensual and soon Christina finds herself grinding against Uriah as his hands grip her thighs. They break apart and push his shirt up together and then hers before going back to kissing. Uriah flips them over and she tugs on his scrub bottoms and briefs.

"You sure, Chris? We can still take things slow" he asks, searching her eyes.

"Yes I'm sure, I want you, Baby" she reassures him and he rolls over to kick out of his bottoms while she makes quick work of hers and her bra.

Christina feels herself blush as Uriah takes his fill of her naked body. Slowly moving his hand over her breasts stopping to flick his thumb over her nipple, then down her stomach and over her hips and thighs.

"You are so beautiful Christina Dawson, I'm so lucky I found you" He meant it. Women had always come easy for Uriah, he had been in two serious relationships but the draw he felt to Christina was different. They clicked, he felt she could be his safe place, his home.

"I love you" she whispers running her finger over his jawline.

"I love you too" he whispers before moving down to settle himself between her legs. He takes his time, teasing her nipples with his tongue. He enjoys every sound she makes and how she squirms as he moves down lower.

He smiles as she groans when he runs a finger over her lips before starting to explore with his tongue. She runs a hand through the top of his hair, it wasn't long enough for her to grab on to but she still pushed him where she wanted him.

Christina was in a daze, not sure how long Uriah kept at her with his mouth but she knew without a doubt no one had ever pleasured her for this long or this good. He leisurely traced patterns, suckled, and licked until she thought she would go crazy.

"Yes, Right there…Just like that," she gasps as he slides two fingers in and sucks on her clit.

He chuckles when she grabs a pillow to throw over her face to muffle her screams.

"Oh my God," She laughs as he scoots back up, leaning on his elbow beside her, and rubs his hands over her torso while she still catches her breath.

She reaches to stroke him, intent on pleasuring him with her mouth but he stills her hand, leaning her back as he kisses her.

"Another time, I want to feel you, and make love to you all night," he tells her as she bites her lip excited by his honesty. "Do you have a condom?"

She shakes her head and groans in frustration falling back on her pillows then she sits up on her elbows.

"It's okay, We can get creative" he whispers going back to kissing her, Christina tasting the tangy sweetness of herself on his lips.

"Ummm, Wait.. Wait…" Christina mumbles against his lips pulling away breathless as Uriah furrows his eyebrows.

"I think Tris has some in her bathroom" Christina remembers excitedly and hops up and grabs her house robe tying it quickly.

"Don't go anywhere" She instructs as Uriah props himself up on his elbow and Christina grins as she admires his body, his perfect smile and the way he bit his lip, his fraternity tattoo, the K inside the diamond on his right pectoral, the ridges of his abdominal muscles, his manhood, thick, hard with the tip glistening calling to her.

"Trust me I won't be going anywhere" he grins knowing she was checking him out.

Christina pads across the apartment to Tris' room practically skipping. She was thankful that they had a setup where they didn't share a wall and they each had their own bathroom attached to their room.

"What's wrong Chris?" Tris asks groggily as she sees Christina flip on her bathroom light.

"I'm just borrowing some condoms from your stash"

Tris grins sleepliy. "Under the sink. It's about time you and Uriah got naked. Go get em tiger, take the whole box"

"Beatrice!" Christina gasps and Tris chuckles snuggling back into the bed to go back to sleep.

Christina dashes back to the other side of the apartment with the box in hand and shuts the door quickly tossing the box to Uriah. He grabs one, and tosses the box on the nightstand and then strokes himself to sheath himself with the condom while Christina loses her robe and joins him on the bed.

"Now where were we" he grins as he grabs her hip to pull her closer to him and claiming her lips.

Christina spreads her legs for him, excited with the anticipation of him plunging deep inside her. Uriah gives her slow shallow strokes with only the head of his memeber, just enough to drive her crazy.

"Baby, please.." Christina whines as she squrims.

Uriah chuckles, at her impatience but decides to give her what she wanted. Christina gasps as he fills her slow stroke after slow stroke. She doesn't think she had ever had a lover be so attentive to her needs as they slowly make love. He rotates his hips, angling to change the sensations and it drove her absolutely mad as she grinded against him. Christina spreads her legs wider and Uriah pushes her legs up by her knees to her chest to go deeper.

"Uriah" Christina stammers throwing her head back. He interlocks ther fingers and places ther clasped hands on either side of her head as he leans over her and she squeezes his hands tightly as he continues to move slowly. He can feel her tightening in this positions and he drives deeper.

"Yes, Chris, Let go Baby" he instructs as he feels his balls tingle, knowing he was about to explode.

She untagles their hands and grabs his face as she leans up to kiss him, both of them shuddering and crying into each other's mouths as they climax.

"Hmmm" Christina murmurs as he collapses on top of her and she rubs his back.

After a moment, they clean up, and settle back in bed wrapped around each other and Uriah leaving soft kisses on her shoulder and nuzzling her with his nose.

Christina feels like she was in perfect bliss but she couldn't keep hiding the fact she was kicked out of her residency program from him now. It just felt wrong.

"I need to tell you something" Christina says as she runs her hands through his hair as he rested against her breasts.

He sits up and moves to the side. He can hear the hesitation in her voice.

"You can tell me anything" he assures her.

She wraps the sheet around her breasts and scoots up trying to gather her thoughts. She really had wanted to tell him about her past before now but things had happened so quickly earlier, it was now or never.

"I need to tell you the reason I'm a paramedic…" She pauses and takes a deep breath. He could tell this was hard for her, so he doesn't say anything; he just grabs her hand and squeezes it for encouragement.

"I went to UIC for undergrad and Northwestern for med school, and I was kicked out of my surgical residency program in the first year at Lakeshore"

Uriah raises his eyebrows in shock, but he doesn't speak and he continues to hold her hand as she closes her eyes and continues to tell her story. His mind raced over how he noticed that she was so sharp when she came into the ER, how she knew more than most of the other paramedics who worked for the CFD.

"You know I grew up in foster care," Uriah nods. Everything she had faced growing up, he thought she was one of the strongest women had ever met. She reminded him of his mother so much.

"My birth mother, Stephanie, showed up during my fourth year of med school. I'm still not really sure how she found me, I was never adopted so I guess she went through child services in Georgia. We tried to reconnect but she started using again and I was so stressed. There was so much pressure to compete and get ahead. She moved to Chicago and things were good for a while, she was clean and working at this diner as a waitress. Then I started getting calls to bail her out of trouble or she would need money or she would be high out of her mind and needed medical attention. One day she went to some flop house on the southside and got caught in a deal that went bad and was killed during a shootout. I couldn't afford to shut down and deal with it, my mind was all over the place and I couldn't focus. I started taking speed to stay up and on top of things. I failed a random drug test at the hospital and was kicked out of the residency program"

"Baby…I'm so sorry you went through all that" He was at a loss for words and more so of everything she had suffered emotionally.

"You're not mad I didn't tell you sooner?" She asks as she searches his eyes.

"No not at all, I get why you didn't tell me and no I don't think any less of you, I know you would have made one hell of a surgeon."

"I finally feel like I have my life back on track, like I have a future and I'm going somewhere" she admits and tonight, confessing her feelings and making love to Uriah really solidified that she felt good about where she was in life now.

"You are baby, you may not be where you started but you are saving lives and making a difference"

She smiles and touches his face in gratitude. She felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders now that he knew the full truth.

"Did you try to appeal to the hospital to explain the circumstances?"

Christina bites her lip and shakes her head. He knew how competitive slots were. And with new graduates looking to match the next year, the chances of her matching again were next to impossible. He pulls her closer to him so he can give her a kiss.

"Thank you for being real with me and yes I still think you are incredible and yes I'm still completely in love with you"

Christina settles on top of him and cups his face with her hands giving him a deep kiss. She was so relieved and excited. Things between them were right and she needed him with everything at 51 in shambles.