Author's Note: Prompt by theolaterose99 and the Proppies.


D is for Delay


"Where is Drip?" Cabbie's voice was calm, but all the smokejumpers could see the way that his left-wing flap was twitching, and they knew that air of calm was a complete façade.

"WELL…" Avalanche started staring at the tarmac.

"We miss placed him." Dynamite didn't bother beating around the bush.

"How?" The tone of the edge of the old plane's voice was like the rumbling of a waking volcano.

"If I knew that we wouldn't be here." The jumper captain shot back, which caused Cabbie to settle back on his tires with a lowed sigh. "We all made it to the bathrooms as a group, but for obvious reasons, I couldn't keep track of him when we actually went in to use the facilities, and by the time Avalanche and Blackout had finished their business and started washing up he was gone."

"Trust, Drip would manage to get himself miss placed on a 10-minute bathroom stop!" Cabbie groaned. "Now I am going to have to see if I can get us a new spot in the takeoff cue."

"IT WILL WORK OUT." Avalanche tried the comfort the plane, with a soft pat of his blade…which only caused Cabbie to glare more intensely at him.

"Alright." Dynamite said, using her 'I am completely in control of this situation voice'. "It is time to show the world why we are fire and rescue. Pinecone and Blackout, you have Concourse D and E. Avalanche and I will take A and B. Whoever finishes their sweep first will tackle Concourse C. Understood?"

There was a chorus of yesses that was of course completely drown out by Avalanche's enthusiastic reply.

"Good." Dynamite indicated her approval, before turning her attention to their jump plane. "While we are doing that, we will leave figuring out how to get out of here to you."

"Understood." Cabbie said unhappily.

Searching the airport for their missing comrade proved to be a challenge, but they eventually located Drip in the food court trying to talk an attendant into giving him free samples of the candied nuts. Pinecone was actually forced to purchase a couple of bags of the treat to gain the little skid steer's full attention and ensure that he actually followed her all of the way back to where Cabbie was parked.

The rest of the trip home was thankfully uneventful, even though it was filled with additional delays. The smokejumper's quick bathroom break had taken over three hours and it meant that Cabbie had to sit through long refueling lines at their next stop. But eventually, after the sun had long set, they managed to make it safely back to the Piston Peaks Air Attack Base.

Most of the base was already asleep when they came in for their final approach. Blade stayed up but bid them goodnight as soon as Cabbie's tires were solidly on the ground. Maru, on the other tire, turned on the lights to the Main Hangar and let them know that there was dinner waiting for them. Both Cabbie and the smokejumpers knew that there was an inherent risk in eating any meal that Blade might have helped cook…but they were exhausted, and their tanks were uncomfortably empty, so they decided to take the risk and eat anyway.

"So…" Maru greeted the whole crew as Cabbie herded them into the main hangar to inhale whatever food had been left for them. "Sounds like you had a little bit of a miss adventure."

Cabbie sighed before giving the mechanic a look that informed the tug that he was really going to have to weasel the story out of Cabbie winter. It was going to probably cost him a barrel of high grade to get it out of the plane, but Maru suspected the tale was going to be worth every drop.


End Note: So with that we are at the letter E...what are your prompt ideas?