Chapter 12

It was almost 2:00 AM before Roy made it to bed. Joanne knew the night time routine all to well. Roy would spend most of his time in the den reading fire manual after fire manual. He'd only take breaks to get something to munch on from the refrigerator. However, this night was different because he spent several additional hours doing it. When he came to bed, he curled up to his wife, putting his arm around her waist. He took in a deep breath of her apple shampoo.

It was Joanne who broke the silence. "So, what do we do now?" She wondered aloud.

"Talk her out of the fire service. I don't want her to get hurt. I don't know if I could survive if we lost her."

Joanne flipped around to face him. "Roy, you've already lost her. I'm meeting her today for dinner. I'm not happy about having two people to worry about, but I want her to know that I still love her and will support her no matter what."

Roy's heart broke at Joanne's insinuation that he did not love his daughter. "I love her too. I just don't like the fact that she's in the fire service and that she lied."

"You don't have to like her decision, just accept it. And I can understand why she hid it, can't you?" Joanne turned back, facing away from Roy. He pulled her close, taking in another whiff of her hair. Joanne might be a little right.

###Dinner###

Chris came to David's straight after work. He figured he'd see if he could help and have a chance to talk to his little sister alone. He buzzed the door and Jenn answered the door. "What are you doing here so early?" She asked.

"Is that any way to greet your favorite brother?" He countered. He punched her in the shoulder as he walked past her into the apartment.

"Don't you mean my one and only annoying brother?" She followed behind him rubbing he shoulder.

David and Chris exchanged pleasantries. The conversation was quickly directed to the topic of dinner with Joanne. "How do you think she's handling it?" Jenn asked.

"Mom's not to thrilled about you going into the fire service, but I think she'll support you. She'll probably talk some sense into dad too. Just explain why you are doing it and you got to apologize for the hiding things." Jenny sighed, she didn't know how to apologize for breaking the trust of her family, but she was determined to fix whatever relationships she had a chance to fix.

About an hour later, the doorbell rang again. This time it was Joanne at the door. "Hey mom," Jenn answered unable to look her mother in the eyes. Her face hung down like a puppy scorned. Joanne pulled her in for a hug. Jenn instantly broke down crying, letting out all of her emotions of the past few days. Joanne broke the embrace and wiped away the tears. "This isn't the best way to start off a family dinner." Jenn let out a chuckle as her mother was able to diffuse the situation.

Jennifer introduced her mother to David. David stuck out his hand for a handshake, but Joanne pulled him in. "Thank you for being there for my daughter," she whispered. David nodded.

As they sat down at the patio, they quickly began to put food on their plates. Joanne started the conversation with "let's get the elephant out of the room. Jenny, are you sure you want to be a paramedic despite the dangers?"

Jenn took a moment to process her thoughts. A weak smile met her lips as she explained, "I always thought that dad had the greatest job in the world. He got paid to help people. To save lives. If there weren't paramedics, people may not survive the trip to the hospital and get help from the awesome doctors." Jenn stole a quick glance at her brother. "To be able to help someone in their most trying time is something I want to do. I feel that I need to do it mom."

"You know it can be dangerous?" Joanne asked. Jenn nodded. "You know I'm going to worry about you?" Jenn nodded. "You know that i want you to achieve your dreams and if being a paramedic is your dream, I want you to do this?"

Jenn smiled and stated "you don't know what it means to have your blessing. Now I just wish I had dad's." Her smile diminished at the thought. "I'm really sorry about not letting you know sooner about my decision and lying about it."

"Your dad will come around eventually. He loves you, it's just hard worrying about someone you love. I've had experience, too much experience, with it. This is a new job for your father. Just give him time to take it all in." Jenn nodded.

The rest of the conversation focused on family talk, both the Desotos and Dixons, as well as recent new stories. When Joanne left, Jenn looked at David and asked "where are those ropes at? I've got some studying to do." David went to his closet and pulled out two ropes.

"It's good to see the old Jenn coming through," David said while handing over the rope.

"Just needed a little pep talk to get me back on track. That's all. I'm going to ace this test on Monday!" And that she did, as her focus wasn't on the pain of betraying her father and the arguments, but on the various knots and when to use them. The cadre was glad that there was not need to delve deeper into the academic probation protocol with Jennifer, but not as glad as what Jennifer was feeling.