Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my own creations.

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When Heidi made her return to work the following Monday, Chase proclaimed her arrival at the station with a declaration of 'The Fridge Thief is back.'

'You know what Gallagher?' she declared in a semi-threatening tone as she stepped into the garage. 'Just for that, I'm raiding your lunch.'

'Oh no you don't!' declared their youngest team member as he made a dash for the fridge.

Her cravings had been all over the place during this pregnancy and more often than not, she could be found in the fridge raiding the various containers there. Everyone knew that if they wanted to keep their food safe, they had to hide it, eat it instantly or add tomatoes. Lara had learned the hard way not to leave a slice of cake in the fridge.

Watching Chase disappear up the stairs at a breakneck pace, she grinned as she hoisted her backpack to a more secure place on her shoulder and baby gave a solid kick for good measure. 'Your Uncle Chase is funny, isn't he?' she laughed as she rubbed her swollen abdomen and made her way over to the stairs.

'Not as funny as Uncle Jordan though, is he?' piped up a new voice behind her. Turning, she saw the man himself stepping out of the equipment cage and come toward her. 'Don't you think it's a bit soon for you to be back?'

'We've been over this before,' she said rolling her eyes. 'I'm fine. Baby's fine – and I even have the doctor's orders that it is more than okay for me to return to work. That enough for you?' she dared as Jordan slipped the backpack off her shoulder and transferred it to his own. 'I'm going to plead the Fifth and not answer that.'

'We're not in America you know,' she said as she began walking up the stairs with Jordan's hand firmly on her back. 'You watch too much TV.'

'Where's the crime in that?' he objected as they reached the top. Flashing him a look, she looked around at the empty office. 'Where are Dean and Lara?'

'Got a call out to a kid stuck up a tree in Lauderdale.'

'Ah,' she responded as she reached her desk and Jordan dropped her bag down for her. Chase made his way over as she unzipped the backpack and reached for her iced tea.

She was still standing in a circle with Jordan and a Chase who was rapidly eating every last crumb of what was in his lunch container when Michelle stepped out into the doorway of her office not long after. 'Heidi, a word.'

The smile on her face fell as she took in the serious demeanour of her boss. Jordan squeezed her arm and Chase muttered a 'good luck' around his mouth full of food as she made her way to the office. She'd been expecting this.

She took a deep breath as she stepped into the office and closed the door. Her heart sank when she saw that Vince was there too. She was definitely in trouble.

Gripping the back of the chair in front of her, she went into full damage control mode. 'I'm really sorry Michelle. I know that I shouldn't have done what I did last week – not without the support – and not without your say so, but I had to or else that poor woman would have died, and I would have felt awful knowing that I could have done something when I didn't and I know that I should have thought about my own safety, but I just...'

'Heidi,' interrupted Michelle gently. 'Take a seat.'

Wondering at the tone – and the fact that her boss has yet to raise her voice at her in reprimand – she turned to where Vince leant against the wall with his arms across his chest. 'Sit,' he confirmed, nodding his head toward chair.

Warily, she took a seat as gracefully as she could – which was a big ask in her pre-pregnancy days and near on impossible six months down the track. 'What's going on?'

'Not that I don't disapprove with your actions last week, but at this moment we have more pressing things to worry about,' said Michelle. 'Heidi...'

'You're not going to make me stay at home longer are you?' she interrupted worriedly. 'I'm okay, baby's okay – and no matter what Jordan told you, I've been resting heaps and I'm so ready to come back to work. The doctor said it was okay.' Horror spread over Heidi's face as she considered another possibility. 'You're going to fire me, aren't you?'

'Heidi,' laughed Vince as he put a stop to her babbling, before he grew serious once again. 'For God's sake, shut up long enough to listen to what Michelle has to say.'

'Sorry,' she muttered looking down at what she could see of her feet before she met her boss' gaze. 'You were saying.'

'Heidi, you know who Amanda Sydney is right?' questioned Michelle carefully.

'Yes,' Heidi confirmed slowly. 'She's the woman that I rescued off the cliff face last week.'

'And you know that Amanda went into labour at the scene?' continued Michelle cautiously.

'Yes, yes I know,' said Heidi impatiently. 'The ambulance took her to the hospital. Why? Did something go wrong? Has something happened?'

Michelle shared a glance with Vince before answering. 'Heidi, Amanda's baby died.'

'No,' said Heidi in distress, as her own hands came to rest on her pregnant belly, needing to confirm that her own child was still there, alive and kicking. 'What happened?'

It's Vince who answers as he comes to kneel down beside her and places an arm on the chair rest. 'It's not your fault, Heidi.'

'Damn it,' she said loudly. 'I need to know what happened.'

Michelle and Vince exchanged a glance as Heidi begged. 'Please.'

'Amanda went into labour Clifton Point, and the ambulances raced her to Mercy hospital,' said Vince with a heavy sigh. 'They did everything they could, but Amanda gave birth to a baby boy a few hours later.' He paused as he rested one hand on Heidi's lower arm in support. 'The baby only lived for an hour.'

Heidi looked at Vince as the reality of the situation hit her and she threw off Vince's hand. 'It's my fault.'

'Heidi, no,' said Vince trying to reassure her once again. 'If you hadn't gone over the cliff and pulled her up, she wouldn't even be alive today to tell us this.'

'It is unfortunate that Mrs Sydney lost her child,' added Michelle. 'But, it's because of your courageous effort that she is alive today and that is what I'll be telling the legal team.'

It takes her a moment to cut through the haze currently surrounding her mind as she processes what she has just been told. 'Why do you need to tell the legal team anything?' she questioned, looking at Michelle's shuttered face.

'We're being sued Heidi.'

'Sued?' she whispered, as if saying it any louder will make it all the more real.

'Yes, sued,' confirmed Michelle. 'Amanda Sydney is blaming Rescue Special Ops for the death of her child.'

'Oh God.' The world begins to spin around her and she struggles to get up from her seat as nausea builds within her. Her mind was already calculating the distance to her ever reliable friend – the bathroom – and she had discovered just as quickly without a doubt that she wasn't going to make it.

And so she threw up in the best thing closest to her.

She finds herself sobbing as she looks down at the various pieces of paper in front of her as her mind struggled to figure out why her usual sea of blue is in fact a sea of white and what appeared to be a discarded coffee foam cup.

Oh God. She did not just throw her guts up in her boss' trash can, did she? Wiping her mouth she looked up and met the concerned eyes of Michelle and Vince.

Yep, she did.