Meg wiped the back of her hand across her brow. "I can't believe that he let you out of the bedroom." Looking over her shoulder she laughed at the group of friends rounding the corner of the house.
"Not funny." Dean grumbled. "Besides, who says we need a bedroom?"
Meg grabbed a nearby dandelion and chunked it at Dean. "Watch it, buster." When his eyes grew to comic proportions, she began to laugh.
"By God, I don't remember the last time I heard her laugh like that." Seth whispered.
"She's fu-freakin' gorgeous." Roman muttered. Dean's glare stopped him in his tracks. "Dean's a lucky man.
Renee slapped both men on the shoulders as she sauntered past them. "Dean knows he's lucky. If you intend on getting lucky tonight, you're gonna get in there and get some work done too, right, Seth?" Seth stopped smiling and grabbed a shovel.
Another clump of dandelions flew at Dean. "See what you started? Now you have Seth in trouble. You are just being naughty today."
Seeing Dean's glare, Meg jumped up to run away just as he leapt across the stones, caught her around the waist and rumbled against her neck, "Wanna see naughty? Really?" Meg howled in laughter. "You find that funny? Really?" Unbeknownst to Dean, she had a handful of dirt in one hand and a frog in the other. Renee laughed at the couple as he swung her friend in a wide circle and she dribbled the dirt in his hair. "WOMAN!" he hollered. As he lowered her feet to the ground, she turned and dropped the frog down his shirt before racing across the yard. "What in the… A DAMN FROG?!" The confused amphibian fell from his shirt as he chased Meg, leap-frogging over Renee's ducked head.
Renee sat on the ground next to the mud hole that would become a pond and watched the couple run around the yard. Seth sat down beside her. "Notice that Meg was never like this before?" he whispered against his girlfriend's hair, throwing an arm around her shoulders.
She nodded, watching Dean scoop Meg into his arms and curl her stomach up to his face for a set of childish 'raspberries'. "These two are perfect together. They can relax and have fun or handle the life and death calls together. It's a delicate balance."
Seth continued to speak into Renee's hair. "I used to consider Chris a friend. I used to respect him. Now, seeing Meg with Dean, I wonder what actually went on behind closed doors. Has he really changed that much or are we just now seeing the real man? What did she have to put up with?" Renee gave a minute shake of her head. "I know, I know. I'm just telling you. Meg told us that she wondered why we were, for lack of a better word, siding with her instead of him. She's bound to talk to you about it, too."
"So I have proof and not supposition. Got it."
"Exactly." Seth agreed. "You see what we see. You can confirm what we told her but in your own words. She just needs to know we are serious about having her back."
Renee looked at him through the corner of her eye. "Babe, there's no doubt about that after yesterday."
"She doesn't know about that." he muttered.
Roman squatted beside his friend. "I wouldn't advise dropping frogs around Renee." Seth looked confused until he realized that Meg and Dean were now in earshot. Renee tilted her head signaling that she caught the change of topic and tweaked Seth's ear. "Don't say I didn't warn you. You knew Renee would get you back."
With a quick wink she dribbled a small amount of dirt on Seth's shoulder, careful to avoid his hair. Meg clapped her hands and laughed. This is the way it's supposed to be. Friends teasing friends. Laughter and fun. Light and easy. Why wasn't it like this before? The light and easy-going atmosphere was shattered by the piercing shriek of the pagers attached to the hips of the men scattered around the yard. "Engine, Tanker, Brush Truck, Ambulance… Respond for the field fire…" Mild cursing filled the yard as tools were dropped and bodies lateralled obstacles, taking the most direct route toward the front of the house. Meg paused long enough to lock her doors and grab her keys.
"MEG! Let's GO!" Spinning on her heel, she refrained from letting her mouth gape open in shock as Dean's truck still idled in front of her house. Renee waved from the truck bed. "Come on!" he waved to her. She raced to the truck and hurdled the side, landing beside Renee. The women clutched the side-rails as the tires squealed. Meg felt the adrenaline rush and couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. Not a life-or-death situation like that wreck, thank God. It sure feels good to be running with these guys again. The truck screeched to a halt and everyone bailed out. Meg followed the group in, heading for her old locker.
"Meg! You're by the ambo!" Not sure who called out, she shrugged and changed course. Sure enough, her locker had been moved and was now next to the ambulance. She pulled her gear out, yanked it on, and jumped into the passenger seat. Renee had the ambulance started already so as soon as she shut her door they pulled out of the station. Meg hit the siren and let the airhorn scream.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Renee asked.
Meg laughed. "I do this all the time at work." She glanced at Renee before scanning the sky again. "This feels like home, though."
"This is where you belong and you know it."
Meg pointed over the tree tops. "This is gonna get nasty." Renee drew in a deep breath and released it slowly.
