Hope you like it. spread the word. And thank you to the people who reviewed, and responded and favorited and followed and all that junk. Love ya bunches!

Before anyone could respond, the bell sounded and a monotonous voice sounded over the PA system "Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, trapped billboard tagger…" she drowned it out. When it stopped, Gaby's shoulders sagged and her eyes deflated, she took a few steps backward and turned, only to start the rush that began whenever the beep sounded throughout the station.

This time…she was left alone…

The firehouse suddenly seemed so empty… so, still and quiet. There had always been grown babies running around the place yelling at each other. It was different, an eerie kind of different. It was an intimidating feeling, her emotions started to feel like too much. They floated around in the large open space now, it was usual for someone to absorb one of those emotions and come to rescue her, but there was nothing now, just their presence building around her. Her gaze wandered, she began to take things in she hadn't noticed before: the long scar down the middle of the table, the ripped cushion, the waxed tile, the way the fire-pole was rusted to the floor. Her eyes peered around the kitchen, landing longingly on the knife block. Before she could make her move towards it, the familiar thudding in her ears, heaving of her chest, arose around her. Her mind was spiraling down that train-track of flashbacks and there was no one there to save her. She only managed to make it to the couch before the horrifying past took precedence in her thoughts.

"Perfect" exclaimed her mother, bopping little Emily on the nose with her index finger when the little monkey turned around. They were putting on the final touches before her dance recital and momma had just tightened the droopy yellow and purple polka-dotted bow into her thick, honey-blonde bun.

"Momma! Let's GO! I canNOT be late I have a solo! It is my debut! LET'S GO!" the young girl whined, taking her mother's hand in bother of hers and pulling her towards the front door. But just as soon as she'd gotten dramatic, she got serious, dropping momma's hand to run and give her older siblings a hug and a sloppy kiss. They would be joining momma and papa later, a few performances before Emily's.

The car ride wouldn't be too long if traffic held up, only half an hour. Little monkey had convinced her mom to sit next to her in the backseat and jump around to the music playing loudly through the speakers. Her black and hot-pink car seat bounced around wildly as she moved to the music she'd soon be performing to. When she caught her dad's gaze in the rearview, she smiled that wide, cheeky smile that made his grow even wider, spreading into the cores of his eyes. And there was the squeal of tires and…

Wait…those weren't part of the flashback. Emily caught herself from falling forward and listened further. There was the slam of a car door and then the slam of another car door. The door to the station flew open and in walked Peter's sister, Elyse, with those big boxes of food she dropped off for him to cook with.

"Emily, hey, what are you doing here? There's no one here. Was there a call?"

"What? Oh no, I'm fine, nothing happened, they just… left me here this time. I'm okay, I don't need babysitters" she spat, immediately regretting it and reverting her eyes. Elyse stood there, her face screwed in confusion and she nodded. She opened her mouth to say something but Emily was already moving in the direction of the bunks, leaving Elyse to do what she would with the information provided.

She weaved her way to sister's bunk room but stopped short with her hand on the knob, in order to be more independent, she thought, I shouldn't sleep in here, or I should ask for my own bunk room…maybe I should just sleep on the floor. Slowly, she pulled her hand back, cradling it to her chest. She moved carefully, almost as if there was something behind the door that she didn't want to hear her, or she didn't want to see. Walking a few careful paces backwards, she turned and headed in the direction of another bunk room.

Opening the door to that one, she took in its appearance. The gray walls were all standard, but the pictures were to each his own. There were pictures upon pictures upon pictures; Shay in different, adventurous locations, Shay and past relationships or other people, Shay and the crew from the 'house. There were a lot of Shay and Gaby, even more of Shay and Emily, and yet more of the three of them, photo strips like Emily's locker. They all looked happy, with emotions, and good feelings, just… loving life. The bed was inviting; it was the standard bed they all had, but Shay had bright green and electric blue sheets and a Chicago skyline duvet cover. There were regular pillows and body pillows and decorative pillows of a million colors.

Emily took cautious steps toward it, but rerouted to the other side where she opened a simple, black trunk. It was empty inside, but Emily began to pull off the pillows she wasn't going to use and placed them in as neat a pile as possible in the trunk. She pulled the covers back and peeled off her hoodie; she lowered herself to the bed and welcomed the warmth that flooded through her when she pulled the covers around her. She inhaled the scent of Shay's shampoo and let her eyes flit closed at the homely smell of almonds and Shea-butter.

Her bliss was disrupted by an abrupt shift in the mattress and her eyes opened to the sight of Basil wriggling her way under the covers. She made it under and turned three times before flopping to her side with her back pressed to Emily's torso and let her eyelids drop closed. Emily let out a sharp chuckle and hunkered down in the bed and placed an arm around the midsection of her wolf and let her eyes too droop like deadweights into slumber.

With Gabriela and Shay, Returning from the call

"Did you understand any of that?" Gabriela asked her partner as she exited the Ambulance.

"The tagger or Emily?" She asked with a slight laugh. Gaby sent her 'the eyes' and clapped a hand to Shay's shoulder to shove her. Shay stumbled sideways but recovered with a giggle.

"She just, I don't know, she has a few good points, a lot that I wasn't expecting, but" she sighed heavily and brought her hand up to rub her eyes. She pulled her hand away to reveal the whites of her eyes red and watery, "She talked about how they're bullying her because of me… I can't…I can't do that, not to her, she's my little sister Gaby, how can I let them do that? How did I not notice?" she asked, looking at the ground. Gabriela brought her hand to Shay's shoulder and ducked to look her in the eyes

"Hey, hey, look, you aren't the only one, I should have noticed it, and I should have been the first to notice it. But you know Em, she bottles, she isn't always a talker. It takes things like this for her to let it all out. I feel really bad… how could I not know? About- about any of it?" Gaby asked defeatedly. They had a mental conversation to leave it at that because there wasn't going to be a way that either of them could answer the questions.

They rounded the front of the station and took mental note of Elyse's car. Shay pulled the door open and held it for Gaby. Walking in, they let the emptiness settle… wait, empty, where's Emily? They strode into the common room and saw Elyse in the kitchen

"Elyse hey, how are you? I hate to not talk but did you see Emily?" Gabriela asked worriedly.

"Hey ladies, I'm good thanks. I saw her, she went to the bunks. She was a little weird, she was sitting on the couch, sort of… looking at nothing, and she kind of went off on me, but I shook it out, I was thirteen once." She informed them, shrugging and returned to slicing. Gaby nodded and made her way to the bunks, Shay hot on her heels.

She didn't hesitate when she made it to her room, didn't even stop moving. Gaby reached for the handle and pushed it open with her shoulder. But they were both faced with the empty room. "Huh…" Gaby grunted, her body deflating into itself.

"My room" Shay said, jabbing her hand at the air and turning to walk to her room. She took a little more precaution with her room, slowing to a stop and turning the handle quietly, thankful that the door didn't squeak. Emily was bundled in her covers; Basil picked her head up and peered around her bed-mate at the two women. Gaby chuckled and whispered 'sorry' to Shay, who shrugged it off.

Gaby moved forward with a huff, seemingly ready to yank the covers off the tiny girl and shake her awake to finish what they'd started. But Shay didn't give her the chance. She grabbed her arm and pulled her back, moving around the bed in front of Basil.

"Come on babe" she whispered, assisting the wolf off of the bed and taking her spot. She sat, propped up by a few pillows, her hips by Emily's head, and placed a hand on the girl's forehead. She raked her fingers in her thick tresses until she opened those special eyes of hers. "Hey monkey, how are you?" a look of fright flashed across Emily's face, but was calmed after catching Shay's bright green eyes and sinking back into the bed.

Gaby cleared her throat behind Emily and Shay watched her face, fear flashed in her eyes, she shrunk further into the bed. Shay watched with dismay, wondering to herself when this all happened, when it started, how it happened, how she missed it. She reverted her eyes to study Gaby, who was staring at Emily with a sad smile. She caught Shay's eyes and nodded once. Shay looked back down at Emily and supped her cheek with her hand.

"You're alright monkey, I promise" she dipped to kiss Emily's forehead and pulled herself out of the bed, and passed Gaby on her way out. When she was gone, Gaby moved herself to the other side of the bed and propped herself on the bed. Without looking at Emily, she turned on her side, propped herself up on her left elbow.

"Hi monkey" She said, beginning to comb her fingers though the girl's hair. She started at her hairline, on her forehead then raking them back, savoring the fell of her sister's silky hair. Forgetting, Emily shrank back contently, closed her eyes, and snuggled into Gaby.

"I didn't mean to say all of that"

"Mmmm?" she replied

"I didn't mean to tell you about dance or gymnastics. I didn't want to tell you…" she said, trailing cautiously. She could feel Gaby take a big breath.

"Oh?"

"I don't regret the rest of it. I know it isn't what you want to hear but…yeah…" she told her sister, trailing again.

"Look at me monkey" slowly, cautiously, she let her eyes crack open to peer at her sister's dark chocolate eyes. They sat there for a minute, staring into each other's eyes. Gaby sighed and started to talk.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your eyes?"

"Yeah…you have… a lot"

"You're just a walking, talking, whatever else you are, medical mystery the baffles everyone." Emily giggled and bowed her head to butt Gaby's chest. Gaby laughed at her child-like attitude and kissed the top of her head

"How do you do that? How did you manage to take all the cool stuff ah? How? How did you pop out with your left eye bright green like Shay's, and your right one cobalt blue like the wolf" Gaby asked playfully, throwing her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Emily's dog who perked her head up and looked around at the notion of a wolf. Emily giggled again. Her laughter faded and the room went silent.

"I am sorry for yelling though" she told the older woman, breaking her from her thoughts. Gaby looked down at Emily for a quick, sad second, and resumed her combing. She shook her head

"Don't apologize; I was yelling at you, you were just being defensive. Anyone would be. But I get it, y'know? I was a teenager, I yelled, still do, I did a lot. I wasn't always the happiest kid, I got picked on too. I get it, I do, I just, and I can't help if you don't talk. I don't even need you to talk to me, just… just someone." Emily nodded, absorbing the information. "Why- Why didn't you want me to know?" Emily took a deep breath, pondering her response.

"It's mine. You gave up on me doing it all… once I got out of the wheelchair, I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of anyone. I didn't want anyone to think I was weak because I couldn't return to what I was doing. I was taking privates, I just, I didn't want to embarrass or disappoint. I know now that that isn't how you would view it but, I don't know. I wanted to show it to you like super specially like, telling you the day before I went on 'Got Talent' or something. I don't really know" she explained, rushing through some of it. Gaby nodded, taking it all in, the honesty, the rawness and openness of it.

"I am sorry, there's just… so much going on. You live with me, and Antonio doesn't help much anymore except child-support, but I get it, his job is important, you can't go with him to his, and he does a lot of the undercover stuff. I get it, I do." A tear dropped down Emily's cheek, leaving a white streak in its place. "Don't cry monkey, please. You know what? I want to go with you one day; I want to see what you can do. Let me know when and Shay and I can re-route all of our calls for the afternoon and come watch."

"I would rather you didn't actually…" Emily said hesitantly, immediately regretting it. Gaby stopped again with her fingers and moved her hand to Emily's chin to pull it up with her index finger. When she could efficiently look the girl in the eyes, she asked her,

"Why? What else aren't you telling me?"

"A lot. But, my teacher, she isn't… you wouldn't like her. She's mean, harsh, really, really tough. She isn't very traditional. She sort of… breaks you through the process of learning."

"I can take it, and obviously so can you" Her sister told her, placing their foreheads and giggling with the almost-thirteen-year-old. Their Laughter faded when there was a sharp knock at the door. Shay's blonde head appeared, staring at them with big, bright green eyes.

"Y'all good?" Emily looked to Gaby for reassurance that they were and nodded.

"Come one monkey" Gaby said, rolling off the bed and scaring Basil into a standing position. She immediately took her place next to Emily, who reached out to grasp the familiar scruff of fur on her neck. They followed the two EMTs out of Shay's bunk and towards the common room. Emily nodded lightly at every guy who gave her that worried expression. As she passed the doorframe, she caught Chief's eyes and gave a warm, but distant smile and lingered there. He nodded and she continued forward, sitting at the stainless steel bar top in the kitchen.

She jumped when Peter appeared in front of her, elbows on the table, looking at her excitedly, he began to talk,

"How 'bout that grilled cheese?" he asked playfully, placing his chin in his hands and giving her a goofy look that made her laugh.

"Cherry cola too please!" he let out a sharp chuckle and released his chin to let it fall to his chest in amusement. He looked back up to the large grin on Emily's face, ho immediately began to laugh.

It died down as he strode to the stove to restart her late, mid-afternoon snack. She felt happy on the outside, she really did… on the outside. But the inside was a different story, she still felt like there was a piece missing, like there was something she couldn't pinpoint. She couldn't push it aside, and she hadn't noticed Shay watching her as she lost her gaze once again.

Lost it… to the knife-block.

Hope you liked it. I just wanted to know, can you review with the answer to this question?

-Do we know how old Gabriela and Shay are?

Others

-like it? -critiques? -suggestions? -predictions? -requests?