Chapter 22

The next week Kelly felt like he was living at Station 51. He had called in a couple favors with his counterpart on Red Watch...and the guy agreed to cover for him for the long weekend...but it meant Kelly had to pull two doubles before he left. With one day off in between.

That meant Alyssa was on her own with the kids...and the preparations for the trip.

She had to get clothes for six people packed...make sure everyone had appropriate "wedding attire"...pack toiletries and diapers...make sure there was enough to keep four kids occupied for an eight hour drive.

She had to call DCFS to report they were taking Lexi out of the state.

There was just so much to do.

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Kelly came home dead on his feet. They'd had a helluva night.

They had been called to the scene of a collapsed porch. It was down in the University district...somebody was having a party and too many people had congregated on the back stairs...and the whole thing came down. Three levels...over one hundred people...most of them injured to some extent.

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He came in through the back door just like always...and the whole house was in chaos. He could hear the television blaring in the front room and over that he could hear Maggie shouting that it was her turn...and Lexi was just shouting for the sake of shouting.

He dropped his bag and held out his arms to Alyssa.

She put down what she was doing and crossed the room and as soon as he could he pulled her in close.

"Last one?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Last one...thank God..."

She looked up at him.

"Are you oaky?"

"I'll live." he said "Hollywood's gonna owe me like he's never owed me before. And this time I'm gonna be sure to collect!"

He hugged Alyssa tight...but she pulled away after a few moments.

"I've still got a million and one things that need to get done so we can leave tomorrow." she said. "Will you go sort out whatever's goin' on out there?"

Kelly let out his breath...what he wanted was to go upstairs and go to sleep.

But he could see Lyssa was at her wit's end...and he'd never get any rest with all the racket the kids were making.

He nodded...and gave his wife a kiss.

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"Is MY turn!" Maggie said, stamping her foot. "You guys been playin' for a HOUR!"

"How would you know?" Andy teased. "You don't even know how to tell time!"

"I jus' KNOW!"

Lexi let out a high pitched squeal that made Kelly wince as he came into the living room.

"All right...enough!" he said, raising his voice to make himself heard over the four kids. "I said...ENOUGH!"

Three of the four noisemakers turned around to see Daddy standing there with his angry face on.

The fourth just let out another squawk.

Kelly looked at his kids...one by one.

"Okay...TV goes off. We're gonna get breakfast..."

"But I din't get a turn to play!" Maggie cried. "Andy and Jesse was bein' mean!"

"Maybe we'll have time to play later." Kelly told her. "But right now we're on radio silence."

"We wasn't playin' the radio!" Maggie protested.

"It's just a expression..." Jesse whispered. "It means we're bein' quiet."

He knew better than to smart off to his dad in a situation like this.

Andy reluctantly stopped the game...he and Jesse were on level 24...and it was so intense, they didn't want to stop.

But Dad looked like he meant business. And Andy wasn't about to take any chances.

Maggie pouted and crossed her arms over her little chest.

She was about to protest the unfairness of it all one more time when Jesse took her by the shoulders and started to propel his sister toward the kitchen.

"C'mon Maggie...you can sit next to me..." he said.

Kelly reached down and plucked Lexi out of her rolling walker. That was what Shay had bought her for her birthday...and the little girl loved it. Now she could almost keep up with the big kids...and she'd run over your toes if you weren't careful.

"Time for breakfast, Sweetie Pie..." he said as he shifted her into one arm. "Let's go get some before Andy eats it all..."

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He never did get his nap...

Even though the boys went off with their cousins...and Samantha and Nicole came to watch the girls...there was so much to do and Alyssa looked like she was about ready to drop.

So he hauled the suitcases up from the basement and ran to the store for the last minute items...filled up the gas tank and checked the tires...and once the packing was done, he loaded everything into Alyssa's mini-van.

After he'd made the last trip...when he'd stowed "Baby Jail" under the rear seat and finally figured out how to pack the double umbrella stroller he'd bought that day...he headed back into the house.

It was blessedly silent...for the first time since he'd walked through the door that morning. He headed straight for the dining room where Alyssa was packing the diaper bag and the girls 'bags of tricks'...little things to keep them amused on the drive. Well...as best as you could amuse a three year old and a one year old stuck in a car for eight hours.

Kelly came up behind her and reached around to still her hands.

"This can wait till morning." he said. "Let's go to bed."

Alyssa leaned back against her husband. That sounded like the best thing she'd heard all day.

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Arms around one another they climbed the stairs...and at the top he leaned down to kiss her. Then Alyssa headed toward their room, and he quietly opened the door to the girls' room to check on the kids.

He listened for a moment to Maggie's little slurpy noises as she sucked her thumb...and looked in at Lexi lying on her back with her blankie wrapped tight in her little fist.

In the boys' room he listened to them breathe in perfect unison...then crossed the room to tuck Andy's foot back under the blanket...and pick up the teddy bear that Jesse used to sleep with. He was too big now...but the bear still sat in the corner of the bed, keeping watch while the twins slept.

He closed the door without a sound and went to his room at the end of the hall.

He was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed...after two nights in his rack at the firehouse. The cot with the two inch mattress wasn't the most comfortable...not compared to the queen sized bed at home. And having his wife to hold was an added bonus, of course.

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They climbed into bed and tangled themselves together beneath the sheets.

Kelly ran his hands over Lyssa's body...as if to make sure this was the real thing...not just some dream he'd be rudely awaked from when the bells went off.

"I can't believe I get a whole week off now..." he whispered as he nuzzled in to kiss that special place on Alyssa's neck that always got things started.

"I'm not sure a road trip with four kids is gonna be such a vacation..." Alyssa told him lightly.

"I don't care..." he growled. "I get to be with my family...and I don't have to look at a firehouse for eight whole days."

Then he turned back to the business at hand.

"No more talking...I just spent two days with a bunch of firefighters..."

What woman could resist pillow talk like that?